Tuesday, April 19, 2011

New Bed almost Decided, Our Second Grandchild

I asked Larry today when he was going to decide how much grass he was willing to part with after the stump is ground.  I was thinking about giving up on expanding the area, but he said to go ahead and go for it.  That's how it's worked for most of the planting areas.  He has to warm up to the idea.  Some of the time, he's surprised me, and offered more areas, such as by the curb, where the grass wasn't growing anyway.  He always likes how the flower beds turn out.

This is the one that surprised me the most, as he was more agreeable about giving me the space, and even rented a sod cutter to get the grass off.


I had told him I needed a big area for annuals.  Well, I do have some self sowing annuals in the bed, but I ended up putting a number of perennials in it, too.


 I had Larry walk the area with me today, and I showed him a couple places where the bed could end.  He told me to make it as big as I want.  I told him he better not say that, because I'd take the whole front yard if I had the choice.  Soon, we will be putting a bench and couple of chairs in the area between the sidewalk and the tree stump, where we usually put them.  In the future, we may put in a brick patio.  I'm planning on extending the new bed to the right in the photo, leaving a path between it and the existing bed in front of the house.


The flower bed will come out just a couple feet to the right of the edge of the previous planting area under the tree, and will not go clear to the sidewalk between the beds.


I wasn't sure if I should have the bed come down to the end of the sidewalk that's between the houses, or down to where the other bed ends.  After what Larry said, I think I'll go for the larger space.



I plan to go ahead and take the bed to the sidewalk on the left.  I want to plant Mexican sunflowers for the monarchs, some tall, dark blue or purple lisianthus, some large blooming dahlias, maybe the evening scented stocks I have growing inside, and some other annuals.  I hope to fill the area with bulbs in the fall, so that there will be lots of color in the spring.  Then, I can plant more large annuals that can hide the fading foliage of the bulbs.  I love perennials, but like to have the long bloom time of annuals, as well.  I told Larry we could dump some of the washtubs out, turn them upside down, and then put other tubs on them, so that we wouldn't have as many pots to water.


 Three year old K.J. is now a big brother.  Meet C.E.  He was born Friday.  I need to decide if I'm going to start another blog, or include him in K.J.'s blog.


 K.J. spent Friday and Saturday nights at our house.  We had lots of fun, but he was ready to go home when it was time.  I had just received some Thomas the Train bridges and such I had purchased on ebay, and we had lots of fun, as always.


I love making up different configurations for the tracks almost as much as gardening.
 

K.J. is such a sweetheart.  This weekend, we did a couple yard walks.  I told him the names of flowers, and he repeated them to me.  When they left Sunday, they took our daughter, his Aunt Ashley to the hospital to see Baby Brother.  Trevor and Ashley were talking about the flowers, and weren't sure what some were.  K.J. informed them they were pasque flowers.  How cool is that?  He went on to point out the daffodils and tulips.  Our son said he did that at the garden center today, too, and impressed the lady working there. 


K.J. is branching out and enjoying other activities besides the trains.  He had lots of fun painting with water colors.  He is having some adjusting to do with having a new brother.  He and Dad came over this evening for awhile, so Mom could get some sleep.  He had fallen asleep in the car, and was not happy about being back at our house.  He woke up enough to play for awhile, though.  This evening, we talked using "Face Time", and he was enjoying some time with Mom.


Today, as I was on my way to work, a song was going through my head.  Instead of, "It's the real thing, the words were, "It's the real spring."  Things are really growing with all the rain we're getting.  Now, I hope it dries out enough to get that stump ground so I can get to work on the new area.  Plants are available at the nurseries, and this weekend is the "Spring Affair" annual plant sale.  As soon as the soil dries a little, I'll be able to thin the lettuce, spinach, and such to have that first spring salad of the year.  The beets are up, too.

I hope those of you who have experienced the rough weather lately are doing alright, and that spring comes soon to those of you in cooler places.  Well, I hope our warm spring temps return soon, too.

23 comments:

  1. The new baby is adorable!

    I'm so glad Larry came around to giving you all the space you want for your new bed. Maybe he's thinking if he gives you lots of space now, you won't want any more garden beds. LOL

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  2. I'm so excited for you---a new grandbaby, and grandson that is getting interested in gardening and a big new space for a flower bed! Life is indeed good!
    Well, except for the SNOW I woke up to this morning---UGH!

