Breathing Room

So that project is upcoming. We need to borrow a bobcat to pull off the old stairs and get rid of them and then a weekend to build the new stairs. I’m hoping we can do it towards the end of June. We are able to plan out the rest of the front better though knowing that we are doing that.

So then I told Randy that the railroad ties had to go or I was going…that spurned a couple of hours of hard physical labor….and 500lbs of railroad ties to the dump later we had none left in our yard and I was a satisfied wife. I know you are thinking “Why did you pull out those spikes to the sky made from stinky oil covered hunks of wood” I’m sorry if it upsets you…just not my thing! I even recall when we first saw the house I told Randy “Those have to go” Here we are 3 years later and I finally get it done!

Railroad Tie Removal

So then I decided that the flat, non-dimensional rectangular area of dirt did not work for me anymore. With the railroad ties gone the raised bed portion of the flowerbed was gone…it is pictured in the right side of this picture as it was before we pulled out the tie. It just grew weeds and got no sun anyhow so it was no good to me. Plus it was a tie…seriously…who decorates with ties? Unless you work for CN it is a bit too much!

Old Flowerbed

I also had to think of how the heck I was going to deal with this:

Dandelion patch

This is the ghetto flowerbed to the right side of my front door. It has a couple lilies in it that I got from Randy’s Mom last year that are coming in nice but the star of the show really is the dandelion. As a matter of fact it stars in quite a bit of my yard…2 huge containers of roundup later I figured I had won the battle…or did I? It is a week now since I sprayed the roundup…the dandelions are still alive and kicking…WTF? I seriously have Chernobyl Dandelions…but that project will have to wait…I have $200 of flowers to plant…

So after the ties were gone and the excess dirt moved around I decided that the terrible roman path behind the house needed to come out…I hate the jagged, uneven rock path so much! It is a total hazard. Ethan has wiped out on it so many times I couldn’t even count. So I had my strong, handsome hubby use my weak, broken wheelbarrow and haul up about 600lbs of stone from behind the house to put in front of the house. The strong, handsome husband made it…the wheelbarrow did not and I got my stone from the back brought up to the front to use for my flowerbed!

So it took me some time to decide on how I was going to use the rocks to add interest to my flowerbed and I finally decided to make a tiered pile of rocks and plant close to it to have the plants add to the rocks. I don’t know if I’m done with it yet…I have one more flowerbed to do and I may add a couple more of the stones to the bed…I have lots! I did get all my plants in (most of them are now perennials) and laid a really nice rubber mulch over top. I like how it looks a lot better now. I deliberately put nothing close to the stairs also because when we put in the new ones they will be destroyed.

New Flowerbed

We are also planning on pulling out the walk and putting down a stone pathway. It will extend wider at the driveway and move out a bit from the current path in order to be in line with the new stairs. It won’t be happening very soon…those stones are really expensive! So right now I just put two planters in the space that the walk will go. I want to do my back path and I’m reusing the stone pads from the front in the back so I will have to do it at some point this summer because the back path needs to be done before winter.

I am also putting in another flowerbed, just a small one where the ugly poky railroad ties were. The ground was raised there and we were going to leave it and build a retaining wall for it but it was going to be expensive and not really add much to the appearance. So I started to cut back the bank and try to level out the lawn. Two hours into the project I decided that it would make a cute little flowerbed. So that is the project for today…more stone from the back (I really have a lot of it!) and another trip to the flower store if needed and I will have a new flowerbed! It won’t be the full shape as pictured here; the stone pathway will flare out here, so it will be a kidney kind of shape.

