osprey94's Blog
osprey94's Blog
Last Post 1 day, 7 hours Ago
May 11, 2008 | 7:58 PM PST
Well, we finally have a greenhouse. At least the outside of one! D and I spent a little of Saturday and ALL day today (Sunday) working on it and finally finished by around 4pm. We still have to install the shelving and the cedar work surfaces. Plus, once the electrician comes, I'll have to install the lights, misting system, thermostat, etc.
Once we had it all together, we put the thermometer inside and watched the temp. rise. It was in the mid 50s outside and within maybe a half hour, it was 92 inside the greehouse! We opened the two gable vents and soon, the temp went down to the high seventies.
When the temp is in the 80s this summer, I am DEFINITELY going to need to put shade cloth over the thing and keep the vents open unless I want to fry the plants.
My next step is to find some really good books on greenhouse gardening and see what I can accomplish. D is already wondering if I can work some magic and grow oranges in there! I don't know a THING about growing fruit entirely in the greenhouse. It'd be nice to try growing all kinds of exotic fruits and plants, but I really don't know what's reasonably possible.
I managed to get a few more things accomplished even though the entire day was spent building. I RE-planted tomatoes, considering the frost a few nights ago killed mine right to the ground! I was all ready to cover them in case of threat of frost, but I just didn't check the weather the night before. I should've know better, because it was a clear night.
Oh well, I got three new tomatoes at Lowes and planted them nice and snug today. I half-covered them with plastic this time. I bought sun gold and husky cherry tomatoes and for a full-sized variety, I got Celebrity.
I gave Celebrity the majority of the room in the bed and then the other two (indeterminate) got a corner each and a tower each to support them. And, this time, I covered them for the night. Even if it doesn't freeze, they'll get a little protection. I just hope I can remember to uncover them before I leave for work. It'd be just my luck to freeze the first three and then cook the next 3.
Here are the 'maters inside the plastic sheeting "house".
I also planted two containers for the shady front porch. They each have astilbe, hosta and coral bells. Here's one of 'em:
And, that's about it. I'm SO ready for summer break. I have much to do and work just interferes!
Oh, yeah. Monday, I added a bunch of new plants to the deck bed. So, here are the plants just home from Bennie's Nursery.
They are...
3 Andromedas...
One each of...
One each of...(except the coral bells - I got one large one and 6 small ones.
The astilbe, hosta and coral bells went into those porch pots I just mentioned. The rest (except for that loosestrife) went into the deck bed...
I don't know where the tag for that grass went. I don't even remember what kind it is. Crap. It'll probably be my favorite and I'll never really know how to buy more.
The lady's mantle in this shot have been transplanted from another spot in my garden. I love lady's mantle.
The other project going on is a strip of wildflowers we sowed along the road.
They haven't germinated yet. I think we might have to replant. Don't know what went wrong, we've been watering regularly.
And, one last project update. The edging on the deck bed has been dug. Now I just need to fill the little trench with bark mulch:
Okay, now I'm done. Phew! Time to sleep.
May 5, 2008 | 6:52 AM PST
Yesterday, D, his parents, and I spent all day building the greenhouse. The weather was FINALLY perfect for working on it, so we took advantage. Prior to yesterday, we had the foundation all ready and had added tons of gravel all around the foundation for drainage. It looked like this:
We threaded a conduit pipe thingy under the front beam of the house so the electrician would have an easier time wiring. The wall with the conduit thingy is the back wall. The opposite wall is the wall that will have the door.
Then, we had to arrange and fasten those rails along the wood beams. That took a LONG time, because it had to be level and square, and the little bits of gravel getting under it didn't help at all.
Once we had the rails on, it was very easy to start the frame. We just stuck corner posts in each corner. A few more posts between them, and then the plastic wall pieces slide right into the spaces between.
Once we had the walls up, it looked like this:
On the far wall (door wall), we installed a vent. Here's a shot of that:
Next time we work on it we have to add the exhaust fan on the other end and the roof. Then, we'll be done with the outside and I'll have to do the shelves inside. Then, I'll have to install the lights, misting system, heater, etc. Hopefully, the electrician can come out when we're ready for him, but even if it takes him a while to get to us, at least this thing will be completed before the fall.
