Earth Day 2006

Saturday, April 22, 2006 was Earth Day. What did you do that day? I drove to town to pick up a friend, Ron, who had said several times that he would help me do work around my yard. I finally decided to take him up on it.

There are so many things that need doing here that it was a bit of a challenge to decide where we would start, but I decided that working on a raised bed garden would be a good thing. This led us to do many things.

* Cut back spreading Junipers to make a pathway into the back yard
* Moved a bunch of wood, broken window, etc, then level out a heap of dirt left by the Bobcat when it last dug up the septic line
* Carried some landscape ties up from the orchard where they were stacked when I brought them home recently
* Laid down some cardboard to be a weed barrier
* Realized we need a saw which we don't have to cut the landscape ties, so the raised bed garden will have to wait
* Moved a heap of weeds I'd pulled and stacked up
* Made a small, narrow garden along the house
* Transplanted some day lilies and iris plants I'd dug up previously
* Planted strawberries given to me by "my invisible friend"
* Watered everything

I think that about covers it... whew! My back was some sore, and Ron looked at me rather strangely when I was barely able to walk.

Ron and I ate supper (homemade bean soup, whole wheat spaghetti with veggie sauce, garlic bread), then watched a movie and drank some tea. Then I drove him home. Ron said he will be happy to come back another time and help again as it gives him something to do on a day off.

#49 Potted plants, but no "pot plants" in this "grow op". Great way to start veggies for the garden. 

#48 This is Mas's "grow op" 

#47 April 19th: This is my "Invisible Friend" Mas. We're in her yard, digging up some of her strawberry plants for me. That tray got heaped right up, so I should have lots of delicious strawberries to eat and freeze and share

More Plants

I discovered the other day that I had made a planting mistake in my herb garden. I had gotten Lemon Mint and Catnip both in the same tire {tyre for Kiwi :o)} The two plants look a lot alike, or at least when small like they are now, so it was hard to tell them apart, but upon close examination I think I got it, and moved the Lemon Mint to a new tire. Today I found out {at my local plant land} that there are loads of different kinds of Thyme. I'm not sure which kind I got from Spaz and planted in my herb garden already, but today I bought a Spicey Orange Thyme {$2.99} which is now planted among the rest of the herbs. While I was working in the herb garden I heard a cough and looked up to see the neighbors sitting on their deck smoking. YIKES! I knew the deck looked into my yard, but didn't really realize just how uncomfortable this would be for me until this evening. I've been here for 15 years and never had a problem with it before, but the people that live there now use the deck far more than any of the people before them did. I must find a way to put up a barrier between us. There is already a big lilac bush which was always enough until now. Also, a few nights ago when getting ready for bed there was an orange glow outside my bedroom window. I looked out and there was a camp type fire in the that same neighbors yard and he was sitting by it... not anywhere near far enough from my window for my comfort. The new barrier has to be on both sides of that lilac tree.

Today I also bought bedding plants: Swiss Chard and Buttercrisp Lettuce {$.99 each pot, 4 plants per pot}, and some seeds: Cherry Tomatoes, Beef Steak Tomatoes {the smallest and the biggest}, Spinach {never knew there were so many kinds to choose from} and a lettuce mix. I am thinking about making a hanging basket of different lettuces and spinach, it would be very pretty and be handy for picking a few leaves of each to make a salad, though would need more watering than if I plant them in the ground, so this will be a consideration.

Yesterday I planted Kohl Rabi {white} in a pot and {purple} in an egg carton. I had bought these seeds before but never had gotten around to planting them, so hope they are still good. I also have seeds for peas and 2 kinds of beans that I hope are still good. I must prep a place to plant these really soon, somewhere that I can give them something to climb up.

Awhile ago I planted Pumpkin and Squash seeds in pots in the house. They are growing like weeds and getting quite large already. I'm soon going to have to move them into bigger pots or buckets as it's too early to plant them outside.

