Enviromental Responsibility

Last year I decided to be a better steward of the enviroment. I think it is something that Christians don't take seriously enough. I tried out some new organic solutions, started to compost, left some lawn clippings down to save moisture loss (which is important since it is a drought here) and a lot of that stuff. I still use some chemicals but not nearly as much and we aren't throughing out nearly as much stuff. It has been kind of cool.

My lawn looks HORRIBLE this spring. We had a really weird winter here and the winterkill on my grass has been enourmous. Not a lot I can do about it now. It is too cold to replant some seed although it is coming along slowly. I really enjoy landscaping so everytime I walk out front, a part of me wants to cry. For all of the right stuff we did last year, it still looks bad.

The cool thing is that the hedge that we planted last year is looking great. I hate straight hedges. We needed a divider to break up the patio from the rest of the yard so I planted an S shaped hedge in the backyard. It has grown amazingly well. We planted a circlular hedge with the last 16 tonyastors we could find last summer (I won't pay $12 a shrub) but it needed thickening out so we added another 17 to it this year. In a month of so the "postmodern hedge" (as our friends have called it - it is non-linear) should be looking better. Our home is 50 years old and nothing was really done to the lawn for all of these years. It is coming along now. I am just thankful no one ever decided to plant a careganas The following was posted about a research station in Saskatoon getting rid of the shrub. Getting the building site organized was one thing; the caraganas were another. Thick caragana windbreak hedges had been planted in the early days of the Forest Nursery Station. About 45m apart, they ran north and south, the length of the plot area. There were some Siberian elms, lilacs and maples also. The PFRA estimated that it would cost $3.25 a metre to remove them... ...Attempts were made to burn them in the fall but they seemed to thrive on that. They were eventually beaten by the front-end loader. After being tipped over, root and all, they were piled, allowed to dry, and then burned; the leftover roots were taken to the dump. Our neighbor down the street has been doing battle for two years with his. Not a lot of fun.