rain, growth, and the productive weekend

Our short cycle program’s peak has past, so I was back to a two-day weekend last week. After some brief socializing Friday night, I chained myself to the garden for the remainder of the weekend. Our county has free yard waste dropout every Saturday, so that’s where I started, bagging and hauling away seven yard […]

nudging the chaos, smoothing the heap

I am a thrifter. I like finding the deals on pretty things. I also like the rescuing of things, giving new life, loving worn well-used things, saving from the trash heap. So it goes, also, with the garden. I pay full retail for the food we grow, and the hardscaping. (And a chunk of our […]

the newest bed

The high heat of summer has arrived, so everything moves slower in the garden. My breaks match or exceed my working sessions so I can cool down and rehydrate. The goal is always to stop buying new plants before ninety plus degrees, but the clearance racks have been very good to me this year, and […]

this week in the garden

things growing, projects moving along; here is this week in our garden: And finishing out the week: a gallery of things in bloom.

lighting the path

The solar chandelier needed new solar lamps. I found such a great deal at Big Lots!, a box of ten for thirty. The chandelier needs a new home, since solar edison bulbs are going up in the pergola and will be bright enough to prevent the chandelier from lighting. I liked the pathway lights so […]

expanding, day 2:

I defined some edges, started the pathway up to the retaining wall, transplanted more daylilies and a clump of wild garlic. There’s still the wild onion to bring down from the front yard… The open area of mulch has been sown with the zinnia seeds shown below: This weekend has been a major step in […]

expanding the garden

I made a good starting effort toward reclaiming more of the garden lot last weekend by raking out branches from the back corner before the invasive weeds filled in. Today, I cleared out weeds, broke up the ground, and began terrancing a path up to the retaining wall level. I also started migrating some plants […]

now with additional seating

During my staycation this week, I’ve been breaking down garden projects into two hour sessions, avoiding the high heat and stopping often to cool off and rehydrate. So far, the biggest impact has been a new seating area near the future okra/asparagus bed. I’m adding solar lights to the umbrella edge. The strands had enough […]

a week full of big moments and small steps

We started this week saying goodbye to the best part of our hearts, and finish it on our fifth marriage anniversary… with small steps forward in between. I was previously working to add another flowerbed, which has become his resting place and memorial. The bed is planned to be home to Oriental lilies, blackberry vines, […]

closing the fence

The fence is ninety-eight percent finished, but it is one hundred percent puppy safe now. Tiger can join us in the garden off-leash. Yesterday, I closed in the gate frames with lattice, mounted the latch, and drilled the driveway for the drop post. Today, I framed out the gates including the top rail, started cutting […]