May 14

Mother’s Day

Happy Mommy’s day! Yesterday was Mother’s day, so I spent my day with my mom (obviously). Here she is watering the plants we planted yesterday:

She’s gonna kill me for posting that. I made her a pot of plants for the patio for mother’s day (petunias, verbena, and pansies). She loved it.

Anyway, we spent most of the day shopping, then came home and planted the vegetables we started growing in February. It took us about an hour to get it all weeded and in the raised bed.

We started with placing the tomatoes. We have both beefsteak and roma this year. 2 Roma and 3 beefsteak went in the ground.

Then the peppers that I bought at work a while ago. The red peppers died of thirst, but the green did well.

Then in went the strawberry I bought on a whim

And the zucchini that we planted in February. We actually ended up with 4 plants, so we’re going to put the other two in another part of the garden. We go through a lot of zucchini.

We bought a whole bunch of plants at Lowes, so we’re look for all that very soon!

May 10

Lelli’s On The Green

Whenever my uncle comes into town, he has to visit Lelli’s, which used to be located downtown but recently moved just down the street from our house. Today, he came in and I was available to go for the first time. Lelli’s On The Green has been his favorite restaurant for years, and I know now why.

Atmosphere – 5 out of 5

When you first walk in, there is a large crystal chandelier hanging over a sitting area with leather chairs and nail head trimmed chairs surrounded by paintings of women and photos of the owner with servers and customers. You walk to a black lectern where a woman waits to seat you. We were there at 5 on a Wednesday, so the place was virtually empty, but the lushness of the interior suggest that it would never be too loud, and the tables were a decent distance apart, so it would never look crowded or be hard to walk around when it is crowded.

We sat near the kitchen, which was a touch loud, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. And I could smell the pasta almost immediately. And it was a beautiful smell. Not to mention, they play nothing but Frank Sinatra all day every day.

Food – 4.5 out of 5

Upon being seated, we were served a basket of rolls and breadsticks. There was quite a bit of garlic in the rolls, which was disappointing, but they were still quite good. The breadsticks were wonderful. Upon ordering, we were brought a three course meal (I couldn’t even imagine eating their six course) starting with salads. The salad was romaine, tossed in Italian dressing with chickpeas and a mozzarella chip on top. We each ordered a side of Spaghetti Bolognese, which came next, which was the best pasta I’ve ever eaten.

Finally, we received our veal parmigiana, which was a massive piece of veal over a meat sauce with a side of green beans and carrots. The green beans were cooked in an amazing garlic butter, and the slab of veal had a perfect crunch around the edges and a gorgeous coating of cheese. This was, without a doubt, the best veal I’ve ever had.

You may be wondering why I gave the food a 4.5 at the point. I probably would have given it a 5 had I not watched Goodfellas yesterday and watched Paulie slice tissue thin pieces of garlic, which made the flavor of the garlic in all of the dishes really stand out to me. They could have backed off on the garlic just a touch and everything would have been perfect.

Service – 5 out of 5

Our server lit a candle for us when we were seated, then gave us a few minutes to decide what we wanted. He was aware and observant and it was seconds between putting down our menus and giving our order. He was a wonderful server, with the regular witty banter of any good server, but he didn’t overdo it – no oversharing, no obsessive chatting, no interrupting our meal – and that was MUCH appreciated. He even came over and sang us some Sinatra at one point.

Another gentleman, I believe a bus boy, was constantly refilling our waters and taking our plates after every course. He was very nice and polite as well. And quite cute.

Overall – 4.5 out of 5

If they’d cut back the garlic just a touch, I would be giving Lelli’s a 5 out of 5. I’m a HUGE Frank Sinatra fan, and I’m a HUGE pasta fan, and Goodfellas is one of my favorite movies (ok, totally irrelevant) so this VERY classy restaurant is totally my speed. If you’re looking for a cheap meal, this is absolutely not the place, but if you’re looking for an amazing date night, Lelli’s is the place to be. Especially if you’re looking to get engaged. Hint hint.

May 09

Fashion Star: Episode 9

I still don’t understand why they cut three people last night, considering the season is then only going to be 10 episodes long, but hey, I didn’t make the decision. There were a lot of buys last night, so I’m just going to jump right in and be judgey.

Saks

I was really happy with both of Saks’ purchases. Nikki Poulous’ striped dress was gorgeous and really fit into her style. I could have totally seen Nikki wearing this one-shoulder dress, and I love it when designers design for themselves. The $295 price tag isn’t too bad, considering it’s Saks.

