The year of extremes continues

1. Extreme snowfall this winter.
2. Extreme rainfall this spring (almost every single day!)
3. Extreme heat last week and coming again this week.
4. Early this morning, extreme rain.  The largest rainfall ever recorded in Illinois.  We got 7.25 inches on my raingauge.

Know whats not fun?  Digging in goo.  Know what is less fun.  Putting up a deck in 90 degrees with 90% humidity.  It rained off an on today.  Didn't matter.  We were soaked when it was raining and soaked when it wasn't.  Oh well still better than drought and locusts and dust storms and wild fires!

Landscaping the New Area Starts-Sort of

 If you had told me earlier in the year that the mid-point of the patio project would occur with the first tomato, I would have been OK with that.  Now it is here.  That patio midpoint and the first tomato.  

Galinas cherry started giving up her goodness last week.  Oh man these little cherries are delicious.  Not sweet.  Very old tomato flavor.  Very rich and very prolific.  The plant is huge, well over ten feet and very easy to keep in a reasonable shape.  

I'm supposed to be talking about landscaping though so I'll conclude my tomato ramblings with the whine that tomato season is a full three weeks behind, thanks to the horrible spring.  Oh well, at least it has started!

The fence is almost done, they are having trouble with one of that latches because they undersized the gate opening a full inch.  (Le sigh) .  This would normally start me on a contractor rant but its already 85 degrees out there and I have a deck to build.

  Focus on the pictures Stacy..  Right

Well this bed is done.  It was an interesting bed to do because it is deep shade on the far left and full sun on the far right.  The goal was to have four season interest, very low maintenance and some color.

The solution I came up with was was Stained Glass hosta on the far left in chartreuse and dark green,  some really glowy double knock out roses in the center and  a chartreuse and dark green dwarf cypress with interesting texture in the right.  I completed it with some shiny black ajuga, which should be easy to contain in this area near the hosta and then some dark purple salvia for the front.  The salvia are just filler.  I wanted the stars of the bed to be the glowers.  It looks underdeveloped right now, but I think once the hosta gets a bit bigger it is going to be nice.  I like the balance the different glowy greens is giving it.

Today the goal is to finish the balcony.  It is predicted to be a rather miserable job.  It is tropical out there right now and we have learned that while beautiful, Timbertek decking is hot!  We spent a good chunk of yesterday putting in the decking boards.  Today is the railings which are complex enough that they provide a video to supplement their written instructions.  

The next landscaping project at the deck is to landscape this area.  I call it the balcony bed.  This area is challenging for a whole lot of reasons.  The deep shade under the deck, the dog loving this area, the need for a four season view since the foyer looks right on it, the horribly compacted clay that has been tramped down in it, and most puzzling of all, the question of what to do on the end.

The end currently has grass in it.  The grass has to go because there is now way to reach it with the mower now that the fence is in.  What I want to do is tie this new bed in with the existing back bed.  However I don't want to completely re-do the back bed.  I also am struggling with the big bulbous blog at the end of a narrow bed that is going to occur if I don't.

I've decided to start on the easy (Ha!) edge of the bed and then work back.  Meanwhile every evening I sit out on the new patio with my tea and plot what the plan is going to be for this area. 

I'll save the challenges for this area for another day.  They are not only aesthetic and functional issues but also mechanical and technical.  It's requiring a whole lot of research.  

That's it for now, the deck calls.

FINALLY! Project Starts

As predicted, the whole permit thing took a month.  Really though even without permits it would probably have taken that long to get started due to the bleeping rain every single day since the snow went away!

Finally last week, we got a break.  We got back from vacation and the permits were ready, the weather was cooperating and the contractors were ready to go.  Time to purge the ugly!

It took about five minutes of ugly purging to figure out that things were going to get a whole lot more ugly before the pretty started.  

