Happy Earth Day...

[sunshine]

Plant something today!! I heard Costco has  my vines I want....guess where I am going today....if the rain is not heavy.

[takncarabizniz]

We woke up to high winds again, so no going out in the forest today...crap.

I have 2 trees to plant and we have 2 huge downed trees to cut up and move to the woodpile.

We finally got the arborist out and got our assessment, looks like I don't get rid of the cottonwood as I had hoped, but most of the other trees we got his blessing on.  Now, we have to submit the report to the county and see if they want them just felled and left near the wetland or removed.  This is taking a while.

[sunshine]

I planted 5 trays of annuals today.   My neighbor put in 5 trees. :-) 

[emilyB]

Only nice day without rain yesterday so we dug up a few plants to transfer them to other spots.  Then we went down to our local Bi-Mart store and I purchased some annual trays and a couple of perennial plants to go in the holes left in the garden bed.  We also made another big purchase and I was so happy to get the patio set as our other one was so o ld and decrepit and we gave the table away and dumped the chairs that had holes in the fabric.  Getting it into our mini van was insane!  It took two trips and going back with tools to dismantle the table so it would fit in.  The table has individual tiles which come out and they are really heavy, but the neat thing is you can order them in different colors if you want to make changes.  We had to sink the seats in the mini van into the well and it took a lot of wangling to fit the heavy steel legs and table frame in and not tear up anything.  It was the last patio set they had of this design and it was the floor model so we got 10% off, and Bi-Mart do not deliver.  However we realized when we got home that the really nice cushions that our new patio set has should not be left out in constant rain and we saw the forecast of rain all next week.  We then had to find a place to store the six plump cushions in the house that was handy to the patio.  That prompted a mass turning out of closets and hubby has just left to take bundles to the Goodwill store.  My plants never got planted and sure enough this morning it's pouring with rain again!

[luvtimes]

We got some much-needed rain today and it rained all day and I'm so glad cause it cooled off a lot I think we were fifties and sixties most of the day I stayed and slept halfway through it which is good....

[takncarabizniz]

I couldn't wait for the rain to stop (it never did)...

So we continued planting trees and I spent all day Sunday outside beating back and piling up more dead blackberry canes.  I am looking into grants for homeowners to restore and replant land along wetlands and natural garden development.  My dream is to have graveled trails and native plants and shrubs, as well as surprises of new trees like dogwoods, gingko, maples, and katsura all throughout the property.  The arborist who did our tree assessment loved how much variety we have, we found out our evergreens are blue spruce, Sitka spruce, cedar, and hemlock...and we have beech, vine maple, white pine, alder, and hawthorn.  He thinks our most of our apple trees may be salvageable, and next January we will cut them way back to try it.  He loves that we have a pear tree as well, but it's so buried right now in blackberries that he couldn't get close to assess it.  We just planted two flowering plums in the orchard and he said that will really help with the apple production, but of course, we have to watch for tent caterpillars.

All in all, it was a wonderful Earth day weekend.  First time in nearly 20 years I did spend the day picking up garbage.  It used to drive me nuts as I dragged my trash can up and down our street in the other neighborhood and people would walk by and comment about "what a nice thing I was doing"...and I would give the lecture on homeowner responsibility along any street and how if everyone just cleaned up in front of their own home, the trash would never be an issue.  Even our HOA said they would address it, but never did...what a bunch of goomers.  I did purchase a grabber at Lowe's Saturday, to make it easier to grab the cans and bottles that end up in the ditch in front of our property.  Last weekend I got a large bagful, but I couldn't get into the ditch, there was so much water.

I even tried to buy a new yellow reflective coat, but Whistle workwear didn't have one with an adjustable hood...which I need as my current one covers my eyes...but I wear it for work and here, so it gets plenty of use...

God Bless Mother Earth...
Now, if we could just convince Mother Nature to let us a little sun for a few days on a weekend, I'd be set.

[sunshine]

All that rain is at my house...much needed though.

[emilyB]

Got soaked to my skin yesterday determined to put the plants in that I purchased.  Hannah wonders why I put her rain coat on every time I let her out, lol.

[takncarabizniz]

I snuck out this morning and did some weeding and trimming on the high sides of the wetland areas.  The grass and weeds are getting so long, it's choking things out.
I am still working to uncover the source of a gorgeous honeysuckle plant I found, but as yet, all I've done is found more giant blackberry canes.

[sunshine]

How did you get between emily's duplicate post. taken? Sneaky gal you are. :-)