Labor Day Means "Labor"

A "holiday" weekend just means more time to get projects done before winter around our house!! 

 

Jim finished up the side fence along the shed (still needs a picket on the corner so you won't be able to peek in).  This is the final enclosed fence from the earlier posting.  Look how close our neighbors house is on the left!  We even set the fence 6 inches INSIDE the property line on our side.  Building setbacks and codes were never really enforced back when this neighborhood was built.

 

This is the view from our deck.

Jim is starting the demolition of the old fence to again access to the "new" yard.

 

Peeking past his "de-struction" project you can see the "new" yard area behind the shed.

 

So, it's rather hard from the pictures to fully comprehend what we "added" to the yard.  Here's a map explaining it all.  We have added nearly 360 square feet to our backyard.  We are currently working on the other side yard, which will also add more space.

 

More updates to come... after another cup of tea and another day of "Labor".

 

Happy Labor Day!!

Early Harvest Surprise!!

My compost has two stages - working and finished.  In the "finished" side I threw some old organic potatoes in earlier this spring.  They sprouted into thriving plants and I added some dry leaves to help keep the moisture in.  I never "hilled" them like you are supposed to with potatoes because they were too many plants too close together.  I never watered them either.  They got rained on and got some sun and were pretty much left to figure it out on their own.  Well, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I needed to work on the side yard to prepare for the installation of the fence and that meant moving my compost.  While moving it, I noticed a few new potatoes.  I dug deeper and found more!!

(tilt your head again)

Here are a few of the plants pulled back and a couple of new 'taters!!

Look at that lush black soil!

I also found a gaint worm! 

Maybe not exciting to most people, but considering our poor soil quality and that I have been adding small worms to my compost for a couple years it was exciting to find one so big.

So many new potatoes!

A whopping 7 1/2 pounds!!

 

Not a bad surprise to be harvested this time of year.  A few of them got skewed by the first strike of the pitchfork and got returned to the "working" compost, but I am setting the rest of them out to dry. 

 

Guess what's for dinner?!

First Day of School - 11th grade

Ok... So what's the deal with "Blogger" uploading vertical pictures horizontally and then not allowing you to rotate them?!  Ugh!!

 

Well, just tilt your heads to the right and try not to kink your necks.

 

 

 Stown with his strawberry patch (remember those new planter beds?).  He asked if we could plant strawberries this year so we did.  They are doing quite well for a first year crop, I can't wait to see what happens next year! (Berries don't normally produce the first year, it takes them a year or two to "get in the groove".)

 

 He is as tall as a corn stalk this year.

(Actually, he's taller than my poor corn, perspective is everything.)

 

 Ok, enough posing in the garden. 

Grab your backpack and drive yourself to school before you're late!!

Home Improvements Projects

Well, this summer seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye.  Here's just a few before, after and still works in progress pictures of what we've been up to around the house....

An old dilapidated garden box at the bottom of the stairs.

 

Three planters and another old garden box in the middle of the yard.

 

Viola! 

I replaced the boxes and containers with retaining wall pavers that I scored a really great deal on from someone who purchased them and then decided not to use them.  I even had enough to build a new bed in the corner of the sidewalk!  I relocated the canoe from the side of the house to the front.  Nothing was planted yet, just some chives leftover in the canoe (oh, and my kitchen herbs at the bottom of the stairs if you look close).  Now everything is bursting with plants - corn, pumpkins, squash and strawberries.

 

Next came a big new BBQ.

But where to put it?

TaDa!

I picked up FREE flagstone from yet another person that didn't want it in their yard!  A little sweat and a couple days later I had a beautiful new patio area for my "outdoor kitchen".

Another Project?!

This time it's the fence.  Our existing fence is over 25 years old and barely standing.  So we finally bit the bullet and started replacing it.  This time around though, we are expanding our fence to the property lines.  This will give us a larger enclosed backyard.

 

I thought we would never get those holes dug! 

Hardened clay and rocks do not make for easy digging.

We took the easy way out and purchased pre-made fence panels.  This forced us to terrace the fence line but I am sure it has saved us a ton of construction time.

 

At the time of this posting we are about to close off this side of the yard (putting the last panel right where this photo was taken from).  I have started preparing the other side of the house for the next stage.  The longest stretch of fencing (all the way across the back yard) will be the biggest and longest part of this project. 

 

More pictures as we progress!

 

 

 

The Big Day

That is the look of a crazy driver if I have ever seen one!!

 

Yup, Stown got his license officially on August 16th this year. 

Stay off the roads and hide your children and pets!!

 

Good job buddy, now don't do anything stupid.

Love, Mom

The Boy's Car

YYYYAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                My car arrived to today, Suzuki Grand Vitara 2001, I got the keys and couldn't wait to drive it.  After about a year of saving money I have it mostly payed off, third row seating, the vehicle itself can hold up to 7 people total, too bad I have to wait 6 months to carry passengers.  I get my license on August 16th, so on that day I say "goodbye parents" and "Hello FREEDOM" 
                                                                                                           -The Boy

Sprout Update: 2

Transplant day!!

After letting these little guys get a bit sturdier, I transplanted them out of the house plant pot and into their own 4 inch pots.  They are now in the sunniest window in the house.

Despite being the sunniest window, it also has snow piled about a third of the way up it.  A good amount of light still gets in and very brightly reflects off the snow.

I 'm still not sure what these are, beginning to think tomato due to the leaf pattern.  However, I can't smell anything yet and I know what a tomato plant smells like.  Perhaps when they are hardier I can break off a leaf for closer inspection.

More to come as they grow!