Turn My Brown Thumb Green

Fruits of Our (Non)Labor

2007-08-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

First, a confession. I have ceded the care of our lawn to our neighbor, the Experienced Lawncare Professional. Mowing the lawn was never my favorite activity anyway, and there is plenty of other work to do. Plus, he's much better at it and feels some responsibility for it, as he did it for previous owners.

He has also helped with advice for other plants, particularly for the one above. That vine by the shed wasn't doing much when we moved in last year (when that picture was taken), and we had no idea what it was. It had only grown slightly over the winter. But, after we
returned from Bangladesh and were paying ELP for his services, he casually mentioned, "Your grapevine could use some help."

Huh?
The grapevine has exploded this year, especially with stakes on which to climb. It's amazing how things will grow once you know how to take care of them. Soon, we will be able to sample this:

And related backyard food news, we finally got started on the vegetable garden:

Nothing fancy, just tomatoes, various hot peppers, acorn squash, and the obligatory zucchini. We didn't plant until late June, so we're not expecting miracles.

And in the herb garden:
Clockwise from bottom left: oregano, thyme, parsley, cilantro, Buddha, mint. Everything is doing surprisingly well. After two failed attempts at planting basil, we're now just growing that inside. We've been putting it all to good use, along with the insane amount of rosemary growing in the side yard. But it's tough to find something to do with all that thyme.

A Long Awaited Update

2007-08-12T19:01:00.000-07:00

There are those who have told us we need to update this. Well, the few who were still reading.

I admit it had been quite a while. Not that we (a royal we) haven't been doing yardwork, but we haven't been doing much new.

Until recently!

To update to last post, I finally went nuts one week and took out that ugly bush by the front step. And in its place...

After much deliberation, we decided on another hydrangea. We're nothing if not consistent. This one will probably take a while to do much, but I'm hoping for at least a few blooms next year.
You can also see in this picture that the old hydrangea isn't doing so well. It got a too tall for its own good and started drooping. Plus, it's been a bad year for hydrangea all over; most of the ones in the neighborhood are looking dry and droopy. It does mean I will have to trim it back quite a bit in the fall, I'm told it's fine to do this with reckless abandon.

Speaking of hydrangeas...remember that scraggy bush in our tree lawn/devil strip that I complained about? It came back from the dead this spring, and a few weeks ago revealed it's true identity:

Ok, it can stay. This now makes four hydrangeas in our yard.

And Other Suggestions...?

2007-05-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

As I set my sights on the perfect front yard:

Rhododendron? Check. Lilac? Check. Picturesque dog? Check (although the vet says chubby has to lose 14 lbs).

The problem is that bush at the corner:

It's ugly. It grows in funny directions. It's hard to trim. And it has no flowers, which is a cardinal sin for yard shrubs in the northwest.

It needs to go.

This may be a summer project. But, does anyone have any suggestions about what to plant instead?
For reference, the blue hydrangea is behind it. The lilac is just out of the picture, to the right. And the English Bluebells below it probably won't last through June. This was also the bush that had the alleged Rose of Sharon bloom underneath it.

Obviously, I'm not expecting something that will get that big right away (that thing is a good 7 feet). But I just want something with a little less boring.

Another Identifier

2007-05-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

So we have a cool lilac bush in the front yard:

But next to it is a bush that apparently, years ago, was trimmed back to a stump, only to grow new branches and flowers:

Is this another form of lilac? They oddly have almost no smell.

One Year Later

2007-05-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend, it will be one year since we first saw the house. An arbitrary anniversary, sure, but it made me think about what the garden looked like then. One bush that I remember from out first viewing looks the same this year:

But, I don't remember the side yard looking this full:

This was a pleasant surprise...and, I'm happy to say, did not require much work. I just had to weed below the retaining wall.

But...the base of the retaining wall looks a little spare. There were some nice flowers there last summer, and I never checked to make sure they were perennials. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Another Indoor Post

2007-03-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

In which we flaunt material possessions:

Again, what student loans?

More Eruptions

2007-03-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

Someone made a crack about a previous post having "just a flower."
Take this:

And the shrub by the front porch is threatening roses.

Of course, these pictures also show that it's time to mow the lawn, and the house needs to be painted.

Did you know...

2007-03-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

...that slugs are attracted to dog poo?

Fascinating.

Perhaps That Groundhog Was Right

2007-03-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

The timing of my new job starting in November seemed to coincide perfectly with the garden no longer needing much of my time or effort. More energy could be spent on getting furniture (what student loans?) or doing, well, anything else.

Coming back from my run this morning, I found this in the backyard:

Hmmm....perhaps it's time to get back to work soon.

Our neighbors have daffodils in full bloom, and we have many other yet-to-be-identified bulb plants that have sprouted but not yet revealed their blooms. This should be fun, as I didn't realize those bulbs were in the ground. We may have many new surprises awaiting us.

