The Three H's

Boy oh boy, have we been have some hot, hazy, humid weather around her the last few days. Today was supposed to be a bit cooler so I decided to mow the lawn. B.I.G. mistake! It was so humid that I had to take breaks. Some thing I never have to do otherwise.

Done Rockin'

All the stone has been moved from our driveway & placed in the proper places. Now I have to pick up at least 10 bags of mulch. Once that mulch is down, I will share a picture!

A Little More Rock

Added another pile of stone to our driveway this afternoon! This time it is fieldstone! You may have noticed in pictures around here that we have an area near the middle of our front yard with three spirea, a maple tree, and two lilac bushes. This area is kind of kidney shaped & mulched. The mulch often ends up in the grass since the only thing keeping it in is black edging which is really intended to keep the grass from growing into an area. So, I decided to add a fieldstone around it to hold the mulch in that area and keep it from going through the lawnmower into the neighbor's house or car. Not that I have done that before...hehe...okay maybe once, but there was no damage.

Woohoo...

Got the rocks down in the area by the mailbox. It looks great!

This Rocks

Last spring when I redid the area by the mailbox, I had no idea what a mistake it would be to take out the stone & replace it with wood mulch. Rain water runs down the driveway and into that bed washing the mulch into the street. I would say about 3/4 of what was down there is gone. I will remove it & replace it with stone that matches what is in other areas of our yard. In other words, what was there to begin with! Doh!

I ordered the stone (1.5 tons) to replace the mulch and to add to what is in other parts of the yard, it has been delivered, and some will be moved into it's new home tomorrow.

to sore muscles...

Photographic Evidence

Here is some photographic evidence of our busy weekend.

As you might remember, over the winter our mailbox lost a battle with a snowplow so we purchased a new one. A new mailbox called for a fresh look. We had planned on doing this (minus the mailbox) for the last couple years, but never got around to it.

Before

After #1

After #2

Replacing the coral bells, three euonymus, and a bush that was somehow a mixture of spirea & weigelia are fountain grass surrounded by creeping phlox, coreopsis, coneflower, meadow sage, veronica and some sweet alyssum. The rock has been replaced with mulch.

Thank you again, Olivia, for moving all that rock to the back yard.

Shaping Up the Yard

The last couple days have been busy ones!!

Purchase:
mulch -- check
annuals for window boxes -- check
hanging baskets -- check

To Do:
put down mulch -- check
plant window boxes -- check
hang baskets -- check
put more sand under bricks to level sidewalk area -- check

I also began getting rid of some bushes in our front yard. I have hated those things since the day we moved in. I wanted to get rid of them, but Bob liked them so that took some convincing. That is until he realized he likes summer blooming things more than those things.

They had spread and grown so much that I had forgotten there were only three. I was thinking there were five of the large ones. One of them was massive. I also pulled out two other pine/evergreen bushes one was dead and the other was in an odd spot to leave. Once I get some muscle (Yoohoo -- Bob and Scott, Kevin, or Dale!) to dig out the roots from the three larger bushes, we will have a blank slate and begin planting some perennials. I can't wait!

Wow, I must have really hated those bushes. I cannot find a single picture of them unless they are covered with snow. My camera batteries are dead (again), but once they are charged, I take some pics.

Mission Accomplished

Don't you just love days that all the things you need to happen to accomplish something finally do? Bob left the truck home, the weather was beautiful, my grandma didn't have any appointments, the lawn mower we took in for a tune up was ready, and the dump was open. I was finally able to get the leaves, branches, and other yard waste out of our yard and to the dump. Some of it had been buried under the snow all these months. I won't tell you how gross some of that stuff was. I was also able to pick up our lawn mower.

I am looking forward to being able to mow for the first time this season. Our mower was at the repair shop so long I wasn't able to do the first mowing of the season. Since it had gotten so long we hired the company that does our fertilizing to do it this one time. They came Friday morning and would you believe it needs cutting again? Guess what I will be up to tomorrow if the rain holds off as it is looking like it will now.

Wow, That's Service

After our last big snow storm or maybe the one before that (there have been too many to keep them all straight), our mailbox had a fight with one of the plows and the snowplow won! It won big time. The post was broken off right to the ground. After the snow we were able to pack enough snow around it to keep it up right and functional for a week or so. The snow melted so I spent a little money for a temporary fix that worked until our Sunday papers were delivered. Adding their weight to the mail/paper boxes brought it crashing down as did the wind a few days later. I had had it with trying to keep the box propped up in the bucket of sand. So I put our mail on hold -- went several times a week to pick it up.

Knowing we don't really have the proper tools to install a new post & box system properly, I decided to try to locate a local company who could handle this job. One look in the Yellow Pages (how late 1900s of me..lol) lead me in the right direction. They have a website so I began my search for the perfect mailbox. It was pricey, but I didn't want any old mailbox in front of my house. Yes, I am a mailbox snob...LOL! I found this one (in matte black)...


