That last Coyote looks like the leg is more than hurt, looks like the foot is missing.

Sorry for the delay in updates.  We had an unexpected work hold with one client, so I've been scrambling to get on other projects and get things done.  Hopefully things calm down for the 3 weeks. 

The weather has been dry, hot, sunny, and some wind.  The juglone toxicity in the soil and really messing up the plants now.  They were doing ok until the dry spell with heat.  

My first picture is from the tree line along areas of the back yard.  It is really sections of woods, as the area has been neglected so long.  I sprayed the brush under the tree line and didn't think to check on it until a couple weeks later.  At first I though someone else had been back there and mowed really low and weeded.  Then I remembered I sprayed the brush with a product called Shredder.  It is 2,4-D but seems to work really with the type of brush that I have.  Can you tell where I sprayed?




Here are plants at the other house; however, they are sitting in walnut soil from here.  As you can see they are in terrible shape.  Not sure how the basil plant got into the pot but apparently it is immune to juglone.

















Now to the garden.  The shade and juglone has made it very pathetic.  There actually are a few tomatoes on the plants.  Looking at how the plants above look it is very obvious the juglone has affected the tomato plants as well.  The peppers, surprisingly don't seem to be bothered by it, yet.  Maybe they have a shallower root system and are mainly in the compost still.





This picture was taken today.  The picture below it was the same spot a month ago.  Juglone is taking out these tomatoes now that is dry and hot.  The way they looked a month ago I had hope that either the soil wasn't that bad or that the plants could handle it.  Unfortunately neither of those are true.










I am still working on the brush in the back yard.  Other than the huge brush pile, I have things looking fairly decent for the first time this year.  There is still a lot of small branches in the yard but at least I can mow everything now.






I also had a visitor while cleaning things up today.  I should know better by now.  Any time I pick up anything that has space under it there will most likely be a snake living there.

I haven't given up the first part yet.  The tomatoes in the actual garden, planted in large amounts of compost and with a drip irrigation system are still growing and do not have the leaf curl all the other plants have.  The shade appears to be a larger problem then juglone; although they are still affected by it just not as bad.  In the side garden I planted 4 tomato plants in compost and then that bunch straight into the soil.  What remains of the 4 plants, after the dogs and deer got them, is also growing without the leaf curl.  Those plants get a decent amount of sunlight.  They haven't produced anything yet but the plants are still viable.

As for walnut trees, other than "the trees will be worth a lot money one day" which is what several people tell me, what makes them worth it?  They are a nice looking tree but there are plenty of trees that look nice.  They drop all sorts of debris all year.  I have posted pictures of the back steps yet but they are constantly covered in debris from the tree.  I can sweep them one day and they are covered the next.  Not to mention that debris is toxic and greatly limits what I can grow.  Having one nice looking tree that prevents a lot of other nice looking things, does not seem worth it to me.

While I don't have a 100% foolproof solution to juglone toxicity I do have what appears to be a decent start.

Here is the top of a tomato plant that was planted in compost in juglone soil.  The recent foliage is actually the healthiest looking that the plant has ever had.




Here is the plants that were planted straight in the dirt directly under a walnut tree.  I've added the soaker hose, hoping extra water might help as the plants didn't really start going downhill until a dry spell.  I'm also testing a couple soil additives to see if anything will help.  To answer a question, yes I mowed over the 2 1/2 inch thick branches in the second picture.  When I bought the property I couldn't even walk through this area.  The first year I cleared a trail around the perimeter and now this year I'm clearing trails across the middle and to various features. 





Now for something that fairly fun.  Using my 42" Troy-Bilt lawn mower as a bush hog.  *warning you will probably bend a blade and might break a spindle doing this.  In my case I had previously hit something and bent the blade, so I decided to make some trails.  None of the trails existed before, it was all solid brush like you see on the sides.  I've put the tractor style tires on the mower years agi, one of the best investments that I have ever made.  The skinny trees are silver maples about 1" thick or honeysuckle bushes.

