Frolic with Me Through my Yard!

I Love that little flash of Spring when all those anxious, beautiful plants push through the soil and pop up their little buds, eager as any of us to feel the warmth of the suns rays after a long bout of grey skies and frigid winter air. Crocuses, Lilies of the Valley, Daffodils, and Weeping Cherries all racing to open first, jealously racing to capture the first "Oh's" and "Ah's" of the season.

So frolic around the yard with me and "Oh" and "Ah" the little fellas their due...

Weeping Cherry Tree. I love this tree more than any other on my property. And that's a tough call, since I'll have blazing red Japanese Maples in a few months.

I want to curl up in the outstretched crook in the trunk and wrap my fingers in the long chains of pale pink and white blossoms cascading down around me. I'm definitely putting a wooden swing seat in the branches.

I have hundreds of daffodils, impossible to capture in the most panoramic lens. They're spread around my property like a plague. The squirrels are against me...

They are all nestled in beds of Periwinkle.

Peach colored Hyacinths ready to bloom.

Spinach. Tender delicious spinach. Plain and ordinary, but so beautiful to me.

I don't even remember the names of these little fellas, but they are all over my flower beds.

And these little yellow "weeds". Eye of the beholder...

Hydrangea buds peeking out.

And what would Spring be without the bevy of weeds?

What's in your yard right now?
Share! Share!

Why Drowning in a Pool is better than Drowning in the Rain...

Don't overhead water.

Blah Blah Blah.

"They" (you know, the "them" that know everything) say it all the time.

Overhead watering drowns seeds, it can cause fungi more easily, and yada yada. Yeah, right...

Except that maybe the "They" know what they are talking about.

Which I discovered with a fun little experiment...

Little mason jar green houses. Well, kind of... But I thought it would be neat to start herbs indoors in these super easy to get jars that warm up nice and toasty in the sun, like a little upside down garden cloche. So I started Nasturtium (nah-stir-shum), Chives, Cilantro, Oregano and Parsley in jars.

And, oh my, these little fellas took off. They really do seem to love the jars, Except for one tiny problem.

You can't soak a mason jar in a tray of water, so over watering is really the only choice. I did use a little spritzer bottle, but even that pushed some of the seeds to the side of the jars and down the inside.

And some of them went WAY down to the bottom. I don't know how this poor little fella is gonna do, but if he starts climbing up, I'm gonna try to save him.

Lesson Learned.

Now that I've started experimenting, I'm going to see how many ways i can use glass jars. I might just try to use them as inexpensive garden cloches. Imagine how many plants you could start just a little bit earlier!!

Any ideas? Share! Share!

No Tushy Shots

That was Hubby's only demand as he helped (or did all the remaining construction work) to put the pallet compost pile together.

Which was a hard promise to keep, but I did my best not to post them on the Internet.

Hubby is a modest man.

But I did get a bunch of great shots of my happy new pallet garden/ compost pile, which isn't quite done yet, but it will give you a fairly good idea of where I'm going with it...

First, Hubby dug a shallow trench for the pallets to rest in at the base.

He laid out the pallets as a guide so he would know how far to dig.

He set up the pallets in the trench, that I had previously backed with a double layer of weed blocker material, covering the back and bottom, but leaving the top open. I'll shovel dirt in from the top as I layer my herbs in the grooves.

Hubby used yard markers for temporary stakes to hold everything in place.

He centered another pallet in the center, backside. We'll put one more on each side when Hubby picks up more pallets and I'll probably line the backs of them with chicken wire to keep any compost from poking through the weed blocker fabric.

Hubby screwed them together so they'd be sturdy.

Tada! I'll post update photos when I get the herbs planted.

How are you growing your herbs? Any fun containers or unusual methods? Share! Share!





TechkNOwledgy...

We have so many contraptions these days to make our lives easier. Air popcorn machines, blow driers and the like...you know, the really important stuff. And then they break. And our lives get infinitely harder because we become so used to them doing everything for us.

...Which is why I have a love hate relationship with my computer. But I'm putting it in the past and moving forward.

And thank goodness gardens don't require a three pronged outlet...usually. Some gardeners/istas get into some pretty weird stuff these days...

Which is why I spent so much time outside when my computer zonked out- a blessing in disguise really.

And so I went to Longwood with a friend for a walk. And proudly showed my hubby the 173 ideas I brought home with me on my camera. Which of course he loved.

And here are a few for you...

Magnolia trees. So in love with their early blooms...

Winter Hazel.

Terrariums resting in pools and ponds.

Indoor walls of plants.

Espalier- growing trees flat, whether it's against walls or free standing, pruned against hog panel

Hanging crate gardens

Fun hibiscus flowers

Cute chimes.

Beautiful buds.

Looping walls of budding vines.

And giant hanging topiaries.

Love, love, love, Longwood.

I could bore you with so many more photos. But I've already tortured poor hubby. You guys should get a break.
So where do you go for inspiration? Share! Share! Share!

