2012 - A Month Later!

So much growth since a month ago!  The Butterfly Garden is getting so full!  I am going to have to split these Lilies up to free up some room.  Evan's new flower is looking really pretty with it's red and yellow blooms.

The red is prominent in this picture, while the yellow is on the back side of the plant.  Next time I will get an angle that has the two plants to show the different colors.  Behind it, the Russian Sage is looking very full and beautiful!

The Raised Garden is looking wonderful too!  The Kale chips really helped thin it out as you can see that it was over growing with lots of leaves!  I will have to thin it down to two plants I believe.  As well as the Beets.  They will be thinned to maybe four.

 Here's a nice overlook of the whole garden.  The Parsley has finally popped up as well as the Carrots!

There's those yummy Pea shoots.  I am never going to let them get tall if I keep eating the sprouts.

The Sunflowers are getting tall too!  I may have to thin them as they keep getting tangled into one another in the strong winds.  Their size contrasts so much comparably to the ones in the terracotta pot.  Another surprise is the Kentucky Pole beans, they seem to have taken off a bit since I last documented them.  I have a Soybean sprout in there as well, and thank God, because the deer have eaten the one out by the fence.  I may have to start some more to get them going again.

There is the Parsley next to the beet greens.  Not much out of the ground, but they are a slow grower.  The Cilantro is looking good and there are some new Radish Sprouts popping up next to them on the right.

The Dill is looking so lush with it's feathery foliage. 

The Daffodils are looking like they might just bloom.  I have read that I should cut them off and let the bulb build up energy for next year.  I really don't want to do that.  The sunflowers are looking good, but seem over crowded.

The Mesclun is looking really good in the fenced in garden.  Look a little closer at the top and those pesky Sunchokes are poking their ugly heads up out of the ground.  I do believe there are tubers under the concrete block that are impossible to get to.  Like I said before, EVERY bit of the tuber, root and plant must go.  What an invasive species.

Oh Deer.  Quit eating my stuff.  I know.  It's my fault for not covering these tasty little guys, but it still urks me that they would come into my yard and eat my food.  The nerve.  You foraging monsters.

Whatever.  I am not upset.  Just really glad they didn't eat the Spaghetti Squash.  The Peppers may come back.  I won't hold my breath, especially the Soybean plant that was completely demolished.

 
Here are the same flowers that are featured in the Front Yard right now.  They are packed in with these Pineapple Mint or Orange Mint.  I think they cross pollinated with the Spearmint, so they don't smell as good as they did last year.  They will soon take over the yard and when I mow it will smell so delicious when I chop them down.

The Butterfly Bush is looking good.  I hope the deer doesn't eat it like the peppers and soybeans.

The Crabapple is getting munched on as well.  So frustrating.  Why don't you get tall already mister tree so the deer can't reach your tall branches.  I think a fence to go around it will have to help it get back on the road to recovery so it can reach for the sky.

 The Lilly of the Valley is not doing much, but staying alive.  I'll take that.

The beautiful Mesclun is surrounded by some really pretty flowers that I have yet to plant, a whole month later.

 It's like a salad bowl.  It just needs some dressing.

The Johnny-ups in the top corner are coming along so slowly.  The seeds were from 2009, so I don't know if they are stunted by that fact.

The resilient flowers that need to be planted.  So pretty.  Pink is not my favorite color, but it looks good with yellow and green.

2012 - Garden Update

~It has been a VERY busy week for me and this was supposed to post on the 20th. Sorry for the delay.~

Alright!  Here we go!

We've got Radishes looking beautiful in the top left, a newly planted Green Pepper on the right and last year's sprouts of Garlic Chives in the top right.  The bounty of lush Vates Kale, which tastes super yummy with my Tuna Salad sandwich, is surrounded by Beet Greens on both sides.

Here's a little better look at the Beets.  The red veins stand out in the bright green foliage.  These guys will need to be thinned here shortly as they will get too overgrown for this less than a square foot spot.  I am going to wait until they are a bit bigger for mixing with our salad greens.

This square on the left side of the Kale is a transplant spot for the Beets and one Radish.  They were thinned out from the other sections of the garden that I didn't want to get rid of so soon.  They are much smaller than their bigger cousins that did not get transplanted.   This could be an interesting study if I wanted to make one out of it to compare the results from transplant to non transplant.

The back side of the Raised Garden has the Peas and Beans.  Up front are about five plants of Snap Peas.  Behind it is a Kentucky Pole Bean that is struggling and I transplanted a Soybean and put it in that square with the Pole Bean.

An overlook of the four foot square garden:
From Left to Right:
Top Row - Sunflowers, Snow Peas, Kentucky Pole Bean with Soy Bean, Sugar Snap Peas.
Second Row - Sweet Onion with Chives, Dill, Brussel Sprouts, Basil with Second Green Pepper Plant.
Third Row - Carrots (not sprouted yet) with Radish, White Bunching Onion, Garlic Chives, Cilantro.
Forth Row - Beets and Radish, Vates Kale, Beets, Parsley.

