Getting closer and closer to “all done”… And, even though the last few weekends have still meant long hours in the yard, I’m finally getting the payoff… I spend many an evening out on the deck, sitting with my feet in the grass, coffee at my knee, and a book in hand. LOVE it. Here are some pics, but we’ll skip most of the narrative this time ‘round. It’s all a lot of “lather, rinse, repeat”…
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Color Therapy!
Today I wanted some instant gratification. I wanted to see some color and some more forward motion.
I decided to do two things – plant out the trashcan garden that was once intended for blackberry canes, and play with the placement of containers around the newly laid sod.
Jebus, even when I set specific, bite-sized goals, they still take all damn day. I got up at 9 AM, was working on this stuff by 10 AM, and wrapped things up at 5:30 PM. No lunch break to speak of, but there was at least an hour of shopping for supplies in there. I’ll say it again, HGTV is a curse as much as a blessing. I get tons of ideas and instruction watching those shows, but my GOD! Progress with a whole crew and producers and editing is much different from an “IRL” one-girl show. Stuff that on TV takes just a few minutes, takes FOREVER in actuality, and I’m no slouch.
Yeesh, but enough of the grousing.
Here are some happy pictures!
The first rose off the bushes in the rock garden. Loverly! Very spicy scent, too. Love it!
Trash Can Garden BEFORE: Had to pull all the weeds out, and finally dig out the thorny remains of my failed blackberry canes.
Trash Can Garden DURING:
Weeds are gone…
Placing the plants…
Planted, for real and for true…
I need to tweak ‘em a bit… One still needs a hibiscus, one needs a flowering ground cover, and one needs the vertical element improved, but the foundation is there. SCHWEET!
And last but not least, the containers around the new patch‘o’sod…
Yaaayyyyyyyyyyy!
I also spent some time spraying the Bermuda Grass poison on the pavers again. It was a little windy, so I cut the bottom out of an empty milk gallon and put the spray nozzle into that to contain any overspray so I didn't kill all of the sod I just laid. I sprayed all of the grass in the sidewalk bed as well, as that project is soon to come to the top of the list... Finally, I took the one and a half pieces of left over sod, cut it into little plugs, and transplanted all of them into the backyard. The grass back there will eventually die off in the heat, and getting these plugs started now might give them enough time to take off and start spreading...
I decided to do two things – plant out the trashcan garden that was once intended for blackberry canes, and play with the placement of containers around the newly laid sod.
Jebus, even when I set specific, bite-sized goals, they still take all damn day. I got up at 9 AM, was working on this stuff by 10 AM, and wrapped things up at 5:30 PM. No lunch break to speak of, but there was at least an hour of shopping for supplies in there. I’ll say it again, HGTV is a curse as much as a blessing. I get tons of ideas and instruction watching those shows, but my GOD! Progress with a whole crew and producers and editing is much different from an “IRL” one-girl show. Stuff that on TV takes just a few minutes, takes FOREVER in actuality, and I’m no slouch.
Yeesh, but enough of the grousing.
Here are some happy pictures!
The first rose off the bushes in the rock garden. Loverly! Very spicy scent, too. Love it!
Trash Can Garden BEFORE: Had to pull all the weeds out, and finally dig out the thorny remains of my failed blackberry canes.
Trash Can Garden DURING:
Weeds are gone…
Placing the plants…
Planted, for real and for true…
I need to tweak ‘em a bit… One still needs a hibiscus, one needs a flowering ground cover, and one needs the vertical element improved, but the foundation is there. SCHWEET!
And last but not least, the containers around the new patch‘o’sod…
Yaaayyyyyyyyyyy!
I also spent some time spraying the Bermuda Grass poison on the pavers again. It was a little windy, so I cut the bottom out of an empty milk gallon and put the spray nozzle into that to contain any overspray so I didn't kill all of the sod I just laid. I sprayed all of the grass in the sidewalk bed as well, as that project is soon to come to the top of the list... Finally, I took the one and a half pieces of left over sod, cut it into little plugs, and transplanted all of them into the backyard. The grass back there will eventually die off in the heat, and getting these plugs started now might give them enough time to take off and start spreading...
Oh, Sod OFF! Er…on. Sod, on….
Ok, so I took a couple of weekends off in March to work on other, non-yard related stuff. But then I got back to it. Here’s what I did last weekend and this weekend…
March 23, 24, and 25
So…Let’s see…last weekend I started things out by finishing the whole rock-garden-roses-strawberries-wandering jew set up. I set up a cheapo oil-change pan (unused, of course) under each of the rose/strawberry planted tubs, added cuttings of purple wandering jew, succulent soil, and water, and set the tub back on top. I was very careful to align the cuttings with the openings in the risers for the tubs so that the plants didn’t get mashed when I put the tubs back into place. I added in more rock as well. In a few weeks, once the wandering jew starts to stabilize and then take off, I’ll top off the rock and finally, the soil in the rose/strawberry tubs. Here are some pics…
I didn’t end up needing the coconut fiber liners that are in the picture above, as they would have over-filled the oil pans.
After this was done, I started working on the bigger project for the day. I finally realized that Mother Nature had bested me. I just can’t get past the goddamn Bermuda Grass. And, I admit, the blue boxes are too much for me. I don’t always eat all of the crops I grow, and keeping the boxes going has taken over my life.
