Mulching: Before and After

 I've been waiting over a year to be able to

share before and after photos of the yard.

Finally, I have a mostly finished product!

This is the view from our back door looking down to the back of the property.

And this is the same view now.

 And another view closer to the garage.

 This is of course the view from the beck of the property

looking back towards the house.

 And the same view now.

 Close up of the old lilac bush that was outside the back door.

It was rotted and not in great shape.

And now it's gone.

The large area in the photo that doesn't have plants

is the future site of the water garden I plan to put in.

There will be a waterfall in the back right corner of the house.

I'm hoping to be able to do that late summer/early fall

if I'm lucky.

Another wider view of the area.

This is a shot of the side of the house

and the lovely yews.

Another yew full frontal.

And here we are yew free.

This was a really big transformation.

We went from the yews to yew stumps 

to nasty grass and weeds 

to this.

A photo of the area on the side towards the back.

The room with all the windows is the laundry/mud room.

And here is the little garden now.

There was a garden there originally,

but it was full of weeds and mint.

Mint is the devil.

DO NOT plant mint directly into your garden!

Trust me.

Another view of the yews from the front of the house.

And the new view.

I'm thinking of planting a climbing vine on the rain spout.

A clematis would look good there,

and it would give the garden some height.

We don't have a front yard at all- the porch touches the sidewalk,

so I need to make sure the areas I have close by really pop.

Here we have some random shots of the new gardens.

We will eventually replace the old nasty wire fence

with a privacy fence.

The rest of the yard will be picket fencing.

I originally stuck my grandson's playhouse in the garden

to take up space.

I've decided to leave it there for now.

I had the idea to use containers 

and let him plant some annuals to have around his house.

The garden angel that was once my grandmother's.

Now that everything has been weeded and mulched, 

and all the plants have been planted,

it's time to make a list of what plants I'd like to add.

I have another hydrangea that was part of my wedding decor to transplant, 

and I'd like to get a lace cap hydrangea too.

Big E wants a rhododendron,

and I've saved room along the side of the house for that.

I need some more milkweed,

and I also want

rudbeckia (brown eyed Susan),  lavendar,

phlox, columbine, hollyhocks, and some coreopsis-

plus whatever else I happen across that I like. 

Mulching for Mother's Day

 So, I've been dying to get all the flower beds mulched

since last year.

Last year, we dug out a circle around the cherry tree and

gardens along the fence in the back yard.

We only managed to mulch the area around the tree last year.

This year, we dug out more garden area along the side of the house.

Since it was Mother's Day, 

I used it to my advantage and requested slave labor all day for mulching purposes.

 This was the first load of mulch.

We didn't just have mulching to do, 

that would have been easy.

We had to edge and pick up piles of weeds and grass

as we went.

We filled 10 large trash bags of yard waste when it was all said and done.

 In the end, it took 3 loads which equaled about 6-7 cubic yards of mulch.

Everything has been done except 

around the tree.

The transformation is amazing,

and I'll be blogging before and after photos soon.

I still have some areas to fill in with plants

(there's a list)

and hopefully later this summer or early fall

I'll be able to start on the water garden.

I guess now with all the weeding and mulching done,

I have to clean the house.

I Dig Perennials

A couple of weeks ago, my mom, Big E and I 

went to a family friend's house to snag some perennials.

Existing flower beds were going to be dug up

to make way for their awesome new barn.

And since I have tons of garden space to fill, 

I jumped at the chance to score free plants.

We might have gone a little overboard.

We had to stop because we ran out of room.

Granted, the photo shows plants for me and my mom, 

but the only room on the back seat is a small spot for my mom

on the passenger side.

I'm still planting stuff.

It's slow going when you need to weed before planting.

Hopefully I'll have some great photos of the garden beds once 

they're weeded and mulched!

The Rock Salad Garden

With the fabulous weather we've been having, 

Big E and I have been spending spare time doing things in the yard.

The latest task we tackled was cleaning up 

a garden area on the side of the garage.

It's been neglected for a while now,

and I think it is a good spot for a new garden 

for lettuces and kale.

It'll save on the grocery bill for tortoise food.

Not only was it full of weeds and nasty Bermuda grass, 

it also had 5 invasive tree species growing in it.

