Landscaping: Done!

Those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook may have seen this picture on Saturday:

I present to you nine tons of river rock. Which, after a marathon weekend of work and help from some dear friends, is now all laying around the exterior of our house. Finally. This project has only been on our to-do list since we bought our house nearly three years ago.

All in all, the project wasn't that awful. It certainly required quite a bit of physical labor, but after chatting with some neighbors who paid to get theirs professional done (or know someone who did), it sounds like we were able to save ourselves a significant chunk of change doing it ourselves. So, for anyone out there in the blogosphere who might be considering this project for his- or herself, I figured I'd give a little tutorial (like I did when we--Darrell--built a lower deck for our house last fall). Please treat this as one of many landscaping guides if you are considering a project of your own--we don't claim to be experts and we used quite a few websites along the way to help us determine our process. But I do have lots of fancy pictures to go with our steps, which is something I found other sites were lacking.

Step One: Determine the area to be landscaped

This may like a super obvious first step, but don't dismiss it. Being thorough with this step will save you trips to the store to get additional supplies (which we had to do) or trips to return leftover supplies (which we also had to do). We used stakes and twine to "draw" our landscaping plan around the whole perimeter of our house, which also helped give a concrete image of a vague mental idea (such as "I want a curvy thing here"). After getting the shape and curves of the twine just right, we used spray paint to mark a more permanent boundary so that we could remove the twine and measure it.

Ooh, fancy curves

Now, I can't stress this enough, but make sure you measure carefully. If you are off on the length of the perimeter (necessary for determining the amount of edging to buy), your calculations on the area being landscaped will be off (necessary for determining the amount of weed-blocking fabric and rocks to buy). We were right on for the length of the edging, but we made quite a few approximations on the area and ended up with not enough fabric and too much rock.

Since we were going to be landscaping over an area that was already planted with grass seed, we needed to kill the grass first to make the rest of the process go more smoothly. Not a difficult task once we had marked off the perimeter of the landscaping.

Probably don't need a picture of Darrell spraying grass killer, but whatever

Step Two: Buy/Order your supplies

This probably is not something that needs to be listed as it own separate step, but I want to mention a few things to keep in mind as you are shopping, so I'm making it its own point. The biggest thing we learned about supplies was to err on the side of getting too much (especially if you are going to end up with nine tons of rock blocking your driveway so you can't get to the store). Darrell calculated the amount of landscaping fabric we were going to need based on how much square footage we were covering, but did not take into consideration the fact that any overlap would require a minimum of two additional inches of fabric (and in most places, we overlapped closer to five inches just to be safe). Likewise, when it came to pinning in the edging and pinning down the fabric, we opted to do a little more than the recommendation just to make sure nothing was budging, especially around turns and corners. Since Darrell initially stuck to the "five feet between pins" rule when he was buying pins for the edging, we ended up way short. And although the last thing we wanted to do was move extra rock after laying enough to cover the perimeter of our house, we're glad we bought a little too much instead of not enough because the rock will inevitably settle in places and expose the fabric tarp, which I definitely don't want. So now instead of having to buy a small amount more to fix gaps in two or three years, all we'll have to do is pull a handful or two out from the extra pile under our deck.

Step Three: Dig a trench for the edging

This step may vary depending on the type of edging you buy. We bought the simple black edging that has a depth of about five inches. To create the trench, we started by standing on the edge of a flat-bottom shovel to bury it about six inches in the ground.

Our garden spade purchase--it definitely looks a little worse for the wear now

The initial cut for the trench--and yes, we only killed the grass on one side of that cut; the dry weather and heat is responsible for killing the majority of the grass in our yard

Having the painted line at this point was also very helpful because it created a very easy path to follow for digging the trench.

