bunchofgrapes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bunchofgrapes) wrote2007-05-25 05:29 pm
bunchofgrapes) wrote2007-05-25 05:29 pm
Entry tags:
Work would have been so much easier
So I decided to take today mostly off (still had to do a little work stuff) because I was getting this ginormous delivery of mulch (24 bags) and composted manure (12 bags) and I wanted to get the bulk of it down now instead of later. I live in an end-unit townhouse that's a bit older and is on a lot more land than the newer townhouses, which is a big reason why I haven't bought something else. I have a pretty good size backyard, side yard and front yard with a lot of beds. Anyway, everything was delivered around 10:30 this morning so soon after, I got started. I emptied all 12 bags of composted manure immediately. That was the easy part.
The mulch is in these 85 lb bags and I had to move most of it from the back yard to the front yard (I am so not getting on the treadmill later). After hauling a few bags the old fashioned way (carrying them), I remembered the combo step ladder, two-wheeler and used that to haul two bags at a time to the front yard. Except for a brief break where a friend stopped by to fix my wireless problem with my work computer (yay! Brett), I worked straight through until 4pm when I absolutely had to stop because I was about to pass out. When I finally got to the shower, I was covered in dirt. I mean it was caked on. Nasty.
And today was warm--83 degrees and humid. Luckily there was a slight breeze but that didn't deter the Virginia state birds (gnats) from attacking. I kept having to stop because the little bastards were flying into my eyes and up my nose--until I got smart and used this stuff from Smith and Hawken. It's this herbal liquid called Bug Off and it really does work! Anyway, all of the mulch is down in the front and side beds but I still have a to do in the back yard. Oh, well.
I'm pretty sure I won't be able to move tomorrow. But my yard looks fabulous!
The mulch is in these 85 lb bags and I had to move most of it from the back yard to the front yard (I am so not getting on the treadmill later). After hauling a few bags the old fashioned way (carrying them), I remembered the combo step ladder, two-wheeler and used that to haul two bags at a time to the front yard. Except for a brief break where a friend stopped by to fix my wireless problem with my work computer (yay! Brett), I worked straight through until 4pm when I absolutely had to stop because I was about to pass out. When I finally got to the shower, I was covered in dirt. I mean it was caked on. Nasty.
And today was warm--83 degrees and humid. Luckily there was a slight breeze but that didn't deter the Virginia state birds (gnats) from attacking. I kept having to stop because the little bastards were flying into my eyes and up my nose--until I got smart and used this stuff from Smith and Hawken. It's this herbal liquid called Bug Off and it really does work! Anyway, all of the mulch is down in the front and side beds but I still have a to do in the back yard. Oh, well.
I'm pretty sure I won't be able to move tomorrow. But my yard looks fabulous!
Re: Mulch & manure
Wanna smell something Nasty? Alfalfa meal. Our rose society had a group buy of organics and other fertilizers, and we got 3 50-lb sacks of alfalfa and 4 50-lb sacks of fish meal (the dogs -really- love the fish meal) as well as some other stuff, like greensand (I used that to lighten up the clay soil in the area where we put one new rose bed), cottonseed meal, fish and seaweed emulsion, and EasyFeed. The van stunk of alfalfa for a week -- but man, do our roses love the alfalfa!
Re: Mulch & manure
A friend of mine had these Vietnamese neighbors who used to put shrimp shells and broken crab shells around their rose bushes. Alan said that when it got hot and humid their yard smelled like rotten seafood but they did have some really nice roses.
I have these climbing roses around the air conditioning unit. I never do anything to them except maybe water them. Despite my best efforts to kill them, they come back strong every year.
Re: Mulch & manure
Yes, please ask Irish Guy. I'd love to find that up here.
We're rose junkies -- counting the minis and the roses in the front and back yards, we have close to 300. It sounds like our property is large, but it's only 50 x 100. We stick roses everywhere we can.