Just imagine that the brick is flush with the concrete.

In my head I see getting a post light put in between the brick and the dogwood, as well as ground cover or small plants all the way from the tree to the brick. What do you think?

Decorative and functional? is a post from: becd.net

My new 225 gallon rain water tank:

And a shot of the volunteer daffodil blooming:

Now to try and get the ferret to sleep again (it’s 4 AM). >.<

May I have some more, sir? is a post from: becd.net

(bonus toe for scale)

Mutant #7:

At least there were a couple of rays of sunshine in my garden:

Volunteers!

Why can’t I have normal weeds like everyone else? is a post from: becd.net

Yeah, right.

First off, pog’s had a rough day at work. Really rough. And his work life is going to be complicated for at least a couple of weeks. Yay.

My day started off okay, at least. With the help of our home builder, the outside outlets are fixed! Turned out the reset button was inside the house in the laundry room by the breaker (oookay, would never have thought to look there for an outside circuit). Then I went outside to water the new tree and set up water systems for my trees/bushes (2 ltr bottles and spikes, it actually works well).  After that was done, the flowers under one of the oaks caught my eye.

It started off innocently enough. I decided that I’d just refresh the mulch around the two huge clumps of flowers that were under the tree. As I started raking, however, I realized how loose the soil was. It’d be easy to pull these out and separate them into smaller clumps!

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Demon flowers, they were. I think they’re a Liriope species, and they had grown so compacted that even a bread knife to the roots didn’t separate the things. I ended up using all of my strength to rip the plants apart.

Yes, there were a few casualties.

However, I swear I got 100 plants from those overgrown clumps. I’ve got them spread out under 3 trees on the property now, and I hurt.

Back to the main plot…after work pog and I head to Charlotte. We go to pick up bricks first, and realize that there is no way we’re going to fit half the brick load into the little truck. Pog started getting nervous at 75 bricks. Of over 450. >.<

So, we only brought home the 75 or so. We’ll try and pick up some more on Friday or Saturday; thankfully, the gentleman seems very nice and willing to hold them for us. We got an awesome deal on this many, which I wanted so that I can make a nice pathway to the back deck.

After picking up the bricks, we swing by the Animal Control center in Charlotte. Oh, you won’t adopt out pets 15 minutes to closing? Funny, the person on the phone didn’t mention that. The ferret hasn’t had her health checkup yet? Person on the phone didn’t mention that either. Need proof that Minion has had his rabies shots? Gee, didn’t see that on the webpage. No ferret for us. *sigh*

We’ll try and pick up the ferret on Friday, I think. After I call and triple check that she’s available for adoption. Just a very frustrating and waylaid day.

At least the traffic was excellent for once.

A waylaid day. is a post from: becd.net

(Gnome Be Gone, image copyright http://www.cleanairgardening.com/)

Can’t sleep, the gnomes will eat me. Can’t sleep, the gnomes will eat me. is a post from: becd.net

Pros

1. Putting up a fence this year will establish one of the major “bones” of the property. This would allow me to go forward with any permanent plantings I wished to put in this year (i.e. trees or shrubs) without fear of them needing to be moved in the future if we decided to put in a fence at a later date.
2. All of the fences in our neighborhood are chain link fences, so we would be staying within the aesthetic of the area.
3. A chain link fence will provide a trellis for me to grow both vegetables and screening plants to help block/distract from our neighbor’s weed patch.
4. May increase our property value because a fence would prevent children or pets from reaching the scary road we live on. Will also make it easier for family members visiting with pets.
5. Will define our property lines and limit trespassing (the neighbor’s dog likes to use our yard for his utilities, even though he has a nice big fenced in yard of his own *sigh*). May help prevent theft of items stored on the property.

Cons

1. Putting up a fence this year will mean no shed for another year, which we really do need as my laundry room is half full of gardening and auto supplies/equipment. We simply can’t afford two different projects of this size in a single year.
2. Some of the neighborhood fences are ugly and run down, decreasing the aesthetic of the area and of owning a chain link fence in general.
3. Will not protect vegetables growing on fence or provide a barrier to prevent neighbor’s weeds from encroaching onto our property.
4. May decrease our property value due to cheap appearance and con #2; we may not recoup the cost of the fence when we sell the property. Would cost extra money to “disguise” the chain link at the front of the house with split bamboo fencing (example)or plantings to create a better curb appeal.
5. Side fences are shared with neighbors. Should they decide to remove or sell their fences, we will have to pay over twice the cost we paid to fence just the front and back of the property.

I’m stuck. Opinions welcome.

Before I built a wall is a post from: becd.net

This is my first time starting plants from seed but that’s pretty much the only thing that’s going to fit into the budget if I want to get some flowers in around here. This year I mostly stuck to a selection of taller perennials to place along the edge of the property and in front of the house. These are all heat/drought resilient varieties, so hopefully they’ll establish while we have a little rain this spring and make it without any extra watering because, quite frankly, we don’t really have the water to spare down here in the south.

While the seeds are within my budget, the mulch and soil conditioners are going to put me over. I tried so hard, but maybe we should just get a lot of the major projects out of the way this year: graveling the north side of the house and driveway (thus extending parking area into a dead zone part of the yard), putting in a walkway to the deck, and installing a fence. I already have someone working up a fence quote for us, so we’ll see what happens.

I really want a pretty yard this year, though. >.>

With silver bells, and cockle shells, And marigolds all in a row. is a post from: becd.net