Spring Projects now Summer Projects!

My faithful companions keeping me company while I worked! Every time I turned around at least one of them was laying in this "cushy" bed of Dianthus with something they had dragged off to play with! Just one of the beds they've trampled these past few weeks while I've been busy working! I'm working on filling bare spots in the herb garden right now and they've decided the corner of Sedum is another favorite spot :( That's okay, I'm planting some spiky Yuccas there - we'll see how they like that! LOL

WOW RCN, Everything looks so nice. You really have been working very hard. Love that stonework edge it really dresses up the edge of the beds. Love the last pic those two are adorable. Looks like the new puppy is fitting right in. LOL

Thanks Sally. Of course!!! Put the pot back on the spot that it left on the step!

rcn, you inspire me and tire me out at the same time. Wish I still had the energy to keep going the way you do. Everything looks great.

She inspires me, too. After looking at this thread this morning I went out and worked on one of my projects. A call from one of the kids interrupted me but I got a good bit done before I had to run off. Can't complain after running all Josh's errands he came over later after work an did the mowing. Ric will be very glad to see that when he gets back.

LOL RRR and Holly, believe me I wish I was 20 years younger, just don't move as fast as I used to! I've still got a lot of "puttering" to do and lots of unfinished projects so I'll be able to keep myself busy for a LONG time :) Took a break yesterday and decided to relax and just water a few things I thought were thirsty. Got to the gazebo, looked at the chairs and tables that had gross green algae which accumulated over the past couple of years, hosed them off, dug out a brush and scrubbed and they look good as new! Before I knew it I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the algae covered floor boards as well! So much for "relaxing" but it's one more project under my belt for the summer. Of course if I ever get REALLY inspired, I'll dig out the stain I had planned to use for the gazebo swing 4 years ago and still haven't tackled that project :)

RCN, LOL the gazebo that is extacly what happens to me. I go sit down somewhere and see tons of things that need done usually weeding. Had a friend over the other day and we were sitting in the gazebo with glasses of wine and the next thing you know I'm pulling grass from between the bricks, picking off dead leaves and pulling a few stray weeds. All the time talking and drinking. Good thing she is a long time friend and use to my behavior. LOL My Poision Ivy is finally getting better, there was some out in my pines. Yes, I did reconized it growing with some other creepers but in a weed pulling frenzy didn't really care.

Hi, Roses--glad my laziness can be of assistance- snort !

rcn- Phoebe thinks all you do all day is hunt for new places to loosen the dirt for her digging pleasure

Holly- its like a quilting bee, only with weeds- Weeding bees!

RCN, Everything looks great. You have been a very busy gardener. I really like that Himalayan Maidenhair fern.

I know exactly what you mean Sally. I went out to the garden to cut some herbs for my salad and could not resist the urge to pull a few weeds before I showed up on the "skeeters radar. It must be a basil instinct. :-) LOL Ric

har har har Ric!

actually rcn, I have one word for you after looking at pix of your beautiful cuddly soft dogs. Furminator! I hear it works great. I need one.
https://store.petsenseoutlet.com/furminator-deshedding-tool?gclid=CIKZ2Jrho5wCFcZM5QodwUb2kQ

My friend has that furminator and highly recommends it.

Sally, a friend told me about the Furminator earlier this year when Phoebe's fur was ALL over the house. I watched the video on their site - YIKES that groomer is a lot rougher on that poor dog than I am!

What timing, we went ot dog park this AM and one of the gang brought the yellow (4 inch) Furminator for sharing, and demo'd it on Addy. It does work great. Easy to clean and much sturdier than the wire slicker brush. She said try Amazon to get it for about 30 $ rather than the 50 at Petsmart. As for being rough---LOL--my hubby is way too wimpy with brushing than I am and Addy has no complaints for me..I don't think she's sensitive like I would be to having my hair brushed.

The Himalayn Maidenhair IS very cute- any reason tho why you wouldn't use American Maidenhair? Is that not sold?

