Plans paid for and otherwise…

 

In 2014 while we were finishing up the deer fence, we had an official garden plan drawn up.  The plan shows existing trees, the pond, the gazebo etc.  It is a good representation of the bones of the garden and where it could eventually go.  The plan wasn’t cheap and to be honest we had high hopes that it would lay out what to do with the plants we had and what plants to add to complete the garden.  We didn’t think it would be an over night process more like several years and that was okay.

 When we got the plan we realized there were some issues, for starters she hadn’t included any of the plants that were already here.  The plantings while lovely on paper for the most part weren’t correct for our growing conditions.  When we asked we were told she would get back to us, she never did.

Now here I am some 3 years later doing my best to design with the plants that I have around the bones that were on the plan.  I’ve taken an inventory of my plants, I researched their growing conditions and the best times to transplant.  I’ve also been devouring plant combination pins on Pinterest as well as suggestions for additions to the gardens.

The thing is, planning a garden this way involves a lot of thinking.  Over the years I’ve basically just plunked down plants where the growing conditions were close to what they needed.  I’ve occasionally tried to put color combinations together, but I’ve never worried about texture or varying heights.  What my eyes didn’t see in my 20’s they now see very clearly in my 40’s.  I need evergreens for height, winter interest and for the birds to take shelter in from hawks.   I need shrubs that will add color and focal points and I need texture in the form of grasses and different types of leaves.  I see it clearly now and the work that is ahead.

For me gardening is the best stress release there is.  I get pleasure from working outside till I can barely walk, being covered in dirt and knowing that when my head hits the pillow I’ll fall asleep. 

Even if it is to dream about garden plans…

Clean pond and a garden makeover

It’s raining today, we are supposed to get an inch or more.  That’s a good thing if it comes down slow and steady and the ground has a chance to absorb, not so much if it pours and causes flooding, especially around my freshly cleaned pond.

Last weekend we set out on the task of finally getting the rock and sludge out of the pond.  Maintenance should be much easier now and if anything makes it to the bottom we should be able to just scoop it out.  I think though…I want more fish as I only have 8.  There were also 2 bullfrogs and one Pickerel frog 12 huge snails and about 5 bullfrog tadpoles.  I haven’t seen or heard the frogs since we put them back in the pond, hope they didn’t leave.

In other news, I’ve made a garden changing decision, I’ve decided to move all my perennials onto one side of the yard.  I’m going to concentrate everything into the area from the left side of the gazebo down to the area where (hopefully) my garden shed is going. 

All the beds that the perennials come out of will get low maintenance shrubs or small evergreens something easy to weed and mulch around.  For me having everything spread all over the property is to much for me to handle alone.

So I started my design process by going around the yard and taking pictures and making notes in my garden book about what I wanted to do in that area.  I got to work the next day, because a garden waits for no one!

The first thing I did was move logs that Randy had cut into sections for me to give him a solid mow line between what is a jungle but will one day be a mostly sunny flower garden and home to my garden shed. (I’m sure if I say it enough it will come true!)

Next up was moving filed stone to start a break between the grass and where I want to create a new planting area.  The grass has never done well over here and it’s very hard to mow. The cardboard is just the start to suffocating weeds and grass clumps.  I’ll add more cardboard and will be pulling some leaves that are already decomposing on the other side of the yard to pile on top.  I’ll also get some topsoil and compost of some kind to add in.  While it percolates to planting perfection,  I’ve got plenty more to do.

Like protecting plants from big feet.

I added fieldstone from the ‘stone steps’ around the back and along the side of the large hosta.  I wanted to leave an area for bog maintenance, but to designate the rest as a no walk zone for big feet of the four and two variety.  I’ll put something down like gravel or wood chips suppress the weeds and stop erosion.

On the other end I did the same thing blocked off the flower bed ara and opened a spot in the path to allow access to the filter.  The big feet crew like to take shortcuts through flower beds and I’m hoping that this will at least lessen that, fingers crossed.

I know this is going to take a lot of work, I just think in the end it will be easier for me to take care of.   So for now it’s one section at a time.

Misty morning musings..

It’s a misty foggy morning here, so while the laundry tumbles and I wait for the sun to shine, I’m taking a moment to have a cup of coffee and reflect on my garden plans, schemes and dreams. 

All our property has massive potential I mean really 5 acres is nothing to laugh at these days.  We however aren’t going to be cutting down all the trees on the property and the overgrowth of weeds on the outside of the fence would require a herd of goats and men to clean it all up.  Then there is the whole up keep thing, I can only do so much on my own and my husband, well he just isn’t into gardening.

I don’t know if it’s a gardener/non-gardener thing or man/woman but where I see possibility I think he just sees, leaves, weeds, work, rocks, mud, etc. etc.  For example there is an area off to the side of our shed, that spot had some dead stumps in it. Now he saw something to haul off into the woods where I saw something that if surrounded by ferns and other woody plants would look interesting.

