Plants Gone Wild: Part 5 - Sitting Garden On the Mend

More progress on my sitting garden this weekend.  Like to spend hours working on it not minutes so that is pretty much when any work gets done!

Plants gone wild:  Not so much any more. With still a lot of work to go, my overgrown front garden is turning into a nice sitting garden.

What I learned today:
1) Ivy has a mind of it's own.  It will grow one direction and as soon as it spots a wall to climb, it will turn 90 degrees and grow that direction.  I swear!
2) When having a drink tucked under your arm and holding a tool in the other, don't bend over to set the tool down.
3) Pulling on an ivy vine is kind of like "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll tootsie pop".  You keep pulling and pulling and pulling, then you just wanna break the damn thing off!

Plants gone wild:  A view from my sitting garden chilling out under a tree during a break on a hot humid day.

Back to Plants Gone Wild - Part 4

Plants Gone Wild - Part 4: You Know You're Having Too Much Fun Working In Your Garden When...

In my efforts to reclaim my garden, nothing special occurred on this day of fighting "Plants Gone Wild".   However, when you are working in the hot sun doing some transplanting, things can get a little weird...

If you ever saw the movie Castaway, you would understand...

Back to Plants Gone Wild - Part 3

Plants Gone Wild - Part 3

As I continue the saga of trying to reclaim my yard and gardens from "Plants Gone Wild", wonderful things continue to come to light:

1) when ivy vines are embedded UNDER vinca, they can really do a number on your back trying to pull them out. It's kind of like fishing when you catch a really big one! 
2) I discovered the planter in the picture below which I built when we first moved here, but I haven't seen it since around 1997. 
3) I was wondering where those extension cords went to. Haven't seen them since putting up Christmas lights a few years ago!

I discovered the planter in the picture which I built when we first moved here, but I haven't seen it since around 1997.

This is what the planter looked like before, only it was worse.  I had already pulled out a bunch of invasive balloon flowers.

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Continue to Plants Gone Wild - Part 4

Plants Gone Wild - Part 2

Today's episode of "Plants Gone Wild" I learned a few more new things: 

1) I learned that my sidewalk is really 5ft wide instead of 3. 
2) vinca, ivy, and creeping junipers are a HUGE pain in the a** when growing together let alone by themselves. 
3) landscape lights really don't work that well after you cut the wire with pruning shears...

Plants gone wild - My sidewalk was really 5 ft wide, not 3!  The ivy just above the planter along with the creeping juniper that it covered and intertwined with was extended out into the sidewalk where the dirt marks are.  Wow.

Back to Plants Gone Wild - Part 1

Continue to Plants Gone Wild - Part 3

Plants Gone Wild - Part 1

In over five years of neglecting my garden, I have declared it "Plants Gone Wild" as the plants have seemed to have a mind of their own and have taken over everything.  I have taken on this project of taming my "Plants Gone Wild".

Things that I learned from this session of Plants Gone Wild:
1)  I rediscovered that my driveway is really about 60ft instead of 30ft and can hold 4 cars instead of 2
2)  Forsythia's are a pain in the a** when the try to spread out everywhere
3)  There is a plant that is even more of a pain in the a** that even overtakes the forsythia and I don't even know the name of it
4)  Totally vacuuming your leaves up from every tiny corner that they gather in every year is much better that dealing with it when you don't
5)  I found my garden hose again
6)  My basement windows were dark for a reason

Plants Gone Wild: BEFORE There is actually a driveway under there and a house for that matter.

Plants Gone Wild: AFTER - Hey! There's my garden hose.  I haven't seen that in a while.  And there are the basement windows! And you can actually see the driveway.  Good stuff!

Plants Gone Wild: AFTER -You can actually see into my backyard from the front of the house now.  If you look at the BEFORE photo above, you couldn't even see the gate opening.  Wow.

Continue to Plants Gone Wild Part 2