The pond builder and I are working hard to finish a number of projects around the farm before we host the Charlotte Koi Club meeting on the 14th. I hate to jinx the unfinished projects but I do believe the pond might be truly finished by then. Rodney the contractor has disappointed me a few times when it comes to deadlines. One really big hurdle has been the completion of base layer painting of the pavilion. I was originally going to have it all black with some accents but thought I would end up with too much black. So seven gallons of French Roast brown was applied, including the underside. Having a darker solid color is nice because the photos of your koi will not include the reflection of light wood. Not to mention the wood boards are just ugly. I painted the fascia board and corbel tips a matte black. Over the weekend, the corbels will be painted gray and I can put away my painting supplies.

Pond builder has been making shou sugi ban side pieces by charring pieces of cedar. The charring creates a “waterproof, weatherproof, rot and mold-resistant, fire resistant wood and protects against termites and other insect infestations.” It’s an ancient Japanese technique and seems to check off a lot good points for use around our pond. Since charred wood can soil clothes if you brush up against it, we have applied a sealer to the surface. As he placed some of the boards on the pond, pond builder noted that there will need to be some sanding and re-charring in place, particularly the corners.

Another band of shou sugi pieces will be applied below the current boards. Once they are in place, we will be filling in the gap with pea gravel from the board edges to the inner edge of the concrete skirt. A little bit of concrete powder was placed in the between space to help seal off the weeds. We will still run some landscaping fabric under the pea gravel. We had considered other stone options but we have been using pea gravel in a variety of our other projects so it’s just convenient (and consistent).

Jojo the karashigoi is enjoying the pond now and all the koi are looking healthy. It’s so much more pleasant to watch koi when you have shade overhead. Sunshine is good for the koi and at different times of the day, there are stretches of sunlight in the water.

After the last storm took out a portion of a cedar tree, we decided to get rid of the half-standing cedar tree and grind out the front stumps. Not the greatest time to be growing grass but we’re trying. The straw blanket is not really necessary except to keep the chickens from eating all the grass seed. We’ve lost some tall sources of shade out front so picked out a magnolia as a replacement. The Bracken’s Brown Beauty will grow about 30 feet tall, not too wide with large (5-6″) flowers. Plus it’s evergreen.

The Japanese maple garden is progressing slowly. I have added more small garden areas which will need to be mulched and defined. The creation of some of the extra beds was to rehab some of the japanese maples that were not doing well in pots. The heat and exposure to sun can burn the maple leaves very easily. They also seem like petulant plants that want to make their owners feel guilty because you were a day late watering them. I’m hoping to enjoy the maple garden more often in the future. The biggest users of the garden right now seem to be the chickens who love all the mulch to scratch and search for bugs. It is a few degrees cooler in the shade and maybe the nearby bamboo stand is doing its thing as a natural air conditioner.

As summer ends, the garden tends to get neglected. I have cleaned up the 45 tomato plants and hope for a few more batches of salsa. I am starting some heirloom cherry tomatoes because I think they might produce fruit before it gets cold. No data to support this theory, just crossing my fingers. We did move the southern raised beds to the east side breezeway area. I’m very lazy when it comes to watering and having the beds closer to the breezeway door will ensure that they are watered more frequently. Plus, I save a few steps whenever I need some lettuce, onions, herbs, etc.

The upper garden is producing round 2 of green beans and will transition to winter crops soon. After three years of trying to stay ahead of the squash beetle and vine borer, I’ve decided to not plant any cucurbits for two years (squash, gourds, zucchini) in the upper garden. A few other suggestions from the internet will also be abandoned. Borage did not help, we got sick of eating the companion radishes, a lot of ‘helpful’ companion plants did not prove to be effective at all. Cucumbers, beans, tomatoes and berries seem to be the easiest and most successful in my garden.

The chickens are always a source of amusement on the farm. They are also a lot of work. We now have 21 chickens of various ages. We think this will help us with a more consistent supply of eggs. We have 8 hens from 2022. The four hens we purchased in 2023 have been lost to illness and predators. We have three 2024 hens that we call the teenagers. They are about 20 weeks old and have just started laying eggs. We should have had 5 but two became lunch for Ms Fox earlier this year. Since I was sad about losing the two young hens, I purchased a foursome – two silver laced Wyandottes and two cream leg barns. This group is called the big kids and they stay very close to their coop. We have just started letting them free range and they often run back into their coop because they don’t want to be bullied by one of the older hens.

That really should have been enough chickens but we had grandchildren staying with us for a week and thought it might be fun for them to pick out some chicks. They picked out six chicks and four of them promptly died. Every morning for four straight days we would find an expired chick. I blame the store we purchased the chicks from – Rural King. Two survived – a lavender orpington named Blueberry and a starlight green egger named Daisy. After the grandchildren left, I went back to Tractor Supply for some more chicks. When the younger hens are allowed to mix in with the rest of the flock, they really like to have pals to hang around with. Chickens can be very mean to newcomers. So I picked up two Rhode Island Reds, Laverne and Shirley…and two Calico Princess, Lucy and Ethel. The month old chicks spend a lot of time trying to escape their coop.

I completed a super easy DIY project – staining and sealing concrete. I can’t believe we were actually going to pay the contractor to do this. If I can do this, anyone can. All you need is a typical garden pump up sprayer. I watched a few YouTube videos and it took very little time. My biggest worry was that the chickens would walk across the concrete still wet with stain and poop on it (they didn’t). This area is on the southwest corner of the house and would often get overrun with weeds. A concrete pad and some mulch over landscaping fabric makes my life easier.

The concrete pad will have some chairs on it where we can watch the beautiful sunsets or watch the hay getting mowed. It’s a little early to cut the hay back but I’m glad they decided to cut it now. The spring hay looks nice and is generally one length. The stuff that grows over the summer looks unkempt, different heights, just unattractive. We may need to do some overseeding to get a more attractive looking hay to grow from summer into fall. I do love to see the fields cut short.

We’ll be laboring over Labor Day with the mulch and pea gravel delivered by Lowes this week. There is never an end to our projects list but I’m sure the farm will be presentable in two weeks!