Friday, March 27th, 2009
Okay, today is no doubt the nicest day of the year so far. It’s mid 60s and sunny. I can’t complain about that.
Yesterday, I had 15 yards of mulch delivered from the place down in East Hampton. I got it for $22 per yard, plus $8 for delivery (per yard). That’s $30 per yard for the cheapest stuff they had. Considering I paid $120 to have yesterday’s mulch delivered, I am considering getting a sweet little trailer. After all, I did have a trailer hitch installed on the new vehicle for a reason. What a treat it would be to drive down there and pick up mulch for $22 per yard. Either way, I got the 15 yards and still need about 5 more. I’ll have to think about this a little before I order the rest. I have a severe allergy to throwing money out the window for delivery.
The task was to mulch the small garden in the front, the stone wall garden in the front and the side garden that I just expanded. I didn’t think I was going to have enough for anything else.
It took about a half day to get those three areas done. When I was finished with them, I had about 4 yards of mulch left over. I decided to spread some around at the end of the driveway. When it rains, the runoff from the driveway erodes the ground there. It isn’t the prettiest thing. I figured that mulch was the answer. Also, I decided that I could tackle some of the back garden as well. I would say that I got about a third of that finished.
Hey look, I even took some before and after photos for you.
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Pile of Witch Hazel mulch – 15 yards
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Small garden in front before mulch covering
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Small garden in front after mulch covering
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Stone wall garden in front before mulch covering
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Stone wall garden in front after mulch covering
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Side garden before mulch covering
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Side garden after mulch covering
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Garden in back of house about a third of the way covered with mulch
Talk about weed control.
What I am trying to accomplish here is a nice base. I think that light yearly applications of mulch will keep the soil nice and black and the weeds down. If that happens, I will be happy.
Now, I need to order 5 more yards of mulch to finish up the back and then it’s off to get flower bulbs, plants and shrubs…and a hammock.
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Monday, March 23rd, 2009
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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Edged area in back yard for mulch in flower garden along stone wall
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Edged area in back yard for mulch in flower garden along stone wall
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Sunday, March 15th, 2009
Well, I think it’s almost here. Yeah, now that I said it, it’s probably going to snow next week.
What I’m talking about is Spring. If you’ve gone outside over the past few days, you might have gotten a tan. Sure, that may be exaggerating things a bit, but no one can deny sweating a little during a warm March day. I did and I don’t think I miss the sweat. I miss everything else, but definitely not the sweat.
When I woke up this morning, I looked out the window and thought it would be a great day to get a little yard work done. I know, I know, it’s a little early to start hitting the yard work, but you have to remember that I have been waiting about four months for this. If it’s over 50 degrees, I am going to be outside getting stuff done.
Today was the day that I dug up the sprouting Daffodil bulbs from the backyard and transplanted them to the new mulch bed. Well, the mulch hasn’t exactly arrived yet, so I guess I should just call it a dirt bed for now.
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Digging up the clusters of Daffodil bulbs
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Freshly dug up Daffodil bulbs – showing the roots
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Another view of Daffodil bulbs and their roots
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This is what a Daffodil bulb looks like when it’s sprouting in mid March in the northeast
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Digging a new (or larger) mulch bed
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A five gallon bucket of Daffodil bulbs
As you can see from the above photos, I decided to expand the mulch bed that I made last year. I got thinking about it and thought the old one was just too small. Also, I was sick and tired of mowing around that fruit tree. Now that the new mulch bed is dug, I could plant all sorts of stuff in there, starting with the Daffodil bulbs I dug up today. I am not a fan of small mulch beds. If you have a small mulch bed and don’t know what to do with it, give me a call and we’ll chat.
It took about a half hour to get all those Daffodil bulbs up and out of the dirt. When I first started, I dug up a big chunk of dirt and transplanted the whole thing, but as time went on, I thought it would be more efficient to grab a bucket and shake the dirt off the bulbs so they would fit inside. That way, I could just carry the bucket over when all the bulbs were dug up.
I got about five gallons worth of bulbs. I did manage to dig up a few Iris rhizomes while I was at it. Do you remember the last time I did this? If not, here, check it out. I like getting everything all dug up and put in their new spots.
You may be asking, “Jay, why are you doing this?” I would answer, “Friend, I am moving these bulbs over because I think grass would look nice up against the rear stone wall. Also, the whole area near the stone wall was full of weeds last year and I have learned that you can’t have a garden without mulch. The area in the back is way too large to cover with mulch.” How’s that? I guess I just like to consolidate.
I will tell you one thing that happened today. I got my hands all dirty. I have to say that I just love getting my hands filthy while gardening. It’s one of those things I suppose.
