Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Fetilizer, paint and leaves - oh my!

So it had been two weeks since I put down the corn glutten - time to put down the N-lite fertilizer. I am really hoping that this all works out and provides me with a great lawn next spring. I will still sow some seed though. This year I was thinking fescue instead of kentucky blue because it is more drought tolerant and the rain barrel only supplies so much free water!
I also had three and a half hours to kill so I decided to paint the fence black. It came out great! I would show pictures, but I am waiting till I get all the plantings in so you can really see a "before and after" shot - no need to ruin the surprize!
Now onto the leaves and there were a plenty. The old oak tree in the back is certainly putting down a serious amount of dead foliage this season. Four very large barrels filled this weekend and that didn't even put a dent in what was left on the ground. The arborist (aka tree cutter) will be here on Thursday to trim and prune the old guy, hopefully he does a good job and doesn't cut so much that it goes into shock!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Too hot for much

Wow - was Saturday hotter than I expected. I had lots of plans - paint the fence, dig out more in the front yard, glutten the back yard, etc. It was upwards of 90 degrees on Saturday which really cut my level of productivity. The only thing I ended up doing was dismantleing the garden. I pulled out the decaying zuchinni plants, removed the over abundant tomatoes and harvested a few more peppers. I also planted a bunch of garlic for harvesting in the spring. And now that it is football season my Sundays are confined to the HDTV and all the games available! Which basically means my Saturdays are going to be more jam packed than ever!
I am really trying to get all the basics done before the boat-load of bulbs and plants arive so that I am not trampling over the newly planted items, but of course, being in New England, the weather just doesn't seem to want to cooperate. Thankfully today it rained - which has been much needed. EVERYTHING is wilting - including things that never wilt - like the weeping cherry tree. My rain barrel has been dry for so long I actauly thought of dismantleing it and putting it away!
I did buy a few mum plants to decorate my back porch. Which look kind of odd next to my still thriving basil plants! I do have to take the basil in at night because it is getting below 60 now. I have made a few bunches of pesto that I have frozen and am hoping will make it over the next few months!

Monday, September 3, 2007

Pre-emergence weekend!

I finally got around to putting down my corn glutten this weekend. I was debating if I wanted to kill the weeds or plant seed and grow more grass. I chose to kill. I ended up putting down twice the "accepable" rate just to be sure. I used a 20lb bag that I ordered a few months ago all in the front and just a small portion that is pretty much all crab grass in the back. I still have another 20lbs for the rest of the back yard but there were so many leaves that I didn't feel like raking. It is kind of a fruitless task. The oak tree is sending down leaves and acorns faster that I can get them up. With all the acorns it is almost like you have to wear a hard hat on the back deck!
I also harvested ymy peppers. I got about 5 - they are pretty small and look confused - they are half red and half green. I should have picked them sooner to get greens, but they were so small I thought they needed some more time to grow. I am getting new flowers on them now too. I am not sure how long the weather will hold for them but all I can do is wait and see.
I planted more spinach seeds too. The last batch got me nothing! maybe I planted too deep or watered too much and they soaked away. I am not really sure but we'll see how these ones do.
Next weekend I think will be a weekend of rest. Spending all weekend doing yard work I have neglected my house. It needs a good fall cleaning!