Front yard update

 So I finally got some plants in.  It took a while to get it together and I had made cuttings of gardenia and lavender to add to the yard.  Some of them were finally big enough to plant this weekend, but I'm waiting for several others to grow a little stronger.  Here's what it looks like today...

I left a spot to plant a hydrangea or some kind of larger bush.  And one of my daylilies seems to be taking a long to time adjust.  It looks like it's growing new leaves, but it's very slow. The pentas grow well, my variegated ti leaf plant looks as though it's doing okay (might need a little shade) and my fairy lily bulbs are thriving.   The calla is doing well, and I'm thinking of taking cuttings of the sage plant.  It grows in a nice mound and looks really nice.  Eventually (probably around halloween) I'll add a few solar lights.   I still have to work on the other side of the entry steps, just started adding a couple plants the other day.  But I did put in a hydrangea and it appears to be growing well.  I guess the water sprinkler works miracles for a dry front yard.  

My son had placed his science project from summer school in the yard... a small milk carton with a lettuce seed in it.  It grew beautifully and we ate for dinner last night.  So as per his request, we will plant more in small pots and grow some veggies there.  Our community association doesn't allow vegetable gardens in the front, but I'm going to try and work around it.  We'll place the pots in empty areas and they'll be more like "ground cover" plants.  It looks lots nicer than the weeds and dirt we just cleaned up...

Yesterday, I spent my morning working on cleaning up and placing some pavers along the edge of my backyard.  The wild area is full of weeds that keep growing into my yard and I'm hoping the edge of pavers will help prevent the weeds from invading our yard.  I'm planning on adding a light weight fence, or row of simple trellis' (removable, just in case the property owners in the back area don't approve) and growing pakalana vines for lei making.  I considered doing stephanotis (I love those), but the vine is very heavy.  I'd need a heavier fence for that...

Been too long....

It's been nearly one year since I've posted an update... and for a while, there was good reason.  There was nothing new to update.  But Spring Fever has hit and friend availability (and a good sale at Lowes) has inspired me to get out there and FINALLY get the front yard going.  YIPPEEE!

First off, remember this?  These were my front yard BEFORE pics....

Oh... and embarassingly, some After pics too...

Well, the yard never got any better, the stairs remained overgrown with awful looking grass and the plants never seemed to thrive.  I think my water sprinkler wasn't working for a few months and everything became a fire hazard....   I tried just digging out the grass, but it's tough and just doesn't want to give up trying to take over the world.

BUT recently, I did lots of sewing for a good friend who is also a handyman by trade.  And Lowe's had wall blocks and pavers on sale at a  price I couldn't resist...  Now, handyguy has all the tools we need and is perfectly willing to trade services for some hours of work. So DH and I picked up the materials, and handyguy and I got to work.

Less than a week later,  VOILA!  The foundation is set.  Oh, we also laid black plastic down after this picture was taken and added a few more sprinkler heads to keep the plants from drying out again.  I can't believe it's finally happening!   I know it's not very impressive yet, naked as it is... but just you wait, it'll be great!

Now I'm waiting for word on my load of compost.... (free from another friend), which is due to arrive sometime this week.    Then the planting can begin!  Boy... I'm so happy I might burst!  :)

So far, I've spent about $120.00 for materials.  And I don't expect to spend much more until planting time. Sand is free from the beach, gravel I got from my mom (she's been wanting someone to take it away), and sprinkler materials from a box of stuff I found in the garage.  Apparently, DH and his friends thought they didn't need to use them when they installed the sprinklers the first time.  I'm hoping I can find a few beautiful plants that will thrive in this hot spot.  But now that they'll get water regularly, I think everything will be OK.

Backyard Update

The patio is ready for summer break.  We could dine outside, it's so nice... except I can't figure out where the cats have laid their bombs this time...I think it's in the neighbor's planters.  I should plan a grill-out soon.  It'll force me to keep it clean and get me working on that table cover I plan to make.  It'll be done by the next post!  LOL

Anyway, the yard is coming along very slowly, but my tiny strawberry patch is finally planted, mulched and covered with the remains of my bunny cage to keep the birds out.  I'm still working on getting my raised bed garden in there somewhere, it's getting a little late I know... but our growing season doesn't really end.  I have my seedlings planted so that raised bed will have to be put in very soon.  Hopefully it will be in this weekend.  I still need to remove more grass (which I would've just done it the easy way, place the raised bed directly on it and cover the grass with newspaper before filling), but my sister is replacing her yard with the same kind of grass I have.  So I've been digging it up and bagging it for her.  Whew... so much work.

