Garden Clutter Buster

During the summer i had cut a lot of long twist ties and wrapped them on the handle of my garden tote so they were ready to use but I didn't want to put it away for the winter like that.

There was a tangle of wire left that needed to be dealt with too.

My solution was to roll the short ones and store them in a mason jar.

Next I cut the longer tangle into small pieces so they could be wound up to.

All of that mess fit into just 2, 8 0unce Jelly Jars.

Adding Color When the Flowers Fade

 Cool weather comes early in Minnesota. Most of my garden is gone already. the only things that remain in bloom are the marigolds and the seedum.

It won't be long before the only color here will be the painted spindles on my wheelchair ramp.

The last time I painted this the birds were bluebirds and the flowers were daisies.

This time my goal was to make it as brightly colored as possible so I'll have a nicer view out the window when the snow flies.

Birds, close up

There is a small camera built into a small bird feeder in our front yard. When the squirrel doesn't mess with it we do get some pretty interesting close up photos of the birds who visit us here.

They sure speak up when the feeder needs filling.

They are beginning to look like they've got some personality too.

We haven't seen any goldfinches, wrens or black capped chickadees lately, they may have moved on for the season but we sure enjoyed them while they were here. (especially the two batches of wren babies on the arbor and wheelchair ramp).

The Front Flower Bed

It doesn't look like much now because all that's blooming is a lone purple coneflower and some seedum.

Just now I'm doing some weeding and preparing to add some Iris and daffodil bulbs for next years garden.

Things should look great when the pink roses and yellow pointella bushes.

The best part is that I'm using strawberries as ground cover. They're useful as well as ornamental{both the leaves and the flowers are pretty) and you can eat the fruit if the animals don't beat you to them.

It's very much a work in progress but has endless posibilites.