Future Flowerbed

I also attacked the dandelion bed yesterday…grrrr! I cleared out all the weeds…pulling up a root system that was almost half an inch in diameter of dandelion runners. That was hard, dirty, crappy work! I took all the sod I had cut out from the area in the picture above and laid it up against the house at the far end of the bed. Once the new stairs are in place I will be building a new flowerbed in this area. For now I rough-guessed where it will be and planted grass in the other half of the bed. Today I am buying a couple of shrubs to plant just around the corner of this bed. They will provide cover for our deck and hopefully give us a privacy screen down the road. Randy is also going to grab me a water barrel today for this corner drain. It never works right and floods that whole area so I saw some nice ones at Costco and he’s going to but it and install it today. For now I am leaving it with just the perennial lilies that are there and hoping for nice green grass to sprout up quickly in the rest of the area.

Former Dandelion Patch

~How Does Our Garden Grow?~

I am continuing to fight the dandelions…roundup didn’t work so I bought a Fiskars weed puller and have been diligently pulling them up. I used it so much yesterday that it got jammed full of dirt and wouldn’t work anymore so I gave up on it for now…more weed pulling to come I’m sure! I’m debating on stripping all the sod in the back yard and re-doing the whole thing…the dandelions have completely taken over. But I told Randy for this year I will pull, pull, pull and re-seed and fertilize and see what happens. If it’s the same next year it’s gone! I may even hire it out…that’s hard work!

There is lots of hard physical work being done out there…and lots more to come. We are putting in the two new windows in the front bedrooms and re-siding the house this year as well…we are really amping up the curb appeal of the house! Randy and I don’t do anything half-measure remember…I’ll be so excited to see it done! All this while the kitchen and bath renos are going on inside the house…more to come on that!

21 May 2012

~How Does Our Garden Grow?~

Well I have a budding gardener on my hands…he has been badgering me all week to “plant the seeds”. We had picked out all the seeds for our vegetable garden last weekend and he was anxious to see them grow. I am growing an Organic garden, using only organic soil and seeds this year. Plus creating a new ‘hanging garden’ space so I can plant more.

We had to start of course with preparing the beds…picking weeds, adding some new soil, spreading around some fertilizer…Ethan patiently helped with all this work. I ended up running around trying to find some specific fertilizer for the lawn and didn’t get around to the garden. We had a yummy supper outside on the deck (first of the season!) and I was resigned to the fact that the garden would probably have to wait until Monday…well not Ethan! After his last bite of food he was ready to ‘plant the seeds’. So off we went.

First he helped with our new ‘hanging garden’. Randy had gotten it set up but Ethan and I had to add the dirt. Our ‘hanging garden’ is made out of simple rain gutters and we planted lettuce, spinach and basil in them.

~How Does Our Garden Grow?~

Then we moved on to the garden bed. We had to rake it to level it and then we started planting. We planted: peas, corn, swiss chard, carrots, radishes, beets, tomatoes, and butter crunch lettuce. I taught Ethan how to space the seeds apart and how to cover them up to put the seeds ‘to bed’. He was very careful to make sure they were covered up nice and cozy. Then we gave it a good watering before calling it a night.

Here’s to a bountiful garden this year! Last year was a good one so I’m expecting nothing different. Also I’m excited to see how the ‘hanging garden’ does…We are also planting potatoes…vertically. I need some straw and chicken wire and we’re going to grow some potatoes without a garden bed to plant them in. I’ll add pictures when we get it built. It’s a project for another day!

I’m so excited to grow with Ethan, I remember planting gardens as a kid and working in them and being so excited to see things grow. Not to mention I know that Ethan eats more vegetables when he gets to pick them, whether its in the store or in our garden. At least coming from our garden I know what to expect!

I also spent a lot of time and money on our lawn yesterday. We have a bountiful crop of dandelions already…arrgghh! So I went the Round-up route again. I did a good dose of Round Up throughout the yard and we’re following up with a Organic Bio Weed and Feed product and some good grass seed. I hope I can win the battle of the dandelion this year! We’re also calling a tree company to come out and take a look at our Weeping Birch. It’s slowly dying and we’ve been told it might have bugs. I love that tree so much I would be heartbroken if we lost it. So I’m hoping to save it. I don’t know squat about trees so I’m calling in the pros to help. None of my other trees are suffering so I’m hoping it isn’t bugs. Randy did trim it quite a bit last year so I’m half wondering if the shock killed it. I also haven’t ever fertilized them but I don’t know that it would cause that. We’ll see, hopefully Greenblade can help me out!

