In the Weeds

All in a weekends work: Tree trimming and brush clearing

2008-09-29T22:39:00.009-04:00

When I bought my house this spring, I really did fall in love with the yard. It was just the right size for my first yard, there was an area already there for vegetables, and lots of flower beds, too. I also liked that the yard had several mature trees--my house was built in the 60's as one of the Indianapolis 'burbs (now it's a part of the city, for sure). I also appreciated the fully fenced back yard with some trees growing around the fence line which provided some privacy.

Here's what I saw once I took off the new homeowner, rose-colored glasses:
Mulberry trees, overgrown bushes and shrubs, mulberry trees, brush piles, rotting wood piles, over flowing flower beds, mulberry trees, and a raised vegetable bed that was sure to be falling a part within a few years. Oh, and did I mention mulberry trees?? So that is what led to my fall project list.

I know the list is long, but I felt like these things really need to happen now instead of later (I'm now re-thinking the list...considering I'm not yet done with even one of these things and it's practically October).

My parents came to town to help out this past weekend to assist with cutting down trees, trimming up shrubs, and chipping it all.

I immediately took my post at the chipper rented from Sunbelt Rentals. A word about Sunbelt and my experience with this chipper: On-line it says that this is a 4" chipper. This means it should chip up anything with a 4" or smaller diameter limbs, sticks, etc. I called to ask a few questions about the chipper and was told it is actually 3" and was immediately "up-sold" to the 6" chipper (amounting in about $125 more). I declined. When the guys went to pick up the chipper they said it would only handle 1.5" diameter---excuse me? But you said 3" on the phone!
The chipper worked fine...for about 5 hours off and on...then white smoke bellowed from the belt and no more chipping occurred. Mind you this is Saturday at about 4:40. They close at 5. We called and they wouldn't take back the chipper that day (had to wait until Monday morning) and they wouldn't let us come get another one.

Nevertheless, the work was not finished.

My dad, aka Rambo, is seen here sharpening his tools. He is preparing to tackle the back edge of my lawn, where these woody shrubs have grown out from the property line about six feet.

He and mom are just getting started on the area.

And this is what it looked like when they were done! I've gained about 5 extra feet of yard!

Now I can see my neighbors and the transformers back here. This is unacceptable. I'm going to check out ornamental grasses that will grow tall in part shade.

With the chipper dead, Tod and I decided to just start piling it up by the maple tree in the back. On the left you can see the pile of wood chips we were able to create. On the right you can see the new brush pile. That new brush pile is about 7 feet tall and 12 feet long. Now I either have to rent a chipper again or see if there is a tree service who will come out and chip it up and leave the chips for me.

Sore

2008-09-29T11:12:00.003-04:00

Backbreaking work this weekend...hauling, digging, raking, dumping, cutting, moving, chipping, stacking.

I can't wait to get pics up. I can see a huge difference in my yard, but I'm not so sure if you were a new visitor to my house, you'd notice.

My bulb booty bounty

2008-09-21T20:32:00.005-04:00

Many reasons for the name of my post...
1. I love alliteration. It is one of my favorite things to use in fun writing opportunities (I serve as the VP of Funness, aka Social Chair, at work and have to get co-workers excited in e-mails. Alliteration is way to do that...)
2. the word "booty" is used in the post to pay homage to Talk like a Pirate Day, which just took place on September 19th. According to this website which schools you in how to talk like a pirate says that, for pirates, booty is treasure...which is exactly what this was! BURIED TREASURE!
3. And lastly, it is certainly a bounty! Check out these pictures...

This is an entire work bench in my garage. On it there are all of the bulbs that I dug up from my old place. There are alliums, tulips, daffodils, crocuses, a few minor bulbs, and a couple of surprise lilies.
That postal box on the left is full of seeds from Tod's mom--we went through her garden and gathered tons of seeds! (Those are California Poppies peeping out.)

This is a picture from the side that was cut out of the above pictures. Those are the surprise lilies and muscari.

This picture is of the top of a bankers' box. It is full to the brim with tulips and a few crocuses.
All together digging all of this up took four trips to my old place (and Tod helped on two of those trips). All of these beauties are going to go in my new yard soon and there will be tons of beautiful color next spring!

