So, I Grew a Tree

I'm taking a time-out from my vacation recaps just to show you something awesome.

When I left for vacation in early August, the Avocado pit that I planted back in May had finally begun to sprout, and was about an inch tall.  Having forgot about it just after we returned, since we were trying to get back into routine, my mom asked me one day after work if I had seen it since I returned. I answered no, and she took me by the hand and brought me into the other room, where I had placed the glass vase on the fireplace mantle.  Walking in, it was dark, so I couldn't see it right away, but when she turned on the lights, I saw how much it had grown.

Yes, it was that big! I couldn't believe it! It grew over an inch a day in the time that I was gone!  Plus, the leaves weren't small - they were really big! I didn't think I would have this kind of growth for months, never mind it happening essentially in ten days!

I started doing research on how to care for am adolescent avocado tree, and everything that I read talked about pinching.  Initially, I was confused by the term "pinching," but I figured out that what they meant is to cut off the top of the plant to begin the growth of new branches. By pinching off the top set of leaves, it tricks the plant to begin a new sub-stem, which just ends up being a branch that will grow leaves, instead of only having leaves coming off of the main branch.

I just recently did this, after waiting for a few more leaves to show up, so I'm not a part of the waiting game for the tree to start its new branches. I'm really hoping that this works, because having a nice full tree would be great!

I also read that you can try to put the leaf and bud into a small glass of water to see if it starts to sprout roots, so I did that and we'll see what happens. I doubt that it will survive and start to grow, but it can't hurt to try, right?

And now that I know that I can grow a tree from an avocado pit, I may just start a few more just so I have some nice green in the home. After all, I do have eleven more of those vases leftover from the wedding centerpieces, so I may as well just put them to use!

Have you successfully grown an avocado tree? What did you do to help it branch out?

I Need Landscape Help!

As if our house didn't already have enough landscaping projects, now that we have had the three large trees removed in the front, we have even more on our plate.  Now that our house can be seen from the road, we will need to make sure that the landscaping is up to par with the rest of the houses in our neighborhood.

Over the last few days, I have been spending the afternoon outside weeding out the garden beds, and actually pulling out all of the weeds that are growing in our grass.  We also still have a good amount of pine needles in the front garden bed from where the trees were.  There is about a six inch layer of pine needles in that garden bed because the previous owner of the house never did a single thing to the landscaping, so years of dead needles have layered up under where the trees were.  And actually if you look at the photo below, all of the orange/rust color that you see in that garden bed is dead pine needles.

In an attempt to get rid of the needles, I raked a section that was probably about 4'x6' and it filled an empty 32-gallon trash can to the top.  With the entire section being about 12' wide by 90' long, it's going to take quite a lot of trash cans/yard waste bags to get the area cleaned up.

Also, now that the trees are gone, there is a direct view of the side of the house, which is where the air conditioning unit and all of the utility hookups are.

This is quite the eye sore, especially since, as you can see, we removed two of the burning bushes that were against the house so that the new air conditioner could actually fit.  We will eventually dig out the rest of those burning bushes, but we haven't gotten to it yet.  I have plans to build a shield for the unit and the other utilities on the side of the house, but it will have a hinged door so that everything can be accessed.  Don't worry, I'll post a DIY when I make it.

In the meantime, however, we have been trying to figure out what we would like to plant. I know that we will be planting an adolescent white birch tree, and we will be keeping the rhododendrons that are planted in that space.  Other than that though? We have no idea, except that we want some flowering plants since most of the ones along the house are evergreens.  I love hydrangeas, but I'm worried about them and the rhododendrons getting too big eventually.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, help?

What would you plant in that big of a space if you had a completely blank slate?

Green Thumb Update

Back in April, I gave you all a DIY for a non-traditional Raised Bed Planter.  After that, I talked with you about what I planted in that planter, and how I labeled all my herbs.

Now, after weeks and weeks of waiting for something other than weeds to show up in my planter, I am happy to say that I have herbs!

