Crepe Myrtles - Lots of Crepe Myrtles

Last weekend Greg decided to close his business so we could have a whole weekend to plant those crepe myrtles I mentioned in the last Memorial Day post. We drove to the country on Friday afternoon & got up early on Saturday to get started before the heat set in. Here's what we did (click to biggify any of the pics).

A shot of the driveway with black pots placed where 17 of the trees will go.

Trees laid out.

A dingo to dig with - really a muscle saver!

Placing the first hole.

Digging

Digging

Almost done digging 20 minutes later!

We had all 27 holes dug in less than 40 minutes! The soil there is very hard packed & has a ton of clay. Even when it's sort of soft after a rain, it is still very very hard to dig a hole by hand. If we didn't have the Dingo, we would still be digging a week later & probably wouldn't be able to lift our arms.

17 trees in the ground 1 hour later!

A shot back down the driveway.

We only planted 17 because there are still a couple of buildings that will hopefully be brought in before next weekend. To the 17, we added leaves & mulch & a water line & were done around lunch time.

A few more pics taken while the digging was taking place.

Peanut field next door.

Muscadines!

Pecans

4 foot long snake skin in the garden!

The next two pictures are taken down our side of the old driveway where we will be putting in 30 more (smaller) crepe myrtles, 4th of July weekend. We changed the auger bit to a 10" & went ahead & dug the holes while we had the Dingo. 30 holes dug in 30 minutes!

Looking out from the carport.

Looking down the old driveway.

We are gluttons for punishment!

"Those" Tomatoes & New Welcomes

Yep, the ones that didn't require additional (built in .. horse poo) fertilizer or staking or anything else (the ultimate heirloom, recyclable ones). They are doing great!

I can't wait to see what they are doing next weekend! I'm not going to touch them unless they are ripe & ready to pick.

Also, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to a couple of new friends.

Roslyn Phipps. Roslyn, I don't see where you have a blog, but please correct me if you do & I'll add the link here. Thank you so much for deciding to follow along on my journey.

And, next is ...... drum roll please .... Mama Pea from A Home Grown Journal! I feel so privileged to have her on my side. She is one knowledgeable lady that is willing to share with those that are interested. Thank you so much Mama Pea for joining!

The Remainder of Memorial Day Weekend

After the first full very busy 10 hour day, we woke up early the next morning to go at it again. We got the 2nd post in that the gate will lock to, then decided to tackle the rest of the garden. Here are a couple of before pics:

Click to biggify

Click to biggify

MIL & FIL came out to help as well. MIL & I pulled weeds from inside the beds. Not too bad except the stupid Bermuda grass that was growing any tiny place it could catch 1/2 a ray of sunshine, especially in the block holes which haven't yet been stuffed w/newspaper & filled with hay & mulch. My MIL is 78 but will get outside & work until she can't go anymore. FIL is 82 & the does same except that he has some health issues, mainly his bones. But, he will still get out there & work til dark. While MIL & I were pulling weeds, Greg had brought a push mower & mowed down all the really hateful weeds & grass & then string trimmed up close to the blocks. Once all that was done we topped off each of the 9 beds with most of the leaf mulch they had brought from the city. Here's a pic that I took while up on a ladder in the back of the truck. Not centered but it gives you an idea of the whole garden.

Click to biggify

I plan on putting down newspaper & tree bark in between the beds with a couple of containers throughout. Plus a small square pole shelter in the middle. We'll also have to put in a good fence to keep the critters out.

This bunny is just one of many. They were so tiny when we first started seeing them just a few short months ago. They aren't pleased to not have the grass to hide in but they draw hawks & snakes to the area. They have plenty of fence line to hide in.

That straw covered area is our attempt at controlling the grass until we can put in more beds. We have many weeds that have popped up, most are from the horse poo since it wasn't composted before we used it.

