It is my goal for our home to be as self sufficient as possible. In order to do this, I need more trees. Why? Well, I hate to tell you this, but I don't think pine trees produce enough edible fruit for us to munch on. I DO like the pine straw I get from them though.
These last few days I have been as busy as ever. Doing what? Why planting of course! I really shouldn't have bought so many plants from those dang catalogs, but the sooner I get them planted, the sooner we'll be eating our own home grown food. Right? I'll figure out how to pay for them once the bills from the credit card companies get here. I know, it was a VERY bad idea. I don't use them much anymore except to buy gas (so I don't have to go inside to pay) so it shouldn't take long to get them paid off anyway, I hope.
The kids were excited to help since I bought some of their favorites. We have 2 different kinds of cherry trees, 4 different types of blueberries, 2 kinds of strawberries, 2 kinds of asparagus, 3 kinds of grape vines, as well as Manchurian apricot, paw paw, elderberry, persimmon, cold hardy kiwi, and rhubarb. The raspberries haven't come yet, but that's only two plants worth (BOGOF) so it shouldn't be a big deal.
The packages started flooding into my house the day I began putting the soil amendments into my lasagna veggie garden so that project got put on hold to get all of my lovely plants into the ground. Doesn't it figure? That was good for me though since we were supposed to get several days worth of rain in a row and I needed to work quickly if I wanted to take advantage of God's abundant gifts. I'll finish the veggie beds when it stops raining. (Please keep raining until Monday like it was forecasted!)
I grabbed my spaghnum, manure, mushroom compost, and topsoil from the stash that I bought last year and set out to work post haste. The blueberries didn't get much added to their holes since I have heard that they like sand. We just added some spaghnum and pine needles to the sandy soil we had already, planted the bushes, and mulched them with the abundance of pine straw that was laying in nearby piles. No piles left anymore, it's all either mulch for the lovely blueberry patch or in the bottom of my new veggie garden!
The other plants were treated to my soil amendments to varying degrees. It depends on if the kids were planting them or if I was. I suppose I should have provided them more guidance in this area, but I guess I learned best from my mistakes. I just let them go off and to their own thing with one of the types of cherry trees. I'm hoping that everything takes root and I can show the children some proper ways to care for the trees once they begin growing.
It was a lot of hard work, but we managed to get it all planted without getting rained on. I'll let you know when my little "sticks" (as Cheesehead refers to them) have begun to wake up. He laughed at the size of my plants, but this was the only way to get such a wide variety of plants fit into our yard. Big plants are awfully expensive for a tightwad like me! I sure hope it was worth it.
Looks like I have some arbor building in my future too....
Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Do NOT Copy
Showing posts with label landscaping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label landscaping. Show all posts
My Accidental Lasagna Garden
Well, as you can guess I didn't finish my new veggie garden on Monday. I was waiting for it to stop snowing. I got a bit cold with the construction portion of my garden. (That, plus the CNN film crews were there with their cameras trying to film my crazy antics. I think Nola leaked the news to them!)
Thanks to everyone for your advise. I guess great minds think alike. I never knew my "crazy" plan had a name attatched to it already! I decided to research this lasagna gardening idea I was told about. (Sorry, I can't insert my link. Just google it if you want to find out more!)
It snowed again all day yesterday so my garden project got put on hold. I didn't relish digging in stepping stones past a layer of snow. Luckily it was a spring snow, so most of it has already melted, but I was told we got 10 inches of the stuff. What did I do instead? I tore apart my living room and began painting two walls. I suppose I should finish my painting and put the living room back together before I go out, but I don't think I will. Cheesehead will probably explode when he sees I put those plans on hold to finish something else.
I'm planning on going outside after the sun dries out the spots I will be digging my stepping stones into the dirt. Since I am not starting my lasagna garden in the fall, I need some soil to add to the top of the layers so I'll have to do that before finishing my garden. I don't have boots and I don't want my good tennis shoes completely filled with sticky sand. Thankfully sand doesn't take much to get dried out. I'll supplement the sand I dig up with some of my leftover bags of topsoil. Stay tuned, I'll show you how I built up my garden bed once it's completed.
What a great way to celebrate Earth Day, isn't it? I hope you all have a great one!
Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Thanks to everyone for your advise. I guess great minds think alike. I never knew my "crazy" plan had a name attatched to it already! I decided to research this lasagna gardening idea I was told about. (Sorry, I can't insert my link. Just google it if you want to find out more!)
It snowed again all day yesterday so my garden project got put on hold. I didn't relish digging in stepping stones past a layer of snow. Luckily it was a spring snow, so most of it has already melted, but I was told we got 10 inches of the stuff. What did I do instead? I tore apart my living room and began painting two walls. I suppose I should finish my painting and put the living room back together before I go out, but I don't think I will. Cheesehead will probably explode when he sees I put those plans on hold to finish something else.
I'm planning on going outside after the sun dries out the spots I will be digging my stepping stones into the dirt. Since I am not starting my lasagna garden in the fall, I need some soil to add to the top of the layers so I'll have to do that before finishing my garden. I don't have boots and I don't want my good tennis shoes completely filled with sticky sand. Thankfully sand doesn't take much to get dried out. I'll supplement the sand I dig up with some of my leftover bags of topsoil. Stay tuned, I'll show you how I built up my garden bed once it's completed.
What a great way to celebrate Earth Day, isn't it? I hope you all have a great one!
Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Plant Questions, Awards, and Some Random Ramblings
I am thinking about planting grapes and blueberries together in my front yard. Would that be a bad idea? I know that I read somewhere on average that most types of grapes need to be about 8 feet from each other. I am wondering if I planted them 12 feet apart and placed two blueberry bushes in between them would they compete with each other too much? I have in mind to plant them in a rectangular area along the side of my driveway in an area that's about 20 by 26 or so. (Well, at least that's the size I'm hoping that it is. I haven't actually measured it yet since there's still a few feet of snow covering the area.)
I want four different kinds of grape bushes and would have two separate rows of them spaced 12 feet apart. I think it would be great to have a variety because I would get a prolonged growing season. It is also said to increase the yields of blueberry bushes when you plant more than one variety. The types of grapes that I am thinking about planting are Concord, Reliance, Mars, and Marquis. Blueberries I'm toying with growing are Jersey, Semi-Dwarf Northland, Dwarf Northblue, Brunswick, Patriot Hybrid, and Healthy Rubel. Has anyone ever grown any of these? Any advice?
I've also heard that growing hyssop is supposed to increase the yields of grape crops. I wonder if I'd be able to plant them as ground cover under the grape bushes. I am thinking about putting a path around the edge of the bushes and placing some strawberries in the middle of the path's square.
A while ago I got some awards from my blogging buddies. I've been so deep into plant research, parenting, working (hurray!), spring cleaning (even though I know it's still winter), setting up a financial plan to help us get out of debt, teaching myself how to crochet, and organizing that elusive craft room I haven't gotten around to writing about them.
Barbee was so sweet to give me a blogging buddy award. Thank you Barbee!
Debbi gave me a creative blogger award too. How long ago was that? I wonder if I can even find her post related to this....
Yay, I found it!
I should write more about these awards, but after a full day at the middle school I am feeling a bit drained. Trying to keep my patience in check is hard to do when the students aren't acting in the ways I am accustomed to. Maybe it would have been better if I waited to post about these awards until I was feeling a bit more sparkly and creative.... With my memory I'm sure I'll forget to post about them though. I will not award these as suggested in the "rules". I just can't think that much right now!