They took a lot longer than I thought to germinate and pop through to the surface, but I am so happy that I do actually have a green thumb.

Clockwise: Chives, Rosemary, Oregano, and Parsley.

Basil

The garlic that I planted starting growing thin, little green stems, and then they died, so I'm hoping that the garlic is still growing under the soil.  Guess I'll find out for sure when it's time to harvest!

In the meantime, I can't wait for these other little herbs to grow large enough for me to pick them.  Anyone else having a more than difficult time with their gardens this season? Anyone having great luck? I'll take all the pointers I can get!

And Then There Were None

In the never-ending landscaping saga, we had yet another item on our to-do list.  And that item was way bigger than we could do ourselves, so we hired out.  And that item??

Removing some trees.

Our front yard was mainly taken over by three absolutely gigantic Scotch Pine trees.  Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful in the snow, and they gave us a lot of privacy, but they were taking over our yard, and not in a good way - I mean, it's not like they can weed all my garden beds, right? :)  The other downside to the trees was that they were hiding the house, and making it difficult for anyone to find our house, including the fire department! I know, it sounds impossible, but when your address is on street A and your driveway and front door are on street B with three 60-ft trees hiding it, it is kind of difficult to find.

Yep, there's actually a house back there! Now you know why it's so difficult to find!

We called up our tree guy, David from Schwartz Tree & Landscape, and after evaluating whether or not we could just trim back the trees, or remove one or two of them, he said that it would be best to just remove all three of them.

Before shots of the trees. Clockwise: 1 - From the driveway; 2 - From the front door; 3 - From the Master Bedroom; 4 - From the street, on the left.

Three weeks later, the crew arrived at the house, and spent nine hours taking down the trees, and they still have a little more to go.  But the change is dramatic!

While you would expect them to start at either the top or the bottom of the trees, they did neither. The guy in the cherry-picker literally drove himself into the middle of the tree and started working out from there, making himself a huge hole, and doing some interesting balancing acts in the cherry-picker to cut off some hard-to-reach branches.

It took about two hours to get all of the branches cut off of the first tree, and another hour to get all of the branches through the chipper.  

Once all of the branches were off, it was time to take the trunk down.  First step was to make a notch at the base of the trunk to control the direction that it will fall.  In the video below, you will see the guy cut the rest of the trunk and see it fall.  And pay attention to the size of the guy in comparison to the trunk. I'm not kidding when I say that these trees are massive.  

Once the trunk was down and all of the large logs removed, it was time for the stump grinder to be used.  Since the grinder shoots the wood chips everywhere, the guys put up a netting around the workspace to shield the grass from the chippings.  

The stump grinder was a rotating blade that went back and forth along the stump, literally grinding it to pieces.  The guys went about 18" into the ground with the grinder too, just to make sure that we have plenty of space for planting, and that we won't run into any major root systems in the area.  

And in less than five minutes, the stump was completely gone, and all that was left was wood chips and dirt.  

The other two trees came down in about the same time, a few hours each.  The rains came in the late afternoon though, and that halted work on the rest of the tree stumps and grinder, because everything was so wet that it was sticking to the machine blades and getting stuck.  So, on Saturday, the rest of the logs that you see in the picture will be taken away, and the two stumps will be ground out.  

Perspective on the size of the stumps - and yes, we counted the rings to figure out the age, and we got to 70! 

Some of you may be thinking that with all of those trees being gone, we would have a great stock of firewood on our hands, but unfortunately, all of the wood had to be taken away and none of it could be used for firewood, because of the amount of sap that was coming out of the branches.  The picture below was taken about five minutes after the branch was sawed off, and yes, that is sap, not rain.  

And finally, now for the final reveal! I've made a collage like above that corresponds as closely as I can get to the before pictures.  Ready?