And Now Attention to the Indoors

2007-01-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

It's too cold to do any landscaping now, so any improvements on the house are indoor ones. Not that we had much to do. Our first task was the fireplace. This is what it looked like before we bought the house:

NOT OUR FURNITURE

That door is ugly and needed to go. Apparently it had been there for quite a while, because upon taking it off, it was clear that the brick had been painted around it. Several times.

But, thanks to the Christmas present from my sister, we now have a much better looking screen:

Truman is also a fan:

Alternative Landscaping Techniques

2006-12-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

Last night Seattle had a nasty storm, with 8 inches of rain and 60+ mph winds. We slept through most of the it, although the creaking of the house woke us up a few times.

But, when I got up to take Truman for his early morning walk, we discovered this:

That's usually where I park my car! Fortunately last night I felt like going through the back door, so my car was about 15 feet away. One of our neighbors wasn't so lucky:

It's tough to see in this picture, but two trees went down, and caught that car on both ends....but, as another neighbor said, "Eh, it's just an Escort." The trees took two power lines down with them, but oddly enough we are part of the lucky half of Seattle that still has power.

We always admired those trees, and they were the view from our dining room. Now we''l be looking in the neighbor's windows.

Our front yard was also littered with shingles. It looks like our roof held up, but our neighbors on the other side got hit hard:

With power out at work and in most of King County, there's not much to do but hang out in the yard, waiting for the utilities department to come take care of the downed lines and talk with all the people walking by to survey the damage. And be glad that our house held up well, although I suspect our garbage can is somewhere in Lake Washington.

How Green is My Lawn

2006-11-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

Compare the above picture with one from July:

Sure, heavy rains have helped, but at least half of that is overseeding. We'll see how it looks next July!

Two weeks of heavy rain has prevented any other progress. I may have missed the window for mulching, unless we luck out with a sunny weekend day. Or, I can just let it go. Our Experienced Lawncare Professional neighbor tells me he is neutral about mulching, saying, "It just makes the weeds grow more." Minimally, I need to put down lime fertilizer on the hydrangea, to make sure they still have the same amazing blue color they had this year.

Now that the cold, rainy season has begun in Seattle, this has become a popular activity:

The weather is colder...

2006-10-28T23:06:00.000-07:00

...and not much has been happening in the garden. But, now is the time to deal with removing the dying plant matter from the yard.

The hydrangea blossoms that were holding out so well are now retiring. So, I now present the last hydrangea blossom for 2006:

The grass continues to fill in, albeit not as fast as the weeds are.

I razed the last plants in the vegetable garden. Salsa, anyone?

This is probably about a fifth of the tomatillos that actually grew, counting the groundfall and those too small to bother with. And that is with absolutely no tending or watering on our part. I now understand why tomatillos are classed as an invasive weed here.

Next week, when I get back in town, the mulching will begin in earnest.

Updates

2006-10-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

How's the lawn doing?

Much better! The seeding/overseeding worked well for the most part. There were a few patches that didn't grow as well, but I put down a second round of seed/mulch mix on those. They actually were not as bad as this post-patch photo makes them looks, but they weren't quite even with the rest of the lawn. Plus, the rain has been more frequent lately. This photo was taken in one of the rare instances that the sprinkler is being used.

I'm amazed at the difference in the former dirt patch by the hose:

It looks much, much better now. Hopefully it will stay that way for a while, despite being a high-traffic area.

And now the front lawn has been attacked:

The weeding up front was more work than I anticipated. After removing large patches of weeds, I would end up with uneven ground with more brown than green. This required more patch then I had hoped, but at least the mulch is dyed green to make it look slightly more comforting.

The mulch itself is recycled newspaper. The problem with that is the fibers get into the air very easily with you are trying to spread it out evenly. I ended the morning with every exposed area of skin covered in light green. And I inhaled a good deal of it, so I don't want to think about what my lungs look like (although I got an idea of that, at the risk of oversharing...)

More brief updates:
-No signs of the critter whose hole I found. The hole was filled with rocks, covered with dirt, and now has grass seed sitting on it.

-That strawberry plant Chris posted about? No further signs of life. (Guess who watered it more often.)

-Total number of slugs/snails caught by the beer trap: zero. I turned the soda bottle on its side, and still nothing. Incidentally, Anne, in retrospect having it on its side seems extremely obvious, and I'm embarrassed I didn't realize that! I also tried the beer on a paper plate idea, which grew a lot of mold but caught no invertebrate animals.

Other Outdoor Adventures in Washington

2006-10-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

A bit off topic, but today we celebrated the signing of a contract and the completion of two weeks of law school with a hike near Mt. Rainier. We has a pleasant (but knee-unfriendly) 6 mile hike to Panorama Point. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, so this was the panorama at the top:

Oh well, it is the journey, not the destination.

But we did have one unexpected sight:

Those black dots, which fortunately for us are hard to see, were bears wandering in the meadow as we hiked past them. The park rangers are right, clapping your hands works to keep them away.

It's working!

