Sunday, May 24th, 2009
Last Autumn, I dug up about six rose bushes from the hillside out front and transplanted them to a more reasonable area down in the front yard. I am now mowing the hillside and having those rose bushes with their sharp thorns is really a thorn in my side (haha). I get snagged all the time and I don’t enjoy it much.
Initially, I didn’t know if they were going to take, meaning survive. Well, this Spring I noticed a bunch of new growth on some of the branches, but mainly from towards the bottom of the bush. I pruned out all the dead branches and the rose bushes are beginning to look pretty good. This is surprising because I wouldn’t say I did a great job of transplanting these things. I almost just ripped them out of the ground and plopped them in a dug out hole.
If you have not had the pleasure of seeing what the roots of a rose bush look like, let me tell you that they are pretty substantial. Rose bushes grow quite a bit under the ground and I have seen roots longer than six feet. I am not saying that I have seen this in a previous life, I’m saying that I saw this yesterday. Right at the base of the bush, if it is a few years old, you’ll find a gnarly root with a bunch of finer ones all tangled up.
If I had it to do over (which I actually did today), I would first cut the rose bush down to about a foot tall and then transplant it. This way, the plant is easier to work with and I won’t get my hopes smashed as I watch all the nice green growth wilt away.
As I said above, I transplanted six more Rose bushes over the past few days and I did it just the way I said I would, by cutting it down first and then transplanting it. Rose bushes are good at growing very, very fast under the right conditions.
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Garden with three transplanted Rose bushes
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Closer look at Rose bush transplants
Before I started writing this post, I did a little online research on “How to transplant a Rose bush.” You would be surprised at what I found. On one website, there was about two pages of instructions. They wrote all about the classic, “dig the whole twice as wide…compost…fertilizer” blah blah blah. I read this type of stuff all over the place and really don’t know who writes it. I get the feeling that the faster and dirtier the transplant job, the better things grow. I’m talkin’ pickup truck and chain style. The minute you stop and spend all sorts of time and money transplanting bushes and shrubs, they die.
Here is my advice when transplanting a Rose bush from my own experience:
1. Cut the bush down to 12 inches
2. Dig around the bush to remove as much soil as you can
3. Push the shovel under the Rose bush as much as you can and rock it back and forth to loosen up the plant
4. When it’s nice and loose, grab the roots and pull until you rip it out
To transplant:
1. Dig a hole
2. Plop the bush in the whole and cover with dirt
3. Water a few times a day for about a week
One word of warning for when you are trying to get the Rose bush out of its originating spot – You are going to sweat, get dirty and if anyone is driving by, laughed at.
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Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
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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Green Velvet Boxwood
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Buxus Green Boxwood plant label from Home Depot
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Common Boxwood label from Home Depot
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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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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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Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
Okay, so listen to this. I received my Home Depot gift cards yesterday. I got a pretty decent amount’s worth. So basically, they have been burning a hole in my pocket ever since. So what did I do about it? Well, I ran over to Home Depot and picked up that RIGID 4 gallon wet/dry vac I was talking about. It’s going to be a big help during those “cleaning out the pellet stove” times.
RIGID 4 gallon wet/dry vac
Actually, I just cleaned out the pellet stove a few minutes ago. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was worried about ruining our regular house vacuum by sucking up ashes from the pellet stove. I mean, it’s not like there is a huge amount of them. I do empty the ash pan first, but there are still some remaining ashes hanging around. Those need to be vacuumed. I tried using the dust pan and brush, but that doesn’t have the best results on the floor tile grout. The ash kind of gets smeared in there.
The reason I got the 4 gallon wet/dry vac is because is was the smallest size RIGID makes. The reason I got RIGID, is because I like the brand. I have had decent luck with their other products. Also, this vac has wheels on it, so I can roll it around when I am vacuuming out the car and stuff like that.
The only thing I am worried about is the ash clumping up in the filter. After I used the vacuum a few minutes ago, I did notice the filter got a bit dirty. I banged it against the side of the vacuum and the dirt pretty much fell off the filter. I figure this is bound to happen with any type of vacuum I use, so I might as well use a wet/dry vac. Also, once the filter has been banged around for its last time, I can always pick up a replacement.
