SOD Party!

Well, we finally have grass! Of course, it hasn't rooted yet and requires a LOT of water at the moment, but it's grass no less. The sod arrived at 10am on Monday. Cody, Alicia and Gord got here about 12:30, we had lunch, and got started at about 1:30. More help (Rocket & Judester) arrived at about 3; then a couple more at about 5:15 (Kenda, Annette & Rowan).....but by that time all the sod was down and all there was to do was roll and water.....and drink beer, of course. We had a little BBQ and lamented that Murray wasn't here to join us. WE HAVE GRASS!!!!! How exciting.

The Dreaded Ditch

A ditch full of weeds and water doesn't do much for the curb appeal of one's house, not to mention the amount of work involved in constantly trying to get rid of those weeds......so, I came up with a plan for the dreaded ditch.

I found free rainbow rock on kijiji (my new addiction, which is an online classified ad service). The people who were giving it away had used a LOT in their landscaping and needed to get rid of it to make changes to their yard. Dad, Cody and Alicia met me at that house with dad's truck, trailer, and shovels, and we dug out the rainbow rock. We left it on a pile on a tarp on the driveway until we had time to do something with it.
Each time I've made a trip to mom & dad's in the last couple of months, I've brought back an 'Xterra load' of field stone as well. Dad is pleased that the mound of rocks in their back garden is disappearing slowly, and I have some free materials to work with in the yard - win-win situation!

Finally, on Wednesday, we had some time! Cody & Alicia were free and came over to help me beautify the dreaded ditch. I cut down then sprayed all the weeds that were in the ditch, and we lined it with landscaping fabric, We overlapped the landscaping fabric quite a bit - EXTRA weed prevention. It didn't take us all that long - probably one quarter of the time it would've taken me to do it by myself......plus, it was a lot more fun and a lot more filled with laughs to do it together! Thanks Cody & Alicia - Mur & I owe you one!!!

Here's a slideshow of the ditch transformation.

APHIDS! Poor gardenia

This post doesn't have much to do with the yard, but Gardenia had some unpleasant adventures over the weekend. On Saturday I started taking photos of her to send to Murray because she had a profusion of blooms (you can see 6-7 in the photo).

As I started to take photos, I noticed that the beautiful blooms had little spots on them. As I got closer - APHIDS!!! You can just see them on the close-up photo of one of her blooms below.
Earlier in the spring I had some tulips in the house that became infested with aphids. Apparently they managed to work their way over to Gardenia, who was on the other side of the dining room.

After freaking out a little bit, I carried her outside and spent an hour spraying her and getting rid of the aphids on the blooms with Q-tips. I've checked her often since Saturday, and an aphid will appear here and there, but nothing like the infestation I happened upon on Saturday. Thank goodness I noticed.

As those who've visited our house know, Gardenia is our prized houseplant. Most people find it hard to believe she's real! When she blooms the house smells phenomenal, and when she isn't blooming, her deep green, shiny leaves are still a treat to behold.

I guess I just have to keep checking her and hope for the best.

Flowerbed beside the garage

Well, it's not quite complete, but this is the basic transformation. I built the ground up nearly six inches because the sub-soil at spade depth was quite full of clay. I'll take a photo of the completed bed once I've got all the plants in the ground.