A day in the yard..

Living where we do has a lot of perks, it’s private, usually quiet and there is a lot of wildlife around.  We are free from any homeowners association (which I will NEVER be a part of again!) and we are surrounded by trees so we typically don’t feel the blazing heat that people in concreted areas do.  Plus leaves and sticks well they make great mulch.

There are some downsides though, the wildlife can be destructive, all those trees drop a lot of leaves, cast a lot of shade and drop a ton of sticks.

It was a beautiful day and so I decided to forego inside stuff and move to some outside stuff.  What should I tackle first?  Ah, I know…

My very neglected area around the gazebo and pond, the sticks, the leaves, the weeds, oh my!  I needed a plan and so I started by collecting all the sticks and hauling them off to the stick pile.  Then I raked leaves, and raked leaves, and raked some more leaves.  When I started it looked like this.

When I finished it looked like this.

I ended up with 2 large and 1 huge pile of leaves that will need to be removed.  I also decided that I’m going to spend a lot of time over here this year.  I’ve got a lot of weeding to do and I want to concentrate on making this area heavily planted and easier to maintain.  The leaves are a blessing and a curse, they make great mulch but the problem is they encourage ticks.  Woodchips and shredded mulch ticks don’t like so I’m thinking of getting mulch for closer to the pond and using the woodchips in the ‘woods’.  It should also make leaf removal a little easier.

I found some things that made me very happy while I was over here.

I have been nursing this holly along for years!  It started out as a 2 leaf sprig and I have taking care of it and hoping it would grow. I was so happy to see how much it had grown!  I love hollies and would love to have more evergreens in our wooded areas, there is very little cover for the birds in the early spring and winter. 

My mom gave me this lungwort and I didn’t think any of it had survived so I was delighted to see this little clump blooming away.

My helpers had a great time outside, but Cooper decided that the shade cast by the gazebo was the place to be!

My final project before coming in was a temporary fix to a problem that I’m blaming Tucker for, as prior to him, Cooper never did this!

Tucker feels why walk around the outside when you can cut through the middle and better yet, why go into the grass to pee when you can pee right here.  So I put up some fence and put some stakes in the ground when I ran out of fence in hopes it will deter him until the water Scarecrow arrives.  Yes I’m setting up a motion activated water sprayer to spay my dog.  He is trampling plants that it has taken me years to grow and he does it out of sheer laziness I think.  Hopefully he will only have to get wet a few times before he gets the hint, the flower bed is off limits to big feet!

Finding fall finally???

Welcome to the bone dry and hot edition!  This has been one of those summers that for the most part I could have spent somewhere else, a place where it’s a nice 85 with low humidity and occasional rain to keep things happy and growing.  I don’t water plants, the trees we had planted yes, but plants, not so much because the entire point behind planting drought tolerant plants is that you aren’t supposed to need to water them!  I have established plants that are wilted and looking right awful, we are at day 18 without rain, hopefully we will get some relief from the heat and the lack of rain soon!  The leaves have already started to fall, not only that but we’ve already used the cyclone rake once and the pond net isn’t even up yet!  The trees are screaming fall but the temperatures continue to say summer.

Tucker and Cooper continue to be a very big source of amusement in our lives.  Tucker is growing like a weed and at 6 months was just shy of 70 pounds!

This is the day after puppy first grade, apparently all the learning just exhausts him!  He continues to want to be Cooper’s best buddy in the world and while he likes being close to Cooper, Cooper isn’t so sure about that.

As you see they have a very stress filled life here at Logs End.

Things have been pretty quiet this summer, which is great considering it has been too hot to really ‘do’ anything outside or go anywhere with the dogs.  Hopefully with cooler weather we will get some more time outside.  I know Randy is looking forward to making a leaf pile for the dogs, he may be able to do that sooner than he knows!

Till then Cooper is ready to go!

It was rough, but worth it!

Dog tired!  This is the end result of a several hours of play and exploration!  These two pretty much went nonstop with the running, digging and all out goofing.  Tucker got so tired that he went up and flopped down on the deck to sleep, he was done!  Wonder if he’ll ever be able to keep up with Cooper???

Yesterday I mentioned how great the azaleas looked but you couldn’t really see them in that picture.  Well here there are in the freshly weeded and cleared area.  I’m hoping that this fall, we can shred the leaves and spread them in all these areas to keep the weeds down, it really makes a difference.

We moved toward the old bee area and all this area was overrun with Japanese stilt grass, barberry, bittersweet and these really stinky weedy trees.

