Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Two years ago we decided we wanted to test the greenness of our black thumbs by trying our hand at creating an organic square foot garden. Given our small lot and urban landscape, this required us to claim a bit of space from our tiny brick backyard and build a modestly sized raised bed.
It was by no means a difficult project, and we had rather high hopes for the bounty of veggies this urban plot of land could yield, but we were somewhat disappointed. The sunlight for the yard is largely obscured by our large tree for the first half of the day, then the house blocks the sun in the early evening, which leaves us with just about four hours of direct sun for the area. Additionally, the soil seems to be somewhat overtaken by the tree and ivy roots from the surrounding growth, which limits the plants' ability to really thrive.
Both the first and second year we had some veggies that we were able to pick and eat (or feed to Lulu), but the yield was significantly lower than we had hoped due to various failures. I'm pretty sure we could buy the same amount of fruit and veggies from the store using about the same amount of money spent on watering our plants.
This year we decided to take a little bit more of a relaxed approach to our garden and focus on items with which we've had better success. Now that we have a few growing seasons under our belt, we're getting better at knowing which plants work, when they work, and where we should plant them.
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Before we delve into today's post, I want to mention something that is surely weighing on a lot of people's minds. After the horrible events in Boston that occurred yesterday, we'd like to extend our heartfelt sympathy and thoughts to the the marathon runners and spectators, especially those that were injured. We'd also like to express our gratitude to the first responders and officials that are working tirelessly to provide support and safety. I feel saddened and sickened by yesterday's events, but am so grateful my uncle, who was participating in the race, and my aunt, who was cheering him on, are safe and sound.
It's hard to concentrate on other things right now, so we hope our blog post might provide a moment or two of a departure from the events in Boston.
Man oh man, do we have a crazy long to do list in front of us this week. If you read yesterday's post about our recent curb appeal efforts, you know that we realized we had signed up to host a neighborhood party this month. With little time to spare, we took stock of what we needed to accomplish this week before 40 or so people descend on the house.
So where are we, exactly, in our to do list? Here's a quick recap of where we stand. Before Friday's event, we need to:
Tonight we decided to tackle item number four on the list. Although not a top priority, the area on either side of our alley wall was in desperate need of a little TLC. On the alley side, general debris had collected over the last several months, to include sticks, leaves, trash, and a few indications that we have inconsiderate pet owners that walk our alley. (I'll spare you photographic evidence of the last item.) Here's a look at what we were starting with.
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What's one way to pull yourself out of a house project funk? Plan a party! Nothing gets our motivation more supercharged than the notion that we have droves of guests arriving to our home in a short amount of time. After all, the last time we worked our way (albeit frantically) through a project checklist was when we were counting down to the day our home was featured on the Scottish Christmas Walk Designer Tour of Homes. I guess a deadline is sufficient motivation for us to get our butts in gear.
After arriving home last week from an international business trip, I had the cruel realization that Alex and I had volunteered to throw the April neighborhood party. These "TGIF" parties are held by neighbors in and around our block every other month on a Friday. They're a great way to meet new neighbors, and of course we love them because we enjoy the glimpse inside other old homes in our area. Knowing we already have a commitment on the last Friday of April, a quick glance at the calendar indicated that we had less than ten days to create invitations, shop for party essentials, and get our house into shape. Yikes!
With Spring's late arrival, I want to play off the nice weather and host a "garden party," thus encouraging us to enjoy the onset of the warmer weather in the outdoor space (with Mother Nature's cooperation). The problem? Our back yard is a post-winter wasteland, complete with dead plants, shriveled flowers, rotten pumpkins, dog droppings, dry leaves, and various debris. The area doesn't exactly scream "welcome to our home."
This weekend we got to work, and completed a marathon shopping trip on Saturday to pick up the supplies we needed.
After three hours and three stops, we had a car full of loot and we were well on our way. It's shopping trips like these that make us really appreciate owning our SUV, especially after over a decade with a Mustang.
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Repointing is easy! Yes, that's right, easy peasy!
I know, I said it was an exercise in futility, doubted the beauty of our initial attempts, and potentially even swore under my breath a few times when I was somewhat frustrated during my initial batch of mortar, but I think I've got the hang of it. The secret seems to be in using the right tools for the job, and in having some experience under my belt to get the hang of things. Go figure.
After my first go-round of chiseling and repointing, I identified some things that helped me be far more effective in the second phase of my project. These were simple adjustments that resulted in a far better end result.
The first thing I decided was no more start and stop. I had wanted to try my hand at the actual repointing part of the project so badly that I only cleared away a small amount of mortar before moving forward with the first mix batch. (How incredibly lame does that sentence make me sound? Good thing I'm not single. "Hey ladies, I can't wait to try my hand at mortaring a brick joint.")
As I learned, this is a bad move. For this second phase of mortar chiseling, I decided I needed to just power through and chip away all of the mortar that needed to be removed from the area in which I planned to work. This took far longer (several hours longer) but it would allow me to clean my space properly before the next phase, as well as removing the need to worry about where to stop while applying the mortar or how much mortar to mix for the area I had cleared.
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This.
This is what Peak Bloom looks like!
How beautiful it is!
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