(Remember, if you click on a photo to view the larger version, you can click on it again to see an even larger version.)
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Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
Throughout this winter, I have been putting together a short mental list of things I am going to tackle once the good weather arrives. I thought I might share that list with you, partly to entertain you and partly to remind me what in the world I had on my mental list once I have the urge to do some of these things.
EXTERIOR:
1. Order tons of pine trees from ArborDay.org and plant them all over the place.
2. Get the lawn in order.
3. Begin work on Laura’s garden. Need fencing and shrubs.
4. Clean out under porch. Take nails out of 2×4s and stack somewhere else so they are hidden. Throw out vinyl lattice (unless of course you want it).
5. Order more pellets to restock basement for next year.
6. Repair driveway again from this winter’s damage.
7. Admire mailbox.
8. Order 30 yards of mulch.
9. Mulch front garden and top off last year’s mulch.
10. Enlarge garden in front to include those 3 large rocks. Mulch that too.
INTERIOR:
1. Finish painting upstairs bedroom.
2. Remove carpet and tile from downstairs (main floor) and install tile over the whole area.
3. Paint downstairs (main floor).
4. Continue wondering how difficult it would be to replace suspended ceiling in basement with sheetrock.
5. Continue fantasizing about turning the laundry room into a giant bathroom with a giant bathtub and a giant shower.
6. Finish painting upstairs.
Wow, that’s quite a list. Am I going to get all these things done this spring? Heck no. I think I might be able to get those pine trees though. I am getting tired just looking at that list.
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Sunday, December 28th, 2008
Hey, do you remember that time I told you that we had about a foot of snow? You should, it was just last week. Well guess what…it’s all gone.
Never in my life have I seen snow melt so fast. Let me correct that; I didn’t actually see the snow melting, it was just gone. I went to sleep a few nights ago and we had about 12 inches and when I woke up, we had about an inch. I am not sure what happened overnight. I was told that it was warm. Warm? What, like 80 degrees? Even if it was 40 outside, I would have trouble believing that all that snow could melt so fast. I think something else was at play. Something like magic.
Every so often, in between real blog posts, I like to write some random thoughts. Stuff like what I have been up to and what’s been on my mind. Let’s see how that works today.
Okay, so the end of the year is coming. I think that’s great. I am sick of 2008. I think a lot of great stuff happened, but personally, I don’t like endings, I like beginnings. I would like New Years to be over so people can get motivated and back to work. I always love talking to people at the beginning of each year because they have good ideas of what they want to see happen for the upcoming year. People start projects, start new companies…do all sorts of things. They make new investments, hit the gym, stop spending, start spending, oh the list goes on and on. I like hearing all about it. I like to see the hope in people’s eyes.
For my part, I am tightening up what I have. For the past month, I have been examining all areas of everything. Finances, business, organization, assets, friends…everything. Out with the old and in with the new. I’m like a reptile; I’m shedding off some dead weight. It stinks because I am so full of new ideas and start so many things, but I think being boring and simple for a while won’t hurt. It’ll give me time to get to know myself again.
We went for a walk today. It was about 60 degrees outside, so it felt like spring. All I wore was my salmon shirt and a fleece. Oh yeah, I had pants on too. We did our usual two miles, which takes what seems like 15 minutes now. At times, we don’t even talk, we just walk. We are getting faster and faster. It feels good. I always like to walk during the cooler months because my face feels so fresh and I don’t sweat.
Now that the snow is gone, I took a little “coffee walk” outside to check out the yard this morning. I have all sorts of plans for what I want to do, come spring. I am going to order about 100 more pines from ArborDay.org in a month or so. They will deliver the trees in March. 100 trees might seem like a lot, but really it isn’t, once I start planting. I run out fast. I am going to make pine tree areas out of Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce and White Pine. The mix should look good.
I am also going to have about 30 more yards of mulch delivered in April. I do love mulch and with property of this size, I am going to need every last drop. It’s going to make the pine trees grow so much faster and it’s going to work wonders for the gardens. Man, I can’t wait to get back to it.
There are times when I sit at the computer and want to check out what everyone is up to. I wish you all had blogs and told me about them. I would like to have a list of about 20, but right now, I only have 4. It gets lonely in the blogosphere without you. Hey, maybe you can put that on your list of things to do. I think that’s a great idea. C’mon, think about the benefits…you will know that I will be reading all about your excellent adventures. By the way, this isn’t to say that my list of 4 isn’t the most awesome list ever.
I’m not sure what else I have.
We put all house improvement projects on hold. Nothing is really in dire need of improvement, besides the living room carpet. That needs to be torn up and discarded. We got a price for hardwood, but that’s going to have to wait. I am not falling into the trap of sinking tons of money into a house the first year. Slow and steady wins the race. I wouldn’t mind a pool though…hmmm. It would have to be indoor, so I can swim all year round. Perhaps I could just get one of those little plastic ones and put it in a tent.
