Heather's Garden

R.I.P. GAZEBO

Do you think it's a problem that I tell a lot of stuff to R.I.P. here?  On Monday afternoon VPH and younger step-son (both home due to April school vacation) helped me to disassemble the gazebo.  If you're wondering why we would disassemble the gazebo you obviously missed this post. 

The table's wet because it was covered in rusty water and sludge, so VPH cleaned it off.  When the gazebo collapsed, it gouged the table pretty good.  I'm trying not to let it bother me:

I didn't win the pergola on Ebay, and I'm not sure what to do.  I think a large umbrella might do the trick, but I really want a pergola.  The guy in NJ selling the previous pergola just put another up for auction, so I emailed him and asked if he has more and would he be willing to sell me one directly.  We'll see what he says.  But the poor table and chairs look so lonely now and it's sure not a garden room anymore:

I was right, the top of the gazebo is a good size for throwing over the firepit table.  After it dries off I'll clean it up and seal the hole in the middle:

I spotted a flash of blue off in the distance while the men did the heavy labor:

I've never seen these out there before, but this is the first year that the yard hasn't been completely covered in leaves come spring.  Can one of you knowledgeable readers identify these flowers for me?  [The answer was scilla siberica.]

They're not too far away from the day lilies, which VPH has promised not to mow this year now that we know they're there.  I suspect this portion of the yard was once a pretty little garden:

And most exciting of all -- I've got hostas in the perennial shade garden:

Both are looking good so far:

I have to admit that I squealed in delight when I brushed away the leaves to find actual plants growing.  Tax Day will be all about finishing the garden clean-up and getting my seeds started.

CONTENT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL READERS

Be forewarned.  This is going to be ugly, well some of it is.

Remember the gazebo?  July 18, 2007:

VPH and I distinctly recall reading in the assembly directions a particularly stern warning to remove the roof for the winter in areas prone to snow, but where the heck were we going to store it?  Plus we're on the CT shoreline, we really don't get a lot of snow. 

Are you prepared?  Really, this is going to be ugly.  The snow didn't do this:

It was the ice.  In early December we had an ice storm dump 3-4 inches of ice on everything that stuck around for weeks.  The poor gazebo just couldn't handle it.  I suspect that even without the roof on the frame would have crumpled under the weight of the ice.  As an aside, with the exception of that ice storm, we didn't get a storm that required salt or shoveling again until February.  And even that only stuck around for a few days.  All in all this isn't much of a loss.  Turns out we only zipped it closed twice and it wasn't all that effective when we did.  It did make the gravel patio into a distinct outdoor room though. 

I have no idea how we're going to get the thing apart.  It was a bitch to assemble in the first place -- thank goodness younger step-son is over 6 feet tall.  I know what you're asking me through the computer screen, "But can't you fix it?"  Nope, it's a goner.  The flimsy metal supports are completely bent (some in half).  My plan is to recycle as much of it as I can.  I want to use the screens to line the bottom of large planters to keep the potting soil from escaping and the corner trellises as -- you guessed it -- trellises.  I can probably fashion the waterproof roof into a cover for the firewood and/or firepit table and use the rest to patch the holes in the pop-up sheds (from the inside of course, aesthetics are important).  And I can use the unbent poles, if there are any, as plant stakes. 

We will probably still need a structure on the gravel patio to create an "outdoor room," so I'm thinking pergola.  I don't like the white prefabricated ones that are for sale at my local wholesale club and I don't want to spend $2,500+ for someone to put up a real wood one for me.  DIY would be lovely, but the only thing VPH can fix is lunch and while I'm handy, I'm too scared to use a circular saw or watch VPH try.  Also, remember we're in a rental, we've already splurged by putting in 2 patios.  I found a prefab pergola on Ebay that isn't butt ugly (I think it was formerly available at Sam's Club):

So I bid on one in NJ that I can pick up for less than the approximately $200 shipping they would charge.  We'll see. 

So you may have noticed that I got super lazy in the fall and didn't do a proper garden clean-up (I know you saw the dead tomato plants still in place in the photo of the dead gazebo above).  As long as I'm airing my dirty laundry I might as well go all out.  I knew there was a chance that the contents of the ceramic planters would freeze and they would crack.  I should have emptied them all or at least flipped them upside down for the winter, but I didn't.  Most survived the winter just fine, but the cheap teacup planters from Christmas Tree Shops bit it during the ice storm that took out the gazebo:

But the spearmint on the potting table is fine and is even showing signs of life:

The last casualty of the ice storm that I noticed today was the clock.  The thermometer arrived broken (it's hard to read below, but it registered 70 degrees and it was barely 50 as I took these photos.  It is now permanently 9:30 and 20 degrees hotter than it really is.  I still like the way they look even if they don't work:

So if I'm actually going to split this massive amount of work into manageable pieces my first task should be to complete the fall clean-up and clear the dead plants and used (possibly diseased in some cases) potting soil out of the containers (not to mention all the dead plants out of the hanging baskets and the Christmas Wreath off my front door):

Next up some of the things that are actually growing in my garden.  But feel free to confess in the comments about what you lost over the winter by not preparing properly for cold weather.

