That's just silly, Ink, though as usual with a good point at the core of it. Scrap, I think you did start off with a question that sent the conversation in some rather scattered directions. I think it is a natural error given what you are doing, which is to try to practice landscape design at an advanced level without having taken the introductory course. I sympathize, I do it all the time myself - end up specializing in "learning the hard way." I got a real kick out of your self-description of "wanting to do the PhD." Believe me, I relate. If you were to consult a landscape designer, s/he would start off interviewing you about your needs and aspirations for the site and would design according to those identified priorities. What I think is happening here is that, having perhaps not clearly articulated or listed those priorities because you think you know them, you are being distracted from them by one or more of common practice, alluring ideas, or other people's input. These things have led you down paths that move away from, rather than toward, realizing your preferences. I first heard this process described as being seduced by features you don't need when shopping for software, years ago when the department I worked for was shopping for its first every computer program. Same idea here. For example, somewhere, perhaps in your blog, you spoke with some clarity about a fence for the left side, where it should go and why. Yet in discussions here you have zeroed in mercilessly on the right side, where there is literally no point in doing anything because of your neighbour's tree, I think in response to some comments made. Another example is what I tried to point out three posts up. Why don't you make your priority list as if you were going to consult someone. What would you tell them was important, and what you needed the fastest? What is bugging you the most? I encouraged you to look at the walkway as you said you hate it, but if it currently meets your basic needs while other needs go entirely unmet, then that is wrong too. If you consult someone, they would be able to think all the way through the process from your most immediate needs to a final plan. Without experience, I don't think you can. Frankly, in my yard I can't either. I deal with what needs doing at the moment, and while I think three or four steps ahead, I focus mostly on leaving as many options as possible open for the next few decisions I have to make. I often find myself doing something completely unexpected but serendipitous. If I were to put my plans on paper, they would always incorporate a few areas deliberately grayed, labelled "see how this looks when I get there." Perhaps the right first thing is to build your fence. Or even just to set your fence posts. You can figure out the precise style of pickets or panels later once you see the posts installed. You can figure out the plantings later, once you see what it's like with the fence in place. Will you feel enclosed enough, or too much already, with just a fence? You won't know till you get there. Make the decision then. The fence issue seems like a logical place to start. Why not tell us about your fencing needs? Perhaps someone can help you flesh those out. But this time, don't begin by telling us what you have decided so that the discussion has to tear that down in order to get to new territory, and then has no direction once it gets there. Tell us first what you needs are, why you are thinking of a fence, and what purposes it needs to serve. It is the process of articulating those items that generates good ideas. You may not even need any input once you have made all that clear to yourself. KarinL

A recent update from the person who received the yucca is that it is green and doing well. The transplanted cholla are doing well, of course, but it will be a while before I know if any sacaton survived. We have been making progress but not as quickly as we hoped. (No surprise there! ;-) ) We have the foundation blocks for the outside beds in place up to ground level and filled with dirt. Pavers have been placed, but not yet leveled, between the existing shed and the north edge of the foundation. We have the water and electrical stubbed in. We have the SHCS tubes in place for the outside beds of the east greenhouse and hope to start filling that section soon with the removed dirt. We have removed all planned use of poured concrete from our plans and have made this planned structure possible to remove easily while still unlikely to be blown away. (Mostly due to bolting the foundation via J-bolts to rebar under bond beam cement blocks.) DH will be checking to see what type of permits/inspections we will need for electrical, water, and structures. I suspect that it will be just water and electric. We won't fill in any more until we find out. It is getting hot already so we will be putting in the outside structure and shade cloth before the central shed and greenhouses. That way we can work in the shade. :-)

Mark: The water that goes into the floor drain is connected to a sump pit under the sink that also drains into it and is pumped out with a standard basement sump pump. The sump pit connects to a grey water line about 100 ft. long, the same way any basement sump is drained, at least here in an area that just 200 years ago was a vast tallgrass (wetlands) prarie over a lot of peat and saturated clay. So the only perf pipe is in the long grey water drain line. All of the pipe inside the GH and leading out, is solid. If that seems excessive for ordinary GH use, please understand that my GH is actually a fish room and when I water change, I may drain as much as 300 gal. of water within a few hours, and as we calculated that I could release about 200 gal. an hour before the gray water line became overloaded, I rotate changes on the big tanks, to make sure it doesn't. But with just plants and reasonably permeable soil, all you might need is a dry well. If so, it's just a deep hole to below your frost line, some large plastic pipe for a liner, large stone to fill and a screen under a removable grate at the top, to prevent solids from clogging the well. I am always amazed that anyone would construct before they know what is UNDER what will be their foundation, but then, we are no longer an agrigulcural society, so unless they are farmers, most people don't know that dirt isn't just dirt, and that they have a Soil & Water Conservation District to call on, but that is where you will find the soil maps for your property, along with soil experts, courtesy of the feds. Once you know the permeability and structure of your soils, calculating the perk rate is easy, and you can plan your drainage needs from there.

I just got done doing a whole lot of piers like you are describing, I think I had about 25. Mine were 18" diameter and 2 foot deep as well. I'm no expert, but here are few things I came across: - I'm not sure how many piers you have but with 25 I knew I wasn't going to be hand mixing. I also had a long haul since I couldn't let the concrete truck on my driveway. In the end I ended up getting a pump truck to pump the concrete to my piers. That cost me some extra $$$ but worth every penny in my situation. If you only have a few piers then you can hand mix, but that is a pain. You might want to look into a concrete mixer. - I bought 18" Sonotube and cut it into 6" slices with the thought being that I sink 4 inches into the hole and let 2 inches stick up. Trouble is when I augered my holes the tubes didn't fit in nice and tight and I had to drill 2x2 on each side to hold it in place. This worked OK, but in hindsight I would have just run the tube all the way to the bottom of the hole to make it easier to level and you use less concrete too. - I used a couple of the Quikrete tubes and they are not nearly has heavy duty as the Sonotube. Mine saw a good rain before I could get concrete poured and the Sonotube held up great. The Quikrete ones did OK, but they are a bit flimsier. - I sunk J-Bolts in the wet concrete and that worked out great for me. Then I came back with Post bases. - I used 6x6 posts. The bases are more expensive, but that did allow me a little play in my construction in case I didn't get all the piers and J-Bolts in a perfect line. They are a little trickier to cut though. In the end I was glad I used the 6x6. riles