So, the solution… I’m removing the blue boxes and replacing them with sod. Yep, that’s right. It’s come full circle – sort of. From ashes to ashes, dust to dust, sod to sod…
Here’s my thinking – organic solutions were not working on the Bermuda Grass, so I had to resort to nasty potions that I wouldn’t want to spray near anything I want to eat. And, this made keeping the blue raised beds in working order quite difficult, because despite the many layers of weed-cloth and other deterrents, I just couldn’t keep the B. Grass at bay. Not only did the blasted weed come up from beneath the boxes (yes, even through weed cloth and layers of cardboard), but it also became airborne. Long, limber stolons would rise up over the boxes, and then anywhere they touched earth, they rooted. So it was like Mother Nature was Frankenstein-stitching, then embroidering, then web-spinning my beds through and through, over and under, from wither and from nither. It was a complete no-win situation.
So, by replacing the blue boxes with sod, the B. Grass will be conquered at last. The Saint Augustine will take over and choke out the B. Grass. Regular mowing and edging will keep the St. Augustine in order. Long, arially-inclined stolons will be nipped at the bud by weed eaters and a mower. The Pony's Foot is really taking off between the pavers, and that should help out with any hangers-on. And I'll just keep blasting with that toxic cocktail until the heat sets in, and then that'll help slow any forward motion of the B.Grass. I don't think it'll ever go completely away, but I think I've won the Battle of the Bulge, here.
But what about gardening, you might ask?! What about growing yummy things to eat and beautiful flowers to enjoy? Fear not, as a compromise has been reached! Originally, I thought that once the sod took off, I would rip up the stone paths around the perimeter of the yard and use that area for flower/vegetable beds. However, I have realized that I can container garden in this area, which will help ENORMOUSLY with continuing to keep the B.Grass at bay. Pulling up the paths and pouring in soil would be a recipe for disaster! It would mean more long hours of weeding between desired plants, spraying for B.Grass, etc. But container gardening will keep the plants I want free and clear of the invasive B.Grass stolons, and will help MIGHTILY to keep this devil grass under control. And, I won’t have to pull up the stone paths that I busted my arse (and my wallet) to put down. Plus, I’ll have more than enough room for the crops that I did regularly enjoy, plus a little more for flowers and color. More on this later…
So, I started things out by attacking the side of the yard with the deck first. The first task at hand was digging up the bark mulch that I used on the paths between the boxes. The big chunks of bark would be too big to sustain the sod.
Once I had the paths raked up, the next step was to get rid of the boxes. This was a little easier said than done. I posted them for free on Craigslist and had a ton of responses. Many more than I anticipated, to be truthful. So while juggling communications to organize pick up of the boxes, I had to work at getting the boxes free of the soil they contained, and available for removal. While not exactly difficult, it wasn’t easy either. Getting the boxes loose just took a crowbar and a few carefully placed whacks of a rock-breaker. Dealing with the mound of soil left behind was really the hard part. I had to comb it through to remove all of the weeds and B.Grass I could, then rake it all smooth, then spray it down with B.Grass killer and let it set a week before putting down sod.
The shallower boxes were a no-brainer. Once the boxes were up off the ground, I just crouched in the dirt and worked through it, square foot by square foot, with a garden claw, weeding fork, and a tiller. I pulled up as much of the weed cloth as I could as well. I didn’t sweat that too much though, as there was a solid 2” – 3” of soil atop the weed cloth, and that would be more than enough to sustain the sod. Remember, this is the primo, hand mixed soil I slaved over for the garden boxes, to provide an ideal ratio of nutritive value to water retention. And, as already well proven by the B.Grass, weed cloth is NO match for Mother Nature.
The deeper box was more of an issue, simply because there was more soil to disperse, and more weeds within that soil to deal with. It just took more of the same clawing, forking, tilling, and raking to smooth it all out.
Once all the weeds and B.Grass remnants were removed (well, as much as humanly possible), I sprayed the whole area down with the B.Grass killer and let it bake in. The instructions said I could lay sod over the area a week later, so that was the plan.
March 31
And that brings us to this weekend, when I did just that! Two carloads of sod covered that area, with just one and one-half pieces left over. I’ll cut that up tomorrow and use it as plugs in the back yard… I was super glad to make an early day of this effort, and call it around noon. It's my honey's birthday, and we have a date at Curra's on the schedule...
I must say, though I used 3 days of a 4 day weekend last week to get this done, and I have a few more tough weekends ahead of me to do the same to the other side, I’m finally feeling a sense of relief about the whole garden thing. I think I’ve finally hit on the right combination of elements that will bring me pleasure, produce, and let me have my life back again! I tried my best to be totally organic, and I just couldn’t do it. Maybe there are better gardeners out there than me that can battle B.Grass with just vinegar and sweat, but I’ll let them do that from now on. I have made my best effort, and now I have made my peace with a combination of “organic” and “not-so-organic”. So be it.
In the next couple of weeks, I’ll knock out the rest of this list…Yeah…
To Do:
Move large herbs (marjoram, sage) to sidewalk bed
Clear other half of yard for sod
Sod other half of yard
Hibiscus in trashcan garden – the 4 larger cans ( with sweet potato, creeping jenny, or mints for ground cover.
