Girls like Tractor"s TOO!
Here are some picture from Last Fall at the Somerset Pasture Party! Keep this in Mind for Family fun Next October!
Pirate Cowgirl's!
Steam tractor's are really Big!
This is fun to be had by all. This year I hope to get some video of some of the kool demonstrations! The kids will enjoy the tractors the tractor ride and food! The mud couldn’t keep the smiles away!
Riding the tractor train!
Do you have an avid gardener in your life? Do they have the cold weather blues right now? Well Valentine’s Day gives you a chance to give the a gift to get your snuggle bunny through his /or her winter blues. So go for a less traditional gift and get valentine something they can use for years to come. They will smile everything they go out to cultivate there garden.
So here they are ten top ideas for Valentine’s Day:
1) A nice set of Gardening gloves. These have gotten expensive in the last couple years. I go through six to ten pairs a year, while this is on the high side, a new pair is always welcome.
2) Seeds! Has the gardener in your life mentioned a unique or rare fruit or vegetable they might like to grow? This is your chance to get it for them.
3) A nice new Hat. I have a big head and find it hard to find a nice hat that I can use in the garden. I am often reluctant to buy then for myself. This would be the perfect time to get one for your spouse .
4) A good pair of gardening shears. These could be a nice item to buy someone with fruit trees, or roses. I like the ones with replaceable blades.
5) A new fruit tree or two. This is the time of years to plant trees especially the fruiting kind. Brighten up the drab spot in the garden with a great new tree. The flowers are great, the fresh fruit even better.
6) A Gift card to their favorite Garden center. Yes gift cards can be impersonal, but the extra cash these days when moneys is tight is great when you are trying to get the garden going.
7) Tulips! or other early season flowers. You can buy them at a Garden center now; to get you through till the ones you planted last fall show this spring.
Quick release hoes fittings. My wife loves these. No longer does she have to struggle with twisting the hoses together to make them longer. Just click and go.
9) A new bird feeder or bird bath. They make great accents to any outdoor space.
10) Sign them up for a class. This could be a great way to broaden their horizons, and surprise them with something they are interested in.
Good Luck and Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hope to get good use out tof the extra day this Year!
So we all get wrapped up in the rat race and often forget the fun we can have in our own backyard. As much of the country has been ravaged by one disaster or another. The backyard may be the retreat that we are looking to enjoy. So here are my to Ten ways to enjoy Your Lawn this fall:
1) Have BBQ with family and friends. This is a great way to take the stress off of the whole group. Who doesn’t like cool air and fresh delights hot off the grill with a tasty beverage or too.
2) Volleyball! Yes is the delight of most of my family picnics a fun way to spend time in last of the warm weather.
3) Gardening! Now that the heat here in central Va has relented The morning stay pleasant till noon or later. The evening air has even become brisk. So garden away.
4) Make some SMORES. Yes break out the fire pit , the aluminium and the all the other fixings and enjoy this snack with kid on a brisk fall evening.
5) Stargaze! Turn out the light listen to the crickets and the kids and look at the stars. Clear fall skys can make for the best stargazing and good family time.
6) Play a game! Bocci ball, lawn darts, croquet, to name few of the games to play with the kids.
7) Play with your pets! Now that the heat has gone away your dog may enjoy a good game of fetch.
Go Barefoot! Some studies say the less we wear on our feet the better we may feel. So shed to shoes and socks and stroll around in that freshly cut grass. Yes you may find paradise in your back backyard.
9) Read! Yes read turn off the TV, the computer/pad, and absolutely the phone. Go low tech and pick-up a real book(one with spine and pages). Find a cozy chair, hammock, or throw a blanket on the ground and chill worst case scenario you get a great nap.
10) Mow! Yes some of us get the most pleasur from taking care of our yards. I love to mow my grass, the smell, the look and yes the feel on my tootsies.
Till next time good gardening!
So many of use had a scare this week with the first major storm on the East Coast of the season. Irene has left her mark with flooding down trees and widespread power outages. We have had a lively week in Central Virginia. First we had an Earthquake with has left Many Louisa County residents with damage or displaced kids. With schools closed till the 12th of September, we are trying to find ways to entertain our kids for this unexpected break. The future of some of the older schools is doubtful, with expectations of middle school and high school students having to do weekend and evening school for the rest of the year.