Orly Shani’s dress looks very flattering but simple. It’s definitely a work-dress with a blazer, but could be a date-dress without. It’s versitile and pretty impressive. This one is also priced at $295, and I’m fairly certain that Saks is realizing they’re overcharging for these unknown designers, because they appear to be lowering the pricing while the other two are raising the prices.

H&M

Ronnie Escalante’s dress is… interesting. I really don’t think it’s that flattering. It looks like a top and a skirt and it’s totally shapeless. I wouldn’t pay $39.95 for it at all.

H&M seems to have loved the shapeless things last night, since they bought Kara Laricks’ shapeless dress. Which is ugly. And they still have tons in stock. Considering it’s $24.95, I’m completely shocked it’s still there. But then it’s ugly. Who knows.

I loved Orly Shani’s blazer (Chris hated it), and I think it would be gorgeous with that black and white dress of hers. I love the lace insert in the back and the way the lapel looks in the front. It’s just an all around pretty blazer. And a great price at $39.95.

They also bought Orly Shani’s trouser, which just looks like a plain trouser to me, but hey, what do I know? The $25.95 price tag makes zero sense to me, considering they’re cheaper than the blazer, but… whatever.

I’m kind of in love with Ronnie Escalante’s suit. The lapel is awesome, the wide-leg trouser is awesome. The price is on par with the rest of what Macys sells – $208 – and it’s just an all around great outfit. I’m glad they didn’t pick up the floral one.

Macy’s

Kara’s trenchcoat is one of the few items of hers that I liked. It’s very structured and the lining fabric is adorable. It’s a pretty good price at $99, and it’s a nice, classic trenchcoat.

I’m pretty sure Kara Laricks is going to be the winner since it’s between her, Ronnie, and Nzimiro. Ronnie is always iffy, and Nzimiro is menswear, so this is my official prediction.

May 07

The Plan

Over the past few days, I’ve been designing the garden that I mentioned in a few posts. And here it is!

From left to right, we have full sun, part sun, and full shade, so designing the garden wasn’t really the simplest thing. I also had to take into consideration the way each of these plants will look throughout the year, so this garden will never actually look like what is seen above. I’ll explain more of that towards the end of the post.

On the far left of the garden, just to the left of the wall, I want to put a Dwarf Korean Lilac, trimmed into a tree instead of a bush. I’ve read that these can last 20-30 years in this configuration before having issues, and then you just let it go and start over. I know it takes some work, but I think it’s worth it.

As I mentioned in my last post, I need to move the Azaleas to the side of the yard that gets more sun in the spring so they can grow and set flowers. They also need to be pruned so they can grow and not be so spindly. We have 3, so I plan to put them around the existing tree.

Under that tree, I want to put in some Foxgloves. I’ve always loved the way they look, and they do well in part sun, which is perfect for that side of the yard. They’re also a summer bloomer, where the Lilac, Azalea, and some of the other plants in the plan are spring bloomers.

I mentioned previously that we put impatiens in the garden box every year, so in front of it I’d like to put some Pulmonaria (spring-blooming) for some early color.

In contrast, I’d like to move the Hostas that we already have in the garden (and the dying ones under the tree) because they’re a late-summer/early-fall bloomer.

On the other side of the porch, I’d like to put in a PJM Rhododendron, a shade-hardy version of the mostly part-shade plant. These get huge, and will bloom at the same time as the Azaleas on the other side of the yard.

Between the Rhododendron and the existing Japanese Maple will be some white Astilbe. It has an unusual look to it, and since it blooms in mid-summer, it’s perfect for the area. It will also pop in front of the dark brick.

Directly in front of the Astilbe is a great place for the shorter, early-spring blooming Helleborus. I’d like sometime more unusual than what is shown here, but the flower is such an interesting thing on its own. I’ve seen them the same color as the leaves and stalks, which is very interesting.

I’m also considering some sort of groundcover, but haven’t decided on that one yet, considering it would be hard to get it to spread with the landscaping fabric.