We’ve got some big plans for the front yard this year. We’re tearing out the cement steps (the bottom one is disintegrating) and building some wooden stairs and making them a bit wider then the old ones. Then the flower bed to the right of the stairs is getting shrunk in size and I’m going to plant a shrub right beside the stairs and a half circle flower bed around it. We’re also planting some shrubs along the side of the deck to get some coverage so you can’t see underneath and to add something to that corner. The railroad ties are being pulled out all over and a new paving stone path and retaining wall will be put in. Randy wants to put a kidney shaped flowerbed in at the base of the driveway around the little tree that is there but I don’t know if that will happen. The back path is being re-done as well and I’m removing the crappy stone pathway and putting in just a cement pathway. We’re siding the house this year and replacing the last of the windows in the front of the house so overall the house is getting a massive face lift on the outside.

If only I can kill those damn dandelions…

22 September 2011

~My Garden Bounty~

So I harvested my beautiful garden and came up with about 20lbs of tomatoes, a meals worth of beet tops, enough swiss chard for a few meals, lettuce, some carrots, a tiny corn on the cob and a few peas that we had missed. I left most of the carrots and beets in the ground, they’ll be fine for a few more weeks and might get a bit bigger…I would have liked to let my tomatoes stay on longer but we’ve been having frost at night so they had to come in. I’ve got them in a dark cool place and I’ll get to enjoy some green fried tomatoes before they ripen. The bigger question of the day is what am I going to do with all those tomatoes??? Most of them are cherry tomatoes, that’s the ones I’m stumped on. The other ones I’m going to can or freeze…got to talk to Mom about that one! So if you have any great ideas for cherry tomatoes let me know!

Here are some pictures I snapped of my bounty! Look at all those tomatoes! Don’t you wish you lived closer so I could share???

20 May 2011

~Bachelorette for the Weekend!~

Well I’m baching it this weekend as Randy and Ethan took off to his Mom’s house for a visit and I had to work. I’m off on Sunday and plan on spending the day doing projects around the house that just don’t get done when I have a 3 year old hanging around.

I went on a shopping date last night with my friend Leanne after they left. We hit the mall and got some summer essentials at Zellers and Children’s Place (Don’t get me started on the smoking deals they have going on right now!) and we also went to Dunvegan Greenhouses here in GP. She wanted to get all her bedding plants and flowers for around her yard and I just wanted to get some planning done for mine. In the end I bought 4 perennials and a GORGEOUS hanging basket and made some plans for the rest of my yard. I need to do an overhaul on my flowerbeds as they were not at all successful last year. I’m buying shade loving plants this year, because that is what I have to work with, and hoping for better results then the dead plants I had two weeks after planting last year. I have booked my Lawn maintenance company to come over and work up my beds and I know I need to put some good stuff in them to help them along. I just need to figure out what it needs…

I’m also budgeting to do some stone work up front with paving stones etc. Based on the prices I’ve seen I won’t be doing it all this year but there is some that I would like to get done. I’ll take some before and afters to show it off!

Our lawn is taking off with the work we had done to it. Lawn 2 Lawn came and did a whole maintenance to it and then Randy and I overseeded it and threw down some Peat moss. It’s starting to take off and I’m hoping the back yard will come back to grass this year…if not then next year I’m hiring Lawn 2 Lawn to come in a re-do it. The front lawn is fine, it’s just the back that is crap.

Anyhow this post started off about my weekend alone and ended up being a narration of my gardening efforts….it’s what is on my mind lately! I can’t say it enough…I love summer!

