2012-05-29
Memorial Day Madness 2012- The Year The Mayans Killed Me- Part Two
So as you can tell this whole Mayan Calendar thing has got me enthralled. I feel like I am prettying up my yard for the end. End of what? Probably just the year 2012, but just in case, I'll have some food too.
Back to Memorial Day Madness (MDM)........
Saturday morning was a god sent. The temp at 10 am felt like the 90's. We stood at the kids soccer game contemplating what we were going to do. The kids saw the pool and knew it was going to open, so I skipped (GASP) the MDM on Saturday. Well at least I skipped it until we got home from the pool. Hub had dug out the ditch in the back for out dry creek bed. After grabbing a bite to eat, we headed out for river rock. Lots and lots of rock later, we had our dry river bed.
Sunday, I FINALLY tackled my garden. I removed all the dirt from the bed and started sifting it. In those moments of sifting on my makeshift screen, I had flashbacks of my grandfather. He would sift his dirt and we all thought it was funny. Now I sit sifting dirt. However, it became clear quite quickly that this was going to be a LONG project. This invasive weed that had taken over my garden is everywhere and has so many tiny sprouts that I easily miss. For the sake of my poor seedlings that are awaiting planting, I forgo the sifting for now. We use new dirt and mix it with manure and compost. but we need more and we are late for dinner with hubs family.
Monday, actual Memorial Day, kids go with pap to see my brother, cousin, & uncle march in the Millvale parade. Hub and i go back to the garden center. Hub is beat. So we buy the last of our needed supplies and head home. I added the remaining dirt to the garden bed and FINALLY plant my plants. Well in our 4x11 garden bed I planted all tomatoes, with some to spare. I then had enough dirt to start one of my new beds. Hub agreed to tear out one section of grass by the back door to house the remaining three garden beds. So with one down, I got my crops in.... Except for my cukes..... More about that soon.
I plan to set up one bed for just herbs and the other for more veggies. But to do this, I need to sift two garden beds worth of dirt. Not looking forward to this AT ALL! In the end I know it will be worth it, but the thought of it right now is making me ill. So that will wait until next week, most likely. The one thing I do have to finish though are planting my cukes. They are doing really well in their small planters. I had a bed bought a long time ago from craigslist. I planned to use it for my daughter. We ended up going a different route with her bed but I held onto it. It has an old style spring board. So I decided to dig a hole against my house and sink the spring board into the ground. I will then plant the cukes in front of it and let them climb. Yesterday when digging this hole I kept hitting an old bird house that has been here since we moved in. I never fill it and keep forgetting to take it down. Well to my surprise there was a wasp nest inside. I angered the wasp in it when I moved the nest and it literally circled and chased me the remainder of the day. So I still have to plant the cukes, but otherwise, we're good!
2012-05-25
Memorial Day Madness 2012- The Year the Mayan's Killed Me
I am currently sitting here in a semi coma from pizza and I have just cracked my first beer. Here are the gory details on our Memorial Day Madness from the past two days.
First, we had about 4 yards of mulch delivered. Hub thought this would be enough to cover the entire length of our property where a "flower bed" had be made by previous owners. We also planned to mulch five other areas, including a new area under the kids new swing set. After two days, we came up about a yard short, if not more. UGH!
Second, the above mentioned area hasn't been touched in two years. Last year, I was working as I had a retail shop with my tea business. I have since closed it to spend more time with the kids, but I would have done anything to be sitting at the shop these past two days! Anyway, since it has been so long everything was over grown, horribly over grown. Instead of spreading mulch, we ended up splitting hostas, cutting forsythia that had tumbled in from the neighbors yard, trimmed the bushes back, pulled weeds, and removed dead plants. We were able to unleash our poor quince tree which had been gobbled up by the forsythia. I am hoping we can trim it in the fall and get a good harvest next year.
Third, we split some of our tall grasses. They are over 6 feet tall and have grown insanely thick. One thick grass was split into 6 or 7 smaller grasses that we replanted to hide the neighbors unsightly area behind his garage. Also so the other neighbors can't look straight down into our yard. We still have 3 or 4 more of these big grasses to split. I am dreading this as one of the blades of grass cut my neck. It stung horribly all day. I may be allergic. That sucks!
Fourth, with the grasses we started planning for our next project which is to turn the water runoff ditch into a stone brook. Well at least when it rains it will be a brook.... other than that it will be a stoned ditch. I eventually want to install a rain garden, but that is on the back burner for now. I can't wait!
Fifth, Hubster was able to fix some of the holes that our new dog, Willie, had dug. Hub has never had a big dog and so he is learning, sometimes unhappily, about how big dogs work. Willie has dug a ton of holes in our yard. Hub should have gone to school for lawn care for how much he LOVES grass. He did graduate from Penn State so he could have, which I pointed out during a very heated conversation today. In any case, as we took back pieces of our landscape, he took the sod and replanted it around in the holes. He was very happy, which is good.
