Thursday, September 25th, 2008
I was outside today taking some pictures of the White Chrysanthemums, when I noticed a butterfly on one of the flowers. I considered this a “photo op” because it really was.
My original post was about how woody the Chrysanthemums were all Summer and towards the latter part, they became green. Just about a week ago, the flowers popped. But ever since the butterfly appeared on the scene, the Chrysanthemums have taken a back seat.
Here, take a look…
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Monday, September 8th, 2008
I feel like I am living a re-run here. I mean, I don’t mind planting the same trees as I did at the other house, it’s just repetitive, that’s all. I really do like watching them grow.
Yesterday, we went up to Lowe’s to return a bum flashlight I had bought the day before. I didn’t even notice the package was open when I bought it. It was obviously a return that was put back on the shelf. Whatever. I got a new one and it is wicked bright.
While we were there, Laura pointed out some $10 Cleveland Select Flowering Pear trees. I do love it when these trees are priced at, or around, $10. We grabbed five of them and put them on the cart. I also picked up eight Blue Spruce trees to plant in various places around the property.
I decided to plant the pears up near the road in a row. I think they will look really good up there when they get larger, especially in the Spring, when they flower.
These are a few of the Blue Spruce trees we got. I planted the other five up on the hillside. I mowed that sucker again yesterday and didn’t like it. If I could fill the whole thing up with pines, I would be happy. I am going to plant these three in the back somewhere.
I am fighting myself not to get in the car to go back up and get more of these trees right now.
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Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
On Monday (Labor Day), we decided to get in the car and cruise down to Gillette Castle State Park in East Haddam, CT. This has been on my “to do” list for a while.
We weren’t really in the mood for a hike. We kind of just wanted to see the castle. I read good things about it and heard it was really cool. I also wanted to see if it would be a good place to launch a boat, since it sits right on the Connecticut River.
It’s a good thing we weren’t in the mood for a hike. Even though there is a trail map, this state park isn’t like the others we have been to. The castle definitely is the main attraction. There is a visitor’s center and everything. The trails lead, in a zig-zag fashion, down to the river. We walked them, but there really wasn’t an opening down there. I kind of popped out of the woods where the water began. It’s not bad in the least, just not a hiking park.
Now, what was really cool was the castle. It overlooks the Connecticut River like nothing else does. I was surprised to see so many boats on the river. I mean, I guess it was Labor Day and everything, but still, it was packed with boats. I think the best part of this river is the fact that it leads down to the Long Island Sound. I am guessing that you could get from the castle to the Sound in about a half hour. That’s pretty neat, and really good if you have a boat.
The castle has tours, for a fee. We didn’t take them up on the offer this time, but I think we will do it when the weather gets a little cooler. I am thinking around Halloween. It can be spooky, I’m sure, especially because the castle has secret passage ways. I like secret passage ways because I am a secretive and sneaky person by nature.
Here are some photos of the castle and the surrounding area.
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Friday, August 29th, 2008
A while back, I can’t even remember when, Laura got a Morning Glory. I can’t remember if it was some seeds or the plant itself. What I do remember is that she decided to plant it in front of the house.
Well, it has been a month or two and now the thing is huge. It has overtaken the rose bush and is starting to cling on the siding. I have to trim it every so often.
The other day, I noticed some nice blue flowers on the Morning Glory. Since I have never had any experience with this type of plant, I decided to go in a tell my lady. Upon informing her of the exciting news, she turned to me and said, “Yeah, I know.” That was it. Like, c’mon.
After that, I did what I do…I grabbed the camera and started taking some pictures and here they are…
Yesterday, I noticed that the Morning Glory wasn’t looking so good. It was drooping a bit in the sun. I didn’t mind, because I am actually looking forward to getting rid of the vine so I can have a little space back. This morning, I looked at the plant and it was back to life, flowers bloomed and all. I told Laura about this and she said, “Yeah, I know. That’s why they call them Morning Glorys.” I need to stop having these conversations.
