| Blog series by Scott Hildenbrand consisting of 19 parts so far |
Part 1: Fern Bed, Soooooooooo Clooooooooose
I’ve got at least 75% of the bed done. It took another 15 bags of soil and I edged it with 2 bags of mulch to keep any side erosion down until I can mulch the whole thing. So far I’ve got the Toad Lilies planted, the ferns and several Hosta stubs that I found around the property. Here’s one of the Hosta. It’s a really pretty variety with a creamy white banding to the center. Line of Toad Lilies with some Hosta to the back. This is one of the pla...
Part 2: Outdoor Room: Darn Near Done
Well, here’s the finished fence section. Well.. Almost finished.. I need to trim the posts and put finials on each of them. My wife asked that I not paint it black and to leave it the rusted white, so I did.. Saved me work! ;) Each side is screwed into the pole, where the “feet” of the porch supports are, I took a 2×4 and chiseled out two squares so that I could slide the rail into it and make sure it was well supported on the post. You can see that I’...
Part 3: Fern Bed Close to Fruition - Need More Diiiiiiiiirt..
Well after a long bit of work with the not so good help of a grumpy 2yo, the bed is closer to being finished. I still need at least 10 more bags of dirt however, as well as more cardboard to finish off the right hand side. Then there’s the matter of mulch, which I’m not even thinking about right now. So far this is working out really well. The cardboard is keeping the grass, leaves, peat, etc in place and making sure it doesn’t compact while I work to get the top f...
Part 4: More work on the fern bed
Well, I put more work into the fern bed this afternoon. Ended up mowing a half an acre of neglected yard to get some organic matter to build up the section. I only had the push mower with a bad to do this. It was several… several trips to dump the back under the tree. I’m pretty sure this will be the last layer before I lay down cardboard and put some filler soil over all that. Here’s a Robin happily browsing through the pile while I was working on it. Got to hand ...
Part 5: Outdoor Room
I think it’s fun to create little nooks with the form of rooms outside. This is a spot in the back that I’m blocking in. I’ve got the posts in the ground and will cut them off at a level point before attaching the white rails that you see. They were actually cast iron decorative supports for a slight porch overhang that we decided to change and took these with us. I’ll be painting them flat black and will most likely brush a little green onto them to give a litt...
Part 6: Shady Fern Bed
I’d been working to get a spot in the yard built up to use as a fern bed. It’s prone to flooding and turns into a nice little pond when we get good rain. It’s also shady with two trees and the huge Pecan tree shading the area. This makes it a great place for ferns and other shade plants that can take the water, or not, since only part floods. You can see the water pooled to the left of the picture. I’d already built the area up with 2 and a half bags of peat moss...
Part 7: Garden Updates: Garden Plot, Ferns & New Flower Bed
I haven’t been posting the goings-on much lately. I guess it’s just because we’ve been so busy, or maybe it’s because I’m starting to feel like the little things aren’t so earth shattering or important. Either way, I felt an update is in order on what’s happening around the homestead. For those who have seen the “Fern Bed” project of mine, happily most the ferns are doing quite well. I’ve got two however that don’t seem t...
Part 8: Fern Bed.. More Cardboard
I’m trying to get this thing finished up.. I know that the only thing holding me back is the lack of mulch.. I REALLY need to get a dump ordered so I can move forward.. I’ve got my daughter coming in this next month though, so most likely going to wait until she gets here so she can help out. Anyway, here’s the latest.. The right side has almost all the cardboard on it I’m going to put down.. I’ve still got a little fill in I’ll be doing with smaller ...
Part 9: Work This Week: Digging & Mulching
Well the mulch was delivered today. 8 scoops, which breaks down to 4 pickup truck loads. It’s rather fun to play in, love the smell. For size, and a side shot of the pile. Stuff in the back is a wetvac and a vanity that are going to be picked up as trash. I’d also been working for the last two nights to cover the flower bed along the back and side of the fence. Because the back was pre-planted, I needed to cut wholes in the cardboard for the plants. That was a trip. ...
Part 10: Peach and Plum Trees Planted.
I don’t have any pictures of the process but it was pretty straight forward. Dig a hole Knock dirt apart in wheelbarrow Mix 50/50 with compost Place tree in hole Backfill keeping crown high, leaving 1” space Cover with pure compost Lay down cardboard Mulch That sums up my evening adventure. I’ll take a few snaps tomorrow at some point in time and post them up.
