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My next-door neighbor hates working outside. He is a very talented architect and mowing his yard is always the last thing on his list. With all this rain, bless his heart, I think he has just given up. As I looked into his back yard, aka “meadow”, I was reminded of something my mom had once given me that goes something like this:
“ Imagine the conversation The Creator may have had with St. Francis about what we now call Lawns:
Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on earth? What happened to all the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracted butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.
It’s the tribes that settled here, Lord. The suburbanites. They started calling your flowers ‘weeds’ and went to great extent to kill them and replace them with grass.
Grass, but its so boring. It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It’s temperamental with temperatures. Do these suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?
Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.
The spring rains and cool weather probably make the grass grow really fast. That must make the suburbanites happy.
Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it – sometimes twice a week.
They cut it? Then dot hey bale it like hay?
Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
No, sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
Now let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it and pay to throw it away?
Yes, sir.
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth down and saves them a lot of work.
You aren’t going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out the hoses and pay more money to water is to they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
What nonsense! At least the kept some to the tress. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soils and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It’s a natural circle of like.
You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and have them hauled away.
No! What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and keep the soil moist and loose?
After throwing away your leaves, they go out and buy something they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.
And where do they get this mulch?
They cut down trees and grind them up.
Enough!! I don’t want to think about this any more. Saint Catherine, you are in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It’s a really stupid movie….
Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story…."
HAH! I don’t know who wrote that, but I love it….
As I was staring at my neighbor’s meadow thinking he might just have THE right idea, I heard him crank up his lawn mower. I guess he came to his “suburbanite senses!”
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!
Time for my end of summer update! I am ready for fall and have been thinking back on yet another growing season - successes and failures.
Durin
g July and August, we enjoyed many harvests from our garden and spent the rest of the time inside and out of the heat. The girls are growing up fast and keeping us super busy! They are both getting into helping mommy in the garden and we have discoverd that the little one LOVES getting dirty! Her favorite place this summer has been smack in the middle of the tomato bed, picking them right off the plant and smooshing them all over her face!
We planted 9 varieties of tomatoes, 10 basil plants and 4 eggplants.
Here is a nice shot of some of the results:
It was great fun to try so many different varietes! Our favorites were the heirloom tomatoes, of course; and the japanese eggplants. We have had so much, that we have also been doing some different methods of preservation for use through the winter. I have dehydrated tomatoes, eggplants and figs. I am excited to use the dehydrated eggplants to make pasta sauces and babagunish (sp?) I also pureed tomatoes in the blender and put them in ice cube trays to freeze for making sauces later. I also did a pesto with 5 varieties of basil that I froze in ice cube trays too - now all of our ice tastes like basil!- HAH!
Funny thing about the veggies; I always plant more than I should of every seed and it is just survival of the fittest. Well, this year, I put in a few different kinds of bean seeds and then forgot which kinds i put in - until a few months later, noticed that what had won out was the "yard bean":
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So bizarre! and actually not that tastey...but fun and the kids thought they made great necklaces!
Next year, I will give more thought to the beans...we did miss having them this year.
SO..here is the list:
Successes:
Heirloom tomatoes, will plant more varieties next year, perhaps will order some plants online for even more variety.
Cherry tomoates, love them...will only plant one plant next year....we had way more than we knew what do do with.
Artichokes, they germinated successfully and I am looking forward to them producing in seasons to come.
Asparagus, continues to do very well and next year, we should be able to harvest continually throughout the season.
Sunflowers, the "king kong" did great and next year, I may devote 1 entire bed to just sunflowers...I would like some for cutting.
Nastursums, did great. I just love them and they are so pretty!
Failures:
Green Eggplant, it did well, but is quite prickly and tough...not all that tasty.
Beans, need to give them more thought...missed having big harvests of them this year.
Wished I had planted:
Cucumbers: hubby hates them, but they are so easy and I love em'
Carrots: the kids would have had fun with them,and they are super easy too!
Squash: I always have trouble with them, but I am always trying some weird variety, so next year I will plant to standby summer squash and hope for the best. These will be great to pre-cook and freeze too!
For the Fall Garden:
Poppies: I put out some in the spring, but still dont have any signs...will try again (i don't know why I can't seem to get these going to save my live-they are suuposed to be easy!)
