Garden Photos 2012 - Getting Started

I got a later start than usual on gardening this year - too much rain!  But my gardens are off to a good start.

I decided to change up the large planter in the front yard.  No more icky, scraped up plastic thing (which is now home to our roma tomatoes, as you'll see later), instead I got a nice cedar one:

For years now, I've done coleus surrounded by alyssum, but this year I decided to start completely fresh and do a spike plant (I already managed to lose the card and I don't remember the exact variety!) surrounded by trailing vincas (Mediterranean apricot broadeye, which I used in another part of the yard last year).

I hadn't planted zinnias at this house yet, but I used to plant them at our apartment all the time.  I decided to return to an old favorite, the swizzle cherry and ivory, in the front flower bed.

I also planted some petunias and some of the extra vincas, along with the usual perennials - coreopsis and blue flax. I'll share more photos of that garden once it's filled in a bit more.

I rearranged the rozannes so they'd form a straight line in this bed, and eventually fill the whole thing out:

And I moved our herb garden to a tab le on the patio:

So far, we just have chives, parsley, basil, rosemary, and dill.  I've been picking up a few herbs from the farmer's market each week, so I'm sure there will be more here soon!

We're also trying our hand at growing tomatoes:

We're also going to add some peppers, and maybe spinach and/or kale in the near future.

Elvis's beloved catmint is back in full force:

Or at least I'm assuming the catmint is his favorite, since it attracts the bees he so loves to stalk!

And here's the pond, all spruced up:

I finally laid down some weed fabric under the rocks, so now I won't be stuck pulling weeds in that area practically every day.  At least one of our fish survived the winter, as did a lot of the snails we bought last year!  I even found one of those pea-sized babies, so hopefully we will have a nice, self-sustaining, algae-eating community of Japanese trapdoor snails for years to come.

And of course, all that gardening and lawn care is hard work, and our old hammock was in terrible was in terrible shape, and could only hold one person... So we treated ourselves to a nice, new, two-person hammock to relax in and enjoy our back yard:

Next project: a fence!  (But, uh, we're paying someone else to do that!)  Expect videos of Elvis running around like a maniac in the near future. ;-)

This Little Piggy

So... I guess I just went 5 weeks without posting.

It's been a crazy month, between work and trying to get my gardens in shape.  But by far, the most exciting thing that happened during my hiatus was the return of the Easton Farmers' Market for it's 260th (!!!) season.  I'm absolutely loving all the fresh produce!

This past weekend, the Pig Placement Network was at the market, and I got to meet this little guy:

So stinking cute!!!  The lady said he's only eight weeks old.  I have no idea if potbelly pigs are even legal in my town, but if they are, I totally want one some day. ;-)

Up next, I'll be posting some garden photos!  I've rearranged and/or improved some areas, and this weekend I'm planning to get a container garden going on the patio for herbs and veggies.

Oh, and while I was off neglecting my blog (oops!) Rebecca of Baby Sloth gave me a Liebster Award!

 

 'Liebster' means 'favorite' or 'dearest' in German. This award, which originated in Germany, recognizes up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. In accepting the award, the recipient agrees to: Thank the person that gave the award and link back to their blog, copy and paste the award to your blog, and reveal the 5 blogs you have chosen to award and let them know by commenting on their blog!

(I could actually only come up with 3 blogs that are definitely below the 200-follower limit, plus one that doesn't list the number of followers, but is awesome just the same!)

1. Kathy (Keeping Up With No One) - My wonderful sister-in-law, who started a personal finance blog earlier this year.
2. Niki (Debt Free by Thirty) - Another fantastic personal finance blogger, and fellow fan of Doctor Who and The Adventures of Pete and Pete!
3. Faye (A Tree-Climber Goes to Texas) - One of my college roommates who abandoned me to live in Texas, but I love her anyway! ;-)  She only posts intermittently, but it's always fun to read about her adventures.
4. Alicia (Eco Friendly Homemaking) - I'm actually not sure how many followers she has, so she may be over the 200-follower limit, but you should definitely check out her blog (and her online shop!) either way. :-)

Garden Photos: Part VIII

It's been awhile since I've shared photos from the garden, and the pond has some new additions!!

One of the ladies who works at the courthouse with me has a pond as well, and her water hyacinths were starting to take over so she gave some to me:


They help balance out the pond nicely, since there are a ton of water lilies on the bottom section, but nothing in the top.

