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You would have to be in a cave to not know about all the crazy rains that this part of the country has had! Quite crazy, really! I think the weather channel has dubbed it "the Deadly Deluge". Well, we are blessed! The only way this has impacted us is all the schools have closed down, which makes for an interested week in the land of little children. HAH!
It has cleared up very nicely today and it is just gorgeous outside right now! We are forcasted for more rain the rest of the week. The news is still reporting 90 roads closed in our county....
I took advantage of the dry day to go take some picts. With all the rain, mixed with sun, the grass is SO high and it is still too wet to mow...
I think I may resort to weedeating it soon!
The trumpet trees are all just bursting with blooms and they are over 8 feet tall with all this rain we have had. They will start opening any day now!
The creek had quite a time in the "deluge" Our back yard was full of water, prob about 6 inches high at one point and the creek looked like white water rapids. (If it hadn't been so wild out there, I would have stepped out to take a picture) All the rain did a bit of re-shaping to the creek and took up some dead wood:
We have a nice new little gravely beach that wasn't there before!Our raised veggie beds really paid off, if we didn't have them, they would have been washed away! I have been slowly clearing out summer's spent crops while I wait for the garden centers to get their fall merchandise in. I am ready to plant! Good thing I hadn't yet - the rain would have drowned any seeds!
All that is left to produce anything is the pepper plant and all my basils.
Funny thing is... I pulled out all the marigolds that had died back and with all this rain, all the dropped seeds are growing. Nice fall color!
Hope none of you have damaged homes due to this rain. My boss had her entire downstairs flooded and has had to take vacation time to clean it!
Happy gardening and Stay dry!
Well, I suppose its about time that I post something! My new job is 100% on the computer, so when work is done...the last thing I want to do is get back on the computer. So, I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with my blog! Things continue pretty much as usual here in the garden. I am enjoying watching things fill in and am trying to resist all urges that I have to buy more plants. I planted so much the last couple of years that I do believe it is now time to sit back and watch it do its thing for a bit.
My girls are growing up and my oldest has started to enjoy taking pictures with mommy in the garden:
Look at this pose!
So funny!
Work continues on the deck and next step is the long anticipated railing:
Then we are going to put in some pea gravel at the bottom of the steps and create a nice patio type area.
For my upcoming birthday, i got to make over the front porch.
here is a before picture:
And after:
I am so excited! I know we will get so much use out of it...we already used it alot,but now we will even more!
We pressured washed it before repainting and the funny thing is that I think we will be picking up blue paint chips for the rest of our lives - HAH!
The veggies are exploding and we are enjoying lots of eggplants and the tomatoes are really starting to do their thing. We have been blessed with a whole lot of rain this season and I am having a hard time keeping up with all the weeding and mowing. But, I really can not complain about rain, now can I?
This is the most consistent rain season we have had since we have lived in this house and it really is quite amazing! I know it does have something to do with the garden getting more mature, but things are just going CRAZY!
For the most part, that is wonderful...but, it makes the weeds grow crazy too...lots of rain with sunny, windy afternoons...well, you can imagine. So, I have been tackling a lot more weeding (and spraying) than I normally have to do. The vinca and the mint in the front bed is just going wild and has become quite the aggressive traveler...so, I have become one with the string trimmer and have been pulling a lot of it by hand to keep it in check.
I recently bought one of the Worx GT Weedeaters from the informercial. First time I have ever bought something off the TV...and I must say, I LOVE IT! It was my mother's day present and it is awesome!
It has helped me a lot in the garden, especially keeping up with all the spring growth from all the rain.
Here are some recent picts taken of the garden:
The hydrangea bed is really coming along. This is the first year that it has actually looked like something:
The black and blue salvia is such a nice accent in this bed:
I won't show you the view of the back of this bed...which is pretty much a nice collection of crab grass that i need to get out with my special weeding tool.
My purple beauty berry that was basically a stick in the mud when I planted it in the fall - is rally doing well!
The veggies are coming along very nicely and we are starting to enjoy some srawberries, lots of basil and we are greatly anticipating the tomatoes that are soon to ripen!
Hubby has also made a ton of progress with the deck! He has gotten it most of the way done. All thats left is the railing and the skirting. We are also going to put a stepping stone patio at the bottom of the steps to create a nice landing where we can put a grill and nice little bistro set. He will begin work on the railing soon...
