Earth Day 2019

Today was a great day to clean out the greenhouse and clean the Plexiglass from all the sap, needles and pollen coming out of my neighbor's tree.  Twice a year we have to clean it to keep it looking great.

Once every is out then I can use a little bleach water to wash down the walls inside and out.
This year I decided to move the shelves from the back wall to the east wall, then move the rain barrel and the smaller half barrels.  If I don't like it then next year I'll move it back.  Change is a good thing!  Next is putting new plastic on the shelves and moving the plants back.  Then I can start the new brugmansia seeds in the pop bottles.  We have 8 seedpods from last year. 

I also started cleaning out the rain barrels,  4 done out of the 13 we have here. 

April 20, 2019 Can't You Read??

Yesterday afternoon we had a man show up at our door, he stated he was in the area spraying for ants
and wanted to know if we needed his service.   My dear husband asked him if he could read?  He blew past three signs to come to our door.  The man stated he was to busy looking at our yard but no excuse!!  If you don't have an appointment don't come to our door!!!    Plus, do you think we have ants with how our yard looks?  You are wasting our time as we know what we are doing here!  NO ANTS!!    Ya just make yourself look bad and if you are treating our neighbors properties, don't bother us!!   Oh yes, we have seen the trucks in the hood and we truly know why you are here.....look how they keep their yards!!! 

It's as good as one of our neighbors using spray just minutes before their Easter company arrives??

Ya know you can't fix stupidity!!!

April 21, 2019 Let the Blooming Begin!

All our hard work is starting to pay off!!  We are seeing the yard come to life and
flowers are starting to bloom!  Here is some early photos of what we see in bloom.

This past week we were able to get the brugmansia in their summer place, will move them if 

they are in the wrong place.  Moving them in the rain isn't a wise move!!  But they are done and the Eppie cactus are all hung in their summer home.

March 9, 2019 / Spring projects

Today we started working on the yard, a bit early and the temps were a brisk 27 degrees when
we got started around 9:30am.  It was nice to see the truck pull in and we were ready to roll.
Since Allen had surgery late last night he sat the morning out and did some work inside  So I
started on the front and had a request for photos.

The first load of mulch
15 cubic yards.   The driver did great keeping it
all on the tarps!!

Before photos: 

As you can see the mulch is about gone and we have learned every three

years new mulch needs to be added.

After photos:

We work the outer edges and leave a space to run the wheel barrel along, this is 

done so we don't run across the grass and kill it or leave ruts.    We stopped around 4:30 pm

so clean up could be done and will finish the front today.   I have around 10 more wheel barrels 

to finish the front yard.  Then it's off to the back and the last 10 cubic yards of mulch will arrive

around 2 ish.   Yes that is 25 yards of mulch to hopefully do the yard.  Out back we have a circle

bed and last year we added some black mulch to add a difference in color.   So this year we are

going to be doing the front oval bed the same way beside the area at the curb will also be black.

More photos to come.

It's a New Year and...........

Here at karma 'Happy Toes' Garden, we are going to be doing things differently!!

First:  We are going to start using 'CHEMICALS'!!  I can just hear, WHY??   It's due to the lack
of care our neighbors' are doing!   After years of less chemicals and seeing last year what we had to
deal with, it's time.  I truly understand now why folks turn to chemicals if their neighbors fail to take
care of their property!  It is time to become vocal and we will show you what we had to deal with this
past year!!      Photos to come!!

Secondly:   Our gardens will only be open by appointment only!   No more drive by or walking visits!  We may or may not open the gardens when we have our yearly sale.  Sorry we didn't have one last year as we waited for the County to surly seal our roadway, it hadn't been done in 20 years!!

Thirdly:  We are making some changes to our yard, so if you make an appointment and we say no, you will know up front that we are working on these changes.  Why the changes, let's just say it's due to neighbors' not taking care of their property and we have to deal with the damage it's causing ours.