Red passion vine in three cans with poles/trellis. Train passion vines up trellis
Lay stone in the “dry river bed”
Container garden perimeter of yard
Secret surprise container gardening to balance deck
Work on sidewalk bed
Work on driveway bed
Backyard…..
OMG, sigh. Big, fat, dripping sigh…
March 23, 24, and 25
So…Let’s see…last weekend I started things out by finishing the whole rock-garden-roses-strawberries-wandering jew set up. I set up a cheapo oil-change pan (unused, of course) under each of the rose/strawberry planted tubs, added cuttings of purple wandering jew, succulent soil, and water, and set the tub back on top. I was very careful to align the cuttings with the openings in the risers for the tubs so that the plants didn’t get mashed when I put the tubs back into place. I added in more rock as well. In a few weeks, once the wandering jew starts to stabilize and then take off, I’ll top off the rock and finally, the soil in the rose/strawberry tubs. Here are some pics…
I didn’t end up needing the coconut fiber liners that are in the picture above, as they would have over-filled the oil pans.
After this was done, I started working on the bigger project for the day. I finally realized that Mother Nature had bested me. I just can’t get past the goddamn Bermuda Grass. And, I admit, the blue boxes are too much for me. I don’t always eat all of the crops I grow, and keeping the boxes going has taken over my life.
So, the solution… I’m removing the blue boxes and replacing them with sod. Yep, that’s right. It’s come full circle – sort of. From ashes to ashes, dust to dust, sod to sod…
Here’s my thinking – organic solutions were not working on the Bermuda Grass, so I had to resort to nasty potions that I wouldn’t want to spray near anything I want to eat. And, this made keeping the blue raised beds in working order quite difficult, because despite the many layers of weed-cloth and other deterrents, I just couldn’t keep the B. Grass at bay. Not only did the blasted weed come up from beneath the boxes (yes, even through weed cloth and layers of cardboard), but it also became airborne. Long, limber stolons would rise up over the boxes, and then anywhere they touched earth, they rooted. So it was like Mother Nature was Frankenstein-stitching, then embroidering, then web-spinning my beds through and through, over and under, from wither and from nither. It was a complete no-win situation.
So, by replacing the blue boxes with sod, the B. Grass will be conquered at last. The Saint Augustine will take over and choke out the B. Grass. Regular mowing and edging will keep the St. Augustine in order. Long, arially-inclined stolons will be nipped at the bud by weed eaters and a mower. The Pony's Foot is really taking off between the pavers, and that should help out with any hangers-on. And I'll just keep blasting with that toxic cocktail until the heat sets in, and then that'll help slow any forward motion of the B.Grass. I don't think it'll ever go completely away, but I think I've won the Battle of the Bulge, here.
But what about gardening, you might ask?! What about growing yummy things to eat and beautiful flowers to enjoy? Fear not, as a compromise has been reached! Originally, I thought that once the sod took off, I would rip up the stone paths around the perimeter of the yard and use that area for flower/vegetable beds. However, I have realized that I can container garden in this area, which will help ENORMOUSLY with continuing to keep the B.Grass at bay. Pulling up the paths and pouring in soil would be a recipe for disaster! It would mean more long hours of weeding between desired plants, spraying for B.Grass, etc. But container gardening will keep the plants I want free and clear of the invasive B.Grass stolons, and will help MIGHTILY to keep this devil grass under control. And, I won’t have to pull up the stone paths that I busted my arse (and my wallet) to put down. Plus, I’ll have more than enough room for the crops that I did regularly enjoy, plus a little more for flowers and color. More on this later…
So, I started things out by attacking the side of the yard with the deck first. The first task at hand was digging up the bark mulch that I used on the paths between the boxes. The big chunks of bark would be too big to sustain the sod.
Once I had the paths raked up, the next step was to get rid of the boxes. This was a little easier said than done. I posted them for free on Craigslist and had a ton of responses. Many more than I anticipated, to be truthful. So while juggling communications to organize pick up of the boxes, I had to work at getting the boxes free of the soil they contained, and available for removal. While not exactly difficult, it wasn’t easy either. Getting the boxes loose just took a crowbar and a few carefully placed whacks of a rock-breaker. Dealing with the mound of soil left behind was really the hard part. I had to comb it through to remove all of the weeds and B.Grass I could, then rake it all smooth, then spray it down with B.Grass killer and let it set a week before putting down sod.
The shallower boxes were a no-brainer. Once the boxes were up off the ground, I just crouched in the dirt and worked through it, square foot by square foot, with a garden claw, weeding fork, and a tiller. I pulled up as much of the weed cloth as I could as well. I didn’t sweat that too much though, as there was a solid 2” – 3” of soil atop the weed cloth, and that would be more than enough to sustain the sod. Remember, this is the primo, hand mixed soil I slaved over for the garden boxes, to provide an ideal ratio of nutritive value to water retention. And, as already well proven by the B.Grass, weed cloth is NO match for Mother Nature.
The deeper box was more of an issue, simply because there was more soil to disperse, and more weeds within that soil to deal with. It just took more of the same clawing, forking, tilling, and raking to smooth it all out.
Once all the weeds and B.Grass remnants were removed (well, as much as humanly possible), I sprayed the whole area down with the B.Grass killer and let it bake in. The instructions said I could lay sod over the area a week later, so that was the plan.
