Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
It has been pretty dry here lately. It just rained this morning, which is good, but up until that, we haven’t had any substantial rainfall in quite some time. I have been watching many plants wilt because of the dryness. The neighbors are getting used to the guy with no shirt standing out front with a hose in his hand.
I have had a few goals. One of them was to finish the rhododendron line across the front of the property. I have been looking at Home Depot for rhododendrons, but none can be found…anywhere. I guess they are a Spring time seller. I actually had to dig up and few that were already planted on the property and the ones I planted earlier in the season to finish the row. It’s done now, so that’s good.
I also wanted to plant some sort of a perimeter around the patio area near the basement doors. I decided to go with the Blue Prince Holly that I have been buying (it’s the only thing left), along with some that I planted earlier on. Earlier in the season, I had no plan and I was just sticking these things in the dirt. Now, at least I have a plan.
I did make a nice discovery yesterday. For a few months, I have been dismayed at the price of mulch around here. I used to pay $20 per yard at the other house. Here, these crooks are charging about $50 per yard. I need to get some of what they are smoking. It’s funny because when I call somewhere for a price, I always sense a little hesitancy in their voices as they tell me how much they charge. They know what they are doing.
I called the local hardware store and found out they sold mulch by the bag. They had 3lb bags of pine mulch for $4.49 per bag. I didn’t think that was too bad, since I just paid almost $5 per bag at Home Depot for that dyed junk. I stopped by the store and picked up 10 bags. That’s 30 cubic feet (a little over a yard) for about $45. I beat the system, you see. Now, I can go back and get 10 bags at a time only when I need them.
The mulch is very important, not only to me and my mulch addiction, but for the plants as well. The whole reason for the plants wilting is because the ground wasn’t holding in any of the moisture. I kept watering them, but the sunshine was just too strong. Now, since I mulched and gave each plant a nice soaking, I think the plants will grow nicely.
Blue Prince Holly planted for a hedge line.
The holly bushes really don’t need any mulch because the grass is nice and moist in the back yard.
Speaking of grass, I don’t know how I did it, but the back and side lawns are like a nice thick green carpet. I now mow the lawn on the highest level the mower will go and I think it made a difference. I also overseeded with the Vigoro Contractor’s Mix, so there is some good warm weather seed in there. The reason I mow with the higher setting now is because the grass I planted holds most of the water it absorbs in its leaves. If you mow too low, you are actually cutting off all that water. Also, a short mow exposes the dirt so it gets baked and weeds start to grow. Mowing at a higher level will give you a greener lawn.
Here, check it out…
Hand in grass showing height of mowing.
See, I’m not making this stuff up. Now, if I could just get rid of the brown crispy grass in the front and replace it with this stuff, I will be in good shape. The seed is down, so a bit more rainfall should do it.
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Monday, June 23rd, 2008
When we first moved here, I really didn’t give the hillside on the property too much thought. I just said to myself that I was going to plant some pine trees there. At the time, there were some “unbloomed” bushes waiting for leaves. Some of them were those ever growing pricker bushes.
When I was a kid, we had this huge pricker bush in between our property and the neighbor’s. It was large and really needed to be taken care of because it was taking up so much room. I can’t really ever remember any flowers growing on that pricker bush. Oh, how times have changed.
A few weeks ago, I took some pictures of some half bloomed flowers in the front. I really didn’t know what I was in store for and to be honest, I am quite impressed.
Here, I’ll show you what I am talking about…
This is just a random shot in one of the more clustered parts of th flowers. As you can see, there are some pink roses in there.
Here is a better picture of those pink roses.
Here are a few photos of the whole area of flowers. Pretty neat, huh?
On my way back, I decided to pick Laura a bouquet of flowers. I think this is the nicest one yet.
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Friday, June 13th, 2008
You have to believe me when I tell you that I am really sorry about all the posts with photos of flowers in them. Really, it’s for the ladies. Sometimes, I feel like such a gentleman. Yesterday, when I was up front doing some trimming, I clipped a rose for Laura. Isn’t that sweet? You don’t have to tell me.
The whole hillside is almost fully in bloom. I had no idea there was such a variety of flowers. It is so exciting to watch what blooms next. Every morning, I wake up and do my thing. Then, I go outside with the camera. Today, I was just standing there on the hillside looking at everything. There was a cricket chirping and a bee going from flower to flower. It was pretty cool. Sometimes it’s nice to just watch things. There are even baby bunnies living under one of the bushes. I almost stepped on one the other day when I was trimming around the Blue Spruce that I planted. It ran and scared the heck out of me.
