Man Made DIY

A part of me retches at the very word 'landscaping', as if the 1/4-acre parcel I inhabit on the vast surface of our billions-of-years-old planet somehow requires a few hours per weekend of my inexpert, indifferent care. Come on; any scaping we do to the land will be obliterated by the pitiless passing of time. We might as well lie under our beds 'scaping' dust into piles.

Still, that's a tough argument to make to your neighbors when they walk past your overgrown garden, over the shin-high weeds in the sidewalk cracks, and through the 'native habitat restoration' area you call your front lawn. They don't have to say much, but even at a distance you can see the raising of eyebrows.

Not that I care that much what they think; horticultural conformism be damned. But seriously, this summer the front of our house was getting to a point that would make even the most hardened iconoclast a little embarassed. 

So, with a shrug of my shoulders and a roll of the eyes, we decided to finally do a little landscaping. It's been at least five years since we've done so much as weeding in the front, so things were a little, um, hairy. Read on to see how we improved it, and watch a video of… read more

Most days, I'm convinced Mother Nature has an active sense of humor, and often, she's downright funny. Or perhaps its the veggies themselves. Or even, it's so strange when produce doesn't look like that exact perfectly shaped, blemish free ideal we're so used to seeing at the megamart, our minds immediately… read more

When we last left my tiny 4x4' backyard, it was, well, a box of dirt. A nice, square, painstakingly measured box of dirt and with flush joints, but a box of dirt nonetheless.

So, for my next project as part of the True Value Blog Squad, I needed to outfit it to support the plants, keep out the pests, and then actually start growing… read more

This is my backyard. All of it. A roughly 4 x 4 1/2 ' patch of gravel and clay.

I think even the most blackest of thumbs can recognize that nothing's gonna grow in that soil. But, that's not okay with me. I want a garden. I want to be able to just walk out of my door, and grab fresh herbs, greens, and produce when I'm preparing meals. I want to participate in my food. I wanna weed, water, and scare away all those dang chipmunks that nibble at my plants.

So, as my first project for the True Value Blog Squad, I built a garden that allows my plants to thrive regardless of the soil condition, or the fact that the space is smaller than me.

And you can… read more

As a teenager, I was the yard care master. As the only son and grandson in my family, I managed lawns, shrubs, and trees for most of my family and half the block. It wasn't summer unless my entire life was stained with grass, and I learned to love music when listening to my bright red My First Sony cassette Walkman and the tapes I'd make from albums from the library.

Then, I got real summer jobs in college. And now, I'm an urban dweller, and don't even own a lawnmower, let alone a hedge trimmer, edger, weed whacker, and the like. But someday, I'll have a garage, and a yard to care for, and a whole pegboard full of powered lawn care… read more