This is year 2, I started with just a few ferns, a couple of hosta and a bleeding heart.  The leaves need to be mulched, the weeds pulled but it is starting to look like what I ‘saw’ when I looked at those stumps. Something old and ancient surrounded by fern fronds, something that spoke of the trees that use to be.  Maybe this area needs a fairy too…

The former home of the beehvies is a hot mess of weeds and violets.  There are a handful of plants that I want to save, waiting to be transplanted but what to do with the area?  My ultimate dream is a garden shed of my very own.  A place to pot up plants, a place to store my tools, my pots, my dirt, my pond supplies.  A place that has windows and light and is quirky and maybe even cute.  Maybe something in this style…

A little paint, maybe stone around the bottom, something that reflects my eclectic nature and it could be perfect.  It could sit right at the end of this ‘path of leaves’, nestled there like a magical cottage that has always been.  Maybe the area in front becomes a well tended herb garden, with boxes and rows or maybe I transplant the hydrangeas here and let them fill in the area with their giant blooms. 

I can see it with a little field stone patio in front, a comfy chair to sit in after a long day of gardening?

Here’s another one for you, I’ve said for years (and years) that we needed a path through the grass.  Our backyard is sloped and adding a path at the sort of flat point seemed like a good idea.  Now my idea for the path are big pieces of irregular slate or some other flat stone sunk low enough to mow over.  Something like this..

Now tell me wouldn’t that look perfect right through there..

Guess who made this path, not me, Cooper and Tucker! This path could lead from the deck stairs around to the back door and heck we could go crazy and run it right to my little garden shed, or to the pond or the gazebo even!  With the stones in the ground there is nothing to worry about, the grass would fill in between and maybe the mud would even be subdued.

I pinned this one a long time ago to my gardening board. 

This is my dream vision for my backyard gardening area, a meandering path that takes you to different places to sit and relax, or maybe see a quirky sign or a magical fairy.  Granted I haven’t got nearly enough plants (yet) for things to be this dense but the path with the plants off to the sides, I knew this was what I wanted.

It’s not there yet, but it’s getting there plant by plant.  I trust my crazy ideas and I love seeing my dreams and visions come to fruition.  They may not always be clear to others, they may seem like a mess or jumble, but the idea is there.  It just takes time, work and dedication to get from the glimmer of a dream in my head, to something you can walk and admire….

A break in the rains..

Last weekend Randy worked very hard to get the gazebo roof completed.  It’s been a long time coming but I love how it turned out.  We pressure washed it to get it ready for some quality sitting time this summer. 

I didn’t get a lot of time outside this week the rains came and hung around making it to wet to weed or plant.  The one day I did get out though, I worked all around the pond area trying to get the work done before the plants exploded in growth, I barely made it!  I did however manage to get the topsoil, leaf grow mix added to the pond walls and leveled out the stones.  I also managed to get the weeds out and the mulch down.  I still need to attach the stones but that’s another day when it’s dry out.

Today with a break in the rain we moved quick tackling a bunch of little things; moving some outdoor furniture, spreading mole repellent, cleaning out under the deck, mowing the front lawn, moving a massive pile of pots to the front for recycling, spreading some pine straw under the azaleas in the back and installing the water canon in the back flower bed.

Several years ago I bought some metal frogs that were brightly painted and I wanted to mount them to the gazebo.  I asked Randy to drill holes in them and he eventually did but they hadn’t gotten mounted.  Today he mounted them only the way he did it is leaving me with a really gruesome feeling.

Those nails were not quite what I had in mind and while he doesn’t understand, it’s freaking me out.  I wanted a smaller nail, much smaller that I could put a dot of paint on so the frogs would just look like they were hanging, not like they’d been, nailed.  Yeah, we gotta do something about that.

In other and much less gruesome news, the azaleas that were planted to hide the heat pumps are doing very well, even though the deer ate them last fall when they broke in to the backyard.  They don’t all bloom at the same time which is not really a bad thing, because it means lots of flowers at different times, but I bet they would be amazing blooming all together.  I  guess I need those guys that do Amen corner to come take care of mine!

Speaking of blooms, I’ve been waiting years to see this bloom,

It’s been eating by deer, mowed over multiple times and now transplanted to a safe spot behind a crepe myrtle.  Maybe one day it will even manage to climb into the crepe myrtle but for now, I’m so happy to see all these beautiful flowers!

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!

Plants and Gates

I finally got around to removing the ferns from around the fire pit and relocating them to the woods near the shed. (Yes the dog pool is down in the fire pit, it’s a perfect spot for it!)


They look really ragged but hopefully they will survive and come back and be lovely next year.  My goal is to make this, look like this;

Which is just a gift of nature.
The fire pit took some pondering and I decided on something that I’ve not had much luck growing because it needs dry and sun, something that isn’t in surplus here.

Lavender!  I mixed in some Silver mound Artemisia for a texture and color contrast.  I sure hope they thrive and fill in, I love lavender and this is a dwarf variety that won’t get so big Randy complains.  While we were working on planting them, the bumblebees were all over them I can just imagine sitting there, smelling the lavender and listening to them buzz.

Two weeks ago we had Nick, from Acer Landscaping come out and fix the fieldstone walls for us and they did a fantastic job!

Today was a big day, today we put up one of the two sets of gates!!!  We still need to attach the fence to it, but the gates are up!

Yes they are stepped on purpose, the yard is incredibly uneven.  We will work on finishing that up this week and hopefully building the other set and installing next week.
That’s all for now, have a great week!