NOT THE BRIGHTEST IDEA I'VE EVER HAD

For about an hour today we had an honest to goodness snow storm going.  For the rest of the day we had a sleet storm, which is more the norm here along the CT shoreline.  So I decided to take some photos of the pretty snow -- our first of the season -- while it lasted.  Can you see where I'm going here?  Bare hands holding a metal camera in the middle of a snow storm -- not the brightest idea I've ever had.

I was inspired by Kris's post on building your own holiday wreath, but too busy (or rather lazy) to give it a try myself.  Instead, I bought a much more elaborate wreath than usual from a local grower.  I did, however, add my own bow that I made last year using 3 different colors of wire ribbon with florist wire threaded through it to tie onto the wreath:

So I kind of made it.  It's sort of like that awful show on Food Network, Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee.  Some of the things she makes -- who would eat that crap?  Anyhoo...

I really got into decorating outside and the calibrochoa were still green in the hanging planters despite multiple freezes, so I attached some inexpensive dark red bows to them:

A little bit reminiscent of a kissing ball, but a $1.69 for the bows instead of $30 for each ball from the local garden center.  See the rose plant hanging on despite several weeks below freezing and the snow:

Is there anything sadder:

I unearthed the guitar playing frog from the wildflower patch when I chipped leaves over the patch and set him up on top of the retaining wall for winter interest:

I totally forgot to take down the screens from the gazebo:

The manufacturer recommends that you take down the canopy too, but there's no way we were going to do that.  The snow must have been blowing sideways to coat the table and chairs.  Now I'm going to have to wait for the snow to melt and a couple of warm days to dry out the screens before I take them down.

Let's start a door decoration meme.  Post about your door decoration (or lack thereof), link to this post, and leave a comment saying you've written about your own door on your blog.  I can't wait to see what you've all done to your doors!

BABIES! -- MINE AND OTHER NOT SO NICE ONES

We did make it to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Friday, which was lovely, though full of very inconsiderate people.  Here's a photo of the boys examining the plaques in the actual Hall of Fame gallery.  Note younger step-son in middle scratching his poor back.  He was such a trouper!

Lots of parents letting their children run wild -- literally run around the museum without supervision, hitting each other, or blocking exhibits while they pushed each other into the walls.  I did speak sharply to 2 boys who looked to be about 8 or 9 years old, I said "if you have to do that [push each other into the wall], could you at least not do it in front of me while I'm trying to read."  I think it may have been the first time either of them had ever been reprimanded because they looked completely incredulous, but they did stop and move away. 

Then there was the mother with a screaming 10-month-old in the movie presentation at the beginning of the museum exhibits.  She couldn't have been enjoying the movie with the crying child -- does she not realize that it's disturbing the rest of us and she can leave the theater?  We had a similar experience at a very nice restaurant on our first night of vacation.  Literally every single person in this restaurant was turning around staring at this baby that cried for a solid 30 minutes, not just whimpering, but shouting its little lungs out.  The mother finally took it outside and managed to calm it down.  I've been out to meals with my girlfriends who have small children and they're always mortified if the child is making noise and immediately rush out to quiet it -- and that's in family-friendly restaurants.  Have there always been this many rude people who don't care if they're disturbing everyone around them or is this just a recent development?

Enough of me complaining!  Back to my babies.  We've had an explosion of beans:

I did not expect them to get up that pole or the fence so quickly.  What should I do now? Stick in another pole?

The other container is growing just as rapidly, but it's still yellow-tinted and some of the bottom leaves were dried up and yucky so I pulled them off.  I don't think it could be too much water because it's getting the same amount as the other container.  All I can think is maybe I didn't rinse it out well enough and it still has too much fertilizer or something in it from the old dirt.  Overall, not as full and healthy looking as the other container either, but if I didn't have something to compare it to, I think I'd be perfectly happy.

The purple hyacinth beans are doing great:

And I didn't entirely miss the blooming period which is yielding to:

I am beginning to think I will never have a ripe tomato.  If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you will see lots of green tomatoes, but not a single one even showing signs of ripening.  I took off a bunch with blossom end rot.  You'll also notice that I moved the cherry tomato plant which is just about done, and replaced it with the hanging herb basket. 