Apparently, this used to be a rock garden.

Or cement garden.

This is one of 2 piles of cement block that was dug up

and hauled out of the garden.

Once section actually had large pieces of flagstone in it

and resembled a chicken.

Big E wouldn't let me keep it.

 In the end, we got it all dug out, 

and it looks great. 

Again, hard to imagine that there was so much cement

in such a small area.

Not sure if I'm going to make a raised bed, 

or just use it as is.

Either way, I'm glad the area looks better, 

and I'm anxious to get the salad growing

for me and the tortoise.

(Though now we have to clean up the piles of crap we took out of it)

Monster Forsythia

Busy as usual.

Wednesday evening Big E and I worked on 

removing the forsythia shrubs at the back of the yard.

Forsythia are very misleading.

Like icebergs.

They look manageable enough, 

but underneath is this massive root ball leviathan.

Big E was convinced the easiest thing to do was sell the house

and buy one without forsythia shrubs that need removal.

Big E had attempted to use his saws-all to cut through the roots, 

but the roots just wore the teeth off the blade.

I made the suggestion that we dig around the shrub

and use loppers to cut roots as we go.

He scoffed at this idea.

I suggested using the chain to pull them out, 

so off I went to get the chain from my dad.

On the way back, this was the text I received:

I wanted to make sure that everyone saw the actual proof

that I was right..... again.

Anyway, we hitched up the chain

and popped the first stump out.

The second was a little different.

It took several tried before the thing even budged, 

but it the end it popped out too.

We had to remove the dirt from the root ball,

and when I jumped in the hole it was up past my knees.

Huge job accomplished,

now we need to get to work on the veggie garden.

Caterpillars in the Garden

This is the milkweed plant called "Hairy Balls".

I'm pretty sure you can guess why.

And you'd be right to guess that I bought these for the Monarch Waystation

simply because they're called "Hairy Balls".

What can I say? 

I have the humor of a 12 year old boy.

The "balls" are the seed pods and form in late summer/early fall.

They're perennial only in Zone 8 and above, so just an annual here

but you can save the seeds for the following season.

Sadly, I haven't noticed any Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed, 

though I've seen some actual butterflies stopping for nectar.

I do have Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars.

I planted bronze fennel just for them (their favorite food).

While I've been mainly concerned with helping the Monarch population, 

I also want to help butterflies in general because really, 

the world can't have too many butterflies.

In other news, 

I've nearly finished weeding the jungle garden.

With all the hot weather and lack of rain, 

I let the garden go way longer than I should have.  

I'm 3/4 of the way finished cleaning it up.  

And Big E cut down the last of the shrubs we needed to remove.

We still have some stumps to dig out, 

and a large pile of brush to haul to the mulch plant

but it's all coming along.

And once I clean the kitchen, 

I'll share pictures of the new floor.

What's Going On

Things have been busy.

I say that, and part of me doesn't even know what I've been doing to feel so busy.

All I know is, one minute it was May, 

 and then suddenly it's the middle of July and my summer is nearly gone.

Things have been so busy that our garden has been neglected.

It looked more like "The Garden of Weedin"

than anything that might actually produce edible vegetables.

It might surprise you to know that this photo was taken only a few days after Big E 

and I weeded the left half of the garden.

It took 2 days and a total of about 6 hours,

but we finally got the thing weeded!

I also found my nemesis: squash bugs on some plants.

This year my plan of attack is to use diatomaceous earth combined with

using duct tape sticky side out to pull eggs and bugs off plants.

It's best to try to do that every other day.

Yesterday I found Squash bugs, cucumber beetles and squash beetles on the squash, cucumbers and

whatever volunteers we have growing in various places 

(possibly pumpkin, watermelon and cantaloupe, it'll be a surprise).

Hopefully I can get a handle on things so they don't get out of control.

You'd think these chickens would like to eat some plump, juicy bugs out of my garden.

But all they want to do is dig up my beets so they can roll in the dirt

and eat the leaves off things.

I'm not ashamed to say that I take pleasure it squirting them with the hose while I'm watering.

This little guy was the first ever baby chick hatched the old fashioned way at the homestead.

Unfortunately, he didn't live longer than a couple of days.  