Excavation went really fast, but those giant piles of clay that got dumped all over my nice soft, lovely black soil, well that smarted.  We agonized over cutting some tree roots from the sugar maple, coaxed the dog that different grass was still OK and mostly tolerated a whole lot of mud and dust.  Yeah dust.  Who knew brick pavers were so dusty?

The bad pain was pretty darn short though.  OK the wallet still stings but the ugly fence is out, most of the pavers are in, the seatwall is in and we are starting to get some glimses of what is to come.  Yeah yeah, the deck is still rotten, the beds are still filled with giant clay mounts and the dog still is freaking out, but we are definitely making some progress!

I might even go to a nursery today!

I'm rather freaking out about the new giant bed that has been created and what to put in it.  The back berm bed is infested with weeds.  I'm having trouble keeping up with the existing beds and now there are two new ones and more to come!  Hopefully when I no longer have to relocate clay piles, that will free up more time for weed control.  In the meantime, the plan is lots of landscaping fabric and mulch!

Two Steps Forward...

The season of no progress continues!

Last weekend I spent a fair amount of time getting most of the tomatoes and peppers in the ground and getting mulch down in the foundation planting bed.  While doing this, I occasionally heard a strange sound...almost like two sticks being rubbed together.

It turns out, that is exactly what it was.  The maples in the yard, no doubt peeved that I have started planting hosta's in their root zones were plotting against me.  It couldn't have been two hours after the time I got the last bag down when a gentle breeze picked up, and the maples took their revenge.

The picture below was taken before the subsequent storm hit, which not only dropped 29834729 more maple seeds, but also planted and watered them nicely.

What this means is that this weekend, I get to spend more time on this same bed, getting up the propellars before they sprout and make their evil maple roots.

Unfortunately, this is not the only bed that has been attacked.  They all got nailed, along with the gutter covers.  You know those things that are supposed to keep  stuff out of the drainpipes by embedding them in mesh?  yeah

The original plans for the weekend were supposed to surrounded recovering the balcony in the patio with some lovely Timbertech composite decking.  We wanted to get that done before the patio project started.  It was supposed to be a fast job.  Take off boards, put on new boards, put on rail, done.

     

That would have been way to easy.  I should have known that their would be complications, it is the norm for our home.  The complications were pretty bad.  The boards coming out of the house are rotted, badly.  So badly that they pretty much disintergrated when we started pulling off the tin cover some put over the to make sure they never dried out.

What this now means is that we have to get another permit because now we have to cut these off, dig 42" holes in the ground to fill with concrete so that we have something to place the posts on that will now be required to support the deck.  The materials for this project were delivered 30 minutes after we discovered this mess and now are in the garage.  One of the cars will have to be in the driveway for the next month or so.  :P

The patio?  Well we dropped  chunk o change for a deposit on the project.  Then found out that the permit process here requires sign off by the health department, possibly our bank, and a pre-inspection from the county.  The turn around time of that is a couple of weeks, which mean the goal of starting that is pushed back to the end of the month.  The contractor laughed at me when I asked if we could have our money back for awhile.  :)  The frustrating thing about this whole permit thing is that this isn't a crazy project.  Expand an existing patio a bit, put in some edging of existing plantar beds, re-fence the area that is nowhere near any property line.  Why the heck they need the health department to make sure the water supply is A-OK boggles.  

Oh well, I hold out hope that we have something done by July 4.  That still leaves a good chunk o summer left for enjoyment. 

Photo Theft is so Sketchy. I'm talking to YOU!

This morning I remembered that I had this thing on my blog called statcounter.  I put it on there when I first started the blog and promptly forgot  about it.   I found a link to it this morning when digging around my email.

Statcounter, logs the traffic on your site.  It also tells what images have been downloaded.  I noticed that my chocolate stripes tomato image was rather popular so I got curious and went to google to see what I could see.  What I found is that my photo, taken on my kitchen counter, has been poorly reproduced at an heirloom gardening site  What this tells me is this:  1) This company is sketchy.  2.  This company apparently is unable to grow its own decent chocolate stripes tomatoes.  Every tomato on that plant is a work of art.  Thus I must deduce that since they have had to resort to stealing an image, they are incapable of growing their own fruit and must be getting seeds from who know's where.

