Perennial Bliss

As far as the rest of the yard is concerned, all the plants were planted by the previous owners. I think they did a good job!

Lilies, peonies, black raspberries, and lilacs to name a few.  I also included a pic of our patio with our breakfast set :)

Everything's Coming Up Roses

I walk into my backyard and I smell.....roses! :)

Yesterday I mulched around my roses because apparently that's what they want. What the roses want, they get. I also deadheaded a few.  This morning, one of the small bushes bloomed.  I thought it was supposed to be a yellow rose with red edges but it kinda looks just red. Hmmm..... false advertising?

Still waiting on the pole beans to sprout. I think I'm impatient.  I've heard it can take up to 2 weeks. Sigh.

The summer squash is growing like crazy. Its the only thing (besides the Roma tomatoes) that seems to be growing quickly.  I notice growth in the peas, beets, cabbage and mint.  Either everything else is growing super slow and I'm not noticing or they're not growing at all....

I am really enjoying venturing into the backyard every morning and checking out all the plants.  I go out, bathrobe and all, to make sure nothing is digging in my beds and to pick out the leaves from the tree above that keep falling in.  Something was digging in and around my beds for a while.  At first I thought it was squirrels or cats, but now I think it was birds (maybe a combo?).  I caught a few sparrows last weeks in the bed with the tomatoes and peppers.  They were digging around in the soil.  Perhaps they've lost interest because I haven't seen any new holes in a few days.

Twice now, some predator has killed either a bunny or a squirrel and left its intestines in a pile in my yard.  I'm thinking it is a neighborhood cat.  I'm not sure why it has picked that particular spot to deposit the unwanted remains of its kill, but I hope it stops.  I don't want to step in rotting animal guts anymore.

Coming Right Along

Yesterday I planted the rest of the transplants and the pole beans.  The pole beans are the only ones I'm starting from seed this year.  All the tomatoes have cages around them and Max helped me set up the trellis. I also added mulch around the boxes.

I forgot to mention that I have a composter now! I'm so excited about this.  Max picked one up from the city for us.  I have been reading a book called Let it Rot that I borrowed from my neighbor. Imagine my excitement when I learned I could compost dryer lint and my coffee grounds/filter! ha! :D

Today I bought roses. Sigh. I am complete.  I plan on putting them in the ground sometime this week.  They will go along the back fence where they should get plenty of sun and thankfully mask the chain link fence.

Plant-astic!

I put a grid on my SFG boxes.  Unfortunately, the wood lath I bought in 4 ft lengths was a bit too short to nail into the edges of the box.  I just bolted the lath to each other and am crossing my fingers. hehe.  Next, I copied my neighbor and set up 3 ft chicken wire fencing around the boxes to keep out the bunnies and squirrels (and whoever it was that was digging in my soil before I even planted a thing).  Now I just needed plants!

This year was a busy one.  It is my first year feeling like a full fledged gardener too so I decided to do transplants instead of starting from seed.  I went to the Farmer's Market and got tomatoes, peppers, herbs, peas, beets and eggplant.

Then I picked up a few more plants yesterday that are still waiting to be planted.  I got jalapeno, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, chives, cilantro and strawberries.  

Today, I am planting pole beans.  I still need to construct my trellis for the beans and peas.  And I am thinking about moving my summer squash from the SFG into the neighboring dirt.  I just think it'll get too big!

Raised Beds

The boxes are on the ground. The mix is made and is in the boxes!

:)

Phew! That was hard work--mixing all the soil components by shovel... Meanwhile, Max is painting our dining room. We're so productive today!

Bloomin

My first iris of the season bloomed today.

:)

My azaleas are done blooming and starting to wilt.  There are small caterpillars eating the leaves.  There were tons last year and I sprayed them with some organic non-chemical hippie spray.  It seemed to kill them.  What are they and why do they want to eat my plants?!

I am hoping that my peonies will wait to bloom until Jacque comes to visit--they are her favorite flower.