garden — Page 235

On the Rocks

March 19, 2012 at 10:58 am by Claudia

I find beauty in rocks…up to a point.

After several days of raking, digging, dumping and then finding even more rocks, they have lost their appeal. Right now, the swath of dirt that is my front yard has lots of piles like this one. I’ve resorted to dumping them in the woods.

Rocks are heavy, I might add.

A view of the front yard. This expanse of dirt also curves around the house and up to the septic tank:

Occasionally, I see some hardy tufts of grass. (Maybe a miracle will occur overnight and this grass will multiply!)

But mostly, I see dirt. And rocks. And more where that came from.

This is what’s left of my dear Weeping Willow. This photo is deceiving because the trunk is really massive.

Oh, yes, let’s add wood chips to the mess in the front yard and on the driveway.

And tire treads.

I have no idea how I am going to level all this and get it seeded, but I will. And I’ve finally managed to persuade Don to pitch in. I feel more of a sense of urgency than he does since I will be leaving for Hartford three weeks from today.

The garden? I haven’t even begun to start cleaning it up.

The weather has been glorious. Yesterday it was in the 70’s here and beautiful. And I take heart when I see signs of spring.

New growth on a rose bush.

A tulip showing its new leaves.

But I still can’t get used to this empty space in front of the house.

There should be a big old weeping willow shading the porch, hiding us from the traffic on the road, branches moving gracefully in the breeze.

Ah well. More rock work is on the docket for today.

The winner of a copy of The Dispatcher is comment number 18 – Zooperson. I don’t have your email address so please send me an email with your shipping address and I will forward it on to TLC Book Reviews.

A new scarf is in the Etsy shop in that shade of springy green. And there will be another one listed tomorrow in a lovely shade of taupe.

Have a wonderful Monday.

Is Your Gardening Thumb Green or Black?

March 3, 2012 at 11:24 am by Claudia

As I look out on a sea of melting snow and mud, I ponder how I’m going to reseed the now-missing front lawn. That’s something I really didn’t want to tackle, especially since I have to go out of town in April. Don will have to be in charge of watering and that doesn’t inspire me with confidence!

Thank goodness my garden was undisturbed in all the septic/tree removal mess. I find I am counting the days until I can work in the garden again and lose myself in planting and pruning and mulching. Nothing makes me happier than puttering in my garden.

I waited a long time to have my very own garden. I spent hours dreaming about it. When we rented in San Diego, I put in a garden, knowing that I would eventually have to leave it. Same thing for the cottage we rented for 4 years when we first moved out East. I took a strip of grass bordering the side of the cottage (with my landlord’s permission) and created a garden. When we moved here, I knew that I was finally going to have my own garden, not a temporary garden.

I am a fairly successful gardener who knows that she has much to learn. As all gardeners know, some plants thrive and others inexplicably fail. It’s a trial and error process – learning what your particular soil needs, where the shade is, how much sun a particular area gets.

There’s a lot of clay-like soil in these parts, so I’ve had to amend the soil in my garden beds. And now that the Willow has been removed, the pattern of sun and shade in my front yard will change, no doubt affecting my plants. Oh, but wait…that means I can plant more roses!

What about you? Do you dabble in gardening? Are you a passionate gardener? Or do you leave the gardening and planting to someone else? Is your gardening thumb green or black?

Do tell, my friends. And let’s all count the days until Spring planting season together.

I’m spending the weekend with some crochet and the new Lee Child thriller: The Affair. Just checked it out from my local library – thank goodness for inter-library loans!

Frost, Flowers & More on the Dollhouse

October 28, 2011 at 9:44 am by Claudia

When yesterday’s rain turned to sleet, I checked the weather forecast. Frost warning. Ummmm, a bit early, don’t you think? Alarmed, I grabbed a flashlight, pruners, a vase and a slicker and ran outside to cut the zinnias. I feared they wouldn’t make it through the frost. Don snapped this photo as I came in the front door. It’s rather a dark corner at night so the photo is a bit grainy.

The zinnias are now sitting on the coffee table. The catalpa tree has dropped all its leaves overnight. The maple has already lost all its leaves.

Not quite ready for this drastic change in our weather.

Last night’s game 6 of the World Series was one of the most incredible games I have ever seen. It had everything. Boy, these teams are evenly matched. Tonight promises to be a nail biter.

I’ve been working on the bedroom in the dollhouse. Since it is on the third floor, I pictured it as a room that was carved out of attic space. Old floor boards, slanty walls…that kind of thing.

I used wider sticks for this floor and painted them white. I really love this look. My thought is that the homeowner didn’t want to go to the trouble of refinishing the floor (maybe the boards were uneven and not the best quality wood) so she whitewashed the whole thing and in the process made the room brighter.

You can see that I’ve been wallpapering, as well. It’s a pretty flowered pattern perfect for a cozy bedroom. That area behind the chair is a puzzle to me. Whoever put this house together somehow managed to get some of the cladding that’s used on the outside of the house in the bedroom. Wallpaper won’t disguise it. I’m playing with some ideas, one of which is to cover it in exposed brick – rather like the exposed brick in Mockingbird Hill Cottage’s living room.

I’ve run out of beadboard and window trim, which has put a little snag in my plans. Hopefully, I’ll get the order in a few days.

Can’t you just imagine retreating at the end of the day to this pretty attic hideaway? Or waking up with the sun pouring through the windows?

I want to live there.

Update: Don just called to inform me that we are supposed to get snow tomorrow. Up to ~~4 inches~~ 9 inches. Insert scream here.

Because some of the flowers are pink, the dollhouse wallpaper has pink in it, and my little chair is pink…I’m linking up to Beverly’s Pink Saturday.

On the Rocks

Is Your Gardening Thumb Green or Black?

Frost, Flowers & More on the Dollhouse

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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