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So what I didn't talk about so far was what we did around the house last weekend.
Our big goal this summer is to rescue our lawn. The ravages of dog ownership, combined with several years' neglect on the part of the previous owner have left it in not-so-great condition.
Last weekend, we decided to do something about it, so we went to Home Depot, and picked up some lawn seed and topsoil to see if we could bring it back from the brink. It was kind of fun spreading the seed by hand (made more sense than putting it in the spreader, since we wanted to focus mostly on the brown spots), then tamping topsoil down on top of it.
That morning, we had also picked up a few outdoor pots at a garage sale for cheap, and decided we'd make up some planters as well. Kirsten had a pretty strong idea of what she wanted in the baskets, and had her flowers picked out within just a few minutes. I had 'free reign' of the baskets for the front door, and spent the shopping equivalent of a fortnight trying to figure out just what the hell I wanted. First it was some really nice reddy-orange pansies. Then it was these really nice white flowers. Then blue. Then purple. We finally decided on blue and white pansies, with white snapdragons and some lobelia. Apparently, we also had to have this "spiky thing" - some sort of ornamental grass - to create some visual interest in the basket while the annuals were starting to grow.
I had endless amounts of fun teasing Kirsten about the "spiky thing." ;)
In the end, we have some really nice baskets; I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks from now when they all start growing up and blooming... they should be beautiful!
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We have a truly wonderful neighbour who came up last Friday with his tiller to till up the patch of land in front of our shed we had designated as the location for the dahlia and sunflower garden. It was a lot easier for him to come up with this industrial sized chopping beastie than for us to do it by hand, with a shovel.
On Sunday we top dressed and raked the patch and last night we planted our dahlia tubers. No one in the area grows dahlias so hopefully they will surprise a few in the area. Hopefully they also will grow well here.
I admit I was a bit leary of fertilizing with bonemeal given the amount of critters in the area. Specifically the groundhogs who have left lovely anklebreaking holes in the backyard and the neighbours dog who manages not to pee in their yard, but only in mine.
It's a lot of fun being oot and aboot so I understand the fun you guys had with "lawn day" and basket day. One thing folks do with there lawn here is after laying the seed and the topsoil - they top it off with a layer of straw. It helps keep animals out - dogs seem to not like walking on the straw and it protects the young grass seedlings.
Now, about the spiky thing...I can't believe K insisted on them :) Sheesh.
Yes... apparently, the spiky thing a family requirement. ;)
No problems really with the dog or other animals, with the notable exception of the finches that keep swooping down and nibbling on the grass seed that's exposed.
Stupid birds.
Heh. Some friends of mine got one of those "decorative grass" things for their house. My friend showed it to me and said it was decorative grass. Her husband called it a weed. This went back and forth until I decreed that it is a Decorative Weed.
So it is written, so it shall be! :)