While I was out there taking pictures, I decided to take some of one of the bushes we have in the front yard. I can’t, for the life of me, remember what it is called. The neighbor told me what it was, but I forget. I have a lot of stuff on my mind all the time. I really don’t listen all that well. Can you believe people blame me for this?
Well, whatever they are, here are a few good shots of them…
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Thursday, August 21st, 2008
I am not sure how I get myself into these messes.
I had a second to spare this afternoon, so I decided to put a shovel in my hand. Then, I went outside and started looking around. I had planned on doing all the mulch beds in the Spring, so what the heck was I doing when I started digging up the grass?
Oh well, since it was already started…I decided to drag the shovel along the ground in a nice curvy line. I had a vision of how I wanted these particular mulch beds to look. By the way, here’s a tip for you; when making a mulch bed, make it three times larger than you originally planned. There is nothing worse than a small mulch bed. Trust me, when it’s done, you’ll think a professional landscaper did it. The two beds I made here already, I have to go back and make them bigger.
Before I started digging the mulch bed
Starting to dig the mulch bed
Finished digging the mulch bed
If you can see what I did, you will notice that I just dug a sharp trench, about eight inches deep, along the line where I want to see the mulch. Anything to the right of that line is going to be covered with mulch. Realistically, you just need somewhere for the mulch to butt up against. I don’t worry about the chunks of grass and the existing grass. That won’t grow through, if you put enough mulch down. I did this back at the old house and only saw small areas of grass peek through. I killed that with weed killer.
Now that the front is done, I have to do the other side, along with some more flower transplants. Once that is done, I am going to order my ten yards of mulch and go to town.
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Friday, August 15th, 2008
In my last post, I said that people need to start writing more. I said that our readers don’t care what we write about, just that we write. I even threatened to take my camera out with me this morning.
Well, guess what. I did just that. Since I had to go to the mailbox this morning to put some outgoing mail in it, I decided to enjoy a little walking tour with the good ol’ camera in hand. I know this feels like a Seinfeld episode (about nothing) but this is what I do.
After I put the mail in the mailbox, I headed back down the driveway. I looked at the ground and noticed all sorts of acorns laying there all spread out. Every day this happens. There is a big Red Oak at the end of the driveway that makes a huge mess. I think the squirrels are $%^& with me. I need to call a tree service to come prune a few trees, this being one of them. I hate having this messy tree for everyone to see. Maybe when it’s getting pruned, I’ll take some before and after shots.
Anyway, when I looked down at the driveway, I noticed some ants running around. I took a bunch of pictures of them, but they were too fast and the pictures came out blurry. They would’ve been really cool because they were close up. While I was down on the driveway, I decided to take a picture of an acorn so you know what I am talking about.
There are hundreds of these things. Every time I mow the lawn, I take out the blower to blow off the driveway. Within a few days, they are back. After taking the picture, I had to get up and run because a car was coming. That’s all they need to see…Gaulard laying down on the driveway taking more pictures.
Last night, I also mentioned that I was taking down some small trees in the woods along the driveway. My goal is to make it a bit lighter in there with some breaks of sun. I have to be careful not to take down too much, because I really like the trees. The last thing I want is full sun. I have already made a dent. I would say I am taking down anything smaller than 6″. Here are some photos of that.
As you can see, there is some filtered sunlight coming through. I probably have about 10-15 more trees to remove.
A few days ago, I discovered a faster and quieter way of doing this. Well, one way is quieter, but not faster. I am using a hand saw for some of them. Basically, I take the tree down and then cut the top leafy part off of it. I drag the stalk up and place it in the pile you see in the last photo. I drag the top of the tree down into the brush pile in the woods. I always need a good brush pile. You would be amazed at how fast a big brush pile collapses over time.
The faster way is to do what I described above, but with a chainsaw. I used to cut the wood into firewood right there, but that was noisy. I will do that all in one shot when I am done taking down the trees.
Here is a beautiful picture of one of the stumps.