2006-09-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

This is very exciting for everyone, I know. But there are signs of sprouting in the areas where new seed was planted. Plus, I can stop worrying about rising water bills, as the famed Seattle weather has returned. We have had a slow steady rain every morning for the last few days, so no need for the sprinkler.

The rain has prevented much other yard work, unfortunately. My plans to put down mulch for the fall have been delayed. What I have been able to do is attack the front lawn with the same vigor as the back....
Unfortunately, the weeds were even worse up front. This section in particular was more weed than grass. What worries me is that the soil is now pock-marked, and I doubt I could rake it out without damaging what is left of the grass. Perhaps sprinkling some topsoil on top before putting down the seed?

Fortunately the front yard is only about 200 square feet.

This is Like Watching Grass Grow

2006-09-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Note the cooler of Budweiser, which is not allowed in the house.

The forecast calls for rain this week, finally. So, I thought it would be a good time to try to salvage the lawn. While Truman's extensive restroom area still thrives, the rest looks beyond dead. Some areas are worse than others...

This looked even worse after raking.

I had originally planned on simply overseeding, but when I reassessed the bare patches, I decided to use the all-in-one mix. That means using chemical fertilizer, but I'll make that sacrifice this one time. The mix is pretty handy: grass seed, fertilizer, and mulch, in a fenestrated bag that you just shake over the desired area.

The result....

The lawn now looks to be more patch repair than actual grass. And Truman is fustrated that he can't hang out back here for a while.

I watered it well yesterday, which of course meant it rained a lot last night. Cloudy, rainy, and in the 50s...it finally feels like we are in Seattle.

In which more advice is followed

2006-09-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

We hosted a mixer for Chris's law school class last night, which turned out rather well. No one got sloppy drunk, and our hardwood floors are intact. Someone did mysteriously manage to set fire to one of our dish towels, but they got it in the sink before I even noticed the smell. Apparently some people are so impressed by gas stoves that they feel the need to turn on the burner.

Of course, lots of people brought lots of cheap and mid-range beer and left it behind. Although it's nice to have a fridge half-full of Fat Tire, I was at a loss figuring out what to do with a cooler of Budweiser (besides find out who brought it and demand they take it back!). But, after watching a snail ooze its way across the hosta again this morning, I remembered the slug trap Anne had suggested. At last, a use for Budweiser, besides cooking chicken!

We'll see how it goes... I hope it works, we have a lot of Budweiser to use up.

Lawn Strategies

2006-09-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

Why is it that some areas of the lawn seem to be dying off faster than others?

Oh, that's why.

As September is here, I'm trying to develop a plan to salvage the backyard:

1. Wait until after we host next week's happy hour for Chris's incoming class, and the yard is trampled by drunk law students. Weed in the meantime.

2. Rake and seed/overseed bare patches. Be happy about the "poo area" that is thriving.

3. Water and wait. Be happy that the water bill only comes every 2 months.

This is nothing like the 5-year plan that Minnesotans like to adopt with their lawns, but it is the extent of my attention span right now.

I still want to avoid widespread chemical fertilizer. In fact, we may be run out of Hippietown if we even consider it. That being said, I have a bag of the lawn seed/fertilizer/mulch combo mix for the completely bare patches.

And maybe train Truman to "fertilize" some other areas of the yard. Or at least replace his divets.

Ewwww

2006-08-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

Today I took on that big sharp weed about which I've posted earlier. I was worried about the sharp leaves at first, but once I realized the stem bases were clear of spines, I thought is would be easy going. Then I cut into the first stem...

With each stem I cut, a sticky, milky substance started dripping out. With this disgusting feature, I'm pretty sure this is the most annoying plant in Seattle. It's even more annoying then that rotting-meat flower the botanical garden had last month.

What the hell is this plant?

Truman Enjoys his Yard

2006-08-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

To update one of Chris's previous posts, Truman is starting to enjoy hanging out in his yard. This is particularly true during the day, when the other option is to hang out inside and listen to me curse as I study for the boards (first one on Monday, woo-hoo!).
And also from a previous post, he found a favorite spot in the corner; this was the one for which I wanted a ground cover to keep him from getting too muddy. I took June's advice on sedum....well, actually, I said, "what's that?," looked it up, and realized that was the stuff growing around the backyard retaining wall. But it seems ideal - soft but durable, easy to grow, and needs little water. I planted a few starter sedums in that spot last week.
A couple days ago, after Truman had a long session in the backyard, I walked out to find:

Well, this picture was after partial repair of the damage. The hole he had dug was deeper, and the dirt covered the rock that is in the bottom left. You may see the small bit of sedum left at about 3 o'clock. Little bastard.

I actually have mixed feeling about this. As Truman is a former lab research animal, he wasn't very well socialized, and we keep joking that he forgot how to be a dog. We had never seen him dig anything before, but I guess he never had much of a chance. But why does he have to start now?

My theory is that he was trying to find cooler soil as he sat in the sun, as the hole is about Truman-sized.