Spinach
Sugar snaps
Lettuce
Cabbage: I have never tried growing this, but I think it will be fun.
Parsley
Brussel Sprouts
Garlic - have always wanted to try this
The rest of the garden has been just truckin along. It is nice that we are somewhat out of major project mode (other than the deck) and the garden is down to just routine work. I am enjoying watching the beds in the back fill in. I noticed today that the purple beautyberry that was just a few inches tall when I planted it - is now doing its thing:
I am really liking the textures that are happening in this bed. Here is a nice shot with the deck in the background:
Close up of solidago and miscanthus:
An
d...bumble bee having some fun on the autumn joy sedum:
We really had a bad time of spider mites early this spring. They really set up camp in a big oak in the back yard and they migrated their way over quite a few of my plants. The fruit tress suffered a great deal and I am not sure that they will bounce back - but hey, if they don't then I have a chance to buy more plants! A failure in the garden always presents another opportunity, doesn't it???
I finally killed all the grass around the veggie beds and fruit trees and have been slowly spreading wood chips there. I want to make that area more path-like and tuck plants in nooks and crannies.
I also plan to put in some encore azaleas in the front porch bed this fall. I would like another shot of color in there and some evergreen interests when the autumn ferns aren't looking their best during the winter.
All in all, we have had a great growing season and I am ready for fall and all the cool temps to come!
Happy gardening!
-soa
pHOUSE
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:
A lot has been going on here at soapHOUSE the past few weeks. Some in the garden and a lot with other things. I have been very blessed to have just started a new job that allows me to work from home as a part time design assistant for my church. So, I get to be with my babies and look at my plants while I do what I love! What could be better???!!!
The wonderful people at the job that I left gave me such a hearfelt send-off and they all know how much I love to garden – so I got LOTS of plants!
One of the beautiful things that I got was a florist hydrangea in full bloom. I looks quite nice in my hydrangea bed!
It sets of my oakleaf very nicely!
I also got a native trillium that I put along my shade path to the veggie beds.
A red miniature rose was among the loot – I will plant that in my new bed by the deck when that is finished. (Progress continues there and this weekend work will be done on the stairs) I also got a “forget me not” – how cute is that! And, last but not least, some beautiful zinnias that I planted along my front walk.
Things are coming along quite nicely in the front bed ( my baby girl seems to think so) :
I do love the way everything is filling in. I took a clump of blue grass and put it in the from berm by the elephant ear…I think that will be a nice contrast in texture and color.
The veggie beds are also coming along nicely. 
Lots of good germination happening with the abundance of rain we have had!
All this rain makes EVERYTHING grow, which is great, but some things are traveling! My weedeater has become much more of a necessity lately and I wore out my old one, so I just ordered that Work GT thing of the infomercial…most of the reviews I read online of it looked good, so I am super excited to try it! I have to wait 3 to 4 weeks for delivery, though ?
Something funny happened the other day, hubby was in the back yard by the creek and spotted this ginormous turtle that had its claw stuck in our fence. You can see by this picture in relation to our rottie, just how big this turtle is…SO, hubby got out his welding gloves and moved (the quite angry) turtle back to the creek and we watched him swim away…
Also, as a present to myself for my new job, I decided to have someone come out to look out our “grass” (aka: patch of weeds) in the front. He said we have a combination of centepede and Bermuda grass and that he can start a treatment program to kill the weeds and encourage healthy growth and that in less than 1 year we should have real grass…I am SO excited! I think that will set off the gardens in the front so well…and if we are pleased, I will have him treat the back too.
If the rain holds off this weekend, I will be doing lots of tinkering in the yard: pruning, trimming, weeding, etc….
This past Sunday I planted up all the veggie beds! I learned a lot from last year's garden. The main thing I learned was that we could not get enough of certain crops. So, instead of planting a lot of different things, we decided to plant more of our favorites. Also, I am still using the companion planting system - primarily with marigolds, onions and nastursiums. I had to go to 4 different stores to find all the varieties. While at Lowe's, I found a Fireworks Clematis (Clematis Fuegos Artficiales) for $5 that I could not pass up, it looks to be purple and red striped and I planted it by some knockouts in the front window seat bed. I also picked up 2 annual potato vines. One went in the back sun bed in progress to act as a ground cover and the other one went in a container by the front steps.
