garden – Rõika 15

Front cam and ‘raamuitzetter’

When Martijn called me due to a scare around his house to ask if he could borrow a security camera I figured it would be a good idea to also install the front yard camera before our vacation.
This project took a bit longer then anticipated. Mainly because the drill had found the main wire the electricity which needed to be fixed before I could continue.
Good thing the drill had just cut trough the insulating mantel and shorted the wires there for a few seconds before I could pull it back. This resulted in a brown-out in part of the house, with some unexpected behaviour of some appliances. After fully resetting them all seemed to be in working order again and I could finish the installation of the camera and integrate it in Home Assistant.

For years I had been looking for some “raamuitzetters” like the once that are used in the Netherlands, but it seems they just do not exist in Estonia, so when I found out Ronald was in the Netherlands, I asked him to bring a few.
As we have double windows the telescopic screw once seemed to be the best option. I installed the first one and as it was a pretty windy day I could instantly see how it worked and it worked like a charm. Now we can keep the window open safely at any angle without flapping.

The rest of the month we spend in Denmark as it is time for a vacation again.

Train roof improvements and cam

For year it had annoyed me that when the train roofs where build the left almost half a meter of space between the garage and the roofed space, and therefore everything near the wall gets wet when it rains.. As I had some left over materials from the roofing of the house, I decided to use that to cover the gap. The metal works easy, so I could make it fit around the profile of the sheeting used on the wall of the garage.
I got some rebar and practiced my welding again. Some spots look half way decent yet other spots would earn me a failing grade if I would have done this for a welding course. But the most important thing was that everything was baked together, ready to have the roof sheets connected to it.
All in all it did seem to do the trick and the space underneath stayed dry.

The next week I started cleaning up under the roof. The container was full pretty quickly and there where a few piles for the next weeks. After that I started cleaning some dirt and 13 wheel barrels later it turned out there was a pretty nice concrete floor under it.
From some materials I had found during earlier cleanups under the roof I build a little side wall and besides that I put in a few pallets where I put the outdoor carpet roles and the big metal storage boxes. I nice start of cleaning up this area. Next I need to get rid of a lot more crap, so I can build a workbench and some shelves there so I can temporarily store stuff there when I am working under the roof.

On the marketplace at work someone offered a branch shredder for a nice price, it turned out to be the same one I had rented last year. As I noticed that with all these trees in the garden we very often have branches that are to small to actually put in the sauna oven, I figured it would be a good idea to get this, so we can make mulch for under the berry bushes and around the garden. A very useful way to get rid of your cuttings and reuse them around the garden.

Another one of those little projects that I did not get to was install some security cameras. In the mean time the integration for Home Assistant was way better and I also saw that Frigate has a nice local video analyzer that could help with alerting. The camera in the back yard was the first one. I improved the electricity wiring that I had set up for the first backyard light and extended a cable to provide the camera with power as POE was not supported. All in all it gives a good overview of the back yard. On to the next part.

Lots of garden work

We started the month with filling the raised beds, first all the smaller branches from cutting the tree, then a thick layer of peat and lastly a top layer of vegetable garden dirt. The beds are ready for this seasons plants that we have started inside as the weather is still behind on schedule.

Spring is also the time we often help out Mo’s mother with getting the wood for her heating inside. As a truck load had been delivered and the weather was nice during the weekend we piled it up in the back of her greenhouse.

Meanwhile a shipment of materials for an irrigation system came in. It will be nice to figure out how to put this together. But at the moment we have very regular showers, so besides no need, it is also not the weather to put it together.

Next to the back door deck Mo wanted to have a new herb garden, the previous one was nice to have close to the back door, and this sure is the warmest spot so you can start growing the herbs already early in the season. This time I made it from the same wood as the raised beds and was able to adjust the cover, to have the option to make it a little green house as well.