March 31
And that brings us to this weekend, when I did just that! Two carloads of sod covered that area, with just one and one-half pieces left over. I’ll cut that up tomorrow and use it as plugs in the back yard… I was super glad to make an early day of this effort, and call it around noon. It's my honey's birthday, and we have a date at Curra's on the schedule...
I must say, though I used 3 days of a 4 day weekend last week to get this done, and I have a few more tough weekends ahead of me to do the same to the other side, I’m finally feeling a sense of relief about the whole garden thing. I think I’ve finally hit on the right combination of elements that will bring me pleasure, produce, and let me have my life back again! I tried my best to be totally organic, and I just couldn’t do it. Maybe there are better gardeners out there than me that can battle B.Grass with just vinegar and sweat, but I’ll let them do that from now on. I have made my best effort, and now I have made my peace with a combination of “organic” and “not-so-organic”. So be it.
In the next couple of weeks, I’ll knock out the rest of this list…Yeah…
To Do:
Move large herbs (marjoram, sage) to sidewalk bed
Clear other half of yard for sod
Sod other half of yard
Hibiscus in trashcan garden – the 4 larger cans ( with sweet potato, creeping jenny, or mints for ground cover.
Red passion vine in three cans with poles/trellis. Train passion vines up trellis
Lay stone in the “dry river bed”
Container garden perimeter of yard
Secret surprise container gardening to balance deck
Work on sidewalk bed
Work on driveway bed
Backyard…..
OMG, sigh. Big, fat, dripping sigh…
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Catchin’ Up - This Weekend and Last
I always seem to be a weekend behind on the blog, so I figure now is the time to remedy that. If I’m getting back on track with the yard properly, I should get back on track with the blog properly as well. So, while my sweet potato breakfast of wonderfulness is baking, I shall bring things up to speed.
First and foremost, I have FINALLY taught myself a VERY valuable trick – I now ONLY buy the supplies that I know I can consume on the day that I buy them. This might seem counterproductive, because it means more trips to various home improvement and garden shops. Or, it might seem like a no brainer, because what crazy person would want to have extra supplies sitting around, waiting to be used, being tripped over and cursed at, until the project for which they were purchased is long forgotten, reworked, or has otherwise fallen out of favor… Which is what I used to do. But I never knew it, so I would think that I, a single human being, should be able to use up all of the products I had brought home in one weekend, and I would work like crazy, not make a dent in things, become discouraged, and return to work on Monday after a hard weekend, feeling defeated, not in the least rested or refreshed.
No more. For my sanity, for my health, and for the health of my pocket book, I am changing strategies. Admittedly, couple of weekends ago, I bought plants that have yet to make it into the ground, but that’s ok, because they’re going in the ground today. But in the bigger picture, I’ve only bought as much soil at a time as I could use on the tasks planned for the day. I do have 2.5 bags of soil left over, but one bag is for the roses – once I’ve watered a few times and the soil I planted them in compacts, I’ll need to top it off. And the other two bags are to be used as I plant herbs and flowers in the edge of the yard, and as I move the huge herb mounds still in the herb box into the sidewalk bed. And that will all get used before I buy more soil. And I only bought as many coconut fiber liners as I knew I needed for the tubs I already had for planting, and so on…
So, now that I’ve bored my modest audience to death, here’s some of what I’ve been up to…
Sat Feb 25
The Bermuda Grass killer juice did its work for a week, so I used weed eater to get rid of the dead mess. More raking, sweeping, bagging of same.
I dug up the roses in the sidewalk bed and put them in water overnight.
Then I dug out the rosemary, the curry plant, and a sage from one of the herb boxes and to be planted in the sidewalk bed. I’m trying to clear out the planter boxes. More on that in a future post. Still mulling it over, but think it’s for the best.
To keep the b. grass at bay, I mowed sidewalk bed super short and used both the weed eater and edger to dig a clean edge into the sidewalk bed and the edge of the front yard. (While I had the mower out, I got after the backyard, too. The grass I seeded in the fall grows like CRAZY! But it’s rye, not b.grass, and is soft for the doggies to sunbathe in!)
I cleaned out a couple of the bucket planters that I had drowned my artichoke plants in. Sad face here. They were fine without drainage holes during the drought, and in fact, probably better off. But once we got a single rain, they became waterlogged and I never remedied the situation. DRAINAGE, Erica, DRAINAGE!!
Sun Feb 26
To start the day, I went to Runtex for race packet for the Texas Independence Day 5K on March 3rd. Because I apparently cannot read, I arrived an hour before the store opened. Gah!
So, since I was in the neighborhood, I went to The Great Outdoors to kill time and $$. I was very restrained and only bought about 10 herbs. Had a chai in the café and went back to Runtex.
Then I went back to Runtex and found out that packet pick up doesn’t start until NEXT Friday, March 2nd. Oy! I had wasted most of the morning! I totally would NOT have gone downtown at all, not even for The Great Outdoors, if I had read the packet pick up info correctly!
So, grumpy and feeling like the day was getting away from me, I started rounding up the other items I needed for the day’s work. First, a trip to Lowe’s to get rose soil, coconut fiber liners, and a few other things.
They didn’t have the grass killer stuff I needed, so I was off to Home Depot. The whole “buy what you can use in a day” concept was getting reinforced, as by this time, I was feeling burnt out on all the errands, and irritated that I hadn’t gotten any work done yet. And the weekend’s R&R wouldn’t start until AFTER the work was complete.