Numbers

I went back and edited all my posts to add a number to each picture so I can refer back to previous pictures as I add new, updated ones. In brackets I will put numbers of previous pictures to look back at.

#46 - Herb garden in progress. (#22)

Thyme On My Hands

Today I got my herb garden started. I had thyme, lavender, catnip and chocolate mint from a friends yard, there was also some other spindly thing that I think is an herb but not sure, it was in the box anyway, haha. I had planned to level this somewhat lumpy area of the yard, The Area Formerly Known as Lawn, but there were some tires I had to move first and they had dirt in them... very heavy and I couldn't quite move them. Then I was thinking about how chocolate mint spreads and can become invasive, so I wanted to do what I can to "corral" it. This is when I realized the tires have a purpose in my herb garden. I planted chocolate mint in one of them, and what I think is catnip in the other tire. The lavender and thyme as well as the other little spindly plant are planted near but not in the tires. The little hump they are on will add "texture" to the yard, much better than the flat look I had thought of previously. After planting the herbs I put aged rabbit manure around them all except for the chocolate mint as I filled up the tire with the manure instead of dirt. I like the "natural look" it has now, but know that in a short time that would become a "very over grown look" so I will be putting down a weed barrier (newspaper or cardboard or pet food bags) and covering that with rocks or shavings or whatever I can get my hands on for this work in progress.

#45 - All of these still have to be dug up and moved too. I planted all from the wheelbarrow along the driveway where I'd planted the ones I took in buckets. Not much more room now for more as I want to leave some room for them to expand as I know they will. I'll likely get a few more clumps in that area, then the rest along the ditch. I am saving some along the driveway for other plants I've been promised from 2 other friends gardens.

#44 - I moved some down a few days ago in buckets, now my wheelbarrow is full... and I've only dug up about 1/3 of them.

#43 - This is the flower bed at the front of my home, as you can see, along the sidewalk. Although there are a few Iris plants here, the majority is Day Lilies. These get so big in summertime that they hide the sidewalk and take up a lot of space. I decided I want them down along the driveway, and some along the steep bank down into the ditch along the highway. (#31)

Landscape Ties

Thanks to Freecycle and a man named Al, I now have 25 landscape ties. I went today with my truck and utility trailer and picked them up. Al was kind and helped me load them for which I am grateful. When I got home I parked the truck and trailer in the orchard and come to the house to rest for a bit before unloading the ties. As I was taking off my boots the phone started to ring, it was Dan and would I like help to unload the ties. Well of course! About 10 minutes later he was here and we unloaded them into the orchard and unhooked the trailer. I took the rest of the day "off" and rested my poor aching body, the most strenuous work for the rest of today was crocheting.

Dump Run #1

Well, this morning my friend came over with his compressor and blew up both tires on my utility trailer, soooo....

I made my first dump run {of my yard make over project/of 2006}. All went well, but it was a very big job to unload it all. The utility trailer has been sitting in the yard for about 1 1/2 years having garbage thrown into it. Last summer I did take some of it out and put it into the truck with a bunch of other "stuff" and took it to the dump, but lots of what was in it had been there for a long time. Uncovered, it got snowed on and rained on so all was very wet and heavy, so took longer and more work to get off the trailer than it otherwise would have. My body sure was happy when it was all done :o) I "never" leave home without my camera, so was dismayed when I realized today that it was sitting on its charger at home when I was out and about. I was going to take some pictures of unloading at the dump, but oh well, you all can imagine, lol.

When I got up to the scale and was weighed, the woman told me it would be $21 and coin... YIKES! When she saw my eyes go reeeaaaallllly big at that she asked if any of it had been wet and I told her, yes it all was wet. She was nice enough to knock it down to $9.00 for me... WHEW! For this I am totally grateful!! What did it weigh? 380Kg = 837.76 lbs!! This morning when Dan aired up the tires he said he'd read on them that the load should be maximum 500 lbs, so guess I was a little over loaded, haha... the trailer is insured for 700Kg = 1543.24 lbs including trailer and load, I don't know what the trailer weighs so I don't know how I was legally. But I'm home safe and sound, and that's all that counts in the end.

