Week 97: Spring Cleaning
Texas_Gem
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
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desertsteph
8 years agopractigal
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Spring flush is Toast! It was 97 F here today...
Comments (23)I went outside and looked around more today (it was too hot yesterday to be outside long, even in the shade) and the damage is not as bad as I thought. :^) Intrigue (in the picture), Peter Mayle, Fragrant Cloud were badly toasted, even some foliage damage. The worst was a little Catalonia, which is dead. Just toasted dead, the entire plant. It was a poor specimen to begin with. Some such as Top Notch which is right next to the street with reflected heat from the asphalt, showed no damage at all! Even Ebb Tide, which has very dark flowers, looked fine. I'm going to have to check the drippers on the ones that toasted. Perhaps they are not getting enough water. It was cooler today and will be even cooler tomorrow. Thank goodness! loveisarose_2007, we've missed you!?! (by another name??)...See MorePlans for this week - Spring Closet Decluttering
Comments (6)I'm working on "my" room. It's a very odd space right off the kitchen. You go up 5 stairs right into the middle and each side off the stairs is approx. 12 x 7 feet. It looks out on my roof top garden space. One end is sewing/craft stuff and the other end is set up with two rocking chairs for reading. And the books are taking over. Since my rule around here is no one gets to overflow with their personal stuff, I've been going through a bunch of my gardening and craft books and took several bags to the used book store. Time to get more fabric gone. Did a bit of time in the garage, getting the kids bikes out and seeing what needs to end up in the trash. We had some construction work done over the winter and these guys around here never cart off their garbage. The tile guy just dumped his cement stuff in a plastic bag and let it harden. Even the DH can't lift it. I've decided no more boxes for storage in the garage. I'm going to stock up on some type of container which is only around 5" high. Maybe a kitty litter pan? That way, I can actually see what I'm looking for. Painting supplies or tools just seem to fall to the bottom of a box. Trying to get the ice rink in the backyard to start draining. Once I got it going (still a huge chunk of ice) I realized the low spot of the yard where the water is going is where I had the DH park the sports car for the winter. Yikes, I hope that thing doesn't sink to its axels in mud. As soon as most of the back is clear of snow, I'm going to remove the seats from my van and make one good run to the dumping station. Even though we've lived in this house for over a year, we still have stuff left from the previous owner, from the remodel, etc. I just ran out of steam last fall. Gloria...See MoreWeek 44: Spring, spring, SPring, SPRING dreams!
Comments (23)Outdoor dreams??? Well, let's start with the 200,000 dollar + dream backyard/oasis. In ground pool, diving rock, grotto, lazy river, hot tub, etc with the beautifully landscaped yard surrounding it with raised gardens, accent lighting and the gardener/pool boy to maintain it all. More realistic (not NECESSARILY requiring a huge lottery win) would be replacing the chain link fence with a privacy fence for the backyard (8,000-10,0000) and finish having the driveway poured. Our current driveway is mostly gravel with only a small portion of it concrete. We sit on a corner lot and our property is higher than the roads. Our driveway curves from one road to the other, I.e. very long, and expensive to pour. Since our driveway is uphill from all directions, during the winter there are times we can't get up our driveway. Once we reach the concrete, we have the traction to reach the house. The issue is literally timing and gunning the engine at the entrance to the driveway at just the right moment in order to make it from the road to the concrete. I'm hoping that in the next year or two that we can at least finish the concrete to the road on the garage side entrance so we don't have to leave our vehicles in the snow drift on the road and hike to the house. Did I mention that my new stove and fridge are coming on Friday? I will post a picture when they arrive. I'm so excited to finally have new appliances (a first for me) AND they are what I wanted and picked out!!...See MoreSpring is almost here! Need your spring cleaning routine!
Comments (3)We live in Northern Virginia (7b) and leave our pond (900 g) going all year long. The pond covers the width of the backyard of a townhome overlooking a golf course. We use a pump to move the water from the pond to the top water fall where it spills into a bifurcated stream that then meets in a small ponding area and drops from another waterfall into the large pond. So, for maintenance in the spring and fall we check to make sure vegetation hasn't started growing into the pond. From time to time, tree roots will try to invade by growing along side the liner and then into the stream. We clean the settled leaves from the bottom of the pond with a skimmer, the excess mud out of the stream and then with a scrub brush clean the filter on the end of the pump. I also thin out the irises that grow in the ponding area as they can completely take over. This takes about a half day in spring and again in the fall. Once or twice a month I check the vegetation and check for algae growth. Weekly I check the water levels and the PH once or twice in the summer. This weekend it was in the 60s so I did all of this in a Sunday afternoon. In winter, the water movement keeps the pond from completely freezing over. It may look frozen on top but the water continues to move underneath. Often an ice layer forms over the pond but there's a cushion of air between the pond water and ice layer so it stays insulated, it doesn't get cold enough for the pond to freeze completely over. Over the years we've used a pond heater, an air exchanger and bubblers which helps keep the pond from freezing over and also helps to aerate the pond. I find that the bubblers proved to be one of our best assets and we now keep them going all year long. Hard to believe they have lasted so many years in all kinds of weather. We also put a mesh screen across the pond in the fall to capture the leaves; it also helps to keep critters out during especially cold winters. Raccoons are crafty, they devastated our pond one year when we weren't careful about how we laid down the screen. We didn't want it to get all caught up with the ice that formed along the waterfall. That was a mistake! Let me know if you have any other questions. Am glad to help! It's really such a wonderful addition to our life and has been fairly easy to maintain. It's a natural part of the landscape and has worked out so well for us. FYI, keep koi, fantail goldfish, shubunkins, tadpoles/frogs, snails and other aquatic plants so that there is a natural balance. The pond has attracted a significant amount of wildlife from visiting turtles, birds, skinks, and the occasional snake and/or raptor (the small birds seem to attract the winter raptors). Since water flows regularly we've never had problems with mosquitoes though we did also purchase mosquito fish just in case....See Moremushcreek
8 years agoNew Freedom Nurse
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8 years agoraee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
8 years agoAnnKH
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8 years agoDebbi Branka
8 years agoCEFreeman_GW DC/MD Burbs 7b/8a
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