Gardening

Fold It, I Need to Haul Some Dirt.

Once again another spring weekend is almost upon us, and that means at least for me, time in the yard landscaping. Earlier this year, I made a decision that Modular 4 was going to get some much needed yard love to boost curb appeal. The thing is, landscaping requires lawn tools. Lawn tools require space. I am kind of a nut when it comes to storage and things taking up space. So when I decided I needed some kind of wheel barrow/cart I also decided I needed something space saving, well designed, rugged, and functional. This is where the “Tipke 2100 Marine Fold-It Utility Cart” comes in.

Fold-it Cart looks like one of the better options out there. The cart is large enough and sturdy enough to carry fairly heavy loads (up to 350 pounds). It features large 20 inch wheels for easy maneuvering, a drop down tailgate so you can use it as a dump cart. The best part, when it is folded it occupies less than 2 square feet of storage space. The design is utilitarian, and innovative, but this something you will pay for. Fold-It rings the bell at $230.00 bucks on Amazon. It’s not cheap, but it takes up less space than a standard wheel barrow, and hauls just as much.

 

Advertisement

Just In Time For Summer

It’s been awhile since I posted really anything about the house. Since today marks the first day of summer, and the almost 1 year point that we found out we were the new owners of “Modular 4”, I thought I would post an update about the landscaping efforts.

Over the weekend, we purchased 3 trees for the yard. A Dwarf Yellow Birch, a Bloodgood Japanese Maple, and a Ginkgo. These are the first 3 of 5 total. We are waiting until next spring to plant the Pink Flowering Dogwood, and the Rosehill Ash.

The Birch was chosen and positioned to create a visual break from the street to our front door. With a maximum height of about 30 feet when it is mature, we are hoping it will prevent people from looking right through the glass door into our living room when they are sitting on the street out front.

The Japanese Maple is positioned just in front of and to the left of the garage. The tree is sited between the house and garage, and will become an anchor to an asian influenced garden that is going to occupy the green space between the two buildings. The Maple is placed so that at maturity it will provide some shade to the garage, and front door of the house. The trick is going to be pruning and training the growth so that it doesn’t impede on our walkway or overwhelm the house itself. Unlike the Birch which grows up to 3 feet a year, the Maple is fairly slow-growing and should be easy to work with in the long run. It’s all about patience and a watchful eye.

Finally the Ginkgo. We placed it about 20 feet diagonally off the corner of the back deck. It is 1 of 2 trees that will sit in this general area. Right now we have no shade on the deck, and even though the Ginkgo is a slow-growing tree, within 5 or so years it should be larger enough to help shade the deck on warm summer afternoons. Since a stone patio will be going in later this summer below the deck the Ginkgo should create a solid visual anchor as it grows. The Rosehill Ash will fill in the space to the north-west of the Ginkgo giving us even more shade on the west side of the house.

So now the big test will be surviving deers, summer heat, and my just OK gardening skills.

Rendering of projected mature sizes.