On a recent early morning, Baxter and I were off to Lowe's for mulch and potting soil. It was another beautiful, sunny morn and we felt it was better to get started early in the day than to wait until traffic and the stores were crazy.
Yours truly, behind the wheel. You can see at this point we had already picked up the potting soil, ... and a case of Coke Zero. Gotta have Coke Zero.
Baxter checking out everything. It was so early that there were no pedestrians. And there is only one car in the parking lot at CVS. That is probably an employee car. I don't think CVS was open at this hour.
While we were in Lowe's (and yes, Lowe's will allow you to bring your pet inside, so Baxter goes with me), I found this kneeling pad. If you do not have one of these, and you work in the yard, you must get one. What a great invention. This one is very "squishy". Very comfortable. When I was younger I could work outdoors without one of these, but no more. A great invention.
This one is nice and large, Plenty of room to kneel on without slipping off. This is a good, ample size that would work well for men and women.
Here again, I am using it as I install this plastic edging along the walkway leading to the front door. Honestly, I do not know what I would have done without this kneeling pad for this job.
After we picked up the potting soil and the Coke Zero and the kneeling pad, we dropped all that off and took the Jeep to Lowe's to get mulch. I decided to go with Cypress mulch this year. I generally use Cypress or Cedar. I think they are both beautiful in the garden.
I mulched almost this entire side of the front yard, leaving on a small area which you can see on the right side of the picture. I will eventually plant Italian Cypress trees there. I think three would be perfect.
This is what they look like when they first appear.
Finally, this picture of a neatly edged and manicured corner of the yard. I love this plastic edging. It looks so nice and neat when it is installed. And there is no more digging to get it installed. Several years ago they changed the design. There are tabs all along the edging and you just place it on the ground where you want and hammer in plastic spikes along the length of the edging to hold it in place. Such an improvement over the old way. Before, you had to dig a trench and then insert the continuous plastic tab that ran the length into the trench and then fill it in with dirt or a combination of pea gravel and dirt to hold it in place. While you were trying to do that, it was twisting and bending and popping out of the ground where you had just placed it. Horrible. So this is a much better system. In the corner above, I just used a utility knife with a new, sharp blade and cut a 45 degree notch where the edging met the sidewalk leading to the front door and then bent it inward to continue up that walkway. A beautiful, clean corner. I buy this edging from Lowe's. It is $14.99 for a 20' length. When you get it home, remove the outer carton and strapping and let it unwind and lie in the sun for an hour if possible. It will be easier to work with if you do that.
So, a little more yard work done. We must get as much done as possible before the humidity arrives. Once that gets here, we will move inside.
Yours truly, behind the wheel. You can see at this point we had already picked up the potting soil, ... and a case of Coke Zero. Gotta have Coke Zero.
Baxter checking out everything. It was so early that there were no pedestrians. And there is only one car in the parking lot at CVS. That is probably an employee car. I don't think CVS was open at this hour.
While we were in Lowe's (and yes, Lowe's will allow you to bring your pet inside, so Baxter goes with me), I found this kneeling pad. If you do not have one of these, and you work in the yard, you must get one. What a great invention. This one is very "squishy". Very comfortable. When I was younger I could work outdoors without one of these, but no more. A great invention.
This one is nice and large, Plenty of room to kneel on without slipping off. This is a good, ample size that would work well for men and women.
Here again, I am using it as I install this plastic edging along the walkway leading to the front door. Honestly, I do not know what I would have done without this kneeling pad for this job.
After we picked up the potting soil and the Coke Zero and the kneeling pad, we dropped all that off and took the Jeep to Lowe's to get mulch. I decided to go with Cypress mulch this year. I generally use Cypress or Cedar. I think they are both beautiful in the garden.
I mulched almost this entire side of the front yard, leaving on a small area which you can see on the right side of the picture. I will eventually plant Italian Cypress trees there. I think three would be perfect.
Another view of this same area, from a different angle. This time, the area which will be planted with Italian Cypress trees is at the top right of the frame. It took 32 bags of mulch to get this area done.
And one more. These picture were taken mid-afternoon. You can see there is a good deal of shade on the front yard in the afternoon. That comes from a very old Sweet Gum tree. I have these trees throughout the property. I must tell you, I have no affinity for Sweet Gum trees. They are messy. Every fall they drop these horrid, spiky balls.
This is what they look like when they first appear.
And this is what they look like littering your yard. They fall into the yard by the thousands. I don't want to lose the beautiful tree canopy that these trees provide, so I deal with the clean up every year. I'm just forewarning anyone out there who is thinking of planting a Sweet Gum tree to be prepared for what comes with that decision.
Finally, this picture of a neatly edged and manicured corner of the yard. I love this plastic edging. It looks so nice and neat when it is installed. And there is no more digging to get it installed. Several years ago they changed the design. There are tabs all along the edging and you just place it on the ground where you want and hammer in plastic spikes along the length of the edging to hold it in place. Such an improvement over the old way. Before, you had to dig a trench and then insert the continuous plastic tab that ran the length into the trench and then fill it in with dirt or a combination of pea gravel and dirt to hold it in place. While you were trying to do that, it was twisting and bending and popping out of the ground where you had just placed it. Horrible. So this is a much better system. In the corner above, I just used a utility knife with a new, sharp blade and cut a 45 degree notch where the edging met the sidewalk leading to the front door and then bent it inward to continue up that walkway. A beautiful, clean corner. I buy this edging from Lowe's. It is $14.99 for a 20' length. When you get it home, remove the outer carton and strapping and let it unwind and lie in the sun for an hour if possible. It will be easier to work with if you do that.
So, a little more yard work done. We must get as much done as possible before the humidity arrives. Once that gets here, we will move inside.
