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I have so much to write and so many pictures to post since my internet hasn't been working too well the past 2-3 weeks.
Here it goes, my attempt at updating you all on the past 2-3 weeks worth of going-on's......
(Above: Hannah and a little green frog. She loves frogs!)
(Above: Hannah and I before going into the surgery room where I held her until she fell asleep from the anesthesia.)
(Above: Hannah the day after the surgery.)
(Above: Hannah, Kyle, Mitch, Luke, Pink .22 and a dead raccoon - what fun.....)
(Above: My garden before the ransacking)
(Above: Hannah and I posing in the park at the "Fat Cat Festival")
(Above: Hannah and Kyle posing in the park at the "Fat Cat Festival")
(Above: A crazy picture of Hannah a few days before her surgery)
(Above: My sweet little girl happy as a clam in the bath 2 days after the surgery)Today I got to watch/photograph a baby Hummingbird learn how to feed from a feeder. It was one of the coolest nature bits I have seen this spring!!
My Mother-In-Law had mentioned that she thought she may have seen a baby hummingbird yesterday feeding from her feeder and a male Rufous hummingbird guarding it and running off other hummingbirds that tried to get at it. She said that the little hummingbird was colored just like the female Rufous Hummingbird, but was noticeably smaller. She also said that it was as if the hummingbird was kind of "dopey" like baby birds seem to be when they first get out of the nest. I told her I didn't know if male hummingbirds played any roll in raising the young hummingbirds, but that it could have been the case.
So, today I was lucky enough to be sitting at my Mother-In-Laws patio listening to the hummingbirds "cheep-squawking" (I mean how do you describe the sounds those little things make when they're squabbling over feeders?) when I saw a tiny little hummingbird colored like a female Rufous Hummingbird land on the feeder. I remembered how my Mother-In-Law had said the day before how she had thought she saw a baby hummingbird and I figured that had to be the one she was talking about. After a second or two a male hummingbird ("The Guardian") came and landed on the other side of the feeder. He sat there drinking out of the feeder and keeping an eye out for other male hummers that would try to run off the baby. The baby hummingbird just sat there sitting on the feeder. After another few seconds, the male flew over to the same side the baby was on and showed it how to feed out of the feeder. Unfortunately that was cut short by a rival male hummer zooming in, so "The Guardian" male hummingbird flew off chasing it away. The baby hummingbird stuck around for me to take some more pictures, but was run off in the end as well.
I don't know if I am "allowed" to link to facebook or not, but I will include the facebook link to my Hummingbirds 2009 Photo Album. In that photo album there is the whole series of hummingbird pictures that I took today.
If that is not "allowed" I am going to include a picture or two below as well.
Above: The dominant Male Rufous Hummingbird. He tends to sit on top of that hook and keep a look out. This picture captured his landing. He is a larger male compared to most we've seen visit the feeders.
Above: The smaller Male Rufous Hummingbird and the baby hummingbird he brought with him. You can see how the little one (the baby) on the right seems to just look "dopey".
Above: You can see the Male Rufous hummingbird "The Guardian" showing the baby how to use the hummingbird feeder. The baby is holding it's head towards the male with it's beak open waiting for food rather than watching "The Guardian" hummingbird's lesson on how to use the hummingbird feeder. This makes me more certain that this is indeed a baby and father hummingbird.
Above: "The Guardian" hummingbird in mid flight. I can tell it's him because he has either messy/damaged feathers on his neck or he has a small growth causing his feathers to stick out a bit on his left side (the picture's right side).
I was so thrilled to take these pictures knowing that I was going to get to share them! What an awesome sight! I need to find out if this is normal for a male hummingbird to play such an important roll in the raising of their young. I will have to do that tomorrow (it's 12:30 a.m).
Gardening Bits -
I was VERY productive in my garden today, but I crammed all the action into a period of about 2-3 hours - I am so sore!! I am so happy with my changes that I made since yesterdays post. I wrote yesterday about how antsy and irritated I was with the way my garden has ended up over the years. With certain plants in places I don't necessarily want them to be anymore, and plants that don't do well in other spots. Soooo.......
Today I took a shovel to my garden!
I am happy with the way it is going so far....
I dug out and moved:
~ 2 Day Lily bundles
~ 1 Lavender
~ 1 small Columbine bit
~ 3 Iris bulbs
~ 1 group of Tulip bulbs
I re-planted the Lavender, Columbine bit, Day Lilly bundles (split one little piece off as an experiment), Iris Bulbs. I split the Tulip bulbs into various places in my garden to make more "spring" flower areas. Once the other sed of Tulip bulbs flowers I will do the same.
I planted some Black Eyed Susan's in my stump planters (I have 3 stump planters total). Earlier in the spring I planted the rest of my chives I had from last year, and some sweet pea seeds. The chives are doing well (although not very full bunches yet, but I hope they will over the years). There are 3-4 sweet peas coming up in two of the stump planters, and what seems to be quite a bit of sunflowers coming up in one of the stump planters (from last years seed I flaked into the soil this spring).
I also hauled 2 wheel-barrow loads full of more horse manure to add to my soil in the various areas that desperately need amendments. It was fast and furious digging, hauling and dumping (I was doing all this while Hannah was taking a nap).
While I was over there by the manure pile, I remembered that there were tons of wild roses in that area and decided today was a good day to dig some up. I dug between 6-8 wild rose roots/clumps to transplant. I have decided to fill in the whole back area with them this year. In the past I had only one layer of them, but it just isn't thick enough (well, not to my liking). I amended the soil with horse manure and mixed in some pine needles to help lighten the clay soil. While I planted the roses, Hannah filled a bucket full of water so I could water in the transplants. She's such a helpful little girl (well.....sometimes....LOL!).
I will post some pictures of my re-vamped garden in the next few days. I still have a ton of work to do, but feel good about the progress I made today in the 2-3 hours I was out there speed gardening.
I hope you have enjoyed my pictures as much as I enjoyed seeing that wonderful hummingbird sighting!!
Have a great week and Happy Gardening!!
~M~
P.S. - I forgot to mention that I received 2 huge bundles of Daisies today. I will take pictures of them tomorrow to show a before and after pictures of when/how I "DIVIDE" them and where I plant them. Speaking of "DIVIDING", a BIG thank you to my friends for reminding me of the word I couldn't quite put my thumb on last night - DIVIDE! THANKS.... LOL!!
