Thursday, May 31, 2012

Garden and Flower Update

I finally got my garden planted, and it was a lot of work this year. The ground has always been hard as a rock in my veggie garden, and I usually just dig a hole for each tomato plant and call it good. This year I used the garden fork to dig it and ended up with clumps the size of boulders! I used the hose to soften them and then a small garden claw to break them up....and ended up breaking the claw! Not a good start. After a couple of nights of soaking the soil, I had fairly small clumps. I then added three bags of compost and a bag of peat moss. 
I decided on four tomato plants and a few kohlrabis for my sister and me. I would like to get a cherry tomato yet. 

In the background of the garden photo, you can see my rhubarb. It died out like it would in the Fall. I only got one picking off of it and have no idea what happened.
 My clematis is absolutely beautiful this year. The coralbells and coreopsis are looking good too. This year I transplanted some of both of these to the other side of the clematis so now they'll run the length of the garage. No more $$ spent on annuals for that spot.

I got a red hydrangea from a friend and can't wait for it to bloom. I'm still looking for the perfect spot for it in my flower beds, so for now it's in a large pot.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Outdoor Lights

Over the past couple of years, the lights in the front of my house have broken one by one.  First, the top of the plastic housings broke off. Then last fall when I had my roof replaced, a couple of them got bumped and the bulbs broken off.
When I first thought about replacing them, I had no idea how low-watt lights were installed. I did some checking around and decided that it wasn't something I thought I wanted to tackle...even though I could use the existing cable.
So I tried solar lights and just wasn't happy with them. I don't think they were getting enough sunlight because of the tree cover. And it was early Spring so the trees weren't even at their fullest yet. 

Last weekend when Mom was visiting, we picked out some new ones (not plastic!) and got them installed. 
It wasn't near as hard as I thought it would be. I just dug up the old light and snapped the new lights to the cable that was already in the ground.
 They look great and give off a LOT of light.
 I moved the solar lights  to along the garage at the back of the house. They fit much better there.

One more project checked off the list!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Super Moon

There was a Super Moon on May 5. There were storms earlier in the day, but the sky had cleared by afternoon and made for an incredibly bright night.