18June2008
Posted by Bill under: outdoors; personal.
This post is really to test a new image/thumbnail routine I happened upon today: Highslide. It allows one to embed an image in small, thumbnail size that, when clicked on, expands to the full size of the image as an overlay to the page. Since I like to include at least one image in each my posts, I think this will be a nice addition.
So I am trying it out with an image I took of the house when I took a walk up to the vacant house above me last week. This is a shot through the woods. To try it, click on the 240×180 pixel image in this post and it will expand out to the full 1024×682 image. Click on that image, and it will revert to the smaller version.
13June2008
Posted by Bill under: outdoors.
I was on my way out onto the porch last evening to give Mary Ann a call and was startled to see two deer grazin in the upper yard by the swing! I immediately ran to get my camera and then tried to get angles on them - I even went up in the master bedroom and stood on a chair to try and get a good shot of the deer.
Eventually, they noticed me and took off up the hill. They didn’t eat that much. I still have to cut the grass!
13June2008
Posted by Bill under: outdoors.
Though the heat over the past week slowed down the grass growth, the seeds and plants I have planted are doing well. The hydrangea plant in front of the house now has nice, white blossoms and the wave petunies in the pots are growing like crazy. If anything, they are getting a bit long in plant and short in blossoms!
Still have not added more mulch to front area of house and I want to lay down the dirt so I can plant some grass to fill in the area and make it more presentable.
The morning glory and moon flower seeds are really yielding plants now, so I expect to have beautiful flowers covering the fence by July! I should have enough basil to supply all of Charlottesville and four of my five plants are really shooting up. I have already used some in chicken salad and some other dishes. Pepper plant, too, is growing, but I noticed last night that its leaves and some of the leaves on a few of the basil plants are getting eaten by bugs. Hopefully, my marigold flowers will blossom soon and chase the bugs away!
5June2008
Posted by Bill under: outdoors.
Last evening after I had laid the landscape cloth and six bags of mulch in the front on either side of stoop, had taken a shower and was settled into a drink and a book, it slowly got darker and darker outside (this is 7:30 PM) and then I noticed that the wind had picked up and the trees were blowing in the wind. Then, BOOM! it started to pour. As I walked from window to window, inspecting what was happening outside, I noticed that water was building up fast on the patio and walkway outside mudroom. The rain was REALLY come down!
Then, I saw some tree leaves kind of at eye level that I knew hadn’t been there before. Sure enough a tree - fortunately, a relatively small one! - had been pulled out of the ground in the area to the right of our lot, up towards the shed, and had fallen into the upper yard. All of this, of course, is on our neighbor’s land, but since the tree fell into the yard we use - and just missed falling directly on my rosemary bush and growing cucumber plants - I need to cut it loose and move it. Not what I was planning to do this evening!!
5June2008
Posted by Bill under: outdoors.
Getting the front of the house cleaned up finally! Put down some landscape fabric on both sides of the front stoop and covered it with mulch last evening before the storm hit. Looks much nicer and the cloth and mulch will, hopefully, prevent all those junky weeds from growing.
Need more mulch to total cover the area and level it out some and then we need to plant some things in the open area to the right of the hydrangea - which is showing some early blooms! - and on other side of stoop, between the stoop and the holy bush. Still need to get some top soil to cover the area in front of where I mulched out to the existing grass line so I can plant some rye grass now for quick growing (hopefully, heat won’t kill it off before it gets started!) and some good grass in the early fall to reestablish that area as part of the lawn. Moved the pots with petunias back a bit so they are on the mulched area…pictures once I get the mulch looking better.
The magnolia tree seems to think it is fall and is dropping lots of leaves, to the extent that I really need to re-rake the part of the area of yard under it. I noticed lots of bloom shoots (or whatever you call them) last week, but only had about two blooms (one in picture to the right) and last night when I looked up at the bloom, it was already browned out!
29May2008
Posted by Bill under: outdoors.
Read that I could cut back the mock orange bush after it was finished blossoming and since the blossoms have all pretty much wilted and dropped now, I decided to do this on Tuesday. As is often the case when I have clippers in my hand, I tend to get carried away and I found myself cutting, stepping back and thinking, "na, more can come off…!" Until, finally, I decided to stop when the bush was just above my height.