You will be surprised.  I was actually trying to get them posted here the same day but the sync between my phone, Google, and computer stopped working.  I finally got it working again today.

Here is the monster of a machine.  A stock 2007 Troy-Bilt Super Bronco with a 42" deck with upgraded tires.  It is the tires that turn the machine into a trail blazer.  The key is knowing how to drive the mower and what parts of the frame or tires can be used to knock things over.  Sometimes you have to go really slow but other times you have to gun it and not stop or you will be trouble.  Without those tires though you will not have the traction needed to keep moving especially during the going slow part.  Regular tires will just spin.  If these tractor tires are spinning you are tearing up at least a 1/2 inch of sod every time it goes around. 

This mower originally came with a 19hp Kohler engine.  I've used the mower in a commercial capacity for years and the Kohler finally self destructed.  I took a 15 year old 17hp twin Briggs engine and retrofit it on the frame.  Even with 2 less HP I can still clear brush with it.  






Here is what will most likely happen to your blade when you run over 3 inch logs or rocks.  This actually happened up in the main yard as I was trying to push the edges of the cleared areas out a bit further.  There was some thick ivy like plant covering up a 3 inch chunk of wood.  

A few garden updates, none of which is good news unfortunately.

The first is the tomatoes.  Many of them end up looking like this, blossom end rot.  Meaning in addition to the excessive shade, clay, and juglone, the soil has a calcium and magnesium problem.  The soil PH is 7 or higher so I can't just add lime as that will raise it even higher.  Gypsum will add calcium while keeping the PH the same; however, I really should lower the PH some as well.  From what I've seen compost is supposed to help lower PH.  

I'm starting to come up with a game plan for fall, if I decide to do a garden again that is.  Once the plants are pulled I need a hefty dose of gypsum, probably some elemental sulfur as well, some sand to help with the clay, a good dose of nitrogen, and then top it off with a whole lot of compost.  Then hopefully by next spring I will have some what adequate soil.  The cost of the treatment would pay for vegetables from the farmers market for years though, not to mention the huge time savings of not having to maintain a garden.  So right now I'm undecided on what I will do.  





The juglone toxicity has finally hit the sweet bell peppers.  They did much better than the tomatoes.  One interesting note is that the hotter peppers are more tolerant of juglone.  The Jalapenos don't seem to affected much at all.  I have another variety, not sure what it is but it is hotter than Jalapeno shows no signs at all.





I've been trying to grow a huge pumpkin.  I mentioned earlier that I bought seeds for my dad, $15 for 2 seeds from a 1,200 pound pumpkin, and decided to try a few myself.  The plant has been very aggressive and growing great; however, the pumpkins start to set and then die/rot.  I've been doing everything I can to help the plant along but I'm still don't have a pumpkin set and growing yet.  The vine grew through some trees and honesuckle bushes, of course that vine is the one that tries to set the most pumpkins.  I fixed the vine and redirected it grow back towards the sunny area but then this happened...

That cute deer I previously showed in the garden is quickly losing its cuteness.  It also chewed part of the rind on one of my watermelons.

I haven't taken a close look for insects.  The peppers have the same symptoms as the tomatoes, the new growth has small, curled, almost wilted looking leaves.  The tomatoes got that during our first dry spell about a month ago, the peppers got it the last dry spell.  

My theory is the high temperatures and dry conditions push the roots to grow deeper and further to get water, which gets them out of the compost mixture and straight into the juglone clay.  That is just my theory though, it could pests or any other things.  My one pumpkin plant was covered in aphids, beetles, and spiders.  The insects are really bad out there.  If I do not hose my boots and socks down with bug spray I will come back with my ankles chewed up bad...that happens every single day I walk through the grass.  

