kerryh's Blog

I am so happy...  So many of you are having the snowest  winter  in years,but here the dirt is blowing into the crackes on the window sills of our old porch. Some say if you buy land  in Montana, you also will be buying land in North Dakota, cause thats where your top soil ends up. LOl.

We have always gotten one of those 3ft deep wet snows at Easter that turn the lawns green and make the daffs grow, but not this year. We are truly in a drought. A few years ago, I started to change the types of plants I had in front yard. Last year I finished it. I took out all the beds next to the house and layed down fabric and put gravel and driftwood down. Laid sandstone in front of the beds. This summer I am going to plant, Ajuga between the sandstones. Everyhing out there is going to be Xerisaping plants. If I could get rid of the lawn I would." I hate grass"!

 One of my clients has not one blade of grass in her yard . It is awesome, she uses pea gravel where you would have grass, large flag stones make winding paths between her beds... hugh bolders for seperations,and she uses alot of raised beds , trellises and trailing plants.  It is  awesome.

 It just would not work on the street I live on. She said her water bill is a 1/4 of what it was.   The big trees love it, they are not competeing with the grass for water.

Since its snowing, looks like I might have to stay indoors and do house work LOL

Happy Planting KerryH

 Cleaned the pond yesterday, I have 16  new baby fish, Way to many for my pond, I will have to find homes for them in a couple of seasons. Planted 6 bleeding hearts and  nine mixed hollyhock plants.The package said there were yellow ones!!!

Put a new canvus top on my swing, It looks like a piece of canvus on the top of my swing!!! If anybody has an idea as to  how to color canvus , I don't want to take it off.I wiped stiched it around every one inch, good grief what a job!!! It needs some glamor. LOL

It looks good , I only went up two cinder block and caped it off. The corner was a little tricky, but it's level and straight. I am finally happy with that area. This summer when it is all grown up will take a picture.

When we tear down the tin shed later this summer I will go up two more block and turn the next corner. Made a new bed for  some shade plants, I really missed my bleeding hearts last summer. They were really getting pretty.

Put bacteria in the pond, and set some of my yard art out , Got my fake snake out sunning himself on the rocks, he has caused a some hearts to flutter a few timed !!! LOL. Put my Malard in the pond, I wish ducks flying over would land and take up residence. Jim said I would really have a mess then...If I could raise baby ducks it would be worth all the duck poo. That would make my compost happy too.!

 Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. and Happy Panting Kerryh

A couple of years ago we had to dig up the sewer. It was next to the back door. I lost all my shade plants. I was just sick..Last year I played around with the area but nothing I did made me happy. It just didn't look right . I started to dig around this spring and came up with the idea ...I needed  a wall.  I love the look of plants tumbling down a wall.

So I go to the local mason store. Wow I could have stayed a couple of hours in there, I came up with a whole bunch of new idea's LOL.

I could only get 6 cement blocks in my car and I had 2 at the house. Got all my tools, level, sting, etc. Just like the guy's do, Saturday mornings on the TV. OMG. It took me 2 hours to place those eight cement blocks,what a project. I only have 30 or more to go.LOL.

I could have waited for Jim to help , but he always makes such a big deal out my little projects and he  gets a little peaved when I change things in a couple of years.LOL

I can't get him to understand that certain plants need a certain home, Like this wall, it opens up a whole new set of plantings. Gardening is never ending, always changing.When you have a 150/50 ft lot and there are thousands of plants ...well, some people jog...I dig.

He does make wonderful things for me. I wanted an arbor, but they were so spendy. I said why can't we make one out of PVC pipe, He did ...It is awesome. It is in some of my pictures.

I'm glad he doesn't want to garden , I have a friend that the bickering got so bad, that to bring back the harmony ...he took the backyard and she took the front.Good Grief...LOL

The weather guy says snow for Easter weekend , Hope he's wrong ,I would like to finish the wall. Happy Planting and have a wonderful Easter everyone.

I have had so many ask about my pond I decided to write a blog.

 It all started when I went to visit ,my sister in NE oldcowgirl. Linda and her husband had just put in a water feature that was  awesome. 2 ponds, 2- 20 ft streams and a 6 ft water fall. OMG is was beautiful. I was going to have one, but I did noticed that the maintance was unbelivable and way more than I wanted to deal with.

 I came home and started to read everything I could about ponds and I talked to linda a million times ,and everyone else I could . I wanted one that I could enjoy and not work my self to death.

I started to dig a 3 ft  wide and 3 ft deep hole I then took a step over and dug a 2ft wide by 2ft  deep hole. I then started to dig a 8ft by 5 foot circle around theses two holes . The bigger area on the west side of the holes. It was 1 ft deep. The area between the 2 and 3 ft holes I went down another 6 inches.

I got the liner from a roofer friend for a $100. JIm and the kids helped me lay the liner. It was way to much for me to handle. We started to fill the hole with water and smoothing out the liner. Got the water to about half, stopped and had a few beers and let it settle. Then they left me.!!!

I placed all the rocks  on the back side that I had gotten from a wall I had torn down years ago.  On the south side where I had stored the dirt I made a little water fall, I put 3 inches of gravel and bigger rocks on the liner. emptyed out the pond and refilled it. Waited 2 days put some little fish in it. Arranged plants and rocks around.Got a bio filter with a fountain , I was so happy. Within a week I had the greenest mess you ever seen.

I almost filled up the hole  that summer, I called Linda, and she said I needed more air in the water,there was not enough movment. Fall came, I was so happy to see snow. I put in a stock tank heater and forgot about it.