As I sat and had a drink on the porch after cleaning up for the evening, I began to regret that I had cut so much. But, I know that I can take solace in the fact that it WILL grow back….but, how long?!
29May2008
Posted by Bill under: outdoors.
Well, I finally had a chance - AND the energy - to cut down the second boxwood plant from the right front of the house last evening. I really hated to cut this one down as it did still have some good growth on it and probably would have survived and thrived. But, it didn’t make sense from a landscaping perspective.
I also cleared out the skunk plants, or whatever they’re called, that were popping up all over the place in front! Rounded up the other growth and it does seem, finally, to be taking effect. Next step is to really clean it out, lay down some landscape cloth, and cover it all with mulch from the house out to an even line with the bottom stoop step. Then I want to lay down some top soil and plant some rye grass - for now and hoping it is not too late, because I will do proper grass planting here and all around the yard in September so that we, hopefully, have all of the bare spots filled in around the whole yard in spring of ‘09.
As you can see from the bottom picture, though, we have a lot of planning - and work! - to do to figure out how to make the front of the house look better than it does now. The mulching and having grass growing will help, but, obviously, there is lots more we need to do. The Hydrangea bush on the left does blossom nicely and gives a green ‘fill’ when not in bloom and the holly bush on the right, likewise, provides a good cover, but otherwise that ole stoop just sits there and looks funny.
29May2008
Posted by Bill under: outdoors.
Man!! The seeds I planted just last week are already poking through the soil!!
First picture is of, I assume, morning glory seeds (as opposed to moon flower seeds) since I put several down together and spaced about 6-10" inches apart from the moon flower seeds, each of which I planted in singletons. Don’t see evidence of all of the seeds through the ground, but have to hope that they are on the way! Pretty cool! Once these all start to climb the fence between our property and our neighbors to the west, it should look great in the upper yard, not to mention how it will hide the ugly wire of the fence.
I was especially surprised to see cucumber plants emerge already, as you can see in the second image from top. I may have more cucumber plants coming up than I know what to do with! But, that’s okay as I love cucumbers. Maybe I will have to learn how to make pickles, eh?
Finally, my marigold plants are also springing up at the corners of my sandbox garden and long the back side. Mixed colors, but I plant them mainly to ward off evil pests who are reported to not like the distinctive smell given off by the little flowers. I wasn’t aware that marigolds ("Calendula officinalis") are annuals, so I will have to see if I can perserve them for next year.
29May2008
Posted by Bill under: outdoors.
I am pleased that my "bargain" (not really, as it turns out <g>) geranium plant is doing well. One new blossom is peeking through as it sits royally in its pot in the corner of the patio. I love the red of geraniums; they remind me of the beautiful window decorations we’ve seen on our recent trips to France and Italy. 
The red wave petunias I planted last week or week before last are also thriving! I added two white plants to each pot in front of the house from ones Mary Ann got at Home Depot last week and, even though they will undoubtedly be overpowered by the red plants, they will be a nice contrast to the bright red blossoms of the petunias.
22May2008
Posted by Bill under: outdoors.
Decided to leave the garden where it was last year, i.e., in the old sandbox in the middle of the upper yard. I want to move it, but really need to watch the sun this summer and see what my options are.
Went shopping for some herbs and vegetables - decided not to bother planting tomatoes this year as plants didn’t yield much last year at all and I really don’t even like tomatoes! Parsley plant (front right in garden picture) lived through the winter, so I simply cut it back some. Probably could cut it back even more. I had to buy my basil in a little pot of four (there was actually a small fifth plant amongst the others), so they’re planted on the left. Planted a pepper plant in back right and a German Thyme plant on right (behind parsley in the photo). No marigold plants in evidence at Lowe’s so I bought seeds at K-Mart and planted them along the back of the garden and in left and right corners in front. Wonder how long it will take for them to push through the dirt?
Mary Ann tells me that cuttings from Oregano and lemon thyme plants at home aren’t doing so well, so may have to find one other plant to fill in some space in my little garden.
Again, no cucumber plants anywhere I went, so I purchased seeds and planted them in same place where cucumbers did pretty well last year: next to the rosemary plant from last year that survived the winter and seems to be doing well.
