Pathway to the Hartley Has Begun + Cleaning the Monster Tomatoes & Vines Out of the Raised Beds!
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00:00 and his crew are here today laying the flagstones
00:03 for the pathway, you know, between the Hartley and the house.
00:05 Now they've already prepped the whole area.
00:07 They hand dug that whole pathway out.
00:09 And it's not like a super short pathway.
00:12 It was a lot of hard work.
00:14 And they laid conduit under it in a couple of different spots.
00:16 They put down the couple of layers.
00:18 There's like a layer of road mix
00:19 and then another layer of smaller gravel.
00:22 And they're screeding it right now,
00:23 like making it very level.
00:24 And then they're going to start in on the stones.
00:26 So I'd like to show you that whole progression.
00:29 You know, they just do things
00:30 in the perfect increments of time.
00:32 Like they get it done very quickly,
00:33 but they leave you with a little, like a couple days
00:36 between when they have the area completely
00:38 like prepped and ready for stones.
00:40 And when they actually lay the stones,
00:41 that way you have a day or two
00:42 to kind of live with the shape of it.
00:45 You can kind of see the rough outline of the shape
00:47 and then you can make any adjustments.
00:48 And they're really great about letting us know
00:50 whenever they get to like a curve,
00:52 they'll have us come look at it
00:53 and make sure if we want to move it, you know,
00:54 six inches from one way or to the other,
00:56 they make sure that we really like the way it looks.
00:58 So it's just such a fun process.
01:00 And the second thing, which I think is exciting
01:02 is that we're going to be working in the raised beds today,
01:04 basically just clearing them out.
01:06 And you know, we do have, this week is nice.
01:08 Like it's going to get into the mid seventies.
01:10 We could probably eke out a little bit more production
01:13 out of like the cucumber vine
01:14 that I'm going to be pulling today.
01:16 But we've harvested so much off of these plants in here
01:20 and I need to get them ready for garlic and things like that
01:23 that I'm ready.
01:24 I'm ready to get them pulled.
01:25 And it's been cold enough
01:26 to where the tomatoes have that weird,
01:28 you know how they get that weird flavor after it's,
01:31 yeah, been cold.
01:32 That's what they have.
01:33 So it's going to seem a little bit like a shame
01:35 that I'm pulling stuff out, but like that monster tomato,
01:38 it's like a huge tree back there.
01:40 And the cucumbers, they are showing some, you know,
01:45 possibly even like some spider mite damage.
01:47 I'll have to get in there.
01:48 And I will harvest some good ones that are still in there.
01:50 And then anything that's bigger will go to the chickens
01:53 and then all the vines and some of the produce
01:55 will go to Bethany's pigs.
01:56 So it's all good, but I can't believe this.
01:58 What are we, October 2nd, 3rd today?
02:00 Look at these containers.
02:02 Like what?
02:03 They look like they're right in the middle of summer.
02:06 They are so happy.
02:08 Supertunia Vista Jasperi, just climbing over the fence,
02:11 you know, just like it's no big deal.
02:14 Let's look around the other side here.
02:15 Yep, just kind of poofing through.
02:17 Look at that.
02:20 I love how this combination turned out
02:22 because the centerpiece, which is a Kerali Petit Gara,
02:25 I was a little skeptical.
02:27 I didn't know if it would hold up to the vigor
02:29 of a Vista Supertunia in there,
02:31 but it certainly has.
02:32 Definitely more in this one than in this one,
02:35 but you can still see it coming through.
02:37 There's the Supertunia Raspberry Rush
02:40 and then a Supervena Sparkling Amethyst.
02:43 It's just been such a pretty, hi Douglas,
02:46 pretty mix in here.
02:47 And I just, I just love it.
02:50 So no fall containers in these for a while.
02:53 But let's just take a quick spin through here
02:54 before we start yanking stuff.
02:56 Sunflowers, most of which are spent.
02:59 Let's see, do we have spider mite damage?
03:01 Let me look.
03:02 Usually if you see that mottled kind of look,
03:04 either way, I don't see any webbing or anything like that.
03:09 Doesn't mean they're not there.
03:12 Anyway, they're looking weary.
03:13 So we're gonna take those out.
03:15 We'll take these tomatoes.
03:16 Now, if I come across, you can see all these green ones,
03:19 which I could definitely ripen inside,
03:23 but you know, the pigs will benefit from these.
