A Day Of Sun

Finally one warm (and windy) day happens. Wasn't too much we could do though. Managed to get a 3 tiered raised bed built. In the process of trying to move the truck out to the pond to fill it with soil, we got the truck stuck in the mud. 20 minutes later, and a muddy mess of our and our neighbor's yard we finally freed it. It's now parked in the back yard until the ground hardens up some. I'm going to have to wheel barrow over the dirt later today.



So here's the 3 tiered raised bed which we did manage to stain at least. It will have strawberries for the birds on the bottom tier, followed by a bunch of Iris bulbs, columbine, blanket flower, creeping Jenny and whatever else I can fit in the top 2 tiers. (The bottom one is 6'x6', followed by 4'x4', and 2'x2')









You can see I'm also Hardening off some plants on my deck. These ones have been out for over a week and need to go in the ground somewhere... and SOON!








I'd also like to introduce you to the newest member of our family. Our new Pekin duck who is 2 weeks old now. Turned out my other 2 Pekin ducks I hatched were both male, so they needed a girlfriend. She's still several weeks from moving out to the duck house yet. She also doesn't have a name. So have to think that through.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN!

With spring comes rain... I know this... but come on!!!! How many inches do a need a day at this point?! I really need to go out and get my hands dirty some. I have strawberries coming, and I want to move my lotus into larger buckets then Milk jugs. My tulips and blooming and I'd like to go sit out and enjoy them.

I'm pretty sure my veggie garden is happy... if this rain ever stops I'm going to photo my spinach which is MAD huge!!!

Oh, and I also got the cutest little duckling yesterday. Turns out my two ducks I hatched in November are both boys... so I picked up a female (so I'm told) yesterday. She's very cuddly. Pictures to follow.

FINALLY a bloom!

Look look look....


Now, they are gorgeous... love the pink... BUT I bought white tulips with pink tips. These are NOT what I thought I bought. Did anyone else buy the tulips at BJ's for the breast cancer foundation? These were not what they were advertised as. :(

Tulip!

It's teasing me! This is going to the first one to bloom if it ever does. Grrrrr

Earth Hour March 28th 8:30pm

Please take the time to make a difference. Its only 60 minutes!!!

Finally, a sunny warm spell!

I've been looking forward to some nice long sunny days. Days where it is dry and I can actually manage to work more outside. I got some things done as listed on those rainy days, I just spent 5-6 days inside staring out in a muddy mess!

We had a yard sale on Saturday to try to clean out closets and part of the attic. It wasn't the greatest of days. It was warming up after the first hour or so, but then some strong cold winds came out of no where and continued until about noon.

We put off doing any yard work the rest of saturday and just used to day for my daughter to play on her swing set and enjoy collecting rocks. Sunday began the catching up of yard work, and my husband ended up on the roof replacing a pipe booting and 8 shingles that had fallen off causing a leak. We still have about 8 shingles to replace in various places, but the steepness of the roof is keeping us from getting to those anytime soon.

Oh... and one last thing. Saturday (I'm back tracking) we did manage to get to Lowe's and order the custom siding for the house! I was so thrilled we saved the money to finally do that. I was even more surprised by the fact the price of the siding went down since I did a price check on it back in January. So we saved $100 or so from what I thought it was going to be. HOORAY SALES!!!!!

So just how much have I done?!

Let's start here:


Blueberries were given to us bareroot from neighbors and they are doing great! Put them in a little over 2 weeks ago.







I've managed to get the bed at the end of the deck going. I still have a few more things to get moved out that aren't ready yet. I also ran out of mulch.







I found these gorgeous new cushions and new pots in the teal and green! I think it really brightens up the deck :)







We've put in our mini orchard. The trees came on saturday. 2 Apricot, 2 Lodi Apple and 2 Johnathon Apple!










My husband's pet project. His very own grape vine. Have to cross my fingers for this!











My side garden is really coming back and filling out. I even added some vines to the old metal yard ornament.








I created some nice signs I stained and treated for the yard. I still have a pile I'm doing to add to what I have.





















My patience is wearing thin with these Tulips!!!! I've seen yards full of them recently and mine are taking their time.









TEASE!!!!!!!!








This is the bed we've built for the strawberries. They haven't come yet!

In like a lion...

Oh for the love... will this rain ever end. I know mother nature is in nurture and grow mode, but I need some sun right now. It's been raining 4 days straight without letting up. Tomorrow will be day 5, and they are calling for showers still.

Last week we had 5 gorgeous sun filled days where I was able to move some plants out on the deck to harden off. I managed to get my tomatoes in the ground, and plant some peas and potatoes. The rest of my plants sit on the deck getting a good soaking, which seems to be doing them much good. However, I want to get them into their specially prepared spots I've thought so long and hard on.

I purchased new pots for the deck, and new matching seat cushions to really set off spring. Nothing like bright greens and blues to really cheer me up after this drab winter.

Sadly, I have no pictures to post of all the progress I've made last week. My daughter and I were over come with a cold after her birthday last sunday and come thursday we were moping around the house with my Mother In Law. I think that bummed out her visit, but I'm sure the wonderful weather made the trip well worth it for her. She is from the Northern Midwest, so she went back to more icky winter for a bit longer.

As soon as there is sun again, I will wonder around the yard and take photos. Perhaps the tulips will finally be in bloom then... they are so close now :-)

Warmth Waves In

It's been insanely warm the last few days. Saying its in the 80's in March blows my mind! I've decided it is time to start moving some of my seedlings out into the yard though. Since saturday I have managed to gather some plants out onto the deck to take in the warmth of the natural sun, and the breezes (and occasionally gusts) we've been getting. I bought several new pots for a few special plants that will be living on my deck... while the rest wait to move into their designated beds that have been prepped and waiting for them for months.

My lovely veggie garden is still thriving with deep green full spinach, and plump looking radishes. My lettuce is a bit knobby and the carrots have FINALLY sent up sprouts. I thinned them out and they had extremely strong roots... so I know the ones that are there will come out lovely. I even got a few bareroot blueberry bushes from my neighbor who was thinning out his busy growing stash!

Tomorrow my husband is building the extra raised bed for my daughter's playhouse area where she will be able to have her sunflowers. He's also cutting me some custom wood pieces out of 1"x2" wood I will stain red and hand paint plant names onto for the garden as well. This way I will have nice labels for everything out there. No more plastic markers that look so cheap and shabby.

I did take the time to stain my raised beds, gate and arbor last week. Its the only thing I've gotten updated photos of.