soaphouse's Blog

Rain, Rain, Rain
Mar 27, 2009 | 5:17 PM PST
Tags: deck , coral bark , maple , blue , red , rain , weeds , azalea , peonie

We have had SO much rain this week and we are forecasted for more. Of course we pick the week of national flood warnings to build the new deck - LOL! But, I must say, hubby is quite the trooper. He has worked through most of the rain...unless it has been just pouring. He has gotten a lot done and it is looking SO good!

Probably one of the hardest parts was making multiple trips to the stone yard and shoveling gravel to cover the bottom for drainage:

Then he got a majority of the framing done:

He is still out there as I type working by a shop light in the dark - God bless him!

Now that we have gotten both of our little ones on the same nap schedule, I am able to get back out in the garden for good chunks of time during the afternoon. SO, I have been taking advantage of the wet soil and getting lots of weeds pulled.I am also pleased to say that I do believe we will get to see the azaleas in full bloom this year. Usually, they start to bud out and our late freeze zaps them. But, the last freeze we had was early enough that they are doing well now:

And, all 3 of my peonies are peeking out:

Also, the hostas just started to show their little green tips :)

Here is a nice shot of the front. See the dark spot in the front lawn? Thats where I filled a dip in the ground with some soil:

And, the backyard:

See the coral bark maple in the foreground? When I cleaned up the driveway the other day, I took some clumps of the blue grass and put them in this bed. I think that will be so fun come 4th of july to have the red and blue together. I think I have settled on the idea to make this little berm an ornamental grass bed, with some creeping phlox on the edge by the path.

I just love the way everything looks in this rain...like its glowing...and our creek has turned into more of a river, which is neat. we can hear the sounds of the water from the house.

I still have yet to get all the mulch moved, so If we get enough dryness this weekend, I will try to finish that. Happy gardening weekend everyone!

Spring Projects...
Mar 21, 2009 | 5:11 PM PST
Tags: deck , demo , spring , peonie , peach , peach tree , drive

We have been enjoying spring here at soapHOUSE and we love watching the daily activities in the garden. Seems like there is something new to look at everyday! Our peach tree that is in its 3rd year has some beautiful blooms this season:

Perhap
s we will get some yummy peaches this year?

On a stroll around the garden this afternoon I noticed many spring events: The purple asparagus is starting to grow, the dogwood is budding out, the azaleas are blooming, the peonies are coming up, the phlox are all blooming, the hydrangeas have their new growth, the hardy begonia is coming back, the autumn ferns are showing their new growth and the georgia blue bells are in full bloom...I just LOVE it!

I noticed recently that the beds that we had put along either side of the driveway had done their fair share of compacting and the edges had become a bit messy, so I set out the other evening with my broom to tidy things up a bit. Little did I know that there was about a foot of driveway on either side hiding under all that pinestraw that had gotten compacted! So, that turned into quite a project. After a lot of work with the shovel, rake, broom and bare hands...I uncovered about 2 1/2 feet of driveway and have a nice tidy edge now: In these picts you can still see the line of where I cleaned up. WOW! Glad I did that. I think it makes a difference and makes things look tidyer.

The other project that has gotten under way recently is rebuilding our back deck. We knew it would need to be done when we bought the house 6 years ago and now we are finally able to do it. My husband is a carpenter so he is doing all the work himself. He has decided to use ipe wood and I am so excited to see how beautiful it will be! He has taken his vacation week at work to do the bulk of the project this coming week :)

Here is the before shot (taken about 1 year ago):

Ugh! So ugly!

Here are a couple of shots as he was doing the demo:

He said that as he was taking it apart, some of the wood literally crumbled in his hand! Pretty bad! Hard to believe we had been walking on it all this time!

Here is what it looks like now with nothing there:

We deadbolted that sunroom door closed so that we wouldn't accidentally forget and let one of the dogs go running out the door - HAH!

So this week, we should see a lot of progress on this and I will keep you all updated!

Annual Snow
Mar 2, 2009 | 4:50 PM PST
Tags: snow , crocus , mulch , spring

Well, we typically get one snow a year in my neck of the woods...and thats what we got yesterday! It started really coming down while we were at church, and when service was over and the curtains were lifted, everyone cheered at the sight of "cotton balls" falling from the sky. It really was quite beautiful! It only kept up like that for a couple of hours, then it just turned to slushy rain. I did get a couple of shots of the crocus in the snow:

Here is the front yard with the nice "dusting"

Its all melted now and we are forcasted for weather in the 70's this weekend :)

My little seedlings are coming up in the veggie beds: lettuce, kale, parsley and chinese cabbage. - HORRAY! Always so nice when something goes as planned! I hope to get the rest of the mulch moved to the veggie area this weekend during the gorgeous weather.

Happy spring :)