Garden History Chapter 16

Mounting Solar Lights on a Fence

In my last garden post I took pictures of the solar yard lights that my husband modified so they could be on the fence. VR, a blog reader, left a comment and suggested that I make a snapshot and explain what my hubby did to adapt the lights.

I told my hubby and he was happy to provide a few instructions. Since these lights are designed to be on the ground and we wanted them on the fence there had to be an off set because of the size of the solar top. Now, I suppose wood blocks come in all shapes and sizes and my husband could have purchased a prefab but he likes to recycle things so he used some of his scrap wood instead.

He cut a 2 x 4 board into 4 inch sections then cut the same amount of pieces into 4 inch sections using a 1 x 4 board. He used deck or drywall screws to fasten the two pieces together. This made a nice little block. Then he sprayed the blocks with black enamel paint. He then mounted 1/2 inch Plastic Conduit Clamps on the block to hold the light fixture. The little pipe that comes with the light, now, just slips right into the clamps and the lamp’s lower ring rests on the block once the block has been mounted to the fence. Neat idea, huh?

I think it makes a lot more light in a small space. To get a better idea, here are the close up pictures that I took.

Garden History Chapter 15

The Back Yard Garden By Night
This summer I was meandering in the back yard and thought it would be fun to take a few pictures of the garden by night.
This is a picture of the dwarf apple tree bearing fruit. By the way, the apples were delicious!

In an earlier chapter I told you what we did with the lattice and this bench seat. This photo shows the morning glories climbing right up to the top and over. I think I might put a little table in front of the bench. That might make for a cozier sitting arrangement! Just trying to hid the brick path to nowhere.

These next picture is of the vegetable garden. In our climate we can usually plant string beans several times because of the long growing season. I believe this was planting number three. Some of the plantings had a harder time than others because we had a pretty bad water shortage.

I like to keep a little light in the back yard so we found these nifty solar yard lights. Normally people put them in the ground but we wanted them on the fence so my hubby modified them so we could do just that. The put out much more light this way too. I lightened this first picture a bit so you can clearly see some of the drought damage to the grass.

The fence reminds me of a runway, when night falls.

Stay tuned for the next chapter. Thanks.

Garden History Chapter Fourteen

Spring 2008 Continued

After we got the soil leveled and I made the rows and beds we managed to get everything transplanted and out of the cold frame. Plus added squash, cucumber, carrots and green beans. Tomatoes and peppers were purchased at the local garden center. I try to rotate the vegetables into different locations yearly. I try to use as little chemicals as possible and usually just try to stick with seven dust.

We did have a wood cradle for our firewood at the end of this brick path. The 4×4s held the slide-able lid that covered the wood. The cradle was old and we decided to put any firewood on concrete instead. As you can see, we left the 4×4’s and added lattice to it so morning glories could grow up and over. Then, we found an old concrete bench seat from the recycle, cleaned it and gave it a good coat of paint and, wallah, the path has a little place to go. OK, a little dorky but it isn’t a path to nowhere now!

We did have a bit of a spring scare when a storm rolled through and a neighbor’s tree fell on our fence and almost on top of the garden. As you can see, the tree just missed the first bed. It was still a mess but we did get lucky because the neighbor got a man on the job and had it cleaned up lickety split!

For kicks and giggles I took a picture of a patch of my grass with the morning dew because it looked like artwork.

GARDEN HISTORY Chapter 10

Pictured below are the fruit trees I planted on the side yard. The plum is the closest. This stayed. The other two had to be replaced because they would grow large for this small space. I replaced them with a transplanted blueberry shrub (moved from under a too dark tree canopy), a dwarf peach and a dwarf pear. Not seen here are the dwarf apple and the pomegranate.

In the far back, next to the shed, is where I planted the ferns. I mentioned those earlier. We did keep two (very antique) camellia shrubs. One has a wonderful double red blossom. I left one as a bush. The other I keep trimmed and pruned as a short tree because it grows between the house and shed. This one blooms pink and stands behind the shed but tops over the fence so it gets enough light.

Now that you all have had the tour of my entire, small yard. The last place that is left is the vegetable garden! This garden is only about 9×24 feet in size but it does produce a lot of food! By the way, I grow catnip and cat grass in all of those pots. Have to keep the kitties well fed too. Lol

From here on out I will be able to update this Journal with some ease. Plus, I will be able to post current pictures as things happen.
I hope you will continue to enjoy the on going saga of this garden in Southeastern Virginia.

