Oh Sully how I wish I could grow fruit trees here in Illinois. The tale of your garden reminds me of all the changes that have been made on this 100x300 lot since 1949. We built our first house--had a shell put up with all the material to finish the inside and a mortgage. My folks had owned the lot and sold it to us for back taxes. It took FOREVER for my husband to finish the inside. Of course he worked full time, picked up side jobs for extra money and wasn't a carpenter to start with. He learned a LOT over the years. We had three children there, they grew up, all their friends loved being at our place. Dad made a play house for our daughter and it was a work of art--windows, shutters, a flower box and dutch door. How the kids loved it--even tiled floor. When she outgrew it and the boys took over it went to pot. Then they built a "fort" in an old box elder tree. It must have had 5000 nails in it. They had two floors, a ladder to get up after swinging on a rope. Needless to say nary an adult ever got up there and not many girls. Many years later after they were married I had them take it down because of the hazard of other kids using it. They had to cut down the tree to dismantle it--how we all laughed at the sturdyness of that monstrosity. I have a piece of the tree that I use as "garden art" and it has at least 50 nails still in it. We split the lot in 1999 and built a ranch house on what had been my asparagus and strawberry bed. I have a small patch of garden and flowers all around the house--mostly annuals. My younger son bought our old house so I have someone next door and I appreciate all he does for me now that I am alone. Neither of my sons have the gardening gene and we knew that it would be the yard that would make us have to move as we got unable to do it. Now that I am struggling along on Social Security lawn service is beyond my budget. Last year God sent me an angel in the form of my nephew. He did all my yard work along with his girl friend just becaue they wanted to be helpful and they love doing it. My son mows the lawn but that's IT. He wouldn't know a weed if he fell over it and thinks dandelions are Gods favorite flower because He made so many of them. He brought me two that had bloomed yesterday--ya got to love him--he is never going to grow up. It is still very raw and chilly here in Chicagoland--the coldest April in 20 years. My old bones do not appreciate it. My daffodils are about ready to bloom and we may have some snow yet this week. Grr I will be 87 the end of May and I am so thankful for all I am able to do. I miss the ones from the list that are no longer on--but life goes on. Emma annoyed the life out of me but she had a right to her opinions as I have a right to mine. I think ours were just left and right!! I hear from VaL on occasion. She helped me more with genealogy than any one else. I do miss Pat--I think she is on Facebook but I just can't get into that. Send us some warm weather--it would be a treat. Grace On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 9:58 AM, Shirley Sullivan <[email protected]>wrote: > > Good morning dear friends > > > GARDENS Loved the mental picture of your yard Robert. First let me tell > you Robert, you will be in my prayers, for a good surgery and fast > recovery. It is still early spring, I know how hot it gets by late May in a > desert community, hoping your shoulder will be on the mend, by the time > summer arrives. > > > Jeannie, that was great, all the info about soil and different ways to > plant veggies and flowers. I have seen a Tomato plant growing in a bag of > planting mix at our Home depot, I have never tried it my self, but it would > be a quick way to plant things, especially if your soil needed a lot of > amending. > > > We have lived in this home, now over fifty years. Our first son was a year > and a half when we moved in, the back yard was first made a safe place for > my children to play, we had a swing set, sand box, and we put in a round > circle of cement on one side so the children could ride their tricycles, > but put a hole in the center so we could eventually put a tether poll out > there, for playing tether ball when they got older. Later we put up a > basketball hoop, we built a tree house in a Jacaranda tree for the boys, > than my husband built them a castle, with a draw bridge. Looked pretty > cool, if I must say so myself, the children in our neighborhood loved come > to our house to play. Our daughter loved to play on the bar at school, and > because it was so popular, and felt she didn't get her turn enough, asked > her father to build her one at home here. So he went up to school, and > measured the bar, and put one in the back yard for daddy's little girl, and > it's still there, it is so smooth! > now after years of children playing on it, I now dry my bathroom rug on > it, so as not to ruin the backing of the rug. He also built our daughter a > play house, but it never really got finished right, she grew faster than he > got around to painting and finishing the inside, so it became a storage > shed to some degree after she lost interest in it. The Castle turned into a > Pigeon coop for our youngest son, when he was about 15, the draw bridge was > removed, the stilts sawed off and the building lowered to the ground, and > they built nesting boxes for the birds inside, I wasn't into Pigeons and > the mess they made, but my husband had Pigeons when he was a boy, and our > son loved them. As our three children grew into young teenagers, the yard > changed, the Castle/Pigeon coop was torn down, Pigeons long gone, play > house gone, tree house gone. My husbands mother, her husband passed away > and she moved in with his sisters, we bought the mobile home they had once > lived in [for a song] and ! > moved it up to the Colorado River, and so began our years of Water ski > ing, Jet skiing, Dirt biking, and the boys driving the Jeep around the RV > park trying to impress girls. One of our boys friends since childhood, > practically lived at our house [his parents were going through patch] and > he went with us everywhere, I now had three son's. I loved that boy, he was > a good kid too, grew into a fine man. As our now adult children married and > moved away, my love of making a beautiful gardens began. We have a slight > hill at the back of our property, first we built a wall about four feet > high towards the back, to keep back the hill, and planted fruit trees at > the top of the wall, than made a low wall at the front of about maybe 2 > feet, than filled in the space with good soil [ at least I thought it was > good soil, but later learned it needed a lot of Amendment] leaving about > 10 feet of fine growing space. Part of the garden was for growing Tomatoes > and veggies [until we found out you couldn't keep growing Tomatoes in the > same place, year after year] a! > nd part was for my flowers. We also had planted a Apple tree on one end, > and a Lemon tree close to the other end. Since than we have planted a > Avocado tree, a Gala Apple tree, a white Peach, and a white Nectarine, all > closer to the house. Of course we have the fruit trees on top, a Red apple, > a Plum, a pear, and two Apricots and a large Fig tree. > More to come !!! > > > Sully, in Sunny California > > > P.S. Was up for the sunrise, such a beautiful morning, warm and clear, > but sadly it is to change, clouds this afternoon, cooling down, and fog > tomorrow morning. We will have low clouds and overcast in the morning for > several days. But all is not lost, good weather for working in the yard !!! > > > > > > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mbousman1/memory.htm > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >