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…
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