Remember I blogged about our neighbor giving us 3 free trees….
And the fact that he planted a row of 54 on his property across the street?
Well, yesterday…
He added a little something to those trees.
Okay a lot of something.
And it was quite…. how shall I say?
Pungent.
The husband mowing the grass over the septic tank?
Not blog worthy.
But the husband mowing the grass over the septic tank with one arm because he’s done some kind of damage to his left shoulder and the appendage is hanging uselessly?
Relatively blog worthy.
It took me a week of him alternating ice packs and heating pads. A week of him moaning, groaning and being perfectly miserable before I could get him to the doctors for an exam and an X-ray.
Thankfully nothing was broken or dislocated. They said it might be muscle trauma, might be a pinched nerve. In other words they have no idea.
A weeks worth of Prednisone has helped a bit, but just when we were making baby barn headway….
It seems we’ll be looking at this a while longer.
I’m seriously beginning to think that building is cursed.
Maybe I should rethink that title…. don’t need the porn spammers dropping by again.
Anyway, after we planted our free trees the other day we had to do something with this under performing flowering plum that was now ruining the alignment.
We planted 2 of these before the big barn construction began, but one died and the survivor gets eaten alive by Japanese beetles every year. I was all for heaving it, but the husband had other ideas.
When my mother died in 2014, she was cremated and I planted some of her ashes with a lovely tulip tree in our backyard.
It did well for 4-5 years until we had crazy late spring freezes and frosts that it couldn’t tolerate.
Since I planned to replace it this year? Husband decided to do a little transplanting.
I (very helpfully) told him we’d need a bigger hole since we were moving a mature 12 year old tree with an extensive root system. With this (ever so helpful) advice, he did what he always does….. and promptly ignored it.
Digging up the plum was an absolute nightmare. The roots were thick and deep and under the topsoil? Hard clay that might as well be cement.
Our farming neighbor offered to come over with his backhoe and scoop it right up, but no.
The husband didn’t want to tear up his lawn and went with the spiderweb approach to removal.
It took us approximately two hours of digging and tugging and even then we ended up chopping what had to be 10 foot long roots.
Whoever said gardening isn’t a workout needs to be bitch slapped.
This photo caught the other half gasping for air after the last pull.
I had serious doubts the hole out back was large enough, but away we went.
Yeah, not quite.
There was a lot of twisting. And turning. And laughing. ( Okay, that was just me. Husband didn’t find it the least bit amusing. )
Some quite inventive spiderweb root trench digging later……
He made it work.
Whether it survives is anyone’s guess.
In an effort to beautify his farm, our neighbor grew 100 silver birch trees. He planted a row of them (54!) alongside the road and I must say…. they’ll look impressive in a few years.
Next thing we knew he was planting them down his driveway, on the next door neighbor’s property and along the road on the other side of the street.
Not wanting to be left out, I asked if we could buy 3 to put in front of our big barn.
He said no.
But that he would be over the next day to give us three and plant them.
We love our neighbors.
This half dead flowering plum will have to go.
Spring was late in coming this year, and while our lawn is still trying to recover from some mid May snow and frost and doesn’t look it’s best yet, I had to laugh at the husband’s reaction to having parts of it disturbed.
You know that man in your neighborhood who’s constantly outside raking, picking up twigs, and screaming “Get off my lawn!” at children? That’s my husband. He’s been known to mow the same patch of grass 3 times in one day.
And yes, I bought him that shirt.
I think watching our neighbor tear up and fling the soil around was physically painful for him.
But he endured with stoic silence.
And we all got in on the act.
Say no to free trees?
Relax.
This is a G rated post.
I’m speaking of a yew bush in front of our home office window.
It’s large, unruly and was in need of a pruning. Problem was, I couldn’t reach most of it from outside so……
I hung out the window and did a little hedge trimming from the inside.
This results in an utter mess and small green needles everywhere.
But what’s a girl to do when her bush needs trimming?
There.
That’s better.
But I really need something blooming in my life right now so I masked up and headed to a local nursery down the road for the other kind of flower.
No make up, no manicure and wearing a sweatshirt.
The Corona lock down has definitely put a nail in the coffin of my beauty regime.
Please note the mask is color coordinated though.
I’m not a heathen FFS.
Came home with a car load full of pansies, begonias, geraniums, mallow and a container of pretty I don’t know what.
This will be a good start… but no where near enough to fill my beds.
Spring has been a long time coming and I’m way behind on my garden work.
By this time I’ve usually got all the beds cleaned out and a few flowers blooming.
This year?
I’ve got weeds.
And random spikey things.
I spent 3 hours today getting rid of both.
I also reseated the brick border and tackled a bit of the bush from Hell.
If anyone ever asks if you want a flowering quince? Run.
Run far, and fast.
Preferably after you punch them in the throat for suggesting it in the first place.
Ours was here when we moved in and we’ve been battling it ever since. It grows over the roof each season and has roots that are 300 friggin’ feet deep. We’ve tried to dig it up, burn it out and hack it down to nubs numerous times.
I believe it likes the challenge….. and comes back stronger every time.
Did I mention it’s also full of thorns?
Good times.
I did 6 beds in the back and on the side of the house and felt good….
Until….
I turned over a brick and disturbed an ant nest. Within seconds those little suckers were crawling all over me and I had to run for a hose.
I rinsed most of them off but not before a few crawled up my pant leg.
Sadly, yes…. there were.
And the little bastards bit me too.