03:25 If there are some, which there are,
03:26 that are ripe on the interior of the plant,
03:29 I might take those in and try them.
03:31 But the last several tomatoes that I have harvested
03:34 have had that weird flavor.
03:35 We're gonna take this container out.
03:36 Maybe we'll have some time to get that planted up
03:38 with something simple.
03:40 This is one cherry tomato plant.
03:42 With sun sugar, my goodness.
03:46 I'll leave some things,
03:47 like the bachelors buttons look really pretty.
03:50 There's carrots that I've still been harvesting off of,
03:53 so I'll probably leave those.
03:54 We've got some organ sugar pod peas
03:56 and some didiscus in here,
03:57 which is actually gonna do something, which is fun.
04:00 So we'll leave some stuff alone in here.
04:02 Spinach, looks like we actually had
04:04 some leaf miner damage in here.
04:06 See that?
04:07 See those like tracks in the leaf,
04:08 like little caterpillars that get in there.
04:11 I haven't been out here spraying or anything,
04:12 but the chickens will get these.
04:14 And over here are some peppers, which I might leave.
04:17 I'm not sure.
04:18 We might just harvest and then pull the plants.
04:19 Like, look at this.
04:20 This basil needs to be, it's been broken, I think,
04:23 off at the base.
04:24 Yeah.
04:25 So that needs to be pulled.
04:26 Cosmos are looking beautiful.
04:28 Got a couple of different varieties in here.
04:30 Look at how cute those are.
04:31 And this is one of my favorites right here.
04:34 What kind is that?
04:36 These are xanthos, X-A-N-T-H-O-S.
04:41 You get the seeds from botanical interests
04:43 and I just love 'em.
04:44 And this is Xenia, X-S-E-N-I-A.
04:48 And I think that those are really pretty.
04:51 They kinda have an apricot glow ring right around in there.
04:55 Okay, and then the cantaloupe, just real big.
05:00 Real big, need to come out so I can get to the blackberry
05:04 and groom that poor plant.
05:05 We cut the clematis, it's looking sad, all the way back.
05:08 We've got some wild rose canes.
05:10 We just need to spend some time in here.
05:12 I think I need to replace that boxwood.
05:14 It looks like the drip may be malfunctioned.
05:16 So we've got our work cut out.
05:18 I've got my gloves, my Falcos.
05:19 I'm gonna go grab a pop-up bag
05:21 and then I'm gonna just dump everything in the gator
05:23 and then it's all going to Paul's truck
05:24 so I can go out to Bethany's pig.
05:26 So that is the order of this morning
05:28 and you guys, it's beautiful.
05:29 You can see it's kind of overcast.
05:31 It's 8 a.m. right now and it's cool and just wonderful.
05:36 So here we go.
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08:47 Well, that is my job done for the day.
08:50 We got a ton cleared out.
08:52 Oh my goodness, look at this space.
08:54 You can actually see the raised beds now,
08:57 which I kind of like.
08:58 After a summer of abundance,
09:00 it's kind of nice to see it looking tidy.
09:02 Got the container planted just very simply
09:05 and I chose a color of pansy
09:07 that could go straight into winter.
09:09 So we've got a Cedar Rapids Camasiparas right here,
09:13 which actually gets quite large.
09:14 I'm gonna look it up,
09:15 I wanna say it gets like 30 feet tall.
09:18 So it can't stay in that container forever,
09:21 but for a while.
09:22 Hold on, let me see.
09:23 Cedar Rapids, 30 feet tall by 12 to 15 foot spread.
09:28 This one is new for 2024.
09:30 And I think they're absolutely gorgeous.
09:32 I've got a few of them in the high tunnel
09:33 that I think we might pop out in the new property
09:35 because they can get as big as they want out there.
09:38 What zone are they?
09:39 Zone four through eight.
09:41 But I love that the foliage is a little bit brighter.
09:44 I was a little worried
09:44 that it wouldn't set apart from the North Pole Arbs
09:46 back behind it,
09:47 but you can absolutely see it easily.
09:51 And they're just so soft.
09:53 And I love that ferny texture,
09:54 especially with the white pansies.
09:55 There's just something so peaceful about that.
09:59 And you'll notice that I did leave the drip
10:01 flopped out the backside of this container.
10:02 I've got to replace this run right here
10:05 because only I think one of them was dripping.
10:07 It was actually very interesting this morning
10:09 because the drip was running when I started this project.
