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The Trailer’s Maiden Voyage

It was so sunny and warm this morning. I was putzing around doing a few things here and there, when I decided that I really should pull the trailer out, put it back together and go get some mulch.

You should have seen my face when I walked over to the guy in the machine. I had already parked in front of the big mulch pile a few minutes earlier, ran across the street to pay and I was on my way back. He looked at me, then looked at the trailer and then back at me. It was like he did a double-take. I had a huge grin and shouted, “Hey, look what I got!!!” This was the same guy who makes the mulch deliveries. He yelled out, “Good for you. You’re going to save a heck of a lot of money this way.” He’s on my side when it comes to delivery fees.

I did the math and I know this trailer will hold three yards of mulch if we put a little extra on top. I guess the fella operating the machine was in a good mood, because that’s what he gave me…a full three yards.

I was wondering how the sides were going to hold up. As I stood there watching him fill the trailer with mulch, I was expecting the sides to explode in the parking lot. If that happened, I suppose I would have just hung my head in shame and walked away. Good thing everything held up just fine; even better than fine. The walls were rock solid. Nothing more needs to be done to the trailer. Well, I wouldn’t mind one of those twisty jacks to hold the hitch off the ground when I unhook it from the car.

After he was finished filling the trailer up, I pulled the tarp over the material and strapped it down.

I was in for a little shock when I pulled out of the parking lot. I was so used to driving like nothing was even attached to the back of the vehicle when the trailer was empty. It was so light. When the trailer is full, it’s a different story. I am not sure how much a yard of mulch weighs, but I am guessing three yards is a pretty good weight. Let’s just say that I’ll be getting two yards from now on, because I think I may have been pushing it. Whenever I am towing anything, I have terrible visions of it rolling past me on the road. Everything drove just fine though and we made it back in one piece.

Since the weight on the front of the full trailer is pretty substantial, I wasn’t able to just lift the hitch off the car and rest it on the ground like I am able to do when it’s empty. I had to get a little creative. I walked in the back yard, grabbed two bricks and put them behind the wheels. Then, I grabbed my car jack and jacked the hitch off the car. After that was done, I drove the car away, backed the lawnmower up in its spot and lowered the trailer back down.

After stopping to let the lawnmower and trailer pose for a photo, I drove everything down to the backyard and started shoveling. Oh what fun that it. I am thinking that maybe once per week is good for this kind of entertainment. I need about six more yards before this little backyard project is complete.

Oh, by the way, those two boards standing up in the back corners are old 4″x4″s that I had laying around. I used them to seal off the corners where there was a gap in the sides. That stopped the mulch from falling out onto the road.

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Dethatching A Lawn

I know I am probably beating a dead horse here, but I wanted to post a few photos of today’s lawn dethatching.

Yesterday, I showed you some photos of dethatching the front lawn. Today, I am going to show you some photos of the back yard getting dethatched. I know, very exciting.

Actually, I dethatched the entire front area along the road as well as behind the house. That took a lot to do. This dethatcher works wonders. I pulled up so much dead grass, I couldn’t believe it. I am slowly learning about all the goodies the real guys use to make lawns look good. When I was riding the tractor, towing the dethatcher, the lawn looked like it was being rototilled because there was so much of a mess behind me. Believe it or not, this dethatcher really doesn’t mess with the good grass. That grass is really rooted in there. It just pulls up all the dead weeds and everything else that shouldn’t be there.

Here are some photos of dethatching the back yard.

Sorry, I forgot to get the before shots.

If you look closely, you can see all the dead material on top of the grass. One time around the back yard basically filled up both rear bags on the mower. It’s crazy how much stuff came up. Take a look at the last photo. That area was totally covered with dead crabgrass, not it’s all cleaned up and ready for this season.

Come September, I am going to dethatch the lawn once more and then I’m going to aerate the heck out of it. After that, I am going to put down seed where it’s needed. Boy, they weren’t kidding when they said it takes a few years to get a nice lawn.

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Green Velvet Boxwood

There are two lessons I have learned about shrubs that I would like to share with you.

