Okay, I'm kind of psyched. Some blogs I've visited lately have been showing garden photos from last year - instead of snow, snow and more snow - and quite a few gardeners are thinking about plans for this spring. Thank you - started me thinking about my own garden plans!
One area I would really like to do some major revamping is our driveway. We live on a narrow dead-end street that would probably qualify as an alley. Parking is at a premium. But what I've noticed for us is that we need tons of parking only 2 or 3 times a year. Wouldn't it be easier to arrange the parking we need for those 2 or 3 times instead of having this huge open (and might I add, ugly) driveway along the street?
When we first moved into this house, the gravel area you see in the above photo was a grassy area that was about 18-24 inches lower than the street. It's enclosed with a cement retaining wall that runs along the street and back to the garage. When our sons started driving we filled in that lawn area to enlarge the driveway. It was a good choice - for years we really needed all that room for cars. But I'm thinking it's time to make it look pretty and more inviting again.
We still need room for cars and boats and utility trailers in the driveway, but I'm thinking maybe I could dig up a portion of the driveway along the street and fill it in with good black dirt and plant a pretty little boulevard garden. I'm thinking about tall ornamental grasses with shorter plants in front (toward the street) - and, oh yes, a couple of nice rocks to hopefully keep people from driving through my lovely new garden. We would still have room for the utility trailer and to store a boat in the winter. The trailer would be at least partially screened from the street, which I'm sure would make some of our neighbors happier. And our kitchen door and patio area would be partially screened from their view. I'm thinking lots of happier people!!
So, this is where you all come in. Our street isn't as heavily sanded and salted in the winter as a lot of places, but we still get a fair amount. I'll need to plant things that are fairly salt tolerant - both from salt spray and salt in the soil. So far my research has led me to believe that Karl Foerster reed grass is the perfect solution for the screening part. Have any of you grown the Karl Foerster? I'm also looking for shorter plants to fill in around the rocks and in front of the grass. If any of you have suggestions - for tall or shorter plants - I'd love to hear them.
There are lots of primary roads in the Cities that have beautiful plantings, so I can do some research here also and see what cities and counties have chosen for their salt-tolerant plantings. I'm so excited about this! Keep your fingers crossed that I can come up with a plan that both Mark and the city will approve!! An added plus is that I really like ornamental grasses - but can't have them in the main gardens because Kobie eats them - I mean eats them to the ground on a regular basis. This would be an area that he doesn't get to visit without supervision. Gosh, it's beginning to feel like spring! :)
This is Tess trying a new diet. She doesn't seem to care too much for the veggies - lol. Kobie has been battling ear infections for close to a year now. My sweet boy is very stoic, and I usually don't realize that he even has ear problems until they're full-blown - which is perhaps a big part of the problem. But since the first of the year he has been under the care of a doggie dermatologist, and a week ago we decided we need to do allergy testing to see if we can get this under control. The good news would be if the special diet works - the bad news is the food costs $52.00 for an 18-lb bag (the largest size they package). Both dogs have to eat the same food for the testing to be valid. My two lovelies eat about 18 lbs a week - easily. I'm hoping I don't have to go out and find a full-time job to pay for their food and vet bills!!! Yesterday the vet told me I could add certain veggies to increase the fiber content - hopefully that would mean they'd be eating less of the expensive food. Both dogs meticulously picked out each and every piece of vegetable and spit it on the floor. It was pretty funny to see. If I offered them each a bowl of chicken pot pie with vegetables, they'd inhale it, of course. I'll keep you posted.
Look at my growing collection of gently-used knives. When we were married - oh so many years ago! - we bought the best knives we could afford - Chicago Cutlery. But recently Mark started buying Wustof at sales and on eBay. We have a couple more on our list to try and find - but I am loving the ones we have so far.
Last weekend we hit an estate sale and found two treasures for me. The first was this herb cutting knife and bowl. We cleaned and oiled them, and I think they're going to work really well. Now I can't wait for summer and fresh herbs from my garden!
The second find was a new foutain for the gardens. The auction listing said "garden sculptures" - Mark was unimpressed with what he saw sitting in the snow. But I noticed these cattails and thought they might look pretty cool with my grasses. When we went out and started digging a little, we discovered that the cattails were part of a small fountain. Even better!! The entire group is copper and has a beautiful patina. The cattail pieces are sitting on rods stuck in the cement base - and all of that sits in the basin. I think I'll probably add some rocks to hide the cement. The pump attaches to one cattail stem. I can't wait to see it hooked up and working - after we're finally done with freezing cold weather, of course! The top photo is so cluttered, I'm not sure you can see the cattails - but I'll be showing you more photos when it's sitting in my garden.
Tomorrow marks my one year blogiversary. I can't believe I've been doing this for a whole year. I'm planning to put up a post that tells you how it all began...
I've been going through old photos and scanning some of them into the computer. I came across these two the other day and thought you would get a laugh out of them. Being a farm girl, I was in 4-H growing up. I learned to make bread the old-fashioned way - lots of hand mixing and kneading. I truly like the new wet dough way better! This was a bread-making workshop during the summer before my 8th grade year (if memory serves me right). Our loaves look kind of puny - but I remember that they smelled heavenly. Oh - I'm the cute one in the center - LOL!!
Last night I was checking more info on the net and making notes, and I started thinking that I'm not sure actually where my sun is in that area. The barrels did fine on all sides because they get all day sun basically from side to side. But if I plant a taller ornamental grass, the street side may not get as much sun as I was thinking. I'm not sure how the summer sun works its way across this space. I wouldn't be too upset to just plant a lovely big stand of ornamental grass - or to have a few other shorter plants on the house side - it would look nice from the house and patio area. I know Mark wants me to keep as much driveway space as possible because he's afraid I'll eventually treat the driveway like I do the yard - it's all potential garden. I can't actually deny that thought has crossed my mind! :) One thought I had was to plant the grasses kind of behind the rocks I want out there - with half barrels of annuals as fill for the forward space. So many possibilities!! I appreciate your input - and no doubt you will be hearing most of the thoughts that flit through my little brain on this topic.
