Chris Lambton from HGTV’s Going Yard talks holiday tree shopping with Peyton, chopping down trees, and plowing snow.
Theresa: You are inside MyFixitUpLife with my husband Mark.
Mark: And my wife Theresa, and we are going out of doors.
Theresa: We are going out of doors, it’s your favorite thing to do when the weather gets super cold out. I don’t understand why you like to have a fire outside and when it snows and read a book. Who does that?
Mark: I don’t know, maybe our guest who is Chris Lambton from HGTV’s Going Yard also a fellow Cape Codder might have some insight on what it’s like to want to be outside when you should be inside.
Chris how you doing?
Chris: Doing very well. How are you Mark and Theresa?
Theresa: I’m doing excellent. I want to know, do you like to read a book in the snow like my husband?
Chris: As a landscaper I love being outside whether it is 90 degrees or I’ll go down like 10 degrees.
Theresa: Really.
Mark: Which isn’t something we’ve had much of this year. We actually have spring flowers blooming around here that are in warm sun … if you can believe that.
Chris: It’s amazing! We’re doing clean-ups right now, getting all the leaves out and stuff like that, and there are still roses blooming because it’s in the high 50s right now.
Theresa: That’s incredible!
Mark: There’s probably not any global climate…
Theresa: No, not at all.
Mark: No.
Chris: No, there’s no global warming, I was in a t-shirt walking my dog in the beach last week. Yeah it’s fine. It’s what you do in the winter.
Theresa: Yeah, it’s what you do these days in the winter. I remember when it used to be cold but anyway.
Now I want to talk to you about what you’re doing for the holidays and getting ready outdoors and are you decorating your turret and everything?
Chris: Yeah, we have a blue spruce in the front yard that is about seven or eight feet tall now and we decorated that. Kate and I had put some lights around there and we go nice little time around there so we don’t have to worry about it. At 4:30 when it gets dark it clicks on and it clicks off about 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning so it wards off robbers, you know? It’s great. It’s decoration and safety.
Theresa: I like that. Now, did you do like anything like some people do like peanut butter pine cones and stuff like that too; for all of the woodland creatures out there.
Chris: We have cats, so if we put anything else there the cats would just eat it or eat the creature so we try to keep it safe in our yard.
Mark: Are your cats, Chris, are they mountain lions?
Chris: I think one of the cats is about 20 pounds. He’s pretty big. He’s almost like a bobcat.
Theresa: I just thought of that book that I read to our four-year old Jack, Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type and that your cat would type a letter: “No, really Chris, do the pine cones because I want the Woodland creatures so I could eat them.”
Anyway, sorry mommy moment, but you know I saw that you’re sharing some Christmas tree information on the Better Show. Is that this week?
Chris: Yup. Peyton and I went up there last week and get a little how-to on choosing Christmas trees because this year was actually Peyton and I first year getting a Christmas tree together as a married couple so it’s kind of fun to do that. We actually went the day after Thanksgiving. We’re both very excited about getting a tree in the house.
Theresa: Now do you have completely different ideas of Christmas trees because she is from the south and you’re from Cape Cod?
Chris: Well, I told her what I usually do. Usually my brothers and dad and I go out with a chainsaw and like National Lampoon style start cutting the trees down, and she couldn’t grasp that, she’s like, “What are you guys talking about? Let’s just go to a lot and buy a tree.” I think that’s just not as fun.
Theresa: It reminds me of my husband Mark because … one time you were like walking around the house in the chaps and everything, the chainsaw the whole lake outfit just randomly one day.
Mark: I was going to cut a neighbor’s maple tree down for our holiday tree but she wouldn’t let me Chris. You know what I mean?
Theresa: You know girls get in the way of holiday cheer don’t we?
Chris: Exactly, well and that just shows right there why Mark and I get along so well because we both have the same ideas. Just makes it more of a holiday spirit if you actually cut down a tree or so.
Theresa: Yeah, I guess.
Mark: That’s true, and you take the whole Discovery Channel axeman approach and you harvest like clear cut the side of a mountain to get your tree. I love it. Go ahead, ahead.
Chris: I was going to say I’m out there with my blue axe and we chop down whole bunch of trees.
Theresa: That is insane.
Mark: Nice!