1. Only plant Boxwood.
2. Only plant in the spring.

There you have it. Now, let me tell you what the heck I am talking about.

I know I have probably said this before and have trouble following my own advice, but I really mean it this time. I am only going to plant Boxwood from now on. No matter how “deer resistant” you think a shrub is, it probably isn’t. Everybody says that Holly is deer resistant. Guess what? It isn’t. Deer like to nibble on the ends of the branches. It drives me up a wall. I had to go out today to pick up some of that deer netting to put over the Holly bushes. As far as I know, Boxwood is the only shrub that’s deer resistant (well, besides Juniper), and I am going on personal experience here. I have never had a deer nibble on any boxwood shrub I have ever planted. Everything else…yeah.

The next lesson has to do with when to plant your shrubs. I have planted in both spring and fall, but spring planting works out much better, in my opinion. See, if you plant in the spring, the plant has time to grow and mature its sensitive little twigs that were over-fertilized by the nursery. All that new growth has time during the growing season to harden up. If you plant in the autumn, all that new growth dies. Period. It just does. Those nights in mid-January that offer us those wonderfully chilly sub-zero temperatures do a wonder on new shrubs. I have about six Boxwood shrubs sitting outside in the dirt right now with dead top halves. It’s pretty funny to look at. Top half brown, bottom half green. The good thing is that I expect these plants to take off this year and will most likely grown right through the dead areas.

Okay, since Home Depot had Boxwood shrubs in stock and it’s spring, I decided to grab a few today. Actually, I grabbed eight of them. I am going to plant three of them in that new mulch area next to the driveway and five of them in a row almost under the porch in the back yard. They are going to look really cool when they grow larger.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the Green Velvet Boxwood is “a hybrid of Korean Boxwood (for hardiness and compactness) and Common Boxwood (for excellent leaf color in both summer and winter).” You can read the rest of the description here.

Here is what I bought today.

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A Huge Flower Garden In The Back Yard

Remember when I told you I was transplanting the Daffodil bulbs from the area along the stone wall in the back yard to the area near the driveway? I told you I was doing this because the area was just too large for a garden and I would rather simply plant grass there instead.

Well, as it turns out, we are going to have a garden in the back after all.

Laura and I have been wrestling over the idea of a new flower/veggie garden for some time. I came up with a few ideas, but the look on Laura’s face told me to keep thinking. The problem with setting up a real fenced-in vegetable garden is spacing. We have a few good areas to do this, but trying to have a combination vegetable and flower garden is getting rather difficult.

Yesterday, we decided to limit the new garden to flowers and shrubs. For the veggies, we’ll think of something else. Laura has been talking about different varieties of bulbs and some sort of a garden trellis that we can grow vines all over. For these types of ideas, the only place available is the area along the rock wall in the back yard. I guess I am going to be ordering 30 yards of mulch, instead of 15. Gee, that’s going to make for some real fun after that delivery.

I spent some time yesterday edging the area for the mulch. I will probably make the order next week. Here are some pics of what I did yesterday…

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Planting Blue Prince Holly, Rhododendron and Mulching

It has been pretty dry here lately. It just rained this morning, which is good, but up until that, we haven’t had any substantial rainfall in quite some time. I have been watching many plants wilt because of the dryness. The neighbors are getting used to the guy with no shirt standing out front with a hose in his hand.

I have had a few goals. One of them was to finish the rhododendron line across the front of the property. I have been looking at Home Depot for rhododendrons, but none can be found…anywhere. I guess they are a Spring time seller. I actually had to dig up and few that were already planted on the property and the ones I planted earlier in the season to finish the row. It’s done now, so that’s good.

I also wanted to plant some sort of a perimeter around the patio area near the basement doors. I decided to go with the Blue Prince Holly that I have been buying (it’s the only thing left), along with some that I planted earlier on. Earlier in the season, I had no plan and I was just sticking these things in the dirt. Now, at least I have a plan.

