Monday, Monday

I had the house to myself today.  This is a bit of a treat, since my husband works from home and is here all the time.  What did I do all day?  Come along and I will show you.

I got out early and I unloaded the last few wheelbarrow loads of mulch from my truck.  

All empty ... but not for long.  I'm gonna need a LOT more mulch.

I spread that mulch on the rose border that I have been working on in the front yard.  I had already pulled the weeds, trimmed the roses, and laid landscape fabric in this section.  (a post about doing this, with before and after photos, is HERE).  I'm getting pretty close to being finished with this garden, thank goodness.  I think it's looking awesome, if I do say so myself.

There are a few empty spots in this garden, and I put in two new roses ... from the batch that I propagated last fall from the collection at Monticello's Tufton Farm.  (That post is HERE.)  These new roses are small right now, but they will grow and get bigger pretty quickly.  

"Ruth's Wavy Leaf Noisette"

"Aunt Louisa Rose"

The edges of our driveway and some other areas of the property needed some attention, so I mixed up and applied two gallons of herbicide.  It's best to kill the poison ivy sprouts, thistles, and other nasties while they are small.

I have been replacing the brick edging on the front Hybrid Tea garden, using the same blocks that I showed you earlier.  I finished the day by working on this for a couple of hours.  The bricks had sunk into the ground and were uneven, and the mulch would spill out.  I'm really liking the cohesive look of having the same edging on all of the beds on that side of the yard.  Pull up bricks, scrape and dig a little bit to make a nice trench, set new blocks in place ... over and over.

New blocks and old bricks.

This is a good view of before and after, of a section of the garden that I did last week.

The bricks that I'm taking up are antique bricks that I have collected over the years.  There are these that have edged this garden, and some others in small piles here and there throughout the property.  Where can we store them so they're all together and not piled somewhere in the way?  Store them in plain sight, of course ... laid over the ground cloth on the floor of the greenhouse's lean-to.  (Post about the lean-to is HERE.)  This is a temporary/permanent place for them, convenient and not in a pile.

I had no intention of doing so much today.  When I'm here by myself, I guess I get more accomplished because there's no one around to distract me.  

Just so you know, I'm NOT working outside tomorrow ... I'm tired.

Random Photos of Things that Make Me Happy

I almost always have some device on hand that can snap a quick photo, and I take a LOT of photos.  It's a rare day when I haven't snapped at least one photo of something.  Here is an assortment of little moments that I have captured during the past week.  

Dorothy loves to be close to me, but she usually prefers to be beside my lap instead of on it.  This is where she can be found almost every evening.

Ruby is such a silly girl ... the other morning, she was cock-roaching in the sunshine ... not a care in the world.

I walked into the dining room and caught Maggie killing one of Ruby's dog toys.  When she realized that I saw what she was doing, she pretended that it hadn't happened and she calmly walked out of the room.

It's the time of year when my pick-up truck gets a lot of use.  Right now, it is full of a brand new load of two yards of mulch.  I think every woman should have her own truck.

There is such a strong bond between Alice and Dorothy ... sister kitties who recently turned five, who have never known life without each other.

... and Winnie, on the kitchen rug waiting for her supper.  What else can I possibly say about this adorable little dog ... she is absolutely perfect.

Right now, sweet Winnie is sitting in my lap with the tail of my sweatshirt folded over her, sound asleep despite my typing.  Such a happy girl.

Finishing What I Start

My English Garden is finished!  It took days longer than I anticipated, which makes the feeling of satisfaction at its completion so much sweeter.  I started this garden in the fall of 2010, laying it out and planting 36 David Austin roses.  Until now, the garden has never been totally finished ... now it has edging, and no weeds and a good layer of mulch ... finished!

I got out early yesterday morning, to take advantage of what was promising to be a beautiful, sunny, warm day.  The weatherguy's prediction was right on target ... it was gorgeous weather for working outside!

Look at that sky!  (part of my personal preparation for the work day was a thorough application of sunblock ... I sunburn really easily.)

In this photo, you can see that my truck is full of mulch, two cubic yards.  If you're counting, this is load #3 for the property so far this year.)

My process went the same as it did on previous days ... pull weeds, prune roses, lay landscape fabric, spread mulch.  Here are a couple of photos to remind you of where I left off last week:

Weeds, weeds, weeds!

Getting there.

After an long day's work yesterday, here is the After!

The new mulch will blend in with the rest after it's been rained on a time or two.

