The Renovations Begin

 Last week Monday we began the task of tearing up parts of the goofy-named Pachyberm.  (How 'inventive' of me to come up with the silly title for a pile of dirt in the middle of our lawn in 2009.) 

The name came from a satirical article I'd read years ago by a garden critic who, loosely quoted, stated, 'Berms look ridiculous in landscaping, especially if the rest of the garden is on flat ground.  I suppose they could be useful, however, in the unlikely event the garden owners needed to bury an elephant.'  

Later on we had a garden visitor also question our reason for having the odd hill, so even though we didn't bury a pachyderm in our yard, I nicknamed it the Pachy(b)erm as it has been known ever since.

 The first rock leaving the vicinity using the old hand-crank wrecker hooked to the back of my late father's tractor.

There we are, 51 years old, posing with the big rocks that were dumped on our lawn back in 2009.  The same rocks we are now hauling out. 

The dwarf conifers have grown so much since then and the rocks have been hidden under them. Back then I wanted 'planting spaces' to put flowers in, now that I'm older, solid rock sounds good.  Or lawn.  

 Below is the same view as above, August 21, 2024.

We began removing the rocks from the west end of the berm the way they were installed with the wrecker and tractor. 

It was slow-going and though Carl did not want to tear up the lawn by driving the excavator in, he finally agreed it would make the job go much faster.  Joel drove it over to the berm right after he got home from work.  Yes, it left ruts, but at this point, we don't care.  They can always be fixed.  Plus, digging hostas has never been easier.

Now, as my late mother would say, we were cooking with gas.  Or diesel.  If we would have had this equipment back in the day, things would have been a whole lot easier.  But then we would have probably built more gardens, and then we'd have more to downsize.  On second thought, good thing we didn't have it years ago.

Even though the excavator moves the boulders with ease, each rock has to be rigged with chains and placed carefully using a crowbar and blocks for a final fit.  Carl and Joel are both experts at chains and rocks after all these years.  Joel helped us with each phase of the garden construction over the years. We were reminiscing about the project and figured out he was 23 when this particular berm was built. 

He said, "I'm 38 now, and would not take on a job like building the Quarry in my 40's and the berm in my 50's, even with the use of an excavator."

I think he was kindly telling me that his parental units have always been a bit eccentric. But just as he was invaluable as a teenager and younger man, he's still working as hard as ever right along with us.  We are blessed.

At the end of the first day we had shortened up the west end of the berm by a good fifteen feet.  We had a lot of trouble with thistles in this area and it was amazing to see how deep their roots extend.  No wonder we weren't successful weeding them out all these years.

While Joel was at work the next day, I took the controls of the excavator and ever so slowly hoisted rocks into place for Carl.  To his credit, he only looked terrified once.  I don't blame him, he gives me a wide berth as we all do no matter who is driving swinging rocks overhead.  Safety is paramount.  Everyone stands out of the way until the rock is on the ground.

We had to dig at least fifty hostas and other perennials out of the berm and have them in the shade waiting for transplanting.  Only one conifer had to be taken out so far, which was sad but it hadn't been doing well anyway. 

With the rocks out of the way, we could remove the soil next.  We're intending to cut the remaining berm almost down the middle and have the ability to drive between the remaining trees by shoring up the walls with some of the boulders, forming a sort of canyon effect.  This will cut the bed down by more than fifty percent.  Truth be told, we probably could have yanked everything out and turned it all back into lawn, but the conifers are still beautiful, so for now, we will preserve them. 

Joel was back on the excavator on Friday afternoon, loading up our old dump trailer with the soil we don't need.  I was in charge of hauling the soil to our pile an acre away while Carl helped dump the antique trailer for me.

Our eight year old granddaughter, Audrey, helped by hauling a few loads of dirt with the lawnmower trailer with Grandpa Carl along for the ride.

 By sunset we had the soil removed and ready for rock replacement on Saturday.

Saturday saw a lot of progress and a lot of head-scratching.  When we originally built the berm, we'd be lucky to get three boulders in place in one day, but the ease at which the excavator can get into tight spaces is phenomenal.  It's the 'sky-hook' we always wished we'd had.  Using a long chain we can suspend huge boulders and get into the trees without ruining anything.  

Saturday was in the upper 80's and the humidity was rising.  We were all hot and sticky, but kept at the job until sunset again.  

Sunday was a day of rest and in the afternoon we had an 80th birthday party to attend.  

The temperatures were up into the 90's with the humidity pushing it over 100 degrees by Monday, not the kind of weather meant for heavy landscaping.  We watered the planters and the perennials that are out of the ground, mowed lawn and took frequent breaks in the house to cool down.

Monday night, a severe thunderstorm came through and again on Tuesday morning right before noon, but we were lucky, nothing major was destroyed.  The humidity was still oppressive, though, and we spent the day running for parts for the tractors.  I did some deadheading on the zinnias and cut back the broken plants from the storm before calling it a night. 

The rest of the week is forecast to be much cooler, so we'll be back at it tomorrow if all goes well.

If we all had Audrey's energy, this project will be done in no time.