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March is here and I am gardening again

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:11 pm

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It felt soooooo good to be out back again and not once did I wonder what was going to happen to me this time.
I did hear the wind blow that large paper bag I put weeds and grass in for recycle collection over and noticed a little shutter went thru me, guess I will be 'gun shy' for a few days.

I cleared out some of the stuff that had been left sitting around my new potting shed. I put some special goodies in the shed. Will have to buy some shelves this evening I think.
Randy got most of the fence pieces out to the curb last night for pickup today, there are some left that will stay where they are until he moves them next Tuesday evening.

I did get the grass/weeds pulled up around the new shed to create a new bed. Not really a flower bed as such, it will be covered with mulch for now with only the Iris planted in it. I may come up with something else later. I have a small metal table and two chairs that used to be out front but will be just outside the opening of the shed where we can sit and enjoy evenings looking at the garden.





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Two more days until March

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:05 pm

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Yesterday was almost 80 for a high temp, today should be almost 80 and Wednesday should be in the mid to upper 70's ...way too hot for me to be out back in the afternoon. Even iffy during the late mornings since the tree limbs are still bare and the sun just shines right thru them leaving no shade.

I have been putting off buying the shelves I need for the new potting shed too. I know that once they are out there I will have an even harder time staying away from the yard until March.

And when my last two seed orders arrive, the call of the shed will be strong.
But thru all these temptations I only have to reach up and accidently scratch my healing injury to be reminded that it is still February and February hates me. And it appears February is not very fond of Randy either, he stepped on a nail Sunday afternoon while finishing up out there. Just a small puncture and thankfully he is current on his Tetanus vacination.

But March will be coming in like a lamb on Thursday with temps only in the 60's for about the first week of the month.

Trash day is tomorrow so this afternoon we must move all those fence boards to the front curb, we haven't been able to find suits of armour for that chore so wish us luck.

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Shed extreme makeover

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:23 am

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This is what the potting area looked like for the last couple of years. It started out as a nice area but the wheather really took it's toll on everything sitting outside. Plus when I tried to start seedlings last spring I had to contend with squirrels digging in the pots, birds dropping unwanted seeds, the rain we did get flooded everything. It really looked bad as you can see.



This is the last of the old fence panels, Randy took them apart. We were going to salvage the pickets but most of them split and fell apart in the process so they will all go to the curb on trash day.



The old metal shed that is so rusted in the first picture has been painted a dark gray color and when I find either a barn red or dark green, the door will be painted too.
The new potting shed is up. It is 7feet x 7 feet x 7feet and is a popup design. It has 8 screened 'windows' that can be opened for ventilation. I need to get some shelves for plants, the red cooler in front of me holds my potting soil so it will go in too, several other things will go in so the furnishing is not complete. But the important items are there, my chair, me and a glass of Chianti.




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Head update

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:21 pm

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It is still at the top of my neck.

The lump is only a little tender now, but does remind me it is there when I roll over onto my back in my sleep. But it is healing nicely.

We will be finishing the potting area re-do this afternoon and then I can get some pictures posted.

Thanks for the well wishes and other than helping Randy this afternoon I don't think I will be doing much of anything in the garden for the rest of this cursed month except getting some seeds potted up.



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A lot going on out in the garden

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 8:29 pm

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And I am not talking about plants growing or blooming.

Tuesday it was the sparrows. Yesterday it was the squirrels. Today it was the doves. Tomorrow will probably be the grackles.

My first thought was 'come on you all, get a room' then I realized who I would be talking to...animals doing what comes naturally...so I just averted my eyes so as not to embarrass them.

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To the gate and in full bloom

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:57 pm

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I spent three hours working on the future birthmonth flower garden/Lantana bed. I had started it two weeks ago today, then took that fall and today was the first time I could really do anything out there. I may pay for it tomorrow but what the heck, I had fun today.

I still need to finish pulling out the grass/weeds you see at the bottom and right of the picture and there is a bit more just outside the picture to do also.
From the clump of dead Redbud stumps to the gate will be covered with black plastic and mulch then I can cut slits for planting the three Lantana I need to move. I have one bush type and two spreading type that just aren't working in the main garden but will be great over there.


I knew Rosemary was an evergreen but I didn't realize it would stay covered in blue blossoms year round too. The bees are having a feast on it too.






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Just whose yard is it anyway????

