- Sunday, 24 February 2008
UPDATE NO.6 - hitting a rocky patch
We have endured the second week of what seemed like everlasting ground works … never seen soil being moved around so frequently … one moment it is carted in with a wheel barrow and gingerly off-loaded in a designated spot, soon to be dug up again, loaded onto an ever faithfully wheelbarrow once again and transported to another spot which needs more soil … and so it goes on and on and on …. 
But, from what seemed like meaningless soil movement, a three dimensional landscape is emerging which is quite soothing on the eye. Towards the end of the second week, the landscape also got a backbone in the form of a railway sleeper pathway edged with cobblestones, ready for the exploration of human trains, step by step.
Leanne is hitting a ‘rocky patch’ at the moment with the trellis woodwork contractor who is letting her down. He had more than a week to start custom producing the trellises, but nothing as yet has materialised. We have not even seen a sample with the exact wood stain colour we requested. Leanne took it upon herself to do all the measurements herself to ensure that it is perfect and furnished this contractor with a list of all the exact measurements. Leanne had a serious meeting with him on Friday morning attempting to get him committed to this project and was assured that on Tuesday, the four trellises for the outside of the pavement boundary wall would be installed and ready for us to quality control. Let’s hold thumbs that this is not another empty promise. This is quite a serious situation because Leanne cannot start planting any plants until all the structural work is done … especially with quite a few aloe species and trees costing R2000+ each … so to have valuable plants like these being damaged by careless structural contractors is not an option at all.
The ‘World of Rock’ though was on time with their rocky deliveries i.e. stone bird feeders, pebbles, gravel, rocks and one serious giant rock which kept everyone holding their breath as it scaled the top of the boundary wall by just a millimeter or two … needless to say that Leanne had her timing also planned perfectly ensuring that she is not on site during this delicate operation … rand rather being out and about sourcing some prime plant species. Very sneaky Leanne! Our beautiful natural rock bench is however not resting in its final position yet. It is planned that on Tuesday, ‘The World of Rock’ crew will visit the site again and team up with Leanne’s full landscaping crew 10+ men to gently negotiate it to its perfect location.
This upcoming third week of our landscaping design will probably also mostly be spent on structural installations. We cannot wait for the fourth week into the design, when the serious/exciting planting stuff will start happening and hopefully soften our current construction site.
- Construction junkie signing off
But, from what seemed like meaningless soil movement, a three dimensional landscape is emerging which is quite soothing on the eye. Towards the end of the second week, the landscape also got a backbone in the form of a railway sleeper pathway edged with cobblestones, ready for the exploration of human trains, step by step.
Leanne is hitting a ‘rocky patch’ at the moment with the trellis woodwork contractor who is letting her down. He had more than a week to start custom producing the trellises, but nothing as yet has materialised. We have not even seen a sample with the exact wood stain colour we requested. Leanne took it upon herself to do all the measurements herself to ensure that it is perfect and furnished this contractor with a list of all the exact measurements. Leanne had a serious meeting with him on Friday morning attempting to get him committed to this project and was assured that on Tuesday, the four trellises for the outside of the pavement boundary wall would be installed and ready for us to quality control. Let’s hold thumbs that this is not another empty promise. This is quite a serious situation because Leanne cannot start planting any plants until all the structural work is done … especially with quite a few aloe species and trees costing R2000+ each … so to have valuable plants like these being damaged by careless structural contractors is not an option at all.
The ‘World of Rock’ though was on time with their rocky deliveries i.e. stone bird feeders, pebbles, gravel, rocks and one serious giant rock which kept everyone holding their breath as it scaled the top of the boundary wall by just a millimeter or two … needless to say that Leanne had her timing also planned perfectly ensuring that she is not on site during this delicate operation … rand rather being out and about sourcing some prime plant species. Very sneaky Leanne! Our beautiful natural rock bench is however not resting in its final position yet. It is planned that on Tuesday, ‘The World of Rock’ crew will visit the site again and team up with Leanne’s full landscaping crew 10+ men to gently negotiate it to its perfect location.
This upcoming third week of our landscaping design will probably also mostly be spent on structural installations. We cannot wait for the fourth week into the design, when the serious/exciting planting stuff will start happening and hopefully soften our current construction site.
- Construction junkie signing off
Slowly, but surely a landscape is rising from mother earth ... watch this space.
There was no rest for the landscaping guru, Leanne on Valentine’s Day 2008. It was business as usual at Fernridge Estate and the least romantic I must say, with the arrival of the second huge truck load of smelly compost, this morning. The compost was brought in a wheel barrow at a time … a very tedious process. The installation of the complicated irrigation system also continued with Leanne being very hands-on underneath a sweltering sun. On Saturday a technician, specializing in irrigation control stations, will be installing the control station.
The cobblestones for the edging of the sleeper pathways were also off-loaded today and Leanne confirmed that the actual arrival of the 112 sleepers for the pathways is scheduled for next Tuesday.
Half of the compost also arrived today … one huge truck load arrived with a smelly bang and was off-loaded on the pavement.
I have been telling you about the landscaper, Leanne Cumberlege with whom I have been liaising closely with bringing her up to date with my vision of an indigenous/natural/peaceful sanctuary where one can find peace for your soul and birdlife can flourish within a concrete jungle. Leanne did not rush into just getting some figures down on paper for us, but rather kept me in the picture and making sure that she totally understood and co-visualised this dream landscape I had in my mind.
Before actually furnishing us with a quote Leanne came around visiting me one more time to show me the rough sketches for the landscape and walked me through the actual garden space whilst explaining her sketches … needless to say … it was exactly how I envisaged the space.
