Garden Photos

A few tulips for the tea table.

A few tiny plants from around the yard that need a little extra care to get off to a good start.

The tulips are much shorter and smaller than other years, I'm blaming it on the weather but I don't really know for sure.

Most of this years landscaping consists of taking the plants I find around the yard and arranging them into more formal flower beds. I build the "bones" of the garden out of free stuff and then add nicer plants as we can afford them.

A good day in the garden

 It's nice to have a vantage point to see the birds up close and the little deck that Doug built so that I can roll out and sit where the front steps used to be works perfectly for that.

This woodpecker stopped by for lunch in between trying to peck larger holes in the birdhouses.

Here's a look down the little hill we've built to use as a ramp. The estimate for a wooden ramp was three thousand dollars and art paying as well as it does there was no way to do that. The Three hundred dollar
load of dirt was a gift from one of Doug's sisters and will have to serve the purpose.

It's a lot of work for one guy but like everything else here we do the best we can with what we've got and don't go around asking for help.

Once we've sculpted the little hill into the shape we want it to be and taper it down to meet the yard the fun will begin as we start planting the areas around the paths with more of our hosta and flowers. It won't look like much this year but should be amazing next spring.

As soon as I can get down the hill and back into the yard and garden things should start looking better around here. It will be a refreshing change after all the construction going on. We're combing the internet for people giving away gravel or patio blocks to pave the paths with. Each day it gets better and we haven't given up hope yet. Wish us luck!

The start of the garden

There were a lot of drainage problems with this property when we moved here so my husband and I have put in 20 TONS of gravel with just shovels and wheelbarrows to give the water a few places to go and keep everything else dry.

The driveway was mostly dirt and a couple of puddle filled ruts so a lot of another type of gravel making it into a driveway that we could actually use. Quite a lot went into a 18 foot circle around our campfire ring and the rest went into pathways and borders engineered to move water where we want it to go.

The first plant was this old rosebush that came from Doug's grandparent's farm and went on to his parent's farm and then to everyplace we've ever lived. We're all at home here and it's spread a LOT in the years since this picture was taken.

Before and After Photos, moving the planter box

We lifted the planter box up to get it moved and the soil stayed behind.

Here's what the area looks like now that we've cleaned it up.

We pulled the brown pot down from the front of the house and filled it with some of the hosta out of that flower box on the side of the house before moving the hook and bird house from the far side of the yard. The rocks were salvaged from an old bar-b-q in the back yard.

 This is just the start of the landscaping that I want to do in this part of the yard. I'm hoping to continue the rocks and gravel all the way to the other side of that brown pot.

Just because there aren't a lot of plants or flowers in a garden doesn't mean that it has to be boring. There are lots of fun ways to add a bit of color where you need it.

Don't forget, this garden is as much about art, fun and comfort as it is about the plants.

Garden and project updates

I've cut flowers for a couple other people since I've posted here and never got around to taking pictures of them. I finished crocheting a hat and donated that to the homeless and repainted the roof of the Iris birdhouse a nice shade of lavender which really brightens things up in the garden. The new location for that birdhouse is on the front corner of the yard near the yellow one. Since the Iris birdhouse was on a shorter shepherds hook I placed that in one of my biggest planters which holds a hosta and landscape rock so that there's still color in that pot when you don't see the plant. I haven't had time to get out and take pictures but plan to soon.
Meanwhile, out in the veggie garden the peas had slowed down and were looking really stresses from the heat so I picked what was there and then pulled the plants to make room for everything else in the garden.
The cucumbers and carrots seem to be coming along nicely and I'm transplanting the rest of the lettuce to a cooler location in the yard. So far it seems to have tolerated the move well. I even potted up some of it to give to friends that live in apartments and miss picking something fresh from the garden.
Aside from trying to get my own garden under control I've been helping someone with the landscaping on their new place. I was surprised to discover that several stores have already closed their garden centers for the season and have been to about 1/2 dozen places looking for just the right gazing ball as an accent piece on this project.
I'm sure there are a number of other things going on just now but I haven't had my coffee yet and will probably think of them after breakfast.

Making Mowing easy

If you're older or disabled basic yard work can be a challenge. The thing I find most useful is to have lots of seating areas so that you can rest whenever you need too.
My husband and I are on our second day of mowing the lawn. We each have a mower his is one we've had since the 1970's and you can read how he repaired it on his blog  http://canyoudougit.blogspot.com and mine is one we bought 10 years ago. I start mowing the front yard and he starts in the back. We start at the edges so that even if we don't finish it all at once the neighbors can tell that we're working on it and I've designed the landscaping so that areas between flower borders are like several small yards so that it's less noticeable whether it's all done or not.