Fall projects: raised vegetable garden beds, edging, bulb planting

2008-09-16T19:17:00.004-04:00

So there are a number of projects I'd like to complete before it gets too cold to be outside. I'm making an ambitious list--after all, this is my first fall in the house. This is a great time to do plenty of projects--it's cool outside and the rush of things to do in the summer is gone.

Fall Projects:

Plant bulbs -- I have tulips, daffodils, irises, crocuses, alliums, and a few others (that is all from the old house, which I dug up and brought with me). New bulbs include hyacinths, minnow daffodils, dwarf iris, more crocuses, and wood hyacinths.
New bed in the side yard -- at some point a previous homeowner thought it would be smart to put down a ton of pea gravel in the side yard. My goal is to dig out about 6" of a section of this, along the privacy fence, and put in some plants. It's under a big maple tree, so these plants have to like the shade. I'm thinking hostas, astilbe, bleeding heart, spring bulbs, wood hyacinths, etc.
Raised veggie beds -- I have one now...but the soil is trash, it runs east-west, it's too close the raspberries, and the wood is rotting. I think I want to create 2 beds that run north-south, with fresh soil, encased in the composite decking so that it will last longer and I don't have to worry about painting it and making sure bad things don't leach into the soil.
Clean up the raspberries--these things are running wild! There are black-eyed Susans, a peony, a rose bush, and lamb's ear through out and at the edge of the raspberries. In an ideal world, I'd put in a post at each end with wire between to get the brambles to grow up, instead of out.
Prune trees--this is a massive undertaking. Everything is so overgrown. My dad is coming to visit next weekend with the "machula" (aka the chainsaw) to work on this. I'm renting a chipper for this as I don't see how I would possibly burn everything that will come down. I anticipate easily gaining 6 extra feet on the back of my property once all of the shrubs are trimmed back.
Re-seed the lawn--honestly, it's more weeds than lawn and with the addition of more land near the back, we'll want to seed that, too!
Edge the flower beds--was gifted some black plastic bed edging and I purchased a bunch of limestone recently. None of my beds have a clean edge and this should be done.
Thin flowers--since I've not lived through a full season of the flowers here, I don't want to get too crazy since I don't want to pull out flowers. BUT...some things have got to go..or be moved at least.

Can I get this all done in time?? I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Bloom Day -- September 2008

2008-09-15T20:37:00.004-04:00

Well, there are a few flowers the high winds didn't destroy yesterday. The elephant ears look like they've been pelted by a B.B. gun and the black-eyed Susans are partially horizontal. I had 3 good size (~12'-15') fall out of the sugar gum tree. Thankfully it didn't fall on the house and only damaged some of a butterfly bush and ripped my patio table umbrella.

Now for the blooms!

This little bee is getting his fill of pollen from the golden rod.

Some of the hostas continue to bloom through September.

The Japanese anemone does as well.
I'm assuming this is some sort of morning glory. It is a bright blue with purple stripes. At first I thought it was from the clematis that grows close by.
The tall phlox continues to bloom and be incredibly beautiful and fragrant just outside the back door.

The mums are blooming on the front steps, the hanging baskets of petunias and geraniums continue to add color to the front of the house.

What bulbs to order? Minor bulbs, spring bulbs, summer bulbs...

2008-09-12T13:41:00.002-04:00

It's dreary outside and fall has certainly started showing it's face around here--falling temperatures, leaves turning.

I'm debating about what, if any, bulbs to order. I dug up a huge bounty from the old place and need to get those in the ground. But it just feels right to order some more!

Minor bulbs do a good job for some low lying, early spring color. Color is something I definitely need in the front yard. It's just too plain up there for me!

But I remember before I bought the house, there were hyacinths blooming in the front and so were a couple of sparse tulips. I love hyacinths...perhaps I'll buy some of those. Tulips I have a ton of...but they are one of my favorites. You can never have too many.

I think I might check out Habig's selection. they had some lovely dwarf irises a few years ago that I really liked.

It sho' wasn't a fungus -- Squash Vine Borers

2008-09-04T14:27:00.006-04:00

So remember when I said that a stinking fungus attacked my squash and zucchini?? Yeah, a few weeks ago in this post.