Meanwhile, when he is inside, he has found a new place to hang out:

The bathroom has radiant heat floors, and he has even figured out when the timer turns it on.

On an unrelated topic, I have softened my stance on weeds. This is the vegtable garden:

These plants were already growing when we moved in, and we wondered what the previous owners had left behind for us. They didn't appear to be weeds, and were flowering in July. We met the old owners at the block party, and much to our surprise they said they hadn't planted anything this year. They did rattle off a list of plants they had the year before, includes squash and tomatillos.

Uh oh...could these be weeds? Last week, the fruit started to appear, and confirmed that these are indeed tomatillos. Personal experience and research have confirmed two things about tomatillos: they are delicious in salsa, and they are classified as an invasive weed in Washington.

Pie!

2006-08-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's off topic, but I figure that part of the intent of this blog is to show our love of being homeowners, and making pies have been the method of choice for my exploration of our kick-ass kitchen this summer.

It's great living some place that gets plenty of fresh produce. So far, I've made a pie each week, usually some variation of blueberry, peaches, plums one week, and now that we're moving into raspberry season, well, raspberries. (There was also a foray into the world of creamy pies using nectarines, whipped cream, meringue, and gelatin with this lovely nectarine cloud pie.)

I'm using dough recipes found in Joy of Cooking and a variation of their basic covered fruit pie filling. Here's what I've learned, in case any of you expert gardeners want to be pie masters:

The addition of cornmeal to a pastry recipe is surprisingly delightful! I was apprehensive at first since it felt kind of gritty to me, but after it's baked, it really does "lighten" up an otherwise, potentially heavy crust (the deluxe butter recipe from Joy of Cooking).
However, I think the cornmeal somehow makes the dough much more pliable, if that's the word I'm looking for, than when it's a full 2.5 cups of flour. At least, that's been my experience-- the last pie, John could hear much swearing because I had to re-roll my dough at least 3 times because it kept falling apart on me when it would stick to my rolling surface despite liberal flouring. Good news though? That means it's very forgiving and doesn't get tough when over floured like other pastry doughs might.
Plums, while tastey in an uncovered tart or crostata-- covered pie? Not so much. I think it didn't add much flavor to the mix with blueberries. Not to mention, pulling the pit out of them was much more difficult than pulling them out of peaches. The lack of flavor to the pie did not make it worth the preparation effort.
The basic fruit filling from JoC calls for the following:

5 cups of fruit (combos are good!)
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1/8 tsp of salt
3/4 cup sugar
2-3 tbsp of tapioca or cornstarch
1-2 tbsp of butter, cut into small pieces to dot around your filling once in the shell
Mix in a bowl; let it sit for 15 minutes

I vary it by substituting 1/4 cup of brown sugar for some of the sugar added to the fruit and also add about 1tsp of freshly grated lemon zest. It adds a nice slight tartness to the fruit filling. Also, if you're lucky and have pretty sweet fruit, lessen the sugar, but definitely try throwing in some brown sugar in combination with the regular sugar. (When it comes to apple pies, I just use brown sugar for a nice, kind of molasses like taste to the filling.)
Peaches and blueberries have been the best combo so far, but then again, we haven't cut into this peach and raspberry one yet!

Oh, and if it isn't grossly apparent yet-- I LOVE OUR KITCHEN!!!

Unwanted Bits of Nature

2006-08-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

Critter!

I found this hole a few days ago in the front yard, and I know it wasn't there when I mowed a last week. I have no idea what animal it is. I included my boot for a size reference (which is, conveniently, about a foot long). No critter has been spotted, but now I'm on the alert. It's also a little too close to the retaining wall for my comfort.

Hopefully it isn't one of those freaky rat things that migrated this way from Texas.

You may remember this from a previous post:

We have since discovered they are both weeds. June was right about both. While I still like the look of the one on the left (it adds a punk rock feel to a stuffy garden, no?), it is rapidly taking over and offspring are growing in the sidewalk cracks. I still have not found a name for it, though, and digging it up will be a pain. It's one sharp MF.
The one on the right is a type of sage, like June said. However, it's an invasive, nasty kind of sage. It's easily removed, but I let it go to seed before I realized it wasn't a good thing. My suspicions were raised after the garden had a week of good watering, and suddenly they were three feet tall.

Herbal Buddah Belly

2006-08-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's finally happened! We planted our herb garden, or at least, got it started. Clockwise from the left: cilantro, peppermint, Italian Oregano, and English Thyme.

Eric D. will yell at me for the negative thinking, but I had a little mantra for each plant: after digging a hole in the rocky soil, then carefully setting the plant in place, I would fill in the hole with the dug up soil then say, "Here you go, Mr (insert plant name here). I'm sorry if I killed you." I promise more positive thoughts towards the herbs in the future, but it's an application of my worst case scenario approach to challenges: Expect the worst, and every other result is much better than you expected; or, you savor the right to say, "I was right all along" if the worst comes true.