And then there were none.  Amazing difference, right?  I can't believe how big the yard looks, and how good it makes the house look.  Plus, people can find our house now, and we will get a beautiful and unobstructed view of all the sunsets now since we're facing West.

We've met at least six new neighbors since the trees came down, mainly because everyone in the neighborhood is shocked that we took them down, but all of them seem really happy about the difference that it makes.  We are now so excited to do some additional planting, and already have some things in mind to add to the landscaping.

Have you removed any trees lately?  How much did it impact your property?

DIY: Grow an Avocado Tree

I have wanted to plant a tree for a while now, and while this won't exactly cross that item off of my 101 in 1001 list, it is a step in the right direction.  Avocado trees are not native to this environment, however, you can still grow the tree, but there is no guarantee that it will be fruit bearing.  

We buy avocados at the grocery store every few weeks, so when D used one in his taco salad the other night, I took the seed and set it aside to plant it.  

I started out with some river rocks, which I bought from IKEA for just about a dollar.  You can also find bags of river rocks at Dollar Tree for $1, or you can just use some rocks from your yard.  I didn't have a planter or a pot to plant this in, but I did have some extra vases that I used in my centerpieces at our wedding.  

I started out making sure that the case was free of dust and oils.  If you wash it ahead of time, also make sure that the vase is free of soap residue.  

Next, line the bottom of your planter or vase with the river rocks.  You want at least two inches high of rocks.  Having rocks in the bottom will help with water flow in a planter that has holes in the bottom.  In a vase, like I am using, this will help you make sure that you aren't over-watering your avocado tree.  

Add in some dirt to about 2/3 the way up the vase or planter.  Gently tap your vase or planter on a hard surface to make sure that the dirt settles in the planter, getting some between the rocks at the bottom.  

Press down gently on the surface of the dirt to pack it in.   

Place the avocado pit in the planter. Make sure that the pointed end is facing up, and the larger rounded end is sitting in the dirt, facing down towards the bottom of the vase or planter.  

Add more dirt, pressing it around the avocado pit and then leaving 1/2"-1" of free space at the top of the vase or planter.  

Add water to the vase or planter. Add enough so that the soil is completely wet.  If you have used a vase, all of the dirt should be wet, and your rocks should be sitting in some water at the bottom.  If you are using a planter, wet the soil enough so that you have a stream of water coming out of the bottom of the planter.  

Place your planted avocado pit in a sunny location indoors, and water as needed. 

And now, the waiting game begins.  From what I have read, it will take about three to six weeks for the sprouts to grow.  I'll make an update when I finally see progress on my tree, but for right now, I'll just keep watering it.

Have you ever planted an avocado tree? Aren't the leaves beautiful!?

That's a lot of Mulch!

Because the previous owner of the house never did anything with the landscaping, we have had a big project on our hands.  So big, in fact, that it has taken us a few weeks to even get all of the weeding to an almost-done point.  The thing about weeding though, is that if you don't put something down over the soil in your garden bed right after weeding, the weeds will come back.  And just so you know, we haven't put anything down in the garden bed, so the weeds have come back.

Since our garden beds only have large shrubs and evergreens, we will need some low-lying flowering plants. I have some in mind, like daisies, lilacs, daffodils, lavender, forsyth, and hyacinth, which I think will look great.  Plus, we will be transporting some plants to the new garden bed that we will have in the middle of the front lawn, just to give the property some dimension.

In snake form: 1. Ornamental Onion 2. English Daisy 3. Lavender 4. Chrysanthemum 5. Jack Snipe Daffodil 6. Coreopsis 7. Hosta 8. Daffodil 9. Hyacinth 10. Sunflowers 11. Lime Rickey 12. Forsyth

We finally started discussing what we will put down, and decided on traditional bark mulch, but in black instead of brown.  We took measurements this weekend so I could start getting quotes on how much mulch we would need, and it is so much more than I thought! If we were to do only the garden beds that line the house, we would need 7 yards of mulch. But, once you include the beds that don't directly touch the house, we more than double the amount, and we would need 16 yards.