While looking around that area we discovered a couple of tomato plants??? After thinking about it a while I remembered the tomato plants that I gave my cousin last year (the one that gave us the poo). He had them right by the horse pasture. They have one horse, Jay, that loves tomatoes & they would toss him the split ones. The seeds were obviously in the poo we spread. Now that's what I call recycling! And, they are heirloom to boot!

Tomato plant + oats. Both directly from the horse poo.

The rest of the weekend was spent piddling. Here are a few pics from around the property. As you can see from the field pics, there are NO trees around, except the 3 oaks, 3 citrus & 3 (now 2) willows that we planted last year.

View from house looking towards branch.

View of field from pond dam, on Dad's side.

House

View of pond from branch area.

View of house from branch area.

Purple Martins are back.

While Greg was mowing, he noticed a Mama Killdeer bird flapping her wings wildly. This happened last year & he knew there was a nest nearby.

Stock Photo, Mama moved to fast for me to get a pic.

Sure enough, after about 5 min. of searching, here's what he found. They make their nests right.on.the.ground.

I am still loving the driveway & our new 'forested' area. Here are a couple of pics of the scenery:

Doesn't this look like a great place to grow mushrooms?

I think this is a passion flower!

Greg went back this weekend to mow the grass. We have a very large project to accomplish next weekend & didn't want the grass mowing to take up the whole 23 hours that we are there on summer weekends.

That is 27 crepe myrtle trees that FIL brought from their other Country place they are moving from. He grafted all these from their trees in the City a few years ago & didn't want to leave them where they were. We also have around 30 others, in pots that will also have to go in.

Next weekend is going to be brutal!

Garden & Gate - Memorial Weekend Part 1

We had a very busy couple of days at the Country House last weekend. We don't get many long summer holidays due to Greg's business being at it's busiest during the warmer months, unless 4th of July falls on a Friday or a Monday. But, Memorial Day is always on a Monday so we take advantage. We worked 10 full hours Saturday & Sunday with another 4 or 5 hours thrown in for good measure on Monday before coming home.

I finally got to drive on the driveway, many times over the course of 3 days! It feels kind of slippery but will pack down over time.

Saturday morning, we decided to go ahead & 'set' the gate post, the one that the gate will hang from. Greg cut the 6x6 post to length, dug the hole, placed the post in, poured in quick set concrete w/water added, squished that around, leveled the post, more concrete & water, check level & then let it set until late afternoon. These are the tools of the trade.

10" Auger

The gate

Posts & Misc

Small quiet generator

After that was done, Greg mowed while I piddled around the house. When he was done mowing he decided to string trim.

I had checked on my weedy garden during the course of the day & saw that the beds were not settling as much as I had thought they would. I want to get the asparagus planted this year (2 beds) so I decided to take up my most gracious neighbor's offer of compost, good compost, horse poo & straw compost.

Now that is a load of compost! This is located about 1/2 mile or less, from the house. I had loaded 2 55gallon drums on a small trailer that I had connected to our golf cart. Here's an older picture of that setup from when we first started working on the garden.

It was about 3:00p by then & I was kind of tired. I knew I couldn't put those drums on the ground & then put them back on the trailer so I just shoveled it into them while on the trailer. They got higher & higher w/each shovel full. I would shovel about 30 loads & then rest. The sun was shining almost directly on the pile & it had gotten hot! Plus, our other neighbor (BPC - bi-polar cousin) had started under brush burning of a small row of trees across the street & I was just waiting for the wind to shift to blow smoke my way (which it never did, thank goodness!). I met a new friend while resting.

Bell

My friend has a lot of hobbies & horse & buggy riding is one of them. This horse (Bell) is used for that purpose, and of course helps with the compost pile. He has another horse & a donkey name Ringo, but they weren't around. Natural gardening is another of his hobbies. Here's a picture of his open pollinated corn patch.

His greenhouse is to the right, he almost starts everything from seed too. That raised bed to the left is asparagus which has been in for 3 years so he was able to harvest this year. There is another huge garden behind the shed/chicken coop to the left but I didn't get any pics of it.

I finally got the barrels full & headed back to house. I got 1 asparagus bed completely full & another one almost full, lacking by about 2".