This is another prize winner from the same garden as my last prize winner.
This is what I am talking about. There are Roses upon Roses. They are all different colors too. There are pink, red and white so far.
Pretty neat, right?
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Thursday, May 29th, 2008
We made a visit to Home Depot yesterday (we are going to be buying from Lowe’s from now on). I wanted to go shopping for shrubs. Maybe I can just cut this, and the following posts short. You can just read all the other ones about shrubs I have written through the years.
I had a bunch of stuff on my list, but mainly items from the garden area. Here is what I got:
- 1 Blue Hydrangea
- 4 Holly bushes
- 2 Rhododendron
- 1 25 lb. bag of grass seed
- 2 Tomato plants
and some other stuff. Maybe I’ll write about that later.
Laura picked out the Hydrangea and made sure it was blue. There are a few others around here, so it should fit right in.
There are a lot of areas I need shrubs. I really like shrubs at the ends of driveways. I don’t know why, but I do. Therefore, I needed shrubs to put at the end of this semi-naked driveway. I put the Holly and Rhododendron there. There is room for a lot more though.
I also did some seeding yesterday. I went through the whole bag in about two minutes. The spreader settings needs to be high, so it really shoots out fast. I raked the seed in some bare spots in the lawn, and just spread it out on the areas up near the road. If the birds eat it, I’ll just get more.
What’s really exciting is our new tomato plants. These are hybrid something-er-others. They are supposed to produce nice big tomatoes. I like tomato sandwiches, so I am hoping they come out nicely.
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Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
I finally finished raking the leaves. There were a lot of them. I can’t say I liked doing this particular job for many reasons. One reason I didn’t care for this activity would be that it wasn’t much fun, with the presence of gnats coming in at a strong second. Apparently, gnats live in old leaves. When you rake them, instinct tells them to swarm around the closest face they can find. That would be mine. They flew in my eyes, in my ears and one even made it into my mouth. I hope the neighbor didn’t see me staggering across the front yard gagging while trying to force the artifact from the back of my throat. Laugh…go ahead.
This is a section of the back yard that is right up against the woods. It has a cute little area you can sit and read, “Gone With the Wind” (Joe, that’s for you).
This is just a random shot looking up the side yard. I guess I wanted to show that the grass actually is getting green. I go out and talk to it every day.
Joe, here’s that little area again. Don’t worry, I am going to put nice plants in there for you.
Now, this is a small garden area that is right next to the driveway. I am guessing it may have been a vegetable garden in the past. I decided to replant the Iris from way up on the hill in the front, split them and put them along the driveway. I think they will multiply and fill in nicely. I also am transplanting some other plants (that I can’t quite identify) as a second row. Then, I am going to get some Boxwood as a third row and make it reaaal nice.
This is looking up towards the road, from the house. Yes, I raked all that out. I plan on getting some more Rhododendrons and scattering them around in this area, to fill it in.
Yes, we have the first bloomed Iris. Isn’t she pretty? I really like Iris because they are so easy to take care of.
A quick shot of a Rhododendron in partial bloom.
Just a shot looking down at the house.
Ahh, the mailbox again. I know you can’t get enough of this. These are the plants I was talking about above. I have no idea what they are, but I took them from the hillside and placed some of them around the mailbox. If you know what they are, please let me know. Thank you.
It’s like we are having a mini “Azalea Festival.” Check this one out showing its colors. Man, I sure hope this is an Azalea.
And finally, this is the front sidewalk. I even raked out behind the bushes in the front.
I don’t think I am going to have to endure this much raking again. I plan on getting a back-pack blower to keep things in check. It should be easier next time.
I’m outty.
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Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
I took some pretty cool photos this morning of all the ice on the trees. I heard that the midwest got hit hard. We didn’t get hit nearly as hard. Things are icy, but it is actually really nice outside. It is warming up fast, so you can hear all the ice falling from the trees out in the woods. It’s a really neat sound and very beautiful.
I was walking around outside this morning with my coffee. Just what I always wanted. About halfway through my little walk, I realized what I was doing…
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Friday, September 22nd, 2006
After hearing from a few people that one gender of Holly bush enjoys the company of another, I began to do a little reading. I am suspicious by nature. Well, what they say is true. In order for the female holly bush to produce those little red holly berries, there must be a male around to pollinate.
So, yesterday I ran out to Home Depot and picked myself up a nice looking little China Boy Holly and planted it right next to his new girlfriend. I certainly hope these bushes take off like so many people say they will.
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