Rolling along.......the battle of the weeds

Hello friends!
Short post today (well maybe..........).  I seem to have been really busy, even though we're staying home for the most part.  I really want to respect the social distancing at this time, and I may continue to do so for quite awhile.

This is what I've been doing.

Creating and making.
 (more on this in my next post) 
Illustration by Mary Engelbreit.

Digging up my Iris bulbs, separating and planting about 60 singles all over our yard!

This bed was so PACKED with Irises that it was like cement! 

Digging a new flower bed below our rock wall (for Iris bulbs).

Transplanting single bulbs and pruning down the leaves.

Buckets and buckets of Iris to plant... I still have many left and nowhere to put them.

The "newbies" even sent up new flowers! I was surprised.

Chopping up the white garden  hutch (darn... I left it out for two winters and it was just falling apart, so decided to take it to the dump).

BEFORE... falling apart and rotting wood. 

AFTER.......

Bye Bye hutch... sniff sniff..... a new one will be coming soon (hopefully).

Cleared out entire back yard "patio" area to ready it for new gravel.

Moving all our yard stuff, tables, chairs, planters, and junk tools to behind the house and on the back lawn (which needs mowing by the way).

Cleaning up weeds in our back "dirt" area (soon to "maybe"? be gravel?)...... it's the dirt area we tried to reseed twice last year, and the weeds took over again, so we are giving up on it! No lawn there... just gravel.

A right fine mess........ will we ever win the battle of the weeds?

Planting two new blackberry bushes..... thinning and transplanting my raspberries (they've LOVED the heavy rains).... and weeding flower beds. Note: the yellow Iris I bought last year is doing great!

(And yes, I do want blackberries! Where we lived in Washougal, WA (in the wet climate), blackberries grew wild everywhere. I loved having them! I made jam and pies galore. I really miss them here as there are none to be found. I'll keep them pruned to a reasonable size (hopefully).

Going to the gravel pit and ordering rock! Whoo Hoo! And having it delivered.

And this is what we WILL be doing - as soon as the rain quits!

Shoveling all of THIS stuff, by hand, into a wheelbarrow, and hauling it to our back yard - after we lay down the HEAVY tarps! Not looking foward to it.

We're hoping the gravel laying will start on Friday, the 22nd... we've been waiting a week for the rains to quit. We've had unseasonably high amounts of rain and "gully washer" type rains. 

We also need to get a new gutter by our back garage door, as when it rains so hard, our garage gets flooded! ...... which means more work, and more digging and cleanup around the back cement slab outside our garage. There is nowhere for water to drain that pours off of our roof. That's another story...........so we need to dig trenches before laying the gravel... maybe put in some drain pipe.... etc. etc. etc. 

With all the digging I've done, my neck has been killing me.. so hubby will have to do most of the gravel shoveling and hauling. I'll at least be there to supervise...... :-)

More to come on my crafty adventures! I've loved holing up in my craftroom (when I could)........... bye for now.

~Marilyn~

It's still a little wonky but it's done!

It's done! It's done! she cried in excitement! My old blue hutch has her new (many) coats of white..... uh.. I mean FIVE coats of white.......

Here's the old tired ugly girl BEFORE I got started (above).  But nothing that is vintage is ugly right? Just needs some TLC..........  Below is after first coat of white spray paint. I had to put paper on the house as this thing takes about 3 people to move it.. and I had it right where I wanted it so wasn't about to move it again! (I did later level it up more).

I took no progress pictures ... go figure...... it got done in bits and pieces.... a little here... a little there..... ran out of spray paint... got two more cans... but wasn't covering real well.. so found an old can of primer I had that was all chunky and thick.... and doctored it up..... stirred and stirred.... and added water...... and put two coats of that primer on it! Then added two more coats of white spray paint.

So voila! Here she is! I'm been so anxious to get it done so I could show you!  She's pretty "rough"... a little wonky and crooked, but I love her anyway!

She's all dressed up for company.......

New pink glass knobs for the drawers....

Pretty pink hat mailbox that was my hubby's and mine at previous houses.... the I "heart" country banner was from our local thrift store.. just happened to see it as I was walking out the other day.

The "potting shed" sign used to be on my fence above that yellow bench I painted last year!  but hubby decided it should have a new home here. It's worn and faded so needs a new uplift (one of these days)......

What a pretty yellow "teacup" to hang on the side... I got it from the lady who gave me the hutch. I couldn't see throwing it away (as she was doing) so grabbed it up. My hubby got me the little green basket to hold my seeds and such.

Those darling birdhouses, yellow candle lamp, yellow bird, mug, two white and pink ceramic candle holders (on top) and flower pots.... also from thrift stores here in town. I want to hang the yellow bird with a little plant in it.

I think I actually squealed when I saw this little pink "ice cream chair" at an antique store the other day (about 20 miles from here)!! Can you believe it was already pink? It's really meant for my garden somewhere, but it looked so cute sitting here... just for a short time... and my little terrarium with the "air plants" just fits there, right? the chair may have to stay.

These are two little air plants I found at the local Fred Meyers store about 25 miles from here. They don't need water ladies! You just mist them every few dayswhen you feel like it, and they are good to go. The gal said they are meant for indoors, but they are dong fine in this 100 degree heat outside. Instant love.  I got the sand and rock pebbles and moss from the local Dollar Tree.. easy deal.

The little chair does look sweet sitting on the ground too, with my new (free) shrubs, thrift find watering can and green tin planter.  Yes, Bi-Mart gave away ALL of their flowers and plants about two weeks ago, right before this big heat wave hit! Most were really wilted and they just didn't want to deal with them anymore, so I got a few Ivy Geraniums (on their last legs), two lilac bushes and two Snowberry bushes, and they are all doing well and very happy in their new home. (Note to self:  tell hubby to remove that horrible ugly black cord that goes up the side of the house to the TV "dish"!!! We don't even have dish TV or anything, so get rid of it!)

There was a big empty hole on the hutch surface top. I think a little door used to be there.... so I added a little curtain to cover it up... tacked on with decorative tacks.. and now behind it I can store my little not so pretty (practical) things.  I stacked a few garden books with another little tin planter hubby found for me.. and bought a little cactus to put in it..... the pink birdy is compliments of the Dollar Tree... and the little aqua blue jar holds my plant fertilizer!

So here she is in all her glory! She's too pretty now to use for a planting table, isn't she? 

I had so much fun decorating her. And yes... I really HAVE used her as a work bench for planting my free plants from Bi Mart. The surface gets dirty but I just let it dry, and then sweep it right off. 

Of course, when it rains, I'll have to take a few things in! And in the winter, I'll remove everything and tarp it for the winter. But for now.... she's such a joy to look at..........

OTHER GARDEN THINGS:

I found a few more darling goodies for my garden at that antique store about 20 miles from Madras... I'm going to place them throughout my tubs and pots of flowers....... and I actually NEED the watering can for my front flower pots.

I think the pink chair might have already found a home at the hutch! (Rudy loved that chair.....) The galvanized watering can was in perfect condition... no holes... no rust.. for only $10! I was thrilled.

The little red bench/chair I just had to have.... just because it was so cute.... and the lid comes off to store goodies inside.... it'll sit amongst my flowers somewhere... and the chicken wire frame... already hanging on my fence!

And our "catio" is almost done! More on that soon............

Have a nice week everyone.... the solar eclipse here is fast approaching... and I"m dreading it to say the least.. our little town of 6,000 people is supposed to grow to close to 200,000 people.. who are all coming to view the (2 minute) total eclipse! Oh boy..........

Hugs to all............