Fourth:  Some of you have asked why I'm so not sharing information, again there is the appearance my silence is due to my neighboring issues.  It's been brought to our attention they too read but don't care.   It is also my understanding that if things come into our yard and it's not ours, they need to be returned in a timely fashion and that is what we do now!  Clark County information states, "that if you have trees in your yard, you are responsible for them!"  If your leaves blow into the street it's your responsibility to pick them up and they shouldn't blow into your neighbors yard nor should they
have to pick them up!   Nor should they land on adjacent property have to pay for their disposal.  With the County only sweeping the streets once a year in many locations it's time folks do their part and pick up after their trees.  It's bad enough that adjacent properties have to deal with the mess your tree cause them.  We started last year to return all of it to the property where it comes from.   We keep our gardens clean so that our visitors have a great experience when they tour our gardens.  Yes, we know just how bad the properties around us are!  We had a gardener from Canada email us and told us what they saw when they Googled our gardens.  If you don't believe me, just Google or use a mapping program and check out your property.  Even the Cities and County's website have photos, some maybe out dated but still it gives you a chance to see what others see.  You can find these photos under the GIS dept. for your address and take the tours of your neighborhood.  This is for the public to look at.

Sorry I have not been here, but had to deal with a family members medical needs these past few weeks.  After spending the full day at SW WA Peace Heath Hospital on the 26th we know know what is going on and hopefully put this to rest.  But we came home to find one heck of a mess due to the east winds!   I spent my Wed. morning cleaning up what my neighbors' trees tossed into our yard.

This is a mild (40 mph) wind storm and the whole north and east sides of the property was littered with sticks, branches and pine cones.  It had to all be raked to get it all picked up.    This stuff flew all the way into the back garden beds.  The roof will be cleaned off when the weather permits.   In the fall these neighbors had tree trimmers out to cut down trees in their yard and we just shake our heads at the events, yes these guys were out on two occasions so far.  Here are the trees and how they were left after removal of the huge maples that were planted over the septic  drain field.  Yes they are scalped on the east side and the one in the front is scalped on three sides.  Now you can see why we just shake our heads.  These folks have done little to their yard for years.   We watched at the trees were cut and sorry my yard isn't going to have their trees cut and dropped in our yard!  We keep our yard clean of our neighbors stuff for a reason and if you see what is blown in you would understand why the use of chemicals.  We also didn't appreciate them sending their tree trimmer over to talk to us and them wanting to drop cut limbs into our yard.  There is no need to do so.

This is how the back yard was left after the trees were removed.  As you can see these trees leave
a huge mess if not cleaned up. We try to keep our side of the fence clean as this is the area where we allow our dog to do her business.  We deal with sap and her trying to eat everything.

Just one of the leaves that we have taken photos of.












Here are some of the photos that we have taken so folks can see what we have to deal with.  It's not just the east side but the north and west, too.

This is what blows down to our driveway as no one in our area picks up their leaves.

Many folks put tree right along the property lines as they don't want to take up space in their yards. As these trees grow due to lack of care they can cause damage to adjacent properties.  We currently have issues with our fence due to the roots of the adjacent trees.   In one area we have our fence bowing due to the roots of trees and another area the fence is tilting.   There is also the reoccurring issue of tree limbs falling and causing damage to our fence due to those trees aren't wind sailed and we know of only one time they were professional trimmed.  We were warned by that tree trimmer that they were only allowed to do a little trimming and those neighbors refused to allow them to fix the issues at that time.  Hence we have had now our fence his three times, you will find we have covered this issue in the past.  We will also tell you to check with your insurance company on what is covered and what isn't.    We also deal with roots into our yard as they search for water.  Do you water your trees?   This past year with the heat we had, we are seeing confers and other trees die.  Ya know all one can do is shake their heads with you see the lack of care we are seeing.   How about you go without water and see how long you last??

I was asked what is the best time to remove trees.   When they are dormant. 



More to be added later when time permits as I have to pick up/ clean up the yard today!