Curb Appeal

While I've been composting for the past few weeks another outdoor project has been looming above me...the front yard.
A few months back we had a driveway poured, and while this resolved the bulk of our front yard problems, it left a larger problem for the rest of the yard.

The plan was to lay sod around the driveway and easily create a magazine-quality front yard....talk is always easier than action. I went outside yesterday to start work on preparation and realized that a ton of concrete debris and rocks has integrated itself into the soil. Not good for grass.

So now the plan is to craft a large sifter for the top soil and shovel the bulk of the yard through it. Hopefully this wont take a ton of time and will produce good results. Someone once said "The harder you work, the better the results"...yeah.

Meanwhile I can think of the type of grass I want to lay...

Building a Soil Sifter
http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/landscape/tools/sifter/soil.htm

Local sod farms
http://www.modernturf.com
http://www.carolinafreshfarms.com/index.html
http://www.pattenseed.com/index.html

Compost Happens

Several years ago, there was a station wagon that was covered from side to side with bumper stickers (on the back). I saw this wagon quite often rummaging about Greenwood, and I was fond of reading the various extreme, anti-government, we can-do-it-ourselves types of messages plastered about, but the one that I was most fond of, and still remember to this day simply read "Compost Happens". And it does.

This is the first major step in the garden project. I'm hoping that if I mix it up every day that I might have something usable in a few weeks, depending on the weather. Right now it's just a mixture of mulched leaves from the fall and about a weeks worth of kitchen scraps. If you have any kitchen scraps you'd like to contribute, they would be much appreciated.

For those of you interested in starting a compost of your own, I purchased this compost bin from Lowes for about $50 US. It was in the way back of the outdoor garden section (part of the store you've never really been to).

Here is a useful link for more information:
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/homecompost/building.html

Happenings

Not much happening right now. Studying for MS 70-291 which I plan to take by month's end. At which point I will be done with PTC forever.

Finished painting the baby's room this past weekend. A nice cool blue named "inhale". I'll post pictures when we have more decorations up.