South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

As both a Mr. Fix-It and a father, I try to have my oldest child help me out occasionally with the easy home repair or remodel as a way to get that little extra bonding time and hopefully teach him a little bit about the do-it-yourself attitude.

As my other two get older, I will bring them in as well, but for right now, my 5-year-old is daddy’s helper. This is fine if I am doing something easy and mundane such as patching a hole or painting a room, but he cannot be directly involved with projects that could be dangerous for him or involve sharp tools such as saws and utility knives.

The problem with having him help on one thing means that he often wants to help on everything, even the dangerous ones such as resigning a roof or cutting boards. As a father, I am torn. On the one hand, the job itself is too dangerous and he can’t help, but on the other hand, I don’t want him to get disheartened about helping me out altogether. Here are a few tips I have learned to keep kids involved with the project, but keep them out of harms way at the same time:

1. The helper. A hammer and a board means hours of playtime. When my son asks me to help out and there isn’t much that he can do, I give him my hammer or rubber mallet and a small piece of wood. I tell him to sit at my work bench and help flatten the wood, so I can use it later in the project. Yes, it’s a little white lie and he isn’t going to go for it for too much longer, but he likes hitting the wood, and he thinks he’s helping me out.

2. The tool man. If I am doing a job like plumbing that doesn’t involve sharp tools, but it still a little too dangerous for him to do, then I make him my tool man. He sits next to me and I ask for a tool from my toolbox and he gives it to me. It’s fun for both of us, because he doesn’t always know what the right tool is and he guesses.

3. The holder. I remember one of my first experiences as a holder for my dad was when he was fixing a flat tire. He gave me the hubcap and it was my job to hold the lug nuts for the tire until he needed them. I felt so special even though all I was doing was holding a hubcap. Have your child hold the screw or nuts for you until you need them. This frees up a hand for you and gives him something to help out with.

The thing to remember when having children helping you with a repair is that to them, anything they do is awesome. They are helping Dad, and it’s a big boy thing to do. It may not seem like much at the time, but some of my fondest memories involve talking with my dad as we worked on a project.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/lachlanhardy/452174277

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3. Tool Boxes

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Another year comes and guess what – I make more changes to my vegetable garden! I haven’t done anything yet but below you’ll see what I intend to change from last year’s vegetable garden design. This is step one in altering my garden into what will eventually become an awesome parterre layout. I can envision it now – brick lined paving stone paths, elegant raised beds, integrated companion plantings with flowers spilling over the edges of the stone lined raised beds. Can you see it?

For now the changes will be small. According to the 2010 Vegetable Garden Layout I had four raised beds flanking either side of the central path. For 2011 I’ll be moving those out and replacing the worn out raised bed in the lower right corner with the four smaller beds to make one large bed. In the center of the garden will be a circular garden bed. Nearby I plan to use some rather large pots I rescued from the dump to create herb planters. I’m planning on spray painting the outsides with a metallic paint to dress them up a bit then plant various herbs or flowers in the large pots.

The center circle bed will be made from stone blocks I already have on hand. The brown/tan coloring on the other beds represents the wood that will eventually need replaced.

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• The Vegetable Garden in January
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The sky is blue and the air is cold over Clay and Limestone, but, soon the earliest blossoms will be greeting the day.

Don’t look for the ‘Feed me Seymour’ blossoms of hellebores.

Or, the much lauded and dreamed of Tommies on a Hillside.

It won’t be the the sweet ephemerals that frequent this garden.

Nor, the frost tolerant earliest daffodils or,

the smallest of the small bulbs.

That honor will go to Hamamelis vernalis. Our winter blooming native witchhazel; whose buds are fattening up for the big show. (In past years the blooming started this week)

I planted them for my mother the spring she passed away. (here)

For remembrance
For honoring
and because planting a witchhazel was
a funny nod to our complicated and loving relationship.

Hamamelis vernalis blossoms in the winter
When we have just about given up hope
that spring will ever arrive.

On warm days
the crepe paper streamer petals unfurl and
its sweet scent drifts about.

On, the other hand, Diane (Hamemlis x Intermedia) may surprise us and bloom before our sweet native!

I promise to keep you informed as events unfold in the garden! But, I’m rooting for Vernal Witchhazel to open first!

xxoogail

Related Posts:

• FAQS
• Spring / Fall Clean Ups

The sky is blue and the air is cold over Clay and Limestone, but, soon the earliest blossoms will be greeting the day.

Don’t look for the ‘Feed me Seymour’ blossoms of hellebores.

Or, the much lauded and dreamed of Tommies on a Hillside.

It won’t be the the sweet ephemerals that frequent this garden.

Nor, the frost tolerant earliest daffodils or,

the smallest of the small bulbs.