I have a few pallets sitting around in my backyard and need a trellis or fence that is non-permanent. I tried taking them apart rather unsuccessfully.  Guess I'll use them whole. So I'm thinking I'll make kind of a barrier/trellis, mostly because  I want to grow some pakalana and stephanosis on it.  I'm planning on making a lei garden too, with those flowers, some ferns, and more pikaki.  Maybe some roses too.  I really love lavender roses.  Here's a photo of a lei I'd like to be able to give my daughter when she graduates...

 Pikaki wraped with pakalana lei - wonderfully fragrant!

It grows great at my mom's house and would be perfect for lei making.  Hopefully there will be flowers by 2013, when my daughter graduates high school. 

Back yard update

Yes, I have been OCCASIONALLY working in my yard.  Not really following the schedule I've set up, y'know, those zones?  But things are slowly starting to take shape.

I rebuilt my backyard circular patio as it kinda got buried, and started adding a little herb garden.  We have a small strawberry patch that is slowly growing in, and I planted a few more ti-leaf plants.

The front yard is more or less set up for planting now.  I finally finished building the borders and will eventually get to setting in the pavers on the grass steps.  The planting area is only dirt right now, so no pics at this time.  I'm thinking of putting in my poinsettia plants.  I bought a bunch for my mom when it was $0.85 at Lowe's.  She gave most of them back after Christmas.   Pic coming eventually....

Power tools!

We worked on the front yard today and made a bit more progress.  Mostly because I had help from my DH.  I bought a GOOD weed whacker so he trimmed the grass and did a little bit of weeding.  Meanwhile, I continued to dig up some of the grass.  I really want to get rid of most of the grass in the front and plant some flowers and ground cover plants.  

There's a bit of dirt where I dug so I'm worried the stray cats will use it as a toilet again.  It's covered with a few pokey bromeliads for the time being, till I can get back to it.  Hopefully that'll keep them out.

Plumeria Hill

 When I was younger, there was a hill of plumeria trees along Moanalua Road.  It was part of someone's yard that was a steep slope down to the roadside.  People used to ask them if they could pick the plumerias to make leis.  Nearby schools would pick flowers for Mayday.  It was beautiful.  Then progress came along and they cut into the slope to widen the road.  The 2 lane road became 5 lanes and the hill disappeared.  Now, there are only a few plumeria trees.  It was sad to see it disappear.

I have an empty hill in the back of our house.  It's not our property, but really at this time, no one is using it and it's just an eyesore full of weeds and rubbish.  I want to turn the hill into that memory.  So this week, I'm going to make some plumeria cuttings. I saw a discarded branch of plumeria at my son's school which I could break off some branches from and prepare for my little plumeria farm.  It'll be great. 

Last year(?), I bought a cutting from the urban garden sale for $2.00.  It's still in the pot, but has bloomed a few times.  It's a miniature plumeria and I might use it for the front yard.  Funny... when I was younger, plumerias were so common that I took them for granted.  It was the CHEAP flower lei and I didn't really like them much.  I wanted the roses and pikaki.  Now I want the plumeria.  What a memory can do to ya....

Not working as planned...

Yeah... I've been especially lazy, no, just too busy to get to the yard everyday.  Not only that, but I just can't seem to decide what I want to do to my garden.  So many ideas, so many things I want, but will they work?  And can I afford it?  Now that's the biggie.

Anyway, I've been searching for more inspiration and found rainchains, water barrels, fairy houses.  Wow... I really like those..  Anyway, here's a few inspirational pics....

 The rain chains were found at Rain Chains Direct and The barrels are from Aaron's Rain Barrels.  I think we will have to find something here 'cuz I can imagine shipping will be a killer, and it's expensive to start with.  Maybe we can find something a little more economical.  It does say free shipping, but most times, it doesn't apply to us.

I found this treehouse as I was searching for info on fairy gardens on the internet.  The treehouse is from A Proper Garden  I hope I got the right place, they seem to be a landscaping/design company.   Cute...

So many ideas, so little time (and money). 

Feral Cat problem update

Drats.  The pine branches are not working.  I checked again and there's poo again.  Same place.  They seem to just push the branches aside to get to the dirt.  So the only thing that seems to deter them is the Scarecrow sprinkler.


But on a more positive note, I've spoken with the lady who likes feeding them and she is thinking of ways to help these cats so the neighbors don't catch them and send them to the humane society.  Apparently, I'm not the only one who doesn't want the cats around and someone else has confronted her.  She's a nice person, and I do feel sorry for those cats, but leaving them there and feeding them won't solve the problem.