Theresa: Ok, so for everyone listening who is saying … I would like to, any tips that you have for people that are getting their yards ready for winter and your whole landstyling thing. I don’t even know what that is.
Chris: Landstyling, that’s exactly the sound like. People love to style inside of their houses and a lot of times people forget about the outside, and right now it’s the perfect time to maintain the outside and get it ready for the spring. We clean … get all the leaves out of there, which from back thing that need to be trim back. It’s a great time to like all your ornamental grasses, chop those down, get those and get crew cut, get that stuff out of the way so that way when the spring comes you have less work to do and people like me you forget about doing your garden and all of a sudden the bulb start popping out and you don’t want to rake your blow then because then you’re ruining the bulbs when they start coming out of the ground.
Mark: That’s a great call. I love that.
Now are you doing anything for the grass too? Like core aeration or winter fertilizer at this time of year?
Chris: Yeah, we did. Usually we do the winter fertilizer, well, you could still do it now if there’s any grass still growing but usually we do the winter fertilizer as the last step. We’ll clean up all the leaves, give a final mow and then put some winter ceiling down for the people that want it. My lawn we just aerate it, I just keep it pretty natural. I don’t put too many pesticides down. A good winter fertilizer is great because that way in the spring it’ll pop up real green quickly and you’ll have that beautiful lawn that all your neighbors are going to be the … you’re going to be the envy of the neighborhood.
Theresa: Well you already are the envy of the neighborhood, aren’t you Mark?
Mark: I thought you’re going to say that to him, I was waiting for his awkward response. Now, I have to have one.
Theresa: Yes you do. See I’d rather put you on the spot than Chris.
Mark: Now as far as like assuming that the world isn’t melting and it does snow in December and January and so forth, do you guys go out and put salt down and plow driveways and that kind of thing?
Chris: Yeah we snow-blow, we plow driveways, we spot a new snow blower last year, it was great. You guys will use it once so didn’t even pay for itself yet. We’re hoping for some snow this winter. I love the snow. I still love sweating. There’s a great hill down the street from my house and it’s a great way to make some money and it’s good for landscape in the winter.
Mark: Nice.
Now as far as snow throwers go, those things tend to throw a long stream of snow out there. Are there any stories from the E. Lambton of maybe saying, “Blowing the lamp off the top of the lamp post,” and a tip that you could share to help people who don’t have less practice than you?
Chris: Yes. With ours you can control where you’re shooting a thing, which is great because otherwise … I blew a mailbox off once a couple of years ago. Sometimes they’ll shoot rocks out and its … those are not good with windows. I’ll just leave it at that … but they are great at shooting snow with your brother if your brother’s working that day and that’s always fun, that’s a fun game we play. The trick that I always do: go right down the middle of the driveway first and then just start going back and forth doing a little lapse. It’s actually relaxing and fun to do in the winter.
Theresa: Really? I wouldn’t really find that to be meditative.
Mark: Absolutely meditative.
Chris: I love it, I love it.
Theresa: I’m an inside creature in the wintertime.
Mark: What those Zen Garden.
Theresa: I want to ask you, I hear you’re going to be at the Mall of America on Saturday, December 22nd and that place is probably going to be crazy because it’s a Saturday before Christmas, are you going there with security and stuff as Peyton like you have a whole shopping list that you’re going to tackle while you’re there too?
Chris: You know what? I’m actually pretty scared because at the Cape Cod Mall which is a total of one-story and has probably 25 stores; that’s what I’m used to. When I go to the Mall of America, which has like 15 stories, an amusement park … I’m going to be nervous walking around that place. I may need like a GPS I think.
Theresa: They probably have their own app. I’m sure they do.
Chris: Believe me I started following them on Twitter and they were like doing parking lot updates and like all this crazy stuff. I was like “Oh my god.”
Mark: You’re going to need SEAL Team Six again.
Theresa: You are. I imagine like HGTV is probably going to have you on a golf cart or something like driving you through the mall to get to your appearance on time and everything too.
Mark: You’re going to have to keep up with Chris at ChrisLambton13 on Twitter, like him on Facebook at Chris Lambton and buy E. Lambton Landscaping gear at chrislambton.com
Theresa: We’ll be back in just a minute with more MyFixitUpLife.
Chris: Thank you guys.
