Exhausted And Exhilerated

Hello to all. My husband and I have had quite a day of yard work. Earlier this week, we found 1 gallon sized azaleas for $1.88 at Lowes. Since we don't have a Lowe's where we live, we bought 9 of them. 6 pink ruffle, and 3 christmas cheer.

First of all, DH got up early to mow. Then he cut downs some horrble weedy things that have been around entirely too long. I raked all the leaves from the area we wanted to plant, and the remaining ones in the front yard. He dug the top layer of grass off the desired planting area, then while he went to some kind of meeting for work, I finished digging and pulling out the roots from the grass. He came home with some compost, and peat moss he'd stopped by Home Depot to get, then we shoveled some of that in. Then we cleaned the siding on that side of the house. (which was sadly in need). We thought it would be a good idea to get that done before plantin some thing that was going to grow so big. Anyway, we ended up cleaning the siding all over the house. It had gotten so bad, that it now looks like we got a new paint job. lol

Anyway...to make a long story short....which is now impossible (lol). We got four of our new shrubs planted, and are very proud. I just had to show you....

Here is the over all look....

We plan to maybe plant annuals until they grow bigger, and we're hoping this will eventually be a hedge that we'll keep about even with the kitchen window.

This is a close up of one of them. These are the pink ruffles azaleas.

....And then there were five. We'll have to plant these another day. We're completely exhaused. lol

Boy Howdy!!!! What a day!! You surely got a lot accomplished.

Judy

It was warm today, too. You will sleep well tonight!

John

...and to make up for it, we probably wont do anything tomorrow. lol No, really, we do feel very good about what all got done today.

Doesn't it feel good? We had a day like that here too! Hubby and I finished up two flower beds, weeded, tended to the compost pile, planted roses and cleaned and decorated the back deck and the front porch. We had dirt from head to toe and so did our little girl. She worked hard to water the crocus flowers with her squirt gun. It was one of those days where you just did not want to come inside. I hope we have another one today...no one else was outside here, I'm happy to know that there are folks outside enjoying the days somewhere.

Wow! I'm tired just reading about all you did that day! Congratulations! We had a big clean up here this week too and I was thrilled to get it done. My older son was visiting from out of town so he and my ex and my yonger son all converged here with chain saw, weed eater with a blade mounted on it, and lots of strong male energy. They cut and trimmed and hauled and burned a big pile of brush and tilled a few rows of my garden. I sort of stood around smiling and gave directions, then went in and made a big lunch. I'm still on the mend since my fall in january and can't do much right now so I am really grateful and happy with all that got done and how much better the place looks.

What a day! Great bargains. Did a wonderful job. It's hard work but at the end...you feel proud.
:) Donna

It really does make me feel good. I especially was proud when I looked at it again this morning as we were leaving for church. It looks even better the next day for some reason. lol

As I said before, we did absolutely nothing today. lol

Good for you, you deserve a day off to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

jdee, you and your dh did a very impressive planting and cleaning. the azaleas look very good and you will be happy with them. DonnaS

Wow, what a great price on some wonderful little plants that should thrive up there. They will be so beautiful when they fill out there spots.

This must have been spring yard cleaning weekend. We did lots of work too. Our back yard has been so ignored, we spent many hours out there Sunday. We raked bundles of Live Oak leaves & acorns, photinia leaves from the yard and under bushes, mowed the grass since the back had not been mowed since October,dug up spots for some stepping stones, and filled in lots of low spots and holes, among other things. The front was tackled over a couple hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In the front my husband mowed and edged, I planted plants, cleaned out beds, trimmed dead bush branches, removed old mulch from beds and lots of Holly leaves from under the bushes (ouch!) then I replaced my mulch in the front bed, putting the old stuff in the back beds. I was pretty sore Monday morning.

I bet you were. I think it's because it was so warm that day. It seems like everyone is so anxcious to get out and get busy, that when we got a warm day, we just went crazy. lol

And now I want to get back out there and plant the Aucuba I bought Monday afternoon. :-( Maybe it will be warm enough tomorrow after work.

I am jealous that you have the warm weather to work in. You have done a great job but I'm afraid I have to point out something that will cause you a problem later on. Those azaleas are going to grow to at least 2'x2' and likely twice that size. That close to the house the back will be pushed up against the siding while the front side will block the walk. It looks like you have lots of space on the other side of the walk. I would suggest you move them to that side at least 2' from the walk. It will save you a lot of work later and you won't have mildew and scratch damage to the house. Jessamine

Thanks Jessamine. I guess I should do that before they get too big. When things calm down a bit, I'll measure to see how far from the house he planted them. My husband actually put them in the ground, while I watched to make sure they were evenly spaced apart.

I might sleep some tonight. DW and I worked out in the heat (70) most of the day. It was cool this morning but warmed up in a hurry. Almost a heater and AC day. We bought things Tuesday at the nursery and spent the day planting them. Really tired. Tomorrow, I re-assemble the mower and mow.
trois

Oh, no!

Getting to be knee high. I'm loosing things in it. Got to mow. I lost an 8 foot 2x4 today. After I walked a hundred yards for another, I tripped over it on the way back. I said some interesting words while plucking out a splinter.

Makes it easier to spot snakes too.

I have trouble remembering to watch for snakes. My dogs used to to it for me. I am dogless now and must learn to watch.

Make Boo come back, trois!

We don't have a dog yard anymore. I talk to Boo every day. He is happy with his job of watching 50 goats and a couple of steers. He ignores the ducks. I am happy to have him near but also to have the yard toimprove.