I did make a nice discovery yesterday. For a few months, I have been dismayed at the price of mulch around here. I used to pay $20 per yard at the other house. Here, these crooks are charging about $50 per yard. I need to get some of what they are smoking. It’s funny because when I call somewhere for a price, I always sense a little hesitancy in their voices as they tell me how much they charge. They know what they are doing.

I called the local hardware store and found out they sold mulch by the bag. They had 3lb bags of pine mulch for $4.49 per bag. I didn’t think that was too bad, since I just paid almost $5 per bag at Home Depot for that dyed junk. I stopped by the store and picked up 10 bags. That’s 30 cubic feet (a little over a yard) for about $45. I beat the system, you see. Now, I can go back and get 10 bags at a time only when I need them.

The mulch is very important, not only to me and my mulch addiction, but for the plants as well. The whole reason for the plants wilting is because the ground wasn’t holding in any of the moisture. I kept watering them, but the sunshine was just too strong. Now, since I mulched and gave each plant a nice soaking, I think the plants will grow nicely.

Mulched Colorado Blue Spruce

Rhododendrons in mulch.

Blue Prince Holly planted for a hedge line.

The holly bushes really don’t need any mulch because the grass is nice and moist in the back yard.

Speaking of grass, I don’t know how I did it, but the back and side lawns are like a nice thick green carpet. I now mow the lawn on the highest level the mower will go and I think it made a difference. I also overseeded with the Vigoro Contractor’s Mix, so there is some good warm weather seed in there. The reason I mow with the higher setting now is because the grass I planted holds most of the water it absorbs in its leaves. If you mow too low, you are actually cutting off all that water. Also, a short mow exposes the dirt so it gets baked and weeds start to grow. Mowing at a higher level will give you a greener lawn.

Here, check it out…

Green grass in dry conditions.

Hand in grass showing height of mowing.

See, I’m not making this stuff up. Now, if I could just get rid of the brown crispy grass in the front and replace it with this stuff, I will be in good shape. The seed is down, so a bit more rainfall should do it.

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What Is It With Me and Grass?

I don’t know, but it is starting to get annoying.

If you remember back at the beginning, we had a few spots in the lawn that needed seed. Well, I seeded them. Within a few days, grass started to grow. I just thought this was the cat’s meow. I couldn’t believe it because I have never been all that good at getting grass to grow.

Well, now that the thick grass is coming in, it’s making all the old grass look…well, old. Now I want new grass everywhere.

Every time I see a nice green lawn, I get green with envy. I have no idea why. I have seen guys like this when I was a kid. I never knew why they kept looking at their lawns. Now, I look at grass. It’s silly, but for some strange reason, we do it.

This is the area of the lawn where there were big bald areas. I didn’t think I would get anything to grow, but it started sprouting within days.

This is the area that was pretty good. Now, the grass is starting to get a little crispy. I want that nice, soft, green grass here too. I think I am going to get one last bag of seed and do a little seeding up here.

This is the back yard. As you can see, there are no problems here. I finally got it just the way I wanted. Even from the upstairs window, the entire law looks full and thick.

I just seeded some front areas the other day. It is starting to come in and is looking thicker every day. As I mentioned, I am going to get one more bag for the front and call it quits for the season.

One thing I discovered during my last mow was that if I raise the mower deck one level, the grass looks better. I get less clumping and the grass looks a heck of a lot better. I am going to mow it like that from now on.

Now, some people out there might think I am wasting my time with all this grass talk. Well, perhaps you are correct, but I am not going to have heavy rain wash away the top layer of dirt anymore. I would like a nice root system going on to protect the lawn from the rain.

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Wild Turkey Running Through the Back Yard

You are going to want to kill me for this one. I put such a great title to such a great event, but got such a lousy picture. You just wait.

Yesterday, I was sitting here doing some work when Laura ran in telling me there was a turkey running through the back yard. I got up and grabbed my camera. I thought this would be great to catch on “film.” I stood up and looked out the window, and wouldn’t you know it, there was a turkey walking through the back yard on its way to the woods. It was a big sucker too.

I held the camera to the window and shot. Here is what I got…

I am really sorry about that.