Other projects I've been working on are...
1. Some containers for the deck. I took the smallish whiskey barrels the clematis used to be in and planted them with these "garden in a bag" things I found at costco... 
One of them, though, is probably in part to full shade:
I'll probably need to move it, because the flowers I planted in it said full to part sun. If it just goes to the other end of the daybed, I think it'll get enough sun.
The other two containers are opposite this one:
I put a thin layer of gravel in the bottom of all three containers, filled it with container mix soil and put them on top of bricks to make sure the water can drain out of the bottom well.
2. I tried out my SunCalc. It was the first day we actually HAD sun to calculate! I stuck it in between the viburnum and dogwood in front of the deck. I put it in the ground at 7am and turned it on. Little red lights flashed to show it was calculating. The directions said that in 12 hours, it'd stop flashing and the calculated sun "rating" would light up. I predicted it'd be part sun, but I wasn't sure, because the deck itself gets so hot in the summer. At 7pm, I looked and I was right - part sun. Great, I paid $20 to find out what I already knew. No, really, it was very cool. There are many places I'd like to calculate, that I'm not so sure about, so I'm sure it'll come in handy a few times, and then I can maybe sell it on ebay, or give it to someone who'll enjoy it, too.
3. In the veggie garden, I started ALL over again in the spinach/lettuce bed. I had planted the seeds WAY to thickly and thinning was just impossible. Plus, I took a reading of the soil with my soil tester and it was LOW in nutrients. So, I used an organic fertilizer, raking it in, and replanted. square foot gardening style.I put in 2 rows of broccoli ("Early Dividend"), one per square foot, and the remaining squares are mostly spinach ("Baby's Leaf Hybrid") and lettuce ("Looseleaf Blend") with some cilantro in one square. All seeds are Burpee brand. Now, when they sprout, thinning will be a lot easier because I only planted 2-3 seeds in each section of each square.
4. Then, I planted tomatoes and walla walla onions. This year, I'm trying these red trays. They have four holes around the stem area that actually poke into the soil. You fill the receptacle with water and it slowly drains into the soil. In one of them, I filled the holes with organic fertilizer and then filled the thing up with water. With the other two, the only fertilizer they got was scratched into the soil before planting. I want to see if there's a difference in growth. Two of the tomatoes are indeterminate ("Bonny Best" and "Brandywine") and one is determinate (the one on the right - "Bush Early Girl"). I think the determinate one needs more space. I might move it to the very middle of the bed. The other two will get square metal cages for support:
5. Then, I planted the third bed with the herb garden seeds I bought from Burpee:
6. THEN, I planted 12 asparagus plants I bought at Home Depot:
I dug two long trenches, about 6 in. deep...
And, put the asparagus babies in there, spaced about 18 in apart...
and covered them with about 3 in of soil and watered them:
Now, supposedly, as they grow, I keep covering them with more soil.
7. THEN, I planted some sunflower seeds over by the fence on the opposite side of the garden. I planted "Red Sun", "Moonshine" and "Evening Sun":
8. I also prepped two containers to plant for the porch. That porch is probably full shade, so I need to go to the nursery and pick out some annuals that love shade.
I think that about covers the projects I've completed recently. I have the day off today, so hopefully, I'll be able to get a few more done.
I have an awesome idea for the front of the house and D and I were talking about yet another project for the future - A prairie meadow area! Can't WAIT. OH! I forgot about a project in process. I'll have to take some photos today and post them later.
All for now. Over and out.
Apr 29, 2008 | 6:24 PM PST
A package from Burpee was waiting for me when I got home. Yipeeeee! I got a "SunCalc":
This is one of those products I'd usually make fun of when I see them on TV or in a catalog. I'd say something along the lines of "Lemme get this straight. You're too lazy to look out the window and see how much sun an area is getting, so you have to PAY to buy a device that will do it for you?!"