Just for a recap…

  • Rebuild the wall around the drainage pipe and use mortar this time
  • Call the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to verify that I can build a dry creek bed in the ditch
  • Build dry creek bed
  • Cap off ends of the drainage pipe with some sort of grate (after thoroughly cleaning it out)
  • Plant some sun and shade grass seed/patch
  • Rip out all of the low bushes, the dying tree, and the sad little stumps
  • Figure out the Azalea problem (and possibly replant them elsewhere)
  • Figure out the Hosta problem and fix it (either plant something else or put grass seed up to the tree)
  • Prune the little tree
  • Move the left side of the garden in about 2 unnecessary feet and plant grass
  • Replace the landscaping fabric
  • Replace the cedar mulch with black or brown colored mulch
  • Edge the garden with blocks instead of cheap black plastic
  • Buy an insane amount of shade and part sun perennials to replace everything I’m ripping out buy what’s in the plan and put it in the ground
  • Put in a flowering tree or some sort of bush (either a Flowering Almond or a Lilac) on the far left corner of the garden
  • Transplant the evergreen that may or may not be dying to the other side of the garden
  • Plant impatiens in the flower box
  • Transplant Azaleas to the other side of the garden

May 04

Pizza Pino

OhHay there, Swankyluvers!

I’m Mike, and I’ll be bringing you today’s post all the way from the eWorld of OhHayMike.com! It’s great to be here, folks.

So, yesterday I went to a concert. The concert started at 8:30, but I got there around 7, so I decided to check out a restaurant across the street by the name of Pizza Pino. Let me tell you, that place was pretty much awesome.

 

 

 

Atmosphere – 5 out of 5

Walking into this place, it feels like a standard college town hangout spot; it has a big TV mounted on the wall and a bunch of extraneous decorative sports and pop culture items. The staff here is very friendly and casual, and the whole scene is pretty laid back. The guy at the register seemed very happy to be at his job, despite the fact that it took me forever to finally decide what it was I wanted to eat. Kudos to you, Mike (I’m not patting myself on the back, that was the guy’s name at the register).

This might sound like an obvious thing to most, but living in a college town will make you think differently; the restaurant was really well-kept. It wasn’t just clean, it shined. I mean, there wasn’t one funky smell, sticky spot on the floor, nothing! It was a breath of fresh air, after becoming used to places around Western’s campus. I actually left a tip, not for the food or service, but because the place was so darn clean. I think a single tear may have fallen from my face.

 

Food – 4 out of 5

 

I ordered the Southwest burger, without all the things that make it “southwesty”, because the place DIDN’T HAVE A SIMPLE BACON CHEESEBURGER. And yes, I went to a pizza joint and ordered a burger. But damn, was it good. I ordered my meal with onion rings, since I hate steak fries, and got a side of chipotle sauce for them. It. Was. Delicious. I’m sure they have great pizza, but if you ever go to Pizza Pino, you need to get a burger. It’ll change your life.

As a side note, a pet peeve of mine is going to a restaurant and ordering onion rings, only to get 4 big onion rings. I was a little bit salty when he brought me the plate because it looked like there were just a few onion rings on the plate, but as I continued eating them, I realized there were a lot more than I had initially realized. That won them major point in my book, because this kid loves onion rings. And with a good sauce? Heaven.

 

 

Service – 3.5 out of 5

Everyone working was friendly, but the only problem was there were only two people actually working. The guy at the register had to keep leaving to take calls, and there was only one guy in the back cooking. The delivery guy was just sitting there, waiting for a delivery to send out, not helping at all. I mean, he could have at least answered the phones while the other guy was helping the in-store customers. Luckily, there weren’t a lot of people there, what with all the U of M students being gone, and most of the people in the area being in line for the concert.

 

Overall – 4 out of 5

The place was nice, the food was delicious, and the people that were actually working were friendly enough. I’ll have to go back and try their pizza some day, because it really did look good. But you can’t wave beef in front of my face and expect me not to pounce. But one day. Bottom line, if I ever find myself looking for food in Ann Arbor again, I’ll definitely consider Pizza Pino among my top options. And you should too!

 

Well folks, that’s all from me! I hope to see you all again some time in the future, and you can always stop by OhHayMike.com and see what’s going on in the eWorld!

May 03

Azaleas

I mentioned last week that I wanted to re-do the front yard, which involved a bunch of stuff, including figuring out what’s wrong with the Azaleas. 

Which I did. The location that the leggy, sad azaleas are in is under a dense, early foliage tree, which, while they’re a part-sun plant, they need much more than they’re getting. I plan to move them to the other side of the garden, under they sycamore (a late-foliage tree). I’m hoping this well help them fill in and flower. Maybe not this year, but definitely next.

They also need to be pruned more often than once every 9 years. Oops.

So, that’s at least one thing off my list. I figured out what was wrong (too much shade) and that I have to transplant them. Look for more about the front yard tomorrow!

