Saturday, June 25, 2011

June 18/19 Flower Gardens

The flower beds were also looking a bit neglected when I got back from vacation, but not as bad as the vegetable garden!

I spent an afternoon weeding them and still need to do some trimming and cutting of dead iris blossoms, but it is looking really good!!

Back flower bed.

Back flower bed.

Back flower bed.

Side Flower Bed.

Side Flower Bed.

Side Flower Bed.

June 18/19 - Vegetable Garden

Another late post, but better late than never, right?

We arrived home from vacation on June 14th and it was immediately obvious that my garden had been neglected!  The weeds were taking over!  I wasn't really surprised, but it needed my immediate attention!

This is what my garden looked like when I got home from vacation.

Doesn't Mother Nature have enough places to grow wild stuff?  Why does she have to fill my garden too?

After a couple of hours, I was making some progress, but not as quickly as I would have liked.

When Henry saw how long it was taking me to get through the weeds, he suggested using the garden tiller between the rows, so that I could just concentrate on right close to the plants and hopefully, get done more quickly!  I was thrilled with the idea and it worked wonders!!

A row before Henry tilled it.

The same row, after tilling . . . so much better!

Finished!  Henry tilling between the row allowed me to finish the garden in one afternoon!


Despite being overrun with weeds, I was very pleasantly surprised with how well everything was growing.

Lettuce

Tomato plant . . . with a little tomato!

Pepper.

Broccoli.

Carrots.

Potatoes.

Cucumber.

Zucchini.



Monday, June 6, 2011

June 4/5 - Herb Garden

Cleaning out my Herb Garden was my big project last weekend.  And unfortunately, it is an ongoing project.  The weeds and grass have taken over.  Despite having covered the bottom of the garden with heavy plastic, the roots have pushed up through it.  The soil is a mess of roots.  

I started by digging out the herbs that were trying to grow and putting them into flower pots for now.  I hope that they survive until I can finish and get them replanted into the herb garden, but there was no way I could clean it out around them.  If they don't survive, I will just get new ones and start over completely.

Once the things I wanted to save were out, I just started pulling and digging.  I am no where near done and I have already gotten rid of 2 full wheelbarrows of roots.  Although it is a frustrating job, it will be worth it when it is done to have my nice herb garden back again!

This is what the herb garden looked like when I started!

The soil is filled with root masses like this.

And long roots like this.

Roots, roots, everywhere!

I had to cut this one off because it was coming up from under the plastic and was as big around as my finger.

No where near done, but I have made some progress!





June 4/5 - Flower Photos

Can't remember what this is, but anxiously looking forward to flowers!
Yellow Columbine

Painted Daisy

Bachelor Buttons

Spider Web Hen and Chicken

Red Delta Hen and CHichken

Hen and Chicken

Bachelor Button

White Iris


One last lilac photo before they are all done for the year.

Blazing Star Liatrice, planted last week, just out of the ground!

I love seeing this white columbine every time I go out my back door!

June 4/5 - Flower Beds

ANother week of not doing much with the flower beds.  The weeds are under control for the time being and I haven't had time to work on any of my expansion projects.  But as usual, here are some photos for the progression of my perennials.  

Side Flower Bed
 Side Flower Bed
 Side Flower Bed
 Side Flower Bed
 Side Flower Bed
 Back Flower Bed
  Side & Back Flower Bed
  Back Flower Bed
 Back Flower Bed

June 4/5 - Vegetable Garden




The vegetable garden is coming along quite nicely.  Almost everything I have planted is up and growing as expected.  I am surprised at how dry it is given the amount of rain we have had this year but so far it hasn't effected how anything is growing.

I planted my tomato, pepper and broccoli plants this weekend.  I would still like to get some jalapeno peppers and cherry tomatoes, but other than that, I think it is all planted!

Onions

Swiss Chard

Kale

Lots of lettuce!

Freshly planted tomato plant.

Freshly planted tomato plant.

Freshly planted pepper plant.

Freshly planted broccoli plant.

The potatoes are growing like crazy!

Cucumbers

Zucchini are sprouting their next set of leaves!

All planted and ready to grow!!