Garden History - Chapter 6

Early Front Yard Photo

This is a snapshot of our Craftsman home about 4 or 5 years after we moved in. When we planted the Italian Cypress in the front of the house it was only four feet tall. The other tree (I believe a different type of Cypress) on the left was very “gnarley” when it got older and we finally had to take it down. I replaced it with a Gardenia (something I will be able to maintain).

A former owner had planted a Blue Spruce tree on the property line between the two houses and it had grown toward the sun. It was unsightly with its “L” shaped trunk so this was removed and we replaced it with a tiny, maybe a foot tall, Cedar tree that a friend of ours gave us from the golf course.

At the base of the driveway we planted a low growing Juniper. It would never be too big to impair my vision for exiting the driveway but would forever be green and needs very little water. Plus, visitors entering and exiting the driveway can drive over it and it will come back! Dogs and cats don’t like it much either, lol.

We bought all the, salmon colored, Azaleas from the GEAS Club we belong to. They sold them for cost that year, left overs from a parade. That is what you see all along the driveway path. There is a hydrangea at the base because the neighborhood pets kept urinating on the azealeas. hydrangea seems to resist the pet problem better. I put the hydrangea and azealeas on the other side of the lawn as well.

It just occured to me if you are new to this blog and are reading this post it might look a little weird if you cannot see the first 5 chapters. Since this blog moves pretty quickly I thought I would insert some links to my previous posts.

Chapter 5 CLICK HERE

Chapter 4 CLICK HERE

Chapter 3 CLICK HERE

Chapter 2 CLICK HERE

Chapter 1 CLICK HERE

I, also, have a few extra Signature Golf Balls hanging around in my OLA House. To see them click on this banner.

Garden History - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Now that the palate of the yard is clean and we are starting from scratch we planted the grass seed on the sides and back yard. Also, while landscaping we saved buckets of bulbs. Narcissus, double and single Jonquils, Daffodils, Snowbells and, much to my delight, Spider Lilies in hot pink! (I had been trying to find that plant for years but never knew its name!). Then my husband and I planted some of the plants I toted with me through the years. Chinese Holly, Irises an Cannas’. They might have to be transplanted, eventually, because I wasn’t quite sure what the sun would be doing throughout the year. We, then, waited through the winter season to see what would pop up in the yard come spring.

Now, while I tell you part of this story, I want you to know that I am married to a lovely man that loves grass but knows absolutely nothing about what a plant looks like! His theory is… if it is green, it is grass. I had to draw smilies on my fence so he wouldn’t mow down my spider lilies when they come up in the late summer! With that thought in your minds, everything that has been planted in this yard is very low maintenance or IT CAN BE MOWED and will come back!! I call it Man Friendly. If it cannot be mown down it is protected with some sort of divider.

Much to my surprise there were a lot of plants that were very hardy and had survived all the landscaping! There were, also, a lot of assorted wild plants growing in the grass and yard. I don’t know all the names of them but there were wild violets, a very pretty, petite, five pointed white flowering plant that, I later, found out was a variety in the onion family. (They were all over the place. I imagine that some people would love to plant them in a flower bed.) Then, there was a beautiful low growing plant that had leaves which were clustered and round. That turned out to be an old fashioned variety of buttercups, also, a very prolific plant!

Originally, there was raised, three foot high, hand built patio on the back of the house. It had beautiful yellow jasmine and morning glory vines growing up a privacy lattice structure. Unfortunately, we had to tear it down because it was a termite heaven! A bit of never, never advice. Do NOT build a landscape timber box, filled with a dump truck of sand, then put bricks on top to create a raised patio!! This structure was a wonderful environment for termites! It, also, holds rain water that will, eventually, leach into one’s basement. NOT GOOD, trust me. The homeowner, builder, of this patio did not put anything next to the wall of the house to protect it from the water draining into the side of the house then to the basement floor. Very bad.

As I had mentioned, in the previous post, we had to have a fence installed. Along the base of the fence, I took all the buckets of jonquils, daffodils, and narcissus and planted them in the lawn. I used these plantings to cover the 2×12 boards at the bottom of the fence. The blossoms are pretty in the spring and the greenery lends cover to the boards which elevated the fence. Then when they have turned brown in the early summer, all can be mown with ease. Since I liked the Morning Glory’s I plant them in window box containers on the ground (that protects them from the weed eater) and let them trail up the lattice I had my husband attach to the fence. This coming summer we have a new plan for them.
I moved some of the buttercups and violets in spots next to the house to protect them from my mower guy.

Many of the plants I have in my yard I have received from friends. Bearded Irises, Peonies, Butterfly Ginger Lilies, Angel’s Trumpet/Brugmansia, variety’s of Cannas, orange Double Day Lilies, a variegated grassy planting that has a purple bloom in late summer and a Cedar Tree (three inches high when received!).

There are plants that had to be purchased, sometimes twice. Azaleas, fruit trees, ferns, cast iron plants, frizzle, winter daphne, figs, blueberry. Some of the fruit trees had to be replaced because I, originally, thought that I could use a standard tree. NOT! In a small space, one has to use grafted dwarf trees, lol. My hubby was not too thrilled while digging up fruit trees, that were established, because the wife said they were too big. He was not a happy camper!!

Garden History - Chapter Four

This chapter is dedicated to this, lovely, Old Home I found in the city! This is the last of the Historical updates because this home and garden is the last move I plan on making. At least, in this lifetime. I call it my retirement home. With that in mind, everything that has been done, in the yard and house, was done with NO intention of resell. This home and yard has been an adventure, to say the least! Maybe some other day I can tell you the entire story of the its renovation but for today our focus be the yard.

After we bought the house we were told, by the city, that I would need to tear down the dilapidated old privacy fence. It had been condemned. In order to be in compliance with city code and be able to get an occupancy permit the fence had to go (along with another long list of house issues). The yard was an overgrown mess! You do what needs doing first so you can rest your head on a pillow.

We were a little suprised when we found a chain link fence behind the wooden privacy fence. There were all sorts of wild cherry trees, honeysuckle, ivy and virginia creeper vines tangled throughout the two fences. To make matters worse all the vegetation was very well established. Someone, who had lost their mind, had planted a wisteria plant! That thing must have been original to the house because its root system was everywhere!

Thank goodness, my Mom’s husband, came to the rescue. Just so happens that he owns an old antique John Deere Tractor. Well, he cranked that baby up and drove it down the city streets and came over to our new yard. You could hear the tractor coming a mile away! It made sort of a kachug kachug sound. I thought he would get arrested for driving it on an inner city street.

First, we had to cut all the full grown wild trees with the chainsaw and get them out of the way. Then came the tractor’s job. We had a large chain and wrapped it around the fence sections, pulling them down. Then we had to get the stumps out. This was a process because some of the stumps had to be dug up partially before the chain could go around. Chopping, hacking, digging, sawing and pulling that chain attached to the tractor. This project took about three days. It was exhausting. When all was said and done and the tractor went rolling home and the entire back yard was pretty much destroyed. My oh my, then all the debris that had to be delivered to the dump. Maybe one day I will dig out the hard copy pictures but not today. After all that hard work we, finally, got the occupancy permit!

Well, the good side… I had a clean yard to work with eventhough there were hugh ruts left by the tractor tires. So, out comes my Troybilt, thank goodness I never sold her. What a work horse. I tilled everything except the very front patch of grass on the front lawn. I strung plumb lines across the back and side yards because by now it had rained and I knew where all the water was collecting and draining. This project was vital because all the water must run away from the house! I roto-tilled this yard until the dirt was like a powder. Then, I personally, raked every ounce of dirt to those plumb lines so everything would slope properly and have water running away from the house. I have a full basement in a low lying area, surrounded by water. The slope of the yard was extremely important to me. Water must stay away from the basement. This project took about two weeks, I guess, and I was 12 years younger.

This saga will continue. Thanks for stopping by to read.

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Garden History - Chapter Three

Chapter Three:

Ahhh... The Blackwater Years. My mother, and her husband, owned and rented a house on 20 acres in the country. A very rural area of Virginia Beach and very close to North Carolina. When the tennants moved out and the property became available my kids and I moved in and rented for about 3 1/2 years. My children were now teenagers who were working and driving. I had lots of luck trying to get them to stick around and help out with a garden!
Nine acres, cleared, were leased to a local farmer who used a crop duster to control some vermine on the corn, wheat and soy bean crops. Two acres, where the house sat, was mine to maintain as I wished. I never used more than seven dust on my vegetables and, much to my suprise, the years that plane flew over my house and garden I never had a pest problem! Only problem was that during the summer months the grass grew in over-drive. Mowing became a major ordeal!
The former tennants had a rabbit farm, of sorts. So, I thought the most logical place to start my new vegetable garden would be right where those cages sat! The droppings provided great furtilizer, lol. Eventhough, the ground was furtile it was clay and hard as a rock!! If it was too wet it was mud. If it was dry it was like the desert. Tilling, even with my trusty horse, had to be done at the optimal times. It was a challenge but well worth it because once the seeds were down it was a most productive and beautiful garden. I only planted a spring and summer garden. I froze the crops and made jams with the fruit. There is where I started to become just a little knowledge about fruit trees. My horse, pony and goat ate the ones I had planted in the fields in chapter two.
Just a little note here. I had some very old, large, box wood bushes on this property. Instead of cutting them back in a square or round bush, I turned them into large style bonsai type bushes. They weren't very hard to maintain at all. Just a little nipping two or three times a year.
Now, when xmas season came around. I have to mention that we decided to fetch our own tree from the wooded section of the farm, for the holidays. I must admit that tree brought a lot of humor in the house because, quite frankly, it looked pretty darn small in the woods! Let me just say... trim, trim, trim. *giggling* I had no idea just how enormous that goofy tree was till we tried to get it into the house. Even after it was trimmed and pruned it still took a large portion of the living room space.
Then, the kids go to college, I move into a one bedroom garden apartment. My tiller is in storage and my hot tub is in my dining room. Extremely large tropical variegated hibiscus plants, fichus trees and an assortment of favorite outdoor plants move with me onto my little outdoor patio. It was not too bad because the landlord even let me plant a lilac bush in front of my bay window. I did have to get a little creative with my Japanese holly so that it was safe in my 3 x 6 foot garden plot that was provided at the edge of a concrete patio. I even dug up and took my canna lilies with me to give me a little more privacy. It is amazing what can be done with plants to make even the most dower of places more attractive to live in. And taking the time to move things with you saves so much money!
Ta Da, next chapter coming soon. New home (historical and adventure in its own right) and the man-proof garden.

Blackwater. After I moved out my parents leased it to a potential buyer. They had no clue that they would turn the house into a barn for livestock! The place that I had my bonsai boxwoods gone and overgrown.
This is a picture of how overgrown the place had become when renter left. All the fruit trees and shrubs were totally overgrown. This is one of the better scenes. The poison ivy had totally taken over. Eventually, the house was demolished because it could not be salvaged!

Garden History - Chapter One

Welcome to My Garden History and Journal - Chapter One

Let me begin by saying that I have been an amateur gardener since Moby Dick was a minnow! My mother gave me green bean and radish seeds when I was 7 or 8 years old and she let me plant them on the side of the house. I guess she figured that those would germinate quickly because a small kid would want to see things grow fast Pretty, smart on her part! As I grew older she would let me help her in the little plot garden she had created, every spring. It was always so much fun when the first radishes came to harvest and we could have, open face, radish and butter sandwiches for breakfast! What an excellent treat. I look forward to those radishes every year.

Then the "teen years" and gardening went a little by the wayside because I was just too busy. But there were summers with my Grand Mother, who had a 50 acre farm, and we had to harvest the hay for the livestock, corn for the chickens and horses. Plus, there always seemed to be house plants to water. Plants and animals were always in my life but animals will have to take second place to this Garden room, :).

Got married... had apartment and asked landlord if I could plant flowers outside of my apartment window...they said yes... Okay... I did!
Baby to come... no room... First house ensued... Big yard... Stay at home Mom...
What to do... plant a garden. Boy, was it fun to watch newly weds dig a garden!!

This was the garden where I learned that no matter what the package of seed said go with the flow of the current weather in your area. I wanted to grow Iceberg lettuce, everyone around me said it was just too hot in our area to grow because the summers were too hot. So, I planted the seed in the late fall. I saw the small seed pop up and then forgot about the garden because all the leaves fell and just figured everything had died (we were too lazy to rake leaves!) Well, at the end of February, when it was a little warmer, I was strolling around and kicking some of the leaves aside (the leaves became an insulator) and WOWWIEE.... I found heads of Iceberg lettuce!!! What a surprise. You don't get a tomato with your lettuce salad at that time of year but the lettuce is still great.

This installment One....... This will be a continuing saga........ More to come!

May Garden Update

May Garden Update

Watching your veggies growing every year is so much fun! I guess because it is such hard labor when turning your ground over, your muscles are sore and you ache so bad after you've finished planting your seed. But then the good part is when you can sit back and enjoy the growth. When you see the progress of things growing, knowing that you will be able to freeze much of it (that's what I do) then eat it during the winter months. Of course sharing with friends is rewarding as well.

