Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
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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Saturday, July 19th, 2008
Well, well, well…guess what I found.
Today, I decided to venture outside into the wall of humidity to dig up and re-plant some rhododendrons. We had a few here and there that needed to make their way up the hill for a nice rhododendron line in the front. I think it will look very nice, come Spring.
Anyway, enough about that. Upon digging my second hole for the rhododendron, I discovered about four while oval things sitting approximately six inches beneath the dirt. I thought they were bird eggs. I left them there and went inside to tell Laura about my find. I knew she would get up and research what they were for me. She enjoys that kind of stuff.
I went back outside and took a few pictures of these things and then covered them back up. I had a feeling they weren’t bird eggs, but turtle eggs. I planted all the rhododendrons and then went back inside.
After I showed Laura all the sweat on my face, she revealed to me that I had just stumbled across Black Rat Snake Eggs. For photos of these creatures, click the link above. For photos of Black Rat Snake Eggs, look below…
Good thing I covered these eggs back up. I did have a strange feeling something was peering out from the woods…straight at me…
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Saturday, June 7th, 2008
I think so much of myself, don’t I? Just look at that title.
As I was wondering around outside today, sweating, I decided to take some more photos of the flowers on the property. You may already have seen some of these, but others are new. I know this because we just planted them.
On the same day I bought the Rhododendrons in the post below, Laura decided to put some flowers in the shopping cart. I usually don’t go down the flower isle, but then again, I am boring.
Here is what she picked out.
This is a Stargazer Lily. I believe we may already have a few, but there is no harm in getting more.
This is somesort of a cream Lily. I asked Laura what the name of it was, but she couldn’t remember. Please feel free to inform us.
This is Sage. I am told that it spreads to make a nice ground cover. I hope so, because there is a lot of ground.
That’s all of the new flowers. Now on to the existing ones.
This is Baily’s Gold. From what I gather, this is a nice spreading flower as well and is really easy to keep. I think I am going to split up the existing ones and disperse them around the area.
Here are some more Iris. These are light purple though and a bit more delicate looking than the other Iris.
Again, the showcase Lupine that sits at the edge of the sidewalk. This really is a facinating flower. It has been fun watching it mature.
There is no shortage of Roses around. This is just a small sample of some pink Roses and red Roses. They really are beautiful.
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Saturday, June 7th, 2008
Every time I visit either Lowe’s or Home Depot, I try to go into the nursery to grab a few shrubs. I can always find a use for shrubs, I just wish they were free. That would be wild.
I need about 50 Rhododendrons. I would like to line the entire wooded area up front as well as both sides of the driveway. I love the look of fully grown Rhododendrons. They are great cover and have wonderful flowers.
I remember one house down in Yonkers that I did some work at years ago. It was owned by an old (rich) dude. He had everything looking just perfect. There were huge Rhododendrons, Japanese Yew, Hemlock and all the rest. It was so green and so was I, with envy. I still have the image in my mind and that’s what I would like to have one day.
But for now, I will have to do with small Rhododendrons to start.
I bought three of these during my last trip to Home Depot.
This is one of the areas I would like to line. When the plants grow larger, they will hang over the rocks and all I will have to do is push the mower under the plants. I know, I am too slick.
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Thursday, May 29th, 2008
We made a visit to Home Depot yesterday (we are going to be buying from Lowe’s from now on). I wanted to go shopping for shrubs. Maybe I can just cut this, and the following posts short. You can just read all the other ones about shrubs I have written through the years.
I had a bunch of stuff on my list, but mainly items from the garden area. Here is what I got:
- 1 Blue Hydrangea
- 4 Holly bushes
- 2 Rhododendron
- 1 25 lb. bag of grass seed
- 2 Tomato plants
and some other stuff. Maybe I’ll write about that later.
Laura picked out the Hydrangea and made sure it was blue. There are a few others around here, so it should fit right in.
There are a lot of areas I need shrubs. I really like shrubs at the ends of driveways. I don’t know why, but I do. Therefore, I needed shrubs to put at the end of this semi-naked driveway. I put the Holly and Rhododendron there. There is room for a lot more though.
I also did some seeding yesterday. I went through the whole bag in about two minutes. The spreader settings needs to be high, so it really shoots out fast. I raked the seed in some bare spots in the lawn, and just spread it out on the areas up near the road. If the birds eat it, I’ll just get more.
What’s really exciting is our new tomato plants. These are hybrid something-er-others. They are supposed to produce nice big tomatoes. I like tomato sandwiches, so I am hoping they come out nicely.
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