Spring is in the air, everywhere I look around... And it's winter.

As Charlie Sheen would say, "Winning!"

And if you stayed inside today, it must have been because you were locked up in prison (at least here in Zone 6). And if you were locked up in prison, I hope you had a cell with a window, because it was gorgeous outside!

And so, I frolicked.

I cleaned that horrific dead growth from the mailbox and played with worms the length of long slithery snakes. And I must say, third year gardener or not, I still shriek like a girl when half of one falls into the inside of my glove.

I finished planting my indoor seedlings: strawberry spinach, peppers, herbs and tomatillos...

I planted peas.

I watered the brassicas under the cloches and in the cold frames and I soaked in that vitamin D I have been craving for months. And I lay down in the dirt and took pictures. I love the smell of fresh spring dirt.

Even though it's winter.

What did you do today? Play outside? Plant things? SHARE!!

Terror-rarium

They are taking over the house.
I saw them invading the booths at the Flower Show; I mean, they were EVERYWHERE. It really was epidemic. I went to a local garden store and in speaking with the friendly cashier, learned that others had began to notice them as well. And so, like so many other people, I decided I had to do something about it.

And so I made my first Terrarium,

and my second, and my third and my fourth....
And pretty soon, poor hubby won't have a surface to sit on.
Like I said, it's epidemic. You should succumb now. It's going to hit you sooner or later. And here's how to do it.

Any glass vase or bulbous jar should do. I've even seen them put in light bulbs.
I used a super tall vase leftover from my wedding.

First, I put in a layer of stones, about 1 inch thick. You can use any kind of decorative stone, just make sure they are clean. You don't want to put bacteria in your little terrarium.

But because sooner or later, accident can happen and disease can strike, the terrarium will need a layer of charcoal over the stones. I put down a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch. Charcoal sucks the poisons out of the soil. Betcha didn't know that part of a Navy Seal's training is making and eating charcoal, just in case they ingest poison.

Next, you want to add a nice layer of potting soil. Your plants will be living in this forever, so be nice to them.

Fill your vase carefully with each of the layers. You don't want rocks cracking the glass as you drop them down and once the plants go in, it will be very hard to change the depth of any of those layers.

Get your selection of plants ready and pull them out of the pots. You can loosen the roots a bit, but be careful not to tear them up too much. You do want plants that are complimentary. If you put a cactus in with a tropical plant, they are going to have vastly different needs. I like succulents. They are easy-peesy as pie.

Tuck them into the soil, putting a little more over the top if you need to. But remember, chances are, you will not have a lot of wiggle room, so pre-determining the placement of your plants will help a lot.

Then, water them. But not like you're baptizing them in the river Jordan. A few spritzes will do nicely.

I tucked bright green moss around my plants for a fun pop of color. You can also put in fun little decorations and nick-knacks. I've seen people make dinosaur scenes.


But I'm pretty boring.

I did, however, take out the monogram letters that were on the top of my wedding cake and tuck them inside the vases for some fun visual appeal. I love the way they turned out. I did give my Hubby's monogrammed letter the simple, practical vase and gave mine the psychotically green moss and crazy, alien-ish plants. I wonder if he'll draw the connection. Poor hubby. He had no idea his simple succulents would get stuck on the same shelf as my psychotic ones. Still, I do think they look good together.

Have you ever tried to make a terrarium? Are you gonna try it? Got any fun ideas? SHARE!!!

Bat:Man-eater

So sure, bats don't eat people. They turn them into vampires. ALWAYS. It's a scientific fact proven over and over again by Hollywood.

And so I happily jumped up and down when my bat house arrived via Amazon at my doorstep because I was pretty excited-- because everyone knows that the first thing to do as a vampire is find fictional, awful Edward Cullen, and destroy him- because you're a newborn and you can. And if you haven't watched Twilight, good for you; skip ahead.

So, I opened up my package and like a fool I believed the "So EASY, Children can do it!" slogan, and went about happily pounding nails into the wood, bending them all which kind of ways, splitting and chipping a bit here and there-- but it came together.

And it must work REALLY well...

Because I rested it on the living room floor, where it belongs, and went about feeding my Hubby a delicious meal of spring vegetable risotto and salmon.

And midway through dinner, while discussing something important (I think it was which tape measure belongs on which level of the house) we were dive bombed by a BAT.

I'm not kidding.

Apparently that house works really well.

Or it was because when searching for and fetching the yellow tape measure (which belongs in the attic, not the basement) I must have left the door open a bit too long and the bat took the opportunity to sneak into the house. Over the last day or TWO.

But... since I'm not a vampire, I suppose I slept well enough. Though the shreiking and the hiding under the table is something Hubby will be able to hold over me for a while. Hey, I said I wanted bats, but I really didn't expect them to come over for dinner.

I rechecked the packaging. No mention that the bat kit comes with it's own bat. Still, I'm pretty thrilled with it.

Do you have any fun bat experiences? Share!