Gardening ~ just for fun!

Autumn is starting to settle in ~

2011-09-25T21:22:00.000-04:00

With the cooler weather heading our way and the daylight disappearing earlier, my days in my garden are coming to an end. Seems like summer just started and now it's time to clean up the yard and put things away for the winter. It's time to get out and start dividing some of the plants that flourished this summer. I have shasta daisies, yarrow, turtlehead, sedum, etc... that need to be spread around. It's amazing how many plants you can end up with by dividing. I think I started with two shasta daisies and I probably have gotten at least 50 new plants from them over the years. Mother Nature has been busy spreading seeds from my annuals also! I love how that works. I went for a walk down my road today and notice many white turtlehead plants growing wildly through the woods. I never noticed them before, so I'm guessing the two I planted were shared by Mother Nature too! I'm starting my "fall chore" list. This will include cutting back plants, taking some things indoors, some to the garage, covering up some with burlap, and collecting seeds for next year. It's important to cover up or take in your ceramic flower pots, if you get really cold winters. I learned the hard way that they don't hold up well if left outside in the winter. I had several large pots, crack from the freezing and thawing of the dirt/water in them last year. I am aslo going to try to winterize some of my favorite plants in pots, including this next photo of a purple passion flower.

I just love the dimension of this blosom. Everyday there is a new one opening to amaze me! I have this in blue and red also! The blue one is supposed to be hardy for my area, but I think I'll move it into the garage, just in case.

Lantana is a favorite of the butterflies and humming birds. Here are 3 Monarch that I reared from eggs and released. They hung out on the lantana for several hours before starting their long flight to Mexico for the winter!

Just another view of the purple passion flower!

Cleome ~ spider flower.

I have planted hundreds of seeds for these in my gardens every year but for some reason I only have one come up each year.

This little guy is one of MANY that have been digging holes in my flowerbeds this summer. I don't really mind except for when they kick all the little rocks out into the mulch.

The monarchs found my butterfly weed in my flower beds! YEAH!!!!

This is the Blue Passion flower vine that I love also!

This is a gardeners best friend!

I had a nest of these hatch back in June but only came across a handful of them since.

Geraniums, Impatiens, and Creeping Jenny

Coral Nymph Salvia that has reseeded in my gardens for years now!

This unusual morning glory showed up with my tomatoes in July ~ I only ever saw one bloom, but it sure was beautiful!

Butterflies weed doesn't only attract monarchs ! This gray Hairstreak enjoys the nectar too!

I hope you all have had a wonderful summer and that you get out there and get dirty doing your fall chores!

Bye for now~

Focal points

2011-08-19T12:14:00.001-04:00

I love combing plants and garden decor to create focal points around my yard.

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Bring on the rain!

2011-08-05T00:12:00.003-04:00

Recently had a few nice showers~ I can hear the flowers saying "Ahhhhhh"

Oranges and lemons Guillardia

Passion flower vine

Cosmos

Passion flower vine bud

Monarch enjoying the lantana

Patio garden

Misc. garden

Three seasons of beauty garden

Randon sunflower that came up ~ thanks to the birds~

Thought this was neat~ The passion flower vine was looking for something to grab on to~

My bubbling urn water fountain

Loosestrife firecracker

Hosta

Dianthus

Dill

Just a few new photos~

2011-05-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

These are buds on a poppy ~ I think they just need eyes on them and they could be muppet characters.

Rosemoore Clematis

Trollius globe flower ~ just getting ready to open!

Columbines

My tomato plants are going crazy! I already have 4 small tomatos starting!

Trailing petunia

Allium

Flower box on my deck

This tiger swallowtail is enjoying the nectar from the flowers in the flowerbox!

Dianthus

Gaura ~ wandflower

Hope you are all enjoying working in your gardens!

Spring gardens

2011-05-27T00:20:00.000-04:00

Just a few photos of my gardens in the spring!

I planted the garden in my neighbor's yard that borders our yard. It used to be filled with poison ivy, sticker bushes, and leaves. He didn't have any plans for it and told me to do whatever I wanted with it!.