~M~
We spent some time outside in the afternoon, but the sun that was out
earlier in the day had disappeared by the time we got out there. It was
windy, but really mild and warm. We watered the garden (Hannah helped
me...that was interesting...) and I started expanding the area that had
veggies last year. I am planning on doubling the size roughly in hopes
that I can plant some tomatoes, my zucchini and cucumbers and just
possibly some carrots. I will have to make some other areas to be sure
I can include all the veggies I want since I doubt that they will all
fit in the one area I am doubling. I need to do some more research in
how the sun hits the area back there because it is behind my house and
at some parts of the day my house blocks the sunlight to the garden
area. I will have to see what happens back there because I have my eye
on a certain area in the woodsy part that is somewhat open and gets
quite a lot of sun as far as I have seen. I am running plans through my
head trying to figure out how to get a raised garden bed built back
there. I think when Kyle gets home (or sooner if I can get to the
hardware store and somehow get the lumber cut, screws and stakes to
make one). I am not totally positive it gets enough sunlight, but I
will keep checking as the days get closer and closer to the "summer
sun" levels in the sky. My alternative to building one raised garden
bed is to buy a/some livestock rubber feeders (I will have to check the
safety of the rubber though) and filling those with soil and placing
them around the front of my house for the veggies. That may still
happen even if I get a raised bed because I love FRESH VEGGIES and can
always fill empty spaces with veggies/flowers. I am just lacking space
for a true vegetable garden at the moment.
I really need to make
my flower gardens better. I have had a hard time planning out my garden
due to the fact that I have had to just plant things all over the place
hoping they would grow. Some took while others died and each year I
have replaced things with different combinations of flowers hoping they
will fill in and work out. I need to step back and look at what I have
for height, creeping and bushy plants, then move accordingly. Oie!
Oh,
I also need to do some research on how to split (or what is the
word.....humm....well, I can't remember the word at this moment...) my
perennials that are growing in thicker and pretty close together. I
know you can do that with some perennials, but I don't know how. I will
have to try and find out tomorrow (or in the next few days). I still
haven't moved my Day Lilies and they are getting a bit bigger each day
as the weather is getting nicer/warmer.
I wonder, what looks best....one bed that is strictly spring flowers....or spring flowers spread through out.
I
don't know if I currently like them spread out. Maybe it's because I
don't have very many spring bulbs yet and that there is really only one
spring flower in each bed. 2 tulip plants, 2 crocus bunches, and 2
hyacinths all spread out over quite a large area. I just wonder what I
should do about that....hum...Any suggestions or ideas? What do you
have, where do you put your spring bulbs?
I have to sort this
out...I am feeling quite itchy to make some change. I don't know why,
but I feel like it is just not working out there. I may be biting off
more than I can chew though with all my digging back there. I still
haven't finished the area I am leveling out for Hannah and I haven't
finished amending the soil in areas I want to plant veggies (due to the
fact I am expanding and finding more rocks to remove).
Oie, oie, oie!! I have a lot of work to do!!
I will post some more pictures soon.
Hope all is well, and that the weather dries up a bit for all those people getting dumped on! Happy Gardening!!
~M~
Well, we've had two wonderful days in a row. Maybe spring is beginning to turn into summer.
Above was one of the little visitors that I saw today in my garden. He was only about 6 feet away from me just watching me water the garden. He had ran closer, but was startled when he noticed that someone was in the garden too. He turned and ran back to that rock and watched until I stepped back a bit for him to run by me. What a cute little guy.....
I accidentally left my plants out overnight and they looked perfect in the morning which means that last night must have been warm enough. I decided to leave them out again, but brought them closer to the house so if it does get nippy it shouldn't be too bad. I put my plants that I had started from seed outside to get some sun. You could tell that they really enjoyed the sun, it was as if they put their hands in the air and yelled "finally, the direct sun!!" I don't have any grow lights for those seeds that I start indoors so they tend to be leggy and wanting more direct sun. I really need to get my stuff together and have a proper starting set-up for next year. I don't like starting seeds and having them fall over and die (some of the seeds I start each year tend to do that, so it's trial and error).
My Zucchini and Cucumber do fine, and my Beans are doing pretty well, but they are in the window with the most sunlight. I started some Morning Glories 3 days ago and they are doing well, but I am a little concerned at how leggy they are. I hope they do alright since they are one of my favorite annuals. I really enjoy seeing them grown and climb. I have more Morning Glory seeds so that I can put them directly into the soil when it warms up and no danger of frost.
I watered my flower garden today and found that I have 3 sweet peas coming up (two of them are coming up close to where I planted the seeds, but one is way off so it could be a re-seed from last years). I think that I also have sunflowers coming up from seeds that I flaked out of a sunflower that was in the stump flower pots last year. The sunflower really didn't get to be it's full potential due to my lack of watering that area, and I had doubted the seeds were good, but I thought what could it hurt? If that is the case I am extreamly thrilled!! I will have between 10 and 20 sunflowers started in there that I will "try" to transplant when I have to thin them out. The area in the stump is only 1 foot across, so to have 10-20 sunflowers in there wouldn't work too well.
My Hyacinth has bloomed. It is not quite the same color/shape as what it was originally, but it's still pretty and smells delicious! I just love them! See below:
I also was able to take some pictures of hummingbirds this afternoon. They really have picked up their activity in the past few days. The male that had claimed the one feeder in my garden was so busy shoe-ing off competetitors. He is a very posessive male. It was really neat watching and hearing them flying around while Hannah and I played together. While I was out there watching the hummingbirds, one male hummingbird landed and began drinking out of the feeder. Another male came down and began drinking out of the other side. The first male stood perfectly still on the left side of the feeder while the other male on the right drank. I think that the first male was trying to "hide" so the second male wouldn't chase him away. Once the second male began to drink, he decided it was okay to do so himself, but that was when the second male noticed him and then chased him off. It was neat seeing two males drinking out of the same feeders though.
Hannah
and I spent some time outside playing "Mommy Dragon" and "Baby Dragon" which included me chasing her around the yard pretending to be a dragon. She would yell "STOP" and I would freeze, and then she would say "Sheesh, that is close" and fling her hand like she was wiping her forehead (but in her two year old coordination it wasn't quite that...lol) She was so funny, running and stopping, running and stopping.
Another cute thing she has started recently is "jumpin' over creeks". She will walking along then stop and say "jumpin' over creeks Mommy", and then jump as if she was jumping over something. It is so funny to watch. It's added atleast another 5 minutes to our already lengthy toddler doddler walk up to the Mother-In-Laws. It is just great, watching a toddler grow, watching them develope and pretend. I just love it!
More in the next few days, depending on the weather...lol! I hope that everyone is doing well, enjoying the spring weather, and able to get out there in the fresh air and "play". Happy Gardening ALL!!
~M~
We had a pretty good day today.
First thing this morning I woke up, looked out my bedroom window down at my garden and what do you think that the first things I saw?
Two hummingbirds feeding at separate feeders. One was a female Rufous Hummingbird, and the other was a male Rufous Hummingbird. I tried to take a picture, but the window was pretty dusty/dirty on the outside so it didn't turn out well (plus I was quite a distance away).
