Coming round the bend!

The Pike's along my work commute route had been taunting me all week:

30% of all Perennials!!!

It took all I had to wait until after work on Friday to stop in for a peak but boy am I glad that I did! Perennials, were on sale, annuals were on sale, soil ammendments were on sale, all Monrovia products were on sale, summer bulbs were on sale - if you shopped wisely, the WHOLE place was on sale! Wahoo! To maximize my spending, I loaded up on quart-size perennials and opted to stay away from the annuals. I intend to focus on foundational plantings this summer, so it's everygreens and perennials for me.

I picked up Blue Mazus for it's creeping & semi-evergreen habit, Goldenstar for its yellow color, Foxy Foxglove cause what's a cottage garden without it?, Goodness Grows Speedwell, Blue & Gold Spiderwort for it's variegation and purple flowers, Dwarf Eared Coreopsis for more yellow a reportedly evergreen slow-spreading grown cover, Sherwood Purple Creeping Phlox another spreader, rounded out by Garden Phloxes Franz Shubert and Eva Cullum for their butterfly appeal.

My focus for this weekend was the corner bend in the slope which is just to the left of this section.  This section was covered in vinca (or some weedy creeper), an assortment of weeds, more than my fair share of rocks and a few clumps of volunteer liriope all heaped upon sloping heap of Georgia red clay.  This is by far the most treacherous part of the slope.  I fell a couple of times trying to navigate it; luckily, I wised up and starting using my rake as a cane.  But that was nothing compared to what this poor little beetle was going through.  I watched it try to climb up time and time again with no success.  Everytime he made some progress, he'd lose his footing an tumble back on down.  It was pure comedy to watch.

And just to the right of that (you can just see Panel 9 at the right-edge)

(A smart man would insert a picture of this area after the weeds were gone but before I started planting.  A smart man would have charged his camera battery before getting to work.  I was short a smart man yesterday!)

So after several hours of slipping & sliding, weeding, digging, rocking and amending, I walked away with this:

And the view from the gate:

This long shot shows how the two areas are connected:

This isn't quite as exciting a transformation as last week's.  I intend to tuck some plants into the rock crevices.  I'm saving the area in front of the rock for our first vegetable garden.  I'll be back with pictures of that once we get the plants in (herbs, tomatoes & peppers).  We're starting late so that should be before the week is out.  And once the rock fairy or Santa leaves me some more rocks, I'll rip out that dern monkey grass.  I hate that stuff.  It is ALL over this yard.  Big HUGE clumps of it.

Stephanie

One corner DOWN!

Sometimes I get lucky and am able to have breakfast with my sweetie before he goes to work.  This morning was one of those days.  We were cutting a bit close to the start of his work day, so we went to a spot near his job.  Lucky for me, that's down the street from one of my favorite gardening spots:  there's a Pike's Nursery right next to Lowes.  Brilliant!

My first stop was at Pike's.  I'd already decided to tackle this corner this weekend.  This corner is sloped, rocky, shady and FULL of weeds!  Had I taken a picture last weekend, there'd also be 10' stalk of Polk Salad rearing it's ugly head.  It's a nightmare!  There are exposed tree roots, spider webs, acorn tree sprouts and all manner of foolishness.

 

And here's the view from the gate leading into the backyard:

If you look in the upper left hand corner, you can see some of my handiwork from last weekend.  I'll post about that later.  But while shopping for that project, I'd decided upon a mix of cast iron plants, hydrangeas, ferns and hostas for this corner.  I didn't buy the stuff last week because I am sticking to my plan to tackle one fence section at a time.  I was tempted last week because my local Pike's was having a Customer Appreciation sale - Everything in the store was 20% OFF!  But I stuck to my guns.  I lost too many plants bought on "sale" that never made it in the ground.

I was kicking myself over this as I was shopping this am.  That Pike didn't have much of nothing on sale.  Which was surely gonna cut into my holiday project budget.  So imagine my surprise when I the cashier gave me 20% off my entire bill at checkout!  Apparently, they were having a sale but just not advertising.  Works for me!

Boy was I glad that I had taken the plunge and picked up a few new plants suggested by the nursery staff.  She introduced me to Chirimen Marlberry and a Pachysandra for ground covers.  The Marlberry is evergreen and promises to have a red berry later this summer.  The Pachysandra will spread without becoming invasive and if I remember correctly, should also have a little white flower.  I also grabbed a Hosta named "Christmas Tree".  I LOVE Hostas and grab one whenever I can.

I got straight to work after getting home and unloading the car.  I used a hoe to rake away the weeds.  Afterwards I covered the area with soil ammendments (no double-dig) and laid out my plants.  Normally, I'll double dig the entire area anytime I start a new bed.  But it was too tricky navigating the slope and the stupid grass to do that here.  So I just mixed the soil in the planting holes.  I did make sure to dig really wide holes to encourage healthy root growth.  Enough yapping, here's the final result:

And a close-up looking from the gate:

The Chirimen Marlberry (L) and Christmas Tree Hosta (R)

Moving L > Right, a volunteer fern, some random hosta that I moved, the Sixie Wood Fern (rear), the pachysandra (middle), and Endless Summer Twist 'n Shout (either pink or blue blooms).

