We finally got some rain today. It was actually a great thunder and lightening storm that even took the power away for a few minutes, but everything is back in order now. Although I’m sure that there are some trees that were hit and need some professional attention and a few computers and/or TVs that got fried since they were not on surge protectors.
My back yard vegetable garden hasn’t turned out as well as I expected it to, but with this heat wave and practically no rain, it has been a challenge. I spent a good amount of time and money this year on outdoor furniture and garden tools that I’m still trying to salvage for the season. I have been able to use the grills that I got a few years back for outdoor cooking and barbecuing, which has been nice. I am looking for some new decent barbecue tools, my current ones have seen better days and just need to be tossed into the trash to make way for some new ones.
We will have to see what September and October brings us to see if my harvest will be worth all the time, money and effort that I put into my gardening this year. I hope that I can salvage some of it by that time. I can only hope that the rains won’t disappear again on us.
Today was a great day to get the much needed yard work started. There is always so much to do this time of the year, but it’s all good. It feels good to outside with the sun shining, along with a nice breeze and absolutely no humidity to deal with even though we hit the 80’s. You just can’t beat that!
I was out walking around the house today, hoping to see some spring flowers starting to bud. After all, it is March and I’m thinking that early bulbs might be up. Although the grass never died out here, there really doesn’t seem to be much indication of spring yet. At least in my yard. I wonder when I’ll see my first Robin Redbreast! When I see that first Robin, I will be extremely happy! This has been a long winter and I don’t know anyone who will be sad to see it go! Spring is officially only a few weeks away – I don’t like to wish my life away, but come on spring!
As I look through the landscaping books and magazines that I own, I find myself thinking about where on our own property would be a good place to put some landscaping architectural structures such as gazebos, arbors, and pergolas. I used to have quite a few clients in New England that had me install such structures as part of their landscaping plans. My wife always told me that she would love to have an arbor over the front walk with either climbing roses or clematis growing up over it.
When we lived in New England I did buy her an arbor but never bothered to plant anything to grow on it. I don’t really know why I did that – I think it would have looked much nicer with something growing up on it.
I’ve been thinking about putting a pergola in the sunny part of the yard and plant some grapes on it. I know that this is a good area for growing grapes – there are a lot of vineyards in the area! I’d like to plant some sweet seedless red grapes – those are my favorite.
One of the things that I’ve noticed about houses that I fee drawn to is that so many of them have window flower boxes full of trailing petunias on the side of the house that faces the road. I think that having a window box full of flowers makes the house look very welcoming. I guess it all goes back to my childhood when I would go to visit my aunt and uncle in the country on their farm.
Aunt Janet had window boxes on every window – even the ones in the upstairs dormer windows! She grew these wonderful cascading petunias that trailed all the way down to the ground. She had them massed in different colors so it was very eye=catching. I didn’t much care for the scent of petunias, but I think that they are one of the prettiest flowers. I have been thinking about putting some on the windows in our house but my wife thinks it would be better to hang them on the porch railing because they would be easier to reach.
Even though we are the dead of winter I can’t help but start thinking and planning on some things that I want to get done come spring. I really liked the stone benches that my mother-in-law purchased last year online at stonebenches.com so I’ve been checking out their site as of late to see if they have any that may be suitable for around our house, yard and garden areas. I think some nice garden benches would look great in a few choice locations.
My mother-in-law discovered this site when she was looking at memorial benches to place by her late husband’s grave site. He is buried in a VA cemetery, where they only had a flat marker for him and the family really wanted a nice bench to sit on when they visited the grave site. Their stone work are hand made in the U.S., they are made from cast stone and are shipped to you free of charge, which is a huge savings considering how heavy they are. Can you imagine how much you would have to pay for the shipping if they charged you for that?
Anyway, I’m sure that I will find some nice looking stone garden benches that I’ll end up ordering. Spring can’t get here quick enough as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never been a fan of the cold and wet weather that we experience each and every winter here. I’m all about the sun and all the activities that go along with the nice weather that spring and summer bring us.
When we lived in New England, I made my living doing landscaping work and grounds maintenance in the summer. I took great pride in how nice my clients yards looked. Although I did basic work such as lawn mowing and shrub trimming, my favorite work was with the flowers. In New England, the growing season is very short, so flowers are dearly appreciated when they bloom!
I especially enjoy working with planters. One of the advantages of working with planters is that if you are planting something that can’t survive the winter up there it is easier to bring the plant indoors for the winter! I think my favorite window box planter was one where I filled it with cascading petunias and they cascaded all the way to the ground. That was simply breathtaking! Lining the edges of a deck with a variety of decorative planters filled with dinner plate dahlias added a great dash of color to an otherwise stark deck. And I like being able to move the planters around to mix it up a little bit, get a little variety.
