New bed finally underway.

Discuss hardy cacti grown outside all year.
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SnowFella
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New bed finally underway.

Post by SnowFella »

Been lazy for way to long now, been over a year since I planned it out and "started" but with our wet summer everything just ended up on hold. Finally pulled my finger out this week, finallised the plan and started the work this afternoon. Hopefully it's only going to take a week or 3 to get it finished as I need to get the plants in the ground and acclimatised before the heat of summer hits.

Now some photos, early 2011 I put in a temporary bed with the intent of extending it at a later date.
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Around June last year I finally pulled the trigger and got some edging stones. Layed them out into the shape I wanted.
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A month later after getting home from overseas holidays I removed the bricks and dug a trench for a concrete footing. Unfortunately that's where progress stopped for over a year now. This was the state of it earlier today, not exactly a pretty sight.
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And today's progress. Been a change of plans from concrete footing to keep the weeds out to making a 2 foot border that I'll fill with first weedcloth and then pebbles. Give's me a "firebreak" that I can nuke with Glyphosate from time to time to keep the weeds and grass out. Sunk the border pavers down about 4 inches to hopefully the grass won't grow underneath them, got silly lucky with the size as I didn't have to cut the last paver at all...just had to genty tap it into place 8)
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As soon as the wind dies down this afternoon I'm going to hit it all with Glyphosate to kill all the grass/weeds and then dig it out as soon as it's dead. Next building the acctual bed and getting some suitable soil to fill it with.
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SnowFella
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Re: New bed finally underway.

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Finally some more progress, minimal in that I've just managed to kill the grass and dig it all out. If the weather permits I hope to get the weedmat down, dig in a secondary plastic border just inside the bricks and build the raised bed during my days off.
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gemhunter178
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Re: New bed finally underway.

Post by gemhunter178 »

Any progression is progression! Nice! =D>
A cactus and succulent collector who especially likes Ariocarpus. …Though I have a bit of everything! Want some pictures? See my flickr! I also do art and such.
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SnowFella
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Re: New bed finally underway.

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Bit more progression, weather didn't co-operate during my days off so it's down to after hours work this week.
Sunk down a 4mm thick and 20cm high plastic edging behind the edging bricks to give even deeper protection, leveled everything out and started laying down the weedcloth. Ofcource I goofed majorly and only purchased half of what I needed so it's back to the hardware store again tomorrow.
Also started laying out the bricks for the bed itself in the areas where I had enough weedcloth, bedded them down into a 5cm thick layer of brickies sand to give them a decently steady footing. I'll be sticking down the second layer of bricks using liquid nails to keep it even more ridgid.
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hoteidoc
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Re: New bed finally underway.

Post by hoteidoc »

Now we're cookin', SnowFella! Lookin' Great! =D>
Once bitten by the cactus collecting/growing bug, there is no known cure!
There's no 12 step programme for Cactaholics...so I shall just have to get some more!!
daiv
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Re: New bed finally underway.

Post by daiv »

Looks like you've moved those blocks a few times now. Beats going to the gym, eh?

I really like that the original bed is there to add scale to the expansion. You are really going to have a lot more outdoor plants!
All Cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are Cacti
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SnowFella
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Re: New bed finally underway.

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Yup, bit of an ongoing workout! Hit hairy moving them this time around though as they had been stacked up for a few months and were covered in spiderwebs. Came across a few redbacks and one black house spider among them.
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SnowFella
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Re: New bed finally underway.

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A few hours of stonework later, had to get down to some serious use of an angle grinder to get the staggering of the bricks to work fully, and it's almost all done. Just need to move that top layer of bricks one more time so I can glue them down, to darn hot in the sun now to do anymore work today though!

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Had to remove a portion of the old temporary bed along with 2 of the cactii in it, found some quite hefty roots on a small hybrid Echinopsis.
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Hopefully I can get it back in the ground before it aborts the bud it's working on.
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cactushobbyman
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Re: New bed finally underway.

Post by cactushobbyman »

Were you using a 4 1/2" or a 9" grinder? With a 9" my arms give out before the is done. :lol:
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SnowFella
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Re: New bed finally underway.

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"Unfortunately" I've only got a cheapo 3.9" grinder that I picked up just for this, don't have much use for one so $19 was to good a deal to pass on. Was barely enough to split one of the end stones and also had to use it to trim off half an inch each side on about 15 bricks to make it all fit right.
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SnowFella
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Re: New bed finally underway.

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Kind of a booring update but it's still another step forwards.
I've hopefully shifted edging bricks for the very last time this afternoon, all bricks in the top layer has been stuck down with liquid nails and given some time to cure shouldn't move anytime soon.
Also picked out a selection of plants that will be going into the bed once I get some soil in it, as they have been shaded somewhat up untill now I've raised a primitive shade shelter for them so they can adjust to full sun. Very quick and simple setup just using some pine boards and insect screen.

Mad mix of plants, fair few columnars but also quite a few smaller plants picked out and put outside. Got some more already in the temporary bed that will be transplated....likely pick out some more as I go along aswell.
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And under their temporary shadehut
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gemhunter178
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Re: New bed finally underway.

Post by gemhunter178 »

Nice selection of plants! Looks like you're going to have a heck of a garden. :D
A cactus and succulent collector who especially likes Ariocarpus. …Though I have a bit of everything! Want some pictures? See my flickr! I also do art and such.
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SnowFella
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Re: New bed finally underway.

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Pulled my finger out again and ordered the soil for delivery tomorrow morning, 1.5 tonnes of sandy loam that I'l mix with scoria for better drainage. Going to be a fun day carting that from the front to the backyard by hand, going to have to build a ramp so I can get up the 10inch retaining wall around the back lawn with the wheelbarrow.
If the weather permits I'll pop up the timelapse camera for fun.
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SnowFella
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Re: New bed finally underway.

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Well that was a chore and a half! Landscaping company dropped off the soil this morning, and a solid 3 hours of work later the bed is now filled. Lost count of the number of trips with the wheelbarrow it took but I'm guessing it was between 25 and 30. Thanking my lucky stars it was a cloudy day and not to hot.
Unfortunately I should of checked their product closer than just ordering sandy loam, what they delivered is what I'd class as sandy lawn base. Oh well, going to have to cut it with a good number of bags of scoria anyways.

Put the timelapse camera up but the result it's kinda like watching paint dry.


Excuse the pasty white guy that keeps on mooning the camera :lol:
Had a bit of a break towards the end as we got the call the wife anxiously have been waiting on for 2 weeks now, granddaughter No4 Kenzie May arrived by C-section healty and at a tiny 7lbs at around 11:30AM. :D

Edit: few hours later and it turns out pasty white and 2 hours outside without a shirt on even on a cloudy day when the UV index says "Extreme" isn't such a good combinatin. ](*,) Shoulder's and back is bright red and feel like it's on fire. Guess I'll never really learn the sun here downunder has quite abit more power than back home!
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gemhunter178
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Re: New bed finally underway.

Post by gemhunter178 »

Congrats! on your granddaughter, ouch! for the sunburn and cool! on the time lapse. :D
A cactus and succulent collector who especially likes Ariocarpus. …Though I have a bit of everything! Want some pictures? See my flickr! I also do art and such.
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