  • Rebuild the wall around the drainage pipe and use mortar this time
  • Call the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to verify that I can build a dry creek bed in the ditch
  • Build dry creek bed
  • Cap off ends of the drainage pipe with some sort of grate (after thoroughly cleaning it out)
  • Plant some sun and shade grass seed/patch
  • Rip out all of the low bushes, the dying tree, and the sad little stumps
  • Figure out the Azalea problem (and possibly replant them elsewhere)
  • Figure out the Hosta problem and fix it (either plant something else or put grass seed up to the tree)
  • Prune the little tree
  • Move the left side of the garden in about 2 unnecessary feet and plant grass
  • Replace the landscaping fabric
  • Replace the cedar mulch with black or brown colored mulch
  • Edge the garden with blocks instead of cheap black plastic
  • Put in a flowering tree or some sort of bush (either a Flowering Almond or a Lilac) on the far left corner of the garden
  • Transplant the evergreen that may or may not be dying to the other side of the garden
  • Plant impatiens in the flower box
  • Buy an insane amount of shade and part sun perennials to replace everything I’m ripping out
  • Transplant Azaleas to the other side of the garden

May 02

Fashion Star: Episode 8

Sak’s

Kara Larick’s tuzedo shirt was interesting. I liked the detail on the front, and the bit that hung down in front at the bottom. I especially liked it in grey, which Sak’s of course didn’t pick up. It’s an interesting top – though I’d never wear it. Sak’s is selling it for $235, and I’m glad they styled the model differently than they did for the fashion show. Kara’s models weren’t wearing pants. One wore leggings. It wasn’t good.

Luciana’s dress came across as very Miami. It was cute and the petal bottom created a little bit of character. It seemed as though it gave the models hips where they had none, which is never a bad thing! The neck was really interesting, and I loved the pattern. I actually really liked this dress! They’re strangely selling it for $325 in floral and $295 in black. Why you wouldn’t sell it for the same price, I don’t know, but whatever. I wish this dress was at Macy’s. So I might actually be able to buy it.

H&M

Ronnie Escalante’s dress was very plain to me. It didn’t see to flatter the model much, and there wasn’t much detail at all. Or any. It just looks like a dress that you can buy anywhere. I honestly don’t have much to say about this dress because it’s so plain. H&M is selling it for $39.95. I really have nothing to say.

Macy’s

Nzimiro’s cardigan was very cute. I’m a huge cardigan fan – on men and women – and this one just looks really cool. I’m really glad it got picked up by Macy’s. I don’t understand the $119 price tag AT ALL other than the fact that they’re running out of everything really quickly from the show. I want this for Chris. And myself. And everyone around me. Mike?

 

This episode wasn’t very interesting. And they sent Ross home. And they’re sending home three people next week. What?

May 01

Sushi House

I know I just posted a restaurant review yesterday, but I went to a new place last night and had to do two in a row. This restaurant is two doors down from the most amazing Chinese restaurant in Oakland County, Rainbow, at 9 Mile and Farmington Road, but we weren’t as impressed with them as we are with Rainbow. Unfortunately, Rainbow is closed on Mondays, so we ended up at Sushi House.

Atmosphere – 4 out of 5

The restaurant is fair sized, and usually packed. We were there on a Monday and it was pretty full of people, though we were seated immediately. The tables aren’t too close together, and the restaurant is very open-looking. You can see the sushi chefs at the open bar, and there’s a pretty nice flow. It’s also connected to the place next door (Tofu House) and they share a kitchen, so you can order anything from Tofu House while in Sushi House.

They play slides of sushi on screen all around the room, and the windows between Sushi House and Tofu House are made to look like fish tanks with window clings, though I think they could have saved a bit of money on the flat screens and put in real fish tanks.

Food – 4 out of 5

Our meal started with a simple salad with the best peanut salad dressing I’ve ever had. So much so that we bought some before we left. Then we were served Miso Soup, which was weird and separated in the time that it took us to eat our salads. That was just strange. And it didn’t help that it was bland.

The Sushi and Sushi House is nothing short of amazing. We ordered the Sexy Roll and the Dragon Roll (seen below) and they were delicious. The Dragon Roll had a phenomenal crunch from the shrimp tempura. It was all good. We also ordered the Yaki Udon and Beef Nabemono in addition to the sushi, to make for a more… dinnery dinner. The Nabemono was pretty good. I’m not usually a fan of sweet dishes as meals, but this was totally different. The cellophane noodles were a bit chewy, but the meat was tender and the vegetables were perfectly cooked. I would definitely recommend the Nabemono if you go there with more than two people. Or are really really hungry.

