Spring Cleaning!

Spring cleaning has begun.  I cut the fountain grass down to size, deheaded the hydrangea tree, and pruned back the butterfly bushes.  Next, rake the beds and add fresh mulch.  It is a perfect day today to work outside and the kids were equally happy entertaining themselves in the sandbox.  Hooray!

Winter Containers

My trifecta of winter containers: Yellow holly with red twig dogwood and southern pine, juniper with mini red holly and southern pine, and red ilex berry with boxwood.  All for the bargain price of $10 FOR EVERYTHING!  Thank you Scott Arboretum for the Winter Greens Sale!!  AND I still have red holly and some other winter greens to add the my wreath or mantle.  I also plan to pick up some free douglas fir greens from the Christmas tree place.

Goodbye Cousin It

Before

After

Hugh and I had been thinking about removing this 8foot wide grass plant for ages.  A previous owner had created a 4' diameter concrete pond adjacent to the driveway with this grass plant beside it.  The plant grew so big it covered the pond completely. I broke up the concrete with a sledgehammer in the spring so we wouldn't have any stagnant water to breed mosquitoes.  I had asked our lawn guy to give us a price to remove it, but he never gave us one so I took matters into my own hands.  I created a craigslist post advertising a free grass plant but specifying that they would have to bring their own tools and dig it up.  Sure enough, a guy came and dug it out (in four pieces).  A levelled the dirt mound with a metal rake, added 4 bags of topsoil, then planted some grass seed.  I can't wait to see it all filled in! 
In related news, Sav-a-Lawn came and aerated the entire lawn and added more grass seed. 

tulip bulbs planted

June helped me plant twelve tulip bulbs in the daylily bed. Hopefully the squirrels won't dig them up and eat them before spring.  I've been dreaming of rearranging all the bulbs, but never quite found the time.  Maybe next spring. These bulbs I purchased from the supermarket - impulse purchase.

Basil Harvest

While Robin sat quietly in her stroller, I took out all the basil.  Robin is pretty grabby these days, and couldn't resist trying to stuff some basil leaves in her mouth. After letting her do a little taste testing, I made a big batch of pesto.   I froze most of it in ice cube trays to use later. 
I also took out a tomato plant, harvested a fig, and planted 10 cloves of garlic. 

Harlequin Bug on Brussel Sprouts

First Figs

The first two figs ripened and I picked them  Delicious!  Funny thing is, there were four there all summer.  These two ripened, the other two are almost ready to go, then BLAMMO!  Now there are about 12 new ones suddenly.  I wonder what will happen to them?  Will it get too cold for them?  will they ever ripen??