Now, while we could have left the trench like this except for the places we needed to put a pin into, we opted to dig out the trench even further along the whole perimeter of the house. Since we weren't removing the sod underneath the landscaping, making a wider cut on the trench helped to establish the barrier between the landscaping and the lawn by giving the rock a place to settle instead of just rolling over the edging and onto the lawn. To make the trench wider, we dug the same shovel in toward the initial cut at approximately a forty-five degree angle, starting at what would be the landscaped side of the trench and removed the sod and dirt (most of the time we stuck this extra bit of dirt along the side of the house to help ensure that the landscaping would slope away from the house and not cause water issues).

The wider trench, with the to-be landscaped side on the right. This was quite the pain to cut (but we're definitely glad we did it)

Step Three: Lay the edging

Again, this step may vary some based on the edging you buy; I'll be explaining what we did for our particular edging since that's really all I know.

With our wide trench, it was really easy to lay the edging into place. We made sure the trench was deep enough so that just the top rounded part was above the soil line. Then, with a hammer and edging pins, we began securing the edging at approximately three foot intervals (more frequently around curves).

Secure the edging into the lawn side of the trench (which should be the flat side anyway) and be sure to set the pin at a downward angle, making sure that it isn't too close to the top or bottom (otherwise it might not take much force for the edging to rip free of the pin).

Done with the edging

Step Four: Lay a weed-blocking fabric

Up to this point, most of the steps can be completed with just one person (although if just one person is digging the trench, expect that person to be very very sore). Laying the fabric, though, is definitely much easier with two people, especially in South Dakota where it is perpetually windy. I usually ended up holding down one end of the fabric while Darrell rolled it out to the desired length, cut it, then worked his way back toward me pinning at about two foot intervals. While one person could pin down or use a rock to secure one end while unrolling at the other, pulling the fabric taut around a pin or rock could cause a tear, which would create a spot for weeds to get through (and--knowing my luck--a big ol' thistle would find its way right to that hole).

In fitting with my desire to prevent any type of weed growth, we overlapped pieces of fabric more than the recommended two inches. We were also sure to leave plenty of excess along the edge with the trench, because as the rocks settled in they pulled the tarp down with them, and we wanted to make sure the soil wasn't going to be exposed. Of course, in many places we left a little bit too much excess and had fabric hanging out from underneath the rock after it was laid, but all Darrell had to do was give it a quick cut with a pocket knife to get rid of it.
Step Five: Spread the rock

This is a step where more is definitely merrier. Process-wise it isn't very challenging (just dump the rock on to of the landscaping fabric), but filling, pushing, and dumping wheelbarrows full of rock can get exhausting. There were four of us working; the three guys would rotate between the two wheelbarrows and shoveling while I spread out the rock. I discovered that a garden hoe worked really well to move the rock around (I used a rake for a little while but it just wasn't quite as efficient), although I accidentally ripped a few holes in the fabric because I wasn't being careful. A few things to keep in mind while laying and spreading the rock:

--Try to make sure the fabric doesn't fold over as you are emptying the wheelbarrow and expose soil (another reason to put some extra inches down on the overlap)
--Be careful not to run over the edging with the wheelbarrows (especially when full) because it can put kinks in the plastic or possibly tear it.
--To encourage draining, slope the rock away from the house

And that's it!

Of course, you'll probably want to include plants or other vegetation in your landscaping, but if you are a fool like us and plan to do this during one of the hottest months of the year, vegetation will have to wait.
Now if it would just rain and wash away some of the loose soil and dust from the rocks that would be great. Not to mention make our grass look not near so pathetic.

4th of July

I know everyone out there is sad that their nights are no longer being interrupted by exploding fireworks that sound like gunshots when you are trying to sleep (or was Darrell the only person who had to work early on July 5th and was trying to go to sleep while fireworks were incessantly going off literally two houses down from us?), so I figured I'd do my best to rekindle those memories by sharing our 4th of July pictures (no sound though, sorry). And as Darrell commented like seven times as we were watching fireworks at the lake on July 3rd, we didn't get as good of pictures as we could have because he didn't have "his" camera and tripod and everything else. Well, I say la-ti-da to that; I think we managed to capture a few good ones in spite of my inferior camera. You be the judge.