So you can imagine our horror when we found that the hurricane was going to make land fall in the Commonwealth. Last hurricane left us powerless her for 11 days with heat in the 90′s the whole time. It was not pleasant. We lost all the food in our freezer and our fridge. The area lost countless trees and flood damage left many high and dry.
I am pleased to say we got off easy this time. We had a near miss with Irene knocking at the door, though our brother sister,family and friends in th Tidewater Area were not so lucky. Our thoughts go out to those who have had to use shelters to make it though and wish them well as they rebuild. To those in other coastal areas along the east coast I wish them a speedy recovery.
On to the meat of the bird. As I have written over the last year I have been working on a new rainwater garden. This one was 6000 sq ft. We are 90 percent done withthe project. We will be planting some trees later this month, some flowers and some more ornamental grass.
The name of the project was ”Cascading Pools”. Yes the first question many will ask is where is the water. So I will go ahead and answer that question now. It is in the ground in three large holding tanks. The three tanks have a holding capacity just shy of 3000 gallons and operate separately to water the garden which is broken into four tiers. The goal being that the garden is more and more natural as you travel from top to bottom.
In the garden is a natural rock wall which has been use to divide the steeper upper area, and level the ground. This is a dry lay application fully drained and finished with a polymer sand on top. The wall represents the better part of 6 monthesof work. This is longest over all natural stone wall that we have built at close to 200 feet in overall length.
The project will hopefully inspire future uses of rainwater capture and how to depart from rain barrels and water efficiently wi little environmental impact. Every rainwater garden in that much less stress we put on local resources. While you do not have to dream this big when you do your garden and rain water applications can be much smaller this was done to make an impact to be shown what can be done if you put you mind to it.
If you are building or are a builder, and architect, or a landscape designer, design fearlessly. Technology has caught up and we can do it if we try. It may cost a lot for a while and there will be bugs but the payoff is a guiltless mind about the consumption of water. Water will define us over the next century. Simply without it we can not survive. If use efficientlya garden can survive even a month of drought. So on to the pictures. First this project and for dessert some pictures of last years project in full summer bloom.
Before.
Looking up the hill.
A Rainwater tank before burying.
Before grading and planting.
Top view of the Garden
The wall stepping up the hill
Bring the walls together.
The walls in parallel
Antique-Kierney up close
Now some pictures of lst years garden after planting.
Bluestone steps.
The wall wrapping around.
The Bubble Rock fountain
The Blue stone patio.
More pictures to come!
Till next time good gardening!
Today I have some pictures of flowers I have taken this summer I hope you enjoy:
Blue Clematis
White Clematis
Purple Foxglove
Ioth Peonies
So I venting today. I travel around my humble town of Charlottesville taking care of lawns, and I get in and out of my trunk between 15 and 25 times in a day. I always look in the mirror before exit. If the window is down I will look back to check for cars. I have been hit. I was back over in a parking lot three year ago. It at low speed hurt like hell. I can’t imagine what 25 or 30mph would feel like.
Today on exit from my truck I had a near miss. The mirror within 6 inches of my face as the SUV passed and honked at me for my trouble. So today I am compiling a the top ten reasons You should give pedestrians the right of way and be kind to those on foot. The driver of the SUV got an ear full for his trouble. He was luck it could have been much worse. Top ten reasons to give pedestrians the right of way:
1) People walking or running in a crosswalk or crossing the street, standing by a car or on a sidewalk have the right of way it is the Law.
2) Car vs person bad for person and your wallet. A lawsuit and insurance filings are sure to follow. Jail if the person is kill due to you negligence.
3) If you speed through a work zone the fines can be very high and even jail time if some one is hurt. Locally a college student lost a scholarship, was dismissed from school and went on a state sponsored vacation for her trouble. Silly VDOT employee, thinking his reflective vest and white reflective hard hat would protect him.
4) Losing your license will suck.
5) Blood is hard to get out of your leather soft top!
6)You will ruin your Day!
7) You will definitely ruin the Pedestrians Day!
Your cell phone has call waiting and caller ID!
9) You will still get there!
10) Because it is the RIGHT THING TOO DO!
Till next time good gardening!
So I have been excited about these since seeing them on “The Shark Tank” on NBC. I at once thought what a great invention. Having been a avid gardener most of my life I can’t tell you how many times I have fought with my hoses.