The Udon, on the other hand, was not good at all (once we finally got it… more on that later.) It was bland. Very bland. And the noodles were very rubbery and just not good. I much prefer the Udon at Benihana.

Service – 1 out of 5

I was extremely disappointed with the service. We were served our sushi first, then they tried to bring our bill without bringing the rest of our food. I figure most people only order sushi, because when we asked where the rest of our food was, the woman (not our waitress) had no idea what we were talking about. Then we waited almost 15 minutes before having to ask our original waitress when we would get our food. She quickly said “you will get the rest of your food” and ran off. We eventually got our food, and when I took a bite of the Udon, it was ice cold. As though it had sat in the back because everyone had forgotten who it belonged to.

I never would have known if they’d microwaved it for a minute before bringing it out. I wouldn’t have even cared. I would have been perfectly happy to obliviously eat my bland, hot Udon. I wouldn’t have cared if they had apologized, told me it was microwaved, and called it a day. NEVER bring ANYONE cold food. EVER.

Overall – 3 out of 5

I want to give one of these restaurants a good review some day. I really do. But every time I go in, looking to give a review, I’m disappointed by something. I was really looking forward to Sushi House. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. But I couldn’t get past the poor service and the bad Udon. Go to Sushi House for the sushi, but I really wouldn’t bother with anything else.

Apr 30

RJ’s American Grille: A Restaurant Review

Full disclosure: This is not the first time I’ve been to RJ’s. I haven’t been in a while, but this review is based on my most recent visit – and their recent changes.

Atmosphere – 4 out of 5

I love that RJ’s isn’t a chain restaurant, and that the decor is all Detroit-based. I’m a big fan of the Wings jerseys and Tigers bats and signed EVERYTHING. It’s a lot like your traditional sports bar, wallpapered in sports memorabilia, flat screen TVs hung from the ceiling. It was finally a comfortable temperature, but the table was sticky – and we weren’t the only ones who noticed. I heard the people at the next table mention that their table was sticky, and the waitress laughed it away, saying that “it’s so you don’t put your elbows on the table.” Ew.

We did notice when we pulled up that the parking lot was extremely empty for a Friday night. The restaurant only had a handful of tables filled, where we usually would have been surrounded by people, the tables were, for the most part, empty.

Food – 2 out of 5

RJ’s used to have the best burgers in the city. Seriously. The California Burger was amazing, but now they have a new menu, and those amazing burgers are all but gone. In place of the amazing burgers are now the RJ’s Signature Burger ($8), the Piedmontese Steakburger ($10), the Chicken Burger ($8), the Black Bean Burger ($8), the Salmon Burger ($10), and the Build Your Own Gourmet Burger (starting at $8). They also raised the price on their Piedmontese upgrade to $4 from $2. In an attempt to recreate the California Burger, I added the cost of the guacamole, bacon, and cheese, and it ended up being an $11 burger. So we got the Build Your Own Pizza instead (starting at $10).

I wouldn’t but the pizza on par with Little Caesars, but I would say it was closer to Papa John’s for a way higher price. I really don’t have much to say – it wasn’t Uno’s pizza, it was just meh. Totally not worth $13, and I’m really not a pizza snob. I enjoy Little Caesars and feel good about spending $5 for a decent pizza (not all Little Caesars are created equal. The 12 and Farmington Little Caesars in Farmington Hills is phenomenal) but I also enjoy high quality pizza when I want to spend a little more. This was not that pizza.

I’ve gotten their Fettuccine Alfredo in the past, and it’s a HUGE plate, and quite good, but they’ve raised their prices since then, so I don’t know if I’d spend $10 on a meatless dish.

Service – 3 out of 5

Our waiter told us towards the beginning of our meal that he was new, and was very patient as we hemmed and hawed over the menu after we saw the issue with the burgers. He was a nice guy, but I was a little upset when I ordered a beer and he automatically brought me a $2.80 bottle instead of a $3 draft without asking. And when I said something, didn’t try to offer anything to correct it.

I also got a little annoyed when it was clear that we were done with our meal and he came back a second time to ask if we were doing ok, then we had to wait for our bill. It didn’t help that I was still upset about my meal (which is why I decided to wait a few days before writing my review) and I still think it’s annoying that he didn’t bring the check on the second “are you doing ok?” Nitpicky.