That's a lot of mulch!

But the nice thing about mulch, is that it helps things look nice. And that's exactly what our yard needs right now.  With Mother's Day this weekend, it looks as though we won't be getting the beds mulched, but that means that we can shop for plants and hopefully score some of the ones I showed you above.

I am so looking forward to getting some color in the front of our house.

What are your favorite plants to put in your garden beds?

DIY: Garden Markers

If you look anywhere on the Internet for inspiration, you will more than likely come across Pinterest.  And if you haven't spent hours going through all of the pins, you need to sign up for an account now, but, be prepared to become addicted.

All across Pinterest, you will find different ideas for garden markers, from rocks with chalk or paint on them, to wine corks on stakes.  One of the most popular ideas that you will find for garden markers are stamped spoons.  While these are a really cute idea, I just wanted something different. Loving the idea of stamping metal, I took a look at the Lowe's website, and found hollow welding tubes, and thought those would make the perfect garden stakes.

Once I picked them up from the hardware store, I was told that because they were hollow, they would cut very easily with a hack saw, so I headed over to the tools section and picked up a hack/bow saw that came with a few different blades, including a very small blade that would work on metal.

KOBALT Brand Saw from Lowe's / Personal Pic

I used some clamps that I had to brace the welding tubes to the workbench that way they would be still when we cut them.  If you don't have any clamps, another pair of hands helping you hold down the tubes will work.  

Clamps and Welding Tube / Personal Picture 

Next, I had D help me saw the pipes off in 8" lengths.  The sawing part wasn't hard, so if you don't have a guy around, you can definitely do it yourself. I just wanted to be able to get some pictures!  

Sawing the Welding Tube (Please ignore the dirty fingers from weeding!) / Personal Picture

If the ends of your welding tube are really rough after cutting, you can use some medium grit sandpaper to get rid of the sharp pieces and making it a little more smooth.  

Next, we got to the stamping part.  I bought a Metal Stamping kit, with 36 pieces, A-Z and 0-9, in all capital letters.  I bought this set from Hobby Lobby, and it was over near the jewelry making section.  They had a few different fonts and styles, but I liked the generic font the best.

Metal Stamp Kit / Personal Picture 

We took out the letters that we needed for the stakes, based on the herbs that I put in our planter a few weeks ago.

The "R" for Rosemary. / Personal Picture

Next, we placed the stamp where we wanted the letter to show, and hammered it down.

Hammering the Stamp into the Tube / Personal Picture

When making jewelry with these stamps, they recommend that you only hammer once and make it really hard.  We hammered quite a few times, and I leaned the stamp to each side a few times to make sure that the entire letter was going to show up on the tube.  Make sure that you are absolutely positive that you have hammered hard enough for the letter to show up, that way you don't need to worry about lining the stamp back up with the imprint a second or third time.   

Slightly misaligned "R" after needing to hammer more than once. / Personal Picture

After hammering your letters in, you will want to go over them with a black permanent marker.  Make sure that you get the marker in all the little grooves of the letter stamps.

Coloring in the Letters / Personal Picture

Let the marker sit and dry partially, then with a dry cloth, lightly wipe off the excess marker, leaving the color in the grooves of the stamped letter.  

Wiping off the excess marker / Personal Picture

Repeat the stamping and coloring process until you have all of the letters you want on your garden stake.  As you continue, you may need to go back over some letters with the marker to make them a little darker.  

Personal Picture

Personal Picture

Once all of the letters in the name of your plant have been added to the welding tube, make sure they are colored in, and show nicely on the metal.  Now, you are ready to add the stake to your planter or your garden!

Personal Picture

"Chives" stake for my planter! / Personal Picture

Garden stake in the planter! / Personal Picture

I am so happy with this project, and so glad that it is something different from what you typically see around the Internet!  I just can't wait to see how they look once my plants come in a bit more!