Most of the roses are so small, because this is all that was left alive on them after our unusually cold winter.

See that bench?  I moved it to this spot from another place on the property.  (Got it years ago, cheap, on Craig's List.)  I designed this garden to have a bench there, so I have a place to sit and enjoy the roses, and this one fits there perfectly.

Two yards of mulch fills the back of my truck.  After finishing the mulching in this garden yesterday afternoon, I had used about two-thirds of this latest load.

I absolutely adore my truck!

Shoveling mulch, pushing the wheelbarrow, bending and lifting and scooping and spreading mulch on the garden beds ... done correctly, this is great exercise.  This morning, my shoulders and upper arms are sore, and my thighs and butt are killing me.  (It's an extra added benefit to be sore in all the spots that need some improvement.)

After I spread the last wheelbarrow full of mulch, and I put my tools away, I took a few minutes to sit and appreciate my accomplishment, then I went off to take care of other things.  This morning, I will be back outside again ... working in the miniature garden that I built last year along the fence behind the greenhouse.  Maybe I can get the rest of the mulch out of my truck before it rains in the afternoon.  Wish me luck.

See you outside!

Greenhouse Progress ... Fast and Furious

For the past two days, I have done almost nothing except work on the greenhouse.  Progress came at a lightning pace, which fueled my motivation, which produced more progress ... what a great couple of days it was!  Let me share with you how much I have done.

When Tuesday morning began, the greenhouse looked like this.

My goal for the day was to try to get the bottom of the south wall framed and sheathed in plywood.  This is a long, straight wall, and I made pretty quick work of it ... relatively speaking.  When working without a helper (to cut pieces, or holler measurements, or hold the other end of a piece of plywood) the task at hand always takes a little bit more time. 

I'm still making really good use of my stash of stock-piled and salvaged materials, though I ran out of 2x4s and plywood on Monday ... and it was necessary to make a trip to Lowe's before work began on Tuesday.  This is where having my own truck comes in really, really handy.  (If you haven't see last year's post about my truck, click {HERE}) 

No need to strap down a load like this in MY truck!  The plywood and 2x4s fit flat in the bed, AND the tail-gate closed.

Even with the unplanned trip to the store for materials, work went smoothly and progress came swiftly.  By lunchtime, this is how the greenhouse looked.

All of the openings below the windows were framed and ready for plywood.  The plywood sheathing is an essential stabilizing element in this building.  Without it, I would have to do a LOT more diagonal bracing on the inside to keep the building square and plumb and level.  It also provides knee-walls to help me hide some of the supplies (like pots and bags of soil, etc.) that tend to accumulate when I'm not paying attention. 

At the end of Tuesday, it looked like this.

Wednesday's work was the same as Tuesday's ... with framing openings and installing sheathing, but on the west wall this time.  The process starts by measuring the openings, height and width, and using 2x4s to build these little pieces (that look to me like pi).

The vertical studs create the 16" spaces on which most building materials are based ... one sheet of plywood is 48" wide, which equals three stud-spaces.  (The openings are 26" high, so I had to cut the plywood cross-wise, or there would have been a ton of waste.)

When the frames are toe-nailed to secure them in place, it looks like this.

Fortunately, that propane tank is still empty, so I could scooch it away from the wall a bit for access.  Once the wall is finished, I'll slide it back into place.

This is where things stood as the sun was getting low in the sky on Wednesday.

Three of the four walls now have all their windows, framing, and sheathing.  I have begun the process of padding out the corners (beside the window trim and above the plywood) to fabricate the corner trim which will complete the process of closing in the building on those three sides.  I have intentionally left the wall with the door till last.  If the weather unexpectedly turns REALLY cold, my contingency plan is to wrap that wall in plastic and leave it to finish in the spring.

I don't think there will be time for greenhouse work for the rest of the week.  Our Greyhounds Rock "Take a Bite Out of Canine Cancer" benefit is this weekend, and it will take the next two days for us to finish the last few details.  I'm always really excited at this stage, as our year's work of preparations come to an end and the event begins.  This year, I am especially excited because I get to meet two women that I really admire ... Sheryl Matthys and Victoria Stilwell!!  After everything is over, you can guarantee that I will tell you ALL about it.

(If you are visiting from one of the Link Parties and would like to catch up on any of the other posts on the construction of the greenhouse, click the 'Greenhouse Windows' label below.)

This post is linked here:

Common Ground

At The Picket Fence (where the greenhouse is a Feature this week!)

2805

French Country Cottage

My Romantic Home