No activity on the board is a good sign of busy hands and great weather! I am envious as I view the world from MY DESK. At least we have the doors open a great breeze is coming through...
I am glad to see everyone is either at work or outside today
I thought the same thing.
We had morning showers here today. The wun is coming out now and drying up the rain so I think it will be a good day. We need the rain. It's been a rather dry spring so far.
I've uncovered all my roses and fertilized them and gave them a good drink. They all made it through winter. I've been pulling little clumps of grass out of the flower bed and inside my tree rings. I hate doing that. I have one narrow bed in front of the house and finally pulled back the mulch and put some old roofing shingles down over the crappy landscape fabric and then put mulch over it. Let's see that darn grass grow through that. :)
We bought some turf builder at Walmart for $59.00!! OMG, the price of fertilizer has soared. Hubby had the spreader wide open by mistake and hardly got through half the yard when he announced we needed to go back and buy some more. We did buy another bag and he set the spreader so it won't dump so fast and got the rest of the yard done. The lawn now is dark emerald green and so thick. It really could use mowing.
The two large Mountain Ash trees I bought last year and had planted are alive. I'm thankful for that. We need to get some shade going around the house so we don't cook in the summer. So far I have two tri-colored beech, two mountain ash, one crabapple and two ornamental cherries. I also have a smoke bush. Yesterday I ordered two elderberry bushes. I'll put them at the back of my flower border for a dramatic background. They will get to be 6-8 feet tall and provide us with lots of healthy to eat elderberries.............if the birds don't get them first. :)
We got baby chickens on Monday. I had mail ordered them. We have 21. I figured some would die but so far (knock on wood) they are all alive and healthy and so darn cute. They are growing so fast. We're working in the old barn to get their permanent home ready to transfer them over. They'll stay in a coop inside the barn with a doggy door type arrangement for them to walk out of. Once outside the barn they'll be in a large screened in area under a lean-to with a door. We'll keep them penned in for a while then open the door and let them free range when we're home to watch them. I'll need to try to sell the extra chicks since I only wanted 8-10 to begin with. We just want them for eggs. The neighbor is trying to talk me into buying one of his piglets but so far I'm resisting the urge to get one. :)
Today we're going to Standish Milling to buy steel fencing. We have to make circles to go around our new apple trees. Each circle takes 15 feet of fencing. We'll get steel posts too. We planted the trees last week. We now have 7 mature apple trees and 20 we planted last year and 5 more we planted this year. We also have two pear, two peach, two cherry and two plum.
I want to get a good 3 or 4 inch layer of mulch down around my perennail bed to keep the weeds down. I already put Preen down in March. I put Osmocote down too. Now I'll try to mulch around the hundreds of daffodils that are in full bloom now. So pretty.
I have my big light unit going full blast on my flower and vegetable seedlings. I've been repotting them up into styrofoam cups. Everything looks great. The unit puts out a lot of heat which the baby chicks like. They're out in the bunkhouse. It's so hot in there. THe chicks have to be kept at 95 degrees! The tomatoes are going nuts. :)
So, what is everyone else going to do this weekend?
Brenda
I thought I'd post a picture of the baby chicks.
Brenda,
Those babies are sooo cute! I would love to get out of the city and have some property to have chickens...hopefully one day! It was gorgeous yesterday....I fertilized last week for grubs and crabgrass....so yesterday I mowed and edged. I planted some hyacinths I bought two weeks ago looks like they love me for sticking them in the dirt finally ^_^.
I dug 2 bunnie grasses out to move them to the back yard I had them planted by 3 huechera's and the coral bells need more room so in the back they go. I'm so excited my neighbor told me to take a huge clump of one of her grasses they have to many and it over crowed a little patio area they made...so I can split that in two and plant it behind 2 boulders I have in the front. Now I won't have to spend a dime to get a some new grass that I needed for that spot. YAY.... my hosta's are poking through, I planted them last year I also got them all free from a teacher/friend of my sisters kids. She moved into a new house and this house has every type of hosta I've ever seen....ferns, ground covers ect ect. We were welcome to take what ever we wanted and still are this woman is a sweet heart!
I will go dig that grass out at the neighbors today and plant it so it will be well established with this rain we are sapposed to get next week...
My Bradford Pears are about to bloom...I will fertilize all my wonderful flowers coming up today... We also have to mulch this year so I'll be checking into the prices for 8 yards next week and I hope to get that down in the middle of May or sooner.
I got a little barbecued yesterday so I'll have to be more careful today, had a nice sun headache as well didn't wear a hat or drink enough water while I was out there...I was just so excited to be out I forgot about all those precautionary measures I need to take now....except I did remember the motrin before I went out...so I wasn't as sore last night as I would have been without taking it!
Have a Beautiful Day Today Everyone! ^_^
I,m still in the house I came down with the flu on thursday night DRAT feeling some what better but not up to par It rained all night last night and off and on to day hope every one else keeps well this is the pitts ;0(
Gloria
We got to a garden center before the storm hit. Got two pair--one for me and one for a gardening friend whose birthday is next month. The best part is we got them at 70% off. Jazzy gardening shoes, no?
http://www.shoesthatloveyou.com/Merchandise2.aspx?Category=c185c520-59e8-4a53-84be-c7ed91abbdde
This message was edited Apr 25, 2009 4:07 PM
ha ha kristi those are awesome gardening shoes? all your flowers and dirt will love them ^_^...which garden center did you go to today?
I dug out some ornamental grass today from my neighbor..omgosh what a pain in the &^%$...but I did it right before we got hailed on...now the suns out....