Okay, now I am officially out of stuff to say. All the juicy gossip is kept quiet because I have to keep some sort of privacy. I mean, one would have to wonder, if what I write is all the stuff I have going on in life, I would certainly be a little weird.
Over and out. Peace.
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Friday, September 5th, 2008
I’m back, baby. I’m back.
As I was walking out on the court this morning with the tennis instructor, he asked me where I lived. I told him where I live and then informed him that I just moved here a few months ago. He asked where I had come from and why I had moved. I told him because there were no tennis clubs where I used to live. You think I’m kidding.
I suppose that was just the icing on the cake or perhaps an indication of the type of area we lived in. I think the only indoor tennis court within 30 miles was inside some old barn. This guy I used to work with told me that someone had redone a barn and put a tennis court in it. That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.
You would be surprised at how many dinner conversations Laura and I have about life. We are real thinkers. I probably over-analyze more than she does, but we do have some pretty worthwhile conversations. One of the topics we talk about is what we could do in the recreational arena. I mean, we probably do more walking, hiking and biking than anyone I know, but it never seems to be enough. We work out on the Bowflex, but that doesn’t seem to be enough. I work around the house cutting down trees and spreading mulch, but still not enough. We even wrestle, well, you get the picture.
This type of thing becomes very important to me when the bad weather sets in. I get the Winter blues easily and need to be constantly entertained or else people are going to hear me complain. No one wants to hear someone else complain.
I used to work at the Carmel Fitness and Racquet Club over in Carmel, NY. I worked there for about four years as the head life guard from 1993 to 1997. I loved that job because it would allow me to do all my homework for college when no one was in the pool. I credit that job for helping me graduate Westchester Community College. I also loved that job because I got free use of the gym and the indoor tennis courts. I love to play tennis and having indoor courts at my disposal year round was the best thing to happen to me. Also, to have a life guarding job year round was great too.
At the Carmel Fitness and Racquet Club, I played a LOT of tennis. You couldn’t keep me out of that place. I get bored very fast, but back then, I had something to do about it. I would hop in my car and go play tennis. If there was no one to play with, I would practice my serve or just hit against the ball machine. Those four years taught me a lot about the game and I actually got pretty good at it.
When I went to college at Binghamton University, I stopped playing. Twelve years have now gone by and I have only casually played tennis a few times, but nothing to write home about. I really miss the game.
Living where we used to live didn’t help. Since people were more into farming than tennis, I had a better chance of somehow driving a bulldozer across a field than to actually play some indoor tennis. Year after year, I got more and more sick and tired of putting up with the lack of recreational activities in the area. There is only so much of walking up and down the road someone can do. I mean, people can say, “Oh, we have this and we have that,” but really it’s the feeling you get when you are somewhere. It’s the culture.
So when I gave the tennis instructor that answer this morning, I wasn’t kidding.
Yesterday, as we were out and about, I decided to take a different way back to the house. I drove through a back road (Oak Street) in Glastonbury to hop on Hebron Avenue. As I was driving down Oak Street, I noticed a sign on my right. It said, “Glastonbury Tennis Club.” I almost fainted. I had planned on joining the tennis club up in East Hartford when the weather got a little cooler, but this was a heck of a lot closer to where we live. I drove a little further and turned around.
Glastonbury Tennis Club
We walked in the club and talked to the front desk person a little while. I eventually signed up for a membership and scheduled a lesson for this afternoon at 12:30. I thought this was just great.
This club has six nice indoor courts and four pros for lessons. I thought a few lessons would be a good idea, since I hadn’t played in such a long time. I didn’t want to jump right back into playing matches with strangers when I wasn’t sure of my abilities.
Glastonbury Tennis Club indoor courts
I had my first lesson with John, the Tennis Director. He was pretty cool and probably got a kick of how fast my face turned red from all that running around. I must say, I played rather well. I hit some great shots and was consistently “OK.” Let’s just say that I could hold my own against an intermediate player.
This tennis club has a bunch of clinics where there is a pro and about five people per court. They hold the intermediate clinics on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings. I will most likely go to all of them. I want to get back in shape before the Winter comes because I want to start playing matches. The instructor told me that in a few weeks, I should be ready for the advanced clinics.
That would be the cat’s meow.
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Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
If you are wondering why my back is a little sore, it’s because I shoveled about thirteen yards of mulch last night and this morning. Laura helped out last night, and a good helper she was.
