Friday, August 22nd, 2008
Well guys, this is what it ends up like. Just in case you weren’t aware of how pitiful things can get when you’re older…yes, we get excited about new lawn mowers.
Gone are the days of comparing skateboards, bicycles, motorcycles and finally cars. Now, we get a pellet stove and a John Deere and have to write home about it. Boy, if I had known this when I was younger, I think I may have done some things slightly differently.
Ok, now that that’s out of the way, guess what??? Yeah, I got the new John Deere X300 today. As I said earlier, this is a hot item. It has a 17HP Kawasaki engine, 42″ cut and cruise control. Add all the other goodies and I think I almost have a car with a mower deck. You can read all the specs here.
What’s more important are the pictures. Just to let you know, this is when it was brand new, with zero hours on it. Now that I mowed the lawn today (in like 100th of the time it normally takes), it’s a little dirtier. After I mow, I blow it off with my leaf blower though.
What I like about this model is that I am able to put on all different types of attachments and not worry about it. It has a stronger frame than the “100″ series. I can get a snow blower, snow plow, bucket and all sorts of stuff. I really don’t think I will be getting any of that. The only thing I see myself getting in the future might be a small trailer for working around the yard. Those are handy.
The John Deere dealer I got this from comes to your house to do all the maintenance (if you want). It’s pretty cool. If there is a big repair, they will come over and pick the machine up for you and then bring it back after it’s fixed. That’s what I like.
I mowed the lawn today and it was rather fun. I like cruising around and getting the job done without sweating. What used to be a 4-hour job now is a 45 minute one. Now, that is sweet.
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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
Second finished mulch bed photo
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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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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Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
I have been meaning to do this for some time. Our well is in a semi-middle area of our front lawn. As you surely are aware, wells are not attractive contraptions. In an effort to keep our house aesthetically pleasing, I am trying to hide the well as best I can.
Yesterday, Paul and I made a visit to the Fishkill Home Depot. I knew there would only be a few plants left this late in the season. When we arrived, I was surprised to see how many were actually there. We walked towards the back to the Juniper section. I browsed through a few Junipers and decided upon a nice Youngstown Juniper. Well, that’s what the tag says at least. We weren’t completely convinced that that the correct tags were on these plants. This tag says that this plant grows one foot high by four feet wide. Strange, because it’s already about a foot high, and I just bought it.
I think it will grow out nicely to cover the ugly well.
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