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Cool good to know.

We want to eventually grow things in that area by the sidewalk though, so wouldn't we want it to decompose to make that dirt there a little better for growing stuff?

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It does help deliver some nutrients to plants, but really for sidewalk bushes and plants or big trees, its not necessary. Most landscapers use rock right around the front of houses, becuase its cleaner and hearty bushes dont need constant fertilizer like that. Flowers, vegetables and grass are what benefit more from regular fertilizer or decomposing matter like mulch or grass clippings.

That front pocket in front of your entry, I would def put some landscaping fabric underneath and just cut a + slits when you plant bushes. Im doing this right now actually in the front of the yard, but im reusing rock that was previously there and we built a short retaining wall. I had to build it up 8 inches though because the soil settled over 10 years. Going to pick up 2 more bushes or lillys to fill it in, then put the rock back this weekend.

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I agree with most of what Pete says. Most people put rock up against the house and mulch on areas away from the house. And usually you put the fabric that lets water through on areas with mulch to help prevent weeds. But to be honest, that isn't 100% necessary. I have a good sized area with mulch, and half of it has the fabric and half doesn't. I still get weeds and wild grass growing where the fabric is. With mulch holding in moisture, wild grass can literally attach its roots to that fabric and still grow. If you want to keep that mulch area up by the garage, just keep an eye on it and use weed killer when weeds start popping up. Its a small enough area, that it won't be that hard to maintain.

later,
Curt

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Lol, didn't realize mulch was going to be such a debatable topic. Maybe I need to do a better job of explaining what we did, and our intentions.

We DID USE ROCK up against the house for 99% of it. And it DOES HAVE PLASTIC under it. We mulched around a couple trees because they didn't sod right against the tree because we don't want to mow/weedwhack right against those trees. So it was bare dirt there and we laid mulch to cover the dirt for now. It was cheap and easy. We may rock in the future around those trees, but we're pretty budget conscious at this very moment so mulch was the quick and easy way to get it done for now.

Then right next to the sidewalk, the intent of that area isn't for decoration, that is going to be our little garden where we want to grow simple vegie's like pea pods. Is it normal to plastic under your garden?

Again, I'm a newb. But if you understand our intentions for these couple areas, it probably makes sense why we didn't plastic/rock those areas right now, and just laid mulch.

Peter seeing what you did with mulch around the perimeter of the house, and planting trees/shrubs in there. I can understand why you'd put plastic under there because it's mainly for decoration.

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Nope, no plastic under the garden. You will want to till that area before you plant. If it is a small area you can use a hand tiller and put some fertilizer in there when you do it. I have to till up a garden every spring that is the size of a 2 car garage. Luckily the father-in-law has one on the back of a small tractor.

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You can also just sprinkle some preen on top of the mulch. Should keep the weeds at bay for the rest of the year.

Also, some starter fertilizer never hurts on new sod after its 10-14 days old. And tons of water obviously.

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lol I didnt put mulch around the perimeter of the house, I took the rock out, raised it and im putting the rock back that was there.

Anyway, all good.

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Yaay Ok let's all hug now. Our next projects are gutters next week, and we need a garage door opener.

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I was going to ask about gutters, if you were planning on them or not.

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Yeah, 5" K-style aluminum gutters around the entire house basically.

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^Nice!

I got the grill all finished being painted and gave it a whirl. Seems to work well and have a nice even heat! Not bad for a 40 year old grill!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v...-02-16_516.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2...-19-17_798.jpg

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test post.

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https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-G...-57-16_278.jpg

Birthday present from the wife!

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Nice 50s fridge. You will love it. Mine works so much better than the new one up stairs? I have to leave mine on vac all the time other wise it will freeze the beer

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Yeah im pretty excited. I have thought about wiring in a temp controller, so I can keep better control of it. but I'll have put the thermometer on it tonight and see how it does.

Came with a 20lb C02 tank, a empty keg for deposit and a bunch of extra parts. The C02 tank should be good for about 240 gallons of beer! If anyone needs a C02 regulator lmk,I have 4 extra!!

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Sweet!!!

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Some little updates. Gutters and downspouts are installed (first two pics). Then my dad bought us a couple garage door openers as a wedding gift. I installed the one on the main door. Did it all by myself. Pretty happy with it considering it's the first time I've ever done that :)

That's pretty much all we've done. Been pretty busy packing, unpacking, putting her house up for sale, and cleaning the crap out of the townhouse to get it ready to put on the market for sale or for rent.

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I like the glass table as a landing pad in the second pic. Good work. House looks nice.

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No huge updates, but some small ones. We've mainly been unpacking, and still have lots of wedding presents to go through (which you can see in the garage against the wall). But I have put up some shelving in the garage against the back wall. Going to add a couple more beams yet to make it a bit more sturdy. Also I had a bunch of old ceiling fans that I replaced at my old house still laying around because I couldn't even give them away for free. So I decided to spray paint one of them black and will be hanging it from the ceiling in the garage right above the lexus where you see a bulb. Last thing is we finally got a washer and dryer. Top load HE setup that was dirt cheap from ApplianceSmart in Champlain. Can't even see the scratch/dents :)

BTW if someone else wants to do the same thing with a ceiling fan, I still have one left that I'll give away :) Kinda ugly, but some spray paint makes it perfect for a garage!

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Who did your gutters? That's on my list of to-dos as well.