My fern patch is filling in, I love this area so much.  I’ll have to get in there and weed it but the more they grow the happier I am.  It’s just the most lovely, spot it just looks like a ‘forest’ floor should to me.

Everywhere you see ground was covered with Japanese stilt grass, Randy must have carted four or five loads of it away!  That stuff is just horrible, each piece makes hundreds of seeds and they stay in the soil for up to 7 years.  How will I ever get rid of it!

Under all the stilt grass there were some plants.  A couple of different coneflowers and some Joe Pye weed. 

This area still needs some tending but it looks to have several different plants in there; milkweeds, catmints and some things that I won’t know names for till they bloom.

Randy worked on cleaning up the area behind and while I don’t like the fact that he did mow over native Jack in the Pulpits, Mayflowers and some viburnums in his quest to clear, the end result is better.  He pulled out some many thorny things that his arms look like he was attacked by cats!

 If I could get just one full day every weekend out of Randy like the last two, we could have this yard whipped into shape fast!  It makes such a difference having him help, even if he does murder plants that I’d like to save sometimes.  I’ve always wondered how people that have those picture perfect gardens do it.  I know now, they have muscle to help!

Hounds & Hosta..

I can’t believe that it is almost June.  Things are growing so fast and I’m not just talking about the plants either!  When we brought Tucker home he was only 15 pounds, at last check in he was almost 23 pounds!

It is amazing how fast they grow and it makes life a little challenging when he isn’t keen on going down the porch steps to go out, my arms are getting some serious workouts.  We introduced him to his crate and it’s going remarkably well.  Except…

Ally is pretty sure that she is supposed to be in there!  It’s funny when she goes in because he will stand outside and bark at her, he will not set a foot in there at all.  Today we had him outside with us while we were doing yard work and he decided he’d had enough.  Randy said he walked around the house and up onto the porch.  He opened the door and he said Tucker went right to his crate and flopped down.  He stayed in there for about an hour and a half sleeping while we kept working.  It’s the first time we’ve ever had a puppy that liked his crate!
Cooper loves Tucker, I’ll admit I’m a little jealous!

He is so good with him and except for the occasional need to tell Cooper easy, they play so well together.  I look forward to Tucker being a little bigger and being able to run and play a little harder with Cooper.

They do a lot of mouth play which to some would seem scary, but it’s just a dog thing.  Dakota and Zoe did the same thing when they were puppies together.  Caught in the act though the look they gave me was priceless..


The house is scattered with dog toys and is pretty much a disaster zone, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!  Seeing them play together, having them both cuddled next to me on the sofa is just the best thing in the world.  Plus they are so stinking cute you can’t help but smile! <3
Needless to say the outside chores have fallen to the wayside.  So spending some time outside this weekend was pretty nice.  I got a lot of jewel weed pulled out of the bed at the deck.  What I love though is looking down and seeing hosta, real honest to goodness hosta, with leaves!

That one in the right corner is huge, I’m talking giant and it’s so cool to see!  I didn’t even know I had a hosta that big!

We spread the mulch that was left in the driveway today, some made it to this bed but I’ll need more to finish it off.  Randy decided he wanted to plant something in this bed.

I’ve had this Golden Shadows Pagoda Dogwood for several years, growing in this pot.  I couldn’t plant it because the deer ate it to nothing but sticks.  So I kept it on the deck where they couldn’t get to it.  Now that the fence is in place it’s time for it to find a home and he chose the spot between the two decks.  It doesn’t get much more than 8’ tall and the spread is minimal, so this will be a great spot for it. 

Sweet dreams…

Weekend workings..

 

…what you should do is move everything from the front yard to the back…

That little voice that gets me into big trouble is at it again. Each time I go out front to do anything I see all the plants that are on these islands that are here and there and I think, you know, I’d really love to get rid of most of these islands…

Friday I worked on moving more hosta to the back, I have since found more that have to be relocated, as well as a few other plants. 

This is how things were shaping up on Friday.  Hosta and ragwort had been placed along my log edging. I can see it in my mind with the hosta growing large and proud gracefully draping over the edge, the ragwort filling in and blooming with it pretty little daisy like flowers….

Sorry, I got day dreamy there for a second, my mom gave me a tray of iris plants and I got those planted on Friday.  I have no idea what color they will be, but I like happy surprises like that.  This area by the pond is starting to fill in very nicely I like seeing plants spreading on their own.

Saturday it was raw, cloudy and it was supposed to rain and so I didn’t go out.  Of course the rain didn’t come till Saturday night, so basically I lost a day and had to attempt to make up for lost time on Sunday.  As soon as it hit 40 I was in my layers and out the door.