Well, it turns out I was wrong! I consulted Carol, over at May Dreams Gardens, another Indiana gardener and asked for her opinion. "Squash vine borers," she said...er, wrote...in a comment in my blog.

While I believed Carol, I wanted to see it with my own eyes. A few articles I read on the Internet said you can find them gnawing through the stems of your vines if you catch them earlier enough.

With steak knife in hand I marched out to the last crookneck yellow squash plant and slit that sucker down the middle. Sure enough, there were two little culprits responsible for destroying my last squash plant.

So naturally my response was to stab them, several times each, and them burn them with the rest of the vines in the fire pit.

You can see them there on the left in the middle of the picture. They were less than an inch long and cream in color with a spot of brown on the end.

Upon further inspection I also found these little brown dots and whole load of ugly, nasty little creatures. You can barely make them out in the picture, but this webpage has a better image.

SQUASH BUGS! EVERYWHERE! I found tons and tons of these little brown eggs on my squash.

These suckers when into the fire, too! BURN SUCKERS!

I think next year I need to wage organic pesticide war before these take over another veggie garden of mine.

"Name that Plant" forum makes me swoon

2008-08-28T10:59:00.004-04:00

Magic and the power of the Interwebs have combine forces in the "Name that Plant" forum on iVillage's GardenWeb.

In my last post, I put up some pictures of beautiful, but name-unknown plants. I decided to try my luck with the forum. I believe I first saw it in a comment on another blog.

I'm happy to report that in less than a day, both of my blooms were identified!

The tiny purple buds are from a meadow rue plant and the magenta flowers are a Japanese anemone.

So anytime you're not quite sure of what plant you have on your hands (be it a weed, a tree or shrub, or a flower), go to the Name that Plant forum, post a picture and watch the magic happen!

Some pretties around the yard

2008-08-26T22:19:00.003-04:00

Time to share pictures of some pretties in bloom!

Black-eyed Susans! There are a ton of these and they are stunning!
I have no idea what these dainty flowers are. They grew from a woody stem and at first I thought they were columbine because of the shape of their leaves. These blooms are about as tall as I am.
This is another plant that I don't know. The buds look like a furry sphere and then they bloom into the little purple buds that you see here.
I believe this is butterfly bush. It's pretty and tall and has several stems.
And more black-eyed Susans--'cause they are so great!

But now for some happy and some lycopene

2008-08-21T17:36:00.005-04:00

Finally, the tomatoes are getting very, very close to ripening and being eaten! Well, the cherry tomatoes have been doing well for awhile now. I still haven't taken that off of the vine, waiting for it to get delicious and red. It's a 'big boy' tomato. I also have an heirloom variety, 'Pink Caspian.'

I'm so glad these aren't dying...yet.

Ack! What is happening to my vegetable garden?!?

2008-08-20T13:07:00.005-04:00

From the looks of this lovely crook-neck squash you'd think I'd be basking in an plentiful bounty o' veggies right now.

But you would be wrong. "Why's that?" you ask. Because I have a visitor called verticillium wilt (at least that's what I believe it is...this site told me so). This visitor to my garden has decided to kill all of my cucumbers, squash and zucchini.

This is the end of the squash that still looks fine. But the stem and it's first major leaves are wilted and grey/yellow now.

Remember earlier this summer when I was so proud to have produced my first vegetable? The magic is gone and reality of a fungus has set in.
These are my three zucchini plants. The fungus got all of these as well.

These two pictures are a closer look at the stem close to the ground.

Here's one plant that literally crumbled apart when I tried to take a closer look.

Does anyone have any suggestions? A few people have suggested crop rotation (plant non-vine-y things there) or solarize my raised bed next year...what would you do?

Do your part, you buffoon!

2008-08-18T15:49:00.006-04:00

So I recently read a blog post asking people if they recycle, why they recycle and how they recycle.

Although I am a fairly new convert to the whole "green" movement and recycling and all of that know-your-carbon-footprint shenanigans, I am trying to do what I can and tell others to do it, too.

Here is a somewhat all-inclusive list of what I'm doing to --go green, go local, go whatever...

