Busy, busy days....

I haven't had a post in over a year...it has been a busy time for me.

Things are changing and change is good....at least most of them.

This tree just fell yesterday. We think it was nearly 200 foot tall. No rot, it just was on the edge of an old creek bed and finally gave way to gravity. I was in the house and heard something crashing. I looked out the window just in time to see it still shaking as it landed. We haven't measured it yet, but it is both tall and has a humongous trunk. Too big for our chainsaw.

We don't know yet what we are going to do about it. Maybe see if a lumber yard wants it.


This beautiful picture is on the south side of our house. Creeping thyme that I brought from my old house and I originally got from my mom. Various sedums grow with it making striking color contrasts.


These lilies are some of my favorites. I don't have a name for them, but when we first moved here there was only one lone bloom. It really likes this spot I transplanted it to. I have already removed some spent blooms on it and it keeps on going.


This is one of my favorite flower plots in our yard. It is at the end of a long bed beside the side walk leading to the front door. It gets very little light so I have to be creative with the foliage. The rocks make a nice frame.


This rock sculpture I talked my husband into helping me create. He thinks it is strange but I think it is a nice focal point and calming somehow, sort of zen-like. I really like it a lot. It is probably 3 foot tall or so.


This is my mini-sedum garden that I tucked into a hypertufa bowl I made a few years ago. I put one of each kind of sedum that I have including the various hens-n-chicks. It is really filling out nicely.


Anyone want to swing?


My husband was mowing when I took this picture, so the grass is fresh cut. This line of plants is some miscanthus and a bunch of Rose of Sharons that a nice guy at work gave me this spring. All transplanted well. Only out of 35 hasn't made it so far.


This is a brand new bed I began this year using the lasagna method-which is my favorite way to start new beds. I have only barely started the framing, using bricks and scrap concrete as a base for something else. I hope to find some great field stone to put on the base. I love the look of granite around my beds. This new bed holds a Magnolia "Anne" and an Azalea, both which have purple flowers. I also tucked some ferns and a hosta in there and a few annuals. This bed is near the rock sculpture.


I got this wonderful urn at a garage sale for $5 this spring. It was full of twigs and the original price tag from Garden Ridge was still inside it attached to the twigs-$65! I took the twigs out and planted it up.


Compared to the urn, $5 for this little tiki planter doesn't seem like quite a good deal, but I still love it with it's Begonia hair.


My tufa trough is planted up with various annuals. It split over the winter unfortunately, but it has fallen apart and I haven't tried to move it.

Well that's all for now. There's plenty more pictures that I should take and show, I just need to try better to make the time. I hope you've enjoyed the show!

My Hillside Veggie Garden

Can you tell how steep this hill is? Not only is the garden on the side of a hill, it is also facing NORTH! It will be quite the season to see how well things do. I have everything sowed now and only have the Brandywine Tomato's left to plant. It has been real windy lately and not wanting to flatten them, I am waiting to put them into the ground.

I have plans to terrace the garden and make some sort of rustic twig fence around it. Fencing will probably be first, just to keep the critters out.

I went and checked the rows out today and pulled a few clods of weeds still laying around and starting to grow. I have leftover piles of leaves from last year that I may use as mulch to help keep the weeds down and the moisture in, but may omit them to use in the flower beds instead.

Busy Spring

I have been completely neglectful of my blog, but not my gardens, which is why I have been neglectful of my blog.
We have finally gotten the hillside garden tilled up and nearly ready for planting. It was a lot of work, mostly for my husband, who had the chore of tilling. Tilling is hard enough, but do it on a hillside and it triples the amount of work. I had started by using a shovel and loosening all of the weeds and growth and pulling and pitching them all aside. Only got about a tenth done when Chris brought the tiller down and did the rest. He ended up tilling the entire thing 4, maybe 5 times to get it where it is now. After each tilling, I took the rake to it and got all (or most) of the weeds and roots out.
Before planting, I still need to mark out all of the rows and terrace them all. The soil is in good shape and I really should still add compost, but will leave that until this fall when it can all be tilling under. I expect Chris doesn't want to touch the tiller for several months again.
I have lots to plant. I have tomatos that I started inside over the winter, Brandywine. I have corn, green onions, watermelon, pumpkin, gourds, beans, carrots, sweet basil, cucumber, and red sunflowers.
I am going to use the 3 Sisters method for planting the corn, beans and pumpkins. This will save a lot of space and allow me to also plant some strawberries.
I have also been spending time trying to figure out what I am going to do about keeping deer and raccoons and rabbits and everything else out of the garden. We aren't building a fence, but I may try to gather lots of branches and make a rustic fence (free) and hope for the best. I also have lots of bars of soap sitting unused, so this will be a good way to put them to use. I may also try the pie pan method and maybe the plastic grocery bags too.