On the way home I stopped for a few groceries and ended up getting a good deal on 2 Hydrangea plants. I love these plants and for years I have wanted one, but never felt I could afford one. I still can't but it was a deal too good to pass up :o) Now to decide where is the best place to plant these two, they need part sun and my yard is mostly all sun, so I will have to figure out where they would get afternoon shade, hhmmmm. I've been wanting to find out if my soil is acid or alkaline, thinking I'd have to buy a soil test kit to find out as it is important for a lot of plants, now these plants will tell me, or at least if they are the "right variety". If the Hydrangea blooms pink it's alkaline conditions, if blue then acid.

#42 - Here's my truck, hooked up the the utility trailer and ready to go to the dump... well, except for the almost flat tires.

#41 - This is where Dan put the patio blocks down. I didn't show pictures of this area "before" because the utility trailer was parked right in tight to the junipers

#40 - After I posted "1st Progress Report" I went back outside and did some more work. I carried buckets of "compost" (mixture of rabbit manure, chicken manure and dirt from the floor of the chicken house, formerly the rabbitry) and covered up the big patch of newspapers at the lower end, and put planks and such along the edge... also added rocks into the walkways. Still lots more to do, but hey, it's a work in progress! (#1, #26)

#39 - Every so often I put a walkway so I can get in to work without stepping into the beds. The newspaper and cardboard are to slow/stop weeds and grass growing up there. Looks bad now but won't forever.

#38 - My flower bed... a work in progress

1st Progress Report

I've been getting a few things done so haven't had time to post here. My utility trailer is now licenced and insured for a year, so I can start hauling stuff to the dump. It is now hooked up to the truck, load tarped and tied down, all ready to go to the dump except that while the trailer has sat in the yard for about a year and a half, the tires have lost a lot of air. One is noticably low, the other even worse. My good friend Dan has a compressor and will bring it by tomorrow to air up the tires so I can hit the road. I would have been off to the dump today had the tires been okay, but will have to wait for the compressor now, not a big deal.

I recently went "shopping" in a friend's yard. I came home with 4 banana boxes of perennial plants, most flowers but also some herbs and Jerusalem Artichokes. As soon as I have a place prepared for strawberries I can go back and get 2 different kinds of strawberry plants. This is awesome and I am so grateful!

Along my driveway I dug up a bunch of ground, removing as many roots and such as possible. I also worked some aged rabbit manure into this area and put walkways in so I can get in to work the areas. I planted all the non-edible perennials mentioned above into this area and still have to prepare an herb garden and strawberry garden elsewhere in the yard.

Today when Dan was over and helped me hook up the utility trailer so I could pull it out and get it ready to go, he raked where it had been sitting and put some patio slabs down there. He had given me the slabs last fall, taken from his yard, and they hadn't yet been used here. Now they give a nice look along the spreading junipers, and give a place to put the trash cans. Dan also did some raking by the junipers as they go down the driveway, then I raked the driveway where I threw all the roots and weeds as I dug them out of the flower bed.

Happy Spring!!

Today is the first day of spring and was +12 degrees Celcius at my place. We had some sun and some clouds in turns. It was truely a beautiful day!

I spent part of my day working out in the yard. In the Area Formerly Known as Lawn, I pulled and dug up all the weeds and burdock plants, stacking them into piles to be disposed of as soon as possible. I then dug up several small lilac bushes from the base of the mother bush, being careful to keep the roots as intact as possible so I can plant them again in other places in my yard. I think I'll plant them along the highway side of the property, that will look nice when eventually there is a large hedge there. I still have more little lilacs to dig up and move, as well as dirt to move around and flatten out in this area, but it feels great to have gotten a good chunk of work done today.