She has called an organization who lent her 5 cat traps.  She'll be catching them and taking them to the organization and having them spayed/neutered and microchipped.  Then she will take them to a place FAR from here, and away from other neighborhoods.  Problem solved.  I hope.  It's an expensive venture, but appears to be a good solution and will keep the neighbors from having them euthanized. 

Feral Cat problems

Scarecrow Water Sprinkler by Con Tech

I've been battling stray cats for a couple years now. I'm tired of picking up their poop when I find a few minutes to work on the garden... as such, my veggie garden is still non existent and my front yard is unfinished. So this past year, I've been searching for solutions.

Last year, I just caught them all (about 30) and sent them to the humane society to deal with. I refuse to do the catch and release program as I don't have the time and money, but unfortunately a neighbor here confronted me when I started catching the strays this year. She and her family loves the kitties and would like me to leave them alone. She likes to feed them and has kitty food in her patio for them. I informed her about the program and asked her to look into it so the cats don't breed... less poop maybe. At this time, there are about 8-10 out there. And again, they're using my yard as a pooper. Most of the other neighbors I've spoken with don't like the situation either. We would prefer them gone, but out of respect for this family, we put up with the situation.

Because of allergies in our household, I do need them to stay out of my yard, so I've been on a quest to find an appropriate repellent. My oldest daughter (now in college) comes home and is constantly coughing and sneezing when she's downstairs with us. And my skin has been itching a lot again. I think it might be the cats as we've tried major housecleaning, changing soaps/detergents, and skin care lotions. We KNOW we're allergic to cats... so it's possible. Hopefully, when we can get them to stay away from our home, we'll be able to enjoy it again.

Here's what we've tried that hasn't worked:
Citrus peels (lemon, tangerine, orange)
coffee grounds
black landscaping plastic (they just ripped right through it and pooped)
egg shells
Big glass jar filled with water

Here's things we considered, but decided against due to little children who like running through our yard (hers as well as ours), or cost factor of having to replace it every time it gets wet.
Chicken wire around the plants
Thorny branches
Cat repellents

Here's what looks hopeful. We've been using these since Christmas and they seem helpful:
Pine branches from our Christmas tree (my alternative to thorny branches)
Scarecrow water sprinkler by Con Tech (expensive, but maybe worth it)

My Scarecrow was broken for a couple days, and I found cat poop on the lawn, right at the bottom of the kid's slide. That would've been unpleasant. Con Tech's customer service is excellent and the warranty is 2 years. The replacement piece came just 3 days after I emailed them. That's extremely quick for delivery to Hawaii. The only thing I don't like about the Scarecrow is that it also is spraying the birds. I like birds and don't mind them in my yard. Wish I could keep them visiting without the cats...

I'm planning on purchasing a few more of those Scarecrows, hopefully I'll be able to figure out a way to keep them safe from the children when they're running through my yard. And I'm going to see if I can hook up a system of these to my water sprinkler system.

Comments welcome on how you're dealing with feral cats.

I had some time and helpers!

We worked in the backyard today and cleaned up the patio. My helpers stayed for maybe 40 minutes before they gave up and went inside. It was hot and humid, but now we can walk around the table and it's finally clean enough to enjoy a meal out there again. In the background, you can see my ferns have gotten huge, the blue gingers are looking straggly, and the ti leaf and crotons need to be trimmed down. I hate just throwing away good plants, so I'll have to make cuttings. Which means I need a place to keep my babies while they root. SIGH>>>> I make so much work for myself.

Eventually, I want to make a grill cover, but that will have to wait till I finish some curtains for my home. Anyway, I think we will plan a family dinner outside this weekend.

Weed Killer or not?

NOT! My DH offers to help IF he can use weed killers to get rid of the weeds. I said I'd do it myself. I refuse to use weed killers in my yard no matter how "safe" they say it is. Roundup is supposedly safe to use and biodegradable. I've found research that suggests it may not be as safe as claimed. Whatever the verdict is, I prefer to keep my children and the environment safe.

Click here for an article from Scientific American about Roundup.

Yes, my yard has lots of weeds, and I'll get to them a little bit at a time. But I have a plan to keep the weeds down to a minimum. Yes, it'll be tons of work. Yes, it'll take lots of time. And Yes, it'll have to be done slowly, one baby step at a time. My yard might NEVER get completed, but my family will be living in a non-toxic environment.

July's update picture

This is the view from my front window now... Much better than when we started. I moved the little mandarin plant into a shadier spot and it seems to be recovering. And my cheap $0.78 dahlias and blue flowers (what is that?) should help ad some instant color. My yellow callas might be coming up soon, looks like one of them is breaking ground. Looks like it's time to cut the grass again and get more work done on the rest of the yard.

