3 posts tagged “plants”

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And away we go!

This afternoon I will finish planting the three spirea (Bridal Wreath Spirea - they grow in a fabulous arch off of a vase shaped base and get to be 6-7 feet tall and wide when fully grown) that I bought this past weekend. Luckily, for now, I will only need to dig up one little shrub in front of my bedroom window to make way for the spirea that will be going there instead. Eventually, all the shrubs there will be moved, but for now, I absolutely HAVE to get the new plants into the ground. 


I did get the vitex planted...it is mounded up a bit higher than the natural ground level so I will need to go get some more soil and mulch this evening and put it down to help hold water and protect the roots until it gets established in its new place.

I am excited...already the plants that I put in the ground earlier this spring are leafing out and looking lovely. If I could just get around to finally edging out the bedding areas and getting some rock ordered and spread, the yard would look really great (despite the lack of lawn). And of course there is also the still looming patio extension project that needs to be gotten to.

Plants first...and then some weeding. Ick.

Oh yeah...any suggestions on how to smother out grass? I would really rather not have to try digging it all up in the bedding areas, an currently we do not have the newspaper so I don't have any to lay down under the mulch (oooo though I do have plain newsprint left over from my move out here). Anyway, other non-chemical suggestions would be greatly welcomed!

4 comments Tags: plants, yard

Monday - May 5th

Trivia for anyone who cares...Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's independence day. It is instead, the celebration of Mexico's first victory over the French. Their independence day is actually September 16. 


However, I am never one to pass up a good opportunity (excuse) to drink beer and each Mexican food...so viva la Mexico!


Another unproductive yard-work weekend. Though I did purchase more work for myself. Ha! I finally found a vitex (Chaste Tree). Up until Saturday, every nursery I went to looking for one looked at me like I was crazy -they had NO idea what I was talking about. I also picked up three Bridal Wreath spirea. I have finally made the decision to dig up the bed in front of the windows and replant those hollies along the side of the house where they can get big and not be so overbearing. The smaller bushes will go up by the road around the mailbox. One of the spirea will go in front of my bedroom window...and a Japanese maple will go in front of (to the left side) the dining room window...close to the walk way. What is going in between? I have no idea. 

The other two spirea will go at the corners of the house along the garage side. And the vitex is going off of the corner of the patio where it can get big and show off its gorgeous blue flowers.

I also need to get the lawn mowed today or tomorrow. Blech. Of course, I can't do it this morning because I am out of gas for the mower and have no inclination to drive into town just for that. Besides, I have two con calls today that I have to be on. 

I guess I will tackle the inside cleaning today instead.

2 comments Tags: plants, yard, cinco de mayo, housework

Good beer is hard to find...

out here. Seriously. And the stuff that IS available is insanely expensive. I never quite realized how spoiled I was back in the land of micro-brews (Seattle). Stuff that was considered reasonable out there (RedHook, Sierra Nevada) is over $7 a six-pack here. You could easily get it for under $6 back home and even cheaper if you found it on sale. To spend over $7 on average, everyday beer was unheard of. Here, in order to do that, you have to drink Budweiser or Miller. Anyway, I was stoked to find a 12 pack sampler of RedHook beers...particularly because the seasonal beer that is included in it is their Copper Hook which I know I will never find on it's own out here. The others are their good old standards: ESB, IPA, and Blonde. (For the record, I used to live about a mile and half down the road from the RedHook brewery in Woodinville...so again, yes, I was spoiled.)

Anyway, I found my beer. I also found two of these on a kickin' sale:

 

Hose Bowl
Hose Bowl

 

Since I can't hang anything on the side of the house (it has vinyl siding) and this was the same price as the plastic reel box I was looking at, I opted for this. They did a crappy job with positioning the spigots on the exterior of my home, they are on each side ofthe house instead of the front and back sides, so my plan is to place one of these at the front corner of the house and just run the hose along the foundation back to where the spigot is. The other will go at the opposite back corner of the house with the same hose running technique. The rest of the hose just coils up inside the bowl.

I also found two incredibly inexpensive resin planters for my front porch. They look like they might be handmade clay type pots. I am going to need to drill better drainage holes in the bottom of each of them, but that should be easy. Then I just need to find some "feet" to set them up on so the water can actually get out of the holes.

I suppose now (after I eat a ridiculously late lunch) I should go start putting soil and plants in some of my pots. Tomorrow I am going to drag Neil out to shop for a couple hostas with me. After which we will come back here and mow the lawn (that is 12" high again). Won't he be thrilled? Ha!

Post a comment Tags: beer, garden, blonde, plants, redhook, esb, ipa, hose bowl …