Now that I used up a little less than half of my gift cards, I think I am going to hold on to them until Home Depot starts selling trees and shrubs again. Then, I can head over there and go on a shopping spree.
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Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
Do you remember back when I transplanted those shrubs from the front yard to the side of the driveway? Well, everything is going well, except for the fact that the soil I planted everything in is extremely fertile for weeds. I had a little forest growing within a few weeks.
I finally got my butt out there about a week ago and weeded the whole garden. Weeds will only stay down for a short time unless you do something about them. Also, in the garden, I noticed some small plum shrubs getting very dry leaves. That was caused by the very dry soil.
The problem is that every time I tried to water the shrubs when the ground was dry, the water would run right off the dirt. It was very frustrating. This stopped the shrub roots from receiving the much needed water. Also, the soil that the water did soak into dried very quickly from the hot sun.
There really was only one thing to do…mulch. Yesterday, I went out and bought about a yard of mulch just for this occasion. This morning, I did what I had to do.
First, let me explain the benefits of mulching a flower bed.
- Mulch keeps down weeds – prevents germination of many weed seeds
- Mulch keeps the soil moist in between rainy periods and hidden from the hot sun
- Mulch looks really good and accents your garden areas
- Mulch breaks down to add organics to your soil
- Mulch moderates the soil temperature
- Mulch protects the soil from the impact of raindrops that cause hardening
- Mulch encourages the growth of earth worms and other beneficial organisms
- Mulch keeps your plants clean by inhibiting soil splatter when it rains
- Mulch helps the rain water soak into the ground slowly so it doesn’t run off
With all these benefits of mulching, I was very eager to get started. Here are some photos of the process…
Garden before shot - no mulch
This is the before shot of the area I mulched. As you can see, I started digging the beginning of it when I remembered the I had to get the camera. Sometimes I am so excited to get going that I forget one of the reasons I am doing it…PICTURES!!!
Garden dug out and ready for mulch
With a pointed shovel, I edged the entire garden area. I put the shovel about half way into the soil and then just slid it under the grass to peel it up like a carpet. I then put the grass and extra soil into the wheelbarrow to dump on a rocky area that needs soil and grass. I am hoping if I spread it out, it will grow.
I dug the area to be mulched so it’s about four inches below the dirt the grass is growing in. That makes edging later on a heck of a lot easier.
Bags of mulch ready for use
I spread the bags of mulch out where I thought I would need them. When I got to each bag, I ran a knife up the side of each one. This made it a lot easier to pour where I needed the mulch. For this project, I used 27 cubic feet of mulch. I was about 15 cubic feet short.
The mulched garden area
This is the mulched garden area. As I mentioned above, I was about a half yard short of mulch. I like to put it about three inches thick. I had to spread it thin because there just wasn’t enough. I think I am going to wait until Spring to finish. It is a lot easier when all the plants aren’t in the way.
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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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Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Today’s job was to start transplanting some of the shrubs from the front of the property to the back. I am trying to take all the good shrubbery (did I just say shrubbery?) from the front hillside to transplant in the back, near the driveway. I already showed you the area I am working on in a previous post.
The reason I am taking these shrubs away from the front, is because I think more height is needed up there. I am planning on planting a good variety of Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce, Canadian Hemlock and Cleveland Pear along the whole hillside. With all the new stuff, the old, low shrubs will just be swallowed up. I mean, I am not going to go crazy with trees, just enough to add a nice green look up front. I think a variety of evergreens looks really good.
So, back to the back. Here is a picture of what the garden area looked like without the shrubs. Basically, the only stuff in there is the Iris I planted the other day, along with that plant no one can identify. I am going in rows, front to back.
These are the shrubs I planted today…
I like the variety of color. Also, back here, it’s going to be much easier for me to maintain each shrub. What I really like is that everything is here already…all I have to do is move stuff around the way I like it.
There is some more stuff in the front that I want to get. I am planning on doing that in the next few days, so I’ll have more photos then.
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