How pathetic am I? Here it is not even 8:30 at night and I feel tired and ready for bed. Am I 100 years old or something? I'm even too tired to ramble any more!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
I want four different kinds of grape bushes and would have two separate rows of them spaced 12 feet apart. I think it would be great to have a variety because I would get a prolonged growing season. It is also said to increase the yields of blueberry bushes when you plant more than one variety. The types of grapes that I am thinking about planting are Concord, Reliance, Mars, and Marquis. Blueberries I'm toying with growing are Jersey, Semi-Dwarf Northland, Dwarf Northblue, Brunswick, Patriot Hybrid, and Healthy Rubel. Has anyone ever grown any of these? Any advice?
I've also heard that growing hyssop is supposed to increase the yields of grape crops. I wonder if I'd be able to plant them as ground cover under the grape bushes. I am thinking about putting a path around the edge of the bushes and placing some strawberries in the middle of the path's square.
A while ago I got some awards from my blogging buddies. I've been so deep into plant research, parenting, working (hurray!), spring cleaning (even though I know it's still winter), setting up a financial plan to help us get out of debt, teaching myself how to crochet, and organizing that elusive craft room I haven't gotten around to writing about them.
Barbee was so sweet to give me a blogging buddy award. Thank you Barbee!
Debbi gave me a creative blogger award too. How long ago was that? I wonder if I can even find her post related to this....
Yay, I found it!
I should write more about these awards, but after a full day at the middle school I am feeling a bit drained. Trying to keep my patience in check is hard to do when the students aren't acting in the ways I am accustomed to. Maybe it would have been better if I waited to post about these awards until I was feeling a bit more sparkly and creative.... With my memory I'm sure I'll forget to post about them though. I will not award these as suggested in the "rules". I just can't think that much right now!
How pathetic am I? Here it is not even 8:30 at night and I feel tired and ready for bed. Am I 100 years old or something? I'm even too tired to ramble any more!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
My Garden Wish List
This winter has brought me some wonderful down time to contemplate my garden and the direction I think that I should take it in the future. I really want to be as self sufficient as I can be here. While I won't be able to raise my own livestock because of neighborhood regulations, I have really let my mind wander when it comes to many other things. I wonder what you think. Somewhere in my mind I think all of the directions I want to go are overly ambitious for a person who has grown mostly decorative bushes and flowers in the past.
I have been scouring the internet, catalogs, and books to get some more ideas of things I would like to grow in my yard. My family loves berries of almost any kind as well as most fruits, nuts, but very few vegetables. It is hard to know what they will like or if they may grow to like some of the things on my list either. I know most people advise gardeners to grow what they like already so they are more motivated to take good care of it. Do you find that's true?
A small part of me thinks if I grow a larger variety and I'm able to offer things more often than our rather meager budget allows for, would they gain an affinity towards these new foods? I want them to eat a healthier diet.
This list is definitely not inclusive of all that I want to grow, but it makes me think that maybe my variety is too large for a beginner. I have yard areas picked for most of these things as well though I remain skeptical if I'm really doing myself a favor or making more headaches.
Some of the items of interest in the perennial category include
Manchurian apricot trees
paw paw trees
cold hardy kiwi
grape vines
strawberries
blueberries
raspberries
plum trees
asparagus
rhubarb
Some of the vegetables/fruits I'd like to grow include
peas
beans
tomatoes
corn
garlic
onions
shallots
cucumbers
bell peppers
squash
zucchini
watermelon
pumpkins
cantaloupe
carrots
radish
celery
lettuce
potatoes
spinach
And then there's the herbs!
chives
basil
oregano
marjoram
coriander
hyssop
thyme
dill
sage
parsley
Okay, okay. I need to edit my list. What should I exclude? SIGH. It all sounds so good to me with all the snow laying on the ground right now. I have areas planned throughout my yard for most of these things, but am I biting off more than I can chew?
Which items have you grown that you'd advise me to start out growing? I know there's no way I can afford everything on my wish list anyway. The most frugal decision would be to but seeds of the things I want to grow this year, but which ones should I start with?
I know some of them will have to wait until future years come along. Do I even have enough space in reality? I know I THINK I do, but I do live in the woods after all. I wonder if I even have enough sun for it all....
What do you grow?
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
I have been scouring the internet, catalogs, and books to get some more ideas of things I would like to grow in my yard. My family loves berries of almost any kind as well as most fruits, nuts, but very few vegetables. It is hard to know what they will like or if they may grow to like some of the things on my list either. I know most people advise gardeners to grow what they like already so they are more motivated to take good care of it. Do you find that's true?
A small part of me thinks if I grow a larger variety and I'm able to offer things more often than our rather meager budget allows for, would they gain an affinity towards these new foods? I want them to eat a healthier diet.
This list is definitely not inclusive of all that I want to grow, but it makes me think that maybe my variety is too large for a beginner. I have yard areas picked for most of these things as well though I remain skeptical if I'm really doing myself a favor or making more headaches.
Some of the items of interest in the perennial category include
Manchurian apricot trees
paw paw trees
cold hardy kiwi
grape vines
strawberries
blueberries
raspberries
plum trees
asparagus
rhubarb
Some of the vegetables/fruits I'd like to grow include
peas
beans
tomatoes
corn
garlic
onions
shallots
cucumbers
bell peppers
squash
zucchini
watermelon
pumpkins
cantaloupe
carrots
radish
celery
lettuce
potatoes
spinach
And then there's the herbs!
chives
basil
oregano
marjoram
coriander
hyssop
thyme
dill
sage
parsley
Okay, okay. I need to edit my list. What should I exclude? SIGH. It all sounds so good to me with all the snow laying on the ground right now. I have areas planned throughout my yard for most of these things, but am I biting off more than I can chew?
Which items have you grown that you'd advise me to start out growing? I know there's no way I can afford everything on my wish list anyway. The most frugal decision would be to but seeds of the things I want to grow this year, but which ones should I start with?
I know some of them will have to wait until future years come along. Do I even have enough space in reality? I know I THINK I do, but I do live in the woods after all. I wonder if I even have enough sun for it all....
What do you grow?
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
More Happy Surprises!
It has been a wonderful weekend. While having company did keep me away from the computer, it didn't stop me from having a great weeekend.
We went to town to bring Cheesehead his lunch and drop of Son's football equipment. While we were at Menard's we found out that the had marked down the plants once again. I went out to the garden shop to see what was there since I have a few new places in my garden that need to be filled in. I ended up buying a crabapple tree, 2 pine trees (like we needed more of those!), and 3 knockout roses. Do you know how much I spent on all of that? $17.90! I was very pleased. Now I have some perrenials to plant where I had filled space in with the annuals. There were other roses there for $1 that I briefly toyed with buying but decided not to be too greedy. I sure hope that crabapple tree isn't just an ornamental one, I want to have an apple orchard.
Last night MIL's sister and BIL came over to have dinner. Her hubby was fascinated by my Great Aunt's victrola that I have. We chatted about it quite a while. I have been dissappointed that I haven't been able to open it and show it to the kids since I got it from Dad's. The latch was stuck and I couldn't unlock the top to play the records. The handle to wind it up was also out of place, it was more than a bit frustrating. He is into antiques and helped me to get it working again. We listened to a couple of records on it and read the intruction manual. It's really a neat machine! We had a wonderful visit and I got another piece of my family back into my life. All of that time spent peeling apples and potatoes and frying chicken was time well spent.
MIL left a while ago, so I guess I should get outside to do some more planting before it starts raining.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
We went to town to bring Cheesehead his lunch and drop of Son's football equipment. While we were at Menard's we found out that the had marked down the plants once again. I went out to the garden shop to see what was there since I have a few new places in my garden that need to be filled in. I ended up buying a crabapple tree, 2 pine trees (like we needed more of those!), and 3 knockout roses. Do you know how much I spent on all of that? $17.90! I was very pleased. Now I have some perrenials to plant where I had filled space in with the annuals. There were other roses there for $1 that I briefly toyed with buying but decided not to be too greedy. I sure hope that crabapple tree isn't just an ornamental one, I want to have an apple orchard.