And over the weekend I stop by Petco and picked up some new fishy friends!


We did have fish in the pond the first two years we were at the house, all named after Charles Dickens characters, but we learned our lesson the hard way: If you give you fish names like Smike and Little Nell, they WILL meet an untimely demise.

As of yet, these fish remain unnamed. ;-) Here they are settling into their new home:


And as I type this, there are some Japanese trapdoor snails en route to my house. They should help keep the pond water clean, they can survive the winter, AND they give birth to live young instead of laying eggs, which I think is adorable.

And moving to the other side of the back yard, here's a close-up of the vincas:


It's hard to believe that when I first bought them, they looked like this:


Needless to say, the vincas are definitely on my "buy it again next year" list!

And check out the daisies:


I wasn't sure how they'd do since I transplanted them from the front of the house, but I think their new home agrees with them, don't you? :-)

Garden Photos: Part VII

After a week off, garden photos are back!!

I'm not going to bother sharing the state of my roses with you, it's become really sad. I'm fighting what feels like a never-ending battle with Black Spot. :-(

In happier news, the daisies are in full bloom:


And the clematis by the hydrangea is beyond ridiculous:


Crazy, right? If you look carefully, you can see where the hydrangea is finally starting to bloom.

And here's a close-up of the clematis:


I'm really looking forward to 4th of July weekend. I'm taking a half day at work tomorrow to spend time with some friends from college, going to see my husband perform in a comedy show on Sunday (if you live near Bethlehem, PA, you should go!!), and on July 4 my nieces arrive from Colorado to spend the week with my parents!! Also, there will be much reading, gardening, and spending time outside with Elvis.

What are your plans for the weekend??

All That Jazz

First of all, let me apologize for the lack of garden photos this past Friday. I was just too darn busy to get them posted. I'll have them up this Friday, I promise. ;-)

This weekend was incredibly busy, but also lots of fun. The highlight of the weekend was attending the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island. Getting there was quite the adventure - we drove about an hour to Jersey City, took the PATH to World Trade Center, walked about a mile to the Battery Maritime Building, and took the ferry to Governors Island. It was about a 2 1/2 hour trek.


And naturally, when we passed an old abandoned library on Governors Island, I had to take a picture.

I still can't decide whether it was cool or just sad!

Here we are, all dressed up:


We packed a picnic lunch:

While we were hauling that thing from World Trade Center down to the ferry, buying lunch started to sound like a good idea. Then we found out that the line for food was 1 hour + long. Packing a picnic lunch? Best. idea. ever.

There were a bunch of cool old cars along the side of the park:


And live music and a dance floor:


It was a pretty amazing way to spend such a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. :-)

Garden Photos: Part VI

I can't believe I'm already 6 weeks into this whole garden series!

Here's some threadleaf coreopsis I got from my mother's garden, it just started to bloom this week:

Dianthus are to the left, impatiens are to the right.

The rozannes are getting huge!

Every day I have to push them off of the sidewalk. They should be easier to train as they get more vine-y.

Hey, remember all those weeks I kept promising gloriosa daisies, and then failed to deliver on that promise? Well they're finally here!!

And you can see the little vincas next to them are finally getting bigger. To the right, out of frame, is our out-of-commission hot tub. Unfortunately it blocks afternoon light, so the set of vincas to the left aren't growing quite as well. Hopefully we'll be rid of the hot tub soon though. Hopefully.

The clematis are getting out of control. I love it. :-)


I don't think I've shared this next plant yet. I didn't know what it was until I came across some for sale while buying a new fire pit cover at Lowe's yesterday:

It's called May Night Meadow Sage, or Salvia nemorosa. No, it is not the kind you can smoke. ;-)

(And if you look carefully, you can see a black and white blur that is Elvis, just beyond the salvia.)

The next area I want to tackle is the fire pit. Maybe next week? (The long wait for gloriosa daisies has taught me not to make promises!)

Garden Photos: Part V

Fewer pictures than usual to share this week, and still no daisies!

The clematis on the front corner of the patio is looking quite spectacular though:


Out of all our clematis, this is the one that grows the most aggressively. And the flowers are such a pretty, intense shade of pink!

