cottagegardener's Blog

Bits and Pieces Part II - The Mulch Hangover
Jun 10, 2009 | 1:11 PM PST
Tags: mulch , more mulch , ...and did I mention mulch , wildlife , Paint Shop Pro , Signature tags

Well good afternoon everyone! Here I am a day later and if it's possible to have a hangover from gardening, I most certainly do! I came in last night when it was dark and I took a shower. I scrubbed from head to toe, shampooed and scoured but I could still smell mulch! When I wrote that blog last night I was sitting here and I could still smell ....you guessed it....mulch. I asked the DH if I smelled like mulch and he laughed and said "No dear. You probably have mulch in your nose." I went to bed smelling mulch. I dreamed of mulch. I spread mulch in my sleep! I woke up this morning and could not move and you would think I had spent the night in a bar! I looked aweful!...lol. My eyes were swollen (probably from all that bending over) and I had a headache that would have made a college party kid proud! I do declare after yesterday I am convinced I picked my GG name to early. I should have signed up as Mulchin' Annie! I can hear the titles now. Instead of " Anne of Green Gables", it will be Anne of Black Mulch.  "Annie Get Your Gun" will be Annie Get Your Garden Spade!" "Anne, Queen of Mulch." etc. And it's not over...not by any stretch! I couldn't wait to get some chores done so I could go out and take some pictures. Due to my hubby's schedule, most of the time he leaves in the dark of the morning and get's home at dark. He has little time to see changes in the yard. He didn't get to see the mulch last night and he left before dawn this morning. When he got home he saw how nice the mulch was and I told him I was going to take pictures for the blog. So I ran in to get the camera and came back outside. Before I could take the pictures, DH said "Wait wet the mulch down - it will look better." I hung my head for a second and thought...Okay....I'll wet the mulch down. I put the camera down and grabbed the hose. After having the wet t shirt contest for mulch, I turned off the hose and grabbed the camera again and started clicking happily away. :D . I excitedly ran back into the house to pull up the GG site and got my graphics program open in anticipation of resizing and uploading pictures. When I opened the camera to get the memory card out, I had another "hang my head" moment. I had forgotten to take the memory card out of the computer and put it back into the camera last night. Hence, I had to put it back into the camera, go all the way downstairs and out to the front and retake the pictures. Before my hubby left. He asked me if I wanted to put the last bag of mulch in the plow bed which is in our side yard. I said no, there isn't enough to do the whole bed. His reply was okay, we'll just go ahead and get a truckload then! My eyes got very wide for a moment and then I hung my head and shook it side to side and walked back into the house....

To Carolyn: I have never had problems with Cypress mulch either. I just noticed that the dianthus was dying and I wasn't certain why. There could be several reasons, but I think the slugs are the main culprit. Anyway, I think the dark mulch makes the colors of the bed really pop! Thanks for the comment :)

To Mountain Sprite: I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. We have black bears, coyotes, foxes, ground hogs, bob cats, racoons and  we  also supposedly have mountain lions however rare or endangered.  No one has reported seeing one lately. For birds we have a variety. All sorts of finches  and grosbeaks, cardinals, eastern blue birds, titmouse(mice..whatever) hawks
, geese etc. I hope this helps.

To Mitzi: No need to be afraid of your lilies. If you keep them well spaced and trim the dead out of them and keep them mulched, you shouldn't have a problem. It's when they become too thick for mice and rodents to hide in there is a problem. The snakes hunt the mice and when humans come into contact by accident that's where we freak out. The crews cleaning out the interstate medians and rest stop areas that have daylilies have a severe problem with copperheads - but that is because those beds are undisturbed for long periods of time. I have only had the mistfortune of crossing spades with grass snakes and the occasional baby copperheads. As long as you tend your beds you should be fine. A piece of good advice and a cardinal rule for Girl Scouts. "LOOK BEFORE YOU REACH!"   As for the rose graphic you inquired about. No, I didn't paint it but thanks for the compliment. I used my graphics program called Paint Shop Pro to create that signature tag. It's a process called "tubing" Tubing means to take a subject out of it's background and save it to a particular format. After it's saved you can create anything you want with it. Once you have learned to use the tools and to tube, the whole world is your oyster! You can create anything you want! You can create wall papers for your computer, email stationery, paper stationery, greeting cards, business cards, flyers and papers for all sorts of scrap booking. All of that led to the side job that I have now of photo restoration and enhancements.

I hope I have answered some questions and comments. Aside from the delerium, I truly do love my mulch and I am so grateful to have it. Below are the pictures I took. I hope you enjoy them :) - Karen