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.
Related posts
Posted in Gardening, Home Improvement, Landscaping, Summer, Trees & Shrubs | No Comments »
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
Every time I visit either Lowe’s or Home Depot, I try to go into the nursery to grab a few shrubs. I can always find a use for shrubs, I just wish they were free. That would be wild.
I need about 50 Rhododendrons. I would like to line the entire wooded area up front as well as both sides of the driveway. I love the look of fully grown Rhododendrons. They are great cover and have wonderful flowers.
I remember one house down in Yonkers that I did some work at years ago. It was owned by an old (rich) dude. He had everything looking just perfect. There were huge Rhododendrons, Japanese Yew, Hemlock and all the rest. It was so green and so was I, with envy. I still have the image in my mind and that’s what I would like to have one day.
But for now, I will have to do with small Rhododendrons to start.
I bought three of these during my last trip to Home Depot.
This is one of the areas I would like to line. When the plants grow larger, they will hang over the rocks and all I will have to do is push the mower under the plants. I know, I am too slick.
Related posts
Posted in Gardening, Landscaping | No Comments »
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.
Related posts
Posted in Gardening, Landscaping, Trees & Shrubs | 4 Comments »
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Today’s job was to start transplanting some of the shrubs from the front of the property to the back. I am trying to take all the good shrubbery (did I just say shrubbery?) from the front hillside to transplant in the back, near the driveway. I already showed you the area I am working on in a previous post.
The reason I am taking these shrubs away from the front, is because I think more height is needed up there. I am planning on planting a good variety of Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce, Canadian Hemlock and Cleveland Pear along the whole hillside. With all the new stuff, the old, low shrubs will just be swallowed up. I mean, I am not going to go crazy with trees, just enough to add a nice green look up front. I think a variety of evergreens looks really good.
So, back to the back. Here is a picture of what the garden area looked like without the shrubs. Basically, the only stuff in there is the Iris I planted the other day, along with that plant no one can identify. I am going in rows, front to back.
These are the shrubs I planted today…
I like the variety of color. Also, back here, it’s going to be much easier for me to maintain each shrub. What I really like is that everything is here already…all I have to do is move stuff around the way I like it.
There is some more stuff in the front that I want to get. I am planning on doing that in the next few days, so I’ll have more photos then.
Related posts
Posted in Gardening, Home Improvement, Landscaping, Spring, Trees & Shrubs | 2 Comments »
Sunday, October 15th, 2006
As I have said a million times, or maybe about eight times, the best time to go to the nursery is in mid to late October. The nurseries are just about ready to throw everything in the dumpster out back, so either go in and purchase what you want for half price or wait until nightfall and take your chances at the dumpster.
I got everything for half price…even the mulch. The first type of plant I picked up today was a Silver and Gold Chrysanthemum. These are really pretty cool looking and grow to about 12″-18″. I planted three of them and I think they will fill in quite nicely. As stated on the site I linked to above, you can divide these after a while. That’s great, because like bulbs, once you make the initial investment, you can play for years to come.
The second type of plant I picked up was an Ilex Glabra Shamrock. This one grows about 3′-4′ tall, so I planted it towards the middle, so it will surround the new pear tree. This is a really good looking shrub because it has glossy leaves and some berries. I will have to keep my eye on these because of the deer.
Lastly, like I mentioned above, I purchased 2 bags of great looking “Black Forest” mulch. This will keep all the bulbs and iris covered and protected during the winter. It also just looks so damn good. Take a look…
I am really looking forward to Spring so I can take some pictures of all the freshly sprung bulbs…almost as much as you’re looking forward to it, I’m sure.
Related posts
Posted in Autumn, Gardening, Landscaping, Trees & Shrubs | 3 Comments »
Saturday, October 14th, 2006
There won’t be many more days to get my plantings and gardening done this year, so I better finish up fast. Today was the day of the triangle. We have a triangle garden right in front of the house that was just a mess. There were 3 patches of Iris and Mint (well, it smelled minty) that had run wild. Both the Iris and the Mint spread underground, so you really don’t know the extent of their growth until you start pulling. There was also some Hosta. Over the past year, we haphazardly planted a wide variety of about 50 bulbs in this garden. None of them have bloomed yet. As I started pulling out the mint, I started stumbling across these bulbs, that have started rooting quite nicely. I also found many bulbs under the iris. Great bulbs, I’m sure…just strangled, that’s all. I placed all the bulbs in a bucket for use later.
Well, all morning I pulled and pulled and pulled, until the garden was cleaned out.
I moved the Hosta to the front corner and left the pretty little tree where it was. I also planted our new Bartlett Pear tree. This is going to be very cool when we get our new pears. I placed this tree here because it is going to be surrounded by Boxwood, and deer don’t like boxwood. Also, it is right next to our peach tree and is in full sun, like the tree label said to do. I got it for a great deal of only $12. That’s the beauty of buying these types of trees late in the season.
As I mentioned above, I had to wrestle with some iris. There were three areas, and here is one of them…
This should be a real treat for you if you have never seen overgrown iris. This is why iris doesn’t bloom that well after a few years. It strangles itself. I pulled the iris apart and made a trench along the rearmost border. I layed the separated iris in the trench and covered it up.
I then made two trenches on the other two sides and placed all the bulbs I collected in them. I placed the largest bulbs towards the center of the garden and the smaller ones towards the rock walls. This way, I will have good height proportion come Spring.
I am going to pick up a few bags of mulch this week and cover the entire garden with it to protect the bulbs. I am also going to grab about five boxwood shrubs and place them towards the center of the garden, so they surround the pear tree. This should look good…green at the center, tree in the middle with nice color along the edges.
Related posts
Posted in Autumn, Gardening, Home Improvement, Landscaping, Trees & Shrubs | 3 Comments »
