Memorial Day is our last frost date, and is the traditional day for putting in the garden, i.e. the frost sensitive plants like beans and corn. There is something so right about that. As we remember those who have died, we plant.
We spent all day Monday outdoors, and what a joy it was for mind and body and soul. It was cloudy and a bit buggy, but a good day for gardening. The vegetable garden is now all set. Yesterday, we planted the yellow beans, cucumbers, and two hills of zucchini. I think we're going to put another hill along the fence.
We planted corn in a little spot that got torn up from a repair in the water line.
This is our lettuce garden in an old planter that was here when we bought our place. We've tried various plants over the years, but lettuce seems to work best in the shallow, somewhat rocky soil.
We're going to do something different along the fence on the road side. See how it is sandy and weedy between the road and the garden there? It looks scraggly and really detracts from the flowers so I think I'll have just bushes/small trees along the fence with grass underneath and between. Already there is a
William Baffin rose tree, a tree hydrangea, a honeysuckle, and a brand new WB rose. We might put a lilac in there, and that should do it. We'll dig up the daylilies and move them where they will stand out, and their loveliness can be better appreciated. That area gets dug up every year by the plow and never really comes back looking good so I'm hoping this plan will make the whole fence area look nicer.
Tom edged the terrace garden, and I weeded and added cocoa shell mulch. Oh, how I love that stuff. It is a bit pricier than bark mulches, but I think it is so much prettier as well as having a great smell. And it makes the soil lovely and rich, just as compost does.
Can you see what bad shape our front door is in after years and years of jumping, scratching dogs? :<) Well, we have a scheme. We bought a new storm/screen door, and are going to do something whimsical, and give ourselves what we call a
Tomie dePaola door; using his famous colors, purple and aqua/turquoise. I'll post photos when it is done.
The robin's eggs have hatched. Tom peeked in and saw them when the mother wasn't on the nest. She is pretty used to us now, and doesn't fly away everytime we go outdoors. Yesterday, I put some lettuce, parsley, and basil transplants into the terrace planters, and she just watched me. Continuing with the human mother connection; she rarely sits down these days.
We spent all day Monday outdoors, and what a joy it was for mind and body and soul. It was cloudy and a bit buggy, but a good day for gardening. The vegetable garden is now all set. Yesterday, we planted the yellow beans, cucumbers, and two hills of zucchini. I think we're going to put another hill along the fence.
We planted corn in a little spot that got torn up from a repair in the water line.
This is our lettuce garden in an old planter that was here when we bought our place. We've tried various plants over the years, but lettuce seems to work best in the shallow, somewhat rocky soil.
We're going to do something different along the fence on the road side. See how it is sandy and weedy between the road and the garden there? It looks scraggly and really detracts from the flowers so I think I'll have just bushes/small trees along the fence with grass underneath and between. Already there is a William Baffin rose tree, a tree hydrangea, a honeysuckle, and a brand new WB rose. We might put a lilac in there, and that should do it. We'll dig up the daylilies and move them where they will stand out, and their loveliness can be better appreciated. That area gets dug up every year by the plow and never really comes back looking good so I'm hoping this plan will make the whole fence area look nicer.
Tom edged the terrace garden, and I weeded and added cocoa shell mulch. Oh, how I love that stuff. It is a bit pricier than bark mulches, but I think it is so much prettier as well as having a great smell. And it makes the soil lovely and rich, just as compost does.
Can you see what bad shape our front door is in after years and years of jumping, scratching dogs? :<) Well, we have a scheme. We bought a new storm/screen door, and are going to do something whimsical, and give ourselves what we call a Tomie dePaola door; using his famous colors, purple and aqua/turquoise. I'll post photos when it is done.
The robin's eggs have hatched. Tom peeked in and saw them when the mother wasn't on the nest. She is pretty used to us now, and doesn't fly away everytime we go outdoors. Yesterday, I put some lettuce, parsley, and basil transplants into the terrace planters, and she just watched me. Continuing with the human mother connection; she rarely sits down these days.
What wonderful, spring-like photos! You have been busy indeed, and the results are evident.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to seeing that "de Paola" door!
Memorial Weekend is the traditional weekend here to put in the garden too, but I usually wait until the first weekend in June. I'm glad, this year in particular, that I waited as we are anticipating a hard freeze tonight!
ReplyDeleteYour garden sounds great thus far, and I look forward to a summer of reading here about what is growing, what you are harvesting, and how you are putting it to use! Can't wait to see the door. Mine needs a face lift too (same reason: a scratching dog.) Maybe your make-over will provide inspiration! :)
Wow, your house and yard are just lovely. And your gardening is impressive (my knees ached a bit just reading about all that work!).
ReplyDeleteI think it's beautiful that a mother robin trusts you and watches you.
ReplyDeleteIt's something that everybody ought to experience but few step into nature so much that they're aware of birds and eggs and whatnot.
Your garden sounds like a lot of work but the kind that turns out to have a wonderful result.
I love that fence- the greenery surrounding it reminds me of places in Ireland.
Love that lilac. I can practically smell it from your photographs!
ReplyDeleteFor two years in a row, we've had a robin's next above our front porch light. At first the mom flips out every time we open the front door, but after a while she settles down to ignoring us. Last year my husband took closeups of the eggs and later, the baby birds with their mouths wide open (all, of course, when mommy bird was away). It was so cool!
ReplyDeleteYour home and many gardens look so wonderful. I especially like the terrace garden with the cocoa mulch - very pretty.
ReplyDelete