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:56 pm

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Usually I can block out the traffic noise only a block away and the noise of the airplanes coming in for a landing a few miles south of us. I listen for the train horns in the distance (I love the sound of train horns). Sometimes I can hear the kids on the playground at the elementary school Amanda attended many years ago, that's about 5 blocks away. And early mornings from August thru October, I can hear the high school band practicing their routines for that weeks football game. Both Lisa and Amanda attended that school (20 years apart), Lisa was in the band and Amanda was in orchestra.

Mainly I listen to the birds. A few of our neighbors have parakeets and on pretty days they hang their cages outside during the day and I hear them singing.
Many years ago a neighbor across the alley raised doves, he either died and his kids didn't want them or he moved and couldn't take them with him....so they were set free and have since 'been fruitful and multiplied'....but I enjoy their cooing sound.

Then there are the bosses of the yard....funny, I always figured it was my garden so I was in charge....silly me. There is one big black Grackle who will sit on a lower branch than the others saying the same thing over and over again......"The feeder is empty, the feeder is empty, the feeder is empty" As soon as I realize what he is saying and fill the feeder he gets quiet. When the feeder is filled and I am too close to it there is another, grouchier Grackle who squacks at me until I either move further away or turn my back on it, at which point he too gets quiet.

So as long as I remember my first priority is feeding them, then I must stay a respectful distance from them or at the very least turn my back on them, I am allowed to enjoy my backyard. Does anyone have a good recipe for Grackle??

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I am going to hurt in the morning

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:30 am

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Already do but it will only be worse by morning. But I had a good time getting into this condition at least to begin with. Temp just reached 70 this afternoon and I was outside to greet it. Got out about 10 and put my tools up for the day around 4.

I transplanted two Lavenders from pots into the ground, lost one in the last freeze I am afraid so I will have to replace it.
Also transplanted two Bronze Fennel and a Rue from pots into the ground. One Rue into a larger pot and left the other two Rue in their already pretty large pots. I have read that Rue will keep cats out of the garden so I plan on having them strategically placed to hopefully save some birds this year.

Dug up a group of Canna to give to Lisa. Then started clearing out where the wishing well/birth month flower bed will be. About half done, I want the finished bed to be 12 feet in diameter. Still have to take down the rest of the dead Redbud we started on last fall.


The not so fun part of getting this sore was falling. Randy and I had done some tree limb trimming and were taking them out to the curb for trash pickup tomorrow when my feet got tangled in the limbs I was carrying and down I went. I figure in the morning I will be sore in places I didn't remember having.

I have now had my shower and am comfy in my pjs about to begin studying the Johnny's Seeds catalog that came today.

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Thrift Store find with a story

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 4:47 pm

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The only Mel Brooks movie that Randy and I both enjoy is Young Frankenstein and there are a couple of lines in that movie that I love and giggle at every time I hear or think them. I also love the line from Gene Hackman...."an incredibly large mute" and "damn your eyes" line from Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman's response of "Too late". Oh, let's face it I like it all.

Several years ago I found a pair of wall sconces at a garage sale. I really had no idea where to put them but something told me they would be needed someday. Fast forward to 2005 when the re-construction was completed on this room and we were building the 'incredibly large' bookcase together....for some unknown reason the bookcase in that movie came to mind and the line....."Put the candle back" that Terri Garr's character said when trapped behind the bookcase came to mind also. We had the sconces and the movie therefore 'it would work'. Randy recorded that line on a tiny battery powered recorder, put it in one of the sconces and mounted them on either end of the bookcase.

Right end of bookcase


Eight feet away from the first one is the candle sconce on the left end of the bookcase. When the candle is lifted out of the sconce you hear Terri Garr's voice saying "Put ze candle back"


These door knockers (two of yesterdays finds) will be attached to the front door after they and the door have been repainted. If you have seen the movie, you will come up with the appropriate lines from the movie to go with these....if you haven't, you really should it is a funny movie.





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Well that wasn't part of my plan

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:56 pm

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aka it isn't pointy anymore
aka just to protect the baby plant

This hollyhock came up outside what I refer to as my first bed a couple of years ago. It survived the summer of 2005, 2006 it not only survived it was covered with cute little purple and white striped blooms. It even survived the freeze and snow we had in November.I was out there today cleaning up debris and stuff. Cutting back things that had recently started their hibernation or just died and noticed that this hollyhock was putting out new green.


I figured such perserverance deserved to be honored so I expanded the bed to include it. Then while I was at it I took the expansion all the way around the curved end of the bed, it used to come to a pointy end but now it is a more gently curve.




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