Snow Has Melted

Now that the last snow has melted, I want to put up another post so something else will be on the blog.  I hope all is well with you.  I thought I'd be catching up with my blog reading this winter, but have spent too much time on FB, I guess.  I am having fun following the beginnings of spring in the gardens I see there, and a few here, as well.

I am home today because I have had a growth on my ankle for a couple years, that I finally got checked out yesterday.  The PA at the dermatology office did a shave biopsy.  She said it could be cancer or a wart of some kind.  They should know in a couple weeks.  I thought I was going to go to work today, but it was hurting in the night, and has continued to off and on.  I am staying off of my feet as much as possible, and also battling a headache.  OK, I'll quit whining.  After I post this, I plan to take a nap.

While I was eating an early lunch, I heard and saw a tree crew trimming our neighbors' tree away from the electric line.  I am always glad when that gets done, because the tree sends its branches over my vegetable garden.  I have been battling more and more tree sprouts in the garden, too.  I use organic methods, and rarely fertilize with anything besides compost.  Oh, I do use something called Coop Poop from time to time.  I think I want to use something like that this year on my lettuce and such.  I haven't been getting as nice of crops as I used to.  I think the tree has enough roots under the garden that are stealing the nutrients.

I don't know why the photos I export don't show up in the order I place them, or even the order they were taken any more.  They used to.  These go back and forth between the two windows in the bedroom we use as a dining room.

The rosemary and other plants in the garden window are doing pretty well.  I have enjoyed using them in cooking.  Next year, I want to remember to have parsley and chives ready to bring in.  Can you see the yellow vehicle on the left?

There it is on the right, now.  My vegetable garden is on the other side of the garage, near the locust tree of our neighbors'.  (We are debating about taking the light pole Larry's dad put there down.  I'm thinking it is not currently working.  If we do keep it, I'd like to have an on/off switch.)

This tree really isn't in a good spot, being so close to the wires, (and my vegetable garden).  You can see the cuts to the poor thing here.

These branches were pretty long!  I'm not sure if all of these are from the same tree, or if they were working on others in the neighborhood.  The area by the trees to the left, across the street is where I also attempt to grow vegetables.

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

I took the next few photos out of the upstairs restroom.  The work was now finished.

Heidi was in the back yard, so I thought I'd show a bit of that.  The vegetable garden is on the other side of the driveway.  Please forgive the deck and carport roofs for being so dirty.

There sure are a lot of cuts!  I wonder how long it will take for the branches to invade the wires again.

This tree is not my friend, but I do feel a little, just a little sorry for it.

I hope my ankle heals quickly.  I need to get out there and get some lettuce and such planted.

For the fun of it, I went back and looked at photos from last year.  The next two were both taken 2/14/12.  We are a bit behind, but that's fine with me.  It was too warm last winter.  I want winter weather now, hoping that March and April will progressively warm up.

Look what happened after the above photo was taken!  I'm thinking that the crocus survived, and bloomed some more.

Well, I hope we all find productive things to do while waiting for spring to get here.  I am at the point where I am feeling a bit impatient.  I am excited to see if the seeds of native plants I planted will come up.  What are you looking for in your gardens this spring?

What We Did Last Weekend

First off, I am thankful that we had a little over 1 1/2 inches of rain in our gauge this morning.  Our watering restrictions are back to being voluntary.  That is good for me, because I can go slower, and use a nozzle to water close to the ground, because I don't have to get everything watered on the same day.  I work on some flower beds at church, where the watering days are the same, so it has been challenging.  Also, I don't have to worry about anyone turning me in for dumping whatever water, tea, or coffee that doesn't get finished each day onto plants.  A neighbor told me they found out they couldn't even dump their turtle water out on the wrong day.

Now, about the weekend:

I have enjoyed having morning glories climb up the side of our deck, onto a couple trellises, and clear up the light Larry's dad put up, which is not currently in working order.  Each year, we say we are going to limit the number of plants that grow, but with this summer's heat, the morning glories took great liberties.

This is where several clematises grow, but they were totally covered. 

Well, the morning glories did make it up the light!

Even though we attempted to pull all of the morning glories that weren't growing on the deck's trellis, even some of those escaped our hands.

This is a bloom from the one above, weaving through the 'Witchita Falls' goldenrod.

There were even a few trying to compete with the 'Sweet Autumn' clematis that will not be able to remain in this spot on the north side of the house where hostas are barely survivng Heidi's digging.

These have their roots in the herb garden.

These are in the herb garden.  They are offspring of the tye dye I had growing on the west side of the deck a few years ago.

The blooms are larger than the blue morning glories, and they stay open longer into the day.

Larry says he's pulling or raking out every morning glory that comes up next year.  I suggested that we go ahead and pull them down instead of after the first frost like we usually do.  I'm pretty sure the seeds were not developed.  I am glad the clematis is still doing OK.

Good job, Larry!

Can you see the white seedheads?  I'm thinking they turn a dark color when ripe.