Love the full moon in this shot with the exploding fireworks!

Another shot with the moon and reflections over the lake

Cheesy caption about our love igniting its own fireworks? No? Okay

On the morning of the fourth, before everyone split their own ways for work obligations on the fifth, we headed out to a nearby golf course to play a little couples scramble.

Thankfully Darrell carried our team well enough for us to finish in second behind my brother and his girlfriend Macy. Maybe next year I'll actually swing a club or two before hitting the links--and you know, have my own clubs or something. Minor detail.

...And Then You Lose Some More

Seriously must have jinxed myself on Friday. I swear I didn't notice anything unusual about the zucchini plants on Friday when I was out in the garden, and then on Sunday when I was out there the plants looked like this:

Noticeable browning/yellowing along the stem near the soil line, lots of milky white spots along the stem, and some spots with buildup that is reminiscent of sawdust. And limp, droopy leaves (although that could be partially due to the heat). I'm at a loss; I suspect that in two or three days they'll look exactly like they did last year, with the stem essentially disintegrated at the base. We have one decent fruit left on one of the plants, otherwise the few others that are coming in are already starting to yellow. And one of the plants is totally barren at this point. We also haven't gotten anything larger than short pencil off our summer squash plants at all this summer. I immediately started some new seeds in our small pots and plan to transplant them if (and when) these plants die, but I have no idea what I should do differently with the new plants to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to them (provide they are even able to germinate and grow fruit this late in the season). My mom, who grew up on a farm and had a vegetable garden for years, doesn't know what it might be. My dad wondered if it was maybe something wrong with our soil, which might actually have some legitimacy to it, because our summer squash are planted where we had zucchini last year and the zucchini are in a new spot, which might explain why the zucchini started okay then turned bad and the summer squash never really did much.... But who knows.

I refuse to give up on growing zucchini, though--of all the things we plant it's the one we love the most, and nothing would make us happier than to have an over abundance of it in our house (as is we probably buy it from the store to eat twice a week and would gladly eat it more frequently). Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

The zucchini pickings from my garden yesterday:

No, the beer bottle was not something that came from our garden. I'm using it to give a visual on size. And, you know, to shamelessly promote Granite City beers

Darrell and I can't figure it out. Some of those rotting, yellow zucchini came off the same plant as some of those deliciously healthy and plump zucchini. And I can't get any conclusive answers off the Internet--not really all that surprising, since every garden and situation is a little different. So far, I've determined that it could be blossom end rot (caused by a calcium deficiency), too much or too little water, or a problem with pollination. But, if any one of those issues were the problem, shouldn't it be affecting the whole plant and not just some of the fruit? Who knows. All I know is that so far it appears to be free from the pest issue that killed off our zucchini plants last year, so fingers crossed that continues to hold true. We've also gotten more zucchini off the plants than we had at this time last year, so that has to be a good sign, right? I'll count it as a win, especially in light of this super hot and dry weather we've been having. And we also have a slew of peas that are ready to be picked (a new addition to our garden this year!), but it's just so darn hot I don't want to go outside and deal with picking them. Maybe tomorrow when a "cool" front comes through and drops the temperatures into the eighties.

Happy Birthday America!

What's that you say? Independence Day was yesterday? Whatevs. I was too busy having fun at the lake to worry about getting a post in. And while we got some pretty sweet pics of the fireworks and fun holiday festivities, I've got to do a little catching up first before I get to those pictures. We took a trip out to Kimball last weekend to visit our good friends and their adorable little girl and had a blast hanging out down by the river.

(Please ignore all my ridiculous facial expressions. Apparently I don't take candid photos very well)

As has been the case for the past week or so, the weather was extremely hot and dry, so cooling off in the river felt fantastic. Plus it even cooled down enough to do a bonfire later that evening, which was just as fun (although--par for the course--I consumed waaay too many roasted marshmallows). We don't make it out to Kimball near as often as we would like, but always have a great time when we are there.

Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful 4th!

