Gone are the days of snow storms and activities being cancelled for snow! Thus, my poor blog has suffered! We'll see if I can get myself on a good pattern of blogging again! :)
Our spring activities are winding down. Dance is over and this is our last week of baseball AND there is only one more additional week of premier soccer!! I don't know if I ever believed this time would come.
Here is Rachel in her jazz costume as we got ready for her "Picture Day." It represents a close of the dance year! (You'll notice alot of pics of Rachel on my blog. I love all my kids the same but she is the one who follows me around, looking to join me in whatever I happen to be doing! :) )
Anyway, I thought I would give you a tour around my yard because this has been my focus for spring. I do have a few more things to do though!
But first...I want to show my new rage...
I love warm weather because I get to put berries in my cereal or oatmeal!! I need to cut down on coffee but it is hard with such modern marvels as flavored, fat free cream...LOL!!!
Okay back to the yard... Rachel and I took off for the greenhouse on a very hot and muggy day. It was the perfect day to go if you want to watch your spending. You're just not going to stay too long if you can't get oxygen out of the air! Rachel picked out all of our flowers this year. She plants them as I can't with my back problems, so I decided she deserved to have a say-so with just some guidance from me.
I think my favorite annual is the Tuberous Begonia! They look like a rose. Rachel and I picked this one because we loved the yellow color. Last year we chose pink and red. I'd like to get more if I can afford it. :)
Each year we plant these two barrels. This year we decided to put a tall perennial in the middle. It is from the phlox family but does keep its blooms through the summer. I do need to get one more impatien for each pot for the back. I miscounted! I do keep the barrel light because I have learned that as these flowers grow they really expand and get nice and crowded by themselves without buying too many!
I just love phlox, by the way. I have the creeping phlox in my "early spring" flower garen. It is a circular garden with phlox on the outside and irises on the inside. It has passed it blooming season. I also have tall phlox in another garden. It blooms in clusters and is white. I'll show those another time. They are up but bloom in late summer.
Now here is my mint. Notice how it is crowding my rhubarb right out! I need to figure out what I want to use this mint for as it needs desparate thinning. It is like a weed! I'll definitely be potting some up and finding nice homes for the extras. We have 3 married couples in our College/Career Bible Study so I'll start there! Oh, and maybe my pastor's wife would like some...
Another weed-like herb is Oregano. This was here when I bought the house and I have divided it twice and the other bunches are as big or bigger than this one! I plan to give some of this away too. Today we will cut some of this and dry it.
Now here is my "To-Do List"
I bought a couple of strawberry plants thinking I had the patience to wait for them to multiply. Silly me...at 43 years old I ought to know myself better! LOL! I hope to buy more soon. One of these plants has a wee little strawberry popping out proving I may actually be able to grow strawberries!!
These are my tomato plants and marigolds that I hope to put in today. I never plant tomatoes without marigolds! The marigolds keep those tomato worms away! ...And they look pretty and are hardy too!
Now this is a new spot for veggies. I need to clean up behind this fence so all is pretty! In the back are Daylilies. They have been there a couple of years. Now I have horrible soil. I am starting to compost this year so help with that. But, for now, I had Tyler dig a spot and we filled it with good potting soil and planted peppers. We'll see how they do there. Last year I planted them with my tomatoes in my raised bed and they got crowded out and never even flowered. Let's see if they like this home that they have all to themselves.
For seeds, I have peas, onions, and cukes. I may add more. I thought I had bought green beans but I bought onions! They had these organic seeds right at the grocery store so I could not resist!!
There's lots more I could show you but I will save it for another day. I am trying to figure out how best to use our 1/2 acre lot for beautiful flowers and yummy herbs and veggies!
How is your garden growing?