The next summer Linda came up and we built a water fall. We then went to Home Depot and got a pump. Now my thinking is if a teaspoon works a tablespoon is even better, so I got a big pump.  We came home attached the hose to the pump put it in the 2 ft hole, ran the hose up and around and back of the rocks ,Jim then cut a hole the size of the hose into a tub that had a spout. We put the hose down into the bottom of the tub, Jim  sealed it with somthing and I foamed it. The hose has been leak proof for 3 years. YAA Knock  on wood.!!!  We then filled it with pea gravel. I turned the pump on and shot water clear accross the yard. LOL. I had to ajust the valves on the pump.  The pump was to big for the tub. We messed arounf till we  got the right amount of water flowing thru. The waterfall sounded awesome. The tub and pea gravel acted as my bio fliter.I'm glad I got the lg pump . It's circulates that water so well. And the bigger flow makes the sound asweome. I have never had any trouble since. The more your water moves the better. Having the pump in the 2ft hole and running the hose the way we did. The water is contantly moving in a circle.

I have a old pump that I had broken the plastic hose off of the fountain, this I use for a bubbler. With the gravel in the little stream, the gravel in the bio filter and the constant moving water, water lillys and cattails, my water stayes so clear, you can see all the rocks even in the bottom of the 3ft hole.

In the spring I put a long rain gutter under the spout in the bio filter and aim it towards the beds., then I  turn on the pump. I drain the water out except in the 3 ft hole, shut the pump off, I use a soft brush and clean the sides and rinse the gravel and catails really good.With the pump still off  I clean out the yuck in the 3 ft hole.This way I don't have to move the fish or disturb the lillys... I add  some water,  turn the pump on and rinse and drain all the nasty smelly gunk out into my flower beds. By this time the neighbors are hanging over the fence saying My gawd you stink.  LOL And I do this in April so the water is really cold.

This next step is very important,When I think the pond is as clean as I am going to get it . I shut the pump off and I fill the pond. I  add the stuff to kill the  chorine.  Leave the rain gutter as is, when you have the pond filled, turn the pump on and rinse all that crud from the bio filter out into your beds.. When the water runs clear remove the gutter...  there 2 hours of work and you are done with spring maintance.I add a barley bale and Microlift thru out the summer.

In the fallI shut off the waterfall, and put in the stock tank heater, leave the bubbler on, 1/2 hour of work and it's done.  The biggest job is keeping leaves out of the water in the fall, so I am going to get a net this year. 

I have never had anythting that is more fun or enjoyable as my pond. I am always moving rocks around and trying out new plants, It a whole differnt world than regular gardening.What is really cool... my neighbors have all contributed to the rocks. I have rocks from Yellowstone and Glacier Parks , all of  big our rivers in MTand most of the mountain ranges. When ever anyone goes on a trip they bring back rocks. We even brought back rocks from Dubuque IA last summer.  Everyone should have some sort of water feature in there yard. They bring in all sort of wildlife.

I'm hoping the weather man is wrong, he said we are to get snow this weekend.I need to move plants from one bed to another to make room for a swing next to the deck . As long as the ground is not frozen and I don't loosen the soil around the plant ,I don't lose any plants moving them this time of year.

My daff's are coming up and the crocus are just about to bud. They are so cute. The pesky squirrles have been digging around in my spring bed. I put chicken poop on top of the soil last fall, hoping this would  keep the little critters  out . They didn't seem to mind the smell... my neighbors did though LOL.

I put up a squirrel house for them up a few years ago.They had babies last summer . they were  fun to watch. It was really funny when those blasted sparrows tied to move into their house. What a fight. LOL

Well I'm off to get the shovel.

any longer, It got up to the 50's yesterday. I started digging up sod down by the Jim's new garage, by the time I had finished I had a beautiful 9/3 ft rasberry bed. It had been a flower bed years ago, so the ground was not to bad, but I still worked 3 wheel barrels of compost into it.

 I even had time before it got to chilly to turn the water fall on in the pond. What a beautiful sound LOL I will probaly have to turn it off again., but I doubt  it will hurt the hose to have water laying in it. I won't do any cleaning to the pond till late April.

 Wow am I stiff today, I wish I  could find an excersize in the winter to do that I liked.  It takes me a couple of weeks to get limbered up!!! Jim said, "You know we are getting older!" LOL

I look at everyone pictures and I  so want to get out in to my yard.I  am not crazy about the winds we get here but if it would melt the ice in my back yard and I could get it cleaned up I would'nt care if it was blew 60 miles ahour. And believe  me around hear thats mild.

 I cleaned  out some of the cattails in the pond,they really took offl last summer. I did not have the heart to throw them, so I put them in a bucket of water!!!. Now what ? LOL. I never clean out the flower beds till sping , a fellow that ran our parks, told me once never to cut our roses back till spring... if we have a open winter, we might not have to cut them down so far.That happens alot now. I was watering in January. What kills plants in this area, is the constant thawing and freezing we get and the winds drying out the soil.. The plants start to bud in Feburary and then we get a cold snap and they freeze so then we dont get fruit. So  I water to keep the ground frozen. It works ...sometimes.

I noticed my lilacs are in bud, I did'nt get much last year, we had to trim them back for the garage, I was really hoping to get blooms this spring. And the pear tree is also.

We gardeners are  a hopefull clan. Aren't we?

Well the berry patch is on hold till further notice. My husband Jim said we need to put a new roof on the house. My new berry patch would be right where the roofers trucks would be.

I am going to have to rethink my idea. I don't have any room left... except there.

I hate grass... this might be a good excuse to dig up more sod.LOL