So, I planted 10 tomatoes:
5 Eggplants:
Various Basils:
And, one token Mammoth Giant Jalepeno ( I love to make stuffed jalepenos)
I spread this all out between 3 beds and in the center of each bed I planted Mammoth Sunflowers and then planted a variety of items to grow up the sun flowers: sugar snap peas, Yard Long Asparagus Beans, Burpee's Tenderpod Garden Bean, Peas, Sequoia Purple Bean and Golden Wax Bean. I also sprinkled around marigold (crackerjack) and nastursium seeds (alaska mix).
In one bed I also started Emerald Green Artichokes. I interplanted them with Oriental Poppies and Lady Bird Poppies. Since these are perennial/self seeding items, this bed will be a permanent planting.
In my asparagus and strawberry bed, I stuck in someStuttgarter Onion Bulbs.
One of the three beds that got the tomatoes still have kale, lettuce and parsley that we have been enjoying since spring. I think they will die back as the tomatoes are ready to take over.
It was a fun day in the garden for all the ladies!
We are excited for our veggies!
We are well into spring here at soapHOUSE and loving every minute of it! I took some picts yesterday of recent garden happenings:
Nic
e shot of one of the beds in the back
That deodor cedar in the back will grow up big one day to hide that fence :)
I am loving the viburnum!
The Iris looks so pretty with the virburnum in the background:
Pe
onie In Waiting:
This hosta suprised me...I thought I had gotten them all moved to the azalea bed, but this one remains in the hydrangea bed and is looking quite nice this year :)
Hellebore seed heads:
The autumn ferns have lots of new growth in the front porch bed:
Another view of the front porch bed:
The vinca is really doing its thing this year!
Despite a major aphid infestation on my roses and Iris, they seem to still be doing ok...the Mdme Alfred is blooming on the arbor:
I think I may go around with a soap spray this weekend. I did some internet research on this and I was hesitant to spray with soap b/c I read that this affects the beneficial insects as well...but the aphids really are all over, so I do believe spraying is in order. I don't know why I have so many this year. I did read that they particularily like fresh spring growth and with all the rain we have had...we have a lot of that, so maybe that is why?
Work on the deck continues and hubby will start laying down the decking tomorrow - HOORAY!
Well, on Monday night, hubby spent 3 hours covering things in the garden! God bless him! He covered the azalea bed, the peonies, hydrangeas, and japanese maples. Here is a view from the sunroom of the backyard all covered:
We left the covers on until wednesday. The low on Tuesday night was a chilly 28 degrees, so I was glad we had everything covered. When hubby got home from work on Wed, he took all the covers off and I am happy to report things did ok. I did a little experament and left one small azalea uncovered to see if it was worth all the trouble. Here is the azalea that was left to fend for itself:
See all those brown blossoms???
Her
e is a nice shot of the azaleas that did get protected:
No brown blossoms! Looks like it was worth it!
The maple in the front yard still suffered a bit, even though we had it nice and covered:
See those brown spots? Guess it is just really sensitive.
Also, the viburnum suffered a bit, it is too big to cover:
Hubby says only I would know it...that it looks fine to him. So, I guess that is a good thing.
I am glad the freezes are over now....and onto thinking about the veggie plantings! We are going out of town the weekend of the 18th, so I will think about the veggie installation when we return.
My little girl and I came down with strep for the 2nd time in 3 weeks, so while hubby took the baby to church, we stayed at home and had a lazy morning. We did step outside in the beautiful weather for a short walk and a photo session of early spring in our garden. Here is a sampling:
View of the front garden:
Some of the tulips from last year came back and the newly planted ones are emerging too:
The above photo was not digitally altered...came out of the camera just like that...cool, huh?
View coming up the front walk:
Nice shot of the back yard:
This is only the 2nd time in the 6 years that we have lived here that I have gotten to see all the azaleas in bloom...usually a late freeze gets them. We are supposed to get freezing temps on tues and wed this week - AAHHH! So, hubby went and bought some drop cloths and we will be covering lots of things! What a pain...I thought we were going to avoid that this year...but I guess our last frost date of April 15th is that way for a reason...