Here is a before and after:
And one more before and after shot of stairs:
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And finally, a nice shot of the top of the deck with the Garapa Wood:
We have had SO much rain this week and we are forecasted for more. Of course we pick the week of national flood warnings to build the new deck - LOL! But, I must say, hubby is quite the trooper. He has worked through most of the rain...unless it has been just pouring. He has gotten a lot done and it is looking SO good!
Probably one of the hardest parts was making multiple trips to the stone yard and shoveling gravel to cover the bottom for drainage:
Then he got a majority of the framing done:
He is still out there as I type working by a shop light in the dark - God bless him!
Now that we have gotten both of our little ones on the same nap schedule, I am able to get back out in the garden for good chunks of time during the afternoon. SO, I have been taking advantage of the wet soil and getting lots of weeds pulled.I am also pleased to say that I do believe we will get to see the azaleas in full bloom this year. Usually, they start to bud out and our late freeze zaps them. But, the last freeze we had was early enough that they are doing well now:
And, all 3 of my peonies are peeking out:
Also, the hostas just started to show their little green tips :)
Here is a nice shot of the front. See the dark spot in the front lawn? Thats where I filled a dip in the ground with some soil:
And, the backyard:
See the coral bark maple in the foreground? When I cleaned up the driveway the other day, I took some clumps of the blue grass and put them in this bed. I think that will be so fun come 4th of july to have the red and blue together. I think I have settled on the idea to make this little berm an ornamental grass bed, with some creeping phlox on the edge by the path.
I just love the way everything looks in this rain...like its glowing...and our creek has turned into more of a river, which is neat. we can hear the sounds of the water from the house.
I still have yet to get all the mulch moved, so If we get enough dryness this weekend, I will try to finish that. Happy gardening weekend everyone!
We had a great summer rain this afternoon! The garden was in desperate need...it even hailed a bit. But, luckily not enough to do damage to the plants. For the most part, things are just truckin right along in the garden. Most things are even holding up to the dry weather. I am having a hard time keeping enough water on my hydrangeas though. I am thinking I may install a soaker hose around that bed this fall, to help with watering next season...
Here are a couple of shots of the afternoon rain as seen from my front porch:
We have also been enjoying a very bountiful harvest from the veggie garden. Today was no exception!
Here
is a pict of the harvest bowl...
This was our first harvest of corn! I have never grown corn before and its fun that its turning out! Also, this is my third season to attempt carrots and my first season to get anything! Could it be that the companion planting is working????!!!!
Here is the bounty all clean and ready for munchin and cookin:
So rewarding!
I am already starting to think about how I can improve my plantings for next year and I am getting excited about doing a big fall veggie garden...I can't wait!
We have had quite a few rainy days here lately (great for the drought) and today was no exception. I just love the way the garden looks after a good rain! I was planning on plant shopping this afternoon, but it was raining so hard...my girl and I sang songs and watched the rain from the front porch. So lovely! In between rain showers, I was able to get some nice picts of the garden as of late:
View from the front porch:
Various views of the front of the house as seen from the street:
Looks like the redbud will be in its full glory in no time :)
The lorapedulums are doing great and I love the contrast of the Junipers. The one shrub has a piece of it that grows with the white blooms. I have long debated as to cut it out each season, or leave it be. Sometimes I think it is fun and unexpected, other times I think it looks like a mistake...I can't decide.
Saucer Magnolia survived one of the late freezes and is in its glory! I just love it...when the petals start to fall, it looks a bit like a summer snow.
All the front perennials are starting to come up and I look forward to adding even more this season!
These seedlings were easy to spot in the wet mulch...I think they might be poppies. I threw out a bunch of poppy seeds in this bed (not expecting much)...if they aren't poppies, then they might be a weed, I am not sure:
The Japanese Maples are budding out nicely. They were severely affected by the late freeze last year. Looks like this year will be better:
The creek is doing its thing...and all the moisture should be wonderful for the newly planted Great Gunnera Bulb
Nice view of the back yard today (hubby has promised to have all the veggie bed fences done and installed by april 1st for planting time :)
The persicaria is coming back :)
And finally...a view of the back, from the back ( I enjoyed comparing this picture with the same shot from last summer....its nice to see the progress)
I am so enjoying watching spring unfold! Maybe I will get to my plant shopping in the next couple of days. I have so many things on my list to add to the garden...and our home depot landscape supply just stocked up, so I can't wait to check it out!!!!!!!
