Yard work in winter - YUK!

[gja1000]

Well, it's not really THAT bad :D

I got my hubby a leaf blower for Christmas - yeah, he was reeeaaaalll happy with THAT present :D (I got him what he wanted for Christmas, but thought the leaf blower would be a funny gift - and we needed it!). He still rolls his eyes at me when I mention the leaf blower Christmas gift! LOL!

Anyway, I used the leaf blower to blow the leaves off my porch. They accumulate behind my metal lawn chairs up against the house, and it is a killer to move all of them and sweep. So, I blew off the leaves, then I mowed them. I have a mulching mower and so it chops up the leaves and blows them into the grass. That is good mulch for the lawn - it's better than raking them up. I only have 3 trees in my back yard, so it's not too many leaves to mow. It was 70 degrees here today, perfect weather for mowing and blowing :D

[Marilyn]

Hubby wants to work on our front flower beds this month. I have to admit, the plants have overgrown the beds, but he wants to remove them all, put them in pots, till up the dirt and steralize it to kill all the weed and grass remnants and seeds, and separate the plants to make them smaller again and replant. Sounds like a LOT OF WORK to me.

I want to landscape the back yard, since we are on a golf course, lots of folks have their back yards landscaped like their fronts. We don't need something elaborate, but simple would look much better than what we have now which is nothing.

Rather than buy new plants to do the backyard, I want to salvage the overgrowth from the front yard and use it to start the beds. Hubby is a buy it new at the nursery kind of guy, but I think his pocketbook will allow him to consider the option I'm proposing once we get into it.

Just hate the time this is going to take. UHHHHH!!

[Janet]

At 70 degrees I would love to be out working in the yard. I didn't get anything at all done to our yard this past summer. No flowers...nothing. This year I'm hoping to get a little bit done. It's so expensive. I mostly want my flower beds redone, won't take much really, but they need improved upon.

What is this stuff that sterilizes and gets rid of all the weeds..seeds..etc. ? Does it keep weeds from growing back in with the flowers? I would love something like that so I don't have to pull as many weeds...especially when it really gets hot and humid.

[DianaB]

I couldn't imagine doing yard work this time of year! This month is the time that I try to do what "I" want to do. I want to scrapbook but at the moment we're too busy and we're expecting company in the near future.

[gja1000]

I'm not sure what "sterilizing" Marilyn is talking about - but I "sterilized" year before last by taking all my plants out of my front bed in the beginning of the summer. Then I covered the bed with black plastic so when it got really hot, the seeds/stuff "cooked" over the summer. Yes, our front yard looked sorta like the "Clampets" but we don't live in a fussy neighborhood, so it was OK :D

This method is called solarizing and is a safe way to kill weeds/seeds. If you want to plant again in the same spot, you really can't use any kind of chemicals. Plus, I'm a "green grower" and don't use any kind of chemicals at all in my yard. We put in a rock bed, rather than flowers, so that we don't have to use extra water to keep them alive.

I want to put in a 12X5 garden in my back yard. I don't get tons of sunlight, but I think I could grow a few vegetables. We will have to put in a raised bed - using landscape timbers and then have garden soil hauled in. We only have about 3-4" of soil in our back yard and then it is caliche (sp) rock. I'll probably get the guys that did our yardwork this fall to do it, either in late Jan or early Feb.

[Tiramisu]

It's warm and HUMID here. We pulled all the overgrown shrubs out of our front flowerbeds at the first of August and I planted yellow daffodils that were my Mom's favorite. I have mulch on my shopping list, but haven't borrowed the truck of go get it. So, I was out pulling weeds a couple days ago. We have one more huge Sago Palm to transplant and I'm planting a 12' Northern Pine there in the Spring.

[Marilyn]

Well, I mentioned it in another thread, but we removed our Christmas lights from the yard this morning & hubby got carried away and we also trimmed the trees and the crepe myrtles and hauled all the brush to the county brush site along with the Christmas tree. I just hope I'm not sunburned. My skin feels a little warm, so I may have gotten a bit too much sun.

His next outdoor project will be the flower beds, and yes, we will look like the Clampets for a while, too, just hope the neighbors don't complain too much.