I've started spraying things down with Permethrin SFR.  The claims are it will keep the pests away for a couple months.  I haven't used it on any of the vegetables yet, just the yard.  Is there anything non-toxic that I can apply to take care of spider mites?  I've used neem oil before, it sort of works at least for Japanese beetles.  

will egg shells throw your ph off? i always save some before i plant and crush them up in the hole before i plant them.

Attached File


Cherokee Purple grown in a galvanized bucket in a shady yard.

Nice looking tomatoes.  That picture is making me very hungry.

Egg shells and spot treatment of lime or Epson salts in the hole you where put the plant doesn't really change the soil PH.  With all the limestone rock around here there shouldn't be any shortage of calcium in the soil but I still get blossom end rot all the time.  I also added Tomato-tone or another tomato fertilizer when I did the planting.  Both contained calcium.

There are so many variables at this new property that it is hard to say what is the main problem.  There could be different diseases in the soil that I haven't dealt with before, the shade and juglone might weaken the cell structure enough that even with calcium the fruit will still rot.  It could be pests that I haven't dealt with, or damage from birds or deer.  

Have you thought about just doing raised beds?

Nice looking house you got there OP. Pretty jealous. 

Been looking for something just like that. For quite some time now. Put multiple offers on a verse similar propertyabout a year ago but couldn't close on it. Keep us updated!


Eta: is the house on the historical registry? If so is the historical society having any say in your project?

I have a better idea.  How about I sell off all the walnut trees and use the proceeds to help by a tractor with a bucket and backhoe.    Depending on what I can get for the trees I might just do that.  

I agree.  If you remember this spring I said I wanted to test juglone to see how bad it really was.  I will admit it is bad.  Not as bad as people led me to believe but it does pretty much ruin any vegetable garden.  

I'm not done testing soil treatments and seeing if there is a work around but it would be foolish to expect anything other than being disappointed.  I have about 15 small tomatoes and a dozen peppers to who for the 100+ man hours and $500 in materials and equipment.  Not all was spent on the tomato bed but it was spent trying to clean up the yard and create the gardens.  

What is really disappointing is many of the pepper plants were nice big plants but didn't really flow and many didn't produce peppers at all.  There is at least 50 bell pepper plants but the dozen peppers came from maybe 5 plants prodicing 1 to 3 peppers, the other plants have nothing.

The hotter peppers seem immune though.  So if you are into eating them that is an option for juglone soil.  That also tells me there must be some way to counter act the juglone.  If peppers and tomatoes are in a similar family and spicer peppers are immune, then they have to put out something that neutralizes the juglone or their roots must block it.  With trees they graft root stock to grow the different size trees and give them better disease resistance.  Can I graft a bell pepper plant on to a Jalapeno rootstock and then grow it in juglone soil?  If I ever have time to experiment I think I will do just that, experiment.  I should also save seeds from the bell peppers that did produce well and see if over the years I selectively breed a juglone resistant bell pepper.  

Big post about a tree.  It also lets you see progress of the circle drive flower bed.

About a month ago I had part of a tree come down in the circle driveway.  Thankfully the g/f was not there at the time as it fell exactly where she parks.  The tree is called "Tree of Heaven" with the actual name being Ailanthus altissima.  It is actually an invasive species what spreads by massive amount of seeds and by suckers from the roots of existing trees.  It grows fast, which means the limbs are very brittle.  For some the trees growing around this house also rot from the inside out and become hollow as you will see in the pictures.  It is the really odd, as the tree will be healthy and growing but then you would around to back side and you can see the entire middle of the tree is gone.  One characteristic of this tree is that branches smell like peanut butter when break them.  That is the only pleasant thing about this tree.

Here is a shot of the branch that broke off.  If you look close you can see the branch was hollow, other pictures below will show it better.  There is also a very large branch that goes off to the left.  The part of the tree that it connects to is hollow, so with that structure weekend I knew I would have to remove that branch soon.  It leans into a cedar tree which would complicate the remove, especially since the branch is L shaped which means it might not fall like a regular branch, not to mention the tree trunk could shatter at any point from a shifting load.  