Last night MIL's sister and BIL came over to have dinner. Her hubby was fascinated by my Great Aunt's victrola that I have. We chatted about it quite a while. I have been dissappointed that I haven't been able to open it and show it to the kids since I got it from Dad's. The latch was stuck and I couldn't unlock the top to play the records. The handle to wind it up was also out of place, it was more than a bit frustrating. He is into antiques and helped me to get it working again. We listened to a couple of records on it and read the intruction manual. It's really a neat machine! We had a wonderful visit and I got another piece of my family back into my life. All of that time spent peeling apples and potatoes and frying chicken was time well spent.
MIL left a while ago, so I guess I should get outside to do some more planting before it starts raining.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Shh! It's A Surprise for Cheesehead
I told you all that we were working on a landscaping project yesterday. I thought I'd share what we did together and what I will surprise him with. This was once the area where the poor deer eaten arborvitae used to live. I'll do a before and after post when I can find the before pictures. I guess I should have done a better job of managing my pictures....
Cheeshead trimmed back all of the tall weeds with the weed trimmer, I pulled them out by hand for placement in the compost pile. If there were some weed roots I couldn't get out, I hoed the ground until I could get the roots as well as the plant. It took a lot of time, but the results will be well worth the effort.
To frame out the shape of our garden, we laid a hose out in the shape we wanted it in. It took a few tries to find one that we liked, but we finally found a shape that we both liked.
Once we did that, we just had to dig the trenches and install the edging. We dug our trenches almost as deep as the edging is tall. We left a coupe of inches clearance between the edging and the dirt so we would have room for mulch. Edging is much easier to work with when you flatten the curves out prior to your project. I laid it out flat and weighed it down with rocks. We only got the edging in and then it started to rain. Grr. At least we got it all installed before the rain started.
We had to call it quits for the day since after it rained the ground was wet and we didn't want to play in the mud.
We weren't going to plant any extra plants in the garden this year since we have no money to buy more, but Cheesehead mentioned that he didn't care for the rock garden in the back yard. The rock garden was really overgrown, there were so many weeds in there you could hardly tell the plants from the weeds. I guess weed control got pushed down the priority list this summer. OOPS!
Happily that gave us a some plants to move to the new garden areas, so it wasn't a complete loss. I placed the three big peonies, lavendar, sage, hygrangea, yarrow, and creeping phlox by the shed. The day lilies, starfighter lily, 2 small peonies, and sedum were placed up front. There was still more room after those plants were transplanted, I divided the ones that I knew wouldn't suffer from the divisions and spread them all out. With no money in my landscaping budget I decided to get a bit creative.
The containers are looking a bit leggy and Cheesehead was ready to get rid of all of them yesterday. Luckily it rained so he had to wait to throw them in the compost pile. I took all of our containers that weren't doing very well and carefully dug the root balls out of them and placed them into holes I dug in the ground. There, the garden is full. I'll have to replace the annuals in the spring but I hope to have a bit of money by then.
Cheesehead wanted to use our landscaping fabric, but I hate that stuff. He tried to insist that we should use it to prevent too many weeds from growing even though I told him the reasons we should skip using it. Gee, too bad he wasn't here to do the work today. I hope he isn't too annoyed that I skipped the fabric and just went straight for the mulch. Hey, at least it's work that he didn't have to do!
Apparently the mouse that had made it's home in the grill cover this spring has migrated to the pile of extra mulch we've got sitting outside. I found it today when I took 5 bags of mulch to cover the newly planted and edged area by the driveway. Who knew such a small creature could startle a person quite so much?
To finish off along the driveway I recycled some of the rocks from the back garden to help keep the mulch in place. What do you think?
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Cheeshead trimmed back all of the tall weeds with the weed trimmer, I pulled them out by hand for placement in the compost pile. If there were some weed roots I couldn't get out, I hoed the ground until I could get the roots as well as the plant. It took a lot of time, but the results will be well worth the effort.
To frame out the shape of our garden, we laid a hose out in the shape we wanted it in. It took a few tries to find one that we liked, but we finally found a shape that we both liked.
Once we did that, we just had to dig the trenches and install the edging. We dug our trenches almost as deep as the edging is tall. We left a coupe of inches clearance between the edging and the dirt so we would have room for mulch. Edging is much easier to work with when you flatten the curves out prior to your project. I laid it out flat and weighed it down with rocks. We only got the edging in and then it started to rain. Grr. At least we got it all installed before the rain started.
We had to call it quits for the day since after it rained the ground was wet and we didn't want to play in the mud.
We weren't going to plant any extra plants in the garden this year since we have no money to buy more, but Cheesehead mentioned that he didn't care for the rock garden in the back yard. The rock garden was really overgrown, there were so many weeds in there you could hardly tell the plants from the weeds. I guess weed control got pushed down the priority list this summer. OOPS!
Happily that gave us a some plants to move to the new garden areas, so it wasn't a complete loss. I placed the three big peonies, lavendar, sage, hygrangea, yarrow, and creeping phlox by the shed. The day lilies, starfighter lily, 2 small peonies, and sedum were placed up front. There was still more room after those plants were transplanted, I divided the ones that I knew wouldn't suffer from the divisions and spread them all out. With no money in my landscaping budget I decided to get a bit creative.
The containers are looking a bit leggy and Cheesehead was ready to get rid of all of them yesterday. Luckily it rained so he had to wait to throw them in the compost pile. I took all of our containers that weren't doing very well and carefully dug the root balls out of them and placed them into holes I dug in the ground. There, the garden is full. I'll have to replace the annuals in the spring but I hope to have a bit of money by then.
Cheesehead wanted to use our landscaping fabric, but I hate that stuff. He tried to insist that we should use it to prevent too many weeds from growing even though I told him the reasons we should skip using it. Gee, too bad he wasn't here to do the work today. I hope he isn't too annoyed that I skipped the fabric and just went straight for the mulch. Hey, at least it's work that he didn't have to do!
Apparently the mouse that had made it's home in the grill cover this spring has migrated to the pile of extra mulch we've got sitting outside. I found it today when I took 5 bags of mulch to cover the newly planted and edged area by the driveway. Who knew such a small creature could startle a person quite so much?
To finish off along the driveway I recycled some of the rocks from the back garden to help keep the mulch in place. What do you think?
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Home Sweet Home
Vacation was fun, but it's good to be home! I must say I don't miss that traffic at all. My friends? YES!
I guess you can't have everything though. Over there even the peaceful country like settings are rushed and traffic filled. I wouldn't trade my home for anything!
I had several blooms waiting to greet me when we got home. The peonies were luxiriantly sweet smelling. I breifly contemplated making a lovely floral arrangement with them, some delphiniums, and wild daisies. Then I remembered the cats. They'd maul those flowers almost immediately so I decided I'd leave them outside for the birds and butterflies to enjoy as well. The ants did work very hard on these lovely blooms anyway.
I did take a close up of the peony, but I liked this shot too. I had 4 lovley blooms that are in all of their glory when we returned. The ants worked on these when they were done with the others. They did bloom before I left as did the knockout. I even took pictures. But since I was so busy and MIL doesn't have internet I didn't get around to posting those pics. Sorry.
My garden was overflowing with blooms upon my return. I have two of these plants. One is more purplish and the other has a bluish hew to it. I had the reign in the larger one with some wire fencing that I had put up front earlier this spring. They were sprawled out all over the sidewalk and I knew the kids would trample all over them without a second thought. This one is smaller than the other.
The spirea was blooming too. Not like my bridal white was in MN, but pretty enough. It's still pretty small yet, but in a couple of years I'm sure it will be just as lovely.