Above: The female Rufous Humming bird is on the right side of the hummingbird feeder, she almost blends in with the haze of the dirty window/flash. I really like the female's colors best I think. The males are flashy, but the female's colors are so multicolored/iridescent.
What a wonderful "good morning" from Mother Nature!!
Hannah and I spent quite a long time outside playing.
I had to re-pot my 3 "Campanula (Poscharskyana) Serbian Bellflower" (perennial) that I bought 2 weeks ago. When I bought them they were already root bound and growing out the bottom, but they looked really nice on top. I just now got around to re-potting them since the weather hasn't been too great. They look very happy now in their newer temporary home!
(See Below)
I discovered that I have one Sweet Pea coming up in my hallowed out stump planters. I planted the seeds over 3 weeks ago and not much has happened, but I hadn't kept the seeds "moist" because I was counting on Mother Nature. I am happy that at least one seed is coming out. Maybe more will now that I have hooked up the hose and am going to start my regular watering.
Hannah played with the hose and the new hose sprayer that I got. I am really happy with it since it has a special nob to easily control the flow. My old one would blast my established plants and it was horrible on my seeds that were trying to grow. I was always fighting with the flow trying not to destroy my garden, so this has made me incredibly happy that it works so well. It was an impulse buy because I alread had the one and I felt it worked well enough to keep (because I hate wasting $$. If I don't have to replace it, I won't buy a new one until it's totally broken and beyond repair.)
Needless to say, I am very excited by a hose nozzle! HAHAHA, the little things that excite a gardner...LOL!
Hannah had a blast "washing" out my old flower containers and watering the little grass area. It was really cute, she was proud to be my little helper, plus it kept her out of my way while I re-potted the Bellflowers mentioned above. She was good, but she got tired and I had to cut my flower playing short.
I went outside this evening while Hannah was napping because I had to shut off the hose I left on. I decided to check out my garden and see if I could catch any hummingbirds at the feeders. Well as I was browsing through the different areas in my garden I happened to walk within 3 feet of one of the hummingbird feeders. Just as I was doing that, a male hummingbird came flying straight at me, zooming past "warning" me to stay way from "his" feeder. The little stinker was challenging me! It was crazy how close he came to my head. I decided to try and get some pictures of him if he was going to visit frequently. Well, would the little bugger come to the feeder? NO! He just kept buzzing around everytime I moved in the garden "warning" me to stay away. What a dominant male, to challenge me! I was able to get two pictures of him at the feeder (but not as close as I had hoped), and some in the trees where he would roost, then fly off and buzz me.
Above: Male Rufous Hummingbird (I am pretty sure it's the same one that was there first thing this morning due to his protectivness of the feeder). Pretty neat!
Above: The Male Rufous Hummingbird watching me, making sure I won't steal "his" feeder. He's hard to see, but you can see the red in the middle of the picture sitting there watching me...
I took a few pictures of some of the little birds that hang out where I put birdseed. They are so cute. I especially like these little ones that have a whitemohawk stripe down the top of his head, then black stripes on his cheeks, then another white set of stripes below the black. It's really cute and I don't remember seeing them last year, but who knows.
(See Below)
So, there are some pictures from a day in my garden....I enjoyed my outdoor day very much!!
Have a great week! Happy Gardening!
~M~
Well, I don't have too much time to write a long blog entry today. Not much happened today except that we (and by "we", I mean I did, and Hannah "supervised") filled and hung our hummingbird feeders. So on the note of hummingbirds I have decided to check back in my old pictures and post a few pictures I have taken from past years. Enjoy!
Hummingbird feeding. You can see how they perch on the little "step" like piece. It is the neatest thing ever to be able to see them sitting there looking around and feeding!
-- Summer 2008
Poor Hummer flew in my slidding glass door and got stuck in my sky-light. I had to fish him out with a butterfly net, but then he flew over to my kitchen window and got stuck in my screen. Luckily I was able to remove the screen carefully and he squeeked out. Poor guy!
-- Summer 2008
Above is a picture of my natural "pink" clover that I transplanted into my garden (yes, you read correctly, I actually want it in my garden). I really like the pink flowers!! It's one of my favorite "wild" bits that I have added to my garden.
-- Summer 2008
Hummingbird are so neat! I just love them! -- Summer 2008
This hummingbird is a diffent color than the other pictures I posted. I think this one is possibly a female (?) and the other three pictures are of a male (?). Not sure if they are two different kinds or if they are just different sexes. -- Summer 2008
Well, I hope that you enjoyed those pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them and remembering back to when I took them. Have a great Sunday and as always, Happy Gardening!
~M~
**I wrote this entry yesterday, but since my internet wasn't working due to the storm, I am posting it today.**
It rained on and off today. It wasn’t quite a rain, but more like overcast misting and plenty of dripping off the eves. It continued like that until about 4p.m. and then the rain really started coming down. After about half an hour we began getting heavy cloud cover and then the thunder started!!
Hannah doesn’t mind the thunder, but when she’s not expecting it, she jumps a bit and then runs closer to me until she realizes it’s just thunder. It’s cute. We ended up with some thunder and lightning for about 45 minutes which was kind of nice to hear and watch. It’s good when the lightning is paired with the rain in case the lightning does hit and start a fire. The dry lightning is what scares me like crazy in the summer months! I have gotten way worse with worry since having Hannah. Lots of things scare and worry me now that she’s in my life.
Of course I didn’t’ go out and do anything in my garden today, I just sat back and appreciated the rain. It’s a part of spring that just has to happen, and my flowers need it so it’s okay by me.
After I post this I am going to browse through my garden book and see which seeds I should get into the ground first, which ones I still need to start inside and when, and the little extra bits of info about my various seeds.
I need to make a plan as well for my continued soil amendments. I know I need to get some more wheel-barrow loads of composted horse manure since it has a really great broken down texture to it. Another thing I have been doing is collecting any leaves , degrading bark, and dried up grass that I find around my garden area and then adding it to my two areas that I have all dug up. I found an area that had tons of worms in it and figured it must have been full of good things if the worms were there so I collected it in a bucket and will dump it all into those same dug up areas. I’m making a mini-composting dirt holes where I have dug up and removed some of the clay soil while adding lots of other good things to the soil. Then I will either leave it there as is, or I will use it in other places in my garden that need help. We’ll have to see what I end up doing in the end. My plans are always changing!
I also plan on moving those two Day Lily bunches from the area that I want only the wild roses in. I have no idea where exactly I want them to go, but they shouldn’t be in and amongst the prickly roses. It’s very hard reaching over all those prickles…haha. I have had second thoughts about planting all the wild roses around Hannah, but if she learns to stay away from that area it won’t be too bad. It’s up and kind of out of the way, so I don’t think it will cause any problems. It’s just when I am up there fiddling with my flowers (ie. The Day Lilies and others that I will be moving) that she comes up there and is exposed to the wrath of the thorns. She just doesn’t understand yet that they are incredibly pokey and that she will be hurt big time if she grabs or brushes up on them.