The collecting of limbs and logs from inside the fence was priority number one for me.  I’ve been scanning the woods and see plenty that I can go and collect that are outside the fence line. I need a power cart!  When Randy made it outside he went to work on grinding sticks and bringing the chips over to spread along the path. (It might take years to cover the paths, but it isn’t like we are going to run out of sticks) 

I moved the rocks from the path edge to use where I have flowers planted in the woods.  They get bumped with the cart too much to leave them close to where it rolls but in side the planting areas they will be safe.  I’m still contemplating what to do with the leaves.  (Leave them or use my shredder to shred and then re-spread)

In an attempt to follow the plan we had drawn up (at least a little) last year, the path is supposed to fork off and give access to the yard again.  So here is that in the works, I’ve got some scrub shrubs to take down on the right hand side.  I’m however in no rush to take away all the perch and hide places for the birds, since the feeders are right there on the left.  Once I get a couple of evergreens over there, I’ll be more inclined to cut down the weedy stuff.

This is just one of those things that makes me smile.  The deer eat these and leave nothing, so seeing them as real plants and knowing that I might get to see blooms is very encouraging. 

Cooper worked harder than anyone out there today..

                  I think that’s what dog tired looks like….

Sunday happenings..

Last week was one of those weeks, the kind that you just want to put behind you.  The loss of Zoe while not sudden was still hard and we both have had moments where we were looking for her.  It’s such an adjustment to your life when you lose a pet that’s been a part of it for so long.  Cooper went for his neuter and pexy on Friday.  I was a wreck, so today it was wonderful to see him back to his amazing self.  He and I spent a lot of time together sitting in the sun and enjoying the day.

When Cooper tired of sleeping outside, he went in with Randy who was doing this and that inside.  I however did not want to go in and so I worked on clearing out the flower beds around the pond.

I’m never alone when I’m over there, this bullfrog kept a close eye on me while I cleaned around him.  I also found several wood frogs and even a beautiful little ring neck snake that I couldn’t resist holding for a while. I love seeing all the wildlife in my yard, it’s nice to know that I provide a little piece of sanctuary for them.

The pond is a mess!  Even though we put a net up to keep leaves out, some still got in and I’ve got string algae and muck galore.  I did the spring treatments today and I’m betting vacuuming the pond bottom will be in order soon.

I discovered a lungwort blooming out from under the leaves that I planted last year.  It was a happy surprise because I didn’t think it had survived.

I need mulch for the beds around the pond, before all these plants get full size.  I also need some filed stone to finish the edges, so the frogs have more basking spots.

As a gardener you dream about how things are going to look.  Sometimes it works out great, you get to watch your ‘vision’ come alive.  Sometimes Mother Nature laughs at you and says not so fast, I’ve got plans of my own!  When we put in the stream for the pond I knew I wanted it to have plants tumbling all over the rocks.  I wanted it to look like it was nestled among ferns and hosta, with moss growing happily on the rocks.  For years the deer have prevented a lot of that from happening, but since fencing in the back yard things are now growing nicely.  This sedum is spreading all along the stream edge and it’s filling in all those bare spots, growing in between the rocks.  So even if it’s just a little glimpse of how it could be, it’s enough to keep me gardening!

Have a great week!

This, that and the other…

Where did the summer and fall go?  It seems like just yesterday I was outside with Cooper, cleaning out flower beds and watching honey bees pollinate the blooms all around me.  The deer fence is such a blessing I saw things grow and bloom that I didn’t even know I had!

On the subject of honey bees, they are all gone.  We went into late summer and early fall with two thriving hives but, over the fall they just dwindled and dwindled until the hives were empty, I don’t know why and I’m done attempting to figure it out.  I’ll be selling off all the Langstroth equipment as if I ever do keep honey bees again it will never be in those boxes!

We didn’t come close to getting everything in the yard done that we wanted to.  I’m now ready for the snow to blanket everything so that I can stop thinking about all of it for a while. We got a brief taste of winter this past week with a little snow falling and covering things.  For me snow brings instant peace of mine, no longer do I see all that needs to be done, just a lovely clean slate waiting for dreams to be planted.

 

Zoe celebrated her 13th birthday in November!  She is doing really good and while she can’t get around like she could in her youth, she still tries.

Cooper continues to grow but he is still very much a gawky puppy who only knows what his feet are doing fifty percent of the time.  He doesn’t understand why Zoe doesn’t want to play with him.

For now, we are just getting ready for Christmas and spending some time with family and friends.  Maybe into the new year, we will get going on some new projects, at least I hope so!!!