10:13 And even though we replaced the drip system
10:15 in most of these raised beds mid-season,
10:17 so not even, I don't know, two months ago,
10:19 maybe two and a half, maybe three months ago.
10:23 I don't know, not very long.
10:25 A lot of these quarter inch drip tubes were already plugged.
10:28 I mean, this is a really good example.
10:30 I replaced these probably end of June.
10:33 So what is that, July, August, September?
10:35 Yeah, three months ago.
10:36 But I used a half inch supply line, like a header line,
10:39 and then came off of it with the quarter inch drip tube.
10:41 And you'll notice like this is super wet.
10:44 And then it gets really dry toward the end.
10:46 And these were getting barely anything at all.
10:49 They're all so plugged up already, which is so unfortunate.
10:52 Same thing in this bed.
10:53 This side was all wet,
10:54 except for it did go the full distance.
10:56 And this side was dry.
10:58 Same here, look at that, just dry as a bone.
11:01 And those pepper plants were still producing,
11:03 which is amazing to me.
11:05 And then same thing in here.
11:06 Oh, they're cutting a stone.
11:08 There's a couple times this morning
11:09 that I'd hear that sound,
11:10 but I was just busy working.
11:11 And then like a cloud of dust, stone dust,
11:15 would kind of make its way over here.
11:16 And all of a sudden I think, is there a fire?
11:18 All of a sudden it got really smoky, seemingly, smoky.
11:22 All right.
11:23 And then in this bed right here,
11:24 no wonder the lettuce didn't come up on this side.
11:28 This drip tube on this side is just not working.
11:30 I did decide instead of pulling the spinach out altogether,
11:33 I just cut it off, just trimmed it.
11:36 And it will produce new leaves.
11:37 It'll take it a couple of weeks,
11:38 maybe a little bit longer than that
11:40 with the cooling days,
11:41 but it is a cold season crop,
11:43 so it will flush back.
11:45 This raised bed, I didn't have to do anything to.
11:47 I think this one looks so sweet.
11:49 I don't know why, it just does.
11:51 And then I did tame the rose just a little bit,
11:53 just enough to where we could walk through it.
11:55 And I could walk on either side of it without being snagged,
11:58 but it really is pretty.
12:00 And there are buds everywhere on these roses.
12:02 So I didn't want to cut too much.
12:04 I accidentally cut one bud off.
12:08 Aren't they just the most gorgeous rose?
12:10 The cucumber has been cleaned,
12:12 and we got so many cucumbers off of it.
12:15 We'll take a closer look.
12:16 You probably just saw.
12:17 I've got one basket full of cucumbers
12:18 that I will disperse among family and friends,
12:21 and then one that will be given to the chickens
12:23 over the course of several days.
12:26 Oh, hello, Douglas.
12:27 Made your way out?
12:29 I think he's been napping under the arbs.
12:32 Hey, bud.
12:34 Wish you guys could hear his purr.
12:36 It's so loud.
12:37 Also, I realized, and see,
12:39 this is why I kind of wanted to get these vine crops out,
12:42 but the blackberries are producing,
12:44 and I didn't see 'em because there was so much,
12:47 so many leaves from the cucumber over here,
12:49 and I was able to eat all of these.
12:50 They were so tasty.
12:51 These aren't quite ready yet.
12:53 I left the carrots alone and the bachelor's buttons
12:55 because those are just so pretty.
12:57 The color there.
12:58 Oh, they're just gorgeous.
12:59 I'm gonna have to get a shovel
13:00 to get the sun sugar stump out.
13:02 And then there's a look at the container from this angle.
13:05 Isn't that just so sweet?
13:06 I just love it.
13:07 And here's our haul from today.
13:09 So I did save a few of the cantaloupe.
13:12 That's our Tuscany melon is the variety here.
13:15 Few of these I think we can eat now,
13:16 and then I'm just gonna set 'em on the counter
13:18 and let 'em ripen further.
13:20 And this is the basket of cucumbers for the chicken,
13:22 so I just cut 'em in half lengthwise
13:24 and just lay 'em with the seeds side up,
13:27 and the chickens love 'em.
13:29 And then these look really good.
13:31 Like, look at these.
13:32 Gorgeous.
13:33 Suyallong is the variety here.
13:34 So these are the good ones we'll keep.
13:36 And then peppers that I harvested
13:38 off the green bell that we had up here.