But anyway, what else should we plant? I'm thinking the following:

Dill
Flat leaf parsley
Sage
Rosemary

Would it be cheesey to have "parsley, sage rosemary, and thyme" if all those are planted?
Any other suggestions?

I'd like to plant basil too, but I fear it's too late in the season given the sad state of the basil plants we saw at the nursery yesterday. Besides, I'm rather partial to keeping basil as an indoor plant.

An interesting view into the minds of the people from whom we bought this house. When John was digging up the old plants in there, he found this:

I asked my parents if there are any Asian superstitions about burying a Buddah statue in your garden. They had no idea, and we fear to move it, ala Pele or something. Also, why not turn to alternative deities (for lack of a better term... alternative philosopher?) to help green our thumbs? I kind of like keeping him above ground though, an interesting alternative to those St. Francis of Asissi statues. But if anyone knows if there's a legitimate reason to bury him, I'd be curious to hear about it.

One last question: does anyone know how to dry herbs? I've frozen basil leaves in the past, but have been unhappy with how it changes the texture.

I Hate Lavender

2006-08-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before how the lavender is taking over the sidewalk. Attempts to trim it back on the south side of the house have gone well so far. But on the front (north side) of the house, it seems the upkeep of the lavender has not been as rigorous. My research sources tell me to keep the plant trimmed back, espsecially if it starts getting woody. Well, after about half an hour squatting and trying to work through tough, woody branches, we end up with this:

Doesn't it seem like I should find a gnome house somewhere in there?

There is always the possibility of ripping this out and starting over, but that seems like even more painful work after looking at this mess.

I now want to go to my neighbor the lavender picker and thank her profusely for helping her keep things under control! Just stay away from the hydrangeas, lady.

Meanwhile, in the backyard:

This is after a couple of weeks of thoughtful watering (no, not overwatered, you Utah lawn Nazis). I think I will have to concede defeat on this one. A lot of people have told me about the typical Northwest lawn that turns brown in the summer and recovers in the fall. But this lawn isn't just Northwest Lawn Brown, it's mostly dead. I will have a lot to ask about when we make our next trip to the nursery.

You can also tell where Truman has left his mark.

Garden Auto-Pilot?

2006-08-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

One of the gardening books says that August is the boring month for gardeners, as everything is on auto-pilot and there is very little to do.

Perhaps that is true. I've deadheaded everything we have to deadhead, and most of my energy in the yard is devoted to watering. I'm still not sure about this myth of rain in Seattle, as I have yet to see it rain here. A few days ago, the ground was wet when I went to get the mail, but I never actually saw the rain fall. And the sky was perfectly clear an hour later.

So now the thoughts turn to what things to change. The perimeter is still being debated, although I like the idea of rasberry bushes growing over the fence. There is another patch of land that needs some attention:

This is part of the parking strip (or tree lawn, depending what part of the country you are from) that is cut off by our sidewalk. It has an unfortunate looking bush in the center that requires more water than I feel like giving it, what with it being so far from the hose. The rest of the strip is a magnet for weeds. Chris was supposed to come up with an idea for this space. However, she got her new laptop today, and the wireless internet means she can use it in front of the TV. This blog may be the only way we will communicate from now on!

Any other thoughts? It is a lowly piece of land that seems like it deserves more.

Also, Truman has found a comfortable spot:

But now I want to find a durable but soft ground cover for this area, to prevent him from getting too muddy with the mythical rains finally come.

Another flower to identify...this is actually an old picture, as the blooms fell off weeks ago:

And did I mention this is the view from our front porch?

Sure, you can do better, but not a bad thing to look at as you drink your morning coffee, eh?

The Books Have Arrived

2006-08-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

The books that were on hold at the library have arrived. One in particular was very helpful, "The Washington & Oregon Gardener's Guide." It was formatted with prominant pictures, so you can basicly leaf through it and say, "Hey, I have that one..." I was able to identify or comfirm several plants, including this one:

This hosta finally flowered, redeeming itself in my eyes at least. The Guide cautioned that "Slug management is vital with hostas." We honestly haven't seen that many slugs here, which is surpising for the northwest. But on closer inspection:

Pet-safe slug bait is now on the shopping list. There is now a tell-tale slug track on the doormat in the backyard.

Some new flowers have bloomed this week, ones not found in the book:

On the whole, this book has reassured me. Almost all the identified plants are perennials, will do fine with good watering (except the lavender, which get root rot), and just need to be deadheaded to keep them flowering. Whew.

But..back to the lawn. I mowed for only the second time this month, mainly to keep the weeds under control. I'm beginning to think this whole thing about rain in Seattle is a myth. At any rate, when mowing the backyard, I was getting fustrated with the slope down to the fence, and with ramming the mower into the fence that is barely holding itself together.

I then had an epiphany. Why not tear up the grass around the fence, put down some mulch, and plant some hardy shrubs around the perimeter. This would keep me from having to buy a weed whacker. Plus, the shrubs might block tennis balls from rolling under the fence into the street, which confuses the dog and annoys me.