Part 11: Front Flower Bed Begins
Well, I finally got started on the flower bed under the bedroom window. I dug out in front of the basement window and installed a paver surround and back filled with rocks. I just used plain Jane drainage rocks, I don’t like the fancy smancy stone. Here you can see a wider shot. I tilled all the ground up and gave it a slight grading away from the house. Then I laid down cardboard for the mulch bed and mulched to either side of the window. I’d have mulched it all, but, that...
Part 12: New Clumps.. They're heeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrreeeeeeee
Well, as I promised I’m posting pics of the new clumps, fresh out of the ground.. I hauled these home in my car. With some creative placement it only took 3 trips. A trunk full.. I can average 5 clumps in the trunk, 3 in the back seat and one in the front. The aftermath of the transport.. This is why they make shop-vacs. ;) All in all, it’s 25-28 clumps.. I lost track, actually.. Grand total? $110.
Part 13: Ugh, so Burned out.
Well, I’ve got most of the 35 or so daylily clumps into the ground. Ended up placing some in a temp location till we decide exactly where they will go. It’s been real, real tempting to go back and get more but I finally called that idea out and shot it down. Though it’s wonderful sticking a clump into the ground and having that “always been there” look of the giant mass, it’s more than I want to muck with for the remainder of the year. That said, I...
Part 14: Oh my.. I made a mistake..
I asked the guy at Lowes in the garden center what else was on sale (after grabbing 24 yellow mums for .25/ea)... To my horror he said everything was 50% off. I was so tempted… soooooooooooo close to loading up my car… Not like the selection was large, but the price was great… sooooooooooooooooooo teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeempteeeeeeeeeeddddddddddddddddd….. I ended up picking up the said 24 mums, 2 rose of 1gal sharon for $1.75/ea and a 2gal yew for $2.49…. I swea...
Part 15: Coming in the Mail
Well, I’ve got some items coming in that I had on order since some time last year. Also got in my replacement ferns that I need to deal with over the weekend. So… Tuesday I’ll be dealing with… 1 Black Gold Sweet Cherry 1 Tehranivee Sweet Cherry1 Orcas Pear1 Rescue Pear1 Reliable Almond 25 Benton Strawberries 2 Captivator Gooseberry and 2 Meeker Raspberry Now if I could just figure out where to put everything… Hmmmmmm..
Part 16: Garden Plots
The guy was here today to till up the main garden bed for us. Since it’s going to rain almost the entire week, I’ll need to run back over it before planting but that’s alright. I went ahead and had it expanded some. Not sure of the size now, will have to measure it out later on. He did a decent job of tilling. Last year it was a counter rotating tiller, this year was a standard. There are still a few clumps but I did not expect perfection, especially in this soil. ...
Part 17: Garden Plot... Half Way Done?
Well, spent some time yesterday busting out the garden and getting it tilled up and planted. We managed to get… oh… 6 rows re-tilled and planted before we lost light. All in all we have 9 rows planted now. And yes, I’d lost track of what all is in the ground.. Wife keeps up with all that. A rough guess… We’ve got 3 rows of tomatoes @ around 100 plants, 1 row of corn beside that, Row of cow peas, two half rows of pole beans in… and.. .well.. other stuf...
Part 18: Woot! Garden's In!
Ha! So much for fighting with rain. Spent yesterday working on the yard again, picked up supplies to do more on the coop and then started working on the tiller.. Finally got the tiller running again, which I had to pull the fuel tank and clean it out.. Then I broke the drive cable so I replaced it with one of those red tie lines for dogs? Anyway, works great.. So I tilled the garden plot up while the wife was weeding the Daylilly holding bed.. Once I got it all tilled up we seeded it with ...
Part 19: Blueberry Hedge
Along with getting half the roof on the chicken coop, fixing the mower, weeding and a pile of other work.. I managed to get alot of the work done for the blueberry hedge.. I need more cardboard though.. No surprise.. Here’s a shot of the part I layered with cardboard.. The spacing on the blueberry plants is WAY too close right now. I’ll be spacing them, oh, 4-5’ apart or so? Covered in berries.. Not bad, eh. A pile of grass… With the riding mowers deck onl...
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Blog Series
- Around the Yard - 29 parts
- Canning Room - 4 parts
- Chickens - 14 parts
- Garden Maintenance - 12 parts
- Garden Plannings - 17 parts
- Harvest Time - 14 parts
- Irrigation - 3 parts
- Just Blooming - 17 parts
- Planting & Landscaping - 19 parts
- Wanted - 1 part
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