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......
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