I posted some pictures a while ago of some areas that I wanted to mulch. Many of you probably went, “Hmmm…” when you looked at them. I will admit they weren’t the most attractive photos and most of you didn’t think I could do much with what I had done to the yard. Take a look at them here.
Well, as it turns out, we did make the areas look pretty good. I had fifteen yards of mulch delivered yesterday and only have about a yard and a half left. I plan on making the mailbox area larger this afternoon.
Here are the photos of what we did last night and today. Let me know what you think.
Pile of mulch made from the Witch Hazel tree - 15 yards
Mulch area at top of driveway
Mulch area at other side of driveway and down front hill
Mulch area in front yard
Mulch area in front yard - alternative view
The remaining mulch pile
The neighbors didn’t think I could do it. They laughed when I told them the pile would be gone by today. Don’t laugh at me neighbors, oh, you will see how fast I am. You will see my speed.
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Friday, August 29th, 2008
I don’t know if you are aware of this, but I have been busting my butt to get the front sidewalk area of the house landscaped. It wasn’t all that difficult because things were in pretty good shape. I really like mulch areas, so I decided to add a few. Keeps the weeds down, if you know what I mean. Also, it just looks damn good.
After a few trips to the local hardware store for some mulch and a lot of weeding and digging, I can finally show you some photos of my hard work. I think you will be impressed with my perfection.
Here you go.
Mulch area in front of the house
Front of the house from a distance
New Blue Princess Holly bush
Landscape lighting
After all that weeding and trimming, I had a few open areas. I decided to get two Blue Princess Holly bushes to fill the void. I also decided to get some more landscape lighting. Oh, you just wait for the next post for that one.
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Thursday, August 28th, 2008
As you may know, I have been doing a lot of work outside trying to make things look nice. A lot of sweat has gone into these projects. Things are rolling along smoothly and actually getting somewhere.
I have been visiting the local hardware store every few days to get a yard of mulch. I can fit twelve bags in the car, which is actually about a yard and a third. It’s good enough to do smaller areas. Once you start raking, mulch doesn’t go all that far.
I am up to the front sidewalk area of the house. I weeded the whole area this morning in preparation for the sidewalk lighting I purchased at Home Depot yesterday. There were already three lights out there, but two of them were out. I decided to buy three more lights and a set of bulbs. I got the Malibu “Do-it-yourself” metal lights, because they matched the ones already installed.
Malibu sidewalk light
These lights are pretty nice. They are about a foot and a half tall, made of metal, use 11 watt bulbs and are really easy to install.
Since there were already some installed, but I like to do things my own way, I decided to take them out, along with all the wire. With the 50′ of outdoor wire I bought yesterday, coupled with the existing wire, I had plenty to add three light to make a total of six.
After I did all the weeding and pulled out the wire and lighting fixtures, I assembled all the new lights. Each one took just a few minutes. I installed the lights and re-ran the wire so it accessed all of them. I changed the time on the outdoor timer and took a look. Miraculously, all of them worked. I am very excited for it to get dark tonight to I can attempt another picture. I am hoping it will come out so I can post it here. Then, you will see the pure beauty of my work.
After I showed Laura what I did, she suggested that we put in some small floodlights that aim at the house from the sidewalk, facing upward. I am sure you have seen them. There are a few houses that have those types of lights in this neighborhood and I get jealous when I see them. There is nothing worse than a naked, dark house at night time. Well, I’m sure there are some things worse than that. But still, it’s all about the lighting.
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Thursday, August 21st, 2008
I am not sure how I get myself into these messes.
I had a second to spare this afternoon, so I decided to put a shovel in my hand. Then, I went outside and started looking around. I had planned on doing all the mulch beds in the Spring, so what the heck was I doing when I started digging up the grass?
Oh well, since it was already started…I decided to drag the shovel along the ground in a nice curvy line. I had a vision of how I wanted these particular mulch beds to look. By the way, here’s a tip for you; when making a mulch bed, make it three times larger than you originally planned. There is nothing worse than a small mulch bed. Trust me, when it’s done, you’ll think a professional landscaper did it. The two beds I made here already, I have to go back and make them bigger.
Before I started digging the mulch bed
Starting to dig the mulch bed
Finished digging the mulch bed
Second finished mulch bed photo
Another dug mulch bed
If you can see what I did, you will notice that I just dug a sharp trench, about eight inches deep, along the line where I want to see the mulch. Anything to the right of that line is going to be covered with mulch. Realistically, you just need somewhere for the mulch to butt up against. I don’t worry about the chunks of grass and the existing grass. That won’t grow through, if you put enough mulch down. I did this back at the old house and only saw small areas of grass peek through. I killed that with weed killer.
Now that the front is done, I have to do the other side, along with some more flower transplants. Once that is done, I am going to order my ten yards of mulch and go to town.
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