In the last week of May we finally got some nice days in a row (but still a regular shower in between as well), so we cleaned up some more in the garden. Especially around the well we had collected to much stuff. And since that is a nice and sunny spot Mo wanted to have a flower bed there. After cleaning up the shape quickly formed and I used some natural stones to make a border on grass level. Ready for some plants.

Raised beds and clean up

April weather sometimes pretends to be spring, so like previous years garden work start to come more to the foreground. We decided to remove the chicken coop and as the raised bed produced some nice crops we decided to add three bigger raised beds on the place of the chicken coop.

Preparation is as usual the biggest job and once that was done, the raised beds took shape pretty quick. As the season is late this year the sale of garden stuff is also late, so we’ll wait a bit before getting the dirt.

The covered veranda had collected a lot of stuff over the years and was in need of a clean up and some organization. I had found some L-brackets in the garage that we had used for our temporary kitchen years ago, which now got a second life to hold shelves in the veranda. This suddenly organized a lot of the gardening stuff that had piled up. And after a weekend you could actually walk in the veranda again and find stuff.

My dad and Tine where visiting again, so I had switched cars with Glenn, to have 4 spots. And guess what this weekend the garden dirt was on sale, so my dad an i drove twice with the Opel Astra to get the dirt which otherwise would have easily fitted in the back of the van.

Cutting trees and branches

Martijn had seen the clip of the controlled decent of the tree branch, so he asked me if I would like to help to cut down a tree in the garden of his stepfather. You don’t have to ask me twice. I packed my equipment in the van, picket up Martijn en drove there.

After checking the tree and the surrounding we decided to cut it more or less in half and then drop to bottom half freely to be on the safe side. I geared up, climbed in the tree, prepared the robes and made the cut. The drop went well and it is nice see see back the clip how much movement was in the tree, which also show why you are tied to the tree. Some branches caught the decending robe, so it did not slide down very smoothly, but after a few more cuts, it came down nicely.

The bottom part went very smooth and then there was a nice lunch and a nice thank you in the form of a bottle of whiskey.

Later that month I cut some more dead and crossing branches from the pappel in our garden. The cutting is the easy work, but after that you need to clean up all those branches, so putting them in 30 cm pieces (as the sauna heater takes 30 cm logs) and splitting the bigger pieces for easy drying and better burning.

All in all a nice pile of wood against the garage again.

Pretty random chores

A new year. So let’s start with some of those small jobs that have been left. For a long time I wanted to add some power sockets to the dormers in the bedroom, as at the moment the only sockets are at the wall behind the bed.
I had prepared the backyard dormer already for some new power outlets when I installed network sockets there, so I figured I start there. I only had to take out the drawers, climb in, cut a wire and split in an extra wire to run to the sockets, so a pretty straightforward task.
For the dormer in the front of the house I had to find out how to get power there. I knew the easiest way would be from Mattias his room, but I was not sure how I would get the wire behind the empty space behind the toilet, but this also turned out easier the expected, so all in all a simple task, that just took a bit of time.

Over the years every month ot two One of the 11 LEDs in the ceiling of the sauna would start blinking and then stop working. I had already gotten a new set of LEDs from the sauna store, but it turned out the terminals where a bit shorter the the original ones, so I had to solder a piece to every one of them to extend them. When they where all in, the sauna was nice and light again.

The water company had already send out communications about replacing the water meter for an electronic one at some point, and now it was finally time. In a few minutes the technician of the water company exchange the old meter for the new one. I had already contacted the water company if they have an API so I can access the data as well, but they either did not think about it or did not care about it. either way, I will have to look for some way to access this meter. Most likely I will and up with some sort of AI on the edge type of solution where I have a small ESP32 device with a camera film the meter and interprete the data. Nothing I will do any time soon, but something for on my wish list.