When my wife and I lived in New England, we ran a grounds keeping business together. I loved that work! I love to work outside and mow lawns, trim hedges, install fences, plant shrubs, clear brush and all of the other activities associated with working outdoors. One of the reasons that I loved it so much was that I loved working with the different kinds of garden equipment. I love my tractor, my back hoe, my loader, my zero turn mowers, my chain saw, my skid steer attachments, and my weed trimmers. I even have more than one post hole digger - I have three of them! One for me, and one for each of my hired help!
After a long day’s work I even enjoyed cleaning off the tools and making sure that they were ready for the next job. Somehow I feel like this is what I was born to do! And that is one reason why I love living here where we moved; there are several acres of land waiting for me to tame! When we moved here I sold off some of my equipment (like my loader) but I kept most of it. I expect I’ll be using it here in my own back yard!
It has been raining pretty steady for about a week now, and our grass is growing like crazy! I don’t like it when the grass gets this tall – I think that the dogs get too many ticks when the grass is tall. I think that it is too wet to mow, but when I look out the window I see my next door neighbor riding his rider mower in the rain, mowing his lawn. My own experience with mowing wet lawns is that it just isn’t worth the trouble – the lawn doesn’t look good afterwards, and the wet grass clogs up the mower. I’ve heard that Sunday is supposed to be nice – I guess I’ll try to mow the lawn then.
I enjoy going to trade shows. My wife and I especially enjoy going to the shows regarding home and garden, recreational vehicles, manufactured homes and boats. My wife enjoys the garden shows the most. She likes to take lots of pictures of the sample gardens that the landscaping companies design to bring home for inspiration. Some of the fantasy gardens are absolutely fantastic!
We also enjoy going to the other parts of the show where the vendors have booths set up to sell their various wares. We see some fantastic trade show exhibits at the shows that we go to. Some of the best looking trade show exhibit booths we’ve seen are at trade shows that feature kitchen and bath ideas at the home shows. I’ve asked a few people where they got their exhibits, and they told me that they got them from the http://www.gilbertdisplays.com website. I can remember many years ago that the booths were fairly crude, but now they look very sophisticated and seem to be an art form in themselves!
One thing that I’ve noticed as I drive around this area, exploring roads that I’ve never driven down before, is how many great looking Personalized Mailboxes there are around here. Where we used to live in New England, practically no one spent the money on Custom Mailboxes because in the winter time the wicked and most dreaded snowplow driver would frequently damage or destroy so many mailboxes that it was a cause of great frustration to many homeowners.
But now that we live in an area where snowplowing is not done frequently, I have noticed a lot of nice looking Whitehall Mailboxes lining the streets. It actually is quite pleasant to drive through neighborhoods where the mailboxes are not all rusty and dented. A nice mailbox gives the casual observer the feeling that the occupants of the house actually CARE about taking good care of their home and yard. They make a really nice first impression.
I really like wearing hiking shoes when I’m out working in the yard. Unless of course I need steel-toed shoes when I’m working with my power equipment! But for the most part, hiking shoes fit comfortably and give me the support I need when I’m out there tending to the chores that need to be done, such as raking and weeding and picking up the brush. We have a three acre lot that I’d like to work on clearing a little bit more. Cut down a few trees and clear out the underbrush. My wife keeps telling me that I should leave it alone because that is where the deer hide and sleep, but I keep telling her that they will like it better cleared out. It doesn’t really matter who is right, I’m planning on clearing it out anyway!
The hiking boots that I have been wearing over the past couple of summers have pretty well worn out. They’ve certainly earned their way! I’m hard on boots, but the regular “work boot” just isn’t comfortable enough for me to wear when I’m doing yard work. I was looking out the window at supper time tonight and was realizing that it is time to drag out the lawn mower and start the yard work for the season. So I’d better get cracking and buy my new hiking shoes this week!
This morning my wife and I went to see the specialist who has been trying to help me clear up my health issues. It was a long, two hour drive in rush hour traffic. I felt sorry for my wife having to drive in that mess, but we needed to go, so go we did. And once we got to the doctor’s office, he was running behind (as usual) and we didn’t leave his office for two hours once we actually arrived! Then the long drive back, this time NOT in rush hour traffic so it only took an hour and fifteen minutes. That kind of morning takes a lot out of you! Anyway, I started off this post thinking that I was going to write about the beautiful tulip trees and forsythia shrubs that are starting to bloom. I noticed them while we were driving. I also noticed the daffodils are out, and the temperatures were a comfortable 60 degrees, so it certainly did seem spring-like today!
I was so pleased to notice today that when I was driving into town the daffodils are blooming in many yards. I love daffodils; to me they are the harbingers of spring. I know that crocus and hyacinths are supposed to be that but it seems that I just don’t see them anywhere! I’ve noticed that some flocks of birds are flying north overhead and it makes me realize that the long cold winter is finally over. Spring is officially more than a week away, but all the signs are there. I think the groundhog was wrong, and an early spring is here!