Here's a close-up:

I'm not sure what variety this (or any of our clematis, for that matter) is, but the flowers actually maintain that shape instead of opening the rest of the way. They sort of remind me of tiny lilies. :-)

Oh, and remember that big pot in the front yard with coleus and alyssum in it? Well in just over 2 weeks it went from this:


To this:


I took that picture almost a week ago, it's looking even fuller now.

In sadder news, I'm pretty sure I killed 2 of the 3 mums that I transplanted this spring. Oops? But they're the only plants I've lost so far this year, and I've spent a grand total of $13.15 on plants this spring (in other words: a lot less than I spent on the 20 bags of mulch I've used so far!), so I suppose I can afford to buy a couple of new mums.

As long as the weather is reasonably nice, my mom and I are planning on checking out this garden tour tomorrow. This will have two possible effects: Either I will come home inspired and full of wonderful ideas for my gardens, or I will feel horribly inadequate and embarrassed of my novice gardening skills. ;-)

Garden Photos: Part IV

Memorial Day weekend was an incredibly productive time in my gardens, both on my part and that of my plants!

The clematis burst in the flower bed in front of the dining room window burst into bloom:


There are lots of roses on the rose bush to the right of the aforementioned clematis:

My rozannes finally started flowering:


I finally weeded and mulched around the hydrangea:


And the two big feats of the weekend-

My mom and I weeded, laid down weed fabric, and mulched around the cherry tree in the back yard:

(Now Elvis has a new favorite place to hunt bees!)

And my wonderful husband installed our new pond pump:

(No more malaria breeding ground!)

I definitely lied last week when I said I'd have gloriosa daisies to show you. They aren't blooming yet, but I think they will be soon! (I just won't make any promises as to when this time, I learned my lesson the hard way.)

Tomorrow I'll be checking out the Innovative Beads Expo in Allentown... I'm looking forward to it, but I have a pretty specific list of items I'm looking for. Here's hoping I can stick to that list! ;-)

Garden Photos: Part III

So, do you like how my blog about starting a small business has somehow morphed into a blog about my gardens?? Oh well, it seems like everyone is enjoying the garden posts, and I enjoy taking the pictures and writing the posts, so I'll keep 'em coming! ;-)

Remember my last post, when I shared this atrocity with you?


Well, I decided to take Wednesday off, and after a full day of weeding (and with some help from my mom), here it is (albeit from a different angle):


No more weeds!! And there's mulch! Now we just need a working pond pump so our pond can stop being a breeding ground for mosquito-born illness. ;-)

And here's a close-up of the catmint by the pond:

The catmint is a transplant from my parents' house. Thanks, mom!

Here's the very first rose to bloom this year:

Between when I took this picture Wednesday evening and now, a LOT more roses have bloomed. But the rose bush is still lopsided. ;-)

Of course, there is even more clematis in bloom:

These guys are in the rear section of the patio area, around the corner from the clematis I showed you in this post.

And last, but not least, the very first of my teeny-tiny trailing vincas to get a flower:

It looks like next week I might have some gloriosa daisies to share with you, and the flowers on the rozannes are finally starting to bloom.

I'm hoping the weather will hold out this weekend so I can spend some time relaxing in the hammock and reading the latest installment of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! :-)

Garden Photos: Part II

My gardens are still looking pretty good! Well, at least the ones in the front and side of my house are.

The plants in the front are rozannes. They haven't bloomed yet, but by next month they'll be even bigger and have a ton of gorgeous purple flowers. Behind them is creeping phlox. I neglected this garden pretty badly last year, and this year I paid the price - I spent something like 4 hours digging up the grass that had started growing there. Lesson learned. ;-)


Climbing the trellis on the left is yet another of our many varieties of clematis. Eventually, this one will have pale, pinkish-purple flowers. On the right is our lopsided, slightly sad-looking rose bush. It wasn't in great shape when we first moved in, and I'm doing my best to get it looking better, or at the very least keep it alive.

A look inside the pot in the front yard: coleus and alyssum. I was absolutely convinced when I first planted the alyssum that at least half of them would die. It really wasn't looking good. But about a week later they were still alive and kicking!

The first of the clematis to bloom! This is a close-up of the middle clematis from this post. It's really something once they're all in bloom and climbing all over the lattice around the patio.

It's been so rainy that I haven't been able to work on anything in the back yard yet. Once things clear up a bit next week, I think I might take a day off from work so I can tackle this mess: