My Tree Just Came in the Mail - Oh no, the Ground is Still Frozen!

Thanks to doodling in Photoshop, I foresee two trees in my front hill: a red Japanese maple and a red Japanese Dogwood.

I ordered a bare-root red Japanese Dogwood tree on eBay. I asked the seller to please wait for another 3 weeks before sending it, expecting the ground to have thawed out by then.

Unfortunately, it came in the mail today. I checked by the help of Google: "plant bare-root tree immediately upon receiving it in the mail. If you are unable due to poor weather conditions keep in a cool place, making sure the roots remain moist." The tree will just have to wait in the basement until spring arrives.

The Ugly Retaining Wall

This is a close-up of the ugly retaining wall. It's made up of pieces of a broken up concrete side walk. It's a great place for moss and weeds to grown in.

For me, thinking about trying to replace this retaining wall became an impossible task. 1) A new retaining wall is expensive - money which I do not have. 2) Due to the temperature zone of Pittsburgh, with its endless freeze-thaw cycles, temperatures ranging from 15 to 65 degrees F from December to April, all the new retaining walls in the area are falling apart.

The greatest thing about my retaining wall. It is probably the original retaining wall when the house was first built. It has held up all that dirt for decades. I don't think it is going anywhere.

My father-in-law gave me the best suggestion a couple of months ago. He said, "Why not just plant some ivy and let it cover up the wall?" The light flashed on in my head. That was the best suggestion and solution that I heard for the UGLY RETAINING WALL.

February 2008 in PIttsburgh

Snow covered burlap. I'm just waiting for the ground to thaw to begin my landscaping.

I've never lived on a hill like we have here in Pittsburgh. I grew up in Hawaii; lived in Cleveland, OH and Ann Arbor, MI. Hillscapes are very new.

Just ask friends and colleagues, I've been thinking about what to do about this hill for the last three years.

What do you do with a hill?
What do you do about that ugly retaining wall?
What do you do if you don't have much money to spend to hire a landscaper or someone to rebuild that ugly retaining wall?

One thing good about this hill, this challenge has become a hobby that has occupied my thoughts, resulting in reading 30-50 books from the library, bought another 20 more, scoured numerous websites, took a summer community college class, and endless hours playing with different ideas in Photoshop.

Definitely more to come....

Fall of 2007

When we moved in, the front hill of our house was an overgrown jungle of weeds. Some of the weeds had even become "trees". By brute force the weeds were pulled. A black tarp was laid on the soil for three full summer months. Then burlap was laid to prevent weeds from growing, as best as it could. That lasted for about 18 months.