I had a total of 3 chicks emerge from eggs and none survived.

I'm hoping I get to the bottom of that problem 

as I would like to add to the flock when needed

by letting my hens do the work 

and not having to bring babies into the house in the brooder.

If anyone has any advice, that would be great.

We also now have a bunny.

This is Harvey.

He's named after the 6 foot tall invisible rabbit in the old James Stewart movie.

James Stewart played a man who talked to the invisible rabbit.

He was thought to be insane.

Draw your own conclusions.

Harvey's only job is to amuse me.

He also likes to torment my 2 year old grandson 

by chewing on and stealing toys.

Here he is resting amongst his spoils of war.

I haven't been able to take photos of the bathroom.

That's next on my list-

really, I've resorted to lists of things I need to update on the blog.

Problem with the bathroom is that there is no longer light in there now that the old window opening has been boarded up. 

But, we do have the wires run for the outlets and lights

(and I just thought I might ask the hubby to add and outlet along a wall I don't think I told him I wanted before he ran the wires.... ooops).

So hopefully in the next day or two, 

I'll share the bathroom updates that have happened.

Making Hay

I haven't actually been making hay,

but the saying "make hay while the sun is shining" refers 

to getting stuff done- in my case literally when the sun is shining.

In May I think it rain about 85% of the time

making outside work impossible.

Big E and I installed a new sturdier, taller chicken run in the rain.

l to r: Royal Farms, Louise and Vader the Roo

The girls (and the roo) aren't very happy about confinement of any sort

even if it's a very large grassy area.

I guess it's one of those

"The manure is better on the other side of the fence" deals for them.

We wanted to do something to allow them some freedom and space 

without offering them up as a fox buffet during kit season.

So far (knock wood) it seems to be working.

Nutsy enjoying some watermelon

I try to keep them happy with special treats

like watermelon rinds.

Still, the minute the treat is devoured,

they're back to demanding release from the prison yard.

In the nicer weather, 

Big E and I have finally been able to get the veggie garden tilled.

Because we are also busy at the house, we are keeping this year's garden smaller.

I have beets, radishes, cukes, beans, peppers, squash and tomatoes.

There is room for something else but I'm not sure yet what I'll add,

possibly just some additional tomatoes or peppers.

We also managed to finish digging out the new garden beds at our house.

Now I just need to get some stuff planted in them.

A local new-to-me nursery was having a BOGO sale on plants,

so my mom and I headed out and loaded up the car.

They're still sitting by the garage at the moment,

because I have so much that needs getting done I haven't gotten to them yet.

I'm hoping that I can find time to get that done,

so I can share the progress on the gardens.

I'm happy to report that I was able to get the rest of the milkweed that I needed,

and I can start the Monarch Waystation Certification process.

In other news, 

the bathroom is nearly completely gutted.

I haven't managed to get any photos of that process since it has mostly happened

during the day while I'm at work.  

Thanks to my dad. 

Garden Angel

It's been a busy weekend around here.

It's been raining for weeks, 

and we finally had some sun so I had to kick outside gardening chores into high gear.

We have our first cook out at the house this Sunday, 

and I still have a pretty long To-Do list I'm trying to complete.

Most important on the list is to finish digging out the new garden beds.

Once that it done, everything will look neater.

So I got up early (before 7am) on Saturday

and worked until noon when the rains came in.

Yesterday, I got up and started working at 8am.

At noon Big E came home and started helping.

I'm happy to say that most of the garden beds are defined except for one small area

that I will complete once I get home today.

I went to my parents' house to pick up some of my outdoor stuff

like the patio table, kids playhouse and lawn ornaments.

My favorite is the one pictured above, 

a garden angel.

It was once my grandmother's-

a gift for Mother's Day.

There's a story too.

My mom asked my thoughts on a possible gift for my grandmother for Mother's Day on year.

I suggested going to Frank's Nursery & Crafts and getting her a lawn ornament.

My grandmother and I went to Frank's all the time, it was our thing,

and she liked several of the lawn decorations they had.

So we all went to Frank's and my mom told my grandmother to pick out what she wanted.

She loved this angel, it was one she pointed out to me on several of our trips.

Of course, we never looked at the price and when my mom went to pay, 

it ended up being somewhere around $100.