My layout plans for the “Leveling Project” have changed yet again. It all started when I ran into a really good sized boulder while digging out one of the areas that I had though of possibly planting all those evergreen bushes that I was digging out while I leveled the area. I was digging up so many and salvaged quite a few (ones with lots of roots attached, or ones with a whole root ball and soil) which I just placed in Hannah’s project garden wagon for temporary (so they would stay in the shade and would keep moist to help with the transplanting). I have transplanted one so well have to see if it stays alive and grows or if it will just end up dying off. Anyway, back to how the plans had changed. I hit the big boulder and as I have said before, I can’t just leave a boulder alone. If I know it is there I have to get it out! It’s a rock addiction….LOL! So, I was digging and digging and with each shovel of dirt the rock was getting bigger and bigger. Now, normally I am a good judge of character (a.k.a size of the boulder) when it comes to rocks, but this one tricked me. I had already un-dug nearly the whole top, and sides of the boulder and was thinking, “Now what?!”. I remembered back to a conversation my Dad and I had had regarding me not being able to move a rock that I had dug out and rolled out of the way temporarily. The rock had ended up flipping on a flat side making it much more difficult for me to pick up and roll. I had said, “Well, maybe I will just have to wait for Kyle to get home and help me move it.” and then my dad suggested that I use 2X4’s to get leverage underneath the rock to roll it. I decided what the heck, if I can get this rock to roll 3 feet forward it will go from being right in the way to being part of my retaining wall. It took me about an hour to get this thing dug out just right (which included me pulling out very carefully rocks underneath the boulder keeping it potentially from rolling where I wanted it), and to get the 2X4’s under and behind it. This mammoth was so heavy! Not only was it just a big rock, but it was made out of one of the heaviest rock compositions around here! It took a bunch of shoving, shifting, digging and bouncing on (the 2X4’s of course) to get this thing to move. I got it to approximately where I wanted it to go, but I didn’t like the way it looked on the front of it. It was kind of jagged and not a very nice looking rock. So, I decided to try and turn it around (swivel it around) so that the back side would be forward. That was tricky trying to keep if from rolling on my own foot or rolling the wrong way, but I did it! With the rock actually out of the way, I ended up making a path way that winds down from one of my existing upper garden areas down to the area I am flattening out for Hannah.
I was happy finally getting the rock it into it‘s final home. I didn’t realize how accomplished I felt until my Mother-In-Law made the comment about once you get a feat like that accomplished it sure feels good. It makes me so proud of my garden knowing how many hours I have dug, and how many rocks I have pulled out and re-positioned into the walls and steps. I am SO proud of it. I just wish my hubby shared the same enthusiasm as I do or could see the finished product and just know how much work it took me to make it look that way. It’s hard to convey exactly how much work it took through before and after pictures alone. I wish he was here to see it step by step, or at least a few of the stages and see exactly how many rocks are sitting there today waiting to be re-positioned. There are so many, plus my garbage rock pile is getting really big too!
Oh-My this is an incredibly long blog entry...LOL!
My “GOOD NEWS” that I wrote about in my last blog post was that I have discovered that quite a few of my perennials from last year are starting to come back! They are just starting to come through the ground. Things like my first ever Clematis (Nelly Moser), Bell Flower (Campanula - 3 years old), Veronica (3 years old), Globe Flower (I think that is what it’s called, it gets a round yellow ball flower that opens up when in full bloom - 3 years old), Polemonium Boreal (Heavenly Habit - New last year), Cat Mint (New last year), and a Mallow (it’s possibly Rose Mallow or Prairie Mallow, I will have to check out the tag tomorrow - New last year). There are a few others, but I don’t have pictures of the tags so I don’t remember the names off the top of my head. I will have to check out tomorrow as well.
I think that I also found a lonely Hens and Chicks that I planted a few years ago that never did very well and I thought that I lost them, but I guess one survived. They got pulled out (well I think rather knocked out of the ground) not very nicely and didn’t have much if any roots. It’s not entirely where I had thought I put them, but it’s still really nice to see. I do like them and have never heard of any not having success with Hens and Chicks. It is small, but never the less, it’s still growing, so it makes me happy.
My chives are coming in nicely and the ones that I re-planted that were out of the ground all winter are settling in just fine too. My little bunch of pink clover that I actually planted in my garden is coming back (2 years ago now). It’s just wild/natural clover that grows like weeds around here, but this one had little pink blossoms instead of our normal larger purple blossomed types. It was really pretty, so I dared to plant it in my garden and I have been very happy with it. It blooms pink blossoms and I just cut it back when it gets too leggy and it stays in a manageable little mound. I also found more last year and transplanted it into my garden in a different area deemed “temporary housing” for various plants I wanted, but didn‘t have a place for just yet, but it hasn’t come back. It may be that I have stepped on that area a bit this spring, but normally clover is pretty hearty, so I just don’t know. We’ll have to see if it comes back a little later in the season.
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Anyway, my internet is finally working today so it is nice to get to post it! I don't know if many people saw my last blog post with all the pictures or if it got bumped off early since I wrote it in the early a.m. There are lots and lots of pictures on there so I thought that I should mention that too.
Happy Gardening Everyone!!
~M~
**So, the reason that I have a bunch of other stuff besides Gardening in my blog is because I have another blog and I am joining the two by writing just one blog entry and posting it in both. That way I can keep up to date on both without having to write the same story twice. If you want to just read the Gardening stuff, it will generally be in the bottom half of my entry. I will of course still have tons of pictures and update often. Thanks for understanding!!**
>http://cluttermommy.blogspo
t.com/ - My other Blog
Well, today was a wonderful day. Hannah and I went shopping, I bought some perennials and we stopped by a movie store that is closing and bought a bunch of older VHS movies for $2.50 each (now that's a bargain!).
I bought some moves that I absolutely loved from when I was younger. My Mom always wanted us to see all types of movies, especially black and white movies. I enjoyed the ones below:
~Herbie Rides Again (I think it's the second Herbie movie, but I am not sure. I've seen both quite a long time ago though)
~That Darn Cat! - I just love those Siamese Cats!
~Shaggy Dog - Just a classic...
~It's a Wonderful Life - You gotta have this one for Christmas time!!
I had hoped to find Flubber, and possibly some of the Gidget Movies (I sure liked those when I was younger). Also Oh-What's that movie called...Harvey maybe, it that the one with James Stewart and the rabbit? There are so many, but I can't remember them off the top of my head, but I would LOVE to have them. I will try to go back on Saturday or Sunday so that I could browse some more.
