Tag Archives: garden

Reflections of Shabbat

goatsbeard art

Yesterday, as is typical on shabbat, I spent time relaxing and taking in the outdoors.

Breathing in the near-country air, and reveling in the sights and sounds of a healthy yard give me great satisfaction.  It’s a necessary recharge for this introverted gal.

What I noticed yesterday in particular was the insect population, both good, bad and neutral.

Ant hills dot the yard.  These busy yard citizens are defying the hard packed soil and building in every bare locale.  Fat ones, skinny ones, red ones, black ones – constant motion all.

Gnats are beginning to show, little annoyances that tickle my skin.

Mosquitoes were mostly quiet yesterday, although they are certainly amassed and ready for conquer this year.  Our drained pool/pond was an attractant like no other, of this I’m certain.

Paper wasps are busily building a structure on the fence, just behind my clematis bush.  I’ll warn visitors who choose to sit in the area, as I’d rather they build there than above the entrance door as they tend to do.

Ladybugs are every place I look in the yard this year.  Not en masse, mind you, simply quiet little worker bugs who have spread out to selectively rule over their predators in every corner.  As I sat, I watched many of them lifting and alighting across the lawn.

Flea beetles have managed to find the broccoli, in concert with the cabbage moth.  Little holes, big holes – they’ve done much damage in a short time.

Negro bugs are appearing across the gardens.  I just identified these little shiny things today, and cannot quite decide if they’re foe or neutral.  I don’t see damage on the leafs they’re on, but will watch them closely.

Butterflies are making an appearance, flitting and flirting in crazed dance recitals held in the air.

A special treat was the aerial flight of a goatsbeard seed, gracefully floating like a parasol bent upward, to land just nearby.  I can’t describe the simple joy this flight imparted.

goatsbeard seed head

Isn’t God’s creation grand?

Dreamin’ Gal

Lack-a-Daisy Garden

miniature roses

I had a daisy show up in the flower garden a few years back.  It was unexpected, as I can’t seem to grow daisies no matter how hard I try.  I’ll settle for surprise daisies if another shows itself.

The garden this year lacks daisies, but it certainly borders lackadaisical.  As you may have noticed, I allow several weeds in the garden.  I allow them as ground cover and to shade tender starts.  It’s a risk I take, as they grow and become competition for resources.

What follows is a tour of my garden spaces, showing the beauty along with the wildness and overgrowth.  It’s a work in progress, a learning point on my timeline.

water troughThe stalwart water trough planter has performed fabulously again.  I’ve filled the reservoir once this spring and the soil is still moist from our rain season.

ripe strawberryThe strawberry harvest has ended, but these berries were delicious!

self water containerLikewise, the self-watering container has been a resounding success.  I have not added a thing to this planter, allowing it to produce from last year’s bolted lettuce and its only water source the winter snow and spring rains.

permanent tomato cageHubby set up this tomato cage based on my design last year.  I hope that it provides sturdy support when the Kansas winds blow the matured plants mid-summer.  Tomatoes and peppers are planted and flowering, with some setting fruit.

first tomatoI can hardly wait for this lovely bit of goodness to ripen.

raspberryThe new raspberry plants are doing well, with a small sampling of fruit set on.

toro blueberryThe new blueberry bushes are producing in small batches.

chippewa blueberryThere were dozens of flowers on this blueberry bush, but most of them did not set fruit.

flowers in the gardenSince I now have permanent beds in the back garden, I’m working to establish permanent or self-seeding plants and color as well.  Here is a peek at the poppies, lambs quarters, lavender and zinnias.  A bit of dill is hiding in the poppies and false nettle is growing alongside the zinnias.

bolted spinachSpinach has bolted and I’m allowing it to go to seed for collection.  The lambs quarters, henbit and false nettle are providing ground cover as I await the rattlesnake beans to sprout.

cantaloupeCantaloupe is doing well on the east side of the hugelkultur bed, while the henbit was forced to give way as it had exceeded it’s boundary.

broccoliBroccoli hides beneath poppies on the south side of the hugelkultur bed, coyly stretching to receive the sunlight.

thyme and beetsLemon thyme has been planted on the hugelkultur bed, as beets make their slow appearance.

grapevines and sweet potatoesThe new grapevines are doing very well and the sweet potato vines have appeared.  I’m hoping the potato vines will help shade the ground from the mid-summer sun.  Cosmos and hollyhocks are also coming up here.

chardA few chards survived to establish near the grapes.

cucumbersCucumbers have begun to stretch and grow.

cilantroCilantro is a garden necessity, as salsa is just not the same without it.

beauty bush flowers

The beauty bush has flowered for the second year.  The flowers just astound me, and they last nearly three weeks.

clematisClematis anchors a perennial flower bed.

perennial flowersThe rear perennial flower bed is slowly filling out.

heirloom roseThe lovely heirloom miniature rose graces the front perennial flower bed, alongside the chrysanthemums and hyssop.

And just to show that I haven’t been all play and no work, here’s a quick look at the slow progress in the kitchen:

painted cabinets

We’re slowly getting bits and pieces done, with the walls nearly ready for paint and the upper cabinets needing sanded for paint.  The floor will follow, with hopes that the ceiling will be a project that Hubby and I can tackle ourselves.

Til later!

Dreamin’ Girl

Makin’ Beds

Oh yes, I did.

I got distracted.

I know, in my last post I dangled out kitchen tips and organizing projects and such.  And I meant it, I really did.

I began the process of redecorating and reorganizing our kitchen, working out these winter soft arms, bulking up my stamina, and making a genuine mess of the house.

Then I stalled.

I got distracted.

Lured away from my diligent project by the siren call of Spring!

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Garden 2013

This is the garden bed that was put to rest last season.  Covered with hay, it lay dormant through 2012.  Then last month, Hubby said he wanted to till.

Well, add a few warm days post till, and here’s what a Dreamin’ Girl will do with opportunity – make garden beds!

Garden 2013???????????

To accomplish this, I tooth-raked the tilled soil up into the bed structures, leaving the cleared paths in their wake.

Next, I rolled out and cut lengths of landscape cloth to line the paths, then threw discarded rugs over the top of the landscape cloth.

I rummaged through our various material piles to line the beds with bricks and limbs and stones.

This was a lot of work, but I was feeling pretty stoked about finally having a few permanent garden beds to be able to intersperse perennials.  The remaining garden plot was going to be similarly plotted, with larger areas to grow cantaloupe and pumpkins.

Then, I read an article that reminded me of my hopes to put in a hugelkultur bed.  :)

Yessirreee, I did:

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The bed is dug down about a foot in the center, with the internal trench being about two foot wide.  The neighboring lot had a pile of rotting cottonwood logs, which were piled into the bed.   The sides were also trenched in about six inches deep to provide irrigation, then the branches were placed over to spare ankles and such.

I patted down the entire mound to tamp the soil, then created terraces for planting.

With the remaining area, I relocated the cattle panel trellis from the front garden:

Garden 2013

This will come in quite handy for planting pole beans.  The inward soil is already prepped with spinach seed.

Garden 2013

Here’s the view of the prepped beds, with cold crops added:  grape vines, raspberry bush, blueberry bush, hyssop and poppy seed, lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale, beets, sugar snap peas, shelling peas, carrots, radish, onion seed and garlic.

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And the view after the hay was added to line the paths.  It’s beginning to look a lot like a garden!

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And it comes with a bit of whimsy.

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The strawberry plants survived the neglect and the drought in the water trough planter.  I finally added water to the reservoir just last week.  The plants were using only the moisture that winter provided.

Now, back to the kitchen.  :)

How are your garden plans?

Dreamin’ Girl