Once I was home, I had some lunch, sulked, then finally got up to get some work done. My project for the day was to clean out the window box under the living room windows. Back when I first bought the house, it had had roses in it. I decided to put roses in again, but this time, in containers instead of in the ground.
The roses that had been in the sidewalk bed had been planted there as a way to try to deter people from parking in front of my house all of the damn time. I get SO TIRED of seeing huge trucks and SUVs and other things that don’t belong to me, parked smack in front of my house. (Yes, thank you, I know that it is legal to park on the street, regardless of whether or not you own the property you park in front of. Yes, got it.) So, I thought the roses would get nice and big and provide at least a little bit of a screen, and maybe the thorns would be a deterrent… But, I didn’t give the roses the TLC they needed to do well, and they were barely hanging on.
I had been planning to move them for quite some time, and had stockpiled a few 15-gallon galvanized washtubs to use as planters. Some had been planted with other things, but because I had not put in drainage holes the other things died. So, I dumped out the soupy, sloggy soil, drilled 3 holes in each, and lined the bottoms of each tub with a coconut fiber liner. I got the kind that is intended to go into wire planting baskets, and they just happened to fit PERFECTLY into the bottom of these tubs.
Once the tubs were all set up, I trimmed each of the roses way back, selected the three that were most likely to live, and got them set up in the tubs with some good, rich, rose-formulated soil.
For the next step, I had to go back out to Lowe’s to get weed cloth. I though I had some left over, but was mistaken. Once I got back, I weeded the window box, raked the soil level, and covered it in a quadruple layer of weed cloth. Then I put left over cast concrete capstone pavers from another project into the window box for the rose tubs to sit on. I put the rose tubs in, and dumped in two bags of egg-rock left over from yet another project to begin to cover up the black weed cloth.
I noticed after watering the roses in that the drainage, while not significant, would provide moisture for unwelcome weeds, so I started thinking about what could be done about that. Made a mental note and filed it for next weekend’s work.
Once the roses were situated, I worked with the HUGE rosemary and almost equally as big curry plant that I had pulled out of one of the planter boxes. I had planted them in the sidewalk bed right after I pulled them out of the bed they had been in the day before, but that was a temporary solution. I just wanted to get them into ground where they could be watered and not be in the way. Now, I had to get them into their permanent places. I moved the curry plant twice and the rosemary three times before I was happy with their locations. I also tweaked the location of a sage that was suffering, but will definitely rebound. The intention this year is that these herbs, and some others that have similarly bushy habitats and are very drought tolerant, will help choke out the Bermuda grass. I removed the soaker hose from this area months ago, mostly because it was full of punctures from stiletto heels walking all over them. But it worked out for the best, as using a soaker meant that water was too abundant, and added to the b.grass infestation. By strategically placing the plants to thoroughly cover the ground so no light gets to it, and watering strategically, I hope to eliminate places where the b.grass can get reestablished.
In addition to the curry plant and the rosemary, the sage will get huge in no time, and I have another sage and a sweet marjoram to move. I’m going to add lemon grass and lantana, some salvias, and zinnias of all sizes from seed. I’ll put the rock roses back in for color, and I’ll also add some other herbs that like dry conditions. I’ll add lavendar, epazote, and basils. I’ll water selectively, directing it at each planting, so the runoff doesn’t encourage the weeds and Bermuda grass. With any luck, and maybe a few selective applications of more of the B. Grass treatment, MAYBE this year it won’t take over my yard again!
Friday Mar 2
Didn’t do a lot. Just sprayed more of the B.Grass killer where needed, and watered plants waiting for final homes.
Saturday Mar 3
Last week after messing around with the roses in the window box, I had made a mental note that they weren’t quite right. For one thing, the risers I had put the tubs on weren’t quite high enough for me. I could tell that once I filled in with enough egg rock, they would sit too low. Plus, there was a drainage issue. I didn’t want the run off from watering the roses to encourage weeds. So, I mulled it all over and came up with a plan.
First, I simply raised the tubs. Instead of placing them on capstones that are only two inches thick, I propped them up on trapezoidal wall blocks that are about 4 inches deep. So, problem solved.
I was also trying to figure out how to deter weeds in the rose tubs themselves, and then I realized that roses and strawberries are closely related, so soil that is formulated for roses would also be good for strawberries. So, I adjusted the roses in the tubs, pushing them more toward the back of the tub than dead-center, and added three strawberry plants to the front of each tub. I planted Sequoia, Quinault, and Allstar. Each of these varieties has a different growing season, and there is one of each plant in each tub.
I dumped in two more bags of egg rock and took a look. I like the height of the tubs now, but the drainage is still an issue. So, my solution is going to be to get some planters that can fit under the tubs, and will NOT have drainage holes. I’ll put succulent soil in the planters, put in a variety of succulents, and then they’ll drink the run off from the roses. I’ll be delicate with the egg rock when I put it in so that I leave openings for the succulents to come out from under the tub, without getting crushed. Another cool feature of this arrangement is that toads LOVE dark, moist hidey-holes like this, so maybe some will come live there and protect my garden from nice, juicy bugs. Hopefully, I can get this tweak knocked out on Sunday.