So I'll work a little on this spot and make sure I also spend time maintaining the rest of the yard. The strip along the street is looking really bad again, but I want to redo that one too.

Making a bit of progress

It's the beginning of July and I've made a little bit of progress. Pictures will come in the next post... really. It's just too dark to take them right now and I didn't realize I didn't have my card in my camera this afternoon. DUH.

The little section along the wall is starting to take shape. I have a few callas planted, though I'm still waiting for some of those rhizomes to come up. Yesterday afternoon, there was a mongoose playing amongst my callas... I thought he was going to kill them so I chased him out. He was rolling over the leaves and chewing on them. It'll look pretty empty till the callas grow in, I'm considering planting some dahlias or something till they do. Then I'll move them into the future flower garden in the backyard.

The gardenias are looking good. I hope they grow here. I had a couple planted by the front porch, but they died. And it looks like the little mandarin plant will need to be moved. I got it at the Urban Garden plant sale for $1.00, so if it doesn't make it, I won't feel bad. But it's so pretty with it's orange middle... I'll have to dig it up and move it to a more shady spot.

And of course, I finally got all 3 arecas in. I will have to start doing this in the evening since it's starting to get really hot out there during the day... Except coming home at 8pm doesn't leave much time for me to get out there and work.

Gosh... I can't believe it took me 5 months to get this little bit done. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll have the whole front yard finished.

Update June

Over the past week, I've dug out a little bit more grass in the front but it's not ready for another areca yet. In the meantime, the grass on the side yard has been trimmed, gingers cleaned up again, and a little bit of weeding has been going on. So basically, I've just been doing a bit of maintenance.

We've also been working on cleaning up in granny's yard and it's looking quite nice now. I'm thinking of trimming her stephanotis and fixing her wall. Except I'm not sure I'd be able to do it.

Ooooo! Look at this!

The patio I CAN make... Simple and basic round brick patio
I made one similar, but it looks a mess now and I want to replace it.

The Sunset garden videos have some good info on making tomato cages, compost, and all kinds of good gardening stuff. Click here to see it.

Progress Report

This weekend, I planted 2 of my arecas and a couple of calla bulbs into the ground. I don't know if they'll grow in that spot between the arecas, but I have a couple in the backyard between my ti-leaf plants that are doing really well. Now, I need to take out more grass, plant the last areca and place a border to keep the grass out. I'll also have to get more of that free mulch from our local community college so I can mulch around my arecas so they don't die out. I hope there's enough space for them there, I planted them about 3 feet away from the wall and 4 feet apart.

Here's a pic of my progress.


This week, I'm going to go back to spending about 15 minutes on weekdays to maintain my yard. The weeds are getting big and the grass needs trimming. My whole yard needs some maintenance since I've let it go for a month. Here I thought I'd spend a couple hours rather than a few minutes a day.

Removing sod

is such a pain.

I spent a couple hours this weekend, rather than 20 minutes a day, to remove some of the sod along the wall. I'm also shaping that area so I can plant my areca palms. But I can see it'll be several weekends before I'll be ready to put in the edging strip. I'm considering just laying bricks and making a simple border for the time being. Then I'd be able to do a little bit at a time and still plant an areca palm every week or so. I WAS going to use that plastic landscape edging stuff, but if I can find something nicer, like rocks, I'd use those.

not much got done...

Well, a sick child meant not much outdoor time for me this week. DS was sick and home from school all week, which meant not much time for me to get anything done outside... or inside. I barely got the errands done. He's finally better though, so I hope to get out in the yard next week. Probably spend a couple hours one morning unless more work comes in.

I sent DD outside today to weed and trim our little flower garden in the front yard, so at least a little bit of neatening up got done. I will fertilize next week... I didn't put in fertilizer when we planted... shucks... we were too excited about getting them planted.


I also found this inspiration for a neat little patio feature... I did something similar, but I wanted to redo the backyard pavers. This is really nice and will probably be incorporated into the design. Not sure how I'll do it... hmmm..

Inspiration!

I found this wonderful idea for a dry spot in my garden... a tropical reef made with echeverias... You can find them at this website:

Hybrid Echeverias

Fishtails GONE!

But the spot looks so barren and ugly now. Of course, I have lots of work to finish it up yet, so I don't feel bad. I spent another couple hours yesterday to clean it out since I did hardly any gardening this past week.

It will improve... then there will be nicer pics. Over the next week, I will plan and start transforming the front yard. It's a big job so I might only tackle it once a week for a few hours on my "day off."

In the meantime, Here's some inspiration I found...

Slide show for the sidewalk planter aka Hell garden.