I went to Wal-Mart this morning with my wife to do the grocery shopping. I went into their garden department and was glad to see that they were getting it set up for spring flowers! They were already selling some early spring primrose! I wanted to buy some, but I resisted for the moment because I’m not going to have the time this week to plant them. I’ll try to buy some next week instead! I know my wife loves primroses; I want her to help me pick out which ones to get.
I really like a lot of shiny things. Not the same type as my wife – she likes shiny jewelry to wear; I like shiny things on my cars, and in my house. On my cars, I am all about chrome! In my house, I’m all about stainless steel! When we moved here we had to replace all of the kitchen appliances. My wife wanted almond colored appliances, but I lobbied for stainless steel.
To my surprise, I won that little negotiation! I think my wife was just happy to be getting new appliances and really didn’t care much about the color, as long as they worked! But I don’t want to stop with just the kitchen, I want to expand and buy some stainless steel fireplace accessories to put beside our family room fireplace. And a great Blomus stainless steel mailbox would be a great lock box to put by the front door for people that need to leave messages for us while bypassing the old one down by the roadside.
Some polished stainless steel garden globes would look great in the garden by the front door, too! Yup, I like shiny things!
My wife and I have been talking about how to best dispose of our garbage. She would really like to compost and has been asking me for months to set up a compost pile. She keeps telling me that the compost would be good for our garden. We don’t have a garbage disposal: and I tell her that I’d rather just get a garbage disposal. Composting sounds like a lot of work, and I don’t feel like doing the work. She tells me that garbage disposals are bad for septic systems, but I know lots of people with septic systems have garbage disposals!
I was reading an article on the Slate.com news website that discusses whether people should use garbage disposals or just put their garbage in the trash to be hauled to a landfill. The article assumes that no one has a septic system, and it recommends compost piles as the first and best choice, the garbage disposal as the second best choice, and putting garbage in the trash to be hauled to the landfill as the worst choice. I wish the article had addressed septic systems!
Well, autumn is officially here, and it’s time I started getting the lawn and garden ready for fall. I noticed that my harvest of cucumbers simply didn’t happen, which was discouraging because I really love cucumbers! I’ve been cleaning up the flowers that have gone by, and mulching the garden. Planting daffodils and day-lilies for next year’s floral display.
Mowed the lawn, using the bagger attachment. Boy do I LOVE the bagger attachment! I wonder how late into the season the grass will keep growing this year. I don’t like mowing into winter, but it sure beats shoveling snow!
I got up this morning and had breakfast, then started to do some lawn work. I started working on some weeds that had been growing since April. They were long overdue for picking! But as I started walking around the house I found several patches of poison ivy, too. So I went out to the storage shed to get some herbicide. I discovered I had run out, so I went to Home Depot and bought a couple of gallons of weed killer, and some degreaser solution to use to clean off the back of my house when I power wash it. While I was at Home Depot I found a really good chemical called Deep Purple that is supposed to work great on vinyl siding, so I bought several gallons and brought it home. I’m going to give it a try this next week on the house.
I’m constantly surprised by how much wildlife I see around our house here in VA. Considering the fact that we lived in rural Maine for so long, I expected to see a lot less wildlife around here. But every few days I see a fox crossing the road, or a few deer here and there. A few days ago there was a fox cutting across our front lawn. That was a first; I’ve never seen one that close to the house before. I was a little bit concerned about how I’ve heard that foxes carry rabies and I considered whether or not to shoot it but my wife convinced me to just leave it alone. I guess as long as it doesn’t try to approach us or our dogs I should just let it be. My wife was a little bit critical of my attitude – “look, isn’t it cool, lemme shoot it!” Her attitude is “look, isn’t it cool, leave it alone!”
My brother just sent me a pair of Nikon Monarch hunting binoculars as a belated birthday present. Seems odd to me that he doesn’t seem to remember my birthday until his own birthday is approaching! I think he’s figured out that if I don’t get a birthday gift from him, he’s not going to get one from me!
The box that the binoculars came in indicated that he bought them from the Internet site opticsplanet.com. They sell a large variety of really high quality Nikon binoculars. These binoculars he sent me are really something special! They are Shockproof, Waterproof, Fogproof, rubber-armored. I’ve never had a set of binoculars this fancy before! I know they are designed for hunting, but I’ll just be using them to enjoy watching the wildlife in my own backyard.
I can’t believe how hot it has been around here the past few days, in the 90’s every day. The weatherman says with the heat index it “feels like the 100’s” and I sure do believe him. I wanted to spray the lawn with some insecticide Sunday but my wife told me that if I did it would kill the grass. I didn’t believe her, but I didn’t spray the lawn anyway. Just my luck she would be right, and then I’d be listening to “I told you so.” I don’t like listening to “I told you so.”