HOWEVER! In my defense! I have SO MUCH AREA to cover and I am slowly losing my mind trying to figure out which areas get light and how much at which parts of the day during which parts of the year...bleh. I'm fed up and I saw this thing and I thought - HA! Someone listened to my pleas. My lazy, consumerist pleas. Now, a device will do the work for me and I will vegetate on the couch. Just kidding about the couch part. The thing will calculate the sun for me while I build that greenhouse and plant my plants.
I also got an herb garden kit:
I loved the combination of herbs it included and the fact that it came with two different plans. I think I'm going to plant one of my three veggie beds entirely with this pack. It'll look so pretty. The only thing it's missing is cilantro, but I'll plant some somewhere else.
I also ordered asparagus, but got a little slip that basically said, sorry, you don't get any stinkin' asparagus, but didn't really explain why. They send asparagus out at the correct planting time for your area. I hope that time hasn't passed, but it probably has. Oh well, I might just try again next year, or the next time they offer it.
No more deer predation YET. I live in fear. D peed all over some of the plants in the shed bed (I told him NEAR, not ON, but he got a little carried away), but I don't know if that's working or if they're just saving their appetite for a few days from now when they're going to eat every last leaf.
We shall see!
Apr 26, 2008 | 3:23 PM PST
This might be the SLOOOWWWWEST progress in the history of the world. We've had the greenhouse in boxes for months and now, after finally getting started on it, all we have to show for it is the foundation. And we spent ALL DAY on this sucker.
Here's what it looks like now:
Here's what it looked like as of yesterday:
Much better. It was hard work. D, his dad and I worked from about 9 am till 3pm. I'm tuckered and don't want to work anymore, but we'll probably do a little more filling in with gravel all around the foundation. I got two new gardening books and all I want to do is lounge and read them.
Here they are:
Growing Vegetables is very readable so far. I'm starting that one first. The Anne Lovejoy one seems to cover most of the stuff in her other books I have, so I'm not sure about that one. Gotta give it a closer look.
Today was WARM and sunny. In my thin, long-sleeved shirt and jeans I was almost too warm for comfort by noon. But I didn't really have to get down to a short-sleeved shirt.
I dug up all my spinach and lettuce seedlings. They were packed so close I couldn't thin them unless I sat there for 2 hours snipping out the extras. What a waste. This time, I'm going to plant them "square foot garden" style. It's a little late now, to start them, but hey, we've had snow and hail up until now! The problem will be if they have enough time to get mature before they go to seed from the hot dry middle of the summer days.
I'll just eat a lot of baby spinach and lettuce and then plant again for a fall harvest.
I've seen some gorgeous BIG tomato plants at the stores, but I'm too afraid to plant them with this crazy weather. I need to refer back to last year's tomato plantings and see when I did them. THAT'S another reason this blog is so great. It's the best way to keep track for me.
Off to read my books! In the sun! Weeeeeeeee!!!!
Apr 24, 2008 | 7:10 PM PST
I love 'em and I hate 'em. On misty mornings, when they're peacefully grazing in the field next to our house, I love 'em. When they are curled up in the tall grass near the forest at sunset, I love 'em. When I get home from work and find my wild lilac literally PULLED out of the GROUND and my redtwig dogwoods almost completely defoliated by them...I HATE them. But only for a few seconds. It's not their fault. They're doing what they do. And I planted one of their favorite foods (dogwood) right where they could go to town on them. My fault.
Here's the lilac as I found it today. I nestled it back in the soil just now. I don't think they'll try eating it again. They're too tough to munch and they know that now after sampling it, yanking it out of the ground and leaving it there virtually unharmed!:
And here's the poor little dogwood:
Doesn't look that bad, until you see the before:
Ah, poor baby. Sigh. I HAD to have a redtwig dogwood. I was just hoping against hope that they'd magically ignore them. Ha!
Anyway, here's my temporary solution:
I'm not sure it's stable enough, but for now, it'll have to do.
So, deer? Maybe you could just leave me the dogwoods? You can have the ENTIRE forest, if I can just have my dogwoods. Please?