Sounds like he has a good job! A dog needs that.

When he was a puppy he hated goats, but now he assumes responsibility.

Hello all,
Dh and I just finished with a weekend of yardwork. I took pictures of our results, but they turned out too dark. I'll go out tomorrow and take some more.

The day was perfect. 76 degrees F, with just the perfect amount of breeze, with clear blue skies. We just couldn't stay in the house.

This is a before shot of the area we worked on yesterday....

I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but there were was a big slab of concrete, and three old shrub looking things that we'd sawed the limbs off of last year, becuase of how pitiful they looked. I decided that I wanted to plant at the side of the house, so we got out there, and had to dig up this horribly tangle web of roots. Some had gone so deep that I thought we'd never see the end of them. We finally got that done. Then we put up the lattice work for a confederate jasmine we bought to climb, and we planted one of our remaining pink ruffle azalea in front of it to eventually tie in with the hedge.

On the other side, we planted our last pink ruffle azalea to eventually serve as the background plant. Still don't know what else I'm going to do here....

BTW, please ignore the bag of compost. It will not stay there.lol

Lastly, DH put the cover back on the opening leading under the house. He doesnt' want it to be blocked, so we're eventually going to make a little pathway leading to it, and it will separate the plot into two small garden areas. For now I've laid down wet news paper, so the cat won't dig there, and I mulched so the newspaper won't be so ugly.

I sure hope it all turns out nice....

We also worked some in the front yard, but it was too dark for pics by then, so I'll have to show you that tomorrow. I'm really starting to get excited, like I was this time last year....before the heat, and slugs, and cutterworms turn my garden to a failure :(
I hope that doesn't happen again this year. I love my old house, and we've worked so hard trying to make it look nice.

I usually leave store bought bags laying around a couple days. People might think I know what I'm doing!

Here is the picture of our salvia planted in the ground. We went ahead and used the red since that's what I had. The rose bush usually covers with blooms in springtime, and loses all flowers almost as quickly. So most of the time it will just be a green background for my red salvia. I just loved that pop of red in front of the house. DH put the brick border around the whole thing, while I swept and cleaned up all the walkways and porch. We really do work well together.

One quick question...

I have a potted gardenia that I got at walmart about a week ago. When is it supposed to bloom? It's in the front yard, which faces NE. I Have a huge shade tree in the middle of that yard, but I still manage to somehow get morning sun. I'm starting to wonder if it is enough to help my plant bloom. What can somebody tell me about gardenias?

Jdee! I read the whole thread :) Great work!!!! How exciting for you :)

I know nothing at all about gardenias, but I did want to mention something about your azaleas. You may already know this, but thought I'd say that the azaleas should only be pruned after the blooms fade. If you wait too long after they fade (like months) and prune then, they won't bloom next year on the branches you trimmed.

When we moved into our townhouse in Va, there were 2 of these gorgeous, hot pink azaleas in the front yard. I loved them! But they were kind of overgrown, so that summer (summer, mind you) DH shaped them up nicely. They looked so much better. Welp, you guessed it, the next Spring they were duds. Only the very bottoms bloomed (where DH hadn't trimmed them up much). Took us a bit to figure out what happened, but once was enough to learn from :) The following year they bloomed beautifully again :) I love azaleas, and yours are very, very pretty.

Looking nice.... keep up the good work :)

Jacci

Thanks for the information. I didn't know that. We wont be trimming them this year, since they're still so small, but I did pinch off the flowers as they started really drooping. I guess that's not the same as pruning, or is it?

I must admit that right now, I'm a little upset. Tonight we had this horrible thunderstorm, and our gutters aren't what they should be. I watched sadly out the window, as a huge flood of water ran off the roof and right in the middle of our new bed. All of that loose, freshly worked soil washed up, and I have a layer of mud on my walkway. I haven't seen the new shrubs yet, but I'm hoping they're alright.

I guess I'll know more tomorrow. I'm hoping that in the light of day, I'll discover that It wasn't as bad as I thought....well I can dream, anyway. lol

Oh, jdee.... I'm so sorry!!! How frustrating that must be! Yes, maybe tomorrow it won't be as bad as you thought...

As far as pinching off the faded azalea blossoms, that's fine :) The azaleas bloom on old wood, which means that if you trim them up too late in the year, the new growth won't be "old" enough to bloom yet in Spring. That's kind of an oversimplification, but if you just remember to try to only cut the branches within 6 weeks or so after the flowers fade and at no other time, they should bloom well for you.

Really hope everything turns out okay.... ((((((((((((((((hug))))))))))))))

Jacci

I'm sure it'll be fine. I've already started planning my stradegy, and I haven't even seen the damage. If the mud on the walkway is as deep as I think, what I'll do is shovel it back into the bed, then either wash the remaining mud off with the hose, or wait until it dries and sweep it off. If my shrubs are ok, it'll be fine.

One thing I'm most grateful for is that I haven't planted any seeds or seedling in there yet. I'm still new to seed sowing, so I'm trying a little experament. I recieved some nice seeds from a couple of generous fellow members. I was afraid that if sown directly in the ground, they would be digged up by the cats, so I started them in a flat, covered them with saran, and put it on top of the airconditioner. That way, they will have been started outside, but out of the kitties reach. Now I'm so glad I did it this way. If I sown them in that bed, neighbors all down the street might later be wondering how all these new plants got in thier yards. lol

Edited for spelling errors



This message was edited Apr 6, 2005 3:14 AM

jdee, that line of storms last night formed right over my house then headed your way. Sorry.