After I seeing that one, I called to inquire about a the price for installation & about how long it would be until the install could happen. I was told the install would be $85 and would take 1-3 weeks for what we ordered to come in a be installed. That was acceptable to us so VERY late Sunday night (more like Monday morning) I ordered.

I was prepared to keep waiting & thought if I hadn't heard anything from them after two weeks I would call just to check on the status of the order. Well, that call will not have to be made. I got a call from the installer yesterday before noon. Barely 36 hours after I placed the order, I had a call and a time the installer would be out. He arrived yesterday afternoon about 2:30 and worked in the rain for a little over two hours. Not only did he install the new post/box in a new area, but also dug out the old cement with broken off post and filled that hole with the dirt from the new hole he dug. He took the old stuff along with him and left the area in good condition.

It will be so nice to be able to walk out to the mailbox tomorrow to pick up my mail rather than having to hop in the car & drive across town to pick it up. I don't envy those of you who have to go pick up mail.

Thank you "Mahvelous" Mailboxes!!

Thursday Thirteen #26

Our first 10 or so raspberries were ripe for picking yesterday! There are about twice as many ready today! There are SO many more that just aren't ready quite yet. For the next few weeks we will be in raspberry heaven. This is for those of you who want to plant a raspberry bush, but don't know how to take care of them. They really don't required as much work as you may think.

Thirteen Things About Raspberries

1. There are two categories of red raspberries. The common raspberry, which ripens in early to midsummer and the ever bearing raspberry. The ever bearing raspberry produces an early-summer crop on the old growth (previous season) and a fall crop on the new growth (current season).

2. Raspberries grow best in rich,well-drained soil.

3. Raspberries grow best in climates where the spring is lingering and slow to warm, but may succeed in warmer climates if the are grown in light shade.

4. A row or hill of raspberries will ordinarily produce good crops of fruit for 10 years or more, before they need to be replaced.

5. Raspberries should NOT be planted in where eggplants, peppers, potatoes or tomatoes have been grown within three years. They they are susceptible to disease associated with those plants. (Oops, the year we planted our raspberry bush it was right next to TWO tomato plants. It survived and is now too big to have anything else nearby.)

6. New plants should be planted in late fall or early spring and set into the soil 2 inches deeper than they were growing.

7. Newly planted summer bearing raspberries should be left alone for the first year to establish themselves. When buds begin to show the following spring, cut back to 3-5 canes per plant.

8. Raspberry plants should be fertilized in early spring with an all purpose 10-10-10 fertilizer.

9. Do NOT let raspberry plants dry out during flowering and fruiting.

10. In spring, shorten the canes to 3 feet and force the growth into lateral side branches along support wires. (I did not know this. It will make harvesting next year SO much easier.)

11. After a cane produces fruit it should be cut to the ground. The only exception is with the ever bearing raspberry. The second crop's canes should not be cut down as those will bear the next year's first crop of raspberries.

12. Never cut off the new canes which haven't produced yet, they will produce the next years crop. (I am guilty of this, but only it is the suckers that spout up where they shouldn't be. Bad canes...lol)

13. Raspberries are easily propagated by pinning the tip of the cane to the ground, where you want it to root. Once it is rooted, sever the new start from the parent plant. You can also propagate from the sucker growths which come up around the parent plant.

source: thegardenhelper.com

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All Spiffed Up

Before coming down with the bug Bob had, I worked on ridding our front yard and front entry of the winter mess. The spring/summer doormat I bought when we moved in seven years ago had seen better days so it had to be replaced.


I LOVE the replacement I found a couple months ago at Kohl's! The Welcome portion came along with the black mat which is heavy rubber. The other two inserts were purchased separately, and there are about 12 others. It will be nice to have one that is heavy enough that it won't blow across our porch big step (haha).

Next on the replacing list are the dingy doorbell & the knob on the screen door. I just noticed how horrible they look in this picture. Now to stop coming up with more work for myself...LOL!

Spring Sunlight

I love the spring sunlight that floods through our living room windows this time of year.

We are now having unseasonably warm weather. What is normal anymore? First we were much cooler and now much warmer. This is Wisconsin! Soon we could be shoveling snow again. Good thing about snow storms this time of year is the snow doesn't stick around long.

Tomorrow is going to be another lovely day, and I plan to do a miniature spring clean-up in the yard.

Hopefully, I will find some of my tulips beginning to look through the dirt! The leaves on the rhododendron aren't all curled up like they are when it is so cold. I noticed the leaves fully spread out today sunning themselves in the warm light. They aren't greening up yet, but sunning themselves is the first sign! Heck, I would even be happy to see those hostas that bug me coming up!