Birch tree stump
At the bottom of the driveway, I noticed a new flower growing in the spot I just mulched. It was mixed in with all the others. It just bloomed so I thought that deserved some recognition.
After I took a picture of that flower, I walked across the front lawn to get some shots of a nice pink flower up there. I did that and then I took a shot of the Highbush Cranberry that we have growing. There are a few of these bushes and the berries are getting very red.
Highbush Cranberry
You see how nice that was? It was a big blog post about nothing and I think I got away with it. Well, we’ll see what people write about it to see if I really got away with it.
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Posted in Gardening, Landscaping, Ramblings, Trees & Shrubs | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
Do you remember back when I transplanted those shrubs from the front yard to the side of the driveway? Well, everything is going well, except for the fact that the soil I planted everything in is extremely fertile for weeds. I had a little forest growing within a few weeks.
I finally got my butt out there about a week ago and weeded the whole garden. Weeds will only stay down for a short time unless you do something about them. Also, in the garden, I noticed some small plum shrubs getting very dry leaves. That was caused by the very dry soil.
The problem is that every time I tried to water the shrubs when the ground was dry, the water would run right off the dirt. It was very frustrating. This stopped the shrub roots from receiving the much needed water. Also, the soil that the water did soak into dried very quickly from the hot sun.
There really was only one thing to do…mulch. Yesterday, I went out and bought about a yard of mulch just for this occasion. This morning, I did what I had to do.
First, let me explain the benefits of mulching a flower bed.
- Mulch keeps down weeds - prevents germination of many weed seeds
- Mulch keeps the soil moist in between rainy periods and hidden from the hot sun
- Mulch looks really good and accents your garden areas
- Mulch breaks down to add organics to your soil
- Mulch moderates the soil temperature
- Mulch protects the soil from the impact of raindrops that cause hardening
- Mulch encourages the growth of earth worms and other beneficial organisms
- Mulch keeps your plants clean by inhibiting soil splatter when it rains
- Mulch helps the rain water soak into the ground slowly so it doesn’t run off
With all these benefits of mulching, I was very eager to get started. Here are some photos of the process…
This is the before shot of the area I mulched. As you can see, I started digging the beginning of it when I remembered the I had to get the camera. Sometimes I am so excited to get going that I forget one of the reasons I am doing it…PICTURES!!!
With a pointed shovel, I edged the entire garden area. I put the shovel about half way into the soil and then just slid it under the grass to peel it up like a carpet. I then put the grass and extra soil into the wheelbarrow to dump on a rocky area that needs soil and grass. I am hoping if I spread it out, it will grow.
I dug the area to be mulched so it’s about four inches below the dirt the grass is growing in. That makes edging later on a heck of a lot easier.
Bags of mulch ready for use
I spread the bags of mulch out where I thought I would need them. When I got to each bag, I ran a knife up the side of each one. This made it a lot easier to pour where I needed the mulch. For this project, I used 27 cubic feet of mulch. I was about 15 cubic feet short.
This is the mulched garden area. As I mentioned above, I was about a half yard short of mulch. I like to put it about three inches thick. I had to spread it thin because there just wasn’t enough. I think I am going to wait until Spring to finish. It is a lot easier when all the plants aren’t in the way.
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Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
I was outside today just poking around and noticed that a bunch of new flowers recently bloomed. Since some of them look really good, I decided to go inside and grab my camera to take a few pictures. These are pretty neat shots, unfortunately, I only (think) know what one flower is and that’s the Eastern Purple Coneflower. If anyone knows what any of these flowers are, please let me know.
Oh yeah, one other one is a Hosta flower blooming.
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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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Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Yes ladies and gentlemen, I discovered what that mystery flower is…a Tiger Lily.
If you remember back a few posts, I couldn’t figure out what a certain flower was. It’s the one around the mailbox. The flowers are all over the place and now I know what they are.
Aren’t they nice? They are really tall. I heard somewhere a long time ago that you can eat Tiger Lilies. Is that true?
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