I didn't want to consume to much space on this front page but I do have many more photos here http://grouchow.wordpress.com/

Sex in the City - Birdie Update!

“Sex in the City” Birdie Update!

A few weeks ago I talked of my little “sex in the city” birdies. About a week ago, I thought I would give them a little more space to rest, at night, because it appeared to me that the rolled up straw shade was very lopsided and if I pushed it back and straighten it out, the birds might have more room. NOT…. ! Birds disappeared.

When I took a lader to check the opening about 4 days later, it only confirmed what I was thinking. I didn’t realize that I left the bird sweeties no space to roost at all and that is why they did not come back to sleep in the evening! Well, I readjusted the shade to where it was originally, crooked, and that opened the space back up. I did this three days ago. I just figured they were in a tree now and probably would not return.

Then, eureka, as I closed the curtains from the front room, this evening, I saw my little sweeties come back home. One was already in the opening and the other was making their way in. I am so happy they didn’t hold my rearrangement of their condo against me! Next time, I will think things through a little better before I try to be quite so helpful. I’m glad their back!

Excerpt from Garden Journal Chapter 20 at: http://grouchow.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/garden-journal-chapter-20/

Come and Visit My OLA House!

Spring 09 City Gardening

March, 2009, Spring is just around the corner.
Thank goodness the weather was in the 70’s today. What a glorious day, around here you just never know what you are going to get from one minute to the other! Just 6 days ago we had snow on the ground.

The birds have been chirping all morning and I got up early, opened all the windows in the house to air it out, put on my duds and headed outside to dig around in the yard. I might be a little stiff tomorrow because the Hubs and I have been hibernating all winter. *giggles*

I pulled weeds in one of my azalea beds and turned over the pine straw before I did anything else. I took a lot of breaks in between because I was sweating so much. It is always better to take things a little slower when you have sat idle all winter. Then I started to think about where to put some seeds and just what seed I had that could be planted this early in the season.

I told you in the previous post that I had to remove some bushes, so I decided to plant some lettuce, parsley and radishes in this location until I figure out what type of long term plant I want to place there. Why waste good space? Seeds are in the ground and I covered them with some leaves. We still might have some cold nights.

The Hubs put the makeshift cold frame up (recycled golf cart windshields) and made it a little larger this year. I put the Kohlrabi in there. If we have another cold snap we will be able to protect them after they have germinated.

I promised a friend that I would post a picture of the leaf lettuce that I planted last November. I covered them with leaves in the late fall and now they are doing beautifully. They survived our cold winter months! I can’t wait till I get to pick some. Next to that row of lettuce I just planted three rows of radishes. I have to be very careful of where to plant things this time of year because certain spots in the garden don’t get full sun enough hours in the day.

The plum tree, as much as I have worried about her over the years, still stands and is getting ready to open in full bloom any day now.

Last, but not least, are the empty pots at the base of the lattice. I plopped some pretty Morning Glory seeds in those and when the weather warms up they will climb up and over the lattice and bloom every morning.

If you would like to view some pictures that I took today you can CLICK HERE and look for Chapter 18 in my garden journal.

Gardening Journal One

Spring 2009

Well, Spring is just around the corner, at least for us in the southeast. Not to much to report on during the fall and winter months. But now the narcissus, jonquils, camellias have started blooming once again.
Just a couple of things to report on though. We, my Hubby and I, did do our winter spray to protect the fruit trees and, then, a few weeks ago we sprayed again. I am glad we did because just this week we are seeing the buds popping out on the plum tree. Hopefully they won't open till this last threat of snow is over. Sadly, last fall the Winter Daphne bushes died. I had to dig them up and dispose of them. Some blight or decease, I can't identify, killed them. I will miss their great smell in the late winter/early spring. They were really pretty and I am thinking of replacing them but I think I might have the soil tested first because I wouldn't want new plants to come down with the same unknown problem. These bushes are pictured in the Garden Journal post number 11. http://grouchow.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/garden-journal-chapter-11/
In the very late fall I got an idea and planted some lettuce. It is a leaf variety. And guess what? They survived. I wasn't too sure about them but I covered them with some leaves and the couple of rows I planted have survived the winter. I can't wait till I get to have a fresh salad.
Oh, I almost forgot, I have cut back the Liriope and as things start to happen I will post again.