(I hope this post goes through ok...with all the weird stuff going on with the site today...)
The last few days we have had a good steady rain. Great for our drought situation! Of course, I have gotten used to doing something in the yard most every afternoon. So, instead...I had some nice cups of coffee on the front porch and watched the rain :)
One morning, when I woke up...I noticed an owl perched on the fence by the creek. We hear owls a lot around here...and my husbad has named the one we hear, Norbert. Maybe this was Norbert showing himself :) . A little later, I also saw some sort of giant bird walking across the creek (might have been a white herron?) I couldn't catch a picture of him though. Here is a little shot of the owl:
It dried up enough today for my hubby to go get some loads of compost for the newly built veggie beds! Hooray!!!
And, in case there was any question as to the necessity of the chicken wire surrounds:
HAH! needless to say...the doggies had a fun day in the garden too!
While my husband was picking up the loads I also took advantage of the wet ground and did my first (of many, I am sure) spring weeding sessions! It felt good to get that done. We got most of the beds full and just need to finish up one bed. Yeah! Gotta love progress!
Over the last couple of days I have gotten some fun things done by the creek! I picked up some creeping jenny plants for the opposite bank side...of course, after planting them, I also drove stakes through the root ball to hold them in. The water usually doesn't come up this high though....
Today, I also decided to try digging in some stairs. I am not sure if they will stay put with a heavy rain and the rushing creek water, but this whole thing is an experiment... I used some pavers that were on our property when we moved in and have just been sitting in a pile. I figure this way, if it doesn't work out...I haven't spent $ on nice pavers and I am only out about an hour of time. If it does hold up....I may change out the pavers over time for nicer ones. I also transplanted some variagated ivy pieces in between the blocks, so hopefully they will grow in nicely. I pinned them down with landscape pins.
Not too shabby for an hour's worth of work and free materials! I finished just in time for the forcasted rain, so these pictures might be the only thing left of this by morning :0
I also spent some time getting more brush to the curb...I will do more of that tomorrow
My lovely hubby went to go get more of the city compost today for my new bed. This is a process that he is not very fond of and getting him to do it usually involves some sort of begging and bribery. I can' t say that I blame him as it is a very messy and stinky job. To prove his point he had me take this pict for all the world to see how dirty he gets:
As you can see...the dogs don't seem to mind so much getting dirty:
We got this unloaded just in time for an afternoon hail storm! It was mostly rain, but there was pea sized hail mixed in and SO great to watch from the front porch!
A nice good drink for my newly planted goodies from yesterday! Hopefully, I will start planting up the new bed this weekend!
We have been in a drought all summer and I have had to stay up on watering and do it during the restricted time allotment. But, since last week we have been getting some consistent afternoon showers. A lot of them are even major thunderstorms that are great to watch from the front porch. Its just fabulous! The only thing is that it makes everything grow really fast...including the weeds, so I am really having to stay on top of that!!
Most of you have read my entries about the creek clean out project and I have mentioned how we are on a flood plane and our backyard changes a lot in a heavy downpour. We had one today, so here are some picts:
We haven't had a good rain here in my neck of the woods in months. Good new is that since yesterday, it has been raining on and off and we have even gotten some really hard downpours!!! Its just fabulous and it has forced me to spenc a lot of time sitting on the porch watching the garden in stead of out working in it...Here are some picts I took yesterday in between showers while stting on my front porch :)
Funny...things don't even look wet, thats how bad we need rain, just sucked it all up!
Ok, now its wet...taken 5 minutes ago:
M
y little girl...swinging in the rain :)
OH. MY. GOSH!!!!
Its Raining! We haven't had rain in FOREVER!!!!!
At first I was kinda annoyed because I was in the middle of weeding, but after a nano second, I thanked the heavens and moved inside for the virtual gardening world.
I've been working on those pesky little summer weeds in the back....my next BIG project is to clear the overgrowth behind our back fence. There is a creek back there somewhere and god only know what else...
Already
starting to think about my garden in the fall too. THink I might plant some brightly colored mums along the back path. Also want to plant a bunch of bulbs. Fun, Fun!
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