Deregulator: Alive since '85!

We have about three dozen succulents and cacti in containers. Each fall I would haul them indoors to protect them from the elements and then in the spring I'd place them outdoors. They don't really like this, but I thought it was the only way to keep them alive. Until I saw this blog post about a xeric cactus garden at the N.C. State Fairgrounds, leading to a visit to the JC Raulston Arboretum near the fairgrounds. Could we pull off a desert garden in the Carolina clay? With some help, perhaps. Reading how a Raleigh gardener set up a scree/xeric/Alpine garden at home sealed the deal. In September, we had several large azaleas removed from the front yard. The azaleas were not only hosting some noxious weeds, they were also blocking the sun from a nice perennial flower bed. This is the 15' X 20' hole that resulted from removing the azaleas. We then found Michael Blake Inc. -- a terrific garden center in Knightdale. Michael sells Permatill , engineered slate ...

I became a fan of the Atlanta Braves in 1969, as I listened to the Braves (on WKBC-AM in North Wilkesboro) win the National League West in the first year of division play. My interest waxed and waned over the years, but never my loyalty. When Ted Turner bought the team and broadcast the games on his network of UHF stations, I watched and heard Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, and Ernie Johnson become the most interesting team of broadcasters in professional sports. They never yelled or shouted. In fact, they were often so laid back that you wondered if they cared who won. But you welcomed them into your living room and never wanted them to leave. I'll confess that I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the club during Bobby Cox's first tenure as manager. For one thing, the Braves were pretty bad. Ted made a lot of awful decisions on free agents, notwithstanding the fine job Bill Lucas (the majors' first African-American GM) performed assembling young talent. Lucas d...

NC State opens the 2010 season 3-0, improved in no small part because its aggressive defense has forced turnovers and put relentless pressure on opposing QBs. The architect of that defense is Jon Tenuta , State's new linebackers coach, hired from Notre Dame after Charlie Weis was fired. Tenuta appears to be one of the oddities: a genuine teacher at the highest levels of the NCAA, someone who can take kids at top-flight programs and "coach 'em up." Over a two-decade career as a college assistant, several dozen players Tenuta have tutored made the National Football League. From his ND bio : Prior to Notre Dame, Tenuta coached at Georgia Tech for six seasons where 18 Yellow Jacket defenders earned first- or second-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference recognition, and 18 players from his first four units were either drafted or signed NFL free-agent contracts. He also was the defensive coordinator for one year at UNC -- 2001, the season that Carolina had the ACC'...

I finished the project this morning. (And did some more stuff, mainly weed removal from another bed.) For the story so far, go here . I started this morning by giving the bed one last blast of Roundup and then covering the dirt with newsprint. (A few years ago, a single Sunday paper might have done the trick, but we all know what's happened to the newspaper biz.) I even managed to find a front page that had Dook on it, so I could bury 'em, haha. (Hey, it was the one when they went to visit Obama at the White House. Two for the price of one.) Next, I put landscaping cloth over the papers and secured the cloth with stakes. It too exactly one roll to cover the area. Next step: some dirt. Cheap topsoil to give the forthcoming mulch a little better sticking power. Then, the mulch. Ten bags of it. And I could have used a couple more. Fortunately, the previous owners of the house piled leaves by the back fence (possibly to make compost), so with a couple of garde...

Greetings, folks. Anything happen while I've been away? We've bought a house -- a classic early-'60s ranch -- and moved to the east side of Raleigh. The sellers were under contract with another buyer last summer and fortunately for us, the deal fell through. So the sellers didn't really tend to the lawn or garden from about June until we took occupancy in February. We inherited some cool stuff -- a hydrangea, a lot of azaleas, some hosta, several columbine, and other perennials. And a lot of things we were not attracted to. Like ivy. It was all over the side and back of the house. You know what ivy does to a brick house? Attaches to the brick and mortar and pulls stuff apart. I mistakenly did not take a picture that did it justice. Pulling it down and killing it was quite the chore, especially since it had become intertwined with this massive hibiscus. The only way to kill the ivy was to take out the hibiscus, too. Easier said than done. First, I chopp...