Why I Oughta...

Last year, I had 12 yards of mulch delivered on the driveway.  And it wasn't enough.  This year, I expanded the beds in the back and knew I needed more than 12 yards.  I was planning on ordering 20 yards, but the delivery truck can only hold 15 yards.  So, that's what I ordered - thinking that I'd start with 15 and order 5-10 more after I spread it to see what was needed.   This is what 15 yards of hardwood mulch looks like below:  And here's a video of the delivery being dumped on the driveway: I've done these videos a few times.  Here's a video from 2020  showing 12 yards.  Here's a video from 2011 showing 10 yards .   I had a couple of my nephews come over to help me haul the mulch to the backyard in an attempt to save my back from the pain I had in 2020.  We were able to get all 15 yards put out in the backyard in just one day and there is quite a bit of more bed coverage needed, so I'm going to try to measure the space left and calculate how much mu

Trying to put down a marker in the lawn diary that I feed the front yard a couple bags of this new Milorganite competitor from Menards called e-Corganite .  It is a 4-3-O 'eco-friendly' product that carries all of the claims that Milorganite does in terms of being heavy in iron, being non-burning and slow release.   Right before Memorial Day Weekend, I threw down two full bags of this fertilizer on the front lawn, the parkway and the 'between two driveways' turf.  I bought five bags, but when I decided to put down a synthetic weed and feed in the backyard about a week ago , I held off on spreading any of this in the backyard.   Here's what the bag looks like: For my record-keeping purposes, this is the third application to the front yard.   First, I used a bag of Ironite on the front in mid/late April .   Followed up by 1/3rd of the bag of Soil Mastery soil conditioner featuring biochar, humic acid, sea kelp and lime at the end of April .  I'm going to do a seco

I have a section of our backyard that calls for a bunch of Ferns.  Ostrich Ferns, to be precise.  Last year, I transplanted a bunch of them (10) to this area just to the West of the Large Northern Red Oak tree that has our swing on it.  You can see some of those in the photo below - the Ostrich ferns are the lime green ones that are vase-like.   But, with the newly expanded beds, I also needed to fill in the section in front.  I did that by transplanting three MORE Ostrich ferns in front.  But, then I had a little gap between those in the border and the ones from last year.  So, I when I came across a pair of ferns that I've never seen before (at a good price), I grabbed them and decided to use them here.   First up, a pair of Shaggy Shield Ferns.  I didn't know anything about them, but they caught my eye.  From the Missouri Botanic Garden comes this listing  that mentions they are native to Japan: Dryopteris cycadina, commonly called wood fern or shaggy wood fern, is native to

The area that (earlier this Spring), I labeled " Priority Area #2 " has begun to be addressed this Spring ahead of the mulch being applied.  Last year, I planted three Guacamole Hostas in this area that calls for nine total Guacamole Hostas and after I increased the bed size, it was time to add even more to get this area filled out.  Of the three that I planted last year, one of them has been having some trouble (with the cold weather + drought), so I decided to plant seven new ones - to bring the total to ten.  Nine + one troubled one.  Here (below) is the layout of these new Guacamole hostas in their nursery containers.  Four one gallon pots and three quart pots with smaller ones. And, here below, is an annotated version of that same photo.   Red circle = 2020 planted hostas. Green circle = new 2021 Guacamole hostas.  The four larger ones came from Hinsdale Nursery.  The smaller ones from Johannsen Farms in Bolingbrook. Purple circle = one of the Praying Hands hosta. Blue

Last month, I posted some photos showing off the new shape of our backyard beds - in a curvilinear form - and talked about how these were the 'final form' of the beds.  The idea that this was the final shape/form of the beds lasted about three weeks.  We decided we need to add another area and cut out even more turf.  Before we talk about what we're doing, let's first understand the backstory, current state and a little bit of inspiration that Nat found that we're trying to bring to life. We've had a sort-of DIY firepit area in the far backyard that was made up of wood chips that I picked up from the Village Mulch Pit and bricks that we scavenged from our neighbor's house when they tore it down.  You can kind of see that area in this post about some hostas and this post where I showed off the latest firewood rack back there .   That is in one back corner.  And the kids' trampoline is in the other back corner.  We also have a gate in one corner that the

 This is the third post showing off a newly acquired plant from this Spring's Morton Arboretum Plant Sale - the first two were when I added three more All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses and two Amber Queen Barrenworts .  Both of those were additional plants that I bought last year and added more this year.  I also bought a couple of plants that are net new to me:  both the type and the particular cultivar.  I'll also admit that this particular plant is OFF plan, but I saw it on one of Erin the Impatient Gardener's Instagram posts and added it to my list.  She talked about how it puts on a really nice Fall show and while it flowers, she grows it mostly for the foliage.  Here's one of her posts showing this off below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by ERIN 🌿 The Impatient Gardener (@impatientgardener) So, when I saw a version of it at the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Sale, I bought a couple.  With the newly expanded beds and the "moved

Last Fall, I bought my first ruffled hosta - a Waterslide Hosta - from the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale.  At that time, I hadn't really come across ruffled hostas, but was struck by this one.  Unfortunately, I made a very common gardening mistake ; I bought just one of them. I planted it in the canopy of the Japanese Kanzan Flowering Cherry tree and the green foliage lasted a few weeks before going into dormancy for Winter.  This Spring, this Waterslide Hosta has come back and is quite healthy and full.  This growing season, I've had my eyes on finding a few more of this cultivar, but so far no such luck.  The Morton Arboretum Spring Plant Sale was sold out.  And I haven't seen them at various growing centers.  There are LOTS of Whee hostas (which are VERY similar, but not quite the same) at Home Depot, but so far, I've resisted buying those.  I'd like to add a few more of these to a drift or ruffled hosta colony. In terms of hosta cultivars, here's what I