360 Degree View of a Work in Progress

Oh yeah Holly, you are one of the folks that I missed getting to spend some more time with too. Everyone was going every which way that day and not too much one on one socializing was going on. So,,,,,having said that, I think a wine party should be scheduled as soon as possible. But.......I will be drinking soda. ha-ha But....I will be there, just name the time and place. You guys are all my new best friends.

Speaking of that, maybe I can get someone other than myself to step up to the plate and offer their place, a park or other facility for a Fall Swap. Anyone???

I would step up, but with some of my health problems cannot commit to things such as this. It hs been my experience that nine out of ten times that I plan something, I can't do it. I guess maybe the odds are getting a little better these days, but having become used to those odds, and afraid to commit at this time. Parking here is lousy too.

I hope that everyone will have a great weekend. Due to being part of another topic I know what Susan51 is doing this weekend and I don't envy her. Knowing her, she will take it in stride and get a lot of laughs from doing it. Such a sweetie.

Later all ya'll.

Ruby

I think we could probably have another swap here in the fall if you all want. I would be happy to have a chance to get plants to those who didn't get them from me at the last one.

I would suggest doing something simpler for the food. Perhaps just have everyone bring Kentucky Fried Chicken or something so we all have more time to talk.

Wonderful!!!!! We will see what the interest is then. Yep, I have to agree about the food part of the day. KFC or even sandwich makings. We could take a vote later on.

Oh yeah hart, I will need more of the gorgeous purple flower that you were handing out. Can you save seed or is it best to dig actual plant with roots and put in ground
? I am afraid that the ones I got from you are a very crisp brown color. ha-ha But, I sure would like to try again so that I will have something to be reminded of you as I stroll through my garden. ha-ha Not much strolling but lots of toiling actually.

Oh yeah, forgot that you sent me some hollyhock startings last fall. They are growing like crazy, but no blooms yet. I also had two packets of seeds that you sent at the same time. I just planted one of them past week. Thank you for all of them.

Well, I am on my way outside to toil....oops meant stroll. ha-ha Outside to put in the last three of the swap plants that I haven't had time for yet. A very special thank you to all who shared with me.

Ruby

Okay, it appears that the staining o' the deck will begin today. What time can you get here?

Wrightie, I'd love to come and I think I'm close enough that I might even have. But my plate is pretty full this weekend. Planned Family reunion and looks like we might get the gazebo up this weekend.

lol ... what? toiling over someone else's nasty paint job trump's a family reunion???

uh, er, oh yeah, we already have plans too...............!

Ruby, I have plenty of the clustered bellflowers and I'll be glad to give you some more.

Wrightie, looks like your Tom Sawyer day isn't working out too well. Poor Wrightie.

I would've helped out Wrightie, but my husband told me I couldn't touch another plant until I cleaned my car :-( So no need to say where my priorities were today. He's right though, it didn't get a good spring cleaning. Also, I think he figures now that it's clean I won't load it up with 6 bags of mulch, or top soil, or plants ...

Good news, miata ... I only got about 1/4 of the way through today. Prep work always takes longer than you expect. See you at 7AM tomorrow? Excellent.

Oh, uh,.... Oh yeah, did I mention I hurt my back while I washed my car? But I'm sure it will be better by the time you're through. (Hmmm, thinking to myself, she'll buy that.)

I've got an excellent chiropractor for you - he's about a mile from my house, so you can stop off there on your way.

heeheehee

But seriously, I spent three hours staining deck railing and I still have tons more to do. It did not take me long to decide that the next time "we" do this, I'm paying someone to do it for us! Sheesh.

Or maybe we could do a fall swap in Frederick... We've got a couple of folks interested in gathering at my place on July 14th just to get together, have dinner, maybe head over to Glade-Link Farms to pick blueberries (Dmail me if you'd like to join us!)... but I was thinking that it really won't be a good time to swap plants, so I'd love to host a plant swap in September. Frederick will be further than Hart's for some folks, closer for others, but hopefully it'll work out well enough. I don't have her kind of acreage, but with the front and side patio areas and the back deck, I think there's plenty of space to set up food (definitely simpler!) and plants.

Edited to add that I'm certainly not trying to detract from Hart's generous offer to host again in fall... but I thought it might not be a bad idea to take turns with hosting duties, free her up more to enjoy visiting and chatting during the next event!

This message was edited Jun 23, 2007 9:24 PM

Wrightie, Boy am I glad I stayed home. It's not even close to being done yet. Brick floor and flower beds to be added plus the other little things to make it special. But while I did a little light weeding, this is what Ric did. He got the Railroad ties in place bolted down the frame and hung the canvas. We got most of the food done for the family reunion tomorrow, too.
But I have the front wall of my house and the barn to stain that will be the next job and you'll be very experienced by then. ;} LOL Holly

I'm tellin' ya, Holly, he is a Keeper! As for staining your barn ... ow, I think there's something wrong with my elbow. OW.

Critter, I love the idea of a Fall Swap up the road.

Heya, I just realized I was taking Wrightie's thread way O/T with talk of a fall swap, so I started a new thread on the subject, http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/738803/

Wrightie, I'm in NC this week, visiting my in-laws... and I'm hard at work putting in an irrigation system and planting all the hostas we brought for her... so that's why I'm not sitting on your deck with a paintbrush! ;-)

Now that's a likely excuse. At least you are hardly working.

Gonna go look for the new thread...

