moms work day

MOMS WORK DAY
each year habitat for humanity williamson county has a
womens work day
only women show up to work
most of the regular worker volunteers that are males
stay away
just try being a male telling 10 women what to do
its like having 10 wives
no i think this should be done this way
no i think that should be over here
no that color doesnt look right
etc

so i usually stay away
however
i was asked could you save the landscaping for this new
house for one day
we want to use one of the womens work days to do the
landscaping

:-( is the way my face looked
thank goodness i was on the phone when i was asked

all kind of thoughts went through my mine
is this going to be like having 10 my wife shes working
with me
with me telling them what to do

i just hope they dont all look like this when i ask them
to do something
yes thats my wife she staring in the distance
i think she was biting her tongue so much it was bleeding

so i said yes i would do it
with some trepidation
just hope none of them read my blog today

so this house we will be working on is a repossession
the folks apparently just walked off
trashed the house well is what they did

but
with a lot of elbow grease and paint it will look brand new

here is what i started with
a pecan tree an old native one with another one in the back
during the house construction the dirt got piled up so
that the tree flare could not be seen
so i and the new homeowners son dug it all out
we dug 1 ft of dirt off the tree so now the root flare shows

there are two red bud trees planted in the wrong place
these are nice trees however they live about 25 years
then
they just die

i attempted to dig them up
however on both trees the roots were so girdled
that means they were growing around and around like
a big ole screw
destining this tree to an early death
i preformed euthanasia on it
into the brush pile it went

the two indian hawthornes by the front porch are really
struggling
they should have been planted in a raised bed so their feet
wont get too wet
so up they came
they will be replanted in the back in a better location
by
the back porch in a new bed that will raised so water
can drain off it
if they dont make the transition i will plant turks cap
and cat mint in those beds
two natives that require no upkeep and provide flowers
for bees and hummingbirds

then along the front a new bed was  made using
donated lava rock which is laid over black plastic to help
kill out the bermuda grass
the homeowner wanted cactus so spineless cactus
will be planted in the middle of the bed
next year on either side
by then the bermuda under there should be all dead
the homeowner will rake bake the lava rock
slit the plastic
dig out a planting hole
add good soil and plant a xeric flowering plant of
her choice
thanks to cm for donating two truckloads of lava rock

also someone donated the limestone rocks that will be
used around the borders of the beds
thanks to sp for finding these
enough to use at three habitat houses

so i have a budget when i asked for this project
of zero
kinda hard to do landscape with all that money
so thanks to those who donate their time and supplies

i will donate a few shrubs and the soil for them
but a local landscape nurseries gives me a big discount
on them

then in the back a monterey oak was planted about
a foot too deep
so i dug it out so the root flare is visible now

the only problem is it was planted underneath a power line
so
the electric company will regularly take a big bite of
the top of the tree on a regular basis when the tree gets bigger

so on the day before mothers day on womens build landscape day
we will
place cardboard around the pecan tree and the beds for the shrubs
lay a thick layer of mulch around the trees
but not not not up against the tree trunks
and
on top of the beds
the shrubs two dwarf yaupon hollies and two salvia greggiis will
be planted in the front yard raised bed
a yard of compost will be spread over the yard
an organic fertilizer will be spread on the yard
hoping that will resuscitate the ignored grass
photos to follow

hoping that i survive these 10 my wife shes

if you have the xx chromosomes
you can join this workday
here is the link

the organicgreen doctor