Sixth, some of that said grass from number 5 came from underneath the kids new swing set. Last fall, well labor day, hub rented a truck and bought a big swingset from someone on craigslist. It is massive and took 5 grown men and a u Haul to get it here. It is not part of the cottage garden I envisioned, but it makes my kids happy. They are only little for a short period of time. The cottage garden can wait. However, there is a tower of sorts. We think underneath is meant for sand, however, my kids are too big for sand AND we have cats. No thanks! So today, hub recycled the grass for his holes and we mulched it. Then we put their picnic table under there. They love to eat outside! It was perfect!
Lastly, we mulched my newest shade garden and sun gardens, only I forgot what I had planted. So I was carefully trying to figure out what I had planted and what I wanted to pull out. Unfortunately, I had shopped last year at the local nursery that specializes in local plants, which most people think are weeds. By the end of that, I had enough. My stomach hurt, I was over heated, slightly dehydrated and exhausted. I could have cried right there. In all fairness, we took a short break to go to the nursery to get another yard of mulch since we ran out. So after sitting for about an hour, the last thing I wanted to do was spread more effing mulch. But we wanted to get it done!
This year hubster took off yesterday, today and then obviously gets off on Monday, so goodie for me, Memorial Day Madness is extended. Tomorrow we will tackle the garden, which needs so much work, I could die. It was great in the spring and then Willie jumped in it and dug out all of my spring crops. Not to mention, I have some kind of weed that keeps growing in it. So I have to remove all the dirt and start over. We are also moving one garden bed. My body is rejecting all offers, but I have to get this done. The vegetables are one of the main reasons I garden!
Advil tonight...... Until tomorrow......
First, we had about 4 yards of mulch delivered. Hub thought this would be enough to cover the entire length of our property where a "flower bed" had be made by previous owners. We also planned to mulch five other areas, including a new area under the kids new swing set. After two days, we came up about a yard short, if not more. UGH!
Second, the above mentioned area hasn't been touched in two years. Last year, I was working as I had a retail shop with my tea business. I have since closed it to spend more time with the kids, but I would have done anything to be sitting at the shop these past two days! Anyway, since it has been so long everything was over grown, horribly over grown. Instead of spreading mulch, we ended up splitting hostas, cutting forsythia that had tumbled in from the neighbors yard, trimmed the bushes back, pulled weeds, and removed dead plants. We were able to unleash our poor quince tree which had been gobbled up by the forsythia. I am hoping we can trim it in the fall and get a good harvest next year.
Third, we split some of our tall grasses. They are over 6 feet tall and have grown insanely thick. One thick grass was split into 6 or 7 smaller grasses that we replanted to hide the neighbors unsightly area behind his garage. Also so the other neighbors can't look straight down into our yard. We still have 3 or 4 more of these big grasses to split. I am dreading this as one of the blades of grass cut my neck. It stung horribly all day. I may be allergic. That sucks!
Fourth, with the grasses we started planning for our next project which is to turn the water runoff ditch into a stone brook. Well at least when it rains it will be a brook.... other than that it will be a stoned ditch. I eventually want to install a rain garden, but that is on the back burner for now. I can't wait!
Fifth, Hubster was able to fix some of the holes that our new dog, Willie, had dug. Hub has never had a big dog and so he is learning, sometimes unhappily, about how big dogs work. Willie has dug a ton of holes in our yard. Hub should have gone to school for lawn care for how much he LOVES grass. He did graduate from Penn State so he could have, which I pointed out during a very heated conversation today. In any case, as we took back pieces of our landscape, he took the sod and replanted it around in the holes. He was very happy, which is good.
Sixth, some of that said grass from number 5 came from underneath the kids new swing set. Last fall, well labor day, hub rented a truck and bought a big swingset from someone on craigslist. It is massive and took 5 grown men and a u Haul to get it here. It is not part of the cottage garden I envisioned, but it makes my kids happy. They are only little for a short period of time. The cottage garden can wait. However, there is a tower of sorts. We think underneath is meant for sand, however, my kids are too big for sand AND we have cats. No thanks! So today, hub recycled the grass for his holes and we mulched it. Then we put their picnic table under there. They love to eat outside! It was perfect!
Lastly, we mulched my newest shade garden and sun gardens, only I forgot what I had planted. So I was carefully trying to figure out what I had planted and what I wanted to pull out. Unfortunately, I had shopped last year at the local nursery that specializes in local plants, which most people think are weeds. By the end of that, I had enough. My stomach hurt, I was over heated, slightly dehydrated and exhausted. I could have cried right there. In all fairness, we took a short break to go to the nursery to get another yard of mulch since we ran out. So after sitting for about an hour, the last thing I wanted to do was spread more effing mulch. But we wanted to get it done!
This year hubster took off yesterday, today and then obviously gets off on Monday, so goodie for me, Memorial Day Madness is extended. Tomorrow we will tackle the garden, which needs so much work, I could die. It was great in the spring and then Willie jumped in it and dug out all of my spring crops. Not to mention, I have some kind of weed that keeps growing in it. So I have to remove all the dirt and start over. We are also moving one garden bed. My body is rejecting all offers, but I have to get this done. The vegetables are one of the main reasons I garden!
Advil tonight...... Until tomorrow......
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