We don't know what the sterilizer is that hubby uses, but it's some kind of pellets. It is tilled into the soil and the soil is left for 30 to 45 days before you can plant anything in it.

He did this when we built our home 5 years ago, and we have had very little problem with weeds or grasses in the beds. The weeds we do have are now increasing in quantity, so this is why he thinks it's time to sterilize again. After it's done, all he will have to do is hit any little bits of weed or grass with a squirt of Roundup. No heavy weeding needs to be done. It's really nice. We don't eat anything grown in the sterilized soil, it's for decorative shrubs only, and they grow very well in the soil after this is done. I kinda think the sterilizer may be a super fertilizer that burns the weeds and grasses to death & discipates enough to plant things in it over the 30 days or so. All the shrubs looked really nice and actually grew larger than some of them were supposed to. This may be why our beds are so overgrown.

[Janet]

Well with all this outdoor talk I'm ready to get started, but we are headed down to the teens within the next couple of days. Guess I'd better get all the inside stuff done so when it does warm up...I can be outside.

[Shada]

I am so looking forward to yard work!!

Here it is in the teens... and darn cold.

[Marilyn]

We stopped by Lowes tonight, and bought a new chain saw, hedge trimmer, leaf blower, pruning shears, and a few other small items we'll need to work on the yard. The leaf blower is mine. I can't wait to get after the leaves that are hanging around our porches and the edges of the side walks.

This is definitely the right time of year to do yard work around here. It's in the high 70's and sunny. Very nice outside.

We're getting a norther tomorrow night though. It's supposed to rain, and the high Monday is predicted to be 49F. The 10 day forecast is showing it back in the 70's by Wednesday, though.

[gja1000]

You are going to get after it, Marilyn!!! I love my hubby's leaf blower too!!! :D

[Marilyn]

I'm so ready to get some major things done around here. Outside or inside, I don't care, just something. I took an old magnetic calendar we keep on the front of the freezer that was no longer in use (great when the girls were here and we were hopping to this or that). I am using it as a 2009 Things To Do chart. In each box, I've listed tasks that we need to complete this year, like redoing the front flower beds, organizing the drawers in the bathroom, organizing my baking pans, cleaning the pantry, cleaning the garage, getting new flooring to replace the carpet downstairs, etc. Hopefully this will work.

We're so busy with work, church committments (that we enjoy very much), and things like 4WT, but we have to make time to do some of these things around here and time to visit our children.

We really haven't been to visit hardly at all since Melissa's wedding in June, and they are beginning to complain. So much to do!! and so little time!!

[gja1000]

Marilyn, it sounds like you are really going to get organized! I really admire that. Organization is not my strong suit. My mom went to secretarial school - she wanted to go to college, but her parents could not afford it. But one thing I always admired about her was that she knew how to organize things. She said she learned that in her secretarial school. I went to college for 9 years, and I am very grateful for that education, but I wish someone had taught me how to organize, because for me, it does not come naturally!

[Lindsey]

Eek yard work!!! Yesterday I shovelled 6-inch deep snow from all of our sidewalks and a giant square around my car in -45 degree weather lol. I lost feeling in my fingers and legs halfway through and had to come inside to let them burn for awhile while the feeling came back.
I wish I could be out doing real yard work!

[gja1000]

Eek yard work!!! Yesterday I shovelled 6-inch deep snow from all of our sidewalks and a giant square around my car in -45 degree weather lol. I lost feeling in my fingers and legs halfway through and had to come inside to let them burn for awhile while the feeling came back.
I wish I could be out doing real yard work!

OMG! LINDSAY! :eek: I would never make it in Canada. If it's any consolation, it is 45 here today - a far cry from 84 yesterday. You are one tough chick! :D

[Lindsey]

lol I would love to live somewhere where I don't have to worry about severe windchill warnings and keeping track of how many minutes I can be outside without getting frostbite! Before I went to bed last night I checked the weather network, and it was -40 C without the windchill factor (also -40 F) and WITH windchill was -53 C (-63.4 F)! I'm staying locked up in my house today :) Counting down the days until summer!

[Janet]

There is just no way I could ever live where it can get that cold. I know from pictures you've posted that it is beautiful in the summer, but the winters are bad enough here.