I have blue and white delphiniums. They are absolutely HUGE. No creeping here, they leaped right away even though I just planted all of these last summer. They're monsterous, but in a beautiful way. I'll take pics of the enire plant soon. I think the white one is taller than me! (okay, not that that feat takes much, but still....)
My mini rose that I planted last summer also had a bloom for me, with several more buds that will be opening any day now. Why was I so worried? Isn't it beautiful all dainty pink and small?
There are also 4 kinds of wildflowers blooming as well as a deep purple clematis, salvia, lavendar, spiderwort, astibile, and several other perrineals. I love my serenely beautiful blossom filled garden!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
I guess you can't have everything though. Over there even the peaceful country like settings are rushed and traffic filled. I wouldn't trade my home for anything!
I had several blooms waiting to greet me when we got home. The peonies were luxiriantly sweet smelling. I breifly contemplated making a lovely floral arrangement with them, some delphiniums, and wild daisies. Then I remembered the cats. They'd maul those flowers almost immediately so I decided I'd leave them outside for the birds and butterflies to enjoy as well. The ants did work very hard on these lovely blooms anyway.
I did take a close up of the peony, but I liked this shot too. I had 4 lovley blooms that are in all of their glory when we returned. The ants worked on these when they were done with the others. They did bloom before I left as did the knockout. I even took pictures. But since I was so busy and MIL doesn't have internet I didn't get around to posting those pics. Sorry.
My garden was overflowing with blooms upon my return. I have two of these plants. One is more purplish and the other has a bluish hew to it. I had the reign in the larger one with some wire fencing that I had put up front earlier this spring. They were sprawled out all over the sidewalk and I knew the kids would trample all over them without a second thought. This one is smaller than the other.
The spirea was blooming too. Not like my bridal white was in MN, but pretty enough. It's still pretty small yet, but in a couple of years I'm sure it will be just as lovely.
I have blue and white delphiniums. They are absolutely HUGE. No creeping here, they leaped right away even though I just planted all of these last summer. They're monsterous, but in a beautiful way. I'll take pics of the enire plant soon. I think the white one is taller than me! (okay, not that that feat takes much, but still....)
My mini rose that I planted last summer also had a bloom for me, with several more buds that will be opening any day now. Why was I so worried? Isn't it beautiful all dainty pink and small?
There are also 4 kinds of wildflowers blooming as well as a deep purple clematis, salvia, lavendar, spiderwort, astibile, and several other perrineals. I love my serenely beautiful blossom filled garden!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Getting Ready for Vacation DIscoveries
I have been running around like crazy today trying to get ready for our vacation to MN. I know I've been going there a lot lately, but this time it's PURELY for pleasure. I promise I won't lift a finger to do work. We are planning on a trip to the Mall of America, a visit to the Science Museum where they are currently displaying Star Wars stuff, a Twins/Brewers game, a visit with Grandma at Como Zoo, and a day long jaunt to visit my dad's grave with a side trip to Walnut Grove to see the old Ingalls place thrown in. We're going to be super busy. I'll take lots of pictures and try to share a few highlights as the trip progresses, no promises though!
How was I getting ready you ask. I was pulling weeds, mulching, cleaning and filling bird baths, dead heading, you know all of the usual stuff. (Of course I need to pack and stuff too, but when I did that I only discovered that I need to do a load of laundry in order to have clean shorts to bring on vacation!)
While I was out making the rounds in the yard, I made some wonderful discoveries. I did take pictures too, but for some reason the computer won't read them off my memory card. I'll bring my computer with and try to figure it out later if I can't get it worked out tonight.
My most exciting discovery were the eggs in the birdhouse previously given over to the frogs. Imagine my surprise when I peaked in to see if the frog was home and was greeted by the sight of a nest the size of the one in that tree in the back yard with 3 small, blue eggs in it. I'll have to try to figure out what kind of bird the mom is. She has a blue back with a reddish orange abdomen and is about the size of a finch I suppose. SHH! Don't tell Peanut! I can't imagine that she'd leave them alone since she'll never leave a frog alone even when I tell her we don't have time to play with them today.
I'm sure if you're a regular reader you may have heard me mention once or twice about waiting for my peonies to open. Well, they're almost ready now. Why now? I hope a few buds wait for a week to open. I suppose that's asking too much though seeing as how they're peonies and all. SIGH!
I also saw the knock out rose I bought earlier this spring should have two open flowers tomorrow. Two delphiniums, a white spirea, and a spiderwort look ready to burst into bloom any day now as do some wild daisies and yarrow. My gardens will hopefully be over flowing with blooms by the time I return from my vacation. I sure hope they don't wilt, droop, and get stressed out because they need water or something! I want at least a couple of days to enjoy my peony blooms. I kept commenting to Cheesehead that they must not be blooming yet because we don't have enough ants. He looked at me like he thought I was crazy! But if they DON'T need ants, why is it that only the blooms that had ants on them when I came outside to check on them daily for the last couple of weeks are large enough to be ready to bloom? He didn't have an answer for me, of course!
Now, time for a little R&R!
Here are those pictures I told you about. Sorry it took a while!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
How was I getting ready you ask. I was pulling weeds, mulching, cleaning and filling bird baths, dead heading, you know all of the usual stuff. (Of course I need to pack and stuff too, but when I did that I only discovered that I need to do a load of laundry in order to have clean shorts to bring on vacation!)
While I was out making the rounds in the yard, I made some wonderful discoveries. I did take pictures too, but for some reason the computer won't read them off my memory card. I'll bring my computer with and try to figure it out later if I can't get it worked out tonight.
My most exciting discovery were the eggs in the birdhouse previously given over to the frogs. Imagine my surprise when I peaked in to see if the frog was home and was greeted by the sight of a nest the size of the one in that tree in the back yard with 3 small, blue eggs in it. I'll have to try to figure out what kind of bird the mom is. She has a blue back with a reddish orange abdomen and is about the size of a finch I suppose. SHH! Don't tell Peanut! I can't imagine that she'd leave them alone since she'll never leave a frog alone even when I tell her we don't have time to play with them today.
I'm sure if you're a regular reader you may have heard me mention once or twice about waiting for my peonies to open. Well, they're almost ready now. Why now? I hope a few buds wait for a week to open. I suppose that's asking too much though seeing as how they're peonies and all. SIGH!
I also saw the knock out rose I bought earlier this spring should have two open flowers tomorrow. Two delphiniums, a white spirea, and a spiderwort look ready to burst into bloom any day now as do some wild daisies and yarrow. My gardens will hopefully be over flowing with blooms by the time I return from my vacation. I sure hope they don't wilt, droop, and get stressed out because they need water or something! I want at least a couple of days to enjoy my peony blooms. I kept commenting to Cheesehead that they must not be blooming yet because we don't have enough ants. He looked at me like he thought I was crazy! But if they DON'T need ants, why is it that only the blooms that had ants on them when I came outside to check on them daily for the last couple of weeks are large enough to be ready to bloom? He didn't have an answer for me, of course!
Now, time for a little R&R!
Here are those pictures I told you about. Sorry it took a while!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
My Soil Recipe
Many people have been asking about my recipe for my soil experiment. So, Linda here is the recipe for you! I hope you get wonderful results from it. I've gotten great results with this recipe compared to Shultz Moisture Plus Potting Soil which was super expensive and didn't go nearly as far money wise.
I filled my container about 3/4 full of ordinary topsoil/potting soil. The cheapest stuff I could get my grubby mitts on. Then I took a scoop from each bag of perilite, sphagnum peat moss, and cow manure compost until the container was as full as I wanted it.
Once I had as much soil as I needed in my pot, I used my trowel to work the top layer into the soil. Once the mixture looked to be completely mixed I planted my plants and watered when needed. That's it. It was pretty easy, I will definately be making my own mix from now on! I hope you can all benefit from this experiment too. I think it will be a big money AND time saver for all of us.