Then finally the weather was good enough so I could climb in the tree and cut out a few (dead) branches. Getting in took some effort, but once I had a robe around a high branch, I could pretty easy climb in. I still need to work on my robe climbing technique, but I got in. Once I had secured the breach I was going to cut, I got my new chainsaw up in the tree, the joy was short lived. The new saw was so sharp and powerful that at the first undercut it already when in so far that the weight of the branch pinched the saw stuck. No way to get it out. So I ended up getting a hand saw in to cut loose the chain saw. Tree 1 – Ego 0
Luckily the next few branches went easier. And I got a nice clip of a controlled decent of the branch. This smells like more, later this spring.

Finishing the roof

In April winter came back from time to time, so there where no weekends to take on another part of the roof. We did some pruning of the apple trees, but nothing major. On April 24th we had a surprise 10 cm of snow, but on May 1st, it was as if a switch was flicked and it seemed like summer.

In shorts and t-shirt Anton, Glenn and me took on the first part of the main roof. Here I had to replace the feather board as well. With the new feather board on it showed that roof had sagged a bit over the past 70 years. Since the construction is otherwise fine, I left it like that and will see if or what I will do about it. At the end of the weekend the first part was done.
This screams even more then before for a fresh coat of paint to compliment the new roof.

The next weekend I spend on some details. Skirting around the chimneys and the finishing strip between the small roof and the house. I always enjoy these type of puzzles and the results are also rewarding. I also added the roof ladder to reach the chimney sweep platform.

The weather was very stable, so another weekend, some more roof work. The last part of the roof around the dormer was more puzzling. It also was a good moment to insulate and finish the dormer with the same wood profile the main house has. Labor intensive so after the weekend it was not done yet and it took a few nights after work to finish the last part of the roof. But when that was done… It looks like a brand new house, well, almost.
We still need to paint. Let’s see when we get to that.

On of the last days of the month I rented a machine to turn all the pruned branches into mulch. A nice day of working on a tan while cleaning up the garden.

Building the porch

During the cold season I had noticed some cooler spots in the floor heating. I figured it had to do with the proximity of the stone foundation, so to improve that one of the next steps would be to insulate the foundation.

Since I wanted to get the back porch ready before winter, it made sense to insulate the foundation under the porch before I would start building it. So I started digging until I found the bottom of the foundation -which sure wasn’t as deep as I had thought- and place the insulation against the stones. The insulation cut surprisingly good on the table saw, so I could put a slight taper on it for the water to easy flow off, though at some point a metal slate might be even better.

With the insulation in place, I was able to build the frame and finish off with the decking. The garden bench of my grandparents fit exactly on the wall side and the barbecue fit nicely on the other side.

Learning to weld the back gate

When we drove out the Volvo to drive it to the Netherlands, I noticed again the side gate is in need of some fixing up. Since it is mainly a welded construction it would need to be welded. As it is something I’d like to learn I checked out a bunch of videos and looked into the tools I would need.

I found out K-Rauta sold a -welding machine for 60 euro after a double discount. I contacted Jeff, as he had told he could teach me some basic welding skills and for this money and this project there was little that could go wrong. So we went shopping at K-Rauta and came home with a welding set.

After trying out some settings, Jeff welded the first beams together to show me how to do it. It is simple and tricky at the same time. After a weekend of trying and welding stuff together the gate opened and closes a lot better then before. But a bit later when it was windy, a few welds did break again. So time for more practice, and by the end of the day the gate stayed up, opened and closed and could be locked.
I learned how to ‘bake’. In a next project I will try to learn how to weld better.

Vacation and finishing things

The biggest part of July we were in Sweden for vacation. There we saw a lot of wooden houses and of course the majority of those houses are painted in Swedish red. But a handful are painted in a soft yellow. Combined with the white details as also seen with the Swedish red, it was a very nice combination. We made several pictures of houses painted that way and were starting to get convinced this would be the colour combination for our house.

Back in Tallinn the issues with the electrical system were fixed and I also cleaned up the last few wires in a cable duct after which the system was approved.

Next was finishing the construction for the roof over the back porch.

Tag: garden