2017 Gardens

[taldesta]

Well, I've been far from idle since moving to my new digs. All the equipment that can't fit into the tarp shelter are individually wrapped in premium tarps and secured ... out of the way of the snow removal contractor. I have been scouting the restore for inside storage solutions and found two perfect pieces that look great and hold those few extra items I didn't want to part with.

One of the largest landscaping chores was the spreading of a full load of 7/8th inch crush to the laneway where it widens in the upper yard by the house. My son, one of his friends and I hit the long handled shovels and rakes ... then over the next few days I drove over and over it to compact the surface. It looks surprisingly level I brought the material in to solve, in part, a drainage problem. Suffice it to say that intentional blockage of one culvert and complete failure to even mow a couple of ditches over this last year have caused a lot of unnecessary surface water to accumulate in the parking area. A no brainer and I mean a no brainer. There, my big spring landscaping project is already calling.

One of Daisy's favourite items of furniture had to go to the re-use building ... the futon. Simply no room for it in this little house. She enjoyed it until the day it left! That's ok though, we have two lazyboy chairs and one foam topped trunk placed under the living room window - with a view. She loves this as well. Dez is happy with everything. It is as though both pups have lived here all their lives. Both need a bath and groom!




And so it begins ... pics this morning. The wild garden sleeps and winter is for planning.






And yes, I am just delighted to be back woodburning again. Hydro can go out and I will be warm and able to cook and have a lovely glow to the kitchen. No comfort like it. And the sourdough starter is just bubbling ...

 

[22-rimfire]

I run a fan in our house a good bit to keep the air (heated and cooled) moving around. I don't miss the snow at all, but I suspect we'll get some this winter.

 

[taldesta]

This particular fan on the woodburner is driven by rising heat, although some stoves have electric fans built in. This one doesn't. The ceiling fan in the adjoining room is going slowly in winter mode in order to pull the heat and circulate it. Now, until I get the loft stairwell blocked off in some way that still allows access, a lot of the heat is rising directly up to the sleeping area ... and I actually have needed a small fan to cool for overnights. Summer here, with lack of tree canopy around the house, will mean using the larger fans for cooling - always my preference for temp control that doesn't cost and arm and a leg.

Meanwhile I picked up the snowblower that was in town for an oil change - and gave it a workout yesterday. Snow is still too wet and the ground is not frozen solid so the snow contractor will not be doing the whole length of the laneway until it is absolutely necessary.

Kudos to Brian, the fellow who serviced the snowblower! He fixed the electric start - a very expensive item to replace - and straightened the auger ... all included in the cost just of an oil change. Electric start has been out of commission for years because of the expense. He must have taken pity on me wrestling with the pull start in the dead of winter. A little something extra in the Christmas stocking is due for him I believe

 

[greentrout]

I am entering the fold of gardening/landscaping for next year. I enlisted the help of a local research horticulturist for UT, who does design work on the side, to help with layout and selection for my house. It's all prepped and I'm going to look for a nice warm day to take off and get some plants in the ground soon.
-Hyrdrangea bloomstruck
-Hydrangea Annabelle
-Illicium Florida Sunshine
-Loropetalum Crimson Fire
-Daylily buttered popcorn
-Cryptomeria Globosa Nana
-Winterberry Holly Winter Red
-Winterberry Holly Southern Gentleman
-Juniper Grey Owl
24 total plants plus mulch in December! I feel a little crazy, but he insures me things should work out.

 

[22-rimfire]

Good luck. UT? Texas or Tennessee?

 

[greentrout]

Good luck. UT? Texas or Tennessee?

The REAL UT is in Knoxville!

But I am in West Tennessee

 

[taldesta]

I am entering the fold of gardening/landscaping for next year......... It's all prepped and I'm going to look for a nice warm day to take off and get some plants in the ground soon.........
24 total plants plus mulch in December! I feel a little crazy, but he insures me things should work out.

Welcome! Looking forward to December then ... It will be encouraging to read that you are playing in the dirt while we, up here, shovel snow and are glued to our seed catalogues

 

[22-rimfire]

The REAL UT is in Knoxville!

But I am in West Tennessee

Great. Now I have perspective on your plantings. Doing a complete landscape is a lot of work. I did a lot of landscaping on my house in Knoxville TN. It was pretty much a blank slate except next to the house and I changed that too. We moved and we sold it. I still swing by there to see how things look after years of growing and to see what the current owner is doing with the property. I chose things for the long term there.

I was at a house in Memphis in the last couple of weeks and was awed by the beautiful Natches Crepe Myrtles in their yard (these are the white blooming ones with the cinnamon bark)... they were huge and well cared for.

 

[greentrout]

This house has been in my wife's family since it was built. My understanding is that the landscaping here many years ago (30+) was beautiful. As my wife's grandparent's got older, her parents didn't do a good job helping maintain the property and the yard grew up and undersirables took over from all sides. My wife and I have been taking back the yard and house over the last few years. Some flowers pop up in surprising locations each year, like our side yard that explodes in late spring with blue bells, or the overgrown hill side that has various flowers pop up where the sun reaches most. I hope as I cut back the privet, gums, wisteria, and other undesirable trees that have crept in that I will find more and more of what was originally planted. I'll try to update with pictures as my project progresses.