Spiffing the Place Up

We decided to plant some trees, bushes and flowering plants to make the park look better. We found a local grower who provides plants for the big box stores. He sold us nice crape myrtle plants at prices less than we could buy them elsewhere. He had also recently planted Cleveland Pear trees along his entrance road that we thought were attractive. He told us they grow fast and don't break easily, sending us to a nursery that has good quality trees at good prices.

After buying our first batch of bushes, trees and mums, we started planting. We quicly learned that the hard-baked Alabama clay was extremely hard to dig! Neither a shovel nor a post-hold digger could be easily used in this project. Add the intense heat, and we quickly found that this job would take us several days.

One of the residents "volunteered" to plant all the trees and bushes we had left for $6 per plant. We considered that a great use of our funds and better use of our time! We were definitely not enjoying this task and knew we could use the time for other things. The resident thought that the approximately $150 he would earn would be a good day's pay. What a win-win!

We decided that our first trees, both Cleveland Pears and Maples, would be planted on the front lawns of the homes we owned as well as on the lawns of residents that had no rent arrearages. The bushes were being planted behind the homes. Our intent was to make it look more like a community and less like rows of trailers with little or no vegetation surrounding them. This method also helped to put trees in every area of the park, rather than just one.

One of our tenants wanted to know why we were planting a tree in her yard, because it would make it so she could not see. We explained that the trees were going only to the best tenants, which seemed to make her happy. All the trees and bushes were planted, but had to be watered several times a week because the ground was so dry. That meant we had to buy a water tank for the truck, or make several trips back and forth to get water to water each plant. We opted for the tank.

We then pulled out the overgrown bushes that were in the median of our entrance, using the truck. Even with the root systems pulling up the dirt, this area was still incredibly difficult to plant. We added Black Cow to the clay, and planted the perimeter with yellow mums. We put larger bronze mums in the center. We finished it with red mulch. Several of the residents stopped when entering or leaving the community, commenting on how nice it looked. That alone made it worth the effort. One of them actually asked if we would teach her how to plant things!

Two nights later, one of the trees disappeared. The same night some of the mums were pulled out of the entry and thrown around. We replanted them, but they now looked pretty sad.

The tree that disappeared was on the lawn of the woman who had spoien to us. Jim asked her what happened to the tree, but she told him she had no idea. The way that she said it, we knew that she knew exactly what had happened to it. Not surprising to us, this is the same woman who was involved in both the shed and towing incidents mentioned earlier. Although we already highly suspected it, now it was absolutely evident that we had a true problem tenant. We will be dealing with this family in the near future.

We have now had rain (lots of it). We have found that we can dig in the ground with little trouble. Hopefully that will hold true for the spring when we add more bushes and trees to the community. In the meantime, we have put crocus and daffodil bulbs in the entry, so spring should bring a new look!

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