That honor will go to Hamamelis vernalis. Our winter blooming native witchhazel; whose buds are fattening up for the big show. (In past years the blooming started this week)

I planted them for my mother the spring she passed away. (here)

For remembrance
For honoring
and because planting a witchhazel was
a funny nod to our complicated and loving relationship.

Hamamelis vernalis blossoms in the winter
When we have just about given up hope
that spring will ever arrive.

On warm days
the crepe paper streamer petals unfurl and
its sweet scent drifts about.

On, the other hand, Diane (Hamemlis x Intermedia) may surprise us and bloom before our sweet native!

I promise to keep you informed as events unfold in the garden! But, I’m rooting for Vernal Witchhazel to open first!

xxoogail

Related Posts:

• FAQS
• Spring / Fall Clean Ups

The sky is blue and the air is cold over Clay and Limestone, but, soon the earliest blossoms will be greeting the day.

Don’t look for the ‘Feed me Seymour’ blossoms of hellebores.

Or, the much lauded and dreamed of Tommies on a Hillside.

It won’t be the the sweet ephemerals that frequent this garden.

Nor, the frost tolerant earliest daffodils or,

the smallest of the small bulbs.

That honor will go to Hamamelis vernalis. Our winter blooming native witchhazel; whose buds are fattening up for the big show. (In past years the blooming started this week)

I planted them for my mother the spring she passed away. (here)

For remembrance
For honoring
and because planting a witchhazel was
a funny nod to our complicated and loving relationship.

Hamamelis vernalis blossoms in the winter
When we have just about given up hope
that spring will ever arrive.

On warm days
the crepe paper streamer petals unfurl and
its sweet scent drifts about.

On, the other hand, Diane (Hamemlis x Intermedia) may surprise us and bloom before our sweet native!

I promise to keep you informed as events unfold in the garden! But, I’m rooting for Vernal Witchhazel to open first!

xxoogail

Related Posts:

• FAQS
• Spring / Fall Clean Ups

On Monday while all three of my children were napping at the same time (that is a major feat!) I spent some time preparing some cuttings. Until Monday I really haven’t had many opportunities to get outside and garden. The weather has been too cold and with my youngest, who doesn’t seem to like taking naps during the day, I haven’t been able to do much!

Since the historic napping was in progress I went out to the garage to prepare some hardwood cuttings. All the cuttings were about 6-8 inches in length and all of them were treated with rooting hormone prior to sticking. There are two differences between what I did on Monday and what I usually do. First you may notice that I used a soil mixture rather than sand. Why? It was close at hand and I had more of it. It’s also lighter and contains nutrients that plants will need right after rooting. The second difference is that I placed all the cuttings into bundles and stuck them together. Bundles are an easy way to do many cuttings at one time. Each pot pictured below holds 10-15 cuttings! Two of the pots have already rooted lilacs that I divided from a mother plant and one pot holds three hardwood lilac cuttings. 

Schip Laurel, Cherry Laurel, Butterfly Bush, Leyland cypress, Purple Leaf Sandcherry, Lilacs

By using the bundles I can make many cuttings in small amount of space! Now I just need to wait and see how many root. It may be spring before I separate the rooted plants but for now they are safely resting in the garden shed!

The answer to yesterday’s Guess post was the Cherry Laurel! Prunus caroliniana

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There are several ways to successfully weed a garden, adding a good heavy layer of mulch will cut down on weeds but the most successful way is the old fashioned way, pulling them by hand. Hand weeding is the easiest, quickest and by far the most convenient way to eliminate weeds from your garden. The best tool however to use when hand weeding is a hand small hand hoe for those stubborn larger weed that have taken a good root hold. If you have a vegetable garden that has long rows of plants then a traditional Draw Hoe will be best in removing weeds.

If weeds have begun to grow between the rows I suggest a Warren Hoe, it has a sharp pointed blade that just right for removing small weeds in between rows and making furrows. If you have a large area that needs weeding use a Dutch hoe it easy to use with a simple pushes and pulls action.

Large stubborn weeds may sometimes require several applications of a good Herbicide or even chemicals to get rid of them completely. The use of herbicides however is tricky because you have to be careful as to spray the individual plant to prevent the spray from getting unto other vegetation. If your only other option is to kill the vegetation and all around it, then there are many sprays on the market that can do the job.

Persistent weeds like Dandelions, Poison Ivy, Creeping Buttercup, Plantain and Pearlwort may and usually require several applications before they are eradicated completely. If your garden is in an area where mulching isn’t very feasible then hoeing is still the best way to keep the area clear from weeds.

If you decide to uses sprays to kill weeds, do your spraying on a day when there is little wind to help prevent insecticides from traveling to and killing your garden and ornamental plants. As with any spray the most effective way to use them is by simply following the manufacturer’s suggestions.

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• Commercial Landscape
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