yardgranny6's Blog

Saturday
Sep 15, 2007 | 12:49 PM PST
Tags: busy week , fire ants , mulch hauling , truck , neighbors , friends , monarchs , small greenhouse

It has been a busy week what with doctors appts, dentist appts, lunch with a few gals, pick up the lawn mower.

OK, so now it is back to work in the yard. Weather is back to a moderate norm for SC and the grass needs mowing.  finished the front this morning, the back can wait. Had to treat a fire ant hill. Boy those little devils can run  fast and always right where you are standing it seems. They always disappear but I think they just go to another yard.

Sprayed grass killer (sorry KeeWee) on some more spots in preparation for hauling in more mulch next week. Then it will be time to do that planting and transplanting I have been talking about for what seems 'decades' during those very hot, dry days of high summer.

Need to take the little work horse of a truck in for some work after it helps haul the mulch. The air conditioner needs to be repaired and the windshield wipers won't move unless you flop both of them from the outside. Getting old just like me. I need to be flopped up side the head I think, for starting all these yard projects this year.

It is really my neighbor and friend, Judy's, fault. She started that new project of cleaning the honeysuckle off the fence between our yards after she had an old piece of fence  taken down in her yard. Our gardens will look really nice when we finish. She has had a man do a lot of digging and heavy stuff for her though. That got her way ahead of me in that department.

She and I fixed the gate between our yards today. The gate had been chained up for years and after we took the lock off, the gate would not swing well. We did the W-D oil thing and then loosened the bolts and - WaLa - it swings just fine now. 

After the mulch is down in an area at the front corner of the house, I will have plants to move. Since they were growing in front of the fence and are in a striaght line, I will move several of them into a semi-circle area so they will shield the H/A unit. I have two butterfly plants that were started from others in my yard. One will go on the outside of the fence on Judy's side.  The other will go on the inside of the fence in my yard. 

The section of fence being moved created another square box to push the mower in and out and up and down and that is just too much like work. SOOOOO- here comes more mulch. It will make a soft edge in the back yard at the fence line to mow around. The second butterfly bush will go in that spot.

Since I am a visual person, I will be taking pictures of the before and after of this project. And then you will be thrilled to know you can look at them in my photo albums in the next couple of months.

My butterflies are still eating and making Chrysalis'. Don't know now whether they will develop and hatch or just hang around until spring returns. Either way it is a wonderful thing to observe.

My friends the Rogers that love butterflies even more than I do, let go about 40 Monarchs this past week and have many more left to hatch. Can't you just see them flying up, up and away?  I always thought to have butterflies loose at your wedding would be a great spectacle.  They gave me a pod from the old common Milkweed plant. It can be invasive so I may be chewing off more than I can handle, but I will give it a try. I am planting these seeds and planting other milkweeds next year as well. Then there will be parsley and dill to go with the fennel for the Swallowtails. I must remember to look for nectar plants too. I keep forgetting they do come to the yard to feast before laying their eggs.

There are iris in the area I am giving up to the butterfly garden. They will get moved soon as I can get the mulch laid down in their new bed.

I still have thoughts of a small greenhouse (8X10 maybe) in order to propagate some of the plants from my yard that I really like. I have a Plumbago that is maybe 4 years old now and this time of year it is so pretty. I envision it growing in front of Hollyhocks. It would grow and then bloom after the hollyhock is gone for the year.

Well I have done enough daydreaming for one afternoon. Have a litte newsletter to get out for my Bible Study class plus some other computer duties.

More to Come Later