Out in the yard, a lone Spaghetti Squash plant is taking off.

With the Squash, I planted the third and forth Pepper plants with the emerging Soybean plant.

Our Powell Garden Member's Butterfly Bush is growing bigger.

I got anxious about the Radishes being at three weeks so far in the garden.  However, I think the Radish needed another week or so to grow larger than a dime.  Evan did a good job of pulling it out of the bed with out damaging the plant.  The root was about seven inches long.  It sure tasted good too.  I washed the little guy off and took a tiny bite out of it and it was full of radish flavor!

I finally got the back side of the garden all settled and hopefully all the Sunchokes will keep from growing back.  I put down a weed barrier to keep the guys at bay.  My hopes is this did not make the bed for the Musclun mix too susceptible for drying out.

The Daffodils and the sunflowers are getting taller and taller in the Terracotta Pot.

Here's what's left of the Sunchokes... maybe.  They are in a pot waiting to get to Tulsa to give to my Mom.

The Honeysuckle is in full bloom and making Evan miserable allergy wise.  It's been really windy around here and we had to take the hammock down so that it did not turn into a giant sail.
The rest of the vegetable garden will have to wait until next year.  I still want to put the garden under the clothes line.  Maybe I will just put out some flowers to keep from having to mow under the line.

2012 - Garden Updates

It's been almost three weeks since I planted the all the seeds in the raised garden.  I also planted the Musclun Seeds a little bit later and are sprouting about in the pot and heading up towards the sun! 

Evan's Primrose plant is recovering well from being beat up in the $1 clearance section at Lowe's.  It's leaves are growing back and flowers keep coming up.

The Primrose was planted right next to this really neat Lily plant my mom gave me last year.  Fingers crossed it will bloom this year.  It is getting much bigger than it did last year.

Everything sprouted in the Raised Garden except the Carrots.  Evan and I headed up to The Grass Pad to get some new Carrot Seeds and check the place out.  I have never been there and the place is pretty neat.  Just hate that it is so far away.  Their prices were decent.  We looked at all their beautiful flowers and plants, landing us with a four pack of Green Pepper plants and a really pretty flower called Celosia that I will have to come back with pictures once it is put in the Butterfly Garden.

Even though the Butterfly Garden is getting full, the new flower will have a nice spot right in the back against the wall.  It will stand about twenty inches tall and stand out with red flowers.

The Daffodils are finally taking off along with the Sunflower Seeds in the Terracotta Pot.  I don't think they will bloom, but the fact that they are still alive is amazing.  We had an impending frost that would possibly kill the Sunflower Sprouts and I picked up that heavy terracotta pot to carry inside.  I ended up pulling a few muscles in my back and made it sore all week leaving me out of the garden on my day off.  I am getting behind on chores!

I was going to work on getting the rest of the Sunchokes out of the back of the raised garden.  They keep popping up after I pull a bunch out.  Invasive species, I'd say.  Remember, ALL parts of the tuber has to be removed.  If a bit breaks off, they will regrow from that.  The Spearmint and Lemon Balm wait to be planted, although, they seem to have planted themselves right there where I left them.  I believe the Oregano died from the heat.  Also I still have not figured out what to do with the pretty red and pink flower potted plants.

Evan and I have also purchased the Edging Brick and Mulch needed for the walkway around the Raised Garden from Lowe's.  We also got some Dirt to fill the back side of the Raised Garden after I put down some Weed Barrier in hopes to stop the Sunchokes from sprouting up.  Fingers crossed.  We got a new 20" Homelite blade from Home Depot for the mower and installed it, a Soaker Hose to hook up to the Timer for the summer when it's too freaking hot to water, and four 12" Concrete Stepping stones to put at the end of the patio to get the walkway started on the East side of the Raised Garden.  All in hopes that I can work on it tomorrow as weather permits and errands come before it.

We did have a really cool visitor today and hope it stays that way.  This Pileated Woodpecker flew in like a hawk and landed on our Front Yard Maple tree.  Beautiful Red Crested head.  He's kinda rare in these parts, but should not be uncommon as we are on the edge of their habitat area.  I wish I had a better picture as this one was taken from inside through our UV coated window on an overcast day.  These guys can dig really big holes in your tree for a family to grow inside.  Quite neat, but my trees are NOT in need of crazy holes in them.  I think the black ants have done a good job of that already.

2012 - Garden Plans - Herb and Butterfly Garden

I have some pretty big ambitions for our 2012 garden and have a feeling it all will not get put into use.  Nonetheless, I have a goal and hope to obtain it.  I would really like to have a sustainable garden and believe that the backyard will have to go through some major redoing.

Until then, I believe the area where the gardening has been commencing the last three years will be the norm again this year; right out the back door off the south side of the patio. 

Last year, I fixed the path after it had gotten so overgrown with grass and weeds from the first creation of the butterfly path in '09.  This was taken in May '11.  In the butterfly garden, the plantings consist of Day Lilies, Lamb's Ear, Mums, Cone Flowers, and Russian Sage.


