Getting a Start in the Garden

It may not look like too much progress going on between these two photos but keep in mind, it's early in the season.

What you're seeing here are peas, carrots and beans in large planters seeded over with wildflowers which should make for both a pretty and a useful garden this year.

The flower seeds that I'm using are a mix of seeds I collected and saved from last years garden and packaged seeds that were given to me by several family members.

The other thing of notice about what I've done so far is that the supports that the beans and peas will be growing on will make a nice, living, privacy screen between our property and the neighbors.

The Thaw Sets In

Just as I was beginning to think winter would never end a bit of a thaw has set in along with stacks of garden catalogs arriving so it's a good time to start thinking about this years garden.

Somehow I get the impression that the birds are thinking about this too.

Painting this simple card and envelope design just felt like spring. I'll be attaching a photo to the center of the card so that's why it's just a border.

I even get ideas from the junk mail as I grabbed a few markers to think about this design seen on a clothing companies envelope.

It's such a simple design that I think it will work well in watercolor too.

Getting Started in the Container Garden

I started out with a tomato and some flowers here.

One of the things that I start with is touching up the paint on the patio furniture. These days I have to use spray paint to reach everything but I would love to find a more environmentally friendly alternative to get the job done.

Here I've set one of the seating areas up for a tea with friends.

 We also took an old arched bench apart and will be attaching the Arch to the old chain link fence so that we can cover them both with the roses from the other side of the yard.

This is my rolling garden that includes herbs, flowers and vegetables. A few of the things here are lettuce, radishes, carrots, green onions, turnips, spinach, marigolds, poppies, daisies. Too many to mention here.

Here are some lily of the valley plants that I divided to share or save for a new flower bed.

The large Brown pots have a raspberry bush, beans, petunias, marigolds, a tomato and an assortment of other things in them.

Here's a long shot of the area that holds my container garden and three different seating areas.

This area is where we have morning coffee. these pots were just here the day I was dividing lily of the valley plants. They're out of the way now.

Gathering my Thoughts on a Snowy Day

Many people love snow and can't wait to get out in it. I am NOT one of those people. I do enjoy a pretty snowfall from my window but that's about it. I spend most of the winter going through seed catalogs and planning for warm weather with endless cups of coffee and stacks of seed catalogs to pass the time until it's spring again.

I have to say that one of my pleasures this winter is to look out at the brightly painted posts on my wheelchair ramp against the snow. The contrast is really amazing and makes me smile each time I see it.

The only activity in the garden so far was a cardinal poking through the snow to get at the sunflower seeds in the  bird feeder.

Indoors the cosmos seed I planted is up and beginning to get it's first set of leaves. I'd saved it from the amazing orange flowers I had this year and am looking forward to bright flowers again.

As all of this goes on I continue to paint and I've been designing all sorts of products with that last Iris painting on them. Both seem to entertain and amuse me so they'll fill the time as I keep studying cheese making and will be building a press so that we can make our very first cheddar.

I'm enjoying the New Year so far and hope you are too,

Julia

My Favorite Things In the Garden, even the Butterflies Love it !

It was amazing to find 3 butterflies on this clump of flowers in the front garden. There were a lot of bees to so I'm pleased that it really does matter which flowers I choose and combine in the garden.

Meanwhile in the little side garden where I do my entertaining the tomatoes are ripening and my company was amused that part of our meal could be picked right next to the table.

How many gardens have you visited where you can pick lettuce and tomatoes on one side of a bench and raspberries for dessert on the other side?

You'll have to excuse the smoke in this photo. We were cooking lunch in the campfire. None of my old cushions ,pillows or tablecloths match but I love entertaining here anyway and it is comfortable
so no one seems to mind.

Changes in the House and Garden

I'm continuing to work on the border at the end of the driveway. The soil is shallow here so I'm ending the floral border with gravel and these small stepping stones that one of my sister's gave to me.

The patio furniture and large planters are working well on this end of the driveway which I now refer to as "my patio garden".I thinned some lettuce and carrots while having coffee this morning and dreaming of the next changes that I want to make out here.