You are right he is a keeper. He's been taking very good care of me while I heal. I'm sure that elbow of yours will be right as rain in a couple of weeks just in time for the barn project. LOL

This message was edited Jun 23, 2007 9:47 PM

Thank you all for the laughs. What nuts!!! You folks are definitely tops in my book. Looking back to the swap, I cannot think of a single incident of feeling offended, misunderstood or slighted in any way that day. God, that is nice. It is not too many places that a person can go and be accepted so completely. What a very diverse and very interesting group we were.

Am going to check on link to fall swap. Thank you Critter for volunteering. I feel very blessed to be a part of The Mid Atlantic Gardeners of Dave's Garden. I want a Dave's tee shirt, I want a Dave's tee shirt!!!

Holly, Wrightie took the words out of my mouth regarding Ric. Yep, he is a keeper, for sure. You already knew that huh? And hey......he is quite lucky to have you too.

Keep the laughs coming.

Ruby

LOL, Wrightie... that's one of my dad's favorite responses... "Hard at work?? Hah! Hardly working, maybe.."

Ruby, you're right... We're such a diverse group, but everyone has such a warm and generous heart. It was wonderful to meet folks at the swap and have the chance to visit a little!

Oh! Uuhhhh!! Gee, wrightie! I forgot all about... err... staining your deck this weekend! Uuhhh.... my cat just got home from the vet, and she's uuhhhh... recuperating.

You understand right??? ;-)

Ruby... Dave is going to offer up his T-shirts through cafepress now.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/720660/
Go down to where the thread is at June 20th, 2007... that's where he starts dicussing cafepress. I think he's still working the bugs out... but this will tell you what I know so far.

Karen

Oh thanks so much VA Wild Rose. I loved yours the day that I saw it. Thank you so much for sending the link. I will check it out shortly.

Have you had time to get together the recipes for the orange dreamcicle cake and hot fudge cake yet? I would love to have them. Both were out of this world delicious.

Ruby

Karen: It thought Dave was concerned about the quality of the cafepress t-shirts. How did he resolve that?

your horse in the link on the other thread, he is a cutie!! Personality plus!

Hee Hee Hee ... those pic's were taken within 30 minutes of giving him a bath, but that is typical behavior. UGH.

Happy... From what I understand, Dave is going to order a couple things for himself, and see how good the quality is, before announcing to the DG crowd that they are for sell. That's just what I gathered from reading the posts.

Karen

Critter if you dont mind me asking where in NC? May be close to us.. we are 15 min to the NC boarder..
Susan

Susan, are you near Chesapeake, or further inland?

Susan, we're in Winston-Salem this week, visiting Jim's folks. Danville would be on our route if we were driving back through Greensboro (which we've done when visiting friends there), but we're heading back up 81 this time.

How long are you going to be there ??? I am about 1 hour and 15 mins from Greensboro... Are you going to be there on Friday which would be the 29th? If yes maybe we could do lunch... Just a thought...
Susan

No we are not near Chesapeake I am sorry to say... We are on the NC boarder and the first big town you would hit would be Greensbor, NC...
Susan

Susan, that's a fun idea, but we'll be heading back on Thursday, and I think we have to make a quick, straight trip of it this time. Thanks for the thought!

Spring is just around the corner, so I'm bumping this as I contemplate & plan the year's garden projects ...

Hi Wrightie,
I'm impressed with what you've done with your yard.It sure looks a lot better than when you started.

Have you thought about getting the canopies of your trees thinned to let a little more sun into your yard? You would definitely have to consult an arborist to work on such large trees in a tight space. An added benefit of thinning is to decrease the chance of broken limbs falling on you garden and garage in storms. It obviously wouldn't give you full sun, but a little more sun might give your garden a boost. It's not cheap, but maintenance of large trees is rarely cheap. For most hardwoods, winter is a good time of year to get this type of work done.

You definitely have to work with the arborist and not let them pollard your trees. It's easier for them but it looks terrible and it's not very healthy for the tree. The so-called arborist who has been pollarding trees in my neighborhood should have his fingers cut off!

Keep up the good work.

Janel

Great points, Janel! As a matter of fact, we do have an excellent arborist. We started out with 7 huge Oak trees on our .2 acre lot. If you can believe it, those later shots of the yard were taken *after* they took down three other mature Oaks. lol They also thinned out the limbs at the same time. He routinely comes out and checks on our trees and gives us a report. We're due for another trimming/thinning in the Spring. It really does make a big difference, that's for sure!

Thanks for the compliments!

I'm glad you're taking good care of your trees. Most people ignore them until they fall on the house! They're such an asset to your property too. I wish our yard had even one big tree but our subdivision is only 12 years old and it was desert scrub before so no trees to work with. Oh well, I've been able to work on our trees a little every year to keep them growing the way I want. Someday they will be big shade trees.

I grow tomatoes in my front yard most years and no one has complained yet. I usually let a few morning glories grow with them to add a little color.

It sounds like you've taken on a major remodelling project, are you sure you're going to have time for gardening this year? You'll have to pull out all those plants around the front to make room. I don't envy you the task but maybe you can talk a few DGers into helping your relocate some of them.

Wrightie: How is your remodeling going? We're just about to embark on some medium-sized projects. Have you found any contractors you adore? We've found a great carpenter. . . . . Can you post photos of how things are going? I'd love to see and admire . . ..

Ugh, we don't even have the permits yet! I posted about it on the Remodeling / Construction forum as someone else just recently asked me about it as well.

We've actually discovered that we're less than impressed with the contractors we'd intended to go with, so could be back to the drawing board there. Aw well, better to find out now than once they started the major work! We might be interested in the carpenter's details. ;)