A New Look to the Garden

I love this hosta border along my path from the house to the garden.

Here are a few small pots of marigolds to brighten things up into the fall.  I always try to time things so there is always something new to look forward to.

The mobile flower bed is full of broccoli and strawberries now.

It's difficult to see in this photo but there's a lovely mix of yellow, orange and purple in this flower bed.

The orange lilies are a sure sign that summer is nearly over.

It's amazing how much the garden changes each time one of the other flowers bloom. Now that the whites of the lily of the valley and violas have stopped blooming we're treated to a show of yellow and purple with the lilies and hosta.

The Lemon Lilies are blooming now, they were a gift from my Mother and make me smile all over again each year they come back.

Strawberries

As you can see the plants I started with this year were very small (daughter) plants from last years Strawberry plants.

There were both wild and cultivated plants crossed in that bed so there will be a variety of sizes and shapes of berries this year.

So far the berries have been a medium size and very delicious.

Add the berries in the open box were eaten by Wildlife so since only the covered ones were safe we'll be adding more covers next year.

Back out in the Garden w/Photos

Of course I've got some lettuce growing indoors year around but it won't be long before I've got lots going on outdoors.

Here's how it looked on the 26th where it came in handy as we made tacos. I've got to say there is something attractive about being to harvest things right where you're making a meal.

Back outside more of the daffodils are blooming and we're really enjoying the pops of color in the middle of so much brown and the start of greening up.

The tiny strawberry plants from last year are reviving and recovering nicely.

This year we're making the best of the sun that we get here by building a planter box in an old greenhouse wagon that we can pull to wherever it's needed. We plan to finish off the outside by covering it with vinyl siding so that it will look nice with the house no matter where we put it.

Other plants are in between. These are waiting  to go out to the garden to become their very best selves and feed body and soul.

So far all I've got are these daffodils. This was the earliest photo. as you can see by the other photo in this blog they got better and better as the season went by.

And these strawberries from last year.

Today I had some company out there.

I'm not sure who enjoyed things most, the butterflies or the humans.

Getting Back out in the Garden

It's still pretty chilly but I get out most days to start general pick up and clean up.

Welcome to another season of ups's, down's and fun in my little corner of the world.

It's too early for a lot of the plants that I'll be wanting to add to the garden this year.

Believe it or not this bleak looking stretch of soil is actually my best flower bed. Those twigs are my rose bushes and there are lots of spirea, lilies, and perennial sunflowers just waiting to pop up again. You'll be surprised at all of the changes if you follow it this season.

Here's a long shot of my Tea Garden which is the end of the driveway that I use for a container garden and patio. It's where most of the entertaining happens here all Summer.

Here are a few of the planters before I cleaned them out and got them ready to plant again.

They look a lot better when they've been cleaned out, don't they?

I'm planting last years strawberries in the long planter and will be making a cover to protect them. The darn "critters" got all but 7 of them and I sure don't want that to happen again.

I spent a few days transplanting strawberries. It's probably early for that but they're already growing outside in these conditions so I didn't think it would hurt. 

Many plants had been damaged and dragged around by animals so I needed to round them up and put them somewhere safe. 

It looks like most of the plants will recover under these conditions and it may also be good that I no longer know which variety is which. I had intended to cross breed them anyway so it may work out for the best. 

This is the planter box that I'm putting the strawberries in. My Husband and I built it 15 years ago out of composite lumber so I can tell you from experience that it lasts well. We've even moved it several times since then and it only had one screw that needed to be tightened on one corner.

I can't wait for these daffodils to bloom! We also built the short planter box behind the daffodils from regular lumber and covered it with siding to match the house. It's pretty but I prefer the composite box to this one.

A tale of two Strawberries

I wrote some of you of one of my little adventures driving around town in my power wheelchair so forgive me if I'm repeating myself but my favorite trip of the summer was to a local greenhouse where I purchased the last two strawberry plants for just two dollars and fifty cents each.

I'm sure people wonder why in the world I was so excited about that except that they each had many daughter plants hanging from them so I rushed to get them re-potted where the daughter plants could grow into strong plants of their own.

In just the few weeks since then I have nearly a dozen new plants.
No berries, the birds and wildlife around here got to those but I'll find ways to prevent that by next year.

While I wait for my next planter to be built I just keep putting other planters up to the first one for the daughter plants to spread to.

Mothers and Daughters are doing well and I'm really enjoying nurturing their progress. 

Of course this lead to the photos and the photos lead to the art.

Again with watercolors, and finished with ink.

 This was the card.

And this was the envelope. This was just a quick scribble with markers. Yes, I was in a hurry to get to the mailbox.

Strawberries, Roses, Daisies, and More

  These strawberries were one of my adventures this summer. I rode my power wheelchair over to a local greenhouse. Yes, I know it doesn't sound like an adventure but I had to cross about 3 blocks of very scary and uneven construction area to get there. Several times I had to rely on my husband to keep the wheelchair (and me) from tipping over.

I'm sure that sounds foolhardy to many of you but when you consider that I'm cooped up in a tiny house all winter you can see why I'm so determined.

This time I was well rewarded because what you see in that window box is just 2 plants that I got for half price that just happened to be surrounded by many runners and daughter plants. At last count it appears that I will get a full dozen plants out of this.

 I like this photo because it shows the roses, iris, daisies and wild geraniums all together.

My favorite thing about this photo is that the lattice you see at the bottom is the TOP of a five foot fence which gives you a hint on just how tall part of these rosebushes are.

These are just a couple of close ups of the container garden. I'm really loving having the herbs and the flowers together.

This is just beans and marigolds. I like the idea that when the veggies are gone there will be lots of flowers to fill the planter and make the garden pretty for entertaining.

The daisies are spreading slowly but seem to be overtaken by the creeping charlie. I'd do something about it but can't reach it from my wheelchair so it's on it's own.

I did get help one day moving some of them over to the edge of my driveway so I can tend to them. I'm hoping to have better luck there.

We built this path ourselves, it's the lifeline that gets me from the house to the garden, the driveway and the rest of the world. It's just gravel but I sometimes make it magical by adding agates, bits of rounded and iridescent glass and other bits that reflect the light and make it more interesting.