Apr 19, 2008 | 10:15 AM PST
It's been snowing all morning. Perfect for blogging. I've been thinking about my dad a lot lately. He was an incredible gardener. He planted our entire front yard - no grass! His veggie garden was HUGE and could've fed the whole neighborhood. I think he worked just to support his gardening habit (and me). I didn't catch the gardening bug until after he was gone.
He died four years ago and his death brought a complex jumble of emotions. He broke my heart when he was alive and he broke my heart when he died. Our relationship was a tense, painful one.
I miss him as a person, now and I wonder if our common passion in gardening would've strengthened our relationship.
I think of him every time I'm in the garden and dedicate every ounce of effort I put into it to his memory.
Every spring when the seed catalogs start arriving, I smile to see that a few of them are still addressed to him, but forwarded to me. His gift to me. A peace offering. A reminder that he is me and I am him, and that gardening is the medium between us.
Better late than never!
Now, on to the weather. Next spring, I'll be able to see this entry and think to myself, oh yeah...it snowed in late April last year, and then summer did actually come anyway. Hope is not gone.
So, here's the view from the porch at around 8am:
Here's the same view at around 9am:
I've already cleaned off the hummer feeders twice this morning.
Here are my lettuce and spinach seedlings:
Poor things.
And here are my peas. Very sad:
Summer will arrive, right?
It's 10am, now and the snow is still coming down. Sigh.
Maybe next weekend, I'll be able to get something done!
Apr 13, 2008 | 6:55 PM PST
I set out to get one large project (deck bed) done this summer before I moved on to any other. Well, I got the deck bed done (largest plants only, that is) AND I made a second bed and planted it, too!
Here's the deck bed - From left to right across the bed, I've got a wild lilac, the stewartia, spring boquet viburnum, red twig dogwood, another viburnum, another dogwood, a flowering currant, and another viburnum. I also bought two clematis (both were supposed to be bare root in a little plastic bag) and the only non-soil object in the dirt was this one tiny sad little root segment. I planted it and we'll see what happens, but geez, I payed $12 for that?
It looks so sorrowfully empty in this pic. In reality, I was worried that at their mature size, the plants will be crowded one day! Each viburnum, red twig dogwood, and the currant is supposed to get to be 8' by 8'. The wild lilac tags say 4' by 4', but the two we've had in the ground for a few years now are much bigger than that, so I don't know.
And, I didn't use all the viburnum, redtwig dogwood or wild lilac that I bought, so I decided to put them in the bed I built next to the shed. I also transplanted a lilac I'd been saving in a temporary bed into this one. Here's the finished product:
Now, for perennials. For the deck bed, I searched Home Depot and Fred Meyer for coneflower, aster and stella d'oro daylilies. No luck. I DID find some evergreen candytuft at Fred Meyer that I thought might make a nice groundcover layer for this bed. But, I didn't buy it. I want to see some other choices first.
Well, I'm pooped. I hope the weather next weekend is as nice as this weekend. I got SO much done.
Apr 13, 2008 | 7:16 AM PST
Oooh, I love before and afters!
The path up to the potting shed has always been narrow, awkward and lined with boxwoods. It was close to impossible to get the mower in and out of the door of the shed. So, we finally did something about it. Here's the before pic of the shed:
And, now...the after:
I moved the boxwoods to some temporary beds. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet. I took the rocks that lined the path and used them to frame the new gravel area. D and I dumped and smoothed the gravel and then we made a new mounded bed on the side of the shed:
Now, I just have to figure out what I will plant here. I have a lilac I've been trying to find a spot for. I think I'll put it here as the anchor for this bed. Then, I want to put in a few evergreen shrubs and some perennials.
I'm currently trying to make a list of all the plants I have that I want to move and see if I can group them up into beds that have a nice balance of evergreen/deciduous/mult-seaso
n color/interest.
I'm using an excel worksheet with columns for light needs/bloom time/evergreen or deciduous/form, etc.
So far, I have:
name light needs form blooming season
rosemary full to part evergreen shrub summer
lonicera (2) ? evergreen shrub
wild rose ? deciduous
shrub summer
boxwood(4) ? evergreen
shrub
small rhodies(4) shade evergreen shrub spring/summer
Okay, that didn't paste very well. I can't get that "summer" to move over to the bloom column when I post, but you get the idea. I'm maybe halfway done with this list.