I will continue with these plants, but believe the heat wave of the summer killed off the Lamb's Ear.   If they do not come back I may get a new plant to restart the furry little plant, since it is a nice addition to the garden.  As usual, I will split the Lilies and hope to get more production out of them.  In the fall, I planted some seed heads of some wild Black Eye Susan flowers that sprung up on the other side of our north fence into the back row of the garden to see if they will sprout in the spring. 

Here is the main focus were I want to create a real herbal garden.  Right now the perennials in this small garden are Spearmint, Lemon Balm, Garlic Chives, Oregano, and Jerusalem Artichoke.

The Jerusalem Artichoke is cool to watch it grow and makes a really nice privacy fence.  They grow as tall as 9 feet tall and have really nice sunflowers at the top of the plant. 

However, after a severe summer storm comes through, it knocks them over and it crushes me to see them bent over and broken.  Last year was the third year we had these things growing.  The first year, they were small due to the deer pretty much eating them up and we didn't get any flowers.  The second and third years the straight line winds got to them and several of our walnut tree's big limbs.  Evan and I end up tying them up and it looks ghetto and we barely get any flowers on top.  I often think of what the neighbor's maybe thinking of why we are growing such a gigantic weed for.   The flowers do not emerge until late September.  So from late April, to mid September, we have these crazy tall green stalks growing.   Instead of an actual sunflower, they are what is called a sun-choke.  The plant grows off of a root similar to a potato that people harvest.  Supposedly, they are supposed to taste like water chestnuts, but make you fart a lot.  I mainly wanted them for the privacy and sunflower factor.  Our backyard has no privacy to our neighbors.  We can pretty much see straight into our back neighbor's back door and such.  Unfortunately, this natural fence will not work this year.

To obtain this herbal garden, I am going to have to up root ALL the Jerusalem Artichoke roots.  Otherwise, they will take over the new garden.  Trust me.  I started to reduce the amount of sun-chokes last spring and boy-o-boy did they multiply from the year before.  I can only imagine how much they multiplied this year.  I really do not want to deal with them again this year.  Last year as I was cleaning up the spring garden, I moved some from the herb garden to the fence on the north sided of the yard to give them some room to grow there.  The deer seem to like to munch on them and will help keep them at a minimum there.

For the new herbal garden, I need a raised bed and think it will look really nice to tie the whole garden together.
Here's why:  We have moles and rabbits.  I hate the destruction they do to my garden.

I found this raised bed at Lowe's.  I'm super excited about it.  I have had my eye on it since last year.  Money has been a common factor in my venture of making my dream garden be semi-non existent and hope this will be the year to get it put in.  It is roughly four foot by four foot.  I will line the bottom of the bed with chicken wire or similar to keep the pesky moles out of my precious garden.  One thing I have not decided is which way I will have the trellis turned to have something crawling up the backside.  I want to have beans and okra, which will work nicely on this trellis.  I will divide the area inside to house, Dill, Basil, Spearmint, Lemon Balm, Oregano, Thyme, Cilantro, and Parsley.  On the outside, I will plan on having Chives and Lettuce.  Of course, this may change as I see that the idea is not likely to work as it is laid out on computer screen.  Merely a rough draft of my vision.

Time will tell.

2011 - Garden Walkways

Once the 1970s a/c unit was replaced with this enormous one, the path to the deck needed help.  The area was rocky and hard to mow without throwing sharp objects all over the place.

Late April we decided to make an area where we would not have to worry about mowing anymore.  A curved path would be much easier to mow than the area that sat by the a/c unit.

The beginning of May, we wanted to make the path as wide as possible to diminish as much mowing as possible.  After all, the mower is electric and I will take any subtraction of mowing that I can take.

The path was shaping up with the new stone border and flattened out path.

We then divided the path from the whole portion to make two separate areas.  The stepping stones will have a white stone and the area around the a/c unit will have red lava rocks.

We laid out the steps in equal walking distance so that the walk to the deck would be natural.

Evan came up with this cool design and echos in the steps.

Our finished path.  It is so nice to have.

After a few years of neglect and too much rain, the butterfly path had become overgrown.  And since we were on a roll with the other path, I tackled this one on my own while Evan cooked on the deck and kept our fire pit going to keep me warm while I worked.  The steak was so tasty, we didn't get it pictured, but have the sides in all their glory.

The path has rocks and stepping stones laid out on it, so I can't just mow it.  I have to hand pick out the weeds and grass to keep it looking nice.  Once we found the weed barrier sheeting that we used on the path to the deck, I decided to redo the butterfly path to keep the weeds out of it.

So I had to remove all the stepping stones and rocks.  The rocks did not get salvaged.

So with my trusty shovel, I dug up the weeds and laid out a new path for the weed barrier to protect it.

With the weed barrier and small underlying stone down, the path was shaping up nicely.

The stepping stones were replaced and the gray rock then put in to fill a round it.

The Butterfly Garden was happy after this transformation.