Here it is on the ground where there is usually a car parked.  




On Sunday, 7/30/2017, I was walking the property and noticed something seemed different about the circle driveway.  I started noticing that it had a little more light than usual, then I looked up.  The trunk had given way and branch could fall at any time.  Now it could fall where the g/f drives in, where she parks, and where she walks to get to the house.  So the branch at least had to come all the way down.







It took some effort, especially since I didn't want to fall off the ladder while trying to cut it down, get smacked by it falling the wrong way, or have something jar the chainsaw and have it slice me up.  Not to mention that apparently the bar on my chainsaw was bent as it keeps cutting at angles and then binding even with new chains.  I could only get about half way through the limb and saw would bind.  Then I started to remove material from the trunk hoping that it wouldn't shatter as I was hanging off the ladder and cutting.  After enough cuts with no results I stopped for my own safety.  I resorted to the redneck way, using my Dodge and tow strap to yank on it from a distance until it finally gave way.    It eventually worked.

If anyone wants to film my antics and narrate during them I'm sure it would make for an entertaining video.










I just let it lay there on Monday as I knew I needed to get a new bar for my chainsaw.  Tonight I finally got back with a new bar and chain.  The saw made quick work of the tree as it is soft wood and hollow in the middle.










Here is what remained of the trunk after getting the branch down.  The whole thing is pretty much hollow.  Even the large portion of the trunk is rotted in the middle.  




A close up of the hollow branches and you can see the center of the branch starting to hollow out, even though that branch is perfectly healthy.




After that I split the larger pieces and then loaded it up into the truck.  I chopped off the main trunk to make it look even at least.  Not sure what I am going to do with it.  That branch was holding up my motion lights so I might try to keep it at least until I take the rest of the tree down.





I still need to clean the brush up. That will have to wait for another day.  

You know.
My yard is full of hickory trees.
First year and half my garden was kick ass.
Then went to shit. Tomatoes everything doesn't grow...or fruit...or does out like your pictures.

What grows good.
Hot peppers,sweet potatoes,beans. Asparagus,lettuce.
Sqaush,zucchini,even my okra hardley anything.
I've tried,compost,new soil, good seeds you name it.

I've done raised beds to. But the tree rats bury nuts in everything.

Garden sits in the only area that gets good Sun year round and is not shaded by trees.
On top of the hickory we have live oaks and white oaks.
Problem got worse when I tilled extra deep one year. I've added new soil,compost,let the beds sit for 6+ months,rotated crops etc.

Raised beds was next on the list.
Stuff grows but man nothing like it did at first.

Sounds like a great excuse to put a high tunnel over a raised bed.

Would keep all but the most ambitious squirrels out and extend the growing season as a bonus.

I will have a couple interesting updates about the history of the house shortly.  I need to get some better pictures if I can.  

Things I found/learned. I have a drawing of the various additions and years they were built (thought I posted it already but don't see it), the exterior of the original 1789 house in an attic space, the exterior of the addition built next to it, and the porch roof beems were enclosed to create what is now the breakfast room.  All of those are visible in the final attic space I got into.  

There is also soot on an exterior wall of that addition, which I just learned was where an early chimney used to be.  The ceiling in that addition room was confusing as it had rough cut timbers, a layer of drywall, and then two layers of old plaster over the drywall.   How would plaster get put over drywall?  According to my historian friend that room was "modernized" in the mid 1930's when the form of drywall was created.  He said that drywall would have holes through it for the plaster to catch and hold on to.  The paint on the ceiling does not stick and it is cracked.  I will have to see how solid it is.  A skim coat of drywall mud might be enough to fix it.  Otherwise I am very tempted to remove the ceiling to get rid of the cracks and lead paint and then put new drywall up.  

A teaser image.  The exterior of the 1789 house with whitewashed brick, the original sofit molding, and wooden shingles.

Ouch water meter usage reads over 15,000 gallons !  