View of the back, from the back:
Creek shot...will be time to weedeat soon:
The ostrich fern is coming back in the creek and I am so excited! I planted 1 clump and it is coming back as 3...it is said to be quite the spreader and I am counting on that for the creek area. Also, we are getting some great purple asparagus coming up and have tasted a couple of sprigs freshly picked. - so YUMMY! They are in the 2nd year, so I think next year is when we really start to get a great harvest.
The Virburnum will be in its full glory soon (see that little guy?):
After the little ones went down for their afternoon nap, I set out to move some more of that mulch. I also dismantled the rotting compost bin. I hope to get one of those fancy ones that you can turn one day. The deck is coming along nicely as well....hubby is going to pick up the garapa wood on Thurs! Hooray!! Hope everyone had fun digging in the dirt this weekend!
I am an impatient gardener!
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 have been enjoying spring here at soapHOUSE and we love watching the daily activities in the garden. Seems like there is something new to look at everyday! Our peach tree that is in its 3rd year has some beautiful blooms this season:
Perhap
s we will get some yummy peaches this year?
On a stroll around the garden this afternoon I noticed many spring events: The purple asparagus is starting to grow, the dogwood is budding out, the azaleas are blooming, the peonies are coming up, the phlox are all blooming, the hydrangeas have their new growth, the hardy begonia is coming back, the autumn ferns are showing their new growth and the georgia blue bells are in full bloom...I just LOVE it!
I noticed recently that the beds that we had put along either side of the driveway had done their fair share of compacting and the edges had become a bit messy, so I set out the other evening with my broom to tidy things up a bit. Little did I know that there was about a foot of driveway on either side hiding under all that pinestraw that had gotten compacted! So, that turned into quite a project. After a lot of work with the shovel, rake, broom and bare hands...I uncovered about 2 1/2 feet of driveway and have a nice tidy edge now: In these picts you can still see the line of where I cleaned up. WOW! Glad I did that. I think it makes a difference and makes things look tidyer.
The other project that has gotten under way recently is rebuilding our back deck. We knew it would need to be done when we bought the house 6 years ago and now we are finally able to do it. My husband is a carpenter so he is doing all the work himself. He has decided to use ipe wood and I am so excited to see how beautiful it will be! He has taken his vacation week at work to do the bulk of the project this coming week :)
Here is the before shot (taken about 1 year ago):
Ugh! So ugly!
Here are a couple of shots as he was doing the demo:
He said that as he was taking it apart, some of the wood literally crumbled in his hand! Pretty bad! Hard to believe we had been walking on it all this time!
Here is what it looks like now with nothing there:
We deadbolted that sunroom door closed so that we wouldn't accidentally forget and let one of the dogs go running out the door - HAH!
So this week, we should see a lot of progress on this and I will keep you all updated!
Well, we typically get one snow a year in my neck of the woods...and thats what we got yesterday! It started really coming down while we were at church, and when service was over and the curtains were lifted, everyone cheered at the sight of "cotton balls" falling from the sky. It really was quite beautiful! It only kept up like that for a couple of hours, then it just turned to slushy rain. I did get a couple of shots of the crocus in the snow:
Here is the front yard with the nice "dusting"
Its all melted now and we are forcasted for weather in the 70's this weekend :)
My little seedlings are coming up in the veggie beds: lettuce, kale, parsley and chinese cabbage. - HORRAY! Always so nice when something goes as planned! I hope to get the rest of the mulch moved to the veggie area this weekend during the gorgeous weather.
Happy spring :)
More of the crocuses are coming up! I am so excited! They are such a nice shot of color in our front garden, right by the driveway:
I am looking forward to more :)
I also got a decent pict of the daffs that are starting to do their thing:
I think I am going to add more early spring bulbs to the garden in the fall...they are just so wonderful, aren't they?
The hellbores are really looking great this season. I must say patience pays off with these and I am looking forward to years of them getting bigger and naturalizing:
We have been whittling away at the giant mulch pile and have finished the side drive and due to the fact that we have PLENTY left, I decided to put it around the veggie beds to eliminate the need for mowing back there:
I had great help as well! My huuby did quite a bit as well as my wondrful MIL, who was in town this weekend.
I really had no idea how BIG the pile was...it really feels like, the more we move, the more there is...but, it is coming in very handy!
Once we get it all moved, hubby will start going to get me the compost from the city to fill in the veggie beds.
Happy week!
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