It's been a while

Well, it's been a while since I updated the blog or since I've been able to get out into the backyard. Work has been hectic so it's been taking a toll on my weekends, but I'm hoping things will quiet down soon, at least for a little while!

So what's been going on....My zebra grass has bounced back from it's near death experience so I am definitely happy about that.  We have had a considerable amount of heat and not much rain this year so the lawn is pretty much all dead, the lawn, if you did not know, is my nemesis! I have been battling it for years and every year the lawn wins....At this point I am pretty close to throwing in the towel, I just can't stand the thought of running my well everyday just to water the grass, it just seems like such a waste. I've been trying to think of creative ways to get rid of as much of it as possible, but so far I haven't thought of anything good so I'll just keep trying.

Other quick tidbits
1-The kids garden keeps going and going despite neglect
2-I like the soaker hose I put into the vegetable garden, but the raised beds made it very tough to weed
3-And ground bees have taken over my weed patch, I mean my lawn. The bees are everywhere, and have been trying to get rid of them in an attempt to stay environmentally friendly we were going out nightly and pouring boiling hot water down their holes...days of that got rid of some of them, but not all. Last night we caved in and pour liquid ammonia down the holes so we'll have to see what results that brings

Deck Update

So the deck part of this project is all done and it wasn't too bad of a project. I pulled all of the railings off and only replaced them on the left hand side. Then I created a step down around the front and right. You'll see some pavers laying around that area which leads me to my next project. I will be removing the grass and the deck will eventually step down onto a patio, but I'm going to wait until the weather cools off a little before I get going on that one! That much digging, and in the heat, is just no fun so it can wait until we get closer to the fall weather and the cooler temps that come with it.

Blooms around the garden

I never thought I would see a gang in my backyard

I was just minding my own business, making some breakfast when I spotted them...their was a GANG in my backyard!!!  OK, OK, so it was a gang of turkeys...I was still surprised

Hope my hens don't get into a gang fight!

I've heard of the Tortoise and the Hare, but never the Turkey and the Hare...I wonder who will win this race

Happy 4th

Hope everyone is enjoying their Holiday, we watched our fireworks last night and spent the day working on the deck. I am definitely making some great progress.

My potted plants are scattered across the ground. Last year I overwintered one of my pepper plants (in the purple pot) as an experiment. If you look closely you will see some bright red peppers, and I have already picked a few this year. So this winter I will definitely take a few more inside

Below, just an update on the kids garden, it's a bit on the wild side, but they are getting some nice blooms

A Little Summer Project

OK, so I'm not sure how I got into this one, but some how these things just happen! It only took one weekend to pull this apart....now lets see how long it takes to go back together!

The girls

The weed dragon kills weeds and drove out something???

Hello and happy Fathers Day, so my family got me a weed dragon type of device for Fathers Day, which is great. If your not familiar with the weed dragon, it is basically a long blow torch that attaches to a propane tank and you can use it to roast weeds, which will hopefully kill them off and avoid all of the hand pulling. Well, I got one today and immediately grabbed the propane tank from my BBQ and went to work roasting all of the weeds along my walkway. You definitely need to be careful while using it as it throws off a lot of heat and the flame can get large, but it was very fun to use and really did cook my weeds. Now I'm just hoping they don't come back. I will hoverer still need to pull by hand in the mulched beds because I didn't want to take a chance in catching my house on fire!

After I finished my walkways I decided to take it out to my garden, I roasted everything in the patio area and then walked up and down the pathways roasting the weeds growing on the sides of my raised beds being careful not to get to close to my plants or the soaker hose. Everything I wanted to get rid of cooked up nicely and my wife and I were soon enjoying a cold drink and toasting our success. Then something funny happened, we noticed swarms of fat worms coming out of the sides of the beds, they kind of looked like grubs, except no little feet or mouths, they were closer in appearance to short fat worms....I'm guessing the heat must of drove them out of the soil, but now I'm not sure if these little guys are good or bad....Part of me wants to run to the store and just find something lethal to get rid of them, but another part of me wants to keep things natural and let the beneficial bugs get rid of them, and oh yeah, their is a third part of me still trying to figure out if these things are good for my garden or bad! For now, I had the entire family (wife and kids), picking these guys up with their trowels (we had hundred of them). I collected them all into a bucket and my three chickens had the best buffet of their lives....now I just need to figure out the next steps....any advise is appreciated

Thanks!!!

What's in bloom

Couple of shots from around the yard...

This little clump of Zebra grass was almost completely gone a few weeks ago, then I dug it up and moved it to a sunny spot..so far so good



Those really inexpensive boxes of wildflower seeds do work...well kind of

A couple of years ago I bought a box of wildflower seeds for a couple of bucks, literally, $2 and sprinkled it on my back hill. Then I proceeded to completely forget about it and neglect it. This year I noticed some blooms, which really surprised me. I recognize the lupines, but I'm not sure what anything else is

Our Neighbors to the North / Toronto

And a few pics from Toronto

Our Neighbors to the North / Niagara Falls

Well, its been a little while since I have updated my blog, partly because I have been doing some traveling and partly because life has just been a bit hectic lately. Here are a few picks from a recent trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto..I'm hoping to get back into the backyard soon and post a couple of updates

Just in case you were thinking about it

Careful crossing the street