If you'd like to see the comparisons, please check the post before the last one. Sorry, I'm too lazy to relink. Too tired from shed building!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
I filled my container about 3/4 full of ordinary topsoil/potting soil. The cheapest stuff I could get my grubby mitts on. Then I took a scoop from each bag of perilite, sphagnum peat moss, and cow manure compost until the container was as full as I wanted it.
Once I had as much soil as I needed in my pot, I used my trowel to work the top layer into the soil. Once the mixture looked to be completely mixed I planted my plants and watered when needed. That's it. It was pretty easy, I will definately be making my own mix from now on! I hope you can all benefit from this experiment too. I think it will be a big money AND time saver for all of us.
If you'd like to see the comparisons, please check the post before the last one. Sorry, I'm too lazy to relink. Too tired from shed building!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Arbor Garden
It's finished - as it were. Of course no garden project is ever truly finished. Okay, so not finished... sharable? I plan on adding some edging still. The paint job needs some touching up in a few spots before I get the clematis secured to the frame.
The plants are small yet, but that will change soon. All those hostas were from one of my refugee pots. They were from 1/2 of one hosta I had in MN. It needed to be split when we moved, so they were absolutely HUGE. I'll have to divide the other one too if I want to get all of the garden surrounded.
I don't know if I'll get back on later, but I promised to show you my work!
Sorry, I gotta fly. More later! Big plans to go to Indiana Jones now.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
The plants are small yet, but that will change soon. All those hostas were from one of my refugee pots. They were from 1/2 of one hosta I had in MN. It needed to be split when we moved, so they were absolutely HUGE. I'll have to divide the other one too if I want to get all of the garden surrounded.
I don't know if I'll get back on later, but I promised to show you my work!
Sorry, I gotta fly. More later! Big plans to go to Indiana Jones now.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Opinions please! Chewings Fescue?
Cheesehead refuses to have a lawn full of ground cover. It's so nice of you all trying to help us reduce the amount of work for me. You're all so very sweet. We want grass for the kids to romp and play on. How could they have their water balloon fights if they couldn't step on the ground covers?
I've been doing research for a while since our grass is growing in so poorly. Our yard is pretty shady, sandy, and we need drought tolerate plantings since I can't spend all of my time watering. No irrigation systems for me, thank you very much! Um, that's a story for another time, but Anna already knows the whole story.
So, getting back to what I would like your opinions on... I have found most information pointing me towards Cheewings Fescue for our grass. It seems to meet our needs on the surface, but I would like your input. I found a place where I can get a 50 pound bag of if, but it's pretty expensive. I guess I want the experienced opinions of gardeners before I take the plunge. Has anyone had experience with it? What should I use to prep the yard? Do you think that it would be the best choice for us considering all of the options?
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
I've been doing research for a while since our grass is growing in so poorly. Our yard is pretty shady, sandy, and we need drought tolerate plantings since I can't spend all of my time watering. No irrigation systems for me, thank you very much! Um, that's a story for another time, but Anna already knows the whole story.
So, getting back to what I would like your opinions on... I have found most information pointing me towards Cheewings Fescue for our grass. It seems to meet our needs on the surface, but I would like your input. I found a place where I can get a 50 pound bag of if, but it's pretty expensive. I guess I want the experienced opinions of gardeners before I take the plunge. Has anyone had experience with it? What should I use to prep the yard? Do you think that it would be the best choice for us considering all of the options?
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Got Rocks?
I think this area has come a very long way. Do you remember what it looked like just over a month ago? I was telling everyone about these lovely sunny parts of the yard that melted it's snow before the rest of the yard did.
I am still working on it, of course but I am proud of all of our hard work. It has come a very long way. Since we had so little money the kids and I decided to make Cheesehead a memorial garden in honor of his dad for a birthday present. It was finished a day late, but we really needed to distract him yesterday. Boy, I think I'm going to sleep like a log again tonight.
I told you about some of the plants we brought back from our other house. I showed you the lovely pansies that the deer devoured which had been transported in shoe boxes. What do you think of this container for transport? Yes, you guessed correctly, it's a fire pit! Even better I had bought this firepit for $1 at a garage sale a couple of years ago. The other two peonies were transported in my concrete basket. I can't wait for them to bloom!
Here are the three freshly planted peonies as well as the snow in summer and the charming purple phlox, all settled in to their new home. They were planted quite some time ago if you notice the date. I also planted some practically free after mail in rebate bare root roses. Maybe not the best choice for me to spend my scant amount of money on, but roses are so pretty I just couldn't help it.
I can't believe how much the peonies have grown. The phlox has since come into full bloom too. I'm finding that I have to baby snow in summer a lot yet, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to rescue it from it's distress.
It took us what seemed like forever to get enough rocks from our yard to fill in the garden. This is almost finished, but still lacks about 1/2 the rocks it needed. If you look closely, you can see the dirt in the picture still. I didn't like having all of that exposed dirt. The rain splashed it all over the bird bath and statues. Now I just have a little bit of work to do and a name rock to add. I think I can handle that.
WHEW! After a week of rock picking from the yard, I have finally finished the new memorial garden. You would now believe all of the rocks we had in our yard! I filled four window wells, filled in part of a retaining wall, piled some rocks in the new shade garden, and put the rest of them in this garden.
The plants aren't very big yet, so it's hard to see them from this angle. Maybe in a month or so it will be easier to see them from this distance.
I planted hummingbird vines, violets, pansies, peonies, roses, phlox, snow in summer, stella d'oro daylilies, sedum, lavendar, salvia, and a few miscellaneous wild flowers that are still unidentified.
There is still not enough grass in the back yard, but I hope to remedy that situation soon. After we finish picking up the sticks I will be mowing the lawn, that will be our first step towards finishing the back yard. I am hoping to get the sticks picked up in the next day or two. When we get our tiller back from Cheesehead's friend who borrowed it, we will till the side yard again and then plant some grass seed over there.
Now, it's time to collapse into a qyuivering pile of jelly on the couch and veg out on the couch for a day or two....
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
I am still working on it, of course but I am proud of all of our hard work. It has come a very long way. Since we had so little money the kids and I decided to make Cheesehead a memorial garden in honor of his dad for a birthday present. It was finished a day late, but we really needed to distract him yesterday. Boy, I think I'm going to sleep like a log again tonight.
I told you about some of the plants we brought back from our other house. I showed you the lovely pansies that the deer devoured which had been transported in shoe boxes. What do you think of this container for transport? Yes, you guessed correctly, it's a fire pit! Even better I had bought this firepit for $1 at a garage sale a couple of years ago. The other two peonies were transported in my concrete basket. I can't wait for them to bloom!
Here are the three freshly planted peonies as well as the snow in summer and the charming purple phlox, all settled in to their new home. They were planted quite some time ago if you notice the date. I also planted some practically free after mail in rebate bare root roses. Maybe not the best choice for me to spend my scant amount of money on, but roses are so pretty I just couldn't help it.
I can't believe how much the peonies have grown. The phlox has since come into full bloom too. I'm finding that I have to baby snow in summer a lot yet, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to rescue it from it's distress.
It took us what seemed like forever to get enough rocks from our yard to fill in the garden. This is almost finished, but still lacks about 1/2 the rocks it needed. If you look closely, you can see the dirt in the picture still. I didn't like having all of that exposed dirt. The rain splashed it all over the bird bath and statues. Now I just have a little bit of work to do and a name rock to add. I think I can handle that.
WHEW! After a week of rock picking from the yard, I have finally finished the new memorial garden. You would now believe all of the rocks we had in our yard! I filled four window wells, filled in part of a retaining wall, piled some rocks in the new shade garden, and put the rest of them in this garden.
