New Flowers & A Garden

 

I had the most fabulous weekend.  Saturday morning we took an early morning trip to the nursery where I was instructed not to look at prices and fill up my cart with all of the things I wanted.  I was also coached not to over think things and told that whatever hit the cart had to stay there.  I faltered only once when I thought I might be getting carried away and fretted about the prices of some of the larger potted perennials I had chosen.  Once I was told to knock it off I was good.  I’ve never had the opportunity to do that before and it truly was a blessing and very much appreciated.

 

It's always good to have some helpers

While the BFF spent the day golfing with his buddies I spent the day in my yard and garden.  Digging in the dirt and planting flowers to my heart’s content.  First up was to fill my flower pots and get those set in place.  I have one by the front gate and one on my porch.  Such a beautiful greeting as you approach my home.  Next, I was all about adding new perennials to my flowerbeds and sprucing those up a bit.

 

I couldn't resist these sweet little geraniums

Bell peppers, zucchini, cucumbers with a trellis
& garlic, on the far left

Sunday I still had at least half of the flowers sitting and waiting for my attention.  Before I got started however, I went outside and planted the vegetable garden - six tomato plants, five bell pepper plants plus some green bean, cucumber and zucchini seeds.  In my veggie garden I have my first ever crop of garlic that I had planted in the fall, a volunteer cilantro plant and my rosemary that I planted last year.  A good start and I have plans for more.  I hope to add more herbs very soon.

 

I planted the tomatoes alongside the deck this year
You can see the new flower bed next to the chicken coop

Ever since I built the chicken coop I’ve dreamt of adding a flowerbed and at long last that is what I did.  I’m super proud of this bed because I used items I already had by repurposing an old tree ring that I no longer had a use for and all of the soil came from my yard and the compost bin I built last year.  I added stepping stones I had on hand so I can still easily access the coop and planted lavender and salvia.  I added the angel with the idea that this could be kind of a memorial garden.

 

The front flowerbed by the gate is filling out nicely

I replaced the blueberry bush that didn’t make it over the winter in hopes that this one will be happy and grow strong.  I could tell by late August into September that the one I’d planted last year wasn’t doing too well so it wasn’t a huge surprise to find it had died.

 

I can't get over how big my rhubarb is this year

The view outside my kitchen window makes me so happy

I added a butterfly bush next to the backyard deck.  My hope is that between the salvia, lavender and the butterfly bush I’ll attract enough pollinators to my vegetable garden.  As I had stated this time last year my backyard is still very much a work in progress.  Over time it will change and evolve into the yard and garden of my dreams and so far I am absolutely loving it.  So what do you think?  It’s coming along quite nicely, wouldn’t you agree?