Since this area is what we see, when we look out our living room window, I wanted something pretty to look at! There isn't much blooming right now but there will be soon! Earlier there were tulips and alliums blooming. This bed contains grasses, 2 white butterfly bushes, Russian sage, Coral bells, Black eyed Susan's, Shasta daisies, Lolly pop lilies, snow in summer, coreopsis, bachelor's button and cosmos. I layed two dry river beds in the areas that the rain washes through. Our ground has a surplus of rocks ~ I love to recycle!

This area is the my favorite place to hang out! I have two water features, potted plants, solar lights, and some garden decor to enhance this secluded space. It is especially cozy when the Crape Myrtles are full and in bloom! My boyfriends business is doing stamped and colored concrete ~ this was the first one he ever did ~ I love it! This garden stays pretty damp because it's at the base of a slope. In the spring, I have candelabra primrose, daffodils, and tulips blooming. I also have hostas, phlox, liatris, candy tuft, grasses, hydrangea, turtlehead, lady's mantle, impatiens, clematis, Solomon's seal, violets, avens cooky geraniums, coreopsis, hollyhocks, lily of the valley, sedums, etc... planted here.

Just a view of the slope down to the house.

A close up photo of one of my fountains. I also have hummingbird feeders and bird baths in this area, so that I can enjoy them while relaxing here! The open area in the deck was originally going to have some type of design worked into it, but my boyfriend never got around to finishing it ...so... I decided it would be the perfect place to put the decorative feeder my best friend gave me, and a hummingbird feeder. It also is a great place to hang a hanging basket of flowers!

This clematis is really doing well this year!

This was my first flowerbed that I started, other than the ones against the house. It's a mix match of drought tolerant plants. It is on quite a slope and the soil is pretty rooty under the mulch. I contains creeping Jenny (ha ha), several different kinds of columbine, lilies, sedum, shasta daisy, astilbe, ferns, candy tuft, hardy cyclamen, loosestrife, yarrow, yellow archangel, spotted dead nettle, bloody cranesbill, hydrangea, balloon flower, bleeding heart, coral bells, dianthis, lavender, Solomon's seal, hostas, etc...

This area is for the birds ~ literally! I have most of my wild bird feeders here and the birds (squirrels and chipmunks too) love it. I have quite a variety of birds that visit: blue jays, cardinals, tufted titmouse, house wrens, golden finches, purple finches, house finches, 3 types of woodpeckers, etc... that visit regularly. I feed them black-oil sunflower seeds and nyjer seeds only. (sorry if I have misspelled any of this names - I'm too tired to look them up right now :) The plants in this area were recycled from a friend's neighbor. I have tiger lilies, hostas, and recently planted ajuga ground cover - which I hope really spreads fast to hide all the sunflower seed shells!

Have stumps? Decorate them!

This area is at the corner of our yard. It contains mostly hostas and different varieties of day lilies, pansies, liatris, asters, bachelors, buttons, shasta daisies, etc...

This is the other side of the deck and our second stamped concrete area. I have a little corner bed with more shasta daisies, lilies, bachelors buttons, hollyhock, clematis, lavender, sea thrift, alliums, Nora Barlow columbine, butterfly weed, mums, and a special English boxwood that my friend/patient gave me!

The raised beds are for herbs to attract butterflies ~ and I might use them for cooking ~ might!!!

This is my largest garden with too many plants to name! I placed rocks around it recently because the heavy rains that we've been having, keep washing out my mulch. There is always something in bloom in this garden and is home to one of my bluebird boxes. I have meal worms, raisin soaked in water, and oranges out for the bluebirds. I also have shallow bird/butterfly baths scattered around in this garden, as well has many nectarine plants. This is my monarch waystation~ common milkweed is planted just outside the flowerbed and many butterfly weed plants are planted inside the garden.

This is my purple butterfly bush. There is evening primrose and Clara daisies planted around it. A few larkspur seeds made there way into it too (the tall plants on the left). The bush has a lot of growing to do before it will bloom. I had cut it back pretty far in the fall but it's bouncing back well!

Corner of the front porch flowerbed. This contains lots of hostas, yarrow, delphinium, coreopsis, hyssop, shasta daisies, dianthis, hydrangea, gaura, violets, anemone, phlox, jolly bee geranium, a sparse lilac bush on the corner and a Josie lilac at one end, alliums, butterfly weed, turtlehead, etc... in the background to the right, is my raised veggie garden and tomato plants.