I received a notice from the water company today.  Current month usage is over 15,000 gallons which is very high considering I barely use any water there.  At most 2,000 gallons would be what I had used.

I knew there was a leak somewhere as I previously noticed the meter continue to slowly tick with everything turned off.  The previous owner had mentioned the line in the yard being broken before and pointed to a general area.  I had dug a hole but couldn't find the pipe or any sign of water.  

Last weekend I ran down to Atlanta to visit my brother for several reasons.  One being that I bought him a metal detector for Christmas a couple years ago.  Others in this thread have suggested I get one to see what treasures I could find on the property.  I figured it might help me find the water line too, so I made the trip and got it.

The metal detector is mostly useless, iron signatures everywhere.  However, it gave a strong enough tone that I could tell which direction the pipe ran under the brick porch.  That gave me a general direction on where to look in the yard.  Then I finally noticed about 1 sq foot of grass was about 6 inches tall compared to the other areas about 4 feet.  Also part of the dirt pile from the previous hole that I had dug was by the grass and showed signs of moisture, even though it hasn't rained recently.  

I started digging in that spot and the dirt was heavy.  A little more digging and I could tell there was definitely moisture down there.  I started opening up good size hole and excavating dirt with the shovel to see if water started seeping and sure enough it did.  I dug down deeper and finally found the pipe.  There is a connection, copper to poly or cast  iron to poly, can't really tell as it is all covered in mud at this point.  Water was filling the hole in a steady trickle at the point.  So I shut the water off and will let it dry out a bit.  

The reason the leak was so hard to find was the clay soil.  It has dumped 13,000 gallons of water in that one spot and the clay locked it all below the surface.  Now I need to dig the hole deeper and make the proper repairs to the pipe.  I will have pictures later.  

I expect the water bill to run around $250 for the month.  At that price I could have rented the Termite again for a weekend and dug up my entire front yard and replaced that entire section of pipe.  There was no guarantee the leak was in the front yard though, as I couldn't find any signs.  The water pipe also go through 2 crawl spaces that I really can't access.  The pipe is also buried in the clay dirt in those placed. 

Sorry for the rambling post.  Just excited I finally found the leak after over a year of trying to track it down.  

You'll get that leak fixed I'm sure...

And then the cable crew will get to your block and lose another bit or three... 

LOL.  The cable crew was running projects for Kentucky Wired which is supposed to run high speed fiber lines to government buildings and schools.  There are several schools further down the road from this house.  So there is a possibility of it.  

Tag!  

After a couple attempts I finally patched the main water line leak that I found.  The first patch was still leaking around the end of the pipe despite multiple hose clamps.  So I excavated more dirt and replaced more of the line.  I finally got that whole area to stop leaking.  Unfortunately the meter is still spinning when the water is off, to the tune of about a 2,000 a gallon month leak.  That is a whole lot better than a 13,000 gallon leak but still not good.  The pipe is cast iron and had rusted through in a couple spots.  The interior is halfway clogged with calcium and mineral build up.  I have not filled in the hole yet as I want to see if the other leak is before or after this patch.  I am going to try to find a valve for the 1" poly pipe so that I stop the water.  Then  take the pipe apart again, put the valve in place, and turn on the meter.  If the meter continues to tick then it is leaking in the front half of the yard.  If it doesn't then it leaks towards the house. Towards the house I can did out by hand but towards the road will require an excavator.



Video of the leak. 






Initial hole in front yard to get to the pipe.




You can see the grass on the left is longer than the rest of the yard.  That was the only indicator that the leak was in that area.





Two leaks.  A pin hole through the galvanized pipe and a leak from the previous patch.  I may have made that leak worse with the digging which pulled the tubing off the pipe some.




Close up of the pinhole leak.




The cut galvanized pipe.



The mess I had afterwards.  That clay just holds in the water.  




The hole in the front yard.




What the galvanized pipe looks likes on the inside.




Using my borescope to get a closer view of the build up.




