Seems like it took a while for me to find the rock gardening groove again. It happened during the recent Cal fires, in the form of a planter I'm calling Fire on the Mountain
This was a really old Eucalyptus that finally passed on. To remove the fire hazard, we had to ahve it cut down. I made a planter in the stump.
This is the Fire on the Mtn. Planter
Then my wife and I drove into the back country of San Diego, and into some really wide open wild lands, on a drive to survey just how much potential for fire there is out there right now; hundreds of miles. Part of that drive was also a rock gathering effort.
I found enough rocks to create another planter just a couple of days after the Fire on the Mtn planter.
OK,.... inspiration drawn from wind, fires, and now rain.
Rain,.... one of the things that you can count on to bring rain is raw dirt being exposed. Break a shovel full of soil, and the clouds begin to develop on the horizon.
I've spent the better part of a week gathering basalt and granite rocks and boulders. I need to create a retaining wall at the entry to our place. Its steep there, and, erosion concerns me for losing my driveway, which diagonals up a cut in the hillside. One side has a reataining wall, the other side is just a dirt slope.
Today, I went gathering large stone that I could in no way possibly lift. I managed to move the biggest mofo of a rock that I've ever been able to budge. I'm strong, and, have lifted what in rock gardening terms is a two man rock; one that should require two guys to lift. I can manage two-man stone by myself, and, have lifted 400lb stone. Today, I doubled that, but, not technically lifting it. Today, I managed to get that sucker from the ground, and into a 4x6 rental trailer. I'm estimating it at double my 400lb rock, and, will call it a 750lb'r. This one goes beyond "x-man rocks", and into the realm of excavator lifted stone; none to be had, time to tough up.
The inspiration came from a planterr that I just built at the end of my driveway. I needed to create a planter there to fend off street edge flow, and off-flow from my own driveway.
img5682 & 5692 are that driveway end planter
The water district has a valve and drain bypass line on my property at the street edge, with a proper easement. They dug up the valve covers, and left their dig without much backfill, which caused erosion. That erosion concerns me for my driveway. So, I started digging with the intent of a dry-stacked stone retaining wall.
Today, came mass.
img5706+ shows the big one from distance. It is the bluish white basaltic boulder with the shovel next to it for scale.
The other rocs range heavier than I can lift, all loaded with my rock cart (heavy duty Harbor Freight hand truck), and small rental trailer.
tuckered out
.
Everything around the behemoth weighs in around 500lbs. Moveabe for me, but not liftable. These will be my base course in dry stacking. All hand collected today.
I have also been gathering smaller rocks for higher up the wall, and for shimming and chinking-in.
Tomorrow, the stacking begins in ernest.
Check back for details,...