WiseAcre Gardens

Another day canoeing on the Grasse River.
This time it was the section between Morley and Bucks Bridge. The trip starts out in shallow water riffles and there is always the chance of getting hung up on submerged boulders and rock ledges. By keeping to the north side of the river you can avoid most of the snares. A bedrock shelf extends out from the north (right) side. During periods of low water it lies exposed, today it was mostly submerged. You can just make out some debris stranded on the shelf where the water lever was only a couple inches deep.

It only takes a few minutes to run shallows (about 3/4 mile) in a canoe. This section is probably my favorite fishing spot in the county. It’s a great spot to wade and fish on a hot summer day, smallmouth bass like to hang out in the numerous ‘holes’. These pockets can be waist deep and the current can sweep you off your feet if you stumble into one but it’s oh so refreshing when it’s unbearably hot and humid. By the time both the river and I run out of current I can just manage to walk up the hill to home.

Near the end of the shallows is a limestone outcrop on the south (right) side and the location of my primary objective of the day. It might only be a mile from home and I may be a bit carried away when it comes to rocks but I’m not dumb enough to carry one that far. I are smart so I used my canoe to collect this beauty I discovered on the river bank.

RockinCanoe

I’ve been collecting rocks and thinking about making some disappearing fountains. I’ll get into that another day.

After the shallow water riffles the river settles down. There’s 2 miles of flat water and a number of small islands before reaching sight of Bucks Bridge. I fished some on the way and caught a couple of smallmouth ‘keepers’ that I let go for another day. Hooking into bass over 15 inches is not an unusual experience in this section of river.

The river bank is high and hides a beaver pond / swamp on the south side. Where the swamp drains to the river is a shallow area filled with pickerelweed. I usually catch both pickerel and northern pike here but today I just drifted by. A Great Blue Heron was stalking the shallows and I didn’t want to disturb it. I wanted photos of big blue.

I was drifting slowly and quite a distance away but the heron noticed me right away.

A couple of strides with those long legs and it was nearly hidden in the pickerelweed.

My presence was too much to tolerate. With both of us in motion and the camera at full zoom I was surprised to capture the moment it took wing and get a half way decent photo.

The rest of the trip was pretty much uneventful. Another bass caught and released, a turtle diving for cover and a good slap by a beaver was all that interrupted the last part of the trip. (No I didn’t get slapped, beavers slap the water as a warning to others then dive out of sight)

The end in sight. Bucks Bridge

This is another section of shallow water riffles. Just before the bridge I got hung up and had to get my feet wet pulling the canoe to the takeout.

A Google map of the river section along County RT 14.

View Larger Map

My trusty Ford Ranger continues to put up with my abuse so I thought I’d give it (and myself) a break and haul something a little less back breaking.

Normally I’m hauling close to a ton of sandstone. When ya pay $100 for whatever you can get on the truck I have a tendency to go a little overboard.

Regardless of the type of stone the loading process is basically the same. First you’re going to need a long bar to lift the front of the rock high enough to get the first roller under it. With the truck backed up to the intended stone use ramps, rollers, chain and a come-along (hand winch) to slowly get it on the truck. My ramps are nothing more than three 2 x 4s nailed together.

One thing to remember – the rollers act as a steering wheels. Make sure they’re aligned to go in the direction you want. Even the back rollers need to be aligned correctly or the back end of the rock will swing in the direction they’re pointing.

Did I mention slowly? Rounded boulders really don’t like to be off the ground. They have an inherent fear of gravity and a nasty habit of jumping off the ramp. You have to coax them along a little bit at a time. This one had a fairly flat bottom so the loading went smoothly.

Easy as cake. Well, you try to get my wife to bake and you’ll know what I mean.

Go ahead and try this at home. If you don’t have a place for one I’m sure your in-law’s driveway would be a great spot to drop it off.

A purple sandstone walkway on Judson Street is finally finished. Now a few more boulders need to be placed and the beds will be ready for spring planting.

From the boulder I placed last week – the false stream bed is in place but needs more assorted river rock.

That Hosta has to go – that area is the sunny spot and I’m planning on more sun loving flowers there. A mass of coreopsis (Zagreb most likely), a smattering of coneflowers and Brown Eyed Susans and creeping sedum lining the borders. But that might all change. I reserve not to know what I’m dong until finished.

I’ve thought about digging out the island bed and lining it to hold wet soil. I’d like to plant some Ligularia and Yellow and Blue Flag Iris but the space is small and that just might not work out as I vision it.

On the far side of the ‘stream bed’ I can see a boulder in each corner. I’ve got a couple of nice weathered rocks in mind that will match the one along the walk.

I like the weeping pea tree in the island bed along the driveway. The bed is mainly planted with Iris, Coreopsis, upright Sedum with a couple of spots left for ‘undecided’. Like I said that Hosta has to go.

I loved this job. When the home owners said they wanted to eliminate the lawn – I was all ears. Originally the walk went straight to the front steps from the driveway. One requirement was that the garden had to be low maintenance. Rock is about as low as you can go. So a false stream bed was added to eat up space and to add a little interest for winter when the plants disappear.

The only lawn left is under the truck. Next year that area will be turned into a shade garden – I don’t have enough Astilbe planted yet

This is one of the last stone projects I will do. I’m afraid I really messed up my back beyond it’s ability to heal this year. I have a large patio to finish and after that I’m going to call it quits.

One last walk – finally finished. It only needed to be leveled off but had to with 2 months before I could pick up my bar.

I’m now working slowly on finishing the patio in Lisbon. I probably won’t finish this year. I got another kink in my back and am going to take a bit more time off.