The plants aren't very big yet, so it's hard to see them from this angle. Maybe in a month or so it will be easier to see them from this distance.
I planted hummingbird vines, violets, pansies, peonies, roses, phlox, snow in summer, stella d'oro daylilies, sedum, lavendar, salvia, and a few miscellaneous wild flowers that are still unidentified.
There is still not enough grass in the back yard, but I hope to remedy that situation soon. After we finish picking up the sticks I will be mowing the lawn, that will be our first step towards finishing the back yard. I am hoping to get the sticks picked up in the next day or two. When we get our tiller back from Cheesehead's friend who borrowed it, we will till the side yard again and then plant some grass seed over there.
Now, it's time to collapse into a qyuivering pile of jelly on the couch and veg out on the couch for a day or two....
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Take a walk with me
Melanie from Old Country Gardens asked us to take a long view of our yard and garden. Won't you take a walk with me as we view our yard? Sorry zoom lens, no use for you today!
This is a picture of our yard as you're walking down the road toward our house. It gets to be pretty well screened from the road as the season progresses with all of the brush and ferns that fill in the lower area of the woods. There are many lovely wildflowers growing along the tree line, although being wildflowers they are hidden from view since they are so small.
Looking up our driveway, the lawn looks beautiful. At least from a distance. I wasn't able to get a good shot without including some detail I didn't want to share. You may be able to catch a glipse of it between the branches.
This is a picture of our turn around area of our driveway. Also future location of a shed we'd like to build. We are in the process of planting the side yard as you can see from the freshly tilled soil. We have many plans for this weekend. I'm not sure it will all happen, but we'll be a little closer to the finish line anyway. We also want to finish putting up wood trim and roof on our kids' swing set.
The swing set rennovation has been a long drawn out process, we're going on year 3 now. Had I not had so many other things to deal with I may not have procrastinated for so long. I'll have to finish staining it this fall after the wood has been weathered. It will be finished though, I guarantee it!
We don't have an upstairs, so this is about the best view available of our front yard. I took this picture from our front steps. If you look across the yard you can see my newly planted shade garden by my green wishing well, just on the other side of my drain field. I had to buy small, young plants for affordability purposes, so it may be a while before my perrineals really start to shine. I've learned to be quite patient though lately so a little delayed gratification will have to suit me!
Most of our flowers stay hidden from view. They are shy and don't show up in the long view. That's okay though since if they were easy to see the critters would invite themselves for much more munching.
This is the untamed wilderness of the back yard. I have been busily transplanting native wildflowers from the yard to the new memorial garden included in this picture. I am still not finished with that job yet either. I don't want the poor things to get mowed over this weekend by Cheesehead, so transplanting shifted my focus away from the task of rock collecting. Hopefully I can get the kids to help me collect more rocks this weekend so I can free myself up to do other jobs instead.
Our poor grills and patio table set are anxiously awaiting a nice home to nestle into. Currently they are situated in positions that leave them least likely to tip over when put into use. It works for now, but boy do I wish I had some money to build a patio or deck! We need a shed first though I suppose....
I also took a new picture of our future garden location. I want to plant some blueberry bushes along the tree line too. Possibly raspberry and blackberry too. I am going to clear out the center area and start preparing this area for a vegetable garden next year. If I wanted to do a vegetable garden this year, I could probably use our side yard. The soil looks really nice and rich there, unfortunately I think it is way to shady there to have a successful garden.
So much work, so little time (and money!)
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
This is a picture of our yard as you're walking down the road toward our house. It gets to be pretty well screened from the road as the season progresses with all of the brush and ferns that fill in the lower area of the woods. There are many lovely wildflowers growing along the tree line, although being wildflowers they are hidden from view since they are so small.
Looking up our driveway, the lawn looks beautiful. At least from a distance. I wasn't able to get a good shot without including some detail I didn't want to share. You may be able to catch a glipse of it between the branches.
This is a picture of our turn around area of our driveway. Also future location of a shed we'd like to build. We are in the process of planting the side yard as you can see from the freshly tilled soil. We have many plans for this weekend. I'm not sure it will all happen, but we'll be a little closer to the finish line anyway. We also want to finish putting up wood trim and roof on our kids' swing set.
The swing set rennovation has been a long drawn out process, we're going on year 3 now. Had I not had so many other things to deal with I may not have procrastinated for so long. I'll have to finish staining it this fall after the wood has been weathered. It will be finished though, I guarantee it!
We don't have an upstairs, so this is about the best view available of our front yard. I took this picture from our front steps. If you look across the yard you can see my newly planted shade garden by my green wishing well, just on the other side of my drain field. I had to buy small, young plants for affordability purposes, so it may be a while before my perrineals really start to shine. I've learned to be quite patient though lately so a little delayed gratification will have to suit me!
Most of our flowers stay hidden from view. They are shy and don't show up in the long view. That's okay though since if they were easy to see the critters would invite themselves for much more munching.
This is the untamed wilderness of the back yard. I have been busily transplanting native wildflowers from the yard to the new memorial garden included in this picture. I am still not finished with that job yet either. I don't want the poor things to get mowed over this weekend by Cheesehead, so transplanting shifted my focus away from the task of rock collecting. Hopefully I can get the kids to help me collect more rocks this weekend so I can free myself up to do other jobs instead.
Our poor grills and patio table set are anxiously awaiting a nice home to nestle into. Currently they are situated in positions that leave them least likely to tip over when put into use. It works for now, but boy do I wish I had some money to build a patio or deck! We need a shed first though I suppose....
I also took a new picture of our future garden location. I want to plant some blueberry bushes along the tree line too. Possibly raspberry and blackberry too. I am going to clear out the center area and start preparing this area for a vegetable garden next year. If I wanted to do a vegetable garden this year, I could probably use our side yard. The soil looks really nice and rich there, unfortunately I think it is way to shady there to have a successful garden.
So much work, so little time (and money!)
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Painted Butterfly Stepping Stones
Hello everyone. I did this project some time ago, but I couldn't put them out in the garden right away because the paint needed 72 hours of rain free weather to be fully cured. We had rain in the forecast, so I left them on the counter. Cheesehead got tired of me leaving them laying around so they got stashed away and forgotten about.
They are really neat looking stones even without the extra paint. I had bought them from my Home and Garden Party selling days, so I bought several of them, it was a deal I just couldn't pass up. I wish I had bought a few more! I was feeling tired of having no color in the garden though so I thought I'd personalize these beauties.
As you can probably see, they have been outside for quite some time. I have used them for several years in my garden as is. The first thing I needed to do before I painted these stones, was wash them. I used an old toothbrush to get the dirt out of all of the hidden away nooks and crannies.
In the sink you can see one that has been scrubbed which is laying down and one that has been rinsed, but not scrubbed. They were all full of pine needles and mulch too.
I used patio paint that was specially formulated to go outside without any special shelac or anything needed, well for two of them anyway. This is what they looked like after all three of them were painted. I debated if I should paint them all the same, but I decided that would be BO-RING! Now that I think about it, I should have added more color to a couple of them. The yellow, green, and black paint isn't the special formula, so I'll have to seal it. I forgot about that until now. Oops!
It just occured to me that they were still hidden away in the closet so I brought them out today. Now they are comfortably nestled down into the garden into their original locations. I may look for a different home for them though, I'm not so sure.
Walk on over to my yard from the sidewalk. I thought that giving the children a visual path that they could use to walk through the garden would keep them from stepping on some of my plants. I guess it's more wishful thinking than anything, but one can sure hope!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
They are really neat looking stones even without the extra paint. I had bought them from my Home and Garden Party selling days, so I bought several of them, it was a deal I just couldn't pass up. I wish I had bought a few more! I was feeling tired of having no color in the garden though so I thought I'd personalize these beauties.
