Container Garden

The raised bed gardens have become quite popular it seems, but how about this for a raised bed?  David saw this somewhat rusty stock tank in a junk pile at work.  He was given the okay to bring it home, and I just love it!

 Despite the shade you see in these pictures, this is a fairly sunny spot in our yard.  After consulting with a cranky plant lady at the farmer's market, I planted a tomato, a cucumber, and a pepper.

 I'm not sure any of them are going to produce anything, but it's still been fun.  The cucumber plant is huge now and shades the tomato.  The pepper plant doesn't seem to be doing much, but there's always next year!

My garden helper likes to play outside, but he does have his limits, especially when it's hot.  He hopped onto this bench all on his own to look at me with his pleading eyes.  Please can we go in now?  It's HOT!

Daisy, Daisy, Give me Your Answer Do

My Aunt Connie gave me this happy sunny daisy in May.  I have never successfully kept one of these alive, but planting it in this old minnow bucket seems to have kept it happy!  The bucket drains well, and I guess gives it enough room.  It's had at least one bloom at all times, and once it had 5 at the same time.

Spring 2012

We hardly had winter this year, so spring kind of snuck up on me.  I just wasn't expecting it.  But I found some motivation, and dug up all the tiger lilies on this side of the shed.  I divided a bunch of hostas and created a new little hosta bed here.  My plan is to put some rock around the outside, but it hasn't been done yet.

All looks well in this hosta bed in the early spring.  If only I could prepare those poor plants for the drought that is to come!  After this picture, I added some dark brown mulch around the plants.  I think it has helped a little in retaining some moisture.

 See all the green in the background of this picture?  Better enjoy it now!  This was taken at the end of April.

Fall on Fremont

It was a long hot summer, but it's been a beautiful fall! I planted pansies, pansies, and more pansies.Cleaned out the shed...
And have spent as much time outside as possible.

Amos is getting a little color!

Into Every Life, A Little Rain Must Fall

In the case of this summer, a LITTLE rain has fallen, but that's about it. It has been terribly dry, hence the lack of pictures. Everything has struggled this summer. In the past week or two, we have finally received some rain that has perked things back up. This spot, where Riley has helped me eliminate a large population of tiger lillies, is going to become a hosta and fern bed by next spring. I'm hoping to replace the brick with rock and divide/move some of my hostas this fall. Riley will probably miss laying there.
I found this little white chair for $3.50 at a flea market, and it will move around to be the center of the hosta garden on the side of the shed. I'm thinking a little pot of impatiens can sit on its seat. Despite the difficulty in keeping things alive this dry summer, hope springs eternal and maybe next year we'll have a decent amount of rain! :)

First Day of Summer

June has been hot and dry. Did I mention dry? Even in the occasional storm, we don't seem to get enough rain. The grass is pretty brown, and the impatiens in the hosta bed have struggled, even with lots of watering.

So glad we planted hostas under Amos instead of impatiens this year!

A Change for Amos the Amur Maple

The year we planted Amos, we also planted red and white impatiens at his feet. They were beautiful and got quite tall but still nice and full. The second year, they nearly didn't make it. Last year, David dug up the bed and added fresh dirt. The impatiens started out with a bang, but then just kind of stopped. We finally got the hint. They don't really like it there after all. Since I don't especially enjoy watering every single day (sometimes twice a day if it is extra hot and dry), we decided this year that we'd go a different direction.So once again David got under the tree and broke up the stubborn spidery roots that have taken up residence under Amos. We planted the two varieties of hostas, added some peat moss.
It has the stamp of approval from our neighbor, and we're hoping that this will be the thing that grows here. If not, I'm planning to grow rocks next year.