I have the furminator and use it on Jello and the cats, used it on Java too. It's terrific. Sally, I would strongly recommend you not brush too hard with it because the material that came with it said that could hurt their skin. You do short strokes over and over so you're brushing the same spot for a while.

It's especially good for getting out the undercoat and it comes in two sizes.

Sally I think I'm probably in the same ranks with your hubby...I'm "wimpy" LOL Maybe if I got a little rougher when I brushed her she wouldn't think it was a game!


"any reason tho why you wouldn't use American Maidenhair?" Nope, just that the native Northern Maidenhair was too tall for this pocket and it takes forever before it fills in to make a nice clump. I do love it though and it is planted in the garden but in areas where I can be patient for it to do its thing :) For this spot I needed something short and this one doesn't get more than 6" tall and it's supposed to spread rapidly!

OK hart, I'll watch it. The gal that demo'd it for us said to use care not to hit your own hand, it can nick you pretty easily. I wouldn't have thought that sleek Jello and Java would have that much fur to 'minate'. Yup I have two cats to use it on too. Here's one. It's not a King Cab truck, he's just King (of the )Cab

Thanks rcn--just curious. I love that Maidenahir look but with my yard I m not at all fern friendly anyhoo--it will have to wait for The Dream House.

Pretty kitty! Abyssinian (sp?) ?

Just an interesting mix from a local Calico mom. Closest I can say is 'cream tabby with points and boots"
I'm very tempted to see what I can do trellis-wise with PVC that can be sprayed to look like copper . I will try elboes and slight bending to give it some grace.- hopefully

Sally Some where maybe Garden Art or Trash to Treasure I saw PVC pipe made to look like bamboo tiki torches. It was very nice they used bondo to made the joints and then a pale paint with a little brown washed at the joints. Can't seem to find the thread but I will keep looking. Also you can make an arch by pounding pieces of re-bar into the ground and then slipping the ends of the pvc pipe over them.

Thanks.
I have seen some kind of faux bamboo project on the home channel. Looked really good.
THe PVC that I got last, didn't seem that bendy. How does one get pieces of rebar?
I was thinking, with the choice of 90 and 45 dgree elbows, and tees, I might make something with uprights that end up as pointed arches, with some cross piecing. I planted hardy passion vine to cover my home oil tank, but its going to be a real pain. Passi is doing good-- too good. Now I want to make this trellis idea and set it away from the tank just to screen with the passi growing over it, and can trim all those dang suckers at ground level easily., without building something too strong because there is a window near there and I don't want 'visitors' to be able to climb the structure.

I'm full of good fun ideas in the garden but not in the kitchen. : ^(

We get re-bar from Builders Supply in our area they sell masonry material, Lowe's or HD might sell it, too. Really any strong metal pole would work as long as you can drive it into the ground and set the PVC over it. You have a very workable idea and not to hard to make. I saw the most adorable cover for a tank or air conditioner. Would take some skill and either $$ or left over material. But they built a scaled down shed. You know one of those really cute ones with little windows and window boxes. It was only three sided with no back, used mirrors for the windows so you can;t see in and planted the little window boxes and made a little stone walkway up to the door. Looked like a children's play house or miniature shed when it was done but with the open back you have all the access you need. It was so cute. I'm pretty sure that RatherBDigging is who posted the pic and it was one of the nicest cover ups I've ever seen.

Sally--

HD sells rebar i lengths of: 1'--2'--3'-(maybe) 4'-and 5'.
At our store it is in outside garden under the roof where all the concrete bags are.....

In plumbing there are all lengths of metal pipe--and they will cut them for you and even thread the end(s) at no charge.
Same in electrical dept.---lots of pipes--also cur free of charge.

1" PVC pipe is very flexible--you can bend it to form an arch from the whole length of it---. We have used it to advertise an area (with-like an archway) and tied balloons all along it. VERY impressive looking.....

