We’ve gone on lots of walks and trips to the park recently because the weather has been incredible. I doubt it will last much longer, so the more time spent outside the better. Yesterday we went on what will probably be the last long hike of the season. We hiked up to Silver Lake in American Fork Canyon. The leaves were every color imaginable and the hike was beautiful. I’m not in very good shape though, and it felt a little too long. Peter slept through a large protion–he was a very tired kid. He’s also turning into quite a good hiker. He can go almost a mile by himself and no longer gets too distracted by everything. The hike leaves less than three miles until I hit 100 miles hiking this year. I’m excited that I’m going to make my goal.
Enjoying Fall
We’ve had the most amazing autumn weather. It’s been wonderful to go outside and be able to spend time on hikes, walks, and gardening. I took a hike up Battle Creek (just up from my home) this past week and also drove the Nebo Loop down south. The Nebo Loop was absolutely beautiful and full of reds, oranges, and yellows. Even the usually brown scrub oak had a golden color to it. Here are pictures:
Get out and go see Autumn. It’s amazing how fast it pops up. Last week nothing was that interesting: now all the trees are starting to turn colors.
Nebo Loop Day Trip
I think I picked one of the best weekends to go on a long drive. We drove down to Payson to drive the Nebo Loop. The fall colors were fantastic. We hiked three separate hikes–Grotto Falls, Devil’s Kitchen, and Box Canyon. The first two are pretty short, boring hikes to neat destinations. Box canyon was an adventure. It’s in Maple Canyon just north of Ephraim. Joe had been there several times during his Snow College years (before he met me) and had always wanted to take me. We managed to scramble our way to the end, even with Peter in tow. There are some fun little climbs up boulders. We had to hand Peter off to each other, and almost turned back, but made it all safetly. I wouldn’t recommend it with toddlers though. I felt like I was on a vacation yesterday and love the time I was able to spend with my family. It so trumps staying at home.
Birthday
My little boy recently turned two. Crazy how fast time goes. We had a family party for him which he thoroughly enjoyed. The cake was very fun for our fan of Cars. He had to blow out his candles twice (he wanted to do it more actually). When his presents were all done he started to look through the box where I had put all the wrapping paper and said, “One more time,” wanting to open up more. Peter is a lot of fun to be with and is growing up just right. He can talk in sentences now, his favorite of which is “One more time.” One more time actually usually means many more times because he always wants another horsey ride or story.
Autumn Walk
I was excited to hear the challenge over at This Grandmother’s Garden to go on a walk every day for two weeks. It was around seven when I read it and already getting dark and stormy, but I immeditely went out on a walk. I was so blawed in life, a walk was just whated I needed to perk up my soul. I’m including the pictures I took, but it wasn’t the views, plants and scenery that really woke me up. It was the smells. The rain came and went as we walked and I could smell that rich earth smell in the air. We would pass by evergreens and sage and I would pause enjoying the smell. There was also the smell of a wood burning stove, reminding me of camping trips and late, fun evenings. The air was crisp and rain came down, but in soft drops that simply enlivened me. Today I went out with my toddler. We didn’t make it far, but we saw sticks, flowers, acorns, rocks, and a lot of other interesting things that little people like.
Autumn is amazing.
On the Moon
We went up to Salt Lake to entertain Peter, Grandma and Uncle Will. There’s lots of fun free stuff. We mostly went to Temple Square, including the Church History Museum where they had a new children’s exhibit. (I even danced in a flowing Mexican skirt. No picture luckily.) We took a short train ride (just to give Peter a train ride) to the Planetarium, where the pictures were taken. Peter and I have enjoyed having Uncle Will around and he’s leaving in just a few days to go on his mission. I’m very excited for him, but at the same time we will miss him a lot. I asked Peter one day who his favorite person was and he said Uncle Will. It’s been fun to be able to spend a lot of time with him before he leaves for two years. Good luck William!