RECYCLE...okay people THIS IS NOT HARD (at least not in Indy).
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful (KIBI) has a fabulous webpage of where to take all of your recyclables including everything from bathtubs to old CDs (much more is recyclable than I ever thought, by the way). The easiest things to recycle are paper, plastics #1 and #2, glass and aluminum as most recycling locations take these and in some cities (Indy included) they will even do curbside pick-up.

Other items I physically take somewhere else to recycle:

plastic bags (I'm trying with the canvas and fabric reusable ones and I do really well remembering to take them with me to the grocery, but always forget when I got to Target, Lowe's, etc) -- Sprawlmart and Kroger accept these (Kroger will also take plastic packaging and dry cleaning plastic
cardboard --Republic Services has a location near 86th and Ditch that accepts cardboard. Almost everything comes in cardboard packaging--this can be recycled (or some can be put in the compost bin)
Plastics #3-#7 -- this one is new. I just found a place downtown that accepts #3-#7 called Indianapolis Recycled Fiber so I'll be hauling it a trunkful at a time (gotta conserve gas!)down there. Almost all food containers (yogurt, dips, fruit, butter) seem to come in #5 so I was seeing a lot of that end up in my trash can.

COMPOSTING! So you all know about the compost tumbler and the compost pile. And we already know (from the To Compost or not to Compost post) that all yard and food waste (that is veggie and fruit) go into the compost pile.

Oh, and the newest helper for the compost pile: the compost bucket from World Market.

A W.I.P. (work in progress): the RAIN BARREL. The goal of the rain barrel is to collect rain water and save it for the times when you need to water the lawn. You can use water collected in the rain barrel--it's not treated like the water from the hose and, best of all, it's free!

And, of course, growing your own food is keeping it local, organic and tasty.

I buy as much as I can from Thrift Stores (like Goodwill!) and garage sales. The plan is to re-use or re-purpose it for my house. Granted sometimes this takes some imagination and crafty skill, but it is amazing what you can find. (That will be a future post...)

So, that is a good introduction to doing your part. Oh, and ride a bike instead of driving when you can.

My ReadyMade Proposal

2008-08-05T08:34:00.009-04:00

This is my proposal for the ReadyMade Garden Challenge of 2008!

I bit the bullet—I bought a house! I’ve been living in my new abode now for just over two months and I’m ready to embark on my first big project in the garden (while being thrifty, eco-friendly, and pocket-book conscious).

The project centers on a fire pit and incorporates aspects that will encourage birds and pollinators to stop by and enjoy. I have a movable fire pit now---which has created many burn spots in my yard (oops). So I will create a “perma-pit” either with the one I already have or by building one into the ground.

My plan includes reusing items I already have (such as pots and trellises) and items I hope to find for free or next to free (like the pile of bricks left here by the previous owners or the free wood chips that a local tree service will deliver).

I will have to buy some items such as a bird bath or fountain. A bird house will have to be made or purchased. And flowers must be purchased.

As you can see, there are some plants that already exist nearby, including some tall grass, Daylilies, Black-eyed Susan, and Evening Primrose. These will be thinned and additional native perennials that attract birds, bees and butterflies will be added. Ideally, I’ll incorporate flowers such as columbine, butterfly weed, false sunflower, purple coneflower, and other flowering perennials recommended by the Indiana native Plant and Wildflower Society (of course depends on what the local nursery has in stock).

Finally, not directly in the space, but just beyond it, I’ll be building a rain barrel that will catch rainwater from the down spout and allow me to water my new garden with free water. The barrel I already have for this project is a very industrial, bright blue. As is, this would stick out like a sore thumb in my yard. Therefore, I will repurpose some old wood, rope and scrap metal to cover the outrageous blue.

There is a huge amount to accomplish in one month; but, with the right tools, some really good friends to help, and some luck, I’ll have a fabulous haven for s’more making and bird bathing.

DIY: No-sew new-to-me chair (for the garden room, of course!)

2008-07-30T16:11:00.006-04:00

Here is the before pic--a hideous, I'm thinking 70's chair with lime green velvet and a funk that made the birds fly away. I think this is the one that had a mouse living in it at some point.

Why do I own it? Because I saw fabulous "bones" and a fabulous price ($7.99 at Goodwill). It shall be re-claimed for my garden room, where I am attempting to bring the outside in.

PROJECT TIME!

Tools and materials you'll need:

needle nose pliers
something with a flat edge for removing staples (I use a flat head screw driver)
gloves (these things are just dirty)
hand sander
spray paint
2 yards of fabric (the pretty kind)
2 feet of muslin or plain fabric
2 feet of quilt batting
2" foam (for the cushion)
staple gun (and staples)
clear glue (I used Welder in the red tube) -- NOT hot glue
embellishments, cording, etc

Steps:

1. Strip off all of the fabric, staples, glue, foam, padding, etc. This is what mine looked like when I was all done.

2. Take your pick--strip, sand and stain OR sand and paint. I chose the later because I wanted a lighter finish than the wood. Plus, I wouldn't know how to care for the caning properly to stain. I used 1.5 cans of spray paint on this one chair to get good and even coverage.

This stuff was the easy part. I'd done all of these things before. Now I was embarking to new territory--re-upholstery!

3. Making the seat.

First I put a layer of muslin over the squiggly metal pieces and trimmed my 2" foam to fit into the seat. Next I covered the foam with a layer of batting and now it was time for my fabric (sorry I didn't take pictures of these steps!)

Staple the fabric in the middle of the front of the chair, pull firmly and staple the opposite side in the middle. Make sure you have a couple of inches overhang. Work slowly to the sides. On this chair I was lucky enough to have a indentation where I put the staples. The most frustrating part of this entire project was making sure the fabric lies flat and still looks nice. On the corners I made a fold so the fabric didn't bunch.

I then took an Exacto knife and cut off the excess fabric. I finished it with some golden braid, which fit perfectly into the indentation. I used the clear glue to adhere it to the chair.

As for the top I re-used the cardboard insert and the brads from the old chair. I re-covered the brads using a different fabric and I adhered this using Aileen's craft glue. I then took fabric and covered the cardboard insert (again with the clear glue)

Once it was re-covered, I attached it to the chair using the Welder glue.

Voila! The finished product! A vast improvement for the eyes and for the nose.

Oh, oh it's magic!

2008-07-24T09:32:00.005-04:00

Da-dah!

It's the first "fruit" of my labor. The first zucchini has come off of the plant and is ready to be eaten.

I call this magic, because just a few months ago I was putting the seeds in a peat pot. He was planted in early June, so I think we would have had some earlier had I put him in the ground earlier. Moving prevented that.

This guy is about 10 inches long--on Monday he was only 4 or 5. I think the water from the storms really helped. There are about 4 more currently growing getting ready to be devoured.

With the first zucchini comes my first zucchini recipe:

***While you have an abundance of zucchini now, they are hard to come by or expensive in the winter. Grate zucchini, measure the right amount and store in freezer bags. Then you'll have the necessary ingredients for this tasty treat year round.

Zucchini Bread (I loved making this with Mom when I was a kid)

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract (the expensive stuff is well worth it!)
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts (some people think the walnuts are optional, I think these people are crazy)

Directions

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

**Can be stored in the refrigerator for a few weeks or frozen for months.

YUM!

July Bloom Day!

2008-07-15T10:50:00.004-04:00

Firstly, it's important to welcome a new friend at In the Weeds. Freddie is our resident flamingo. He comes to us by way of the local JoAnn's fabrics and I think he's just fabulous.

Phlox in many colors all over the back of the house. Light purple, bright purple, and white are blooming now.
Coneflower--so pretty and it makes the bees happy.
Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun' -- this is the first flower I personally planted at the new house. I think it's taken a liking to it's new home.
Daylilies are everywhere! Most of them are this double, orange variety. But I have a few beautiful creamy pink ones.
Finally, shasta daisies hidden amongst the coneflowers and others (read: weeds) in the side yard.

All of the veggies (except the peppers) are blooming: tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and zucchini. There are still a few rose buds, salvia, and geranuims.

The black-eyed susans are budding. They are going to be spectacular!

Craft time: Scarf canopy!

2008-07-14T14:17:00.008-04:00

So this project is from the summer when I broke my foot (broken foot occurred during the epic weekend in Nashville, when Noah and I visited my friend Laura).

Nevertheless, it's a fabulous craft DIY project.

What you need:
Assortment of scarves (mine was a patchwork so I wasn't too particular)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Scissors
Fishing wire
Needle (with an eye large enough for the fishing wire)

Steps to make this fabulous creation:

1) Arrange the scarves how you'd like for them to fit together. I tried to make it so I would cut as little as possible. I also hung mine over a twin bed, so make sure it's wide and long enough.

2) Cut the pieces so that they fit together with about 1/2 inch over lap.

3) Hot glue gun time! Go slowly; complete an end before adding any length.

4) Once all of the pieces are assembled, determine where you would like your "hanging points." Again, mine was over a bed, so I put the canopy on the bed (like a blanket) and found the corners. Stitch a piece of the fishing wire through the canopy (it's best if it can go through the seam where 2 scarves meet).

5) Tie a knot in the fishing wire and hang. I used small plastic hangers from 3m (the ones with the sticky piece that can easily be removed). The canopy will look like it is hovering over the bed, since the fishing wire is clear.

This is my finished project--some are more transparent than others, some are patterned and others are solid.

Garden Goodies Recipe: Asparagus and Tomato Salad

2008-07-09T12:39:00.006-04:00

This delectable dish has become a fast favorite. It's quick, easy, and you can make some changes to alter the flavor. Almost all of the ingredients come from the garden.

1. Blanch the asparagus. (Blanch = boil just for a few minutes until bright green, then place in a bowl of ice cold water to stop the cooking.)

2. While the asperagus are cooling, chop up 1/2 of a small red onion and a handful of cherry tomatoes in half.

3. Chop up several leaves of fresh basil.

4. Layer onions, tomatoes and basil on the asparagus and drizzle with the dressing of your choice (so far I've tried balsamic and italian).

5. Optional add-ons: goat cheese crumbles (I think this is not optional, as it is delicious), pine nuts (definitely optional, as it is expensive), oregano

6. ENJOY!

A Tear was Shed

2008-07-08T10:59:00.003-04:00

Last night I headed back to the old homestead to pick-up a few things. To my chagrin, but not to my surprise, the old garden is in shambles. A tear was shed.

Now don't get me wrong: this was a rental property and I did leave my flowers there (to be dug up later) when I moved out about a month ago.

HOWEVER...
No less than half of where I used to have flowers has been mowed over--day lilies, coreopsis, hostas, ivy, mums, irises, peonies....these are all things I know were there, but are no longer. Last year, the same guy cut down the rose bushes while they were still flowering!

Now, the part that hasn't been mowed over is basically a weed bed, not a flower bed. Oh there are lilies, salvia, cone flowers, and alliums peeking their heads out from the drudgery, but it doesn't look good.

I'm conspiring with the neighbors (the ones who face my old place) to do some work once I get my plants out of there. As of right now the plan involves, a lot of digging, newspaper, mulch and ground cover. The plan will be fleshed out in entirety at the housewarming over many pints of delicious keg beer.

Photos from Chicago Botanic Gardens

2008-06-26T10:53:00.004-04:00

Here's a brief collection of pictures from the Chicago Botanic Garden visit:

The rose garden was in full bloom during our visit. What I appreciated about the CBG is that there were signs describing the when these specific types of flowers bloom, where they thrive and when historically they were popular.

There were a few greenhouses. This orchid is in the tropical greenhouse. Orchids were growing on the limbs of a tree.
A picture of the Walled English Garden. The wisteria was blooming. It was very lush and green. I really liked this one.
A collection of cone flowers in the English Walled Garden.

There I am in the bulb garden enjoying a view of the aquatic garden.

I will definitely plan on returning when I am in Evanston again. It was a great place to enjoy the outdoors. It was free (sometimes a charge if you have a car) and you can even bring in your own cooler of drinks and food. You have to appreciate a garden that encourages you touch everything (in the sensory garden), that provides useful tips (and a free pepper plant!--in the veggie and fruit garden), and has a 3-island Japanese style garden.

Raspberries and the Battle de la thistle, Part Un...

2008-06-24T15:13:00.011-04:00

When I was watering the veggies last night, I noticed bright red spots---RASPBERRIES! Let the feast begin. I am so excited. I picked a few and almost finished the bowl before I got inside to share them.