I bought Hannah a bunch too. Barney, Franklin, Strawberry Shortcake, The Rescuers (Disney), The Wind in the Willows (Disney), Babe (such a cute little movie!), Robin Hood (Disney) and Little Bear. It's always nice to find a place where you can get your hands on some older movies that are much better quality than some of the crap (mind my language...) that they make now. I do like the Barney for her because of the songs, but they do drive me nuts sometimes! I know there are much worse out there though-LOL!
I was able to browse through the flowers at the "grocery" store and found some great additions to my garden this season.
The perennials that I bought are:
~Black Hollyhocks ( 2 )
~Emerald Blue Moss Phlox
~Rose Forget-Me-Knot ( 2 )
~Blue Forget-Me-Knot ( 2 )
~Pomponette English Daisy
~Red English Daisy (It's the same as the Pomponette above, but solid reds)
I am so happy to have been able to get my hands on the Black Hollyhock so early in the season. I just made the comment in my blog a few days ago about how I wanted to get some of the Black ones. Oh-How I was so happy! I had one Pomponette English Daisy last year and really liked it, it was continually blooming and had really nice foliage. So I am very happy to have found some more this year. The only thing is that they are supposed to be perennials, but mine hasn't shown any signs of coming back, but we will have to see.
So, I took some pictures of my tiny Columbine to show you exactly how tiny I mean. I also took some pictures of the yellow crocus', some of my garden decorations, different kinds of Sedum I have, a mystery succulent (maybe someone know's what it's called), rock garden progress, and a project I plan on making for Hannah.
Enjoy:
Above: I just love these little yellow crocus'! They're just so cute!
Above: My little bear my husband Kyle picked out for me on sale at the end of the season. Gotta love end of season sales, it's really the only time to buy these "extras" unless you shop garage sales, or thrift stores then it's open season!
Above: My other cute little bear peaking-out from behind a tree! I sure love this one too!
Above: I don't know if I have posted this one before or not. This is a "Gnome Home" built by my Father-In-Law for Mitchel's (my little 8 year old Brother-In-Law) gnomes he bought. Mitchel let me use his gnomes last summer and also lent me this "Gnome Home" I sure like it. (*Note: Those are fake flowers in the front....lol)
Above: A different form of Sedum I think from the one in yesterdays blog post. This one is nearly all red, but it could possibly be the same, just shows up in a different color due to the soil/area it's in. I don't know though.....
Above: This is the "MYSTERY FLOWER". I am not sure if it is a succulant and it's similar to my one of my other sedums too.
Above: One of the wild/natural Sedum we have all over the property in various areas. It's really neat if you can get it to take in a spot it really likes!
Above: The GIANT boulder that I dug out today. I moved it from the space above it down to where I wanted it. It's now part of my rock border area instead of in the way. It made me change the plan of my rock garden yet ah-gain! But it looks so nice now and I am getting really pleased with the progress!
Above: This is the little playskool wagon that is broken that I want to paint a more natural color, then fill it with dirt and make a little flower garden for Hannah. Maybe I will plant some carrots so she can pull them out when they are ready. Also she can do the watering with her little pink watering can, just like Mommy!
Above:
My tiny Columbine. It's been like this for 2 seasons and I have no idea why it only grows to be that small. It is for sure Columbine because there are a few others down the line where I planted the seeds originally. It's just so strange!
So, I have a question. Can I move my Day Lily's even if they have some green starting to emerge from the soil? I want to move them from where they are, which is right in the middle of where I am wanting to only have the wild rose bushes and those evergreen bushes I talked about in a previous blog. I have never tried growing Day Lily's before last year and know nothing about growing them. They are tubers aren't they? How exactly do tubers work and how do you divide them?
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my newest blog entry. I love all your wonderful comments, suggestions, and thoughts. Keep up the great work on those gardens, I enjoy browsing through your blogs too and seeing all your beautiful/hard work!! Have a great day tomorrow and a wonderful weekend!
~M~
Well, I am too tired today to do any digging like I had hoped to do. I just walked at a snails pace around the yard examining everything with Hannah (man, two year olds have doddling down to a perfection, she is the slowest walker sometimes, no wonder I am out of shape and get out of breath easily these days!!).
She walked (doddled) up to the Mother-In-Laws to say hello then spotted her swing and really wanted to go swinging. It's one of those things that I avoid, but do it because she likes it so much. I just can't get her out of the darn thing. I pushed her for over half an hour today, and I was getting chilled (I assumed by her little red nose and hands that she was cold too!) so I had to sidetrack her to get her out of it. We made it halfway across the Mother-In-Law's lawn when she realized that we were walking away from the swing area and a fit/tantrum ensued. Gotta love the toddler stage...LOL! She kept saying "swing, swing please, swing....." so I had to tell her we couldn't because she had gotten so cold. Her hands were just freezing. It was a cool afternoon today which didn't seem to help my drive to do more digging. I just figure I have all of April to get this finished, so no hurry. I've worked hard on it so far, but being tired and cold doesn't make for a fun time.
I took some pictures of my Mother-In-Laws yellow crocus' that I absolutly adore! I think they are the prettiest things with the dark purple striping down the petals. I will definitely have to keep my eye out for some of those this spring. Maybe tomorrow I will go to the nursery to see what they have if we have time after grocery shopping.
I noticed that my Columbine that I planted last year from a purchased plant is coming back and that made me incredibly happy! I have had no sucess with the ones that I planted from seed. They grow to be about a few inches tall (basically one stem with the tinniest leaves you've ever seen) and never even come close to flowering. They came back though this year. I was kind of shocked to see them there where I planted them. I will check my photos to see if I have a picture of them so you can see. I just wonder why they do that. I don't know if I could transplant them since they are so so tiny! I have also tried to transplant a wild Columbine that I found grows up in the mountains where we go fishing some times. It's a really pretty red color, but I don't think that they are going to come back this year. The "Beast" that I have wrote about in the past (it was a pack-rat) ate the tops off and it never did recover from that. I will have to look for more either in the summer while out fishing or in the fall to collect some seeds possibly! My Mother-In-Law had the best group of Columbine I have ever seen, it was so big and bushy and she could trim them and get a second bloom out of them sometimes. I just fell in love with them and hoped to get mine to do that. Well, mine from seed aren't cutting it...LOL! Last year they put an addition on their house and when they went to pour the concreat they had to move some dirt and a lot of her flowers in the flower bed close to the addition were covered in dirt. Some of her Tulips are coming in (they must have got moved by the movement of dirt, because they are in weird places), patches of Columbine are coming in where they weren't totally covered with dirt, and her purple crocus' and tiny daffs are coming in too. She had just bought those bulbs (crocus and mini daffs) and put them in that spring and then they got covered up that late summer/fall. I may buy some more Columbine plants this year though since I won't likely be getting any from the Mother-In-Law like I had always hoped.
