soaphouse's Blog

Amazing what Rain does for the garden!
Jun 6, 2009 | 5:22 AM PST
Tags: garapa , hydrangea , rain , crab grass , weeds , deck , beautyberry , mountain oaks grass , black and blue , salvia , Salvias

This is the most consistent rain season we have had since we have lived in this house and it really is quite amazing! I know it does have something to do with the garden getting more mature, but things are just going CRAZY!

For the most part, that is wonderful...but, it makes the weeds grow crazy too...lots of rain with sunny, windy afternoons...well, you can imagine. So, I have been tackling a lot more weeding (and spraying) than I normally have to do. The vinca and the mint in the front bed is just going wild and has become quite the aggressive traveler...so, I have become one with the string trimmer and have been pulling a lot of it by hand to keep it in check.

I recently bought one of the Worx GT Weedeaters from the informercial. First time I have ever bought something off the TV...and I must say, I LOVE IT! It was my mother's day present and it is awesome!

It has helped me a lot in the garden, especially keeping up with all the spring growth from all the rain.

Here are some recent picts taken of the garden:

The hydrangea bed is really coming along. This is the first year that it has actually looked like something:

The black and blue salvia is such a nice accent in this bed:

I won't show you the view of the back of this bed...which is pretty much a nice collection of crab grass that i need to get out with my special weeding tool.

My purple beauty berry that was basically a stick in the mud when I planted it in the fall - is rally doing well!

<
p>And, I do love the mountain oats grass! It has lots of little seedlings sprouting and i am counting on them to take up some of the area that the crab grass seems to like so much:

The veggies are coming along very nicely and we are starting to enjoy some srawberries, lots of basil and we are greatly anticipating the tomatoes that are soon to ripen!

Hubby has also made a ton of progress with the deck! He has gotten it most of the way done. All thats left is the railing and the skirting. We are also going to put a stepping stone patio at the bottom of the steps to create a nice landing where we can put a grill and nice little bistro set. He will begin work on the railing soon...

Here is a before and after:

And one more before and after shot of stairs:

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And finally, a nice shot of the top of the deck with the Garapa Wood:

Spring Photo Journey...
Apr 5, 2009 | 5:57 PM PST
Tags: ostrich fern , purple , asparagus , vibernum , garapa , tulip

My little girl and I came down with strep for the 2nd time in 3 weeks, so while hubby took the baby to church, we stayed at home and had a lazy morning. We did step outside in the beautiful weather for a short walk and a photo session of early spring in our garden. Here is a sampling:

View of the front garden:

Some of the tulips from last year came back and the newly planted ones are emerging too:

The above photo was not digitally altered...came out of the camera just like that...cool, huh?

View coming up the front walk:

Nice shot of the back yard:

This is only the 2nd time in the 6 years that we have lived here that I have gotten to see all the azaleas in bloom...usually a late freeze gets them. We are supposed to get freezing temps on tues and wed this week - AAHHH! So, hubby went and bought some drop cloths and we will be covering lots of things! What a pain...I thought we were going to avoid that this year...but I guess our last frost date of April 15th is that way for a reason...

View of the back, from the back:

Creek shot...will be time to weedeat soon:

The ostrich fern is coming back in the creek and I am so excited! I planted 1 clump and it is coming back as 3...it is said to be quite the spreader and I am counting on that for the creek area. Also, we are getting some great purple asparagus coming up and have tasted a couple of sprigs freshly picked. - so YUMMY! They are in the 2nd year, so I think next year is when we really start to get a great harvest.

The Virburnum will be in its full glory soon (see that little guy?):

After the little ones went down for their afternoon nap, I set out to move some more of that mulch. I also dismantled the rotting compost bin. I hope to get one of those fancy ones that you can turn one day. The deck is coming along nicely as well....hubby is going to pick up the garapa wood on Thurs! Hooray!! Hope everyone had fun digging in the dirt this weekend!

More Rain!
Apr 2, 2009 | 5:43 AM PST
Tags: shade , hosta , astillbe , garapa , deck

• More rain here at soapHOUSE! The news reported that we are now officially out of the drought! But, they still haven't lifted the watering restrictions, as a precaution. But, not that that matters with all the rain we are getting these days! I really do love the way all the plants look in the rain, but I am itching to get outside and do some work too. SOmetimes I will work in the rain, pulling weeds and such, but today it is forcasted for thunder storms, so I do believe we will be house bound. 

• THe deck is coming along and hubby is going to call the distributor today to order the decking boards. He is almost done with the framing. We were planning on using Ipe all along, but the other night when we were researching the best prices, we came accross another type of brazilian hard wood called garapa. It is exactly the same as ipe in all its properties except it is a light honey color instead of a deep walnut color. I think this coloring will look better with our house and the garapa is a fraction of the cost of ipe...so, we ARE excited!!! Interesting, we found out this wood has the same fire rating as concrete...pretty impressive! Can't wait to see it!

• I am still inspecting the shade bed daily looking for more signs of hostas coming up and astillbes. I know it is early yet, but this is always the time of year when I start to wonder if things will actually come back or not...

I am an impatient gardener!