Logan Canyon in Autumn
My sister, the kids and I took a drive up Logan Canyon while our husbands were at Priesthood session. It was lovely. I visited second dam where I had my first date with Joe, and saw the start of autumn. I also managed to get my sister carsick. I love going out and enjoying the changing season. Fall has always been one of my favorites and I’m enjoying the cooler weather. Mowing the lawn this morning was almost magical, with perfect weather, green grass, and the end in sight.
Mulch
This is a tip for everyone who wants to make their landscape look better but don’t have the time or money to do a lot: add mulch. Here is one situation where I used this tactic.
The front of this condo complex could no longer be irrigated due to problems with the irrigation system. The grass was dying, although most of the trees in the strip were doing fine. With little in the budget, the solution was to simply kill off any remaining grass and add mulch. The total cost of the project was $500, far less than re-landscaping the area.
The great thing about mulching is it allows for future changes and the gradual addition of plants. The most common solution I see here for cheap landscaping is lawn. Seeding a lawn can be dirt cheap. In the long run, however, the landscape looks boring, the lawn eats up plenty of maintenance time, chemicals and water, and can end up costing quite a bit if you start calculating in all the cost of materials you stick on it. I think laying out proper planting beds and simply mulching is a much better short term fix and it leads to a better long term solution.
I did a garden design for another client who lacked the several thousand dollars to put it in. The plan turned into redesigning the beds, irrigation system and going ahead with the lawn, but waiting on the other large area of mixed planting. That area will be put in gradually. By mulching the area at the beginning of the project it still looks nice and it will be easy to add the variety of shrubs and perennials over the next few years.
Plants are wonderful, but they can often be fairly expensive. Don’t just turn the landscape over to cheap lawn or leave ugly dirt and weed showing: maintain the areas you want for mixed planting beds, mulch them, and than add plants as budget and times allows.
Maintenance on a mulch-only area is simple: hand pull or spray out the weeds. If the mulch is deep enough, there won’t be very many. Wood/bark chips and rocks/gravel are the most common types of mulch and both work fine. Pick whichever look you like best and fits with long term goal of the landscape. Buying mulch in bags gets expensive quickly. Bulk mulch is far cheaper, and is often worth the cost of delivery if you don’t have a truck. (You often need more mulch than you think. For instance, a rear border of about 5 feet deep in a small yard will need around 5 cubic yards of mulch, or 5 truckloads. There’s plenty of good calculators out there to figure out how much mulch you actually need…but basically it’s just a matter of geometry.) Mulch should be put on to a depth of two inches. It will also need to be replenished occasionally ( every 1-5 years for organic mulch/bark chips).
Mulch has the benefits of keeping down weeds; maintaining even soil moisture; decreasing soil temperature; preventing compaction, soil splashing and soil crusting; and adding organic matter into the soil (if you use an organic mulch). Mulch is a great solution to tons of landscaping problems. Use it.
Nature Walk in Provo Canyon
Fall’s here! The first official day of fall was Friday, but I have been noticing the leaves starting to change on the mountains for the last week. It’s amazing how fast the leaves turn color. Two weeks ago I didn’t notice a thing. We took a drive up Provo Canyon and went on a little nature walk. Peter led the way. He went off the beaten path at one point so we followed him and found this neat little fort someone had built. I don’t think we would have gone there if we didn’t follow him. It was fun not to worry about going somewhere or making a certain mileage, but just enjoying the changing leaf color and all the little things Peter liked. He would blow on old seed heads, point out the bees and other bugs, and loved to run down the hills.
Happiness
I’ve been working a bit. Business is good. I’m busy, but only when I want to be. I’m actually getting return client and referrals which means I’m somewhat good at this. (Actually I know I’m a good garden designer: I’m at least better than an average homeowner. I think anyone planting a garden/landscape should use me.) I’ve also been entertaining/taking care of a small toddler who has been a little sick. The sick hasn’t been bad, someone (which means both of us) is just a little grumpy.
Other things I’ve been up to include disk golf (the course in American Fork is awesome), a great family dinner with pictures, going to the dentist (no cavities!), seeding the front lawn (hoping it works), and reading a book (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is wonderful).
Oh and I have news. Click around and you can find it.
Liz Braithwaite 