This is the front of the house which seems to get the least attention from me. The area to the left in the photo, I have started collecting different varieties of columbine. There are azaleas, a japonica shrub, hostas, bee balm, gladiolas, impatiens, an Alberta spruce, and two - tricolored hibiscus shrubs in this area.

This is one of the flowerbeds at the end of our driveway. It's too far away to water, so I have to plant drought tolerant plants here. It contains astilbes, yarrow, Shasta daisies, hostas, catmint, Virginia bluebells, anemone, iris', etc...

If you wonder why I use many of the plants over and over and over.... such as the shasta daisies, hostas, yarrow, astilbe, etc... I started with just a few of the original plants and keep dividing them each year! I must have a hundred or more shasta daisy plants, all from 2 original plants 8 years ago!

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my gardens ~

Spring bloomers continued!

2011-05-05T22:03:00.000-04:00

Iris Cristata

Anemone Poppy

Candleabra primrose

Lantana ~ my favorite annual! Blooms all summer and fall too!

Allium

White allium ~ just getting ready to explode!

Allium

Nora Barlow Columbine

No time to chat, just wanted to share a few photos!

Enjoy!

Spring time ~

2011-05-01T21:01:00.001-04:00

I finally had some time to spend in my gardens this weekend! The weather co-operated yesterday but not so much today. I was able to get quite a bit of the mulching done before the rain started and should be able to finish it up tomorrow. I'm not sure how many more years this old body is going to be able to keep up with the mulching. I ache from head to toe ~ My son helped a little yesterday but he was trying to finish up some school work.

I also decided to plant an herb garden this year ~ more to attract butterflies than for the actual herbs to use for cooking ~ but who knows. I picked up a couple raised bed frames at Walmart for $30 a piece and some garden soil. Herb that I planted were: Fennel, Dill, Cilantro, Parsley, Thyme, Lemon balm, hyssop, and Rosemary. Some of which are host plants for certain butterflies.

Instead of using fancy, expensive plant labels ~ I use disposable white plastic knives and a sharpie marker. They can be reused from year to year ~ if you continue to plant the same things that is. I planted everything from seed so we'll see how it goes. I'll post new photos as the season progresses.

I also planted my veggie garden this weekend. I had to till it with a shovel because it probably would've been to muddy for a tiller. I also used my "Awesome auger" to break up some of the larger pieces of dirt and mix in the compost. Usually I put the compost in much earlier but didn't get around to it this year.

I planted tomatoes (which I surrounded with these water filled tubes ~ the sun heats the water and keeps the plant warm until the chance of frost is gone), cucumbers, beans, lettuce, and peppers. I also decided to try asparagus this year. I hope it does well. I heard it takes about three years to get established.

The raised garden is only about 11' x 4' and the rest is roughly 4' x 4'. I always plant wild flowers along the back of the garden for when all the veggies are done. Tulips were planted there in the fall of last year. I sprinkles seeds from zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, and cleomes along the back this year. I had planted a mixed bag of 120 tulips throughout my yard last fall, and was surprised with all the beautiful types and colors of tulips that came up!

This Parrot tulip was especially nice! I might have to order more of these for next year!

Here are a few photos from my gardens this year so far!

I love the flower pots and saucer bird baths ~ glue together with epoxy.

They were $4 a piece at Walmart ~ can't beat that for a bird bath! The little house I purchased unfinished at a craft store and painted. I sprayed it with a polyurethane sealer to protect it from the weather.

Garden phlox

Gerber daisy ~ these remind my of my best friend ~ it's her favorite flower!

Siberian Iris ~ not sure why this photo didn't upload well. (they look squished)

My sister gave me these 3 years ago from her garden ~ this is the first year that they bloomed!!!

Bleeding heart

Stumps can be beautiful too!

Candelabra primrose just beginning to bloom.

The bloom stem will shoot up about 6-12" before the flowers open.

Avens Cookie ~ perennial geranium

Couldn't resist adding a photo of my bluebird! I have nests in both of my bluebird houses this year!