It's supposed to rain today and don't you think we need it looking at VPH's poor grass above!  We're neither of us big fans of watering lawns, but since it is all new, we decided that we would try to help it out this year.  Too bad the only time we would have had to water came while we were on vacation.  I hope it bounces back quickly or he will be very upset.

More update tomorrow. 

Hardscaping Continues

After many weeks of estimates and redesigns back and forth we were both happy with the price and the design and John started work on the last day of April.  It was only going to be a 1 day job and boy was I sad when he pulled his bobcat into the back yard and started tearing up the sod that we had fretted over so last August.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the earth he was digging up was a beautiful dark color and full of worms.  On the south side of the house next to the patio where the wildflowers are located the earth is clay more than anything else.  On the west side of the house (by the grill and flagstone walkway) it's also clay mixed with more tree roots than I could previously imagine.  On the east side of the house it's really sandy.  But if I ever want to plant something in the ground in the middle of the yard, it would grow!

Our landlord came by to see the work on day 1.  She asked us to get John to put together an estimate for tearing up the old asphalt parking space and putting down gravel on the side of the house and in the front for the 3 parking spaces (2 of which were previously on bare earth or mud/ice all winter and mud/dirt all summer).  She must have liked the price he gave her because she told him to go ahead with the job.  John used the old asphalt and such to reshape the land around the side of the house and the entrance to the yard, scraping back the topsoil, burying the debris, and placing the top soil back on top.  I wish I had thought to take pictures of the process because it really was fascinating.  I also wish I had a before picture so you could see what a difference it makes, but this should illustrate the phenomenal improvement...2 neighbors have come by and said, "Is this really 4 Blank Street?"  It's that different.  (Pardon the fake address, but you never know who's looking at stuff on the web.)

John finished the job on May 5th, we headed to a Yankee game, Clemens announced he was coming back, and we came home to the other happy news that the torn up areas of the yard had been seeded and covered in straw.  Have you ever sat and watched grass grow?  We had to water twice a day and not walk on any portion of the lawn that was slowly coming up.  We soon started walking all the way around the perimeter of the yard to get to the 2 sheds and the container vegetable garden that I planted somewhere around this week.  This is the reason I started this blog, I can't remember when I planted anything!  It was a very long 4 weeks of watering, avoiding the grass, and imagining what my conversation pit would look like once the gazebo and furniture were set up. 

Next up, actual plants will be incorporated into the garden!

Winter Scheming

I didn't spend that much time over the winter thinking about what to do with the yard (don't believe everything VPH says), but I had a few ideas.  I found out that we were getting a larger than expected tax refund in early March and my imagination went wild.  I love shopping on-line and I'm particularly fond of the W Mart site -- low prices without the unpleasant experience of walking into the store and fighting the teeming masses.  The only drawback to enjoying the patio in August/September had been the swarm of mosquitoes that attacked every evening.  If only there was something that would allow us to enjoy the outdoors but would keep us separate from the bugs. 

Sure there are those tent rooms with no floor that you zip your self into, but have you ever seen one that wasn't butt ugly?  I'm sure they're very functional and all, but I just couldn't see us in one, plus VPH, who usually goes with the flow, had vetoed this structure out of hand.  Something had to be done though and I mounted a concerted effort to find a solution. 

Then I found this on the W Mart site.  Isn't it lovely?  It's a gazebo/it's a screened in structure.  I love things that are atheistically pleasing and functional!  So it went on the must have list and as long as we're getting it, we really need some furniture to go in it.  Wait, where are we going to put it?  Remember the patio is awesome, but it's also already covered in furniture and I love my fire pit table and probably shouldn't use it under a canvas awning.  We need another level spot in the yard!

Initially my idea was to have the whole yard graded and re-seeded.  I started getting bids and again, way too much money for a rental.  I approached my landlord about possibly splitting the cost, but this time they weren't interested.  I started revising my idea to a smaller scale and working with the one contractor who was responsive, helpful, and reasonably priced, my pal John (I'm happy to share his company name and contact info if anyone has a project they need a guy and heavy duty equipment for).  Together we came up with the idea of a 15' x 15' gravel pit. 

I started calling it the conversation pit, but I was the only one who could see it.  My landlord has repeatedly said, you do what you want, but I don't think a big pile of rocks in the middle of the grass is going to look good.  To which I really wanted to say, you see any grass out there woman?  But I'm trying to be a nicer person.  Here's the sketch that I made for John.  Ironically, this is pretty much what we ended up with, but for some reason I didn't know where the spigot was located on the side of the house -- not where it is in my drawing -- and don't laugh at my horrible drawing ability or my sense of scale, or rather lack thereof.