It's supposed to rain again starting this afternoon, so I'm going to plant the stewartia in the deck bed and the lilac in the shed bed. I'm still not sure what to do with the mock orange (Philadelphus), but I guess I'll just put it in the deck bed, even though I'd wanted Mexican orange (Choisya). If I can find the choisya, I'll just cluster them around the Philadelphus.
Yesterday, I made a list of some groundcover ideas to replace the heath in the design I'm using as inspiration for the deck bed. Here's what I came up with:
evergreen candytuft (my current fave)
blue star creeper
wintergreen
creeping mahonia
cotoneaster dammeri
cornus canadensis (bunchberry)
Dragon's blood sedum
I know I have to just go with whatever I can find at the nurseries, but I wish I could have my pick of all of these.
Mason bee update - two holes in the cocoon tubes. No sign of them cementing their eggs into the house, yet.
Also, D discovered a swarm of little black flying-ant-looking insects in the back field when he was mowing. They were VERY numerous. I wonder what they are?
My spinach and lettuce are very slowly growing. I'm going to wait until they're a few centimeters tall and then thin them a little with some scissors, I guess. Today we're going to try to work on the footprint for the greenhouse, because we skipped it last night. Too tired.
I'm off to plant that stewartia!
Apr 12, 2008 | 5:18 PM PST
Finally, it's warm. Yesterday it was sunny and warm. Today it's sunny and HOT! I've gotten a lot done. D and I worked all morning on the area in front of our potting shed. We added a mounded bed to one side of it and enlarged the gravel path up to it. Pictures to come.
We also pruned and trimmed the trees we have planted all around the perimeter of our 2 acrews of non-wooded land. That was quite a job! We have over 100 trees. D did half of them yesterday, while I was at work, thank goodness!
A couple of exciting developments. A pair of coopers hawks have started a nest in a tree not far into our woods. Sometimes I see one of them flying into the woods from the fields nearby. We can hear them "kek, kek, kek"ing from time to time.
D bought a new Cub Cadet zero turn mower. It is wonderful and cuts down on our mowing time. We have A LOT of lawn. Unfortunately.
The swallows are back! This morning, for the first time we noticed, they were dive-bombing and swooping all over the yard.
Our mason bees appear to be hatching from their little cocoons. Two of the capsules show signs that they've been breaking out! D also said he'd seen a yellowjacket in one of the holes in the mason bee house, though. He'd better get outta there and make room for the mason bees.
It was so nice out today that I spent some time sprawled out on my new daybed, looking through my gardening books for ideas. It was so hot, I ALMOST had to take off my long-sleeved shirt and get down to a tank top (I'm always cold) AND I was barefoot on the deck and the deck nearly burned the soles of my feet.
More later. After dinner, we're back out in the yard, working on the footprint for the greenhouse. We have to get it flat and level.
Apr 8, 2008 | 6:08 PM PST
Of my deck bed garden plant list, I've acquired 2 plants - one Japanese Stewartia (the one I was really excited about but was afraid I wouldn't find!) and a "mock orange". Yesterday, I gave D the list of plants and today, he went shopping for them. He went to a local nursery called Bennie's, and just handed the woman working there the list and let her take over and find them for him. This is what he came home with:
The stewartia...
Now, I was a bit surprised by the mock orange because I had mexican orange on my list and I had asked for 3 of them. So, wrong plant, wrong amount, but maybe this is another name for mexican orange. I need to compare Latin names, here. I do remember reading that mexican orange is evergreen and this...
is NOT evergreen. At least not in this climate. Gotta do more research on this one. I'm sure I could find a place for it, but I don't think it's what I was looking for. Bummer.
Here's the mock orange's tag:
and the back of it...
And, here's the tag for the stewartia...
I'm going to try to find a good conifer that won't get TOO huge as the second tree for this bed, instead of the Japanese snowbell tree that's recommended. Then, I've got to start shopping for the rest of the list.