Hope you enjoyed the photos! I have to get to bed to rest up for more mulching tomorrow!

Sping is a great time for new projects!

2011-04-17T22:24:00.000-04:00

I have been wanting one of these types of fountains for a long time now and my boyfriend was great enough to get me one.

First step was to dig a hole big enough for the base to fit down into. This was a little harder that it sounds. We got over 2" of rain yesterday, so it was really muddy and the fact that our soil is is clay and rocks, made it a bit of a task.

Next step was to place the pump down inside and dig a trench for the electrical cord. I filled the base with water then placed the urn on top of the top plate.

I purchase some river rock from a local shop ~ $5.00 a bag ~ I bought 4 bags because there weren't a lot of the bigger size in each bag ~ the remaining small stones were added to a dry river bed in another garden.

Beautiful and peaceful!

I will add some low growing ground cover around the edges to hide the sides of the top tray and then it will be complete! Just a tip, the solar lights were $4 at Walmart! I love them! ( FYI ~ Lowe's is selling them for $7.72.) It was a beautiful and productive day!

Winter, winter go away ~ send up please, a warm spring day!

2011-04-02T22:56:00.001-04:00

This winter weather needs to go into hibernation. We actually had snow on April Fool's day :( It was quite the joke. I do look forward to Monday's weather though. It is supposed to get up to 78 degrees. I'll believe it when I see it. It's hard to believe that the past two years, I have been able to plant all my planters and flower pots by the 15th of April. I'm not going to risk it this year. I do have some little seedlings coming up in my basement greenhouse and lots, and lots of tulips coming up in my yard. Not too much to write about at this point, but please stop back next month ~ hopefully by then, I will have lot's to talk about!
Happy Spring!

Seed starting time is approaching!

2011-02-17T23:25:00.000-05:00

This will be my third attempt at starting seeds indoors. I have had minimal success with this project, mainly because my shelving units are in my basement and "out of sight ~ out of mind". I did however purchase new self-watering trays that may help this time around. I picked up the potting soil at a local nursery and have seeds that I saved from last years plants, as well as seeds I purchased through Swallowtail seeds.
Many of the seeds that I purchased, are for attracting butterflies, which has become a passion of mine. After rearing my first monarch last fall, I'd love to rear other types of butterflies too. Many of the seeds are for host plants for different butterflies: parsley, dill, fennel, etc... I also planted two Pawpaw trees last fall to attract the Zebra Swallowtail. I've never seen this type of butterfly in person, so hopefully they will find my trees ~ that is, if they make it. I received them in their dormant stage, so I have my fingers crossed. The weather today was so beautiful ~ it actually made it up to 70 degrees today! I took a brief walk around my yard and found a few plants starting to break through the ground! I'm hoping for an early spring ~ hope that groundhog was right! Have a great weekend!

Jeni

Fall clean up ~

2010-11-06T20:14:00.002-04:00

(I just wanted to share this photo of a beautiful storm rolling in last week on my way home from work ~ nature surely is majestic at times! )

This time of year is always so bitter sweet. The sweet is the beauty of the changing colors of the leaves and the cooler temps and the bitter is the blooming season coming to an end. I don't really mind the extra yard work, as far as the cutting back and dividing, but there are the leaves, leaves, and more leaves. I live in the woods and there is an endless supply of leaves. I blow them, rake them, shred them and then I do it all over again, and again, and again. I'd love to shred them up and spread them on my gardens, but then more leaves fall and I blow them off ~ along with the shredded ones. So, I guess that will be an early spring project. Today I pulled up all my annuals that the frost killed and cut back all the dead perennials. There are still quite a few flowers blooming ~ so I left them alone for another week or so! There was quite a bit of new growth earlier in the fall and I'm hoping that's a good sign for the spring. I also planted 120 tulip bulbs today in various gardens. I tried spraying the bulbs with Liquid Fence to deter any varmints from snacking on them. I'll let you know if it works ~ especially if I see some chubby chipmunks and squirrels running around and lots of empty holes. Next weekend will be the dumping of the planters and flower pots ~ too many were still blooming to dump this weekend. It's also time to clean up all the garden tools and lube the hinges of the sheers and clippers. Get out there and enjoy what's left of this gardening season!