After doing this, I raked and swept more debris from the paths. They’re just looking SO much better. The Great Bermuda Grass War is not yet over, but several battles are won! This is the PERFECT time of year to get started on this, so I’m glad that I did! I was so heart broken by the way the B.Grass took over last year (thus, a whole year of no blog) that I was almost too daunted to try anything at all this year. These small successes have been very good for my soul!
I also mowed the back yard again, and have started formulating a plan for that area. That area will have to wait until the front is done, but it still pays for my brain to percolate. It’s how I roll…
A few items to do on Sunday, or soon…
* Plant the plants/herbs on hand
* Succulents under roses, finish bed with more rock
* Mix old seed packets and liberally seed the perimeter of the yard. I think this will be a fun way to use up old seeds and choke out the devil grass.
* Get a couple of creeping, antique roses for curbs! Or Lantana. And more herbs.
*And, and, and…
Monday, February 27, 2012
Gettin' back to Gettin' - February 18 and 19, 2012
So I’ve decided to try to get this darn garden under control again. Alas, as much as I want to do this completely organically, I have to concede when it comes to the damn Bermuda grass. That stuff is awful. Pretty much any green you see in the pictures below is this abominable weed. I confess that I have had to break out the “Ortho” and “Round Up” products.
So what all did I do two weekends ago?? Let’s see if I can remember…
I broke out the weed eaters and started hacking away the Bermuda grass. Of COURSE the electric one, for which about 25 lbs of electrical cord must be dragged around and tripped over and cursed at doesn’t always feed the line well. And the battery powered one feeds line great, but only holds about 10 minutes of charge at best. So it was a hassle.
I managed to hack out the Bermuda grass that was alongside the driveway and covering the path inside the fence that’s closest to the driveway. Throughout this blog I’ve referred to this as the “driveway path”, so I’ll continue doing so…
After it was all hacked down, I raked it up and bagged it. Just getting that one little area “under control” was SO encouraging.
That little bit of green that you can still see, sort of in the center bottom of the “after” picture above is a “volunteer” dill! I worked so hard not to crush it. There were two sprigs like this, but I accidentally crushed the other one after oh so carefully working around it for hours. Made it smell like pickles…
After I cut down, raked up and bagged as much of that awful weed as I could, I started spraying everything left with some awful toxin. It was supposed to start killing off the remaining grass within 24 hours. Here are some more “before shots” of the nastiness…
On Sunday, I cut back the bushes on the side of the house back and then bagged all the bits. The one good thing about the neighbor’s privacy fence is that we no longer need the bushes to give privacy to that side of the house. We can thin them out somewhat and let more sunlight filter into the living room, and give the doggies more opportunities for sun bathing! Yay, sunbathing!!
I also reasoned that, the “strategy” that I used to accidentally kill off the grass in the backyard might work to help control the Bermuda grass in the front yard, so I cut the grass in the “sidewalk bed” as short as I could. I set the mower on the lowest setting and it kept bottoming out, so I raised it to the second lowest setting and let ‘er rip! I mowed around the 5 rose bushes and the 3 (or 7) rock roses that keep on tickin’, making a mental note to get after those the next weekend (which, now, was last weekend). More edging and raking and bagging and here are some pics…
At the end of the weekend, my body was pretty sure I had done some hard work, and now that I’m writing it up, I sure do enjoy seeing the progress, but as always, when I list it, it just doesn’t SEEM to be so much work. But it was, really it WAS!!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
4.25.10
Today's goal is to get the damn trellises up. I'm at the end of my rope with them at this point, and they're going up come hell or high water...
I woke up feeling a little defeated. That whole "running in slow motion" thing. Another day of working. Another day of diverting Trent from a little well deserved R&R. Another day, another day, another day! I started things off getting a few supplies I needed - some retainer stones and cap rocks and weed cloth and river rocks from HD, then some plants from The Great Outdoors. TGO almost ALWAYS produces a state of euphoria in me. Not so today. Not TGO's fault - no, not at all. Just illustrating my level of "had-it-up-to-here" -edness. If TGO can't get me high, nuthin' can.
Here, Trent's using a spade bit to enlarge the pilot holes. Oh, if only that were as dirty as it sounds!
Used some low tack tape to keep the drains upright while the aquarium sealant dried. Taa Daa!
OH. EM. GEE. Holy Shit. The damn poles are in the cans. Be still my beating heart. This is the last one we set. And of course, it was the most difficult. Not because it was heavy - nope, it was by 2 feet the shortest one. And not because we did anything different. Nope, lather, rinse, repeat. What was the problem? We have no idea. The quickrete just wouldn't set up. Where we used 2 bags of concrete for the other two cans/poles, we finally had to add a third bag to this one. That finally got it to hold the lumber plumb. Not sure what happened, but whatever. It seems ok now. I hope!
Me. Holding the lumber. Watching concrete set up. Or not.
I woke up feeling a little defeated. That whole "running in slow motion" thing. Another day of working. Another day of diverting Trent from a little well deserved R&R. Another day, another day, another day! I started things off getting a few supplies I needed - some retainer stones and cap rocks and weed cloth and river rocks from HD, then some plants from The Great Outdoors. TGO almost ALWAYS produces a state of euphoria in me. Not so today. Not TGO's fault - no, not at all. Just illustrating my level of "had-it-up-to-here" -edness. If TGO can't get me high, nuthin' can.