But what to plant? Someone may have had this idea before, as there is one as yet unidentified but ubiquitous shrub planted behind the fence, facing the alley:

On a side note, have you ever wanted to mow the lawn one morning, but were worried the noise would bother your neighbors (that is, the unemployed ones like yourself)? If at all possible, try to arrange to have the Blue Angels practice over your neighborhood. Your mower will sound like a purring kitten in comparison.
They were practicing for Seafair today, and were buzzing over the house close enough for me to see the pilot's face. And were UNBELIEVABLY LOUD, enough to rattle the house, set off car alarms, and send the dog under the bed. But, when 4 fighter jets do a slow roll in tight formation over your backyard, that's REALLY FREAKING COOL.

Quick Etiquette Question

2006-07-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

I happened to look out the window this evening to see one of our neighbors pick a handful of lavender from one of our bushes. This is a neighbor we haven't officially met, other than waving from the car.

Obviously, we have lavender to spare, and I'm working on trimming it back. But she wasn't picking from the edges, but right in the center. More precisely, it's not the loss of the lavender itself that bothers me, but picking without asking seems a little rude. I'm not getting myself worked up about it, but am I over-reacting? Is this a comming practice that I wasn't aware of?

I don't think that's mold!

2006-07-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

Eric D. asked for an update on the strawberries. Truth be told, nothing much has happened in the last few weeks, other than John's reminding me to actually water the darn thing. I'd pretty much given up hope, especially after seeing how easily watering it can push large chunks of dirt and moss out, maybe even ejecting some seeds to their early death among the bushes below. So, it was a surprise to both of us when tonight's watering revealed:
That's right-- that speck of green? An itty bitty sprout. That means that of 10 seeds, one's actually started to grow!!! I only kill 90% of what I plant!

So, we'll see how much confidence this gives me. Apparently I've been assigned the small herb garden and a little tiny plot of land by the lamp post on the south side of the house. Expect future blog posts on those in the near future.

FAQ

2006-07-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

1. You are over-educated people. Why don't you just look this stuff up in a book?

If medicine has taught me anything, it's that books are great, but you get the fastest and most practical answers by asking the experts. Or at least people who know more than you. Go to the books for the details. Besides, I don't know most of these plants, so I wouldn't know where to start.
That being said, three books are on hold at the library.

2. John, you seem to have a lot of time to spend worrying about landscaping and playing on the web. Don't you have a job yet?

The search is coming along fine. And the plan was to take the summer off anyway. Next question.

3. I'm so glad to see you are taking home ownership so seriously!

Um, thanks, Mom. We are paying way too much money for this place not to feel like the freaking Taj Majal.

4. Doesn't stuff grow easily in the northwest?

Yes. The dry weather has left me worried about killing the plants I initially cared about (lawn, hydrangeas) which weren't looking so good. Other stuff (phlox, the various purple flowers) seem to survive fine on their own. Even more stuff (who planted all this &%#$@ lavender?!?) is trying to snare passers-by and suck them deep into the soil to reinforce our foundation.

As warned by several people, trimming back biomass has become a daily activity. The explosion of ornamental grass was completely cut down today. That was just fun. The hedges surrounding the front step filled three trash cans with their trimmings, until I started to get a rash. Lavender has been trimmed, and boy does it make the compost bin smell nice.

Lastly, more stuff to ID, including (surprise!) purple flowers:

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

2006-07-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

While trimming that large hedge the other day, I discovered something new:

A few more have popped up along the north side of the house, right outside the basement window. I feel like I should know what these are, but I don't. But they are a nice change from the ferns that otherwise populate the 4-foot wide alley that is north of the house.

More plants, from the south side this time:

As for the bad and the ugly...

Have I mentioned I am not a fan of ornamental grasses? This one looks like the retaining wall is throwing up. Once I have a better ides of what to plant, this will be the first to go. In the meantime, I will try to trim it under control.

This second one I have mixed feelings about. It is also forcing itself onto the backyard walkway, making me want to rip it out. But it looks like it may bloom something soon, so I am curious if I should wait to see what it will look like. Is it really an ornamental grass, or am I mistaken?

Best Dessert Ever!!!

2006-07-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

John says it's off topic to write this, but I figure that something has to be offered in return as a means of thanking everyone for their posts and suggestions so far. So here's a cream soda float idea that I tested last night, that was quite tastey if you want to try it for yourself.

1 bottle vanilla cream soda (we used a local brewary's one as it was on sale.)
2 scoops Ben and Jerry's Black and Tan ice cream (stout flavored combined with chocolate ice cream)

Put one scoop in each of two tall glasses and combine with half a bottle of the cream soda (slightly more calorie friendly by splitting between two people.) Let yumminess ensue.

Progress...

2006-07-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

vegetable garden ideas

2006-07-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

Right now, our vegetable plot is overrun with giant cabbages. Sure, they're pretty, but we'd rather have stuff we can eat.