As you can probably see, they have been outside for quite some time. I have used them for several years in my garden as is. The first thing I needed to do before I painted these stones, was wash them. I used an old toothbrush to get the dirt out of all of the hidden away nooks and crannies.
In the sink you can see one that has been scrubbed which is laying down and one that has been rinsed, but not scrubbed. They were all full of pine needles and mulch too.
I used patio paint that was specially formulated to go outside without any special shelac or anything needed, well for two of them anyway. This is what they looked like after all three of them were painted. I debated if I should paint them all the same, but I decided that would be BO-RING! Now that I think about it, I should have added more color to a couple of them. The yellow, green, and black paint isn't the special formula, so I'll have to seal it. I forgot about that until now. Oops!
It just occured to me that they were still hidden away in the closet so I brought them out today. Now they are comfortably nestled down into the garden into their original locations. I may look for a different home for them though, I'm not so sure.
Walk on over to my yard from the sidewalk. I thought that giving the children a visual path that they could use to walk through the garden would keep them from stepping on some of my plants. I guess it's more wishful thinking than anything, but one can sure hope!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Change of plans!
Well, I had planned on doing some cleanup with the kids, but I got a bit distracted from the plan.
My husband works at a big box type store and he had to work today. What a big surprise....
We wanted to have Mother's Day lunch with him, so we stopped by the grocery store after church and picked up a bucket of chicken meal. We ate together and he mentioned that their plants went on sale for Mother's Day. When we were finished eating I just had to go see what they were selling. As usual, I found some plants I wanted. I filled up the van with flowers and there was no room for any garbage we needed to haul off. I guess it will have to be done another day.
Isn't this a wonderful container. It was clearanced out and I was really looking at them on our plant excursion the other day. Cheesehead insisted we buy it, so of course I had to buy some plants to put in there.
Here is my planter that Anna told us how to make. I probably put the wrong kinds of plants in it, but I wanted to get it filled with flowers. I was too anxious to wait to figure out the right plants to put in there. The kids helped me choose the plants to buy. They were so excited, you should have heard them.
The 6 packs were $1.48 each, so I really stocked up. I put 3 different varieties in these baskets. The left overs were used elsewhere in our yard. I took down our decorative bird houses and replaced them with these newly planted hanging baskets.
I just loved these tulips, aren't they lovely? They were only 75 cents per pot, so I grabbed quite a few. I had some empty space in the garden to fill up until the other plants fill out more, so I figured there was plenty of room for the bulbs.
Peanut and I planted a bunch of seeds in this basket the other day, but I knew Cheesehead would be impatient to fill it up. I bought the same variety in a 6 pack and put four of them into the basket to appease his anxious nature. When I mentioned it to him before all he could say was that I should have started them in January inside. I guess he doesn't seem to remember that we just brought my greenhouse back last weekend.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
My husband works at a big box type store and he had to work today. What a big surprise....
We wanted to have Mother's Day lunch with him, so we stopped by the grocery store after church and picked up a bucket of chicken meal. We ate together and he mentioned that their plants went on sale for Mother's Day. When we were finished eating I just had to go see what they were selling. As usual, I found some plants I wanted. I filled up the van with flowers and there was no room for any garbage we needed to haul off. I guess it will have to be done another day.
Isn't this a wonderful container. It was clearanced out and I was really looking at them on our plant excursion the other day. Cheesehead insisted we buy it, so of course I had to buy some plants to put in there.
Here is my planter that Anna told us how to make. I probably put the wrong kinds of plants in it, but I wanted to get it filled with flowers. I was too anxious to wait to figure out the right plants to put in there. The kids helped me choose the plants to buy. They were so excited, you should have heard them.
The 6 packs were $1.48 each, so I really stocked up. I put 3 different varieties in these baskets. The left overs were used elsewhere in our yard. I took down our decorative bird houses and replaced them with these newly planted hanging baskets.
I just loved these tulips, aren't they lovely? They were only 75 cents per pot, so I grabbed quite a few. I had some empty space in the garden to fill up until the other plants fill out more, so I figured there was plenty of room for the bulbs.
Peanut and I planted a bunch of seeds in this basket the other day, but I knew Cheesehead would be impatient to fill it up. I bought the same variety in a 6 pack and put four of them into the basket to appease his anxious nature. When I mentioned it to him before all he could say was that I should have started them in January inside. I guess he doesn't seem to remember that we just brought my greenhouse back last weekend.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Yard Work
It was a beautiful day to work out in the yard here today, so Peanut and I got much accomplished! (My son decided to collect pop tabs from all of the cans we've been collecting. He's trying to singlehandedly earn admission to the icecream party for his entire class. Some sort of contest I guess....)
There were so many projects to do, it was hard to know what to do first!
Look at all of those trees growing up around the house. The whole house was surrounded. I would have transplanted some of them if I had more energy, but we decided to pull them or cut them down instead.
It looks so much better now. I think I want to plant some azaleas or rhododendrons in this area! I also plan to lay edging and mulch this side of the house, but I don't want to do it all today.
This is the back of the house. We have big plans for this area. Someday we'd like to build a patio back here. The patio would be surrounded by raised flower beds and made of pavers. Won't it be dreamy?
Under the kids' swingset was quite over grown. Before adding sand, Peanut and I raked the leaves and pine needles out. After raking, we weeded the whole thing. We don't want it to be all full of grass like the last one was.
Then it was time for the sand. I managed to put 2 bags of sand in before it felt like my arms were going to fall off. I think I'll have Cheesehead help me with the rest! It's starting to look better already.
We put the edging in on the other side of the house last year. We even had the landscaping fabric down already. I don't know why I didn't get this done last year! It didn't take too long. I emptied about 8 bags of mulch over here.
Once I rearranged the fabric and laid the mulch, we decided to put some seeds down in this area. I don't think Cheesehead will want to plant anything over here since the meters are over here and buried cables. Annuals should be okay to grow here though, shouldn't they?
Here are some of the seeds we sowed along this side of the house. We planted quite a wonderful variety of them. I got these seed packets for the 2008 growing year at our local Goodwill for 20 cents per packet. I got a total of 10 packets. Not all of them were put here, but we did sow most of them here. It's a big area to fill anyway. I told MIL if I had any extras when it comes time to thin them out that I'd bring some to her.
Last, but not least we had a bunch of these trees growing in the yard. Well, I think they're trees. It looked more like a bush before I pruned the lower branches off. Sorry, I forgot to take a before picture. I believe that this is some sort of birch tree.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
There were so many projects to do, it was hard to know what to do first!
Look at all of those trees growing up around the house. The whole house was surrounded. I would have transplanted some of them if I had more energy, but we decided to pull them or cut them down instead.
It looks so much better now. I think I want to plant some azaleas or rhododendrons in this area! I also plan to lay edging and mulch this side of the house, but I don't want to do it all today.
This is the back of the house. We have big plans for this area. Someday we'd like to build a patio back here. The patio would be surrounded by raised flower beds and made of pavers. Won't it be dreamy?
Under the kids' swingset was quite over grown. Before adding sand, Peanut and I raked the leaves and pine needles out. After raking, we weeded the whole thing. We don't want it to be all full of grass like the last one was.
Then it was time for the sand. I managed to put 2 bags of sand in before it felt like my arms were going to fall off. I think I'll have Cheesehead help me with the rest! It's starting to look better already.
We put the edging in on the other side of the house last year. We even had the landscaping fabric down already. I don't know why I didn't get this done last year! It didn't take too long. I emptied about 8 bags of mulch over here.
Once I rearranged the fabric and laid the mulch, we decided to put some seeds down in this area. I don't think Cheesehead will want to plant anything over here since the meters are over here and buried cables. Annuals should be okay to grow here though, shouldn't they?