Tonight I'm bringing out the thick leather gloves and a long sleeved tee to get as many as possible before the birds and rabbits figure it out.

The thistle behind the raspberries are officially taller than me. It's time to say "Au revoir!" to this monstrosity.

UPDATE: Battle de la Thistle, Part Un:

The enemy was taller than me. He was prickly and irreverent to my pleas to leave the raspberry patch. His roots were ingrained deep into the earth. He wasn't leaving without a fight.

I approached, took a deep breath and charged at the thistle. My leather gloves as my weapon, I uprooted them one by one. There were some injuries on my side: a few of the brambles were blindsided by my hand and got tied up in the duel.

Hours later, my brow was furled it was over and the heap of no-good weeds lies by the vegetable bed to prove my success. Soon they will be laid to rest in the compost pile or the fire pit.

I was pleased that we'd won the first battle and was kindly rewarded with a bowl of berries. But know this is one of many battles I'll have with the thistle. Ne'er will I let them grow as tall or strong as they had during "The Great Weeding Lapse of '08."

Cycling to the Chicago Botanic Gardens

2008-06-23T13:54:00.005-04:00

We took a mini-vacay Thursday - Sunday up to Evanston to visit Pentzer this weekend and brought the bikes along for the trip. I decided that I needed to visit the Chicago Botanic Garden and with plenty of bike trails leading up there according to their website(http://www.chicagobotanic.org/visit/biking.php), it made sense to bike there.

The path we took consists of taking the North Branch Trail, which leads through the Skokie Lagoon, to the north and came back south via the Greenbay Trail (excellent Chicago-land trail map site). We "mapped our ride" using mapmyride.com, a very cool website that allows you to draw your route on a Google map (so you can include trails, parking lots, parks, etc. All in all the trip was just about 19 miles and the best thing was the garden in the middle (pictures coming to a new post soon!).

Along the same vein, Whitney and I are truly considering the brand-spanking-new downtown sprint triathlon. The best (and perhaps grossest) part: swimming in the canal!

Literally in the Weeds

2008-06-17T14:32:00.002-04:00

So at the new place, I literally have more weeds than plants. It's incredible! How in the world did the thistle get taller than me? I got a small section done over the weekend, but it took over an hour.

It's going to take me forever to get out of the weeds.

Making a Compost Tumbler -- I'll tumble for ya!

2008-06-16T13:26:00.012-04:00

I can take absolutely no credit for the creation of this idea, only for making a post of step-by-step instructions. Anthony at The Compost Bin has a couple of posts about it and that's where I read about the Compost Tumbler; but, I wanted to post about how I did it.

So, I made a compost tumbler for less than $20--instead of paying $200 for a fancy one.

What you need:

A plastic garbage can with a lid

2 bungee cords

a drill

about a foot of screen typically used for windows
hot glue gun and glue

a hole-making drill bit

This is the one I used--2.5".

It was less than $10.

Step One: Cut a hole in that box! (People who get that SNL reference are LOLing now...)

So I drilled several holes in garbage can. These are necesary for aeration. (Optional: Take a utility knife and "clean-up" the edges of the circles.) These don't have to be circles, I just thought this was the easiest since they have a circle-making drill bit.

Step Two: Cut the screen in large enough pieces to cover the holes.

I just used a pair of my rusty garden shears and made the square large enough to overlap about 1/2 an inch.

*If you have a great hardware guy like my Vince at Ace, see if they will sell you just a foot from the screen they use to repair window screens. I got mine for about $1.25--much less than the $10 I would have paid for several feet of screen in the roll (that I will never use.)

Step Three: Cover the holes.

I used my hot glue gun with normal glue. I found the best way was to place the screen on the hole on the inside, then to glue around the circle.

Step Four: Put in your favorite goodies that are ready to composted!

Important to note--be sure you buy bungee cords that fit over the top of the trash can...you don't want you compost to spill out when you tumble it.

I tumble (read: kick around) mine every 3 days or so. I'll update you on when I have wonderful "black gold."

Here is the finished product before going outside (Yes, I did this project inside. It was raining so I just put down a sheet in the kitchen.)