A closeup of Endless Summer Blushing Bride:

This is a better shot of the area directly in fron of this new planting.  Ultimately, I plan to replace all of the liriope with a dry-stacked stone retaining wall.  I know the experts don't recommend it but I'm installing this wall in sections.  As I plant and As I have the rocks handy, I add a short section.

See how much better that looks!

Not bad for a few hours of hard work!

CDO

Just saw this on Pinterest:

I have CDO...it's like OCD but the letters are in alphabetical order AS THEY SHOULD BE

This is the perfect description for me!

37. Revamp my backyard.

Well, I have been a little remiss in posting but I can say that it's for a couple of good reasons...1) as of sometime in February, I think it was the 19th, I'm engaged to be married on 12.3.11! and 2) I have been DILIGENTLY working on the backyard! I have made loads of progress. I have planted a small patch of grass, terraced a foundation bed that was suffering from terrible run-off and planted a few containers. Pics soon but I just wanted to post something! :)

18. Attend the Zora Neale Hurston Arts festival...NOT this year!

I really could have sworn that the Zora Neale Hurston Arts festival was in February. I was so convinced of this that I began planning a trip to attend. I even extended an invitation to my bookclub, SistaTalk. Imagine my chagrin when I hopped online and learned that the Festival was going on at the very moment that I was searching! Yep, it was last weekend.

So #18 will have to wait for 2012.

Clearly, more planning is needed.

Slooowww start

So clearly I am still not blogging regularly. Funny that in everyday life, I'm rarely at a loss for words. But rising to the challenge of posting online daily seems like climbing Everest! My not blogging is part of my largest stumbling block in life...I am easily distracted. I often joke that my attention span is shorter than a gnat's rear. At work, I reign it in by totally shutting out all distractions. To get anything done, I have to be completely in the zone else I'd never get anything done. For really big projects, I'll find an isolated cube and hide until the work is done.

But this is near impossible to do at home...friends, family and chores are always calling my name! It seems like every weekend I compile a list of things to do, places to go and friends to see that even Santa would say was impossible. I am the Queen of Triple booking - trying to do way too much all at once only leaves me worn out and seemingly unreliable :(.

So rather than beat myself up about my failure to scratch (off), I am learning to find bliss in getting even just one thing done...so what if it's the randome 'non 40 by 40' post?

It's a post!

40 by 40

I think I'll take a moment to celebrate my age

The ending of an era and the turning of the page.

Now it's time to focus on where I go from here.

Lord have mercy on my next thirty years!

Weeks before my 38th birthday rolled into town, I realized that my pechant for procrastination, double-booking and general flightiness had left me with a GROWING list of should, coulda, wouldas. If left unattended, my best laid plans would never see the light of 40. Knowing that I would truly regret letting that come to pass, I decided to compile the mother of all To Do lists (at least for now). So here it goes, the 40 things that I purpose to complete/see/do/experience before my 40th birthday aka my "40 by 40" for short.

1. Visit the Grand Canyon for at least one week. Raft the river. Hike the trails. Relax at a spa.
2. Learn to habla espanol fluently. I wanna watch those crazy soaps and know what's going on!
3. Visit Washington, DC. See the museums. Retrace the steps. Visit the stores. Savor the eats.
4. Go ice skating.
5. Complete the Peachtree Road Race.
6. Spend a long weekend in Savannah, GA. Tour the gardens. Savor the eats.
7. Visit Georgia's State Botanical Garden.
8. Map out 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 year life plans. The longer the horizon the more abstract.
9. Generate 2 additional & steady streams of income.
10. Add $X to my Emergency Fund.
11. Complete year 1 of my MBA program.
12. Read every page of the Bible (NLV).
13. Complete business plans on dream business ideas.
14. Become a Small Business SME. Study financing and taxation. Utilize the SBA's free offerings.
15. Develop a personal finance education workshop for High School students. Apply for a funding grant and pitch program to area schools.
16. Visit Austin, TX. See the boardwalk. Soak up the local art scene. Visit the David/Peese garden.
17. Visit Miami, FL for a long weekend of fun in the sun! (be sure to be bikini ready!)
18. Attend the Zora Neale Hurston Arts festival.
19. Connect to Atlanta's local art scene. Study African American Art history.
20. Take 1 continuing ed/personal enrichment class per quarter.
21. Prepay recurring household accounts: gas, electric, water, insurance, trash & cable.
22. Master MS Excel.
23. Master MS Project.
24. Try yoga. Hot yoga.
25. Attend Joyce Meyer's Womens Conference in St. Louis, MO on 3rd weekend in September.
26. Compile personal reading plan. Tackle at least one book per month.
27. Visit the Atlanta History Center.
28. Visit Stone Mountain.
29. Take the Christmas Tour of Homes in Marietta.
30. Hike Kennesaw Mountain.
31. Tour the key Civil Rights areas in AL, MS, and GA.
32. Upholster a chair.
33. Refinish a piece of furniture.
34. Take Thai cooking lessons.
35. Host a dinner party.
36. Finish painting kitchen cabinets!
37. Revamp my backyard.
38. Cook a Thanksgiving meal (cannot serve as #35)
39. Buy a piano and take lessons.
40. Blog routinely/regularly.

So there it is...a loose plan for the next two years. We'll see if having a plan puts me on the road to success. Here's to December 2012!!!