Above: My Columbine coming back! I am so excited and I hope that I get some flowers on it this year!
Above: Sedum that I transplanted. I am not sure what kind of Sedum this is exactly, but my Mother-In-Law has had some great success with it in certain places in the yard. I am hoping it will like my garden too.
Above: This picture is hard to see the wild rose pieces that I have transplanted over the years (and a few transplanted from the other day). Also there in the far back you can see some green, that is the wild evergreen bush that grows naturally all over here. I hope it transplanted successfully and will add some green to the backdrop I attempting to create. It's slow going, but I'll get it!!
Above: I am hoping that my beans will grow up the side of my steps. I will make some sort of trellis/support to train it up the side there. I hope that it works out. The only thing I am not sure about it if there is enough sun there. I will just have to see!
**I can't seem to find any pictures of the tiny Columbine mentioned above, so I will have to take a picture of that tomorrow to share with you all**
Take care and I hope everyone is getting wonderful spring weather!
~M~
Today it continued with more of the strange weather. Hail, sleet,
rain, snow and sun all in one day! It went from overcast and misty to
cold, clear and windy, then back to overcast and no precipitation.
What a strange day weather wise.
I got outside when Hannah was napping and of course did some more digging! I came a cross an
area that I was leveling out ("The Leveling Project") that had the
heaviest clay I've had to deal with, plus it was full of gravel rocks
and these dense patches of tiny hair like roots that made it so hard to
dig and break up the clumps. It was awful!
I think that that hard clay bit even made my back hurt! My back has
been really good and not-too sore since I started doing all this heavy
digging and major rock "re-positioning" - as I will call it since I
tend to re-use most of the rock I pull out of the ground, the only rock
I don't "re-position" is the gravel rock and the sharp and jagged
ones. My back has been "worked muscle" sore, but luckily not "back
problem" sore. I have had some tinges in my back since I slipped 3
years ago on a melting ice patch on the lawn. I slipped backward, and
twisted back and to the left (I think it was the left....) to catch
myself. Ever since I get these tinges of pain every once in a while
and boy it is an uncomfortable pain. It generally heals pretty
quickly (one day I feel it, the next it's gone for the most part). I
don't always know what triggers it either. Last time I had a BAD back
ache was after we went ice fishing. If you remember from a previous
post, we got two trucks stuck in the snow that day, so I had strained
my back pushing the truck to get it out, plus I had to carry Hannah
across the frozen lake while pulling her sled full of fishing gear
(which caused my to twist while holding her). So, either one of those
two events could have made my back so sore. I had to have ice on my
back to reduce the swelling for over 2 days! It was crazy how bad it
was. I couldn't bend down to help Hannah with things, I couldn't shop
or clean. It was so hard to deal with, but I got through it. Thank
goodness this whole digging thing hasn't done me in, it's too addicting
to stop!!
On Saturday I transplanted some wild roses into the part of the garden I want to be thick with roses (basically a backdrop/hedge look). It's been tricky transplanting them and so far I've had only about 50% transplant success. About half of them don't take to the move, so over the 3 years I have been doing it I have been able to get some to work out. It's still not quite what I want, but hopefully I will get more in there this spring and they will take. I've improved my transplant technique too, so that should help out.
I also transplanted an evergreen bush that I dug out from where I was leveling out the ground. It grows wild all over the property and I plan to pland some more possibly between the wild rose bushes for some winter backdrop/hedge. I have a few that I have pulled out of the ground just sitting in a clump in the broken plastic wagon, so I really need to transplant them soon! I just want to make sure I want them there, or if I may want them somewhere else. I will take a picture of them tomorrow or the next day. There are also some other bush (not evergreen though) that I have been pulling out that are starting to bud and I think I may try to find a home for those somewhere too (but who knows).
Hannah had a great Easter! She was so cute searching for the eggs that
the easter bunny hid for her out in my garden! She was so thrilled
when she woke up and saw her easter basket full of goodies (which
happened to be at 6 a.m - 3 hours earlier than her normal morning wake
up). She had really enjoyed dying the eggs the night before and even
did some painting. She is the cutest little girl and loves doing
projects with me. She follows directions so well and for the most part
is very patient when I am getting things set up. I am so proud of
her!!
Well, of course it is getting late. I should go to bed. On a good
note, I am feeling much better and my sore throat is gone! Yipee, the
only little thing I have is a slightly stuffy nose from the pressure
changes from the weather. Anyway, more tomorrow - pictures too! Have a great day! Happy Spring!!
~M~
Wow, last night was interesting. I have never (as far as I can remember) seen thunder and lightning this early in the year! I had just put a VHS movie on the television for Hannah when I went into the kitchen. I all of a sudden heard a super strange noise that sounded as if the VCR was eating the tape I had just put in. I ran towards the VCR then realized that the noise wasn't coming from the VCR, but from heavy rain or hail falling on my skylight. It was the loudest I had ever heard it come down on the skylight. I was talking on the phone with my mom when I heard the first loud crack of thunder, then followed up by more lightning. It lasted only 20 minutes, but it was quite a shock (no pun intended!).
Hannah had a great easter! We also went over to Hannah's Great Grandma's (Mrs. P) house for a special turkey dinner, which she just loves the stuffing part! She also tried the mashed potatoes and gravy and actually ate a few bits on her own. She is a REALLY picky eater so it's hard to get her to actually continue eating things that she has tried. We're slowly working on this one!
I will be trying to go outside and get some digging done in the next hour or two. The weather is currently spuratic with rain, sleet, hail and then sun. It's pretty cold outside so we'll have to bundle up.
More later....
~M~
Gardening thoughts/progress:
Today I dug more on my "leveling-out" project and had to re-think my plan. I ended up having to move my "junk" rock pile (the rocks that I don't like to use in the rock walls etc. due to the fact that they are too sharp, are gravel rocks, or are poky and are more dangerous then the average rock if Hannah was to fall on them). I decided to make the area bigger. Oh-boy, it's addicting! Anyway, I was able to dig 3-4 good size boulders out of the way (one was dead center in the way and Hannah plus myself tripped over it regularly, so thank goodness it's out!). I will take some more pictures when I get better visual progress since it doesn't look like much has changed since the last time I was out there.
On to my other garden endeavors, I planted the garlic I had in my cupboard and the rest of the chives (or at least I think I did, there may be a few still in the bucket though, so I will have to make sure). I dug out two rocks from an existing flower bed (why I didn't do it in the first place I don't know...hum...) and also dug out a really big rock from where I planted my cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes last year (I was amending the soil when I came across the beast and couldn't just leave it in there even though it was quite deep.) I have quite a few rocks now to place in a rock wall area holding up the terraced areas I am building, but it's getting hard to find ones that are "nice" or kid friendly. I want to use as round as possible rocks so that they can't trip Hannah, or hurt her more than normal if they were jagged. I am hoping that my new plan will work out nicely.