:) Jeni

Fall 2010

2010-09-28T23:32:00.001-04:00

September Charm Anemone ( my favorite fall flower!)

Mums

September Charm Anemone ~ again :)

Golden Rod (with a Summer Azure)

Iron weed

Peaches sneaking a sip of water from the birdbath!

Asters

Bluebeard

Autumn Joy Sedum

(this bee isn't very friendly ~ caught him trying to sting my butterflies)

It was a long, hot, and dry summer. I spent alot of the summer evenings, watering my gardens just to keep my plants alive. Some things had a shorter bloom season than they normally have ~ my Black-eyed Susans, Shasta daisies, and even my Purple coneflower wilted quickly. My fall flowers have all started shining though. Right now, I have September Charm Anemone, Golden Rod, Asters and Mums are blooming like crazy. Even my Shasta daisies made a come-back! I spent alot of the summer trying out my new camera also. I bought a Nikon D3000 in August and haven't put it down since! I'm still learning how to use it but like anything else, it just takes practice! I started a second blog called "Wings in my garden". Check it out at: wingsinmygarden.blogspot.com . I have taken a special interest in Monarchs ~ to the point that I started a Monarch habitat in two of my gardens. I mentioned in a previous post that I planted 20 milkweed plants and I planted 4 Butterfly weed plants back in the summer. Those butterfly weed plants are what really got me hooked on the Monarchs. I found 7 Monarch caterpillars chowing down on my plants, although only 4 of them grew big enough to turn into butterflies. I think the other 3 became lunch for a mole that was making a home out of an old stump near the plants. Any caterpillars I find in the future will be reared indoors, just to protect them from preditors. I also want to plant more host plants for some of the other butterflies in my garden. I guess I better start looking up what they are because there is only a small window of time left to get things in the ground before the frost comes. Enjoy all the beauty that autumn brings~

Butterfly gardens plans !

2010-09-19T01:04:00.000-04:00

This is the inspiration for my butterfly garden plans! I just ordered 20 starter milkweed plants for only

$1 each! Now ~ where to plant them all? Need a sunny location, sandy soil (that may be a challenge with my clay/rocky soil) . I also want to find some more Iron weed, butterfly weed and thistle. Anything to attract more monarchs.

2010-09-06T22:07:00.002-04:00

Found this guy sippin' nectar from my impatiens. It is a White-lined Sphinx hummingbird moth. It's wings flutter as quickly as a humming bird. I was lucky enough to capture a shot that showed how beautiful it's wings are!

2010-09-06T22:06:00.001-04:00

A female ruby-throated hummingbird taking a rest! I have had 6 regulars lately putting on their airshows for me. I sure am going to miss them when they fly south for the winter.

2010-07-27T23:06:00.001-04:00

STOP 2

2010-07-18T16:25:00.001-04:00

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Rain, rain ~ where are you????

2010-06-27T23:31:00.001-04:00

Things are really gettng dry and crunchy around here. I have been watering twice a day just to keep my plants alive. It's so dry that even my butterfly bushes are wilting and the weeds don't even want to grow. It's so disappointing after having such a beautiful spring with my gardens and now things that normally last til the end of summer have already had it. The grass ~ where there still is grass ~ is brown and crunches under my feet. The temperatures have been in the high 90's w/ high humidity for several weeks now with no rain in sight. Still... I enjoy spending time in my gardens, cutting back the dead plants, clipping the spent blooms, watering, watering, and watering. I've been paying closer attention to the insects this year. So many people in my area have seen insects that normally aren't around here. I think it has something to do with all that snow we had this past winter. I've been trying to identify an insect I saw today but haven't had any luck. If anyone know... please fill me in. It was so interested in me. Just to put it's size in perspective ~ it is sitting on the hook of a plant hanger. I don't know if it's a good bug or bad bug for my plants. I'm hoping it's a good bug because it was kind of interesting to watch.