Here are some of the seeds we sowed along this side of the house. We planted quite a wonderful variety of them. I got these seed packets for the 2008 growing year at our local Goodwill for 20 cents per packet. I got a total of 10 packets. Not all of them were put here, but we did sow most of them here. It's a big area to fill anyway. I told MIL if I had any extras when it comes time to thin them out that I'd bring some to her.
Last, but not least we had a bunch of these trees growing in the yard. Well, I think they're trees. It looked more like a bush before I pruned the lower branches off. Sorry, I forgot to take a before picture. I believe that this is some sort of birch tree.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Grass grief
I realize it's early yet in our spring, but after all that work last fall I had hoped for better spring results.
Oh, from the road it looks pretty nice.
But then you get closer and you find all of these bare spots! I'm sure the deer didn't help it any, but could they have damaged it that much? What did I do wrong? I've never had much of a problem having nice grass in the past.
Okay, I can't get the computer to import my pictures right now, so I'll have to add them later.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Oh, from the road it looks pretty nice.
But then you get closer and you find all of these bare spots! I'm sure the deer didn't help it any, but could they have damaged it that much? What did I do wrong? I've never had much of a problem having nice grass in the past.
Okay, I can't get the computer to import my pictures right now, so I'll have to add them later.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Okay, I finally was able to get it to work. Here are the pictures I promised you! 
This first picture is what my house looks like from the road. Not bad.... Well, you can tell where I stopped raking I guess but it looks fairly green up near the house at least.
This first picture is what my house looks like from the road. Not bad.... Well, you can tell where I stopped raking I guess but it looks fairly green up near the house at least.
When you get up closer though, THIS is what you see. 
This is what it looks like near the driveway. LOTS of bare spots!
Even further in though it's not so pretty. I've never had such trouble growing grass before if I do all of the neccessary prep work. It is worst by the driveway. That is the same area all of the deer footprints are in. I'm sure I'll get around to it soon....
I've been thinking about trying those zoysia grass plugs, has anyone tried them? Care to tell me what you know?
This is what it looks like near the driveway. LOTS of bare spots!
Even further in though it's not so pretty. I've never had such trouble growing grass before if I do all of the neccessary prep work. It is worst by the driveway. That is the same area all of the deer footprints are in. I'm sure I'll get around to it soon....
I've been thinking about trying those zoysia grass plugs, has anyone tried them? Care to tell me what you know?
Purchases made
We had a fun day looking around at all of the garden shops. Sadly I couldn't afford to buy any of the plants I wanted to buy. I was drooling over an orange coleus plant called Sonata. It was very striking. I didn't have $8 to buy it. I can't spend that kind of money on an annual!
I didn't end up buying much of anything really. Mostly because we are going to get a couple of good frosts this week, I figure with all of the stress I'm under I really don't need to be piling any more work on myself.
So, without further ado, this is the extent of my purchases today.
Hardly as exciting as you thought it would be, is it?
I am making up my own potting mix this year and I couldn't find vermiculite last time I went shopping.
I wanted to pamper the plants that just went into the ground on Sunday too, so I got a transplant formula for them.
I loved Anna's tilted pot ideas, so I bought some large terra cotta pots and two sections of 2' rebar.
The gray plastic pots are meant to go into a bicycle planter that I have been working on fixing up. I'll show all of my progress on that project once it is finished.
Latly, the lilac was purchased to take the place of the poor arborvitae that ended up getting transplanted (hopefully out of the deer's path for munching) earlier.
I plan on staining this trellis brown. We ordered some hummingbird vines, those little black metal ones just aren't going to do it! I hope to finish this project tomorrow.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
I didn't end up buying much of anything really. Mostly because we are going to get a couple of good frosts this week, I figure with all of the stress I'm under I really don't need to be piling any more work on myself.
So, without further ado, this is the extent of my purchases today.
Hardly as exciting as you thought it would be, is it?
I am making up my own potting mix this year and I couldn't find vermiculite last time I went shopping.
I wanted to pamper the plants that just went into the ground on Sunday too, so I got a transplant formula for them.
I loved Anna's tilted pot ideas, so I bought some large terra cotta pots and two sections of 2' rebar.
The gray plastic pots are meant to go into a bicycle planter that I have been working on fixing up. I'll show all of my progress on that project once it is finished.
Latly, the lilac was purchased to take the place of the poor arborvitae that ended up getting transplanted (hopefully out of the deer's path for munching) earlier.
I plan on staining this trellis brown. We ordered some hummingbird vines, those little black metal ones just aren't going to do it! I hope to finish this project tomorrow.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
My woodland shade garden is taking shape
I've been doing some work to get my shade garden in order. It's starting to look pretty darn good even if I do say so myself. The plants are starting to sprout up from the ground.
Today I laid down some landscaping fabric, poured some shedded mulch chips over it, raked some leaves and pine needles onto the side where I didn't plant anything to add a bit of extra texture, brought in some logs, a bench, and a couple of planters. I may bring in some stepping stones to bring us from the edge of the garden to the bench area, but we don't have them made yet.
I surrounded it with logs to keep the mulch in place. In front of a small portion of the area I also placed some rocks that I've found laying around the yard. I tried leaving space for the taller moss variety to poke around the holes between the rocks. We'll see if the plan works or not.
This is a wide shot of the whole area. You can see that I have decided to transplant the arborvitae out of the deer's path. I hope that it's able to overcome all of the obstacles. Cheesehead wanted to throw it away, but I want to nurse it back to health. He thinks I'm crazy, I guess time will tell....
I have 5 pips of Lily of the Valley popping up out of the ground.
I'm not sure if these will survive the deer, but I planted some lotus here too. I forget which variety I planted, we'll see when they get a bit bigger.
I also planted some sedum and phlox in a sunnier part of the area. I may end up having to move them, right now it seems sunny enough. The leaves haven't come in on the surrounding trees yet though so we'll see if they get enough sun here. The phlox is growing well, but the sedum hasn't started yet.
I found a bunch of logs in the woods to surround it with. This is a shot of one of my favorites. I like the moss growing right on it. I sure hope that I'm able to keep it as it is!
I plan on planting some double impatiens in a hanging basket to hang on that heart shaped hook. I am also looking into planting something in the green wishing well. Maybe some nice vining ivy or something?
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
Today I laid down some landscaping fabric, poured some shedded mulch chips over it, raked some leaves and pine needles onto the side where I didn't plant anything to add a bit of extra texture, brought in some logs, a bench, and a couple of planters. I may bring in some stepping stones to bring us from the edge of the garden to the bench area, but we don't have them made yet.
I surrounded it with logs to keep the mulch in place. In front of a small portion of the area I also placed some rocks that I've found laying around the yard. I tried leaving space for the taller moss variety to poke around the holes between the rocks. We'll see if the plan works or not.
This is a wide shot of the whole area. You can see that I have decided to transplant the arborvitae out of the deer's path. I hope that it's able to overcome all of the obstacles. Cheesehead wanted to throw it away, but I want to nurse it back to health. He thinks I'm crazy, I guess time will tell....
I have 5 pips of Lily of the Valley popping up out of the ground.
I'm not sure if these will survive the deer, but I planted some lotus here too. I forget which variety I planted, we'll see when they get a bit bigger.
I also planted some sedum and phlox in a sunnier part of the area. I may end up having to move them, right now it seems sunny enough. The leaves haven't come in on the surrounding trees yet though so we'll see if they get enough sun here. The phlox is growing well, but the sedum hasn't started yet.
I found a bunch of logs in the woods to surround it with. This is a shot of one of my favorites. I like the moss growing right on it. I sure hope that I'm able to keep it as it is!
I plan on planting some double impatiens in a hanging basket to hang on that heart shaped hook. I am also looking into planting something in the green wishing well. Maybe some nice vining ivy or something?
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
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