I've heard about this sort of thing happening from other tomato growers.  Never thought I would see one of my pictures stolen though.  Shame on you .  If I could get your email link to open I'd tell you directly.  For now I'll have to just call you out on multiple tomato and gardening forums and hope someone gets the message and corrects their mistake.

Here is the link to my post about MY tomato.

Update:  Found an email for them and sent a request to remove the image.  Also posted my complaint at tomatoville where it looks like they may read.

Update #2  Wow, that was fast.  They did not respond to my email, however the photo has now been taken down.   Good.

Update #3 Got a nice email from the site owner.  I'm removing the links to the name.  I'm terrible at holding a grudge.  :)

Another Wet Weekend

The entire weekend can only be described as gross, weather wise.  Very cold, very wet.  I had really hoped to get the rest of the tomatoes and all of the peppers in this weekend, but they would have been ticked at getting put in that cold goo that is currently my yard.  So I spared them that, though they'll still have to deal with their current cramped quarters another few days.

Plan B was to get the old plum tree down for the fence expansion.  Plan B went out the window with the rain.

Plan C was to get more patio planning done.  That went well.  Our guy we were hoping on came thru and his schedule is looking OK for getting this done soon.  The permit process it turning into a huge headache, but that wasn't unexpected.  I won't be posting any more about THAT in case they read blogs.  Hey they fly their planes over houses to see if you added decks so it isn't that far of a stretch.  :)

We did make a trip out to to a landscape supply place or two.  Good thing we made that trip.  Pavers look different in person than in the catalog.  We changed our minds in what we wanted and this change will likely save us a bit of dough!.  Next stop was to check out decking materials.  I'm interested in the third generation composite stuff that is out there for decks now.  I particularly like the Ipe inspired deck from Fiberon.  Unfortunately I HATE all the deck makers composite posts and railings.  The shiny plastic thing-yuck.  Right now we are leaning towards composite decking and cedar posts with aluminum balusters.

I spent a few hours working on the plumbing research for the pond.  This is WAY more complicated then I originally thought.  We are not going with an Aquascape kit or their typical layout.  I want low maintenance which means skimmer and sieve and UV and bottom drain and about a thousand different valves.  Hubs is going to freak when he see's all this.  I wonder if stealth pond plumbers can be hired.  I got a promotion on Friday.  Seems like that could be a good way to spend the pay raise!

Bid Update:

Another bid on the patio project came in last night.  Its frustrating this contractor thing.  How is it that you can give someone a list, a picture of what you want, spend forty five minutes giving details and you still end up with a missing path, two extra columns and the wrong stone?

  Sigh.

Foundation Planting-Backyard

This spring has been a struggle.  I have been unable to get outside to do anything due to almost the entire month of April being rainy.  The other issue is completely unrelated to rain.  It is the issue of the patio project.  I don't want to plant in areas that are going to be ripped out or improved.  That limitation has messed up my whole flow!  

Last weekend I finally got a break in the weather and was able to get outside and get something done.  The back beds were still too wet.  The ground was still to cold for bringing out the tomatoes but the foundation area at the back of the house was ready for some action!

This area had three large yews removed last year from the area in front of the meters.  They were getting old and ratty looking so we took them out.  For this year, I wanted to put in a mixture of edibles and perennials in this bed.  The plum tree that currently partially shades it is coming out (fall hazard) so I'll have more light soon.

 

A trip to my favorite nursery started off the project.  I only went for some grasses to cover the meter.  Like most trips to the nursery, that didn't go exactly as planned.  The $82 bill added up fast.  I had a really nice variety to choose from and I leaned towards the newer and cooler which made for higher prices.  Since my plan was to divide each plant to get more for the money, I actually ended up with almost three times as many plants as shown here.  The impulse buy was the Valentine blueberry.  A pink blueberry?  How could I resist.  The most expensive?  The fern leaf peony at $40.  Hey at least I put back the big bird peony that was $117!