Last night when I got home from work my wife had supper waiting for me. That was a pleasant surprise because lately she has been so busy that I’ve been cooking supper many nights. She did ask me to do the dishes afterwards because she had to get back to doing some work that had a fast approaching deadline, so I reluctantly did the dishes. (I hate doing the dishes, but thank goodness we have a dishwasher, and there really weren’t that many to do, so I did them.)
Then I had to make up for the lost time of having taken the day off Sunday to go motorcycling with my brother-in-law. I had to drill a hole in the back of a computer desk for my wife, and then I had to mow the lawn. I have a really nice riding lawn mower so that wasn’t hard to do, but I would have preferred sitting in my recliner watching TV after having worked all day! But, when you dance to the music, you have got to pay the piper, and yesterday was the day to pay him!
So, after a couple of hours of mowing, the lawn looks great, my wife is happy that I did the dishes and drilled the hole, and I am hoping to have a little time to relax this evening!
Oh man, I am so bummed out! My John Deere tractor has a flat tire! Not just the inner tube, the tire. I need to replace them both. My wife is the one who told me the tire was flat, and I didn’t believe her at first. I thought she was trying to play a bad joke on me. But when I looked out the window, sure enough the tire was flat! I went out and put air in the tire and it deflated within minutes right before my very eyes. I was fit to be tied! It is not repairable, I am going to have to buy a new one. It is going to cost over $500! I am very upset about that, believe you me! I did not have $500 in my budget for something like that!
It seems as if the fireants are slowly moving northward. Probably a result of global warming! I understand that fire ant bites are very painful and can kill some people! I found a website, www.controlfireants.com that has a lot of information about dealing with fireants. I’m going to save it in my “favorites” folder so that if I see any of those nasty fireants around my house, I’ll be able to look it up quickly and deal with them before they deal with me!
Fireants are moving into Virginia. I was surprised to hear that, I didn’t think they were this far north! I can remember seeing fireant nests lining the roadside the last time we went to Florida, and I thought “boy I am sure am glad we don’t have to deal with those nasty things!”
I need a new seat for my John Deere. It’s really funny because my John Deere has a backhoe on the back with a separate seat. I have used the tractor more for digging holes than I have for anything else. No doubt I’ve moved mulch, loam, garbage, snow, but mostly I was digging graves, or digging holes for trees and shrubs. Naturally the seat started coming apart after the warranty was over – right after! Isn’t that always the way!?
So I started pricing out seats. I went to the John Deere place of course. After talking to the parts counter I felt I could buy a new tractor for the price of a new seat! So I went to alternative sites such as JC Whitney, Northern Machinery, companies like that that sell seats. I found one for about 1/2 the price. I have to alter the bracket to make the seat fit but that’s nothing for me! And the seat looks exactly the same! So I will be putting that on my tractor! I might even put a cover over the seat to make it last even longer. I got 8 years out of the first one; by not covering it, so maybe I’ll get a few more years beyond that with a cover.
Last summer I planted eighteen shrubs in a row. Unfortunately a dozen of them had to sit in the hot sun for about a week before I could get to them. I kept them watered but they really should have been put in the ground with mulch around them. In the past, by keeping them watered I never had a problem. So I finally got them planted. This spring I noticed six of them were really dead. Two others didn’t look very good either.
I called the nursery; they asked me a bunch of questions (as usual) I sort of faked it and they told me to bring back all of the old shrubs that didn’t make it and they would replace them. That’s pretty nice of them! So this weekend I will replace the old shrubs with new ones, then my line of shrubs will look great. I’m glad because the neighbor stopped over last year when I was planting them and thought they really looked great. It was funny how he was so quick to mention that some of them were dying this year. Unbelievable! His don’t look that great!
In the last three to four weeks I have gotten about nine calls or pamphlets in the mail of people wanting to sell me fertilizer for my lawn. It’s definitely that time of year! Everybody wants to give you some sort of deal; but they want to lock you in so that they come five or six times. You really only need to fertilize your lawn twice a year; you most definitely need weed and bug control, but not five or six times. At least I never have! And I’ve had a lot of lawns! Nonetheless, I will choose someone to come and put down my fertilizer so that I can continue to mow the heck out of my lawn so it stays nice and green all year long!
My sister recently bought a marble column from the website she was recommending to me and was very pleased with the quality and the price. I’ve gone to the website and was surprised to see all of the different marble items that they sell there: marble fireplaces, columns, water fountains, statues, mantles, and stone sculptures. They have large marble animal statues that I think would look really great as garden ornaments, and I love their marble fountains!
I found several marble animal sculptures that would look great on a display shelf in the house, or maybe as bookends that were less than $100! I was surprised that I could buy something that affordable.