Meanwhile, indoors I continue to re-arrange things in this corner of my living room which also serves as an office and are studio. the main issue here is the best way to make everything wheelchair accessible.

Greetings from the Garden

Hi there,
It's been a good day. The weather was warm and sunny with a nice breeze so I rode the wheelchair over to the post office to pick up some stamps before we came home to grill some cheeseburgers for lunch and then grab a nap in the dappled shade. It was so nice to spend the day outside and did us a lot of good.

The veggie garden is coming along nicely but needs some thinning. Yes, I'll have to wait for help with that because I've only got a path that reaches to one side of the box and don't want to get stuck in the dirt trying to go further.

These plants all started with a single shoot out of a houseplant that we've been dividing and moving for a couple of years. So far it looks promising, don't you think so?

Here's the rough start of the sunken garden. So far all that's been put in are the hosta and lilies. There was no cost for any of this because I had them moved from other parts of the yard.

Future plans call for a patio area in the center so that there's a nice place for the tables and chairs on hot days. It's cool and shady here under a canopy of large trees.

In the meantime I sit on the edge of the driveway and work at the large patio table here.

New Fallen Snow and Garden Plans

This is the sort of day when it's nice to be warm and cozy with a cup of coffee and a stack of garden catalogs.

I'm finding it difficult to track down some of the perennial vegetables that I'd heard about in permaculture videos.

Even though I'm not finding the plants and seeds I'm looking for it's fun to see all of the great varieties of things that there are out there. I had no idea until today that cauliflower actually comes in white, green, purple and orange! How great is that?

I also found a couple of great ideas for houseplants. It turns out that Stevia ia actually pretty and it would be fun to grow your own sweetener in the dining room along with a coffee plant.That's got to be an exciting change from the ordinary, don't you think so?

Weird and Wonderful Perennial Vegetables and Edible Flowers

There isn't much to do in a Minnesota Garden over the winter except plan next years growing. This time of year my mailbox overflows with garden catalogs which make it easy not only to pick the things that I want to be growing but to compare the prices on everything as well.

I see no real benefit in maintaining a lawn when water is so precious so the majority of my city lot around my house is devoted to growing things that are both beautiful and useful.

I'm lucky that everyone here would rather pick dinner than mow lawn.

Perennial veggies are new to me so I'll begin with organic Egyptian walking onions that I hope will grow well here. I'm a bit concerned because they say 250 days and we've got such short seasons here but I'm looking forward to trying them anyway.

So far all I've come up with for flowers is Chamomile which I plan to use for tea, nasturtiums and chives.

I'm sure there are many other possibilities so I can't wait to settle back in with the catalogs and explore.

Garden Living

This to most people this is just the end of a driveway but to us it's our summer living room and dining room. In a perfect world there wouldn't be parked cars, neighbors or traffic but a gardeners best tool is an imagination that lets you ignore those things, listen to the birds and create beautiful spaces anyway.

The little coffee table is also a footstool so I'll be getting my sewing machine out soon to make a padded cover for it. I need more cushions and pillows for the other furniture too so I'll see what I can do about that as well.

T

The area next to the "living room" area is my dining room and tea table.

The beauty of this arrangement is that it can easily be moved  around if you have more company and need to entertain a larger group. We've got an outdoor extension cord for power and we often run and electric tea kettle or a hotplate out here. Each year we make changes and improvements.

I' always eager to see what happens with our project next.

Building a Garden

Here's my work area where I'm busy potting and dividing plants most of the time. It's also the table I'll be painting up for the front garden when we're ready to get that done.

Doug moved a few more Hosta up to the front border and as always we're both surprised and pleased how fast they grow. All of the ones I'd potted up in containers just a few weeks ago had outgrown them and were becoming root bound. I started all of these with just a dozen plants a few years ago. they're a gift that just keeps on giving. Each year I give away, trade or sell quite a few of them and as usual any money I make goes right back into the garden.

  I may start dividing and moving the solid green ones next year. They came with the house 13 years ago.

 This looks like chaos now but will eventually be patio and raised planter boxes for any of my friends that have mobility issues. I enjoy being able to sit and relax now and then to make gardening more pleasant and fun.

This is the area that I will be moving the big table to.