Weeding this bed was a quick job thanks to the fall clean-up we did on it last year.  Planting took a little longer thanks to the residual evil lava rocks that are still found in our foundation beds.  I also found a huge crack in the rain barrel that needed to be dealt with. In that same area, I had to again deal with the ugliest bush in the world.  It is trying to make a come back.  I removed the rocks, dug it up again, covered the area with four layers of landscape fabric and then the rocks again.  Take that Ugly!

I took a break from the foundation plantings mid-day to get one of the self watering containers set-up.  I wanted to get the soil and water in it, so that it can start warming up this next week.  Then the tomatoes will be less shocked when I put them in.  The color scheme for this bed was accidental but might end up being kind of cool looking.  I ended up with a lot of red leaved plants.  Pennstemem, red chard, Red cabbage, molten lava amaranth, rhubarb.  Then I also have multiple bright green perennials.  I added a potato leaf tomato just to try and push things a bit (Galinas cherry) and then topped the area with a non-dyed mulch (I'll save the mulch rant for another day).

The end result doesn't currently look like much.  Dividing perennials doesn't tend to give you instant wow factor but I'm pleased with the potential here.  I post pictures in a month to show you were it went.

 

Rain and Contractors-Blah to Both

This spring has been marked by a distinct lack of gardening posts.  Why?  Because I cannot get into the yard.  The entire month of April has been about gloom and cold and rain.  What a contrast to last year!  On those rare days where it actually hasn't rained, the yard has been too gooey to do more than pick up sticks.  I am far far behind and the forecast for the next seven days?  More rain.  Blah

We have made some progress on the patio project in that we have had three companies out to give us a bid.  So far we have received one bid back,  It was from the guy that I didn't like too much.  The bid was reasonable.  Except that he forgot a few things.  Sigh.

 I also got a bid on the pond.  It was an internet bid.  I emailed them pictures of the site and a basic description of what we wanted.  They emailed me back a price of 20K+, without any description of what their most awesome pond plan was whatsoever.  Oh they did say that they know that they are higher but it is because they are better.   Needless to say, they can go soak their heads in one of their most awesome ponds.  I'll pass.

We have another guy coming to look at the site on Friday and hold out hope that the first guy that told us two weeks will come thru for us.  We liked him the best.  The more we consider this project the more I think that I may just do the pond myself.  I'll pay to have it excavated and do the rest.  All of the guys I've talked to so far clearly know the Aquascape variety of pond installation and that's not what I want.  I want low maintenance so I can spend days reading and  gazing at fish instead of vacuuming up their poop.

Edit to say:  Huh, within hours of this post, I got an email that gave more information about the pond design.  So I've decided to remove the pond company name.  Their price however, is still inflated so I'll still be taking a pass.

I Put the Patio Plan on You-tube

The bits and pieces that are the current horror of my patio area have started to creep into my blog entries.  We were going to re-do this area last summer but just lost track of time.  I did nothing to keep it up other than a bit of weeding, because we were going to rip it all out.  It is extraordinary (and mortifying) how much deterioration has occurred in one year.  It is hopefully very temporary.  

We've decided to get this area done, rather than do it ourselves.  Mainly because it is a heck of a lot of work and we want to enjoy our summer.  The first contractor came today.  Here's hoping that he saw such a trashy mess that his bid will come in low because he thinks that we can't afford big inflated projects, lol!

Anyway, I figured out how to get what I have been working on in my landscape program, on to you-tube.  It rough.  I can't figure out the camera angles or how to fix the floating mulch yet.  Oh and the program has no boulders so I can't finish the pond and waterfall either.  Nevertheless, I am still pretty proud that I figured out enough to get this done!  Even if the part that shows the pond did get chopped off.  LOL  Enjoy!
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfWNUO0lmXU