Hope this helps.....Gita

Thanks both! No wonder I love to wander thru those Home Stores. So many useful things.
I've seen those balloon arches. The balloons naturally fit together a certain way when scrunched together and they make some neat color arrangements.

Sally I like that idea of pvc sprayed with copper finish. I may have to hit up my hubby for some.

I just never seem to be able to concentrate on any one thing long enough t o complete it! Doesn't help to have family trips, last minute summer fun and school starting soon and tomatos getting ripe.

Sally, we ALL have that problem, the concentration thing that is! Heck, I haven't even finished my copper arbor yet and you've got me searching for plans for a PVC arbor! LOL Sounds like a great project for an article :) I started putting together an article for the construction of a copper arbor but I've got to finish the darned thing to complete the article!

Well I can finally share my BIG summer project, not gardening related but I guess it works if you consider it's going to be easier cleaning up all the dirt and mud we track in from the gardens - new flooring!!! This project has been at least two years in the planning (budgeting) phase and we finally got it done! I'll never know what possessed a nurseryman/gardener to install light beige carpeting in this house when he built it - what was he thinking? I have to admit when I first moved here ten years ago it wasn't that bad really but add one more gardener and two aging dogs to the scenario and well, let's just say the carpeting had seen better days, it was more than disgusting and throw rugs were no longer able to disguise the "accidents", etc. :( Initially we chose engineered hardwood for the living room but we ended up with laminate. Long story short, when the flooring installer gave us an estimate we chose a warm oak and when he finally showed up (three weeks later after numerous delays) and opened the first box of flooring, it was MAPLE, way too light and NO grain, what??? I won't go into all the details but suffice it to say the guy's an idiot and fortunately we were able to select something within our budget and get him back on the job a week later. I'm not sure which was more frustrating, the whole fiasco with the wrong flooring or having to live with this mess for 3 weeks!

The good news...he was able to lay the flooring in one day! The bad news...it was a Friday and he wouldn't be back until Monday :( More delays and he finally returned on Wednesday and started the second half of the project, ceramic tile for the front entry!

This man's "schedule" has been more than frustrating for two "early risers" and he was only able to finish one half of the ceramic tiles on Wednesday because one of his workers had to be home by 3:00 that afternoon :( Not to worry, he promised to be there early on Thursday and would finish and be out of our hair! At 10:45 AM the next morning I ready to pull my hair out :( He was finally there at 11:00 but with more bad news - the grout we had chosen was special order only - argghhhh, what else can go wrong? We quickly chose another color, he was off to Lowes to pick it up and get back to work. At least this time he left one of the workers there to finish installing the moulding in the living room so we could at least start moving our furniture back into place! He promised that they would finish by the end of the day and they did...but it was after 8:00 when he finally left us in peace :( It wouldn't have been so bad but the only way IN and OUT of the house all day was through the bedroom window - for us and TWO dogs! All things considered, even though the crew will NOT be hired to install the ceramic tile in the kitchen, we love the new floors and they are so easy to clean :) You know that TV ad where the mop is whining to the woman using her new Swifter? Well I think my vacuum cleaner is going to be whining too! LOL We still have a few things left to put back (television, stereo and books in the entertainment center) but here's what it looks like with a few minor changes to make the living room look more open. Of course once all the plants come in for the winter it won't look this "open" :)

And the ceramic tile which replaced the vinyl flooring in the front entry - this is definitely going to take the abuse we give it! They were in such a hurry that night to get out of here I'm still having problems removing the "grout haze" but I'll keep working on it! Once I finally get it clean I'm going to have to seal it and maybe then the grout will be more like the color we wanted, deeper brown instead of light gray! Oh well, at least it's done and we love it :)

WOW Rcn, That is just beautiful. Love both the tile and the wood floor, very very nice. LOL the bedroom entrance, those aren't little dogs going in and out of that window either. LOL
Yep, a new floor is somewhere in my future, too. Our great room including kitchen area is nothing more than painted sub-floor with a few area rugs and some inexpensive vinyl tile covering the area that is the concrete solar collector in front of all my glass doors. Getting that done will be a major change in our home but it will be a BIG job and BIG $$$. So it just keeps getting pushed back year after year.