Got home and got the party started. Trent was still game for helping me out, bless him. I had sprayed the second coat of pruning sealant on the wooden disks before I went out to do my errands, so by the time I was back, they were ready to go. We got the disks screwed to the cans, then started trying to drill the holes for the drains. That was NOT fun.
The first attempt involved drilling a pilot hole, then trying to use a jigsaw to cut out the rest. No dice. Then one of us remembered that we have a whole set of spade bits. Bingo!
Pilot holes
Here, Trent's using a spade bit to enlarge the pilot holes. Oh, if only that were as dirty as it sounds!
Once the holes were drilled, I put the drains in.
First ya schmear the bottom of the pipe with aquarium sealant...
Then you mash it in the hole!
Close up of the drains. Can't remember if I already posted one...
Used some low tack tape to keep the drains upright while the aquarium sealant dried. Taa Daa!
OH. EM. GEE. Holy Shit. The damn poles are in the cans. Be still my beating heart. This is the last one we set. And of course, it was the most difficult. Not because it was heavy - nope, it was by 2 feet the shortest one. And not because we did anything different. Nope, lather, rinse, repeat. What was the problem? We have no idea. The quickrete just wouldn't set up. Where we used 2 bags of concrete for the other two cans/poles, we finally had to add a third bag to this one. That finally got it to hold the lumber plumb. Not sure what happened, but whatever. It seems ok now. I hope!
Me. Holding the lumber. Watching concrete set up. Or not.
Me again. Still holding the lumber. Still watching concrete dry. Jeeze.
Free standing wood. Yay. (Take that and do what you will with it.)
If you look at that last one carefully, you can see where I've set the bigger trash cans in in between the smaller ones. These will be planted with the blackberries tomorrow. Unfortunately, my b.berry plants have already had one bad shock this year (when I dug them up) and are about to get another (when I replant them). They made it through the first and will likely make it through the second, but I won't get much of a crop this year. Blackberries fruit on 2 year old canes, and all of my mature canes died from shock. There is fresh, new growth on all of the plants, but they won't do me much good this year. Oh well, at least they're up and off the ground now, and out of danger of becoming a bramble.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
4.24.10
Before I got going today, I took a few pictures of where I left off yesterday, as promised. However, I'm not going to go update them to yesterday's post. Moving forward, I say...
That's about it for an update for the progress on 4/23/10. Now for today.... Today's focus is the blackberry path. I want to get the trellises installed, and hopefully get the blackberries (re)planted. This doesn't sound like a lot, but it is.
For the trellises, I have to alter three 20gallon trashcans. I need to reinforce the bottom, add a drainage system, set them into place, put in the 4" x 4" posts, and add 8" of concrete. Once the concrete is cured, the poles need to be cut to the same height, a couple of them need to be stained, and the rest of the can needs to be filled with soil and planted. The posts are left over from the Great Fence Build, and have been in our garage for a couple of years now, waiting to be used!! Yay, freecycling!
After. It was sort of hard to see the removed stones, so I highlighted the area in yellow to help.
These black discs are plywood, coated with pruning seal for waterproofing. The bottoms of the trashcans aren't flat. They have a half inch rim. If I put a bunch of concrete, a heavy wooden pole, and a bunch of soil into a trashcan with a floating bottom, the weld could pop and everything would fall apart. That would be no bueno. So, I cut these disks to fit the bottom of the trashcans, filling that void. They'll be screwed in from the bottom, and then the screws will be made permanent when the concrete goes in. Also, the holes for the drainage tubes will have to be cut through this wood AND the bottom of the can. God bless America, I make up difficult projects!
I also used pruning seal on the bottoms of the cans. For extra longevity. 'Cause I ain't goin' through this again.
The blackberries will then be planted into 30gallon trashcans. This is one of them. No need for fancy drainage systems, 'cause there isn't any concrete going in these cans. Just soil (backfill from the yard, amended with store bought compost and some of the "mulch that won't end"). I just drilled some holes into the bottom and coated it with the pruning seal. Just the outside - don't want that crap leeching into my berries.
Fifteen magical flutes! Er, drains. Five per can.
All of my watermelon babies have popped up! One of the varieties was a full 2 weeks later than the other two, but now they all look like the same size. Not quite sure if that bodes well for the late comer, or poorly for the early birds, or none of the above!
This is the "driveway" path. Just about finished it!
Trent had to help me move that stone there in the bottom left corner. That beast was HEAVY!
Center path. The bottom left corner is the weed cloth in one of the "sidewalk" paths, waiting for me to finish it with sand and stone. In due time, my friends. In due time.
I was playing around with getting up on a ladder for better pictures.
This is the path closest to the house on the driveway side. I got this path laid and blended in with the center path.
That's about it for an update for the progress on 4/23/10. Now for today.... Today's focus is the blackberry path. I want to get the trellises installed, and hopefully get the blackberries (re)planted. This doesn't sound like a lot, but it is.
For the trellises, I have to alter three 20gallon trashcans. I need to reinforce the bottom, add a drainage system, set them into place, put in the 4" x 4" posts, and add 8" of concrete. Once the concrete is cured, the poles need to be cut to the same height, a couple of them need to be stained, and the rest of the can needs to be filled with soil and planted. The posts are left over from the Great Fence Build, and have been in our garage for a couple of years now, waiting to be used!! Yay, freecycling!
