Yard and Garden – Page 12

February 26, 2012

Snow

Less than a month of Winter left -technically… Montana “Winter” can happen any time! – and we get the heaviest snowfall of the season.

Although, yet again, it looks prettier than it really is. It was above freezing all day yesterday and last evening when the snow started falling. The bottom inches are slush…tough shovelling!

But it gave Bear a great workout as he went to and fro and round the property as I cleared the walk and some room in front of the garage and motorhome. I’ll leave the rest to Mother Nature and/or a visitation from yon neighbor and the mighty backhoe!

My ‘Mr. Beam’ lights have so far survived the Winter and their little roofs have worked well also. Both lights are still on their first set of batteries (3 C’s each) and I’m very happy with how they work.

At night, a very low sensor light comes on. As motion is detected, they come full on and cast a bright light across the driveway. These particular lights are designed to be foot path lights. I have them mounted on the trees about 5 feet above the ground to keep them clear of snow from the edges of the driveway. I’ll get more next year – some for the driveway and maybe a couple for the woods paths as well.

Snow!

December 21, 2010

On the first day of Winter

I put the snow thrower through its paces… only 2 1/2 inches of new snow, but I wanted to see if I could flatten out the ruts of frozen slush. I was partly successful – the driveway is better than it was and both the thrower and I survived the experience.

Then, a morning walk in brilliant sunshine…

On the first day of Winter.

July 15, 2008

Herb Garden, part 1 aka “stopping to smell the roses” or whatever

Yesterday afternoon I needed a break from programming and was thinking on a little strength training session. But, it was beautiful outdoors – not too hot, nice breeze…so I combined a bit of strength work with the start of my herb garden project.

The “plan” for the herb garden is to smooth out the pile of dirt – topsoil pile left by the last owner and somewhat commandeered by Karl. (see King of the Hill )

The weeds and grass need to be removed. I am going to mow around the pile a bit and surround it with a rock border. I’m not sure what herbs or other things I will plant – I will wait and see what the nursery has when I’m ready. I hope to be ready to go to the nursery by mid-August when they put all perrenials, including herbs on sale. This should work well as I don’t plan on killing myself to get the dirt ready for planting.

This not killing myself to get it all done RIGHT NOW – this is a recently acquired “skill”. In my youth and not so distant past I would have decided it all needed to be done immediately. Yesterday, as I approached the dirt pile with my first wheelbarrow full of rocks and looked at the grass and weeds that needed to be pulled – and I was already hot from picking up rocks – I said to myself…”Hmmm, think I’ll just clean up this one little corner for today”. That’s when it struck me that I’d changed – and the thing is, it is a good change and a change that makes the project more fun than work! I don’t NEED to do it all RIGHT NOW. I can do a bit at a time – taking breaks in my work day to get outside and do something active. And I find myself looking forward to what little bit I might get done today – and enjoying thinking about how I might arrange rocks and what plants I might get…some day…

This change to doing projects a bit at a time – yes, partly due to the fact that it is not as easy at 52, almost 53 to work physically hard for hours, but it is driven more by an appreciation for enjoying the moment and the task versus a “just get it done” attitude.

I cleaned up the little corner of the dirt pile, dumped my first load of small rocks and took a moment to look at the progress. The sun warmed dirt and just pulled weeds and grass had that “working in the garden” smell. Karl was working on a stick nearby. It was a simple, joyful, moment – one I might have missed if all I had in mind was getting it done.

I’ve got plenty of rocks to choose from…

Enjoying the moment, smelling the dirt, feeling the sunshine…Herb Garden, part 1.

June 3, 2008

King of the hill

There was a large garden with raised beds and a mini-orchard of 9 fruit trees enclosed by a 6 foot high deer fence…was… It was more work than was fun for me and the garden now lives at my neighbors. There are several posts about it under the category “Yard and Garden”…

The gist is my neighbors and I swapped – they dismantled the fencing and graded the leftover with their backhoe in return for the fencing and planter material. Before starting the grading, there was already a small pile of topsoil left by the previous owners. After the grading, the topsoil pile was a bit bigger.

I don’t know what to do with the topsoil – there is not enough to spread over some parts of the yard that need it. I decided that at the first opportunity I’ll just push it flat and spread it out right where it is. There is a bit of a track behind the pile from some of the logging work and it can fill that area.

Karl might take care of it for me..

Karl went at it so vigorously that it kind of looked like he was having fun. And not just once. He has rearranged his little cave – hidey hole – cool spot several times – always the dirt flying as he works on it with seeming enthusiasm.

But he does use it…