I saw some Korean Spice viburnum at Fred Meyers the other day for a decent price, so I might have to go back there soon.
I still have to decide what to plant instead of the heath, because I don't much like heath and I've noticed that that fountain grass hasn't been at Home Depot, Lowe's, or Fred Meyer, so I need to think of a good replacement for it, too, in case I can't find it anywhere else. Run-on sentence, anyone?
Apr 2, 2008 | 11:55 AM PST
I'm trying to apply Anne Lovejoy's informal "rule of thirds" to this new bed I'm planning to see if it qualifies. Anne says a garden should have approximately 1/3 evergreen, 1/3 structural deciduous and the last 1/3 seasonal color. I like that idea because it seems more balanced than all structure and no color or vice versa. It also ensures that I will have a pretty good-looking garden, even in the winter.
So, in my plan, I have a total of 12 kinds of plants. Here they are, listed with the amounts of each and an "E" next to the evergreen plants, a "D" next to the structural deciduous plants and an "S" next to the seasonal color plants.
(D)japanese stewardia 1
(D)japanese snowbell 1
(E)mexican orange 5
(E)'spring boquet' viburnum 4
(D)compact korean spice viburnum 4
(E)'springwood white' heath 20 (never was a big fan of heath - I want to find a different groundcover w/ similar properties)
(E) Clematis 2
(D)peony hybrid 3
(D)fountain grass P. setaceum 20
(S)'monch' frikart's aster 6
(S)'bright star' coneflower 6
(S)Stella d'Oro daylilly 15
That seems relatively well-balanced.
The next thing I want to examine is if any of the plants in this list could be swapped out for an something better or more available. For example, I don't know anything about peonies. I think they're gorgeous, but maybe something else would be better, who knows? Also, I just took a trip to Walmart and Home Depot and so far, was able to find the viburnum and the heath and that's it! I really like mexican orange plants, but what if I can't find them? I really want the stewartia, but again, what if I don't have any luck finding it? What would work well in it's place? A flowering crabapple? A japanese maple? What?
And another also. I have quite a few plants that I want to move eventually that I could incorporate into this bed, but aren't in this list. Like, the azaleas that aren't happy over by the shed and something called a "beauty bush" I bought at the farmer's market and just planted without any thought in a spot I want to completely redo. I also have a couple lady's mantles, a climbing hydrangea, and a three butterfly bushes I could use for this bed. But, will they all do well together? Will they like the spot? Agh. It's too much information to keep straight. That's why I initially went right for a plan someone had already made up. They'd done all that planning already and all I had to do was buy the plants and stick 'em in the ground.
And yet another also. I would REALLY like to include some plants that will entice the hummers to the deck, so putting the azaleas and butterfly bushes in there might be the way to do it.
Sigh. I'm going to pore over my big stack of gardening books and see if I can come up with a new plant list today. Then, I'll have to start checking out a few local nurseries and see what I can get there.
Anyone out there have good luck with online nurseries?
Apr 1, 2008 | 8:12 PM PST
Today I moved my clematis from the shop area to the new deck bed. One of the three snapped right at the base of the stem and I threw it away. The other two seemed to survive the transplant SO FAR. I want to be positive, but I don't have high hopes for these guys. They're already sickly and now I've shocked them. ALSO, the topsoil mix I'm using is pretty hot still and although I wetted the soil down to cool it, it might have been a little warm on the root balls. We'll see...if they don't make it, I'll get some more. Maybe a deciduous kind, with brightly colored blooms, instead of white.
Apr 1, 2008 | 8:10 AM PST
These Aspect hummer feeders are the best hummingbird feeders EVER. They are so easy to fill and clean. You just pop the top off! No trying to squeeze a big brush down inside the narrow tube to clean. No more lost or broken bee guards. No more black mold spots I can't remove no matter what I do.
The hummers love them, too. See?
Here's a view from the top:
And, here's one more shot of the hook it comes with.
In conclusion. If you have hated all your hummer feeders like I have, get one of these. They're not paying me for this. I'm just very happy to have found a feeder that doesn't cause me to HATE cleaning and maintaining the feeders!
http://www.aspectsinc.com/
2_Hummingbird.htm
Unrelated weather update:
We had a pretty good frost last night. Even my columbine looks like it took some damage. I am SO SICK of the cold!