I started the morning marking some rocks with big "X"s in pink sidewalk chalk. I had forgotton to leave room for the dry creek bed in the blackberry path. I needed to pop these stones out so that I could fix that. Trent helped me out a LOT today, starting with this. He pulled the rocks out for me and stacked them on the pallets. The dry creek bed will coax runoff from the roof line down away from the house, to the street. The runoff has created a visible rivulet in the soil on the side of the house, so I'm just following that line and making it better. I hope. Fingers crossed. (Yes, eventually some good gutters will be installed, and will be attached to rain collection barrels, but in the meantime, need to keep the foundation healthy!)
Before
Pink Xs
After. It was sort of hard to see the removed stones, so I highlighted the area in yellow to help.
Here I'm making drainage tubes for the trashcans that are to hold the trellises. The idea is this - the trashcans are 24" tall. I'm only going to put concrete in the bottom 8". That'll be enough to anchor the posts. I'm going to fill the rest up with soil and plant them with varieties of mint. In order to be successful with this, the mint will need to be able to drain THROUGH the concrete. Not bloody likely!! So I've used scraps of pvc tubing left over from my frost cover frames to resolve this. Starting 9" from the bottom, I drilled lots of holes into the PVC. 'Cause the bottom 8" will be set in concrete, and I don't want that oozing out or clogging my drains, so no holes in the bottom 8". I've also capped the pipes, but didn't glue the caps on. This way, if they get clogged, I can pop the cap off and try to clean them out. The cap has some holes in it too. These drains will be set in holes drilled through the bottom of the can and held on with caulk until I can get the concrete in. Taa Daaa! Drainage. Who rocks?
Who needs a vise grip?
Ummmm.... not sure why this pic is here? Maybe I finished this path when Trent was out shooting hoops? That could be it. I would have deleted it, but the camera put a date/time stamp on it that made me think that it should stay.
These black discs are plywood, coated with pruning seal for waterproofing. The bottoms of the trashcans aren't flat. They have a half inch rim. If I put a bunch of concrete, a heavy wooden pole, and a bunch of soil into a trashcan with a floating bottom, the weld could pop and everything would fall apart. That would be no bueno. So, I cut these disks to fit the bottom of the trashcans, filling that void. They'll be screwed in from the bottom, and then the screws will be made permanent when the concrete goes in. Also, the holes for the drainage tubes will have to be cut through this wood AND the bottom of the can. God bless America, I make up difficult projects!
I also used pruning seal on the bottoms of the cans. For extra longevity. 'Cause I ain't goin' through this again.
The blackberries will then be planted into 30gallon trashcans. This is one of them. No need for fancy drainage systems, 'cause there isn't any concrete going in these cans. Just soil (backfill from the yard, amended with store bought compost and some of the "mulch that won't end"). I just drilled some holes into the bottom and coated it with the pruning seal. Just the outside - don't want that crap leeching into my berries.
Fifteen magical flutes! Er, drains. Five per can.
All of my watermelon babies have popped up! One of the varieties was a full 2 weeks later than the other two, but now they all look like the same size. Not quite sure if that bodes well for the late comer, or poorly for the early birds, or none of the above!
Didn't get to take "after" pics until dark. But what's cool about this is the fact that the paths sort of glow in the dark! They're so white that you can see them by moonlight. Yeah, sure, the flash helped, but you really CAN see them in the dark. This is the sidewalk path on the blackberry side of the house. I finished this today, between other things.
This was taken while standing atop the tallest pallet of rock. This is the sidewalk path, stretching from the driveway to the blackberry path. I took a few rocks out where east-west paths met north-south paths so that I could fit pieces to blend the intersection. VERY pleased with myself.
Sidewalk path meets driveway path.
See how they glow?! And see how the dark mulch paths offer such a nice contrast? I may have had a tear or two in my eyes at this point. It was a long day, for a lot of reasons. I'm SO in need of this project coming to an end. I feel like I'm running in slow motion. The finish line is in sight, and I'm giving it ALL that I've got, but I just can't get there fast enough.
See how they glow?! And see how the dark mulch paths offer such a nice contrast? I may have had a tear or two in my eyes at this point. It was a long day, for a lot of reasons. I'm SO in need of this project coming to an end. I feel like I'm running in slow motion. The finish line is in sight, and I'm giving it ALL that I've got, but I just can't get there fast enough.
Aside from the dry riverbed and the MYSTERY AREA, I only have one more path to lay, and the retaining wall. And the succulents. And...and...and, oh Crikey! Please let me off this ride!
As I said before, this was a frustrating day. I had to make a trip to Cedar Park to get an additional trash can (they aren't carried by the nearby big box stores anymore, at least not the 20gallon ones). That killed over an hour of work time. Later in the day, I also had to leave to get more pruning sealant so that was another 45 minutes down the drain. Trent worked with me on and off for most of the day, but we still didn't get everything done. I ran out of sealant while spraying the wooden disks, and we couldn't go forward without them being sealed. When I got back with more spray, I finished coating the first side of the disks, but it was late in the day and that meant that I couldn't do the second side until tomorrow. The cans couldn't be assembled until the disks were ready, so we were at a standstill. See what I mean? So close, yet so far! Give me strength! Goal setting is a wonderful thing, but when you don't meet them, it can be hard to recognize all you DID accomplish. Like how much more stone I laid when the trashcans couldn't be worked on anymore for the day.
I just need to keep my eyes on the prize. It's just so close. I can taste it.
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