Yard Maintenance Part 2

I took this past Thursday and Friday off to work on the yard in preparation for Elektra's baptism. This included a trip to the dump and the Gnome Despot. "Welcome to suburban life!" one of my Twitter friends tweeted to me in response to my own tweet about my trip to Gnome Despot. How true, how true.


The major project I had in mind was to eliminate the bed behind DJ's room, next to the deck.

Step 1: Clean the original bed. In a previous post, I had weeded it already saving me tons of time.

Step 2: Create the trench, for lack of a better word, for the rock bed that would be closest to the house. I dug about 2 feet wide, 2-3 inches deep, and the length of the house up to the gutter. In the process, I dug up a whole lot of roots, some of which I really couldn't eliminate. I'm assuming they are tree roots from the tree that used to be nearby. Next, I staked landscaping material in the whole, doubled over, hopefully for double protection! Then I lined the outside with bricks that outlined the original bed. Finally, I finished my trench with lava rocks.

Step 3: Apply grass seed. I had to even out the bed, so I spent time moving dirt around to fill holes. Then I applied 7 bags of topsoil to give the grass seed something in which to grow! I topped it off with this layer of green mat to protect the seed. I actually didn't buy enough, and thought I'd just not bother covering the whole area. However, Napoleon decided that the top soil smelled very tasty, took a mouthful with him to a shady area, and tried to eat it. Naturally, I stopped him before he actually ate any, but that convinced me that I would need to cover the whole area. Off to the Gnome Despot, again, picked up more of the mat to cover the grass seed, and finished the job.


Step 4: Add water. I've been watering it once or twice a day since.


Step 5: Hope it grows....

With that project done, I then tackled Operation Eliminate Hosta Flowers that line the front walk. Sonny let me borrow his weed wacker, and I learned after the first buzz that I would need safety glasses. No taking any chances there!! By the time I had cut down all of the hosta flowers and the weeds living in the horrifically neglected front beds, I was absolutely covered in plant debris. I couldn't wait to get in the shower! But at least the front beds started to look a little better.....


Friday was spent hand trimming (read: hacking at) the rhododendren. Unfortunately, the buds are already there, so I lost some of next year's flowers, but that's ok. This plant is enornormous and needs to be hacked to the ground. I restrained myself from doing that, I promise...

Then I started trimming bushes on the side of the house with the hedge trimmer. I borrowed an extension cable from my neighbor to reach ANY electrical outlet and also attached my own extension cable to that. As I was hacking off foliage from the bush closest to the fence, I must have managed to hack my extension cord, too. It was a clean cut all the way through. ::roll eyes:: It figures. Well, that's ok... needed to buy a longer one anyway. So I plug my neighbor's extension cord directly into the trimmer, which we know works because it was giving power to my extension cord which I hacked in half, but now the hedge trimmer doesn't turn on.


FAIL.


Frustrated, I cleaned up the mess I'd made, returned my neighbor's extension cord to her, and went inside to shower. I'll buy a new hedge trimmer and extension cord this coming weekend, I guess.


All in all, I got a lot done, so I am happy with that!