These piles were larger than they appear here.  There was another one closer to the fence, behind where the blue watering can is.

It sure was a nice day!

Larry's water garden is now getting more light.

I told Larry, that since I have so much room in the front yard, and Heidi keeps digging in the hosta area, maybe I'm ready to give it up.  He said he'd put some rocks there, or I suggested something flat that we could put chairs on.  Oh, and he didn't like my idea of lining up square wash tubs along the house.

 

Gardening brings me much joy, but, like I lamented about in my last post, it can be challenging.  What are some challenges you have had?

Spring in Our Small Back Yard

I don't post about the back yard very often.  It is not the prettiest part of our property, but still has things we enjoy about it.

As we walk out the door, this is what we see on the left.  I plan to plant basil and other herbs in the tubs.

This is what we see to the right.  Larry bought the bag of strawberries a few years ago, and it survives winter in our egress window.  The rosemary plant was in my garden window in the dining room this winter.

The clematis plants will be climbing up and filling up the space, some finding their way into the inside of the deck.

I tried to take the volunteer baptisia in the pot out to plant in the yard, but could not get it out.  I've heard they don't transplant well, but in order to do it, I'll need Larry's help, and the thyme in the pot may end up coming along.

When we moved here 13 years ago, we brought this tub of woodland phlox with us.  I have put several clumps into the yard over the years, and they haven't always survived either the winters or the rabbits.  Now that I'm protecting them from the rabbits, they are doing better, but this one is blooming earlier than the others.

The herb garden on the other side of the fence needs a lot of attention.  The oregano has gone way beyond the space I had allowed for it.  Now that the bird feeders are in there, I've been needing to do some weeding.  Larry put his heated bird bath in there, now that we don't need to have it plugged in.  Oh, and I can't believe the chives are have buds on them!

Looking back to the house, this is a spot Heidi likes to soak up some sun when it is out.

 Heading east, I was not happy with Larry when he put this hose caddy right in the way of going to the other side of the yard, but have gotten used to it.

We can't plant anything where the tub is, because there is a wide gate that we use from time to time.  The goldenrod in it did fine last summer, and I am pleased it survived the winter.

I've mentioned we had to put the gravel in when we couldn't get grass to grow.

I am thinking I got this pulmonaria from a friend awhile back.  When we had the tree cut down in the front yard, this found a home on the east side of the deck.

Last week, a friend gave me these false Solomon's seal plants.  When I read that they spread a lot, I decided to put them in this tub.  I plan to move the sedum type plant that is in there to a sunnier spot.

The hosta on the left was my mother-in-law's, and the one on the right, a good friend of mine who passed away a number of years ago.  I'm glad they like their new home, since they also had to be moved from the area under the tree.

I am a bit behind getting the clematis plants trained so they don't get all tangled up.  I see Larry put Heidi's toys back on the bench.  I'll have to find a new spot where she can reach them.

 The Jacob's ladder and ligularia survived winter in the tub, which is starting to fall apart.

Every spring, I need to put stakes and things in the planting areas  in the back yard, in hopes of keeping Heidi from digging.  It always bugs Larry, so when the plants come up, he takes most of them out, and then I put some back to make sure she knows this is not an invitation to come in and dig.

I trimmed back the monarda 'Jacob Cline' a few days ago.  Here is a link to July of last year to see it blooming next to the gray headed coneflower that is in the corner.

I need to give some plants away that are in the space needed by the coneflower.

I lost the asters that were in this area and behind the shed.  That is unusual.

This is looking back toward the house.  The lavenders would have liked for us to pull them out of the egress window and given them some water before we did, but they have new growth, so they should be fine.  The clump next to the ladder is rough or rigid goldenrod.  I'll have to look that up.

Since this was the area Heidi was digging the most in, I gave up on growing anything, and we moved the squares from the middle of the area to here and put this bench there.  I used it to transplant my seedlings into larger containers the other day.  Heidi likes to lie down in the gravel next to it now.

These dianthus plants have been in this pot a few years.

We still have to protect the aster and variegated false sunflower from Heidi's digging.

As we turn the corner, we are facing the driveway.

On the other side of the garage and fence is my vegetable garden.

Turning around, we see Heidi looking at me from the deck.  Larry says he plans on painting the deck this spring.

Larry likes to decorate the deck with the stuff I drag home from garage sales, stuff he has aquired, and many of the things that belonged to his parents when they lived here.  I like the results.  Fancy, we are not, but homey, yes.

 

Can you tell a gardener lives here?

I've mentioned I am gardening on the cheap this year, determined to get a loan paid off.  I am excited that the heirloom marigolds I planted last year have come up and these have grown a bit since moving them to the two tubs on the deck.  I will need to get another for the other tub.  These will fill up the space, as they got pretty large last year.  I will be patient.  I guess I could plant another in there, and let them be a little crowded.

I hope those of you who have had early springs, then some freezing temps in the last few days have not had too much damage.  I think the coldest we got was 30. and not for long enough to harm things here.  I did bring my rosemary in for a couple nights.