home is where my story begins...

Here’s a great surprise.  I bought a friend a tomato plant for his birthday. (We have a common love of tomatoes and he and his family just moved to a new house with plenty of room for growing tomatoes.) My friend decided to build himself a planter box  and then built one for ME too!

I have this planter box on my deck, right up against the wall so it would get lots of afternoon sunshine.

My basil loves the heat and the controlled amount of water.  I started the tomatoes inside, with my Miracle Grow Aero Garden and then moved them outside to my new planter.

I’m not sure what it is with my big garden this year, but the tomatoes and basil aren’t looking too great.  They look kind of scraggly, so I’m happy to have my new planter.  I now have tomatoes and basil to cook with!

Thanks for my planter, Kenny!

I’ve decided to start a new series called The Story of the Garden, here on the blog.  I love my garden and I hesitate to constantly post pictures because this isn’t JUST a gardening blog.  But my garden is my happy place and I really enjoy taking pictures of the changes that happen from month to month. I plan to document those changes here.  I’m hoping you enjoy some pretty photos, gather bits of inspiration, and hopefully learn from my mistakes and success!

For the first few photos I took the screen off of my bathroom window, upstairs in my house, just so I could take pictures from a different point of view.  You can’t see the whole yard, but this is my main “garden” area.  We have an L-shaped house, and therefore have an L-shaped yard, but this is the bigger side of the space.  When we bought the house, 10 years ago, the big Rhododendron was the only plant in the yard and the two large Maples anchored the space.  The brick was there, but there was just dirt in the area.  The kids helped add pathways so we could divide up the space and make it easier to reach when planting herbs and veggies.  In the back, where the red chairs are, we used to have a swingset.  Now it’s just a cute little sitting area and another space for gardening.

There’s more grass to the left of my garden and I have a few things growing over there.  There are two apple trees but they have never produced a single apple.  It’s just too shady.  We keep them because they are nice trees.  I’ve also planted some hydrangeas and a lilac.

Back to my favorite part of the yard…

I planted lots of herbs, lettuce, peas, zucchini, and spinach on the left.

On the right, I have potatoes, tomatoes, and my square foot garden.

I divided up this small space and planted something different in each spot.  There is a mix between herbs, veggies, and flowers here.  There are a few squares that didn’t work out.  My sunflowers NEVER make it past the seed stage.

There’s a reason my sunflowers never make it.  See that bird feeder? Well, it doesn’t really feed the birds too often.

We have lots of squirrels in our yard. They are the reason the birds don’t come to my bird feeder and they are also the reason my sunflower seeds disappear before they even get a chance to germinate.

They are awfully cute little guys, but not a gardeners best friend.

**Side story:  See the little guy below?  He’s laying on his side.  He does walk, but he’s constantly falling over. He takes a few steps and then tumbles, and then gets back up again.  Well, I know exactly why he can’t walk well and it’s one of those stories I wouldn’t believe if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.  I was looking out the window one afternoon and saw something fall from the tallest tree in our yard.  Then, I saw a medium-sized bird dive bombing the thing that fell.  It was the squirrel!  The squirrel ran and hid under a bush and when it started to walk you could tell that something was not right.  He’d walk and then fall over.  It’s like one side is paralyzed, but he still gets around ok. I really can’t believe he’s alive after falling from a huge tree onto the rocks below.**

The squirrels really love my bird feeder.

They spend so much time clinging to the side that the birds rarely get a chance for a nibble.

The squirrels are super cute, but the hummingbirds are my favorite to watch.

They are just so dainty and they love this fushia-type plant that I have.

I only had to sit outside with my camera for about a minute before seeing a hummingbird stop by for a drink.  They are constant visitors in my yard.

That’s the garden tour for today!  I guess animals in the garden was the theme of the day.  I’ve been home recovering from surgery and I haven’t been able to do much.  I guess sitting and watching the animals has been a good source of entertainment for me.

Happy gardening!

It’s springtime in my garden and we’ve had some nice weather to give things a boost.

I don’t have too many flowers right now, but everything is lush and green with flowers right around the corner.

I had back surgery a few weeks ago.  I tried to get as much gardening done before surgery as possible, so I could just sit back and watch things grow as I was recovering.  It’s been killing me to not go out and pull weeds and not be physically able to lift a bag of compost, but I’m trying to be patient.

I am doing lettuce from seed this year because my bunny likes it when I thin the tiny lettuce leaves.

I went with a multi-color nasturtium  around the border of the garden.

I’m trying my hand at a square foot garden in one space this year and I have a variety of flowers for cutting here.

I added about 3 new varieties of hydrangeas to my yard this year.  Yes, I may be a bit addicted to hydrangeas.

The butterflies and hummingbirds like this plant.  I wish I could remember what it’s called.

If you don’t have a green thumb, try growing mint.  It’s impossible to kill and simply takes off.  Plant mint in its own container because it will take over.  This is a variety of chocolate mint and it’s to die for.  I love sitting on my deck, running my hands through the mint.  It’s also great to add to ice cream and makes a fabulous addition to brownies.

I can’t wait for my honeysuckle to bloom!  It’s going to be beautiful this year!

We added a Lunchbox Pepper plant to the garden this year.  Please ignore the weeds because I can’t get down to pull them right now.

I bought a whole flat of marigolds this year, but they aren’t thriving as well as I’d hoped.  Maybe they just need a bit of flower fertilizer.

The highlight of my garden this year has been the addition of my new bird feeders…. ahem… squirrel feeder.  I bought these for the birds, but the squirrels have taken over.  They jump from the ground, up to the feeder, and then jump over to the pole and slide down when they are done feasting.  They are funny to watch, but I was really hoping to invite the birds, not the squirrels.

How about you?  How does your garden grow?

Happy gardening!