Overall –  2 out of 5

The food was a true disappointment. RJ’s is where we used to go for a burger, and now we have to find a different place as to not spend $9 on some meat and cheese (Because it’s $.80 for cheese!) and it’s not like we’re going to go there for sub-par pizza, either. There’s also way better places for pasta. It’s really disappointing what they’ve done with the new menu, because it really does seem like they lost a lot of customers with it – not just us.

Apr 27

Travesty

Since I’m now a home improvement store garden employee, I’ve been seriously considering redoing my front yard, so I thought I share some of my ideas first before actually getting into it. This is the front of my house:

As you can see, it’s pretty trashed. We have a lot of spots where the grass doesn’t want to grow, and a lot of shade. Mostly shade. Not only does the sun rise in the front, but there are also some pretty dense trees that make growing a lot of things pretty impossible. There’s also this travesty:

It’s a ditch, just like everyone else in our neighborhood has. It’s a sad little thing, where the grass doesn’t grow and it’s impossible to mow. I’ve been wanting to turn it into a dry creek bed to help with water flow. And maybe put some pretty grates over the holes on either side of the driveway. Sometimes we get plugged up with leaves, and sometimes we get water stuck in our ditch because it has a weird slope. It really wouldn’t be too hard to do a creek bed – gravel and large stones – I just have to call MDEQ to make sure I can do that. Oh, and rebuild the wall on either side of the driveway.

The grass hardly grows in the front, so I’m going to get some sun and shade grass seed and see if I can’t get that to grow instead of having all of this bare land. And I’m going to see if I can’t find something to replace the sad Hostas under the right tree (which is super dense). You can actually see the difference between the Hostas under the lamp vs the ones under the tree.

For some reason, they planted a bush under the Japanese Maple, so that needs to get pulled out and give the tree a little space.

And I’m not too sure what’s going on with the Azaleas, but those need to get fixed/removed. Along with all of these low bushes that are insanely ugly. The front of the garage is pretty much bare with all of these low bushes and we want something a little taller.

Then there’s this sad little half dead tree. Which just needs to go. I’d love to plant little trees flanking either side of the front porch so it can look a bit more inviting and less like someone is going to physically harm you if you get near the house.

I wish my ducky was big enough to plant anything in, but its barely 2 inches deep, so nothing will get the chance to grow. He’s still cute.

This… stump is off to the left in the pictures above. It’s a bush that keeps getting cut down and coming back. It needs to be taken out completely and replaced with something that we actually want. I’m voting for a lilac bush. Oh, and that purple stuff growing near it? The’s catnip. We thought we got rid of it, but clearly not.

This stump has been here for some time and I have no idea what it used to be, but it needs to go. Along with the torn up landscaping fabric and the ugly cedar chips. I think a black mulch would really improve the look off the yard. And it wouldn’t be so obvious when the outrageous wind whips it out of the garden and leaves nothing but landscaping fabric. Boo.

Believe me when I say that these stupid bushes need to go. I HATE resent most conifers, really. I like Arborvitae and one or two bushes are fine, but we have 9, and I think we used to have 11 of these, which I believe are juniper but I may be wrong. I think some mounding perennials (or even uprights!) would be perfect here and give us some color. even though we put Impatiens in that front box every year.

In true YHL fashion, heres a list of everything I want to do:

  • Rebuild the wall around the drainage pipe and use mortar this time
  • Call the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to verify that I can build a dry creek bed in the ditch
  • Build dry creek bed
  • Cap off ends of the drainage pipe with some sort of grate (after thoroughly cleaning it out)
  • Plant some sun and shade grass seed/patch
  • Rip out all of the low bushes, the dying tree, and the sad little stumps
  • Figure out the Azalea problem (and possibly replant them elsewhere)
  • Figure out the Hosta problem and fix it (either plant something else or put grass seed up to the tree)
  • Prune the little tree
  • Move the left side of the garden in about 2 unnecessary feet and plant grass
  • Replace the landscaping fabric
  • Replace the cedar mulch with black or brown colored mulch
  • Edge the garden with blocks instead of cheap black plastic
  • Put in a flowering tree or some sort of bush (either a Flowering Almond or a Lilac) on the far left corner of the garden
  • Transplant the evergreen that may or may not be dying to the other side of the garden
  • Plant impatiens in the flower box
  • Buy an insane amount of shade and part sun perennials to replace everything I’m ripping out

 

Obviously, it’s not a weekend project. It’s going to take some time for it to a) convince my mom that all of this is a good idea and b) get it done, so it’s going to be a process and I’ll be sure to keep you posted.