18 May 2011

~SUN!~

We got outside and played in the sun and sand this last weekend. It was so nice to be out and soak up the rays…

Sun

Ethan played with his trucks and Randy and I say and read some books….ahhhh love you summer! Yes there were frosty drinks involved!

9 September 2010

The Garden

So now the story and the pictures of the underperforming garden…It was weird how my garden grew, nothing for the last almost 2 feet of each row..I don`t get it. I`m happy with this years garden, and am hoping that next years is better!!!

It looks not too bad but notice how nothing grew close to the house…

So this is what we got off the garden last week. I had already ate all the peas and we attempted the radishes earlier on…they sucked. We got a bumper crop of Swiss chard, one meals worth of carrots, beet leaves and then of course the tomatoes…

Look good eh…it was..mmmm nothing like home grown stuff!!!

8 September 2010

~Our garden…and Pathetic flowers…~

Well it wasn’t quite the bounty that I was hoping for this year but you have to start somewhere. My flowers did not grow…at all…I was not happy about the amount of money that I spent on them and how quickly they died…I think I got bum plants because they died right away, despite me taking care of them. We did have snow a few days before I went and bought them and I can guarantee that they got a touch of cold.

So anyhow, here are the pictures of my flowerbeds and my pot…(Yup, that’s dirt there and dead flowers…) But the pot is nice eh? I got two big ones and two smaller ones, ceramic, for under $20! Best deal of the summer since they were originally $30 for the big ones each and $20 for the small ones…

Anyhow, moving on. I also planted my raspberry canes this spring. Well due to neglect I lost most of them…no beating around the bush, I simply left them and didn’t give them any love…I think I have 4 of the original 13…

Next is my tomato plants…they grew like crazy at one end of the flowerbed…not so much at the other end…but they didn’t produce much. I was hoping for a bumper crop of tomatoes to make salsa for our pantry…nope, didn’t happen! But they looked good at least!

Next post…a look at our veggie Garden…again, nothing too spectacular but it was yummy!!!

6 August 2010

~Mmmm Fresh Garden Peas!~

My little garden (update post coming soon) is coming along, slowly and surely. Not much coming out of it but better then nothing! Anyhow, I do have peas and they are so yummy! So last night we had some peas from the garden with our rice for supper. Don’t they look yummy?

19 May 2010

~Progress Update~

So the garden projects are moving forward! The shed is painted Herbal Garden green with white trim. It took me a day to be sure about it but now I’m happy with my decision. We still have to build the planter boxes and attach them so the pictures will come when that is all done.

Tonight we are tilling our garden spot and flowerbeds. We ended up buying some sheep manure to work into it because the thought of travelling for 45 minutes with horse manure in the back of the SUV didn’t really do much for me…can’t imagine why!

We got some sand for Ethan’s sand box last weekend when we visited our friends in Teepee Creek. For now we have it in his sandbox but he is gradually just dumping it on the lawn so I have a feeling that we will just be making him an area of the yard that will be his sandbox. Then he’ll have a little pool to play in this summer!

So far the raspberries are taking. I think I may have lost one or two but time will tell if the roots are taking. We’ve had to water them every day because it’s been so dry here so hopefully they are getting enough!

We also got our potatoes planted last weekend at my friends’ house in Teepee Creek. We planted about a 5 Gallon pail of seedlings so we should have a bumper crop of spuds this summer! I can’t wait to eat them!!!

Anyhow, no pictures today, we will be finishing things up in the next week then pictures will come!

14 May 2010

~Our Garden 2010 – The Veggie Patch~

As mentioned previously, I am super excited to be able to have my own garden this year and area to make pretty flowerbeds. I am starting with my vegetable garden because it has priority for me…I want my own fresh veggies! So we have decided on an area of our back yard that will be tore up to accommodate my veggie patch. I’m going to do it in a curved shape to make the yard easier for Ethan to play in without taking over a huge chunk of it.

