May Garden Happenings....

May 13: The fence completion! Patrick finished the gate, removing the old chain link etc. When digging for the post hole he dug out the old downspout diverter which was a molded cement and rock monstrosity. He left it there for meand the sun garden, obviously, had not really had anything done to it since I was waiting for the fence to be completed. Slightly to the left of the apple t...rees (those are columnar sentinal apple trees and there are two parrallel so it looks like one but they are branchless mostly) is a lavender which was split and growing horribly which I have been meaning to remove since last year. Patrick did dig a large plant which was growing where the cement diverted is sitting which we planted in the front yard to give it the room it now requires.

The new fence with lattice Patrick hung for the hops and marrionberries we are planting to grow on. The is where the arbor vitae used to be. I have bags of soil, compost and conditioner to add here and you can see the dwarf trees I am adding here so far: (from left to right) an all in one almond tree, (not shown since it will be relocated from another part of the yard) a dwarf turkish fig (figs self polinate), two dwarf honeycrisp apple trees and two dwarf peach trees. Alreay in the ground are very aggressively growing shasta daisies which always remind me of my mom since they were a favorite of hers.

And Patrick also finished the chicken village, remodeling the old coop which Ben and Nick build and gave to us many moons ago. It now has a super nice new roof, a fresh coat of stain, lots of alterations inside giving them way more space. They seem to love it and do not even complain to be let out immediately in the AM anymore which is pretty awesome.

Before...well, more like right now. You can see the upper corner garden starting to get blocked off - the side yard is a veggie garden away from the chickens which Patrick is covering with lattice so the chickens will not pay attention to it. The rest is my country garden which a few years ago used to be all lawn. This is what the garden looks like at the beginning of the season before I have done a thing to it. The green ground is a varigated ivy, irish moss, spagnum moss and corsican mint - the later three grown wild in my back yard and I encourage due to it's beauty and fragrance. And yes, that is our pond.

The new gate through which you can see Ginger and Delilah. The toppers were found by our next door neighbor Ralph and are solar lights. They were such a great find too - regularly $16 each at $4 on sale!

And here is the gate closed. Patrick had to get a bit creative with the design since our shared driveway is blackop which is poured up to the sun garden. The original chain link fencing was a part of the blacktop.

I only buying annuals for a few of my containers in the yard like these hanging baskets since annuals are drought tolerant usually. I love the Queen of Night petunia variety which came out a few years ago.

Here is the front yard as it currently stands - I swear everything gets bigger every day.

I rescued this sad twig from a friend's blackberry bramble. Now that it is finally growing it actually looks like a rosebush and even shaped itself rather nicely.

From the same friend I rescued a pile of iris which were trying their best to grow under a pine tree. Now they are a centerpiece in my front yard.

The strawberry patch is covered in berries now and the walkway's plants are doing great! I still cannot believe this time last year this was all lawn!

May 22nd: I spent two nights after work revamping the sun garden now that the fence is complete. I cleared the weeds (I am always battling this noxious succulent which tries to strangle out my plants in here) and I moved the downspout diverter to our outbuilding. Instead, Patrick dug out the area adding pebble river rock style gravel. The ground cover is lipstick strawberries which both the chickens and squirrels love. Right in front of the apple trees I removed the broken lavender and replaced it with a new walking... stone. To the left of the apple trees is a column with a new varigated honeysuckle I dare to take over that corner.The delphinium is a new addition and directly next to it is my new lantern stand thanks to the awesome gift card lady J gave me for my birthday to the Backyard Bird Shop. Hanging from it are these great flameless candle holders I was gifted for my birthday from Mike and Derek! I love that my good friends gift me garden stuff - I look around my yard and think of all of you often!See More

I decided to add three new rose bushes against the house - the one on the fence crook is a tall climber. I also put in a large peony which is about to bloom, a curry plant, some new ground cover and a few icelandic poppies.

NEXT! So I am digging out more lawn (that does not grown well anyway) to add an area for our firepit and some more seating. And look...the daisies are blooming! And I decided to add raspberries as well.