I'm only mentioning this since Eric mentioned peppers and tomatoes. We've been told that there's too much humidity here to grow tomatoes other than cherry or grape ones. Is that true? I guess that means I'll have to rely on Eric and Matt to make some more Advocate Wong salsa for me. :)

Any ideas what we could plant there? It's in our yard, so that means, west side of the house.

More to be identified

2006-07-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

I've chosen to focus on the trellis, as it gives me a place to start.

The plant may be young, as Eric D has said. It's hard to see on the picture, but the trellis is a bit rusty - I'd say a year or two old, although my rust meter isn't as good after living in Utah. The plant doens't seem that healthy right now, but I have no idea what is should look like.

Another purple flower:

But not all the flowers are purple:

Experiments with tools

2006-07-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

My first trip to Lowe's (our second day here) was spent in the garden department. I bought the previously discussed mower, but also some basic garden implements: loppers, clippers, and kneepads. While waiting for our stuff to arrive, I attacked the overgrown front hedges with the loppers. It went beautifully, until:

This bush is a little too high for me. Trying to trim the top of a hedge by jumping up and trying to lop off a branch in midair is a dangerous and ineffective process, no matter how good your vertical leap may be. It will amuse the neighbors, though.

Today's Home Depot trip (to use one of our gift cards) included and extension trimmer, the kind that uses a sting to pull a set of blades at the end. It feels like performing laproscopic surgery, but the result looks fine.

Anyway, on to one of the reasons for creating this blog:

This one was a mystery to me until our trip to Oregon and the Fruit Loop by Mt Hood. We visited a lavender farm, and I exclaimed, "So THIS is what we have growing in the garden!" To which Chris replied, "um....duh..."

This is also why we have so many bumblebees hanging around the house.

Ok, one purple flower identified. But what about these, friendly experts?

The trellis, which is right under the kitchen window, seems paticularly underused.

Anyone know what these are? Should I be doing any thing special? And what to do to mak better use of the trellis? And why did the previous owners like purple so much?

A success?

2006-07-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

I knew what hydrangeas were, but thanks to art-sweet's post, I now know how to spell the word. And I didn't know that they change color with soil pH, which makes me want to run out and pour lemon juice on the ground to see what happens. Which would not be a wise thing.

On that note, on our moving-in day, Chris's mother made frequent comments that the back yard needed to be watered. At first I thought it she was just referring to the lawn. But, as they were leaving, Julie again said, "Be sure to buy soaker hose for the back. That hydrangea could really use it."

Hydrangea? I noticed to one out front almost immediately when we first saw they house, as they remind me of my grandparent's house in Oregon. But in the back yard? I ran back to check...

Oh, that thing? Yikes...

I couldn't let that wither away. Later that evening, I moved the hose to the backyard to begin the revival. I only watered it a few minutes each day (a new soaking hose is lower on the shopping list right now) for the few days before we left for Oregon, but on returning home...

Could this be? Is the thumb turning green already?

Before I celebrate too much, the front porch hydrangea is looking amazing, without any intervention but the Seattle weather (which has been warm and dry). So maybe this was just the natural course. And I hadn't watered in a week. But I'll take any hint of success I can.

Off topic- Oregon trip

2006-07-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

We're back after a week long trip with Doug and Amy.

We started off around the Gorge, doing the various waterfall hikes in very hot and humid weather (oh Utahan visitors-- I miss evaporative cooling.) We then drove over to Mount Hood, and ate delicious cherries picked straight from the tree (the chocolate covered ones we got to sample made me unspeakably happy!) Around Mt. Hood, we camped for two nights near a ski town that is currently being overrun by snowboarding teenagers, apparently abandoned by their parents for the summer as there were hardly any adult figures around. We also hiked to Tom, Dick, and Harry peaks with a stop by Mirror Lake along the way.

We then hit the coast, stopping by beloved Rogue in Newport. Funny how real beer, especially Rogue right from the source has a powerful effect on me (okay, maybe more sad than funny but this ain't no 3.2 beer!) Sorry Eric D.-- they were out of Brutal Bitter at the public house, otherwise, I was going to drink one in your honor.

A very rare picture of the two of us together, courtesy of a total stranger

We also stopped by Tillamook: mmmm.... cheese...

Finally, we ended up at Cannon Beach, staying at my uncle Konrad's beautiful home. John and I got to walk out to Haystack Rock at low tide and spent some time among the tidal pools. We saw a variety of sea anemone, star fish that clung to the rocks making natural tesselations (John's observation, not mine), and barnacle crusted mussels. We also saw nesting puffins via telescopes set up by volunteers and enjoyed the excited outbursts from kids as they either screamed in joy at a new marine discovery or in pain from the icy cold water as it lapped up on the shore. If you look carefully at this picture, you can hopefully see the tiny crab among the mussels.

