Super Simple Yard and Garden Ideas, from the DIY Homemade Household, side of life!

We were very fortunate, when Tropical Storm Beryl finally left us, and he left us as he found us! Except for one garden trellis that held up the cucumbers, and one raspberry cane that was snapped in two, nothing else was broken or damaged! 

Others in our area were not so lucky, with trees taken down by the wind. Our community is having a debris pickup event to get all the yards and side streets tidy, and back to where we started! In our case, we raked up the broken branch pieces and they went into the compost or into a garden bed to layer with soil. Fortunately we were on the fringe of the storm and except for a few strong gusts, it wasn't much different than our usual wind and rain. What was different for this storm is that it took our significant parts of the electrical service infrastructure for the state of Texas and many of us were without power. In our case for five days! That my friends, was new! 

Once the power was restored to our area, it was time to finish getting things cleaned up! We worked in the yard each morning until it was too hot. And sometimes we would work in the evenings. But what had to wait for the power to be restored was laundry! To be honest, I never had six loads to do before, ever. Not even with my kids still at home. Also, funny enough, I did not realize we actually had that many clothes in our closets! Not with paring down for retirement and living in a Caravan...but six loads it was, already waiting, plus I needed to change the linens on the bed! 

One of the tasks we completed was also a bit of fun. We put up new flags at our driveway entrance. Our other American Flag that we used in Montana, then Wyoming and even here in Texas, was in need of retirement. I found it was good for us to alternate fun tasks with the more messy ones. And with the new flags, I can give easy directions like, "make a left into the driveway on the left with flags at the gate". It is custom here in Texas to have the American flag on one side of the driveway and a Texas flag on the other. So, we did too!

I really like how the flag poles turned out, but I wanted a light at the bottom of the poles. We had put together a tall set of three column planters at the gate when we first arrived, and in each tube we added a solar light. It was a nice touch of light when driving home late, making it easy to pull right in. And I wanted that same convenience for the two flag poles, now gracing our gate. You may have noticed that it is pretty rough and ready around here. Most folks do not mow the wide grassy area between their fence and the road. I do however like to mow a large V shape. I still like it tidy, even out here in rural Texas! 

Since we live on sand and clay, sticking the solar lights in the ground, was out of the question! And then it hit me, why not stand them up in brick? We have a number of extruded bricks laying around, they were on the property when we arrived. Turns out, they were perfect for this project. Each of the bricks had five holes which made for perfect spacing when using three solar lights, come and take a look...

Keeping the spiked end, tucked in, just like they came from the store, simply stand them up in a hole in the brick. And that is it! But here is the very best part. It's too heavy to be carried away in a wind storm, and when it is time to mow, pick the brick up, mow, and weed if needed by hand, and replace the brick. That's it! Almost too simple to share....but then again, not everything needs to take forever and call for a trip to town to pick up supplies. And, making due, is kind of my thing...

If you are growing fruit or vegetables that need to be up off the ground, this idea might be useful. I took the last little bit of fencing wire left from the garden fence and rolled it up. It makes a perfect little lift for our first Golden Melon that is beginning to ripen! But any large fruit or veg that needs to breath would grow better on a lift. 

The chlorine chamber seemed to prefer getting caught up in the filter opening on our above ground pool, A pool noodle cut in two and placed around a hula hoop, made the perfect fence for the chamber! No more funny sounds as the filter is being choked by something in the way. 

Yep that is sand all over the outside of the planters, each time it rains here, sand bounces up and sticks to everything! But that is not the reason for this photo. I keep an assortment of rubble in the garden area. When I stack slopped side planters and 5 gal bucket (especially those buckets!) I put a piece of rubble in the bottom of each before stacking. That piece of rubble prevents any suction from happening, and they are very easy to pull apart. This is especially true when wearing gloves. 

 

And this one if for the backyard chicken keepers. When we have a wheelbarrow of weeds from the garden or a plant that we know is good for the ladies, we pile them up and give a quick sprinkle of chicken chow. These ladies can't wait for weeding day, and make short work of this pile in no time with scratching, pecking and eating what they like while searching for another nugget of chow! When they are done, it is perfect to put into the compost bins. 

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