Some other interesting insects that I've found hanging around. The yellow jacket didn't have any wing :( not that I like them but I felt kind of bad for it as it just crawled around instead of flying. Lot's of fireflies and granddaddy longleggers out this year also. The moth was kind of interesting too. It's not a great picture of it but it was different. I think it is a featherwing moth. A patient I had recently told me she saw an IO moth in her garden. If you've never heard of one, google it, it's amazing. I'm going to keep my eyes open and hope that I see one also.

2010-06-05T23:01:00.003-04:00

This teenie tiny bee is on a flower the size of a dime. It's blue-eyed grass.This garden was combined from two gardens, three years ago. I started many of these plants from bare roots. This year it exploded! I just love spending time taking care of it!

This is my favorite annual ~ lantana!I started this garden about 3 years ago also. It's actually planted in my neighbors yard. It used to look like a brush pile. It was full of thistle, leaves, and poison ivy. As my neighbor sprayed the poison I asked him what his plans were for it. He said..."whatever you want to do with it" !!! We could see this area from our living room window so I wanted to make it look nice! I can't wait til the rest of the flowers are in full bloom!

Common whitetail male dragonfly. It was willing to stop for a photo~op!

I'm not quite sure what's up w/ this cosmo. It was started from seeds that I collected last fall. The original plant was about 4' tall and the blossom was about 4" in diameter. This "offspring" is only about 4" high and the blossom is only about the size of a nickle ~ absolutely adorable!Common whitetail female dragonfly.

I just can't seem to get enough of my gardens! I take a walk around the yard every day just to see what's new ~ and there's always something new! I have plenty to keep me busy in them too ~ weeding, deadheading, photographing, etc... always something to do!

Close up beauty!

2010-05-30T10:46:00.000-04:00

I am so captivated by the beauty hidden within the center of a flower. I have been taking close up photos of flowers for awhile and am amazed at the intricate architecture of each individual type of flower. Enjoy mine and get out and investigate some of your own flowers!

Awesome hummingbird story!

2010-05-30T10:28:00.002-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7xBLvMIBZU

Mid~spring time moments~

2010-05-23T14:00:00.000-04:00

Finally~ the weather is getting nicer and I am able to go wandering through my yard just to enjoy the beautiful mid~spring flowerings! This photo is of a Nora Barlow Columbine. It's not the typical type of columbine that have tail shooting out the back of the bloom, although if you look close enough ~ a few of them do. I planted these last spring but the didn't bloom ~ they are making up for it this year. I have 6 of them and they are all gorgeous. What a great addition to my gardens! We've had quite a bit of rain lately and the flowers are just loving it. They seem to have doubled in size within a few days! It's exciting to see all the buds on some of my plants ~ daisies, black-eyed Susan's, lilies, etc... in a week or so they are going to explode w/ blooms! Most of my perennials seemed to have survived the intense winter. I did lose two of my favorite broom shrubs :(

I will have to search the local nurseries to try to find a new one. I looked forward to it blooming every spring. I replaced it with a Dwarf Alberta Spruce that my sister gave me. It should look nice there in front of my dining room window ~ especially at Christmas time ~ well, maybe in a few years. I'm glad the hard part of the gardening is finished (mulching, raking, tilling, etc...), now it's just maintenance! They hummingbirds have maid their trip back home too!

As for all my winterizing of plants... my geraniums didn't make it but my dahlias are starting to peek through the ground. I planted the tubers about 3 weeks ago, so far so good. I planted my vegetable garden on Mother's day weekend. I planted Swiss chard, 3 different types of lettuce, Brussels sprouts, green beans, cucumbers and tomatoes. The Brussels sprouts are a first for me this year. Anyone have any tips for their success?

~ enough playing on the computer ~ time to go wandering through my yard and then relaxing on the patio watching the birds!!! Hope you have a great week ahead!