Finally, our last night consisted of dinner with Konrad and a revisit to Haystack Rock at sunset. Mom-- Konrad said I'm supposed to brag to you that we got to see the sunset-- sorry!

Pretty, no?

Now we're back at home and are pleasantly surprised to see how our backyard hydrangea plant is already reviving with just some regular watering. Back to gardening questions in the next few posts!

Directions (from the directionally challenged)

2006-07-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

I lied... at least one more post before we set off this morning. I wanted to test out this new "team blog" function I set up last night so I wouldn't have to find a way to distinguish my posts from John's.

Anyway, there was a question from Eric Davis about light exposure, which yeah, might be helpful to y'all in answering questions. :)

The front porch (where my hanging plant of impending doom sits) faces east, and the yard faces west. The strip of garden that John posted pictures of (hydrangeas, the exception) faces south, so that gets sun exposure all the time.

Hope that helps a little, and thank you to all of you who have posted suggestions so far!

Who needs a gnome?

2006-07-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

When you've got Truman, the dog who does not know how to just be in his own yard.

He either stoically sits sentinel looking over the yard or will stand at the door, staring at the door knob waiting for the door to open and let him in again. Perhaps, with your help, we'll make a yard that he'll feel comfortable enough to hang out in.

Don't know if we'll post again (after this active day) for another week as we're off to OR for some campin' and relaxin' for a week. ~C

One plant I messed up (I think)

2006-07-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

John's been tackling the yard work, as you can see, so I thought I'd try my first attempt at planting someting:

Perhaps I should have trusted instinct and should not have tried at all.

It's true-- the only thing I grow well is mold. In 7th grade biology, the mold growing experiment was the only one I truly succeeded at-- it popped the lid off the petri dish. But this was a kit, so it couldn't be that bad, right? I followed the directions: soaked a cube of mossy stuff in water, plastered it all over the basket, popped holes in a plastic bag to act as "a saucer" for water for the soil, mositened the soil (ewww-- "moooiiist"). The problem was the seeds-- they're strawberry seeds, and there were supposedly 10 of them in the kit. I don't know if I scattered them well, since I never saw them come out. Then, I had problems getting the hooks on the damn basket, so I might have accidentally kicked them out of their (eww.. here we go again) moist, cozy, dirt home. Guess we'll see if anything starts to sprout, but something tells me I already failed.

Can someone tell me (post deed) what's the right way to scatter seeds in the future?

One plant I can tackle... (I think)

2006-07-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

We're finally here. After much wrangling with real estate agents and financial organizations of various types, we have moved into a 1914 Craftsman house on the top of Beacon Hill. Inside, the house was everything we fell in love with when we first saw it. Outside.....

Hmmm. Perhaps taking possession of the house three weeks before we moved to Seattle left us with a yard for which no one was caring. No big deal, right? I've mowed lawns before...well, 12 years ago, save for once or twice when visiting home during the summer. But hey, this is like riding a bicycle, and I just need the right tools. Right?

This, I can call a minor success. This new lawn mower is indeed electric. It's cheaper, cleaner, and quieter that a gas mower. When I was looking at it, I imagined charging up its battery and taking it out on the lawn, smug in its convenience and environmental responsibility. Then I looked closer, and realized there was no battery. (What did I expect for $130? iPod batteries cost more than that) As you can see, it has an extension cord attached, so it's always tethered. For a small lawn, though, this works very well. It just feels like vacuuming more than mowing, what with a cord thrown over my shoulder and occasionally getting in the way of the mower.

The backyard was mowed with ease. Except...

I see a weed whacker in our future.

Any smugness I felt from my environmentally responsible mower was short lived. After conquering the backyard, I brought it around to mow the small patch of grass out front. As I wheeled the mower down the side walk, I saw our kitty-corner neighbor sitting on the porch, and gave a little wave. I could feel his eyes on me as I carried the mower up the front steps into our yard. I still felt his eyes on me as I carried the extension cord up to the front porch and plugged it in. As I walked back down and plugged the mower into the extension cord, I heard laughter erupt from the neighbors' porch.

You see, this particular neighbor is an Experienced Lawncare Professional, and is part of a household that has been on the block for years. In other words, he is not one of the foreign station wagon owning, Banana Republic wearing yuppies that otherwise populate the neighborhood (myself included). For this reason, ELP's laughter had a little sting to it initially. I thought he was making fun of this rinky-dink mower, and I was determined to show it could mow the lawn just fine. And I did, only accidentally unplugging it twice. Only later, after I was down and he had gone inside, did I see the mower sitting in his front yard: a rotary-style push mower, the kind with no engine at all. It was similar to one I hard looked at in the hardware store, and decided it was too much trouble.

At any rate, the mower works great. The grass, though half-dead, is at least a respectable length, and the clipping mulched.

Now for the hard part...

This is where I need your help, master gardeners (or at least those with more horticulture experience than growing spider plants). I will post more details of individual plants in future posts. There is a soaking hose buried in this part of the yard, so I know I can keep things from dying for a little while (I hope).