I understand what you are saying Yvonne. Working out in the yard gives me a high ..... even all tuckered out when the day is over, it is such a good feeling. So much better than cleaning the house!!
I've been going outside and checking what new is peeking out of the ground in my flower beds and containers. Irises, daffodils and hostas so far. There is a bush that resembles bamboo stalks but I don't know what the name of it is it draws a lot of bumble bees and sometimes butterflies. The honeysuckles are starting to bud too. I love the smell of honeysuckle in the evening.
Yes Von. Smells so nice! Honeysuckle ... and Jasmine. I have several Jasmine vines/bushes growing by my house, front and rear, and the smell is intoxicating.
I love honeysuckle, jasmine and gardenia. I don't currently have any honeysuckle, but perhaps I'll remedy that this year. I say it every year, but this could be the one. I pulled out the seeds yesterday, and the sun is shining, so I'll be doing a little yard work later. I need to clean out two large pots I've kept downstairs, and eventually move them up here to the balcony, so I can plant something in them. I'll figure out what I'm going to plant once I go through and see which seeds I have left. Hopefully this year I won't forget that I've planted lettuce, although the cats really did enjoy nibbling on it last year. @Yvonne Smith If I were you, I'd plant something with thorns along the fence line. I've love to plant more than I do, but the plants would probably die from lack of care. The ones I have now are relatively low maintenance, and that works for me.
Could the bush that resembles bamboo stalks be cannas, @Von Jones ? Mine are just starting to peek out right now. I usually dig a few of them up and start some new ones growing because i really like cannas, and they are such a great privacy plant, and come back each year with more new starts. My cannas are just the plain red ones. I used to have some that were yellow, and even one of the tiger-striped orange ones; but we ended up moving when they were dormant and underground, and I couldn't dig them up. I am planting things with thorns along the parts of the fence that are closest to the road, @Diane Lane . Along the front where we just put up the bamboo screening, is where the blackberries are growing, and on the other side of the driveway gate I have planted several rose bushes. On the other side of the house, I also planted some roses; but that area is in deep shade from the neighbor's pine trees; so it is hard for me to get anything to grow there. I have been putting in some starts of ivy, and stringing those along the fence as they grow; so eventually maybe the fence will at least be covered with the greenery from the ivy. We don't usually do much in that part of the yard; so privacy out there is not as important as it is on the driveway side of the house. We have lots of honeysuckle growing all along the back fence, and since there is nothing behind us except that overgrown lot; privacy back there is not much of an issue either. Before too much longer , the jerusalem artichokess should also be coming up, and they will be even thicker than they were last year. As they develop new root bulbs, they should continue to thicken up each year, and during the heat of summer when they are tallest, they do give us some privacy out front.
Privacy is definitely a good thing @Yvonne Smith, especially when your neighbors are challenging. My Facebook neighborhood group is heating up again, and no doubt it'll continue to do so until after Summer is over. Thankfully, I got a longer hose and did some maintenance in the ditch out front and also in the front yard and front and side of the back yard. I'm leaving the back portion of the back yard as a meadow, it's got pretty little flowers in it, and I'm leaving them. I don't need to go back there for anything, and I like the look of it that way. If I'm able at some point, i might fashion a walkway between the back porch and shed, but for now, I'm just happy that I got the lawns taken care of and some seeds in containers on the balcony. Can you tie it down or otherwise secure it @Von Jones? I think many here secure those and the lighter weight car ports with cinderblocks.
@Diane Lane. Each one of those sad faces represent the tasks I have ahead of me. It's funny that you should suggest securing the screen house because I did but not well enough. The gusts of wind were so strong that the poles came out of the ground (which was wet). I do have a plan now that I have to start from square one in rebuilding the 'beast'.
There was a plan for building a green house that I always have wanted to do, @Von Jones , and the basic idea of it might work on your screen house as well. The greenhouse is a Quonset hut style, and it is made with rebar, plastic PVC pipe, and clear plastic. You put the rebar into the ground , using one of those T-post planters probably, and then you "hoop" the long pieces of PVC over the top from one side to the other and cover it with the plastic. What I am thinking here, is that maybe if you put rebar into the ground, and leave about 3-4' out of the ground, and put your plastic pipe over top of the rebar, it will help stabilize the screen house , and give the sides more support. If you don't have one of those T-bar pounders, even just a small mall or heavy hammer would work to pound in the rebar far enough to be stable.
Well, Fall is here and I have been raking leaves on a regular. Most of my flowers have died off so they have been cut back. The only blooms left are the most recent photo I took shown in Photos. Here are a few photos what they look like today. I took down my screenhouse and stored it away. I did plant some grass seed in bare spots in the backyard a couple of weeks ago. I did the same thing last year and the result turned out very good and showed this summer.
I've been sweeping the driveway when I can. I have a tree in my front yard and the neighbor has one just at the edge of my driveway, both of which drop leaves and also crunchy things. I think the neighbor said mine's a china berry tree. The crunchy things are like an alarm system, because walking or driving over them makes loud noise, so I try to keep it swept when they're falling. I also try to keep the random pecans swept up, because I've twisted my ankle on them in the past. The pecan tree is out back, just on my other neighbor's side of our shared fence, but the squirrels drop them in the driveway occasionally, and I'm sure the wind does, as well. I have also been regularly sweeping the leaves off the balcony. I have quite a few in the back yard, but I think I'm going to leave those for a bit, in the hope that they'll kill the weeds.
We usually leave all of the fallen leaves in the yard over the winter to help protect the ground. Our yard slopes downhill towards the road, and when it rains, we lose dirt. The roots of the trees are exposed where dirt has washed away. What it needs is a truckload of good dirt,and then replanted. That is not going to happen for a while; so just keeping it covered with leaves during the rainy season helps a lot, and then in the spring , we rake and compost the old leaves when the grass starts coming up again.
Some of the trees are starting to drop their leaves now, and they needed to be raked up. Last year, I didn't do much of it, and I ended up with a bunch of dead patches on the lawn. I also have a bit of grass to mow, although it is not growing much this time of the year. I have gas to put in the mower, but it has been sitting quite a long time, and my guess is the battery is dead. Roomie will put it on his charger if that is the case, but it is all such a hassle!
I don't mind having leaves on my lawn, but I rake them up to add to my compost pile. There's nothing better than a layer of household wastes, followed by a layer of leaves, etc.
Well luckily the rider started. The thing is so geriatric..Lord know's how old it really is, I bought it used. Anyway, so that is one good thing. They said on the news our leaves won't peak until Nov. 5, and they will drop after that, so I will be doing my raking in Mid November I guess. The deck gets totally full of leaves too, because I have tree branches that almost overhang it. I have a leaf blower to deal with those babies though!