Inside the pipe with a borescope.  That would explain my low water flow rate.




First patch.  It still leaks.  I pushed the poly pipe over 4" of the galvanized and had 3 clamps but it still leaked.  My assumption was the galvanized pipe had a leak near the end of the poly.  So I need to replace more of it.




Stupid mosquitoes.  As I was trying to dig out a larger hole a dozen or so black tiger mosquitoes decided I looked like dinner.  The thermal fogger would only chase them away for 5 minutes so I had to keep on fogging while working.  I'm betting people driving by were nervous seeing a huge vapor cloud coming from the hole in my front yard.



I exposed another 2 feet of the pipe.  The poly pipe patches come in 2 foot lengths.  So might as replace as much of the old pipe as I can.




Bigger dirt pile.




The final patch and no more leaks (at least not in this spot).






ETA: I put a plug in the pipe at the hole and turned on the water at the meter, no movement from the meter at all over a 30 minute period.  The remaining leak is between the hole and the house.  Guess I better grab that shovel and start digging.  I just hope it is not leaking under the concrete slab that bricks for the porch are sitting on. 

@Kitties-with-Sigs

Juglone update.  Awhile back, a month or so, when the juglone started affecting all my plants really bad I mixed up a lime slurry and a gypsum (calcium and sulfur with a neutral ph) and applied each to a section of plants.  The tomato plants that I treated with lime have new growth with no leaf curl or wilting and one plant even has a small tomato on it.  

The lime may or may not have anything to do with it but given that none of the other plants in that area recovered like that it is a possibility.  In the main garden the tomato plants are pretty much all dead.  One section did start growing out again as well.  That section of the garden had a hybrid variety called Big Daddy planted.  http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/tomatoes/tomato-big-daddy-hybrid-prod002743.html  Being a hybrid I won't get the same plants from the seeds.  To the left of those plants I grew the heirloom Abe Lincoln variety and one of those still has slight life left in it.  Otherwise tomatoes were pretty much a bust this year.

Several reasons.  I was reading up on juglone and trying to understand the chemical make up.  I'm not a chemist either but I understand the basics.  From what I read juglone has a chemical make up similar to other acids that are naturally produced and is found more often in acid soils.  What counteracts an acid?  A base like calcium which raises PH.  The PH in the garden was already on the high side, around 7, so i wasn't sure how raising it would affect the plant.  I also was watching videos on blossom end rot, where a guy mixed up a lime slurry, to quickly treat the tomatoes.  The blossom end rot results from some level of cellular damage and the calcium helps strengthen cell walls. If juglone is working as an acid and damaging cell structure, then lime should help both issues.  That was my theory any way.  I'm not sure if it had any effect but it does give me info to try additional experiments and find out.

I plan on doing several tests, if I can find the time.  I will scoop up several buckets of the soil from that area of the garden, mix it thoroughly and check the PH.  I will keep some as a control, add lime to some and record the ph, add a bunch of lime to some, add gypsum to some, add elemental sulfur to some, I might try ammonia sulfate as well, and high doses of both sulfur to lower the PH but add lime and bring it to a normal level.  Then plant 2 tomato seeds in each and record how they grow.  The one catch is, from my reading sulfur has to be processed by microbes in the soil and their byproduct is what actually lowers the PH, so that might take some time.  If there is a noticeable effect this should show it.

There is something interesting about having the first version of drywall in the house.  Not that anyone would be able to see it or could tell but it is interesting.  The ceiling in that room had me confused because it is drywall nailed to the ceiling joists and then plaster under it.  I will get some pictures so you can see.  My first thought was "that's not possible" and my second thought was "someone must have been dumb when they made these repairs".  At no time did I think it was possible for that to be normal and how they did things in the 1930s.

For your water line: 

First, I was shocked to see how shallow your water line is, but then I remembered you don't live in the frozen north. My water line is 8 feet down .

