What’s On My Mind

My Garden, April 2009

// April 18th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

I’ve been working quite a bit on my front gardens and not as much on my back gardens. I recently went out and photographed everything for tracking purposes. Here’s a taste:

My front sun garden is doing gloriously. I extended the very crowded garden that was there before, moved things around, and gave everything a lot more space. I have it as a combo of deserty plants and orange flower plants. Since it’s the only sun garden I have in my whole yard right now, I just throw stuff in there as I can. Soon there will be a beautiful sunflower plant there that I bought online. 

My small rectangle garden is known around these parts as the great plant killer. I went with my sad story to Red Barn and an employee suggested this lilly plant. She said if this one dies, consider yard art. Let’s hope this one lives to tell the tale.

My long front garden near the swing is finally starting to fill out. It’s a shade garden, so most of it is simply green leafed plants. I do try to find them as tropical-looking as they come. The Japanese Auralia and the Giant Leopart Plant are a big help with that notion. 

Now we move to the back. My deck garden that I planted last year is doing… ok. This is the sprinkler head that we conveniently destroyed, so I need to water it by hand. Too often, I forget. There are a couple of plants that succombed to the winter. The Golddust Aucuba is the only plant actually growing so far this year. 

My herb garden is full of new herbs thanks to a coupon from Red Barn. I’ve used the oregano, basil, and parsley regularly. I need to use the cilantro soon because it tends to bolt early. I bought chocolate mint on a whim and other than making people taste it directly, I need to find a better use for it. 

The garden along the back fence is in need of some serious help. It doesn’t look nearly as good as when we first tried to start it with Colleen’s help. My thoughts are that we tried to plant too many sun loving plants back here when they only get maybe an hour of sun a day thanks to our massive amount of trees. I just need to head to the plant store soon and start getting some beautiful shade plants to get this one started again.

The Kitchen Floor is Gone!

// September 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Sorry for the late update, but the kitchen floor is gone! Dave managed to remove the second half all by himself when he got home from work early… all without my knowledge. He carefully cut out the crazy particleboard that went through underneath the hardwood floors that we’re keeping. He used a circular saw, I hope slowly. (I didn’t see.) There was minimal damage to the hardwoods that’s easily covered with a transition piece. He then removed the stove and refrigerator all by his lonesome without a dolly, removed the floors, and replaced the fridge. I’m damn impressed!

We spent all day Saturday cleaning up dust. The dust damage was extensive. We started the project so haphazardly that we didn’t bother covering anything or containing the work area. We learned our lesson, big time. Dave likened it to an episode he had when he was a kid. Apparently one of his step brother’s friends thought it would be funny to set off the fire extinguisher in his house. He and his brothers had to clean up the mess. That’s quite a comparison, but I’d imagine quite accurate.

We also bought a new dishwasher. Oh, happy day! It’s coming tomorrow and I can’t wait to see how much quieter it is than our old one. Don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but the brand of the old dishwasher is Insinkerater. Let that sink in a bit. Yes, the dishwasher is an Insinkerator. Sure it might be a certified antique at this point, but all I care is that it’s gone!

Next we need to recover the floor (obviously). We’re going with vinyl tiles due to the foundation’s movement. (See pictures of the cracks below.) Luckily, vinyl tiles are much better these days and can even be grouted. I definitely want them to look as real as possible… none of that fake grout crap.

After that is finding transition pieces that would fit a 1-2 inch gap. While that may be quite unlikely, Dave is researching how to make one of our own.

So that’s that. Almost done. It’s our first truly large DIY project. I’m rather proud of ourselves!