soaphouse's Blog

Snow Slowdown...
Jan 20, 2008 | 2:36 PM PST
Tags: to do list , azalea , arbor , knock out , veggies , vines , hosta , conifer , cypress , creek , weeping willow

Well, yesterday we had snow all day...with accumulation, which is very unusual for us here! Of course b/c of snow...I am sure you can all imagine that it was quite cold! This means my plans for more creek clean up were put to a rest for this weekend at least. But, it did give me a good chance to get some things done inside the house. I worked on painting the nursery for the little one to come and I spent some time tootling around on various gardening websites. But, most exciting of all is that I got all of my past blog entries printed out and put in a 3 ring binder. I had NO idea how much I had written! I have enjoyed and found it very helpful in the past to look over my old entries. Now that they are all on paper...I have a great essay of the garden for most of last season and I can write notes in the margins and highlight and it will be just a great resource for future garden planning. It ended up being over 300 pages of blog entries! Now, I will try to maintain the discipline of printing out my blog on a monthly basis so that I always have it up to date.

One thing that I have found most helpful with it right now is looking back on the creek project and the progress. I am really starting to plan what to plant in that area as it is almost cleared out....but, since everything is dormant right now, looking back at old entries has really helped me notice where I still need to clean out and areas of sun and shade.

I have also been making a lot of mental to do lists for future garden projects. I think I ought to get them down on "paper":

• 
  Work on Hosta/Hydrangea Bed

• -I already transplanted the Hydrangeas to better locations, now I need to top dress with compost in the spring, then divide and transplant any hostas that need help. I also hope to add some new varieties of hostas. I am thinking I would also like to add some fatsia japonicas in the back to help hide the chain link fence.

• I also have many plants that I would like to divide and move around the garden:

• 
  -Ajuga
• -Daylilie
  s
• -Lambs Ear
• -Creeping Flox
• -Hardy Begonia
• -Vinca Minor and Vinca Major

• I also have a list of plants I would like to add to the garden this year (don't we all!):

• 
  - New sunny bed where we took out the maple: 3 or 5 false threaded cypress, Some fun varieties of conifers, possibly the tree peonie that I just ordered and maybe the hardy fuchsias as well.

• -New Porch Bed that I just created and got ready for planting: Sweet Pea VInes, Sunflowers, Bells of Ireland and something low growing for the front.

• -For the New Arbor that I am awaiting in the mail: It will go in the side yard on the right side of the house and I will plant a deciduous honeysuckle vine on the left side and I will put miniature ornamental gourd seeds on the other side. I am thinking the gourds will look so cools hanging there in the winter!

• -For
  the Never Ending Creek Project: Great Gunnera on bank side. 3 Green Giant Arborvities on property line to hide neighbors, Weeping willow tree on bank to prevent erosion problem. Lots of woodland fern varieties...and next fall I will add some bulbs to it as well! I would also like to add an arbor at the gate entrance and grow a Joseph's Coat Rose on it.
  

• -Veggie
  Garden: I am going to plant mostly plants this year from the local nursery so that if we are still in a level 4 drought, I will have a better chance at success...I plan to do: cherry tomatoes, pole beans and sugar snaps, Sweet Potatoes (purchased the starts already from Burpee), Spinach, Purple Brussle Sprouts, Asparagus and Artichokes (that I will purchase from Territorial Seed Company), and whatever else looks fun from the nursery. I will be doing a lot of companion planting as well so that means lots of: asters, dill, coriander, cosmos, basil, garlic, dill, basil and radishes...oh and onions too! I hope to have a couple more raised beds built so I will have lots of room for all this!

• -I also would like to beef up the shade bed where the azalea bed is. I haven't really ever done much with this for many reasons: Its in the back yard, so it is just now starting to get the attention it deserves, azaleas really are not my favorite things, but they are in good shape and they were here when we moved in, because they are not what I would have chosen, I think I have a hard time envisioning what else to do there. Also, it is one of the only deeply shaded spots in my yard, so I haven't learned a lot yet about shade gardening. I did plant a lot of daffodils there this fall , so I know that will be nice in early spring. I want to make it super pretty b/c it is my view out the kitchen window and I see it very regularly when I do the dishes.

• - I want to get some more knock out roses to plant at the base of my new sculpture in the front window seat bed.

• - And finally, I would like to add more flowering evergreen vines to my chain link fence in the ongoing effort to cover it up. The carolina jessamine and honeysuckles have done particularlily well, so I think I will get some of those.

• -I am sure that, in reality, only about half of this will get done, but I will end up doing a million other things that weren't even on my list. Thats always how it goes...but thats the fun of it! There is always something unexpected and tempting at the nursery that must be taken home :)

Whew....now that I got that out of my system!

It will be great to look back on this and see what ends up getting done! LOL

Great Weekend!
Jan 13, 2008 | 3:23 PM PST
Tags: fall , tree , clean up , planting beds , mulch , wood chips , pine straw , hydrangea , hosta , path , nandina , conifer , creek , hammock

I had another great weekend in the garden. Got LOTS done as I am taking advantage of the warm daytime temps we have been having lately. I spent so much time on the front yard this past growing season, that now I am excited to get more work done in the back. I have been doing things such as defining the beds and putting in paths. I ordered another load of the free woodchips from the city and got busy spreading it:

I laid down a path in between the beds leading to the back. The bed to the left contains hydrangeas and hostas. I just transplanted all the hydrangeas to a better layout and added 2 variegated hydrangeas on either side of the sweet gum tree - I am looking forward to seeing how it looks come spring.

Here is the same path, from the back view:

My husband cut down the remainder of the trunk of the tree we took out last weekend. He was excited, because this meant he got to buy an electric chain saw. He always loves getting new toys...as you can see it definately did the trick:

I also transplanted the nandinas that were in the front of this tree over to another space so that now I have room to put in a nice conifer garden :) I also finished spreading all the pine straw (this helped to define the beds and create some new planting areas in the back yard. Here is a good shot of the back yard as of today:

The creek area even got some attention this weekend. Once I finish dragging the brush to the curb, it will be all cleared and ready to plant up with ground covers and ferns. I also plan to put an arbor at the gate with a nice vine on it and an outdoor hammock so that the area can be fully enjoyed!

I am interested to see what survived out of my bargain fern purchases that I planted back here in late summer. Once the drought hit, they began to suffer...so we will see. The creeping euonymous is doing well, however :)

On the list for this week: finish spreading wood chip pile and dragging creek brush to curb!