Re: [gardeners] a spring full of chores

M T (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Fri, 7 Mar 2003 15:06:14 -0800 (PST) 

Hi Margaret,

 4 of the shrubs are 4' leylands planted a little to far from the fence
line.
 2 lorupetalums (sp?) are planted too close to the hedge. Saw a friends
that are almost twice the size of what he expected them to grow to.
 The last shrub is a european fan palm. Going to move it to a more
protected location near the 'L' of the house.
 We plan on keeping the leylands about 8-9 feet tall and 3-4 feet wide.
I'll need to hand prune it 3 or 4 times a year. It's only 80 feet of
hedge, so it won't take but an hour or so. Hand pruning is one of the
few garden chores I really enjoy doing. Beats pulling weeds any day!

 I hated removing the deck but the wood was pretty rotted. The deck was
only raised about 6 inches off the ground.
 It was built in 3 foot squares, with the 3" boards running north/south
in one square, then east/west in the next. Made a nice checkerboard
effect. A lot of effort went into building it, but it's wood, so the 30
years it lasted wasn't too bad.
 The concrete base had imprints and lag bolts for the support boards
throughout it and it was too rough to use as a flat surface. The new 30
foot round patio only covers 2/3 of the footprint of the old deck.
 After breaking it up, I didn't want to have to look at it ever again!

 The new patio will be more like those expensive driveways in the
nicest parts of town. That's more the look I'm trying for.
 I'm hoping, when it's finished and has matured for a few years, to
enter the yard in an amateur competion, or maybe ask Southern Living if
they would consider a photo shoot.
 We have lots of pictures of before and during. If the 'after' looks as
good as I want, it will all be worth it. <VBG>

 We got a 3 year old, black lab mix last September. I originally wanted
another great dane, but only after the yard was finished!
 A coworker was giving up his dog for a number of reasons and brought
him to the pound. Lucky sheds like a trooper, but he's a perfect dog. I
was hoping someone else would adopt him, but his time was running out,
so we ended up with him.
 He's a keeper, just need to retrain him on what's off limits once the
yard is finished.
 We had a lot of stuff sitting in the patio 'footprint', then moved it
when we started with the crush and run. There is almost no storage
space in the yard.
 Everything will have a place when we're done, but for now I spend half
the time just moving stuff around, as I start another part of the
project before the last part is finished...
  There is a 10'x35' run on the far side of the house that will be
'his', but right now I have a bunch of junk stashed throughout it.
 Cleaning up after him and walking him takes some time from the
projects, but I couldn't see taking a chance on him get put down.

 His latest stunt was to come tearing around the pond and hooking his
hind leg on the 2.5 foot decorative fence we use to keep him out of it.
 $200 later he'll be fine. The stitches come out next week...

 The hot tub was a great deal. It's fine for 2, but a little tight for
3. It's more for aches and pains than parties. <VBG>
 Putting it in the wooden garden shed was an idea from dreaming over
pictures of other people's yards in Southern Living. I still have 2
glass doors at a friends house. They will open out on the backyard side
of the shed. 
 Using the shed for the hot tub and a few zone 9 plants took away what
little storage space was left. The good part was it forced me to throw
a lot of junk away!

 I'm a packrat from hell. Moving into a small house with a small yard
has forced me to get that habit under control (at least a little)
 I'm looking forward to next year when working in the yard means
grilling steaks and relaxing with a cold beer!

Stay warm
Matt



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