We had an absolute beautiful day today. The "weather man" had said it was supposed to be "rain/snow mix" yesterday/today, but it was really nice. I am so worried it will all end up coming down tomorrow on our heads while we're out there doing our 1st actual easter egg hunt with Hannah.
I am extremely excited it is Easter tomorrow, just as excited as a little kid! I can't wait to see Hannah's face in the morning when she wakes up to the special surprise that the Easter Bunny brought her! I can't wait to see her searching and finding the eggs outside in the garden. Oh, I am so excited! She's so wonderfully special and I love her so much!
Hannah coloring on her eggs before we dyed them.
Today we spent time with some of the extended family (My Mother-In-Law's Brother, his girlfriend and daughter(4 years old I think), and Hannah's Great-Grandma (My Mother-In-Law's mother - Mrs. P as she is called). We spent most of the time outdoors having a "camp-fire" out in the back of the property, walking the paths we have through the woods and just really enjoying the spring weather.
She sure loves playing in the dirt!
We never have a boring week around here:
Today: We live across the canyon from a very popular area for dirt biking and this time of the year is especially popular for dirt biking. There is a dirt bike race track down the canyon from us and we only hear a little of the "noise" from it, but when dirt bikers are not using the race track (basically when there is no special event planned, so quite often), they tend to do their biking all over the mountain on the other side of the canyon. We had noticed quite an increase in dirt bike "noise" this week and had begun our yearly "tune-out". It just gets to the point we really don't notice it much, so while we were out there doing our "camp-fire" we started to notice it was much louder than normal. Hannah and I were taking a walk towards where you could see the other side of the canyon. Something caught my eye, and sure enough it was 3 dirt bikers trying to traverse the side of the VERY steep mountain with their dirt bikes. It was one of the scariest sights I have seen! They were trying to ride on animal trails, not meant for dirt bikes; the deer and coyotes use these trails. The dirt bikes are really heavy machines now days (not like I knew what they were like back-in-the-day, but I just know they're huge now!!), and it must have been exhausting trying to keep hold of them. They had to drive them instead of just push them due to the weight of the machine and the type of terrain they were on. One of the guys was extra scary to watch because he would just gun it and practically go straight up the mountain side, then slip and tip off the bike, each time we'd all hold our breaths. One guy followed the same trail as the "crazy" rider, but the other one was "smarter" (and I use the term VERY loosly, he still got himself into that dangerous predicament so he couldn't be much "smarter"!). He stayed behind observing to see how they did before he went and got himself even worse off.
The canyon....it's a long way down there!
We decided it would be best if we called some sort of authority to warn them of the possible emergency in progress. The police decided that they would come to our house to see what the situation was exactly and to possibly pin-point where on the mountain these dirt bikers were. There is a road on the other side of the mountain, but it's not close to the canyon so it would have been difficult to find them from that side of the mountain. Two police cars showed up and we showed them where the dirt bikers were and by that time we think that two of the riders were able to get their bikes up to an easier area and then came down to help the third rider with his bike. The two police officers stood out there and watched the riders until they felt that they would get out alright, but jeeze I would have thought they would have tried something more. What if they had just been watching and one of them took a dive down the canyon??? We could have done that much, watch and call if we watched someone plumit to highly likely death (not something I wanted to do though and was hoping for the best outcome). I don't know exactly what they could have done either, so really atleast they responded quickly. Once the police officers felt it was "okay", Mitchel decided to ask if he could get a ride down the property in the police car. The officer said sure, but that she only lets people in handcuffs into her car. The three kids were very happy to get a chance to see the inside of a police car. They were allowed to press the various siren and light buttons. Then Mitchel was handcuffed and Luke and Jessica (Mother-In-Laws niece) were all allowed to get in the back of the car for the drive down the road to the house. Once they got down there the lady officer let all three of them get handcuffed and pose for a picture with her. She also gave them temporary tatoos that have a mounted policeman/woman on them. The kids were so THRILLED! Hannah thought that the sirens were so neat and enjoyed seeing the police cars too.
Needless to say, we never have a boring uneventful week around here! I love living here!
Anyway, I should get going to bed, it's late and I have to get up early in the morning to hide the eggs for my sweetie-po-teetie!
I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Easter weekend and that they are getting lovely spring weather! Happy Gardening!
~M~
Well, it was overcast and partly sunny on and off today. Hannah and I didn't get out and do much. We basically went out for a bit of a walk and then fed the horses for my Mother -In-Law.
We spent quite a while over at the Mother-In-Law's house visiting and helping her create an email address. She's pretty computer illiterate and I have to teach her how to do the same things over and over. It's okay and I really don't mind, but it's hard to find the time when I have my little 2 year old stinker running around like a hurricane! It takes me twice as long to teach her and it's hard for her to concentrate totally while "Hurricane Hannah" hits. Anyway, it took us a long time to get even the simplest thing like making her a hotmail account accomplished! But we did it! Yes! But.....later this evening my Mother-In-Law called and said that something weird came up when she tried to log-in, so who knows. I will have to check it out tomorrow!
Hannah played mini hockey (basically indoor hockey) with her Uncle Luke and his friend Connor (both 12 years old) for a while and she just loves spending time with them. It's so neat to watch her interact with her young uncles (12 and 8 years old) and to see them interacting with her. Kids are so much fun to watch how they play....
Above: The three musketeers, Mitchel-Hannah-Luke, 2 days ago while it was super nice out. So nice we even broke out the popsicles! Hannah just loves hanging out with them (she's wearing a head band that Mitchel put on her, she was so proud that she got to wear it!)
Sorry there isn't much on here about gardening so far...but here ya go:
My seedlings are doing alright, nothing "new" with them. The tall zucchinis I have been talking about are okay, tipping over like Gay Lynn (giggelynn) mentioned might happen. I just hope that I don't lose them. The cucumber seedlings are still button cute. Tomorrow I need to plant my Grapefruit seedlings/sprouts before I end up killing them (they are still in the baby food jar I started them in).
I am planning on trying to plant some of my garlic. I bought some garlic and it's gotten older and I thought why not try to plant them. My gardening book says that there can be some success from store bought garlic cloves. So, experiment #1 we'll see how it works out! If anyone has any suggestions/experience with starting garlic from store bought garlic.
Another thing I have to get around to doing is planting my bulbs that I have. They are summer bloomers so I am pretty sure that it's an okay time to be planting them (well, as far as my "research" is telling me.
Bulbs I have:
Chives: I have just regular old chive bulbs from my Mother-In-Law's garden that she pulled out last summer (they wintered over with just the dirt they were pulled out with and sat into a pot). They are starting to sprout so I need to get them in the ground. They grow actually really well even in my clay soil and I do like the look quite a bit, especially when they are thick and full.