About that time the in-laws arrived & they had brought a whole truck bed FULL of leaf compost from their house in the city. They had brought the mulch up to supplement 26 Crepe Myrtle trees that will be planted (& posted on) soon. But they had brought enough to plant 100 trees! I asked if I could have some to top off the other asparagus bed. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. We told them that we would unload the rest in the morning.

Before compost.

After compost.

We then hung the gate on the now dried post.

By then, it was about 6:00p so we decided to call it quits. We went in, took showers, made an adult beverage & sat down on the back porch to finally relax.

About that time we see Mom & Dad driving over to the fence line in their truck with the intention of unloading the rest of the mulch. Let me mention that they are both stubborn as heck & my FIL is 82 & MIL is 78. FIL has some shoulder issues (having surgery next week) not to mention he's had 2 hip replacements as well. He gets around like he thinks he's 50 but it's getting harder on him. They had loaded the mulch the night before & MIL mentioned earlier that his shoulder was aching.

Anyway, we weren't up to unloading it for them that late but knowing they wouldn't listen to us, I asked Greg to let them know I would like to use some of it on the other garden beds the following morning. They agreed to wait to unload after I had gotten what I needed, whew!

To be continued ....

You load 16 tons & what do you get

Another day older & deeper in debt ...

Well ok, it wasn't 16 tons but it sure felt like it.

2 tons aggregate rock

Even though we live in the city, the directions to our house are "turn left off the hard road".  Yes, we live on a dirt road, one of only a handful left in this county. It is also a private road which means that the city doesn't maintain it. And it sometimes gets rough turning off that hard road. We had gotten tired of rattling our teeth upon entering the dirt road. Greg bought 2 tons of aggregate rock from a local rock yard in order to fill in some ruts. Here are a couple of pics of the bone jarring divets. They don't look that big but believe me they are rough.

We got up early this morning & shoveled it into the edge & most of those holes. We need bigger equipment than shovels to do a proper job but at least it evens it out a bit. No after shots, just not exciting enough.

We finally used our salt block last night. I had gone to a local farmer's market where there are a couple of guys selling flash frozen fish. I purchased a couple of red snapper filets & we decided to give the block a whirl.

First placed on a cold grill

Grill heated to 575 degrees.

Brush Canola Oil on once hot. It turned that dark color automatically.

Filets added.

Cooked snapper, sauteed dandelion greens & yellow rice.

Looks good right? It was terrible! Greg thinks I got snaffooed on the fish as it was very tendony. Lots of veins running in it. Sure hope it wasn't that expensive piece of salt! Gonna try a couple of ribeyes this week. Will let you know if they turn out better.

After we got back from shoveling, we put a pork roast in the crock pot for dinner. I have just now put on fresh snap beans & red potatoes. I'm starving!

On the gardening front I planted 8 basil plants today. Even though I have given away around 40 at work I still have more. Stephen, Duke or JUGM let me know if you need some, I'll be glad to share!

Last, but not least I scored at an estate sale this week. Look what I got for $2. It's a small collander, but what is so special you ask? It has holes all OVER. Almost all my newer heavy duty ones have 'dead' space in them & don't drain well. I am very happy with this purchase but that isn't all ...

The biggest bargain I got was this lovely Haverty's loveseat!

You see, we are going to eventually build a barn at the Country House & part of that will be a kitchen, dining area, sitting room & bedroom/office. We'll need furniture & I ran across this on Thursday. This sale had many over priced antiques but their furniture seemed priced low. This set was priced at $225. I didn't buy it but when I got back to my office I checked out Haverty's website & this loveseat/ottoman was priced at over $700! You bet I went back the next day & with the discount they were having I got them for $150! It is in great shape & I bet hasn't been sat in more than 20 times. It's a bit crowed in our living room for now but I just couldn't pass it up. Just wish I had room in my vehicle (& house) for that Alexander armoire for $200 (originally $800)!

Greg is getting ready to smash the taters. Did I mention, I'm starving!