Rain Barrels

Earlier this week, I created two realtivly inexpensive rain barrels.  If you've ever looked into buying a "rain barrel" they are at least $100 and some are over $200!All I purchased was 2 35 gallon trash cans ($15/ea.), window screen roll ($16/100'), and a semi-flexible tube to bend the water from the down spout to the two trashcans ($10).  I had some bungee cords laying around so they were used.  Took me about 30 minutes to set it up and another 30 minutes spent transplanting about 25 lily plants that where in the way.

All my gutters are directed under ground and away form the house, but b/c of natural grading, the water was pooling in one location of the back yard and the ground remain soggy for days after a good rain.  So far it looks like I've corrected some of the problem....

The assembly was fairly easy.  Cut the window screen (make sure its one meant to keep out mosquitos) so that it over hangs the diameter of the trash can by at least 4-6 inches.  Secure it with the bungee cords.  My gutter system was easy to just seperate it from the bottom half, you may have to cut yours.  I just attached the flexible tubing securing it with two screws and stretched the tubes to flow right into the trash cans.  Then I just had to wait for it to rain.....

Its Saturday morning and its been raining for a few hours and i have one full rain barrel and another one nearly half full.  I'll take a photo at some point.  But for now I have a ton of water!  I'm off to a great water conservation start.  

Lily invasion!

Lilies are not native to my area and are considered invasive plants here.  So far i have counted over 100 lily plants in my yard.  I know that buying an exisiting home has quirks, but seriously who needs 100+ lily plants??  They are growing in full shade, part shade, and currently full sun (soon to be part shade when the trees come in).  

don't get me wrong there is a native lily species to md.  but this isn't it b/c I've seen it and they are very unique and are allready in bloom this time of year.  These guys are just sprouting.  The plant native to MD is the Canda Lily.  Which if you haven't seen what it looks like, its very pretty: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LICA3.  This website happens to be one of my favorite resouces for plants.  Full of all the information any non-botantist should know about their plants.

First Blooms of 2009

Flowers are blooming all over my yard now that spring is here.  These hyacynith were the first to bloom, I took these about two weeks ago.  This will be an interesting growing season since i bought the house and have zero idea of what is where.  Stuff is popping up everywhere and it seems that some plants have gone wild.  This is photo is of my side yard that right now gets full sun but in a few more months will be shaded by a massive ancient oak tree.