We all want to get good use out of our hoses. Hoses are not cheap and the longer they last the better. I have found the quick releases to help will the life of the hoses we use. They are less likely to crimp or knot restricting the flow of the water. These crimping points weaken the hose over time and lead to holes and leaks.
The main improvement that these connectors afford is the ease of changing your hoses around. I can disconnect all of my hoses(5 to 10 @100ft) move them in 5 minutes. Before I would hate to do this. I would rather roll the dice and try to miss them with the mower than fight with them connecting and disconnecting them.
I have tried several types to this point. The first is produced by Gilmore, the second produce by Orbit and the third by Ground works. These can be found at you favorite box or farm supply store. All of the connectors I tested were metal. Some were brass others anodized aluminium. So far all work equally well. The only hitch I have found is with the aluminium fittings is they are harder to remove from the ends of brass hose ends. This is only a problem if having to replace a hose. Otherwise all work great and save a lot of time twisting to connect hoses.
The other plus to less crimping, and faster connecting, is less loss of water. I have found less over all leakage, which is great when you are trying to save water. The clean connections in the fittings instead if the threads in the hose ends leads to less cross threading which is a common reason for loss of water.
So over all I give a huge thumbs up to the Quick connectors for garden hoses. I have not tried the plastic connectors yet. I will let you know as soon as I try them.
Till next time good gardening!
So some suggested to me the other day that I write a bit on the funny phases that people are searching to find my blog. I must admit that some of these are really of the wall. Though i have done some investigating and am still unable to locate myself using the same phase (I get bored after twenty pages or so). So hear they are the 10 most amusing key phase used to search up my site:
10) movie star planet kody: Don’t know Kody if he is a star or what that has to do with Landscaping other than I do do it on this planet.
9)Drawing ideas for teenage girls: So from time to time I suggest craft ideas for kids but it is usually bird feeders and garden projects.
8)Baptism program: I guess some how a bubble fountain or a pond could search here …….maybe……maybe not!
7)Dodgers stadium seat chart: Yeah they have been in the news alottttt! lately but I have as of yet committed Californication on my blog!
6)Free watermelon carving patterns: I have a picture of a watermelon in a picture last 4th but the only carving i talk about is stone…. though watermelon taste better.
5)Babystroller: I have used one in the past. Kids walk well now and I don’t think it would be so hot for moving mulsh or rocks so well.
4)Miley Cyrus childhood rare gallery: My girls like her movies, and her songs, but unless you some singing shrubs or a tree to climbI doubt you will find her in my blog.
3)Robert Pattinson in water for elephants: I have not seen the movie yet, but twilight sucked and I am not blogging about teenage crush fodder. I doubt this guy knows what a mower even looks like.
2)Nickleback hero- vob: I like this band, but i dont play guitar hero nor do I write witha vob( the trees and shrubs not so good at playing in a bad as of yet).
1)Justin Bieber pillowcase: Yeah this one ………..really……..really my daughter thinks he is her boyfriend. Her and every other five year old in the country. I doubt this kid could work five minutes for me or knows what end of a shovel to use.
So here it is The kist I hope you find it ias amusing as I do!
Till next time good gardening!
It’s Father’s Day. The day that Dad’s all over the world get to sleep in, get breakfast in bed and at some point during the day get gift or two. What dad may want is some time off from the chores he has to do weekly. So I have madea to ten List I as a Dad would like for Father’s Day:
10) Some one to water my garden. Usually takes an hour I could put this time to use watching the US Open.
9) Pulling the weeds in the garden. This is like laundry seems never ending.
Mowing the lawn. Yes it would be nice….yet I rather enjoy this.
7) Taking out the trash. Yes this is an easy thing that would make your dads day…Especially if he does not have to ask for once,
6) Getting to watch what he want on TV… no Ponies, Barbies, Phineas and Ferb, or Dora for a Day. Just racing, golf and may baseball.
5) Someone else washing His Truck for him….a good wax would be nice too.
4) A Lowes gift card so he can buy the gadget he has been pining over while he send you to ballet or soccer instead.
3) getting to sleep past 6:30a.m for the first time in years. Extra sleep is good.
2) Suprise him with a BBQ…because you know how much he love smoked meat on an open Grill. Yum sausage, burgers, brisket, and pork(any kind).
1) Just tell him you love him and give him a big hug…..because the best gift are really free.
Till next time good gardening!