Gladiolas: I bought some bulbs from Home Depot last fall when they were getting rid of their bulb selection. They are red. I think. (They are put away in a "dark place" and I haven't seen them in a while).
I have VERY little knowledge of growing bulbs, but last year I decided to try my hand at it. I bought some crocus (still does anyone know how to spell this one in the plural form?) flowers, 2 tulip pots (flowering) and 2 pots with 1 hyacinth in each - to brighten my spring. I planted them all after they died off. I am happy to say that ALL of them are poking through the ground. I originally thought that one of my hyacinths was not going to come in, but when I checked yesterday it had started to come through ever so slightly! I still need to make sure I planted them properly so I have alittle research to do in the next few days so that I can make it right after they die off this year. I will be sure to post pictures of them when they bloom.
More tomorrow, I have to go to bed! I really need to continue my recuperation since I am feeling noticeably better today! I sure hope that we don't have an icky day tomorrow. I should probably check the weather report to see though.
Have a great Easter weekend!
~M~
Well, yesterday I was able to spend a super long time digging in my garden! I ended up shoveling so much that blisters formed, then popped. Yikes! They're pretty sore today and full of liquid again. I hope they will heal soon and turn to a callus so they I won't keep getting sore spots. The blisters are where my ring were, so today I took them off. I don' t know if it made any difference since I think it's the way that I shovel that caused them. Who knows, all I know is my hands are tender.
"Maybe I should be wearing gloves too." - DUH, silly me!
My dad pointed that one thought out for me last night when we were talking on the phone. I just hate wearing gloves so much! I have a decent pair, but my hands are small and I always get irritated when the dirt inside the gloves gets stuck under my nails. It bothers me so much more than when I just get dirt under them from digging bare handed in the dirt. It tends to be dry crumbles of dirt and it's just so uncomfortable for me. Oh-well, it's strange, I'm strange...lol!
Anyway, back to what I was writing about in the beginning of this entry - I was so thrilled to make so much progress and very proud of my hard work!!
Below are the pictures of a before shot, and an after pictures:
Above: The "Before" picture! What a mess with uneven dirt, rocks sticking out everywhere, grass and branches too.
Above: This is the "step" I made. It took me a bit to figure out exactly what I wanted to do design wise, but once I figured it out this quickly fell into place! I was able to start it and finish it in one day! Yipee! I love progress!
Above: A side view of the same area of the picture above this one. It shows my rock step almost finished, and all the dirt I've dug out. My camera seems to distort depth, or maybe it's when I upload them. It seems to smash the depth, weird. The area is deeper than this picture seems to show. Also there is a pile of dirt in the center there that is hard to see and that doesn't help to show how big of an area actually is.
Above: Another view of the step and the area I've been digging in. You can see how much I have dug down by the level of the dirt on the right side of the picture. It's been a struggle and now the "Boulder Brothers and Sisters" have joined forces with the "Root Brothers and Sisters" and have one the battle in one area, but I am not giving up elsewhere!
I was able to do more after I took these pictures so these pictures aren't totally current. I will try and post some more when I get a bit more done. So, tomorrow "a digging I will go!"
I took some really nice pictures of Hannah today with some crocus' (Now, how on earth do you spell crocus plurally, anyone know that one?). She just loves flowers and was just drawn to them. They are the first things to bloom on our property (Unfortunatly they are not mine, they're the Mother-In-Law's, but they are still so nice to see!). No wild flowers yet, and my crocus' are not all the way up either. They should be blooming in the next 2-3 days I'm guessing. We are supposed to get rain and snow mix on Friday so that may slow them down - YUCK!
Hannah loves flowers! I just love these spring pictures! They're some of my very favorites of her so far this year!
Well, I hope everyone enjoys my pictures of spring! Have a great rest of the week and I sure hope that the "rain and snow mix" were going to have on Friday will not be as bad as I am picturing in my head.
"Happy Gardening, Happy Spring!"
~M~
Above: My bean sprouts FINALLY sprouting. It seemed to take forever in comparison to my Mother-In-Laws. Her's sprouted in 5-6 days I think and mine have been closer to 10-14 days! I do know that she used a special (I think Miracle Grow brand) seed starting soil and I used plain jane potting soil. I wonder if it made that difference, thoughts?!
Above: My beautiful super tall Zucchini plants! They're almost 6-7 inches tall, which I am not sure if that's too good since they're probably "reaching" for the sunlight. Any thoughts, good or bad?
Abov
e: Another view of my super tall Zucchini. Any thoughts, is this good or bad, or just okay?
Above:
My good little cucumbers growing in their milk jug home. They are doing pretty darn good, and I am pretty proud of 'em! Hope it stays that way! (Fingers crossed!)
Above: Now there's some big rocks! This is a sample of some found on my husbands parents property (we rent on this property too, so basically it surrounds were Hannah and I go walking a lot.)
Above: One view of the canyon we live by. My husbands parents own the property that follows along the canyon (and we rent on this property). Pretty dangerous for kiddos, but the actual canyon is far enough away that we don't deal with it on a daily basis. We have to walk a bit to get to it and my young Brother-In-Laws (ages 12 and 8 years old) know better and have been raised to know its very dangerous!
Above: One of those dang "Gravel" Brothers and Sisters!! If you happen to hit this too hard with the shovel, they break into many pieces gravel size and are a PAIN to try and get out!!
Well, that's the lot of them. I love taking pictures and especially like being able to share them. I was so excited that I was able to get out and do some digging in the dirt today! Hannah is feeling better a little bit at a time and she came out and joined me for a bit, and then I was also able to get out when she took a nap (thank goodness for baby monitors!!). It was another gorgeous day outside! I got quite a bit done today in that area that I am making for Hannah. She will love it once I am done! I won a battle with the "Boulder" brother, but may need the hubby to move it from where I ended up rolling it since it flipped to a side that doesn't easily roll from. I hope it's not stuck since I would like to use it in the landscape of the new area I am making for Hannah. I may use it as a rock step, or even as a retaining rock. I have conquered the "Boulder" beast! Hahaha!
I also transferred two wheel barrow loads of composted horse manure over to a pile near my rock garden. I still have to make up my mind as to what is going to go where and what I want to expand before I put the manure into the soil. I think that I want to expand an area and potentially get rid the area that I attempted to plant my veggies in last year (Zucchini, Cucumber and Tomatoes). I will have to take a good long look at things tomorrow. At least I was able to get the manure closer to where it will eventually end up. I can't move the manure when Hannah is around because she walks so slow (basically I couldn't fill up the the wheel barrow and have her walk next to me, it would take upwards of half an hour!). So, I was very pleased to have been able to get the two wheel barrow loads today. I will be sure to do more when I get the chance since I need TONS!
Well, more tomorrow. I hope that everyone is well! Happy Gardening!
~M~
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