I thought you might be interested! I know you probably frequent Ray Wiegand's, but I got these at Bordine's. They're in a container right next to the check-out.
bordines on Rochester road?...I don't live to far from there...15 mins maybe. YES I do go to wiegands as well LOL how did you know ^_^..ha ha...plus a bunch of other nursery's to....I have a momma robin building a nest again this year...I love to watch them...and then we'll have babies they are so cute!
Well I started out playing in the yard. But darn rain will not go away. I had to clean the house instead. But it needed it also. So I still had a great day. No work and home all day it sure felt great. I am getting ready for the swap and have been deviding plants and potting them up! Fun I love to share plants. Ronna
Kristi L & detheo, you are making me a bit homesick! LOL I grew up in the Sterling Heights area, close to Lakeside Mall. I SO miss Bordines (and English Gardens). I went to school with some of the Wiegands. We moved up to Caro 10 years ago.
Country living is great, but I sure do miss shopping living out here in the boonies.
Mary Ellen
Mary Ellen,
Just hop in the car and go! I used to live in Kalamazoo and was really into quilting. I had a regular route, hitting various fabric shops all the way to Shipshewana. Gardening is the same for me now, though because of the economy I probably won't be shopping Bordines anymore. There are other places that have more reasonable prices. And I divide and divide and divide.
Detheo,
Yes, Bordine's is on Rochester Road. I like going to Rochester because I went to Oakland University (and lived on campus a million years ago) for my undergraduate degree. I remember going to Bordine's with my mother and grandmother, who lived in Utica. I was pretty young. It's all different now, but walking among all of the flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees is like going to a museum, an opera, or a play for some--it's just inspiring.
I used to live in Kalamzoo also. Small world huh? Lots of people on this site were Kalamazooans at one time or another. We lived on the East side on Chrysler street for 15 years. Pretty fun time. Ronna
I lived in Clawson mich right off rochester rd when i was in 4th grade
we only stayed in the city for 7months and then moved back up here to the farm.
The Oakland mall was my first mall ever! LOL
I could not imagine living in a big city we lived in Dearborn for a short while I just hated it things move to fast for me I'll stay in the country !! all my kids moved to THE CITY when they first moved out on there owen now they all have moved out to the sub burbes and the country go figure they all hated the country when they were young ;0)
Gloria
Kristi,
So you were a quilter too....hmmm we have a lot in common:)
You might need to share some of those stores with me...
actually I lost the urge to quilt...for now I guess...I'd rather play in dirt!
I also have many other places I go to other than Bordines, but I do still check it out...we have so many to pick from over here!
Mary Ellen,
I'm not much of a mall shopper...I cringe at the thought...I have a few stores that I shop and that's it. I guess I like to keep it simple...walking around aimlessly in the mall well lets just say I could be out planting flowers LOL :)
Dori,
George and I lived by Oakland mall in 1984ish, he grew up over there to in Madison Heights...Clawson is nice...downtown there they have a restaurant that was an old church and they kept the pews for the seats and they left part of the church intact for a sitting area for people waiting. The food is amazing :)
Gloria,
I'm with you wish I lived in the country...but my husbands to citified...ughhh I lived with my aunt and uncle on a farm when I was a teen mucking out the stalls and cleaning out the chicken coop...then we raised the chickens for food so yeah I had to kill em too :)...the best chicken I ever had! I really do miss it especially the huge garden!
Detheo,
I was way into quilting when I lived just off of Portage Rd. from 1990-96. I lived in a second floor apartment so the only "garden" I had were several large pots of bright red geraniums on my balcony. I would bring them in in the winter and put them out in the spring.
Some of the shops are probably not there anymore--I Googled them. One place was in Three Rivers, one in White Pigeon, and there are a few in Shipshewana. There's a really jam-packed shop in Port Huron called Sew Elegant. I used to go out of my way on trips to the U.P. hitting a lot of quilt/fabric shops. I had a book of quilting shops in Michigan and incorporated them in many of my drives. I stopped quilting when I moved here--my dad seemed bugged when I would hole up upstairs with my grandmother's 1924 Singer (which I still have). So I started gardening. He had very little left of my mother's garden, and being retired, he concentrated on the lawn. Bit by bit I put in beds and flowers, etc. and there's now not much lawn left. Dad passed away in 2000 and I got married in 2004. My husband likes the garden and hates lawns. Will post a picture as soon as I get a flash drive. I don't have another way to get the garden pictures onto the Mac as our PC laptops have been taken off the internet--too many viruses.
Well had plans to go to the yard again this afternoon after work but raining again.
Oh how a forum topic can change...lol...
LOL thats for sure!
we are soggy soggy here-rain rain go away
Lots of spring blooms though!
cleaning house :(
Dori my windows are calling your name....^_^...one of my peach flambe's picked right up out of the ground still has the big mother root...but is looking very very sad :(...I hope I don't lose it...I moved it over so it would have more room...
theres almost as much water in my yard as in the lake I sware
Gloria
We just got full sun here. Hope it stays long enough to dry out the garden a little bit so I can get the rest of my taters in the ground!
Well this after noo was wonderful I got to take the dog for a long walk!!! Even got a little "moving" around done with some plants.... Yippie nice afternoon! Ronna
My oldest daughter is a photographer. She took a pic of my youngest daughter in the garden on Sunday. The color of the flowers is what gets 'ya through these RAINY days.
Birdie
Nice photo Birdie. Shes very cute. Hope you had fun meeting Susie... With the Tom turkey lol. would've been fun riding along. Well more rain predicted today. Have to work. Ronna
Great photo birdie. I love the blue flowers in the background. They just compliment and set off the beautiful smile of your precious daughter. :)
Brenda
Thanks Brenda, she is precious. She was born with N.F. (neurofibromatosis) and has gotten some difficult news over the past week. But I know she'll be okay.
Have a goodnight.