Week 18 - July 31/August 1 - Flowers

White Phlox

White Phlox

Purple Phlox

Rubekia

Ribekia

Purple Cone Flower

Malva Zebrina

Liattrice

Liattrice . . . purple and white . . . don't know where the white one came from, I've had this plant for years and it's always been purple!

Week 18 - July 31/August 1 - Flower Gardens

Again, not much to say.  My lilies are just about done, except for the day lilies, there is still a bit of colour left to come from them.  Cone flowers, rubekia, liattrice and phlox are still going strong.  Not much left to bloom, everything seems to be blooming and finishing early this year.  But I am still happy with how everything is doing.

Side Garden

Side Garden

Corner of Side Garden

Back Garden

Week 18 - July 31/August 1 - Vegetable Garden

Not much to say this week.  The weeds are still pretty much staying away. And things are slowly coming along.  Things are looking a little droopy today, we have had gorgeous weather this week, but are really in need of a bit of rain.  The cucumbers are starting to be ready, I picked four today!  The zucchini are still doing well, we had one for dinner again tonight.  Lettuce is continuing to thrive.  Still waiting on the tomatoes and peppers.  They are coming slowly.  I am a little jealous of my mom's garden thought, she has lots of ripe tomatoes and peppers that are ready.  Mine will be ready eventually though!

Here are some photos taken today.

I still think this basil is cool looking!  It is supposed to be one of the purple ruffles, but apparently it is having some kind of identity crisis!

I love the way the lettuce looks with the contrast between the green and red.

Two of the cucumbers I picked today!  I shared the other two with my sister in law!

My garden from across the yard.

Mystery Plant Update!

A few weeks ago I posted about a mystery plant that I had growing in my flower bed.  Yesterday, while visiting my mom, I finally found out what it is!!  It is Bee Balm!  And it comes in pink too!  Now that I know for sure that it is a plant and not some freaky weed, I want pink too!!  It is on my wish list for next year!

My New Project

No, it's not my Iris/Lily garden.  I haven't figured out where I am going to put that yet, so in the mean time, I have decided that I am going to work on another project that I have been planning for years - my shade garden.  I have a wonderful little shady spot in a little corner between my patio and garden shed.  Years ago, I marked out the area that I wanted to change from lawn to flower bed and that's all I've ever done with it.

Well, that's not entirely true.  I pulled out all the weeds, grass and little trees and worked up the soil with my garden claw that first year.  I quickly realized that the soil is not sufficient for any kind of gardening.  As soon as I figured out that I needed to buy numerous bags of soil and manure, I jumped head first into procrastination mode!  "I don't have the extra money for soil this week, so I'll wait."  

Henry didn't help my procrastination.  He got a bunch of stones from him mother and bricks from a chimney that was removed from his childhood home to build a path from the back deck to the drive way and a small flower bed between the path and dog run.  He piled them all in my shade garden area.  That just kicked the procrastination into high gear.  "I can't do anything with the shade garden until Henry does something with the stones and bricks."

Here we are years later and still no shade garden.  And I have decided that my excuses are silly and it is time to do something about this.  It could be a beautiful little shade garden and it is going to be.  Maybe not this year, but I am determined to get it ready to plant in the spring.  As you can see, the first step is clean up.  I pulled a bunch of weeds on the weekend.  Next, I need to find somewhere to pile the bricks and stones.  I am not waiting for us to build the path anymore, I am just going to find somewhere else to put them until we do.  Soil is no longer and excuse.  We have a truck and my grand parents have a seemingly endless supply of well composted manure.

 I am excited for this little project and hope that I really can get it going in time to plant in the spring.  I am eager to get my wagon wheel into the ground and get something growing on it.  I'm not sure what I am going to do with the wheel barrow.  I am contemplating having it as part of the garden but I really haven't decided.  Feel free to toss some ideas at me!  And the ladder is actually going to be a plant stand on the patio with potted plants on each rung.  But first it needs a paint job!  It is a little too blue!

Hopefully by this time next year I will be posting photos of my beautiful little shade garden full of hostas and other shade loving pretties!