[judy]

You mean there is a yard under all of that snow? I forget - it's green right?

My front landscaping is now fenced in to keep the deers from eating the bushes. I don't have anything to do with it anyway. The condo takes care of it.

Enjoy your yard work and the warm weather you southerners!

[gja1000]

How much snow do you have right now???

[Marilyn]

Okay, the weird double post thing is striking again. My full post is below. Thank goodness for the edit feature!!

[Marilyn]

There was a guy I used to work with who would fly down from Toronto to work with me from time to time. He loved to come in the winter and to rent a convertible and drive around with the top down and no shirt. Even when we thought it was too cold to do that, he said it felt good. He hated the cold winters, but his family and livelyhood were in Toronto. Haven't talked to him in a long time. His valves were very good, but very expensive and hard for us to sell.

BTW, he didn't drive like that on sales calls of course. When he'd leave us to drive to his next stop in Houston or somewhere or in the evenings he would do this. He liked the longer days we had here so far south. He was really a beach bum deep down.

[DianaB]

The temps here have been up and down. We've had a couple of 70* days (at different times) and by evening the temperatures have dropped to freezing. It's just been crazy!! I just can't imagine it being warm enough in the winter to do yard work!!!

Lindsey, I can't imagine being as far north as you are either!!! I hope that when it's cold there that it's with a low humidity!! When it's humid the cold is so much colder. That's the problem that we have here with the cold. I know that when we used to go snow skiing in Colorado the temperature would be really low but it didn't seem so cold because the humidity was very low. We drank gallons of water, used bottles of lotion, and went through tubes of Blistex!!!! It was very different from what we were used to.

[Marilyn]

Today when I got off work on the coast, it was 40 deg and foggy. The air felt wet. And I had to stop for gas. When I got home, farther inland, it was 42 deg and no fog, just mist. I guess I just have a low tolerance for cold. When I was putting gas in the truck, the wind was blowing through my pants legs, and it felt sooo cold. I know you're not supposed to, but I got in the truck while the tank was filling. Brrrrrrrr.....

[gja1000]

It started off about 43 and rainy this morning. It was a damp cold and I was chilly. Then about noon, the sun peaked out and I think it topped off about 65. It felt very nice outisde. It's supposed to be nice the rest of the week.

[Janet]

Sure wish it was nice here. Yesterday we had some ice/snow and it made the roads very slick. It all came in around 10 AM. This morning we have a two hour delay. More ice came in overnight and this morning. Still too slick in my opinion and they should call school all together, but they won't. Suppose to be in the low to mid 30's and down in the teens at night all this week. I just want warmth!

[2tiredmom]

Back to the snow blower. My hubby uses ours even in the winter blowing snow.
It really works when the snow is really powdery and light. Then he doesn't have to get the big mower out with the blower on it.
We are also hoping to redo our landscaping out in front of our house this summer.

[gja1000]

We are also hoping to redo our landscaping out in front of our house this summer.


What are you planning to do or how are you planning to change it? I love to hear/read about landscaping!!!

[2tiredmom]

Here are pics of what the front of my house looks like as of today.

[2tiredmom]

It just needs a major over haul. House was built in 1991. So I'm sure the landscaping is that old too. We have lived here since 2002. :o:confused:

[DianaB]

Nice home, Linda. I'm sure that the yard looks better when it's springtime.

[Janet]

Wow Linda...your house is nice. I can't believe it's been that long that you moved. Time sure does go fast......crap!

[gja1000]

Linda, your house IS really pretty, I love it!!!

[Marilyn]

Linda, your home looks nice and cozy, nestled in the trees. As Diana said, in the spring, it must be beautiful!!

[2tiredmom]

Thanks girls. We really love it here. It's nice and quiet. We are just 2 minutes from 2 different lakes and 10 minutes from an outlet mall. And we're in the country. When spring comes I'll post those pics too. But the landscaping does need an overhaul.

[judy]

Your house is so pretty. I bet this spring it will be beautiful. I can just picture pretty landscaping in front.

[Janet]

I envy you living so close to the lakes Linda. I love being near the water, not only for swimming but to fish.