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  3. What a gorgeous baby, Sue! Little KJ is ever so cute, too. You are so blessed to have them in your life.

    Your new flowerbed sounds so exciting. I'll be watching it's development with great interest :) I must say I wonder how you find the time to do all the things you do!

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  4. Congrats on the new sweet grandson, and what a great time you are having with K.J.

    How wonderful that you are going to have more gardening space than you thought.

    Enjoy and Happy Easter to you dear Sue.

    FlowerLady

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  5. Music to a gardener's ears, "Make it as big as you want!" Congrats on the new addition to your family as well.

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  6. Congratulations on both of your "additions". Have a blessed Holy Week. He has risen...

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  7. Oh my goodness you are on a gardeners high right now in the planning stage of a new garden. What fun. It will be so pretty. Your yard looks so different now. I wonder how easy it would be to put in a water feature? Just thinking about the area where the tree will be ground down. Hope you are having a wonderful day. That sounds like so much fun playing with the grandbaby. The new baby is precious.

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  8. Congrats on the new grand baby. K.J. is certainly your little gardener. Sounds like you have great plans for that new BIG flower bed.

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  9. Wow Sue, your husband must be a prince... ;-)

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  10. What a fun life you have right now. .new beds to design. .new babies to love!! Great!! Sure wish you would send some rain our way. .we are in a horrible drought here. .with hope of small chances of rain this week. I heard yesterday that 42% of Kansas wheat crop is poor to very poor!! Probably western Kansas!! Have great fun planting!

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  11. Congrats to all on that new baby. I babysit a lot, wishing I was closer.

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  12. Congrats on the new born grandson.
    I get to babysit my 2 year old grandson once a week and adore every single minute of those times.

    You will become really busy now having 2 grand kids plus creating the new flower bed but I know, you will enjoy it.
    Paula Jo

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  13. Well seems you are on your way! Congratulations on the new grandchild! Love the pictures.

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  14. Who needs grass, anyways??

    When we lived in town Hubs used to complain about not having grass, until a man he complained to smiled at me and said quietly, "I'd give anything not to have to mow grass every weekend." Heh.

    Nice looking baby and KJ looks like a sweetie.

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  15. sweet sweet sweet Kj such a big boy in some ways ..the first ...!!!Can't wait to see the beds the tree spot hurts..as did mine after hurricane. I have one left that spans the entire property..sk

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  16. Congratulations Sue, and how lucky you are to have your little grandsons nearby! We're off to see our little guy for Easter this weekend, and I can hardly wait!

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  17. Sue, What a nice filled with wonderful gardening stories and good news about your new grandson post! I loved it. How exciting to have the garden as big as you want it! Hoping it dries out here, too....So i can garden a bit more. gail

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  18. PS. What a beautiful baby he is...

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  19. Congratulations on your new sweet little grandson, Sue! KJ will have so much fun being a big brother. How neat that he can identify so many flowers already--Grandma has taught him well.

    How nice of Larry to let you make the garden as big as you want. Go for it! I always find whenever I make a new flowerbed that I wished I had made it twice as big:)

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  20. I haven't been online for a while, and the last time I was here at your site, the tree was still there, now it's gone. :(

    Anyway, what you have done so far with your yard, looks real good.

    And a new baby. I love babies. Everybody knows at church how much I just love babies. I don't know what it is, they are so cute, and little, and they have that new baby smell. Like baby powder. Congratulations!

    And one more thing, kids are just the neatest thing. I teach some of the kids at church how to crochet, and it's funny to see the kids try and tell somebody else about what they have learned. It's great! It means they were listening.

    Have a great day!

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  21. Congrats on Grandchild number 2! Looks like you had a blast with KJ and he will learn so much from you in the garden. I learned a lot from my grandmothers and have fond memories from my time spent with them...

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  22. Hi Sue, your garden is looking good and your grandchildren are adorable. Congratulations to all on the new baby boy he is beautiful.

    Have a lovely Easter.
    m x

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  23. Congrats to you,... Awwwwwww! what a cute baby boy C.E is....

    C.E is going to love taking garden lessons from his big brother K.J. who is a very smart gardener thanks to his grandmother.

    Can't wait to check back later to see what you've done to the garden site.


    Happy Easter to you and Family!

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