It was always something we joked about afterwards.

So I picked up the angel

and planned on setting it in the area by the house where the hydrangeas will be going.

But a voice told me to put it amongst the peonies

(It wasn't a voice from the heavens I heard, just a small one in my head, I'm not that crazy).

So when I got home, I set her with the peonies

and it looked like that was where she was meant to be. 

Right now, it's my favorite area of the garden.

Garden for Wildlife

May happens to be "Garden for Wildlife" month.

And so, I share with you the beginnings of a wildlife garden. 

I've mentioned before my intent to make my gardens a certified Monarch Waystation

and a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

In between rain showers, 

I managed to get things started.

The back 3 plants are Swamp Milkweed, the 2 in the middle are Tropical Milkweed

and the one in front is sedum which serves as a nectar plant.

More importantly, the sedum was my grandmother's and 

I've managed to have it with me at every place I've lived.

Anyway, it doesn't look like much yet, but I'm almost there.

To be able to have a certified Monarch Waystation, there are some specific things you need to have.

1. Space:  There is no minimum space requirement, but having at least 100 square feet of habitat has been deemed the least amount you need to be effective. 
2. Sun: Your Monarch Waystation needs at least 6 hours of sun per day
3. Host Plants: Milkweed plants are the host plants of Monarchs.  You need to have at least 10 plants comprised of at least 2 types of milkweed or 10+ plants of one variety.
4. Nectar Plants: You need at least 4 annual, biennial or perennial nectar plants that the Monarchs can use as a food source.  You probably already have them in your existing garden.
5. Shelter: Milkweed plants should be planted close together to offer some cover for the Monarchs, their eggs and caterpillars.  
6. Management Plan: This means you have plans to thin out your plants to prevent overcrowding, mulching to conserve water, etc.  Basically the things needed to keep the Waystation in good shape year after year.

I technically have the nectar plants I need, so I'm just 5 milkweed plants short of the 10 required.  

But, I did plant some seed in a planter, 

and I'm awaiting the local nursery's plant shipment this week to get some more Swamp Milkweed. 

 I am also considering ordering either seed or plants of another milkweed variety off the internet. 

To certify your garden as a Wildlife Habitat, there are also a list of requirements

1. Food: You need 3 from their list of Pollen/nectar plants, berries, birdfeeder, squirrel feeder, hummingbird feeder, butterfly feeder, nuts, etc. (I have 2 out of 3)
2. Water: You need 1 from the list of bird bath, water garden/pond, stream or butterfly puddling area. (I have this category covered)
3. Cover: You need 2 from the list of wooded area, ground cover, rock wall or pile, dense shrubs or thicket, evergreens or water garden/pond. (I have 1 out of 2 so far)
4. Places to Raise Young: You need 2 from the list of mature trees, nesting box, host plants for caterpillars, dense shrubs or water garden/pond. (I have 2 out of 2)
5. Sustainability: You need 2 from the list of soil/water conservation, controlling exotic/invasive species or organic practices. (I have 2 out of 2).

While I will be able to get my Monarch Waystation certification this year, 

the Certified Wildlife Habitat might have to wait until next year.

One of the items listed for 3 of the requirements is a water garden/pond.

I plan to install one, but it won't be until next year.

Of course it's possible I fulfill the rest of the requirements without it,

and then I'd probably go ahead and get it certified.

So, if you have some space, 

consider gardening for wildlife.

A Monarch Waystation is simple to do-

if you already have a garden, all you need are the milkweed plants

and they are easily found online or even at your local nursery.

Happy Gardening!

 

Ugly Shrub Removal

This is a lilac bush located right outside the back door

and up against the back of the house.

I hate this shrub.

(it's tied for most hated with the ugly yews on the side of the house)

I like lilac bushes in general, 

but this one has to go.

It's old and hasn't been pruned properly

and has several dead and rotting areas in it.

So I cut it back, 

and last night Big E chained it to the truck

and...

We (well, he) 

ripped that ugly sucker right out of the ground.

With minimal damage to the grass.

I've cleaned up the left over pieces of stump and roots

and filled in the hole.

This area is the site of a koi pond 

that I hope to start working on next year.

One shrub down, 

2 more lilac bushes to go

(and a forsythia).