The Fence is In!!

Oh my aching A**! But what an accomplishment. After a brief hiatus last week (thanks to the flu) I finally put up the fence panels and BOY what a difference! Now I'm totally excited about my backyard!

On Saturday, I bought a 4th hedge rose and an Orange tree! I also got some scalloped brick edging to see what that would look like as a border to the hedge roses. And...I like it!

Here's the transformation between last month and this.... Sorry for the short post, a picture is worth a 1000 words...

Last month...

And NOW...

Natural Gingerale - Naturally!

I found this great gingerale recipe at a fellow blogspot and thought that you guys might want to try it... If you want to check out the blog, here's the address:

http://cookingrut.blogspot.com/

Cooking Rut: Ginger Ale... Homemade, of course: "Ginger Ale

1/2 cup finely grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 cups raw sugar or regular white sugar
3 tablespoons honey
7 1/2 cups filtered water
1/8 teaspoon yeast (I used bakers yeast but you may have better results using brewers yeast)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cleaned and emptied 2-litre bottle

Bring the sugar, honey, and 1/2 cup of water to a boil over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is nearly dissolved. Add the ginger. Remove from heat, cover, and allow to steep for 1 hour. Pour the syrup through a fine mesh strainer. Press the solids to get the juice out. Stir in the lemon juice. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.

Using a funnel, pour the syrup into the 2-litre bottle and add the yeast. Pour in the remaining 7 cups of luke warm water (not hot... luke warm). Place the cap on the bottle and gently shake to combine the ingredients. Leave the bottle at room temperature for 48 hours. You may want to burp it one or two times before the 48 hours are up. We didn't do this and it fizzed all over the place when we opened it.

Once you've achieved proper carbonation, refrigerate until ready to serve. Store for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Open the bottle at least once a day to release some of the carbonation.

This method produces a soft, delicate carbonation. It won't be like the commercial brands of ginger ale."

Got my plans....waiting for my seeds!

I was looking at various ways to plan my raised bed gardens. I thought about thematic beds - or so to speak. I'll eventually have 4 beds, possibly 4X4 or 6X4, whichever, but I think they may be broken down into themes.  Although I'm thinking about making one of them a dedicated tomato bed for this season - it will be easier to rotate. Here are the plans for at least 2 of the boxes.  Let me know what you think:

AsianInspiredVegetableGardenPlans


The second box is an Italian theme. I think I like it just for the tomatoes, so if I have
one bed dedicated solely to tomatoes, why would I need this?

Italian Inspired Vegetable Garden Plans


If anyone has any suggestions for planting, your comments are welcome. I'm also planting the usual: carrots, celery, lettuce - a virtual salad bowl!

Little by Little It's All Coming Together

I had intended to get a little further in my backyard plans, but I had miscalculated the amount of time and energy that sinking a post and painting trellises would take. I have to say that I was remarkably surprised at the little time it actually took to dig the post hole. With a great post digger, it really doesn't take that much time at all.  Thank goodness I was only sinking 2 poles, and with 2 people, it took about an hour.

My garden fence will separate the raised bed vegetable gardens from the grass area. It's kind of like a decorative fence, and once the morning glories grow over it, it will double as a privacy screen.

On Saturday, I must have been at Home Depot for about 3 hours, going back and forth, trying to collect everything on my list. Home Depot is like a candy store for me, because as soon as I walk in the door, I am stimulated to do yet another DIY project, and have a tendency to go off on a 1 hour tangent. This visit would have been no different, had I not had someone there to keep me on track.

I bought the paint, the fencing, post, gravel, concrete, post digger, a couple brushes and some hinges. Well, I had the feeling that the hinges would not work, and when I got home, I confirmed that they would not, so I had to take them back (they were $8 each after all). Luckily, I did have an alternative in mind.

We barely got all the goods in my CRV. Now, if you can imagine 8-foot fencing that is just a little wider than my car is wide - this was a challenge. To top it off, I did not have much in the way of breakfast (just a couple cups of coffee) and anyone who knows me, knows that I tend to get impatient and cranky when things don't go as planned. THIS was one of those days.

As soon as we got the fencing in the car, I heard something heavy drop...it was the can of paint that I just purchased...and it was all over the pavement (the can had openned). Needless to say I was PISSED. But much to my surprise, I held it together, went back into the store and they gave me a new can without charging me. (Home Depot, you are wonderful!!!)

Finally got home and started painting the fence panels and posts. It took about 2 hours. After a day of painting, and a morning of post sinking, this is what my backyard looks like. I realize it's not much, but if you can imagine more greenery around the red, you might get the full idea of what I'm trying to accomplish.

What I've learned these past 3 weekends....Landscaping is nothing but baby steps....

Getting back into the thick of things...

I can't believe it's been over a year since I've posted on this blog! And it will be a year since I moved into my new house! To give you an idea of what I've been up to, I've been working on my front yard (and BOY did it need a lot of work) as far as landscaping. This year, I'm getting back into healthiness and moving one step forward. I'm dedicating my time to my backyard (which needs even MORE work). This is my empty backyard.

My plan is to build raised bed vegetable gardens and juice whatever I pull out of there. I'm so excited! I've been landscaping for the past 2 weekends and hope to be finished by mid-April - just in time for summer! Squash anyone?