Flower Pics - From the past few weeks

Even though I haven't been updating the blog regularly, I have been busy taking photos as usual!  Here are some from the past few weeks.

Peek-a-boo, I see you hiding in there!

Can't remember what these guys are called, but they are cute!

Sweet William

Astilbe. 

Astilbe. 

Lupin.

Spider Web Hen and Chicken.

Siberian Iris.

Can't remember what this one is called, but it started off doing really well, and is now almost completely dead.  :(

Giant Allium . . . even though finished blooming, it still looks cool!

Yellow columbine.

Persian Corn Flower

Peonie.

Peonie.

Peonie.

July 24 - Vegetable Garden

Wow, I have been horrible with the updates lately, haven't I?  Life is busy and sometimes things like this get over looked more than I realize!  

The vegetable garden is doing quite well despite the lack of rain and intense heat we've had lately.  There are a couple zucchini that are ready to be used, one of which will be grilled as part of tonight's dinner.  We have been enjoying salads made with fresh lettuce for a couple of weeks. And today, I see that there are some beets that are big enough to be used.

Unfortunately, the broccoli has had a run in with cabbage worms.  I have been working hard to pick and squish as many of the worms that I can and have been spraying the plants with soapy water to deter the rest. I have my fingers crossed that I will still have broccoli, but we will have to wait and see.

And of course, as always, the weeds are thriving!  But I have been doing a pretty good job of keeping ahead of them.

Here are some photos I took today.

Zucchini that will be grilled for dinner! :)

Cucumbers!

Tomato, slowly starting to ripen!

Lots and lots of little romas!

Broccoli has seen better days.

Red potatoes aren't liking this heat very much.

But the white ones are doing fine!

The Vegetable Garden

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.

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!