13:40 I left the cosmos alone
13:42 and the kale that has come up in this bed,
13:44 and then I did decide to leave this melon
13:47 because this plant looks still pretty good
13:49 and it's out of the way.
13:50 I did cut a bunch of it back so that we could walk.
13:52 There are a bunch of melons still on this vine,
13:55 so I'm excited.
13:56 I think we'll still get quite a lot of production
13:58 out of this one yet this season.
14:00 And there was all kinds of flim-flam going on
14:02 underneath this vine crop.
14:04 I mean, there was a melon up in the hydrangea standard,
14:08 just like chillin', hanging there.
14:09 There was melons up in the blackberries.
14:11 They had gone through, of course, the fence in front,
14:13 and there were melons all over in there.
14:15 And there's some kind of little varmint
14:17 that had created a hole.
14:18 It looks like a gopher mound, kind of, like a small one.
14:21 Look at that.
14:22 So one of my melon hills was right here.
14:25 You can see the drip emitters right here.
14:26 So this is where the roots were,
14:29 and this, so it was hiding all of this.
14:31 There's like the mound of fresh soil
14:32 that had been kicked up from something
14:34 that made this hole right here.
14:36 That is not big enough to be a gopher hole.
14:38 Gopher holes are usually about, I don't know,
14:41 four times that big, maybe three to four times that big.
14:43 So I don't know what that is, and it seems kind of fresh.
14:47 So both the cats were fairly interested
14:49 in what was going on over here.
14:50 I also discovered that the drip plugged
14:52 in this blackberry pot, so those two are doing great.
14:56 This one is still alive, so I think it will be okay.
14:58 I'm just gonna get it nicely watered today.
15:00 And then I've gotta replace drip in this container,
15:02 the boxwood container, and the container in the center.
15:06 Here's a look from this side.
15:08 Oh, it just feels like I can breathe in this space again.
15:12 Oh, I love it.
15:13 And it's ready to go for garlic.
15:15 You know, here we are in October,
15:16 and sometimes I've got it planted in September,
15:18 so I don't want to, like time to get away from me,
15:21 and I don't wanna miss my planting window.
15:23 So to have them all cleared out and ready to go,
15:25 that's perfect.
15:26 And those tomatoes, you guys,
15:27 like there was a tremendous amount of tomatoes
15:29 on those plants.
15:29 I swear not trimming your tomatoes gives you the most amount
15:33 if you've got the space to let 'em go.
15:35 But this smell, they had definitely turned.
15:38 And I discovered also that the basil had not been cracked.
15:41 I thought it had been.
15:42 I think it just got nipped in one of our cooler nights.
15:45 It hasn't really, hasn't been super close to freezing,
15:48 but I think it was cold enough to maybe take it.
15:50 So anyway, feels good to have this done.
15:52 So now let's take a look at what Pedro
15:55 and his crew have been up to.
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17:10 All right guys, Pedro and his crew just left,
17:13 and I'm really anxious to go see
17:14 how the pathway is shaping up.
17:15 Oh my goodness.
17:17 Looks like they have over half of it done.
17:20 Whoa.
17:21 Oh, look at this.
17:27 Look at how beautiful it is.
17:28 Oh my gosh.
17:29 It's perfect.
17:31 And you guys, the stone is darker,
17:32 just like with the pavers around the pond,
17:35 when they cut, which they've been cutting the edges
17:38 so that it kind of, you know, keeps that formal edge,
17:41 it just puts rock dust everywhere.
17:44 So that's why they have that white layer.
17:46 In fact, the bricks have a white layer.
17:48 Everything kind of does,
17:49 and we're going to have to get in there
17:52 and probably clean pretty good.
17:54 Don't they just do a beautiful job?
17:55 So what they've done is a very gradual flare
17:58 so that it matches the opening of the bricks right here,
18:01 which I think is close to, I don't know.
18:03 I don't know if it's six or a little over six feet,
18:06 but then it narrows down to five feet.
18:08 And that's what we wanted the bulk of the walkway to be,
18:10 is five feet.
18:11 Now, today, they haven't worried too much about leveling.
18:15 They just want to get all of the pieces kind of in place.
18:18 And then they go back through and pack everything down
18:20 and level all the rocks before they put sand in.
18:23 So let's just take a walk down here.
18:25 'Cause I want to look at it from the other side as well.
18:29 See how they put this really flexible PVC in,
18:32 and they put in some little pins
18:33 that kind of hold it in place right where they want it
18:36 so they have a guide.
