soaphouse's Blog
soaphouse's posts about: pine straw
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!
Jan 6, 2008 | 4:48 PM PST
Tags: tree , maple , cypress , blue evergreen , canna , iris , sculpture , compost , pine straw , allium , bulb
We had quite the weekend in the garden! Very productive! I got a lot of things checked off of my to do list :) I divided some Iris, transplanted some cannas to pots, spread pine straw in the back yard, moved a pile of compost to the veggie bed, planted 70 allium bulbs and started the sculpture for the front window seat bed. But, most noteworthy is the 30 foot tree my husband took out for me! I felt kinda bad as it is a nice tree, however...it had been planted way too close to the tree next to it and during the growing season, it was growing crooked trying to reach the sun. Not a huge problem now, but would be in the future and then would be too costly to fix, so my hubby took it out.
Before:
During:
<p>
After:
Its funny, it looked much larger once it was on the ground LOL! Now it will be another chore getting rid of all the brush! Whats going in its place? 3 Threaded False Cypress and possibly a blue evergreen of some sort. The vines are doing fun things right now too. The winter jasmine is just starting to bloom :) I look forward to watching them in the spring as they cover the chain link fence.
This week I will finish spreading the pine straw in the back and will finish up the sculpture in the front. But I tell ya, I sure am worn out! I don't have quite to energy now that I am 6 mo pregnant. I guess I better get as much done as I can before I am 9 mo!
Dec 27, 2007 | 2:20 PM PST
Tags: pine straw , mulch , winter weeds , weeding , knockout , alliums , tulip , daffodil , hellebore , linten rose , new year , bulbs , madame alfred
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I have been taking advantage of both the season end sales at the garden centers and my time off from work to get a lot of things done in the garden. My local garden center has all their left over bulbs on sale for 75% off, so I planted 20 purple and 20 orange tulips in the front yard. I also planted 30 daffodils by the azaleas in the back yard. I am still waiting on some allium bulbs I purchased on line. Those will go in the back yard so that I can see them while I do dishes :).
I got 2 more double knockouts for 50% off to compete the grouping by the bird house.
I also spent a good bit of time applying a generous layer of pine straw over the front beds. It took 36 bales! It used to take 90+, but now that the plants are growing in niceley...it takes less. It feels so good to have this done. Here are some picts:
Yesterday, after taking down most of the Christmas decor, I spent a majority of the afternoon weeding the back yard and getting it ready for its winter pine straw application. I have 2 Madame Alfred Roses on order that I will plant on either side of the arbor in the back. I selected this particular rose because: it is thornless, evergreen, climbing, and blooms white....the only rose I could find that met all of these criteria (which is what I wanted for the arbor).
While I was doing this work in the back, I noticed that for the first time, my hellebores are blooming! I got these as little seedlings from my mom's garden 4 yrs ago...patience pays off!
Can't wait for my goodies to come in the mail...but I really can't wait to see the bulbs come up in the spring!
Happy New Year Everyone!
Dec 16, 2007 | 3:02 PM PST
Tags: coral bark maple , double knockout , rose , winter , cold , mulch , pine straw , discount
Well, last week the temps were in the 80's and now the high today was in the 40's with a windchill below freezing! Not that cold for a lot of you up north, but its cold for us here in Atlanta! But, I must say...its about time. I stopped by a local nursery yesterday that has just declared bankruptcy (due to the drought) and they have almost everything on sale. I got a fabulous Coral Bark Maple that I have been wanting for some time to use as a focal point for the new bed in the back yard. I finally got to get it b/c it was 50% off. My sweet (and somewhat disgruntled) hubby helped me get it in the ground today:
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!
Can't wait to see it come spring...
I also got another double knock out rose to add to the front. They were 50% off too! I wanted to get more, but only had room for one in the car since we also had the baby with us :)
This will add some nice color by the abelias
My wonderful and still somewhat disgruntled hubby :) is at Home Depot, as I type, getting bales of pinestraw to do the winter mulching. YEAH!!!!
Jul 25, 2007 | 3:31 PM PST
Tags: elijah blue fescue , coreopsis , moonbeam , euphorbia , blue haze , berm , sunflower seeds , okra , zucchini , beneficial insects , mulch , pine straw , salvia
Today, my daughter and I took a little trip to our FAVORITE nursery. I had a gift certificate and they are having a summer sale, so I got lots of goodies!
- 2
types of coreopsis, a yellow and a hot pink - 8 Elijah Blue Fescues
- 1 Black and Blue Salvia
- 1 Blue Haze Euphorbia
So fun to come home with this lot and plant them all...heres what I did in the front:
BEFORE:
AND AFTER:
I dotted around the Elijah Blues and put in the yellow moonbeam coreopsis in the new berm. In the fall, i think i will divide the coreopsis and spot it around a bit. There are several clumps from the one pot I bought, but I was afraid it would shock it too much to divide right now in the heat of the summer. The rest of the plants made their way into the back yard.
My hubby also went to get the rest of the free pinestraw I scored on craigslist and I got that all spread in the back. I still need a bunch more, but it looks great. Its amazing what a difference mulch makes!
Here are some other shots of around my garden today...
Sunflo
wer seeds showin up:
Snacked on this guy while pulling some weeds...yum, yum! Also harvested a giant eight ball zucchini today...will sautee for dinner tonight :)
Almost ready to pick :)
Found this guy on the sunflower today and I looked him up in my insect book and he is a beneficial. Maybe he will eat some of the squash borers!
Jul 23, 2007 | 3:40 PM PST
Tags: kholrabi , pine straw , chores , harvest , purple , heirloom , cherokee , dachsund , petunia , hyacinth , bean , vine , mushroom , wild , annual
Another good productive day in the garden! I pretty much did routine chores. I posted an ad on craigslist this weekend stating that I needed pine straw and that I would rake if someone would let me take. Well, we got quite a few responses and my hubby went to pick up a load for me on his way home from work ( I had to twist his arm and beg a little :) So, I got that spread. I can tell its "used" but hey, beggers can not be choosers! He is going to go get more for me day after tomorrow! yippee!
I also harvested my first Kholrabi:
Susie, the dachshund says "hey, that would go good with hot dogs" So, I took her advice and shredded the kholrabi and will cook with onion to make a relish that will dress our dogs this evening. Yum, Yum!
Looks like I'll be harvesting my first cherokee purple heirloom tomato soon. This guy is huge and I have been watching him for sometime now wondering if he was ever going to ripen...looks like he's startin to!
Looks like 3 tomatoes in one doesn't it?
I also got some more creek clean up done and consolidated some branches and brush to get ready to haul to the curb tomorrow for wed. pickup. Other than that, I did routine weeding. Here are some moments captured along the way:
Mystery crop of shrooms growin out of compost...
Purple Hyacinth Bean Vine against Annual Sweet Potato Vine. I know I took a lot of picts of this one, but I couldn't stop myself...so pretty:
Close up of Liriope Bloom:
Some of the surviving petunias from my "annual saga" They look pretty good when isolated close up! LOL!
'Till next time...