Second, those hose clamps on poly line will leak eventually, and so will the rest of that old pipe. If it were me, I would dig up the entire run (especially since its that shallow) and replace it with poly and use cinch clamps. Otherwise you will just be continuing the cycle of locating/patching leaks with a mixture of different fixes. At least if all your main line connections are in only two places, such as the meter and somewhere accessible where the main meets indoor plumbing, problems are much easier to find and fix. Rent a machine to dig the trench for you and its an easy 1 day project. Well, with that house it will turn into 2 weeks, but I digress 

These are just temporary patches.  The entire line does need to be replaced and I have plans to do that but there are no simple tasks with this house.  

Right now that line goes under the concrete pad on the porch and into a crawlspace that I can't get into.  I want to move the line and run it into the basement of the 2 story house where I have easy access to shut it off.  I would also like a bigger water line coming into the house and would like the meter moved so that I can make a straight shot into the basement instead of having all sorts of turns in it.  Not sure if the water company would do that though.  

From what I read the ground only freezes about 5 inches deep here.  I grew up in northern IL and the ground froze a lot deeper there.  I don't miss it.  

Two other projects also impact the water line project.  I want to level out the front yard or at least most of it.  When I have that equipment in it would be easy to dig the trench for a water line.  Ideally I would like to bury PVC and then run poly or pex line through it.  The second project is the pavers for the paths.  No matter how I do the waterline they are going to get messed up.  I want to redo them, the right way, and lock them place.  So the waterline  project has to happen first, which means the yard leveling project should really happen too.  Or I just keep renting equipment for each small project.  

I've been busy with other things and really haven't done anything worth reporting with the house.  I did get the water company to adjust my bill for the 15,000 gallon in a month leak.  They took about $75 off the $180 bill.  

I believe all they did was remove the additional "sewer" fees since the water didn't end up back in the sewer.   

I have done almost nothing at the house for several weeks.  Work has me swamped and I've been having terrible migraines daily for about 2 weeks now.  They just zap all my motivation to do anything as well as leaving me worn out even though I don't do anything.

There isn't too much to report as the gardens pretty much died off due to lack of watering; which was due to me not caring any more since they didn't produce.  I didn't even a get a single pumpkin from 4 massive plants that I had.  The watermelon were not worth anything.  The blackberry plants actually did ok and I got a couple blackberries off the first year canes on the primocane variety I planted.  The strawberry plants have multiplied well but the really didn't even try to produce berries.  Too much shade for most plants, in addition to the walnut soil.  

The next up tasks will be:
1. digging up more of the water line trying to find the leak and hoping it isn't under the porch slab...but I bet it is
2. Fixing one side of the roof member the proper way.  Requires grinding down stucco, adding termination bars, and putting a new section of membrane down
3. Boring a hole through 3 rows of brick and re-configuring the natural gas lines to see if I can get natural gas turned on at the house.  They pulled my shutoff valve at the street so I might have to pay for a "new" gas connection even though the house has had gas since at least the 1950s.

Other ongoing tasks will be:
1. trapping more animals from inside the house
2. cleaning up all the droppings from said animals
3. getting more electrical lines rerun, considering adding a 200 amp panel in the middle of the house to run circuits out of
4. fix more interior plumbing lines, I now have some PEX parts and plan on replacing sections of copper, some with compressing fittings, with the pex

Key tasks I need to complete at some point
1. finish the entire roof membrane
2. finish the entire soffit of the extended roof
3. get a gutter on the extended roof
4. reinforce the ladder gable that the extended roof is connected to
5. rewire the circuits in the ladder gable, adding new circuits, and adding camera circuits
6. finish the edging strip on the ladder gable


If I can get those things done then I might finally be able to take a breather and not be so stressed about the house.  The yard, brush, and gardens all gave me "quick wins" where I could accomplish something in a day and feel as if I actually did accomplish and finish something.  Otherwise burnout and disgust will set in making the entire project a miserable experience since I would have no completed accomplishments.