So this is the part of the backyard where it will go. It will go from the left stick going up the side of the shed in a curve to the edge of the picture where the fence is.

My raspberries are alongside the shed so I will leave a path in front of them that I can use to get to them and to behind the shed where I think my compost pile will go. As you can see, right now the compost is just piled on the lawn…it will just get worked into the garden spot next week. We are renting a rototiller next week and doing the hard work of breaking up the lawn for the garden. LOL, you know I mean Randy is doing the hard work of breaking up the lawn! I will be supervising!

I will also be planting veggies in a couple of beds that are around the house. It would cost me a small fortune to plant flowers in all of them so for this year at least they will be part of my veggie patch. In front of the house I will be planting my largest bed with tomatoes and herbs. My goal is to make salsa this summer with my crop of tomatoes! In the back yard there is a bed all along the side of the garage. I’m going to plant some flowers at either end of it but for most of it I will plant my peas. We’re going to staple some netting to the side of the garage so the peas can climb the side of the garage. It will look pretty and help out the peas!

In my main garden I’m planting a couple hills of potatoes (we are planting a huge potato patch at our friends’ acreage this weekend), a couple of squash plants and a few turnips. It will also have Lettuce, radishes, red & yellow onions, garlic, beets, swish chard, parsnips, carrots and possibly yams. I’m also going to start an asparagus bed this year, they take a few years to get going so I need to start now! I need to research them a bit more before planting them so that I find the right spot because they don’t get moved once planted! I’m also not expecting much from my garlic but I want to give it a try!

I won’t have a huge garden spot so rather than doing rows I’m going to plant in squares…we’ll see how that goes! I’ve been reading online and a lot of people with limited space do it this way. I don’t have room to put huge spaces for walking and weeding so squares should solve this problem!

I can’t wait to share photos of the garden as it grows this summer and am looking forward to playing in the dirt! Anyone have any comments on my plan? Do you think I have enough room to pull it off? Let me know, next week is the start line for it!

13 May 2010

~Our Garden 2010 – The Garden Shed Project~

My little shed is getting a face lift! As you can see it has seen better days cosmetically…but it’s still a good little shed! I had thought of getting rid of it but changed my mind and am glad I did! It has become so useful! Not only does it hold all the garden tools and lawnmower but all our bottles and recycling too!

So to improve the little shed I’m going to paint it a fun color:

The shed itself will be Herbal Garden, trim will be Cotton Fluff (or just plain white). Our house is grey and white so it is the accent color. Then on the side of shed I’m going to hang a couple of flower planters off the side and paint them the Chopped Chive color. In them I’m going to plant some pretty green and white flowers. Total cost for this little project? Probably around $40 for the paint. Planters will be made with leftover wood around the house and flowers will be picked up with the rest of my flowers for the beds and I have ordered Rona gift cards with my Airmiles to pay for them. I will have leftover paint that I can use to paint other planters too!

I’m working on this little project this weekend on my “Mother’s Day” I can’t wait to show off pictures of the finished project! Keep posted for the update!

7 May 2010

~The Beginnings of Our Backyard Garden~

I am so excited to be a homeowner because this means that we have our own little piece of yard that we can do whatever we want with! So in our backyard this year we are taking out some grass and putting in a vegetable garden for me to putz around in. The big weekend for that isn’t until the end of the month when I have a 3 day weekend…but I got to get my hands a little dirty tonight!

I was on Kijjiji.ca last weekend and came across a lady selling raspberry canes for $3 each so I contacted her and bought 10 of them. She was a farmer and generously brought me around 14 of them! I was so excited to get raspberries for that price! So we put them in tonight along the side of the garden shed in the backyard. They will be on the backside of my garden spot. They should get lots of sun there but a little shade too. I can already taste the raspberry jam…

Anyhow, here are some pics of my teensy tiny raspberry canes…I can’t wait to post pics of the progress throughout the summer and see how many actually make it!