Thursday, March 30, 2017

Sunny Day

Jeff hasn't made much progress on the mulch.
Until today, it's rained most everyday and also last week Shasta got hurt. She hurt her back and started limping last week, and when Jeff took her to the vet, he was instructed to put her on bedrest for a week. Keeping a border collie on bedrest is not easy. They are working dogs...not couch potatoes. So Shasta and I spent the past week confined down in the basement in order to minimize the number of stairs she'd have to use.

Anyway, today she went back to the vet and is feeling better now. She gets to start exercising again.

We were treated to a nice sunny day today, so while Jeff was at the vet, Bailey and I went out and took pictures of our new flowers.
Bailey impatiently waiting for Daddy
If I had been thinking clearly, I would have gotten started sanding and staining the last wood we need to install in the master bathroom.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Free Tree Mulch

I'm impressed; we signed up with Chip Drop three days ago and we already have a delivery! It's possible we just got lucky, but I'm pleased we got a load so quickly. Of course, the rain is back and so it will sit in driveway until we get some clear patches of weather.
Much of this mulch will be laid down on the planting strip in order to kill the lawn and get it ready for flowers later this spring.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Red Dragon Update

Four years ago we planted an ornamental hazelnut tree, called Red Dragon (corylus avellana contorta) contorted filbert tree. At the time it was more of a twig, but here it is four years later.
The tree is pretty cool looking. I'll have to try to remember to gtake a picture after it leafs out.

The front yard still needs some cleanup, but it's been raining so much we haven't made it out yet. The soil is still quite saturated. There are still several ugly roses that Jeff plans to dig out and replace with something more attractive. (The roses are growing out from their root stock. The hybrids long since died.)

The wisteria has not woken up yet, but the bulbs are starting. I think the large shrub leafing out is an elderberry.
Last fall we also planted four cornus alba hessei shrubs in the front. They are just starting to look like they're getting buds. They were already dormant when we brought them home. We bought them because they turn purple in fall.

I think this year we'll put in a vegetable garden again. We're waiting on the Master Gardener's Incredible Edibles sale in May. In past years we always bought too many plants.  This year we'll try to pick up much fewer plants. We just don't have that much consistently sunny space in our yard.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Spring Planning

First off, most important, Happy Pi Day! Jeff is currently in the kitchen making some Pi Day creation, so if there's a picture later, I'll add it.

We found a website to sign up for free wood chips from tree removal companies, called Chip Drop. Last time we got free chips we called around to different companies, but this time we're going to try and see if this website works. I'm not sure how active this site is, but if it works we'll let you guys know. If we don't get anything in the next few weeks, I'll probably go back to calling around.

We especially want mulch to cover the front planting strip to kill the lawn in preparation for filling it with flowers.
The before photo of the planting strip
This year we've had record-breaking amounts of rain, so we still haven't been able to make headway on the chicken coop/garden shed project. We have most of the materials staged in our garage, but we'd like about a week of dry weather to put the structure up.
The shed/coop design we're planning to build (with different windows)
The crocus bulbs I planted last fall are starting to come up. I'm really looking forward to some sunny weather.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Front Planting Strip

With the world so scary right now, we decided we needed to make something beautiful in our lives. I decided to plant up the front parking strip with flowers so I had a bit of a shopping spree. I decided on a purple and orange color scheme. The perennials are coming this spring, the bulbs won't arrive until fall. But, for about $100, I figured it's worth a shot to make this bland piece of yard prettier.
Purple Sensation Ranunculus
Hot Summer Coneflower
Aggressively Forward Reblooming Tall Bearded Iris

Monday, March 6, 2017

Nursery Adventure

Today started out with snow, but it didn't stick. And, surprisingly, by the afternoon the day had turned sunny.  So, we finally made a long anticipated visit to One Green World in Portland. Primarily, we wanted to purchase kiwi vines to plant on our pergola.
We also picked up six different blueberry plants and one asparagus.
We got a variety. I'm going to list them here, mostly so we retain a list. LOL

Anna Female Hardy Kiwi
Ken's Red Hardy Kiwi
Male Hardy Kiwi

Purple Passion Asparagus

Aurora Blueberry Bush (late ripener)
Bluecrop Blueberry (mid-season ripener)
Chandler Blueberry (mid-season ripener)
Duke Blueberry (early ripener)
Earliblue Blueberry (early ripener)
Spartan Blueberry (early ripener)

After these plants start producing, we'll try and report back on how they do.