18:37 Oh my word.
18:40 Okay.
18:41 I did notice earlier,
18:42 they must have found these great big pieces in the pallet.
18:45 Look at those.
18:47 Those are enormous.
18:49 Like, there's my foot.
18:50 Look how huge that rock is.
18:52 Those are great entry rocks though.
18:55 So what they'll do is they'll cut right here
19:01 so that that one will fit right down.
19:02 Oh, and look at that curve.
19:04 Just a nice gentle curve leading you to the house.
19:08 Oh, this is so exciting.
19:10 Because once this is done and in,
19:13 we can determine exactly how big of a piece of grass we want
19:16 and we can start thinking about
19:17 what we want to do along the pathway
19:20 and how we want to kind of spider off from it
19:22 because we will maintain an opening
19:24 to the fireplace area right here.
19:26 But look how much bigger my flowerbeds just got
19:29 from right here.
19:30 All the way to the walkway.
19:32 And same for this area here.
19:33 You know, we've got tons of hellebores in here,
19:35 but we've got that much more space
19:37 to come out and do some really fun stuff.
19:38 And this will be much more sun loving
19:41 right out here than it is in here.
19:43 Now, a couple of other things that may or may not happen.
19:46 I don't know.
19:47 This locust tree has been limping along.
19:49 That might come out.
19:52 If that comes out, this lilac's probably gonna come out,
19:54 which might mean a complete redesign right here.
19:58 Possibly a protege, 'cause it's right by the kitchen.
20:01 Have like a formal herb garden slash like small vegetables.
20:05 Because you know, if we don't have the tree here
20:07 and the lilac here, it's gonna be a sunny spot.
20:09 So it'll get plenty of sun for the type of crops
20:11 that I'd want to grow and herbs.
20:13 And that'd look really fun to have a very formal area
20:15 around the Hartley.
20:16 And then this is gonna be very informal
20:18 on either side of the walkway, more cottagey.
20:20 And then have another little spot of formal right over here.
20:23 That'd be kind of fun.
20:24 I don't know.
20:25 I haven't really fleshed that idea out
20:27 and I really don't want to lose that tree.
20:29 So I'm hoping everything pulls through
20:30 and I don't have to execute on that idea.
20:32 But we'll see how it goes.
20:33 In gardening, you just have to learn how to be flexible
20:36 because things go wrong when you're dealing with plants
20:38 and you're dealing with nature and climate
20:41 and you cannot control weather and that sort of thing.
20:44 You just never know exactly what's gonna happen.
20:46 So I don't know, throughout the years of doing this,
20:49 I used to get super bombed.
20:50 Like when a hail storm would come through
20:52 or if we'd lose a great big tree
20:55 in a wind storm or something like that.
20:56 And now I kind of take things in more of a,
21:00 I don't know, a stride.
21:02 It's a little bit easier to get through
21:04 just knowing that it's just an opportunity
21:06 for something else.
21:07 So I'm trying to think of real fun ideas
21:09 to do in this space should we have to lose that tree
21:12 'cause that is kind of a tragedy.
21:13 Anyway, I'm super happy with this.
21:16 We will have to, now that I'm thinking about it,
21:20 so we'll come off this way, not with a formal pathway,
21:23 probably just individual flagstones,
21:25 kind of like how you see those little round ones there,
21:27 to the fireplace.
21:29 We might need to do something much the same,
21:31 probably in the same area so that they connect,
21:34 but something that gets you over to this grass
21:36 and then you can go over that way.
21:37 So we'll have to remember that and keep that in mind
21:40 when we are figuring out what plants we wanna put in here.
21:43 And really the beauty of this whole thing, timing-wise,
21:46 is that we really don't have a whole lot of time
21:48 to get a bunch of stuff in the ground.
21:50 So I'll have a good portion of the winter
21:51 to think about what we wanna do in this space.
21:54 Erin and I will be able to talk through some ideas
21:57 and kind of get it all hammered out,
22:00 hopefully, by next spring.
22:01 Anyway, guys, that is it for today.
22:04 What a great day.
22:05 So productive.
22:06 I just walked back through the vegetable garden
22:08 and it just, oh, feels so good to see some open spaces
22:12 and I'm gonna get ready here to plant garlic soon.
22:14 So that might be one of the next things that we do.
22:16 So anyway, thank you guys so much for watching.
22:18 I hope you enjoyed it
22:19 and we will see you in the next video, bye.