Monday, April 25, 2016

This Years Container Garden, Fruits, Veggies and Herbs in a small space


I'm really enjoying the daffodils this year. They really brighten the place up, don't they?




It's a little hard to make out from the shadows at this time of day but the tower planter is full of strawberries and a short container variety of peas that I'm trying out this year. Next to that in the large brown pot is a black raspberry bush surrounded by chives and the Half Pint or Tom Thumb peas. They're rare
heirloom shelling pea that was introduced from England in the 1850's. The plants are only 8 inches tall but they grow full size peas. I'm really anxious to see how well these work out because I can think of lots of planting possibilities for them. The smaller pots on the green table are also black raspberry bushes.


It's also nice to have these strawberry plants in our seating area so we'll be able to keep an eye on them for when the berries are ripe enough. My favorite thing
to then is to bring out a bowl of cereal, a knife and a small bowl of water so that I can relax, clean up the berries and have a nice, fresh breakfast.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Strawberry Day


I winter my strawberry plants in the ground but move them to these little strawberry pots for the summer so that it's easier for me to reach and pick berries over the summer. Moving them back and forth seems to do the plants good because they're weeded and tended to more often.


I plan to leave them on the tables where they'll get the best sun until after the berries are gone.


I haven't quite decided what I'll be planting in those large brown planters yet.


I put strawberries around the outside edge of this planter. I was most excited about this one because it also has nasturtiums, radishes, carrots and chives in it. I'm anxious to see what it will look like when everything is blooming.It's not often that you can fit fruit, flowers and veggies all in the same pot. I'll keep you posted on the results.

Daffodils


We planted a lot more daffodils here because I realized it's been years since I'd done a new series of daffodil drawings.


This time we planted several different varieties of them to make things more interesting.


They just started blooming a few days ago so I'd better grab my pens and sketch books and get started.


I hope to be able to add the drawings to the blog soon.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Painting sunflowers on garden buildings, fences or decks


I've been enjoying painting sunflowers for a few years now and thought they'd be fun to add to a railing as well.


I'm experimenting now with painting sunflowers on different colors of backgrounds to see which way I like them best.