I am in the garden pulling weeds and getting an area ready for my son to plant his veggies. I got an astilbe in the mail yesterday from Audubon workshop. They had a coupon and I ordered a few things. Their plants look very good!!
I am glad it is finally warming up a little. I did mow the grass inside the fence yesterday so I wont run up on a slithery sidewinder, but the lawnmower decided to quit and I didn't finish :(
I am trying to get everything caught up before the weekend. Next week is spring break and we are going to visit my dad. He had a minor stroke last week. Tuesday he was moved to a rehabilitation center and boy do they have him busy. He is doing 4-5 hours a day of physical therapy along with speech, etc. He has a roommate, eats meals with everone in the center. I think that will be good for him, to be around people. His spirits are high and he is postiive. He wants to get home so he can plant his peppers and take care of his aloe vera farm! Please say a prayer for him. I really appreciate it.
Hugs,
Susan
What is everyone up to?
Hi Susan,
So sad to hear of your Father's stroke and am sending lots of positive thoughts your families way. My Mom lives with me and I am so grateful thus far that she wakes everyday feeling reasonably healthy and always happy. My time with her is a special gift which I never take for granted and when I hear of someone like yourself feeling the effects of an ill parent it makes me treasure the time with my Mother and Father even more.
I never heard of anyone that farms aloe vera. That's very interesting. Which part of the country is this common?
My yard is about one acre of which is packed full of many varieties of tree's, shrubs, bulbs, perinneals, annuals and veggies/herbs. We also have thirty Japanese Koi which require a great deal of maintenance. This time of year I'm busy doing all the difficult maintenance while it's not so hot that I suffer. In the past three weeks I have personally built a new veggie area on a slope attached to my perinneal garden. This was no small task as that it required me building three retaining walls and purchasing thirty five bags of soil. By no means am I a carpenter and it really which really became apparent to me once I stood back and had a look. Oh well, the retaining walls are indeed retaining the soil, but I have to admit it dousn't look like a real pro did the job.
With the veggie patch extension complete I moved on to installing a auto sprinkler system into my window boxes. This was another great learning experience but I'm happy to report that I no longer have to drag my hose around the house everyday to water ten huge window boxes.
I also purchased a small pressure washer so that I can maintain our stone patios at my convenience rather than shucking out hundreds of dollars everytime I need the algae blown away. It also works great to clean our waterfall/koi pond. I'm sooo happy with my new toy. It's super easy to operate and petite enough for me to work with at ease.
Yesterday I had help relocating a corral bark maple tree that was getting too much sun. I took it a step furthor and decided to give it a proper form by wiring the limbs into place. That was so much fun and the results so beautiful that I've now begun to do the same on my crepe myrtles.
There is a very wet area in one of our stone patios that I can never keep clean. So, I removed all the flagstones and dug up ten wheel barrels of clay and installed a gorgeous fern, astilbe and iris garden. Although it was huge amounts of work the results are so worth it. I also dug a small dry creek and lined it with black slicks.
With all of these huge and exhausting chores behind me, I can now relax and have some fun planting my veggies and annuals.
Cheers! Amy
Hello amysjardin - just wanted to mention that after you pressure wash you need to seal. I bought a PW for my two patios and first they looked great and then then got bad faster. I did some research and found you are supposed to SEAL! When I mentioned it to friends, they all said 'well, of course'. I didn't know. The PW makes your patio more porus and that allows dirt to enter more surface. The sealers are supposed to not even be visable after you apply. I am going to PW this spring AFTER the huge maple quits dropping and then seal it all.
"installed a gorgeous fern, astilbe and iris garden." - sounds beautiful - post pix!
Sterling in Dunwoody
Dear susan,
I hope that you Dad bounces back from this. That he is in good spirits is wonderful. he will be able to cooperate more fully with rehab. Rscovery can be a long road and very debilitating to the spirit. Anything that you can do to keep him chipper will help him in the long run.
My mother went through a serious illness caused by a physicians's negligence and she became so depressed that I was afraid that I might lose her. That was almost 8 years ago and I still have her to call and share memories and gardens. She is 89 and in an assissted living home 5 hours away
It hurts us so to see our parents getting older.
Beth
Hi Susan, Sterling, Beth and Amy,
Just returned from San Diego. My brother and his wife have a "to die for" backyard. Lemon, Limes and Avocado trees, lots and lots of interesting succulents, of course many different palms and color everywhere. What a difference from pine tree Georgia! (But I am so glad to be home). Anyway, hubby are planning a raised veggie bed - our first - will start with lots of tomatoes, eggplant and herbs the first year. So glad for the warm weather- will start planting colorful pots for the deck. I love springtime in Georgia.
My mom is 80 and had a heart attack last year but it hasn't slowed her down. She is leaving this weekend for a trip to Atlantic City. I hope I have her stamina when I'm her age.
Thanks Sterling for the tip about PW and sealing patios. We use our pw all the time and I guess we won't have to clean as often if we sealed first. Now we know!
Hello Everyone:
Susan, I admire your fathers tenacity! "Go Pops!", it isn't always easy to look on the bright side and keep your spirits up. I admire your father.
I was sick for awhile this past year. So I was slower getting gardening chores done. Now I've gotten both fall and spring clean up jobs done, divided and potted up oodles of plants for my little "driveway" business, and am beginning to plant. Just waiting for my mail order babies to arrive.
Tomorrow the truckload of soil for the new veggie beds, the mulch for the pathways around it, and the loads of pinestraw for the shady shrubery in the back is coming. PLENTY to do.
The Urban Gardener is advertising it is carrying corn gluten, and our back yard and 2nd yard would really benefit from a very liberal application. I need to finish spraying serenade on the roses (Urban Gardener carries that too)....and ordering MORE ROSES!
I need to do what amysjardin has done: retaining walls, dry creek beds..and then like the rest of you: a patio... some day :)
GGG
amysgarden - I thought you might like to checkout
http://www.dunwoodygardenclub.com/
Since you are in Dunwoody, you are not very far as we have meetings at the building ajacent to the Dunwoody Library - lots of good garden minds and interesting people, plant swaps, etc.
I actually built this web site as when I found them last spring and said "WHY don't you have a web site??" and they said... :) It has been a learning experience!
Sterling
you folks need to take care of parents ,when they are gone u will miss them dearly