The Other Boleyn Girl

Set in 16th century England, The Other Boleyn Girl chonicles the life and role of Mary Boleyn, sister to Anne Boleyn, who was the second wife of King Henry VIII. Although historically she is largely forgotten in the wake of her more prominent sister, Mary Boleyn is shown in this book to be an equally capable temptress with dreams of her own. But throughout the book, the question lingers--how much of the girls' actions are dictated by their own desires, and how much are controlled by the girls' power-thirsty parents and uncle?

I loved this book. The plot and action were thoroughly engaging, which was a little impressive given the length of the book (nearly seven hundred pages!). There were so many sub-plots, so many coniving twists, that the action was constanly peaking, resolving slightly, then peaking again. Plus, as someone who has a sister, I could really relate to the sibling rivalry between Anne and Mary (although my sister and I would fight over toys, not kings). I also love the historical aspect of the novel--reading about a time period and lifestyle that is so drastically different from the one we live today is just fascinating to me. Granted, I realize the novel is not wholly historically accurate, but that tends to happen in historical fiction. That being said, though, the novel did inspire me to do some research on Tudor England because I was so captivated by the time period, so some of those inaccuracies were cleared right up.

Perhaps I was a little predisposed to enjoying this novel in the light of our recent trip to London (including the Tower of London, which is a setting for a few parts of the novel), but I think that even without that trip and some of the background knowledge it provided I still would have been thoroughly engaged by the novel. Regardless, I definitely plan to continue reading about this time period.

Blueberry Dessert Pizza

A few weeks ago, for Darrell's birthday, I finally tackled this recipe that I got from Darrell's mom five or so years ago. It wasn't so much that I was intimidated by the steps of the recipe (I can always count on Darrell's mom to give us quality recipes that are quick and easy to prepare), but rather the fact that Darrell had built this recipe up so much that I feared I would never be able to prepare it well enough to live up to his expectations. You see, throughout Darrell's childhood, Darrell's dad always requested this dessert for his birthday. But it's been at least ten years since Darrell has been home for his dad's birthday--and subsequently at least ten years since he has had this dessert. And in ten years, a person's mind can build a recipe up to unattainable levels of deliciousness. I was even more intimidated because I had tried preparing this a few times over the course of the past few years, but every time I suggested it Darrell proclaimed that the "timing wasn't right". It was either the wrong season, or the temperatures were too high, or the mood wasn't right. Not to mention the fact that I had never had this particular recipe, so as I was preparing it I wasn't quite sure if it was looking right or being cooked to the correct level of done-ness. So, as you can imagine, I felt quite a bit of pressure going into the actual preparation of this dessert.

But you know what? It was all for naught. Darrell came home from work that day, took one look at the dessert, and proclaimed that it looked just like it did when his mom fixed it--and tasted just as good, too. I should have known that his mom's recipe would be fool-proof.

Blueberry Dessert Pizza
(from Momma Shirley!)

1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats (not instant)
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts; pecans would probably work just as well)
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 21 oz can blueberry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 12-inch pizza pan or 9x13 pan. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, 1 cup of oats, and 6 tbsp margarine. Mix at low speed until crumbly. Remove 1 cup of crumbs to use for topping. To remaining crumbs, blend in the egg. Press in prepared pan and bake for 12 minutes. To reserved crumbs, add the remaining 2 tbsp margarine, 1/4 cup oats, nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Beat until well blended. Spread the pie filling on the cooked crust. Sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes or until crumbs are a light golden brown. Cool completely and serve with whipped topping.

For the record, the whipped topping is non-negotiable. I had the idea to make a powdered sugar glaze to drizzle across the pizza (like you see at a lot of restaurants), but was promptly informed by Darrell that such a revision was not allowed (something about the coolness and softness of the whipped topping pairing perfectly with the oat crust). However, I will be so bold as to say that I imagine this recipe would work just as well with any type of pie filling--or topped with a few fresh strawberries and/or raspberries to make it the perfect 4th of July dessert. Just don't tell Darrell.