Great Job, RCN. It looks wonderful. I love your "Stickley" look. The Oak is such a nice warm color. Compliments the furniture very well. An 11:00 AM start time must have driven you nuts! LOL

Very nice! Glad it finally turned out ok, home improvements projects can be such a pain.
MY next one is getting a new door to replace our slider(2nd floor), it's leaking like crazy. The job will only be 800 + the cost of the door IF there is no water damage when they remove the door...I am not looking foward to seeing what behind and under this door.

Love the new floor and the 'old' furnishings too. So funny picturing you shoving Phoebe out the window, sorry, chuckle.

Finally, finished at least part of my Sunshine strip bed. Doesn't look like much for all the work I have put into it. First I dug and pulled out the weeds. I have an old piece of tin that I kept moving around to burn off the weeds. Then Rototilled followed up with wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow load of compost and a bit more Rototilling. This section is a about 16 to 18 ft long and 2 to 3 ft wide. You can see the lower section of the veggie garden where I lost the battle with the weeds. This past spring it looked I might get that area cleared out but I hope to get back to it this fall.

One of the old RR ties was so degraded that I asked Ric if he could replace it. He was able to take that piece and a smaller piece out and took the bad end off another tie. Then put in a replacement and another half piece. Then put in some metal stakes to hold it all in place until it settles in. I got some more of my plants in the ground. Some perennials from the Swap, the DG co-ops, and a few annuals that have been sitting in pots. I know that most of these won't flower or grow much although I do have a few that are blooming. The perennials will have a chance to settle in before fall and the cannas and dahlias will grow and maybe store a bit of energy before I dig them back up later in the fall. The irises and daylilies on the right side of the RR tie will get moved over to the new bed.

This area is slowly turning into something more than the hidden weed field that we had let go years before. As bad as the Veggie garden looks it is better than last year and we are getting some very nice veggies from the area we have been able to maintain. This is the lower section that I am hoping to clean up and finish planting in the next week. It's a good 12 to 14ft and gives you an idea of what the cleaned up bed looked like before I started. Other than a few mints and a good size comfy this will all come out.

LOL Sally, we were "chuckling" as well but Phoebe handled it beautifully :) As a matter of fact, now that Lucy knows she can go in and out the window, whenever she decides she wants in and we're not near the door, she comes in through the window!

Wow Holly, that's a lot of work! I know how hard it is to just dig 15-20 holes, can't imagine preparing a 16'-18' long bed. My back aches just looking at what you've accomplished :(

Jen, I don't envy you with your home improvement project. With what we had to go through we won't be tackling any more HI projects any time soon unless we do it ourselves!

Rcn, love the floors! We tore up all our carpet and went with the floating floor in the whole downstairs last winter. The kitchen and dinning room was done about 5 years ago. I use Bruce Hardwood & Laminate Floor cleaner in the spray bottle when the floors need a cleaning and shine. I love the Swiffer Vac for a quick dusting, don't need a dust pan. And for a spot clean, pet messes, Mr. Clean with Fabreze in the spray bottle. ( I find the Orange Glow cleaner is stickey after it dries).

Holly, a gardener's work is never done. Thank goodness for those little tillers.

I love that little tiller, Ric picked it up second hand at a yard sale and we use it all the time.

Chris, thanks for the cleaning tips! After living with that disgusting carpeting for so long, I just can't believe how EASY the new flooring is. We've been very fortunate, the floor's been in two weeks and so far no pet "mistakes" from the new pup! She's a real joy, housetrained in less than a month :)

Holly, I used one of those little tillers last fall, borrowed it from my friend to see if I actually wanted to buy one. It worked great as long as the area I was tilling was in open spaces but what I really need it for is those small areas where I want to plant near trees. Unfortunately it didn't work as well as I hoped, I was bouncing all over the place competing with the tree roots :(