Also, I'm going to move some clematis (the evergreen kind) from containers to the new deck bed today so it can wind its way up the deck railing. It's blooming right now. I hope I don't kill it by moving it. It's doing so poorly where it is, though, that I figure it can't get much worse.
I'm going to go to the nursery today to see if they have the trees I want for this bed: Japanese stewartia and Japanese snowbell. If I can't find them, I'll ask the nursery what would be good substitutes.
Mar 31, 2008 | 4:28 PM PST
Well, the new deck bed is in place, mostly. I still need to add a leeetle more topsoil in a few areas and edge a little between the soil and the lawn, and I'm ready to plant. I made it so wide that I'm going to have to use a board to stand on while I plant so my weight's distributed better. Thanks again, Sweetlebee, for helping me along in this process. I'm such a newbie, it's pretty pitiful. The comments were so right. 42 cubic yards was WAY too much. Anne Lovejoy in her books recommends a VERY thick mounded bed and I was going by those calculations, plus I must've made some sort of mathematical miscalculation. I ended getting about 25 cubic yards of topsoil and it was, as you'll see, more than enough. And, it was only (ha! only) $480 or so.
Today as I was tearing the muddy lawn up with the tractor, carting soil from the pile to the site, I realized I was pretty low on gas. I stopped, examined the THREE gas cans D has and decided to call him instead of guess which one was the correct gas (could've been mixed gas/oil for the chainsaw, could've been diesel, could've been regular, who knows!). He didn't answer his cell, so I decided to be independent and handle it myself so I grabbed a can, figuring we had the right kind for the tractor on hand and filled 'er up! Well, a few minutes of driving it around and it just stopped working. I knew deep down I'd put the wrong gas in it, but I didn't want to admit it. Finally I called D and asked him if stalling might have anything to do with putting gas in the thing. Well, he shared (in a calm, collected way) that gas I'd used? It was "NOT DIESEL! THAT TRACTOR TAKES DIESEL!" And I believe he also said "OH MY GOD, CALL THE TRACTOR PLACE RIGHT NOW!" I fervently wished I didn't have to admit this to the manly guys at the tractor dealership (who I know already think I'm a dingy city girl when I call with my ridiculous tractor questions), but I had to do it. They were nice and waited to laugh at me until I hung up, I'm sure. They said that it wasn't a big deal, but they would have to drain the gas out and change the filters. So, now I've gotta wait for them to pick the thing up and service it AND drop it back off again before I can keep working on whittling away at the topsoil pile.
So...here it is...ta daaaaa!
From the front - makes the bed look really skinny, but it's NOT.
And, here's how much soil I have left over!
And, see that strange brightness in the pictures? That's sunshine. I know, I know, it's rare, but that really is sunshine! And it lasted all of 5 minutes before the clouds came in AGAIN. I'm anticipating some more hail and a snow shower before the next showing.
Mar 31, 2008 | 9:14 AM PST
I just did some topsoil shopping for this new bed I want to put in around our deck. For 42 yards, the cheapest I found was $18 per cubic yard. That's going to be nearly $800. I almost choked when I heard that number.
I don't know what I was expecting. A couple hundred, maybe? Yeesh. D is going to have kittens when he hears how much it'll be. I haven't even bought the plants yet. That's going to be another thousand or so bucks. Gulp. We just bought tickets for a trip to Yellowstone this summer. Sigh. I'm actually considering calling and cancelling the delivery.
I've been planning this bed for so long. It will increase the value of our home. The deck looks terrible as it is. We need some habitat for more wildlife. I'm just going to jump in and do this. I don't have to put in all the plants at once. I'll put them in as I can get them.
Justifying my spending is an art form. I've gotten very good at it.
Anyone else have this kind of experience bringing topsoil in for a bed? I'm literally freaking out right now. I know the eventual garden will be worth it, but ugh. I feel awful. Each plant I plunk down the money for will make me feel even worse.