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Yard Work – Raking the Leaves is Done

I finally finished raking the leaves. There were a lot of them. I can’t say I liked doing this particular job for many reasons. One reason I didn’t care for this activity would be that it wasn’t much fun, with the presence of gnats coming in at a strong second. Apparently, gnats live in old leaves. When you rake them, instinct tells them to swarm around the closest face they can find. That would be mine. They flew in my eyes, in my ears and one even made it into my mouth. I hope the neighbor didn’t see me staggering across the front yard gagging while trying to force the artifact from the back of my throat. Laugh…go ahead.

This is a section of the back yard that is right up against the woods. It has a cute little area you can sit and read, “Gone With the Wind” (Joe, that’s for you).

This is just a random shot looking up the side yard. I guess I wanted to show that the grass actually is getting green. I go out and talk to it every day.

Joe, here’s that little area again. Don’t worry, I am going to put nice plants in there for you.

Now, this is a small garden area that is right next to the driveway. I am guessing it may have been a vegetable garden in the past. I decided to replant the Iris from way up on the hill in the front, split them and put them along the driveway. I think they will multiply and fill in nicely. I also am transplanting some other plants (that I can’t quite identify) as a second row. Then, I am going to get some Boxwood as a third row and make it reaaal nice.

This is looking up towards the road, from the house. Yes, I raked all that out. I plan on getting some more Rhododendrons and scattering them around in this area, to fill it in.

Yes, we have the first bloomed Iris. Isn’t she pretty? I really like Iris because they are so easy to take care of.

A quick shot of a Rhododendron in partial bloom.

Just a shot looking down at the house.

Ahh, the mailbox again. I know you can’t get enough of this. These are the plants I was talking about above. I have no idea what they are, but I took them from the hillside and placed some of them around the mailbox. If you know what they are, please let me know. Thank you.

It’s like we are having a mini “Azalea Festival.” Check this one out showing its colors. Man, I sure hope this is an Azalea.

And finally, this is the front sidewalk. I even raked out behind the bushes in the front.

I don’t think I am going to have to endure this much raking again. I plan on getting a back-pack blower to keep things in check. It should be easier next time.

I’m outty.

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Trees Blooming in May

I took a few photos of the back yard this morning. Every year, I like to take pictures of the trees in the area. I do this, because every year, I forget when the heck the leaves come out. It’s kind of like a journal…or a log…or a web log…oh wait, a BLOG. That was funny.

Anyway, since it was so wonderfully beautiful this morning, I decided to drink my coffee on the back porch. One really big reason it was wonderful is because there were no bugs flying around my head yet. You should’ve seen me trying to rake up some leaves yesterday evening. Whoa…it was like I was in a boxing match. I am sure the neighbor was laughing. I put on some “Off” and it did nothing. What is it with the bugs this year? I think I may be stirring them up by raking.

It seems like the leaves are taking a reaaaaaly long time to bloom here. It may because there are virtually no Maple trees. They are all oaks and they take longer. I bet Westchester County looks totally like Summer right now. Maybe with some more warm sunny days, things will start looking greener around here.

As I was sitting on the back porch, I noticed a little bird land on our bird feeder. I thought it was odd, because there was actually bird food in the feeder. Do you know what that means? It means that the squirrels haven’t figured out where it is yet. If they had, it would be empty. I think I am going to just keep walking around quietly to keep the thing under their radar. Everyone knows what happens when a squirrel finds a bird feeder. That’s the end of that. Squirrels are on Laura’s “nemesis” list. For an animal lover, I have never seen such darkness in her eyes…

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Using Mulch as Topsoil

This is just a little update post to my previous “Spreading the Mulch” post.

I was a little worried that a good hard rain was going to cause all of my newly spread mulch to slide down the backyard. Well, I have some good news. There was a heavy rain storm the other night and I woke up to see my mulch in exactly the same spot as I put it. That is good news indeed. I even found an article online that backs up my plan to stop topsoil erosion by using mulch. Pretty cool, huh?

I think I am going to order five more yards to finish up the back yard.

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