Hugs,

Jeni

2010-05-03T22:12:00.000-04:00

Busy weekend ~ had a 21st birthday party for my daughter! I spent 6 hours power washing my deck ~ exhausting but well worth the effort. I had no idea how bad it was until I started but now it looks almost new!!! I power washed my front porch and sidewalks today ~ I love that thing! I also sprayed Seven for bugs on my hostas, sprayed a fungicide to hopefully prevent rust on my Hollyhocks, sprinkled Snail/Slug repellent, etc... My son, "step-daughter" and I went for a walk this evening and I came across a pink Columbine growing randomly along the road ~ of course I had to dig it up and transplant it in one of my flowerbeds! I was sickened by all the trash along the road, so when I got home, I grabbed a trash bag and my "picker-uppers" and went back to clean up the trash. I just don't understand why people feel the need to throw their trash out along a road instead of waiting until they get home. My grandmother wrote a poem about polluters a long time ago, I wish I could remember it. I do remember it said something about "don't be a polutatic" and "did you ever see a muskrat wear a beer can for a hat"! She was probably smiling at me from above, watching me clean up the beer cans along the road! I ended my evening with a quite night on my patio with a glass of wine, listening to the water trickle on my little fountain, the birds chirping and the frogs singing ~ very peaceful!

Spring chores completed!

2010-04-30T23:13:00.000-04:00

I have spent the last few weekends trying to get my yard and gardens in shape! I started early with the planting of annuals ~ keeping my fingers crossed that we don't get a frost. I started early because I was planning a birthday picnic for my 21 (aargh) year old daughter this weekend. I lucked out so far and the forecast show no signs of frost!!! I have mulched all of my flowerbeds and actually had to re-mulch a couple of them that were partially washed out from the heavy downpours we had last week. My other project for the picnic was to power wash my deck ~ what a chore but WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! I couldn't believe how much better it looks! It had become discolored ~ almost a dark algae covered green/gray and now it looks brand new! It took me about 6 hours total but it was well worth it. As for my flowers... my perennials are coming up wonderfully ~ I don't think I lost any plants but I did lose my favorite shrub ~ my brooms. I pulled one completely out and the other I trimmed all the dead off and am hoping the rest of it survives, but it doesn't look good. I had taken a close up photo of it last spring and actually had it blown up and framed for in my living room ~ at least I have that to enjoy. I don't have the heart to pull the other one out as long as there is green on it. I purchased 14 flats and a few 6" pots of annuals and put them in planted and a few in the ground. The planters turned out beautiful. I even shared some of them w/ friends. I planted the dahlia tubers that I saved over the winter and 2 of the geraniums, hopefully they'll make it. Now it's time to put this exhausted body to bed. Have a great weekend!!!

Project ~ expand flowerbed around front porch !

2010-04-05T21:42:00.002-04:00

Today's project was to widen the flower bed around my front porch. First I moved the stones back to just outside where I wanted them to go. I initially dug out some of the sod to use at another location, the rest was cut short then covered w/ a layer of newspaper (Tip ~ I water the paper to keep it from blowing away), then I added a layer of peat moss, a layer of Organic Humus & Manure, then a final layer of Miracle Grow Garden Soil. Later this month I will be adding mulch also. It was exhausting work but in a few months when all the flowers are blooming, I'll be so glad I did it. My main reason for widening this bed was because it was very crowded last year and I wanted to spread things out. I couldn't believe how big everything got last year ~ my boyfriend said it looked like a jungle. I bought some plant supports from Gardeners Supply Company to support some of the plants that got really big. Last year I waited too long and had to tie them up. This year the supports will go over them and they'll actually grow up through them. It won't be long before I have to put them out. Things are growing FAST ! I dug up and divided several of the plants: Yarrow, Shasta Daisies, Dianthus, and Delphiniums. I also planted 3 yellow Ice plants, 3 Blue eyed grasses and 3 Elderberry shrubs that I recently purchased on sale for $2.99 each ~ what a deal! I added some of my compost around each new plant and each transplant. I was able to fill up one of my large Tubtrugs and probably have enough to fill another! (A new composting system is my next project - I have a "toss and forget" type now with doors on the bottem to collect the "black gold". I want to set up a two open bin system.) Sorry to have rambled in a different direction but my mind is filled w/ ideas. Back to my current project ~ I'll need to water each plant every couple of days until I know they're established. I have my fingers crossed ! Now just a few touch up things ~ add a few more rocks to control the water flow from the down spout and mulch. I better get some rest before the mulching starts later this week ~ it's not as easy as it was a few years ago ~ back aches, knees ache, arms ache,... I hate getting old ~ guess it'll be Advil and ice packs tonight !