Fighting the weeds

It seems like it was snowing last weekend. And this weekend I am fighting weeds. The weeds are taking over everything! Thank God for Round Up!

I spent enough of my childhood pulling weeds. I do t want to be doing it as an adult. So I am happy to pay for Roundup.

Flower Bed

In May, I planted over 100 flowers in the flower beds. Later, I went out of town for five weeks. I wasn't too worried about the flowers because they are irrigated.

When I returned home I found the flowers had been over taken by weeds worse than any other year!

I cleaned the weeds out and unfortunately, there isn't much left.

Part of the problem is that some of the flowers were purchased at Walmart late in the season, and those flowers didn't survive. Flowers from a local green house did better, however, the weeds took a hard toll.

It is disappointing to see the poor results of all of the expense and work. 

New Mail Box

Every winter the snow plows like to take target practice on my mail box. As a result, my mail box is a horrible rusted and dented broken mess. It is so bad that the post office left me a letter suggesting I consider getting a new one.

A new one? What for? The snow plow if just going to knock it down again this winter!

I decided to comply. Today I put up the new mail box.

2015 Flower Garden

2015 Flower Garden

The flowers are planted! First, I had to refill the garden with miracle grow dirt.

Then I leveled the dirt off.

Next, my family formed a planting crew

Planting involves cutting the plant out of the plastic holder, dipping the roots into a pale that contains water and miracle grow, planting it in a whole, they pressing the dirt around the roots to make sure air can't get to the roots. Each family member had a different task in that process.

We planted 140 flowers between the front beds and the back yard beds.

The first year, we planted 195 flowers, which were far too many. Last year, we did just 180, again, too many. This time I cut it back to 140 while in search for the right number of flowers. I believe next year I will try 114. Perhaps 14 for the back yard, 50 for the curve, and 50 in front of the porch. 

This year I added 8 cubic feet of additional garden soil. I didn't think that would be enough, but, it worked out well.

I have been doing flowers for ten years - far too long for me to remember all the past crops. But I do remember some of them. In 2013, the flowers were hand watered daily and they overfilled the gardens. In 2014, we used sprinkler and soaker hoses. The summer was unusually hot too.  The plant's stems were thin and viney, and the flower bed did not do as well as most years. This year, we are using sprinklers and soaker hostes again, so, it will be interesting to see the results again.

Pulling the Flowers

When owning a house, one has to decide: do I watch the game this afternoon? Or do I pull the flowers out of the flower bed as part of winterizing the house?

Of course the answer is: clean the flower beds! I don't think I have watched an entire football game all season because there is always something to do!

Many flower beds means a lot of pulling. Pull the flowers, toss them in a wheel barrel, dump them in the woods. All the care of a season of planting, feeding, and watering is destroyed in just a couple of hours. But now the flower beds are ready to be winterized! That means: take are of the soaker hoses and plant bulbs for spring flowers.

Bug Mess

I have a light on the front of the garage that lights up all the corn fields for about half a mile. Unfortunately, this attracts all the bugs for about half a mile. Then, on a regular basis, I have to clean all the dead bugs out of the light and wash down the front of the garage. Just another joy of home ownership!

Water Fountain

Packing away the water fountain for winter.

This is a task on my fall list every year.

And then every spring I put it back together.

The boards create a base to help with snow and water that build on top.

The first trash bag faces the wind coming out of the west.

Two layers of trash bags will protect it all winter long.

Weeds

Celebrating home ownership. We arrived home from vacation and the flower beds had been taken over by weeds! Two wheel barrel loads later, the flower beds are now reclaimed!

2014 Flower Garden

The flowers are planted! First, I had to refill the garden with miracle grow dirt.

Then I leveled the dirt off.

Next I placed a sprinkling soaker hose on the garden 

I formed my children into planting crews.

And we planted 180 flowers between the front beds and the back yard beds.

Fixing the lamp post

This spring my boys were enjoying a game of laser tag and someone swung around the lamp post and knocked it a few degrees off plumb. The tilt is hardly noticeable, but I notice it and wanted to fix it. I didn't just want to push the lamp back into spot, I wanted to create a better foundation that might prevent the lamp from moving in the future.

First thing I did was to build a frame that would hold the lamp post in place.

Then I dug out the base of the lamp inside the garden.

I slid half cinder blocks under the base of the 5 gallon pale holding the post.

Then, on top that base I built up a foundation with more cinder blocks.

Then I dumped concrete into the foundation to serve as the glue that will hold the foundation together.

That should hold the lamp post in place. I pity the guy in the future who ever might need to remove this lamp post! 

Outside faucets

One of the purposes of this blog is to celebrate all the work of home ownership. That includes maintaining outside water faucets. If water if left in the faucet during the winter, the water will freeze causing the pipe to burst and the basement to flood.

To avoid that, every fall the outside faucets need to be turned off. We have now entered spring and it appears we are done with freezes, so, I have been able to turn the outside faucets back on.

Front Yard Reconstruction Phase 2

Phase2 of the project is to redo the driveway. Make it bigger, wider, thicker, larger turn around, etc. the project will be delayed until August due to all the wet weather we have experienced, so, check back later!

Front Yard Reconstruction: Lock Smith

The front door knob's brass had warn off and I always wanted to change it, but I didn't want to pay for a lock smith to change the lock. So, I did a little research and learned how to change out the lock core. We now have a new shiny door knob!

Front Yard Reconstruction: Black Bench

There are two benches on the front porch, one of them is this black bench. The paint is flaking due to weathering. The bench needed to be scrapped, sanded, and then multiple layers of blank paint to bring it back to life. Now it looks really good!

Front Yard Reconstruction: Kiss my brass

Eight months ago we installed storm doors onto four of the five exterior doors. On the front door, we selected glass with a brass oval. Now, eight months later the brass is not shinny. So I spent two hours and half a bottle of brass cleaner getting the brass shinny again. In this picture you can see the brass on the left which has been cleaned versus the brass on the right which isn't. If I had known I would need to clean the brass every six months I wouldn't have gotten the door! So I called the installer and complained. They are having the manufacturer rep give me a call.

Front Yard Reconstruction: Painting the doors

The front door and the garage entry door get a new coat of paint!

Front Yard Reconstruction: Painting

While the house is sided, the trim around the porch and front door is wood. The trim received a fresh coat of white paint.

Front Yard Reconstruction: Phase 2

Phase 2 of the Front Yard Reconstruction Project involves work on the driveway. With seven cars (one in the garage) we need a large drive way. I can't see affording to blacktop it because the driveway is so large and stone is comparatively much cheaper. I can stone the driveway for fifty years for the cost of one blacktop job.

The driveway will be expanded and a new load of stone added. In Phase 1, I have been able to save money by doing all the work myself. In phase 2? I am paying $75/hr plus materials.I am usually a tight wad when it comes to paying others, but I don't have a choice. I don't own a truck or back hoe.

I met with the contractor on Friday to go over everything that needs to be done. The expansion area will be dug down several inches. Large crusher stone will be placed in the expansion. Then smaller crusher stone will be spread over the entire driveway.

At this time, the incredible amounts of rain we have received have flooded nearby towns and left a mess. I can't start Phase 2 until the ground dries. I hope the ground dries soon! I want to get it done before July 4!

Front Yard: What the caulk?

Every place water might pool against a wood seam? You need to caulk it to avoid rot. So, I recaulk the front porch today.

Front Yard Reconstruction: Stone Garden

The stone garden is now completed! In this picture, you can see the before and after.