Thursday, April 30, 2009

Flower gardens


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We got the flower beds mulched and a couple small decorative fences put up to more clearly mark boundaries for pets and children. It looks pretty. I will fill in gaps with annual flower seeds soon and wait for the perennials to fill in the gaps eventually. The yellow primrose and purple coneflower are growing and getting ready to bud and bloom. The foxglove I picked up a week or so ago and it looks very happy there in front of the lilac. I hope that it spreads also.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Main garden has been planted


I am so excited to report that the main garden beds have been planted. I changed things around a little bit (surprised?) so will have to update my diagram again, but for the most part everything went in as planned. The chain link fence is up, though not quite secured all the way around yet. I am actually rather sad to have to put the fence up, it just doesn't look as nice. We have to protect the plants from the deer though - so, that's how it is. These pics don't look like much now - but soon this will all be full of veggie plants - woo hoo!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Plant pics

Ferns unfurling.
Wild blackberries
Rhubarb just popping up!
Kiwi vine (this is the one that has been there a few years but got a major trim this year!)

Bloom pics #2

Lilac
Lilac
Peony bud with an ant on it.
Snowdrops (I think?)
Tulip

Bloom pics #1

Grape hyacinth
Rose bud
Shepherd's purse (weed/herb - grows wild all over here)
Iris bud
Wild violet

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Buds and Blooms

We have been working constantly on getting things settled in the gardens this spring.  The main garden beds are all built and filled with good soil.  It's still been a bit too cold at night to put the tomatoes in and I really want the fence up before I do much more.  That should happen this Saturday.

I have a bed made for the potatoes, but need to do ones for the asparagus, squashes and melons still.  Also need to build an arbor for the kiwi, put a trellis up for the peas, build the chicken run, plant all the beds and the herb bed and some flowers, I also desperately need to weed the flower beds and prune some of the bushes.

The lilac, dogwood, hyacinth, wild violets and tulips are blooming.  There are buds on the roses, irises, and peonies.  The strawberries are doing great!  The thornless blackberries are coming right up, they usually do well but then the deer eat them down - this year we will be fencing them in.  The wild blackberries are everywhere as usual.  The trees have new leaves unfolding and the ferns are beginning to unfurl.  I am considering adding a miniature apple tree to the center of the small garden.

I will add some more pics from my walk around the garden today.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Veggie pics

Strawberries are doing great!
Ummm... a seedling in the "cold bed"... can't remember where I took the pic!
Lettuce
Cabbage
Peas

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Bloom pics

Potted plant I cannot remember the name of.
Peony shoots.
Can't remember name...
Daffodil - only got 2 blooms this year, and both didn't look quite right.
Tulips looked better this year, but need more! Love tulips. :-)

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Chicken House


This is our redneck chicken house. We built it with absolutely $0 expense! Tom found pallets for free and we cut them apart and used the lumber to build this. Tom built the frame and the kids and I put up the slats and built and hung the door and installed the wire around the bottom.



Tom then found a thrown away metal garage door at the storage shed that worked perfectly for the roof! God is so good at providing what we need. :-)




We will build a run later when the chicks are bigger. I will post some pics soon of them in their new home, I know I took some - but can't seem to find them!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Edited again.


Yet another redesign on the big veggie garden.  I  have all the beds built now and will be working on getting the fence around it soon.

Thursday, April 2, 2009