Long promised garden photos

Not that you all were waiting with bated breath to see my half-hearted attempt at gardening or anything, but anyway...

As previously mentioned, I've been putting a lot of time into my gardens this year. I figure I'm never going to get another summer "off", so I'd best do as much as I can this year...then it will be just maintenance. And everything looks so pretty! Mainly thanks to the regular weekly rain...nothing has had a chance to get fried like most years.

The front gardens:








The first pic looks less than impressive...I think the mounds of stuff there will look better next year. And the yellow thing? A butterfly feeder. Supposedly the stuff I planted there are huge butterfly attractants. We'll see... The second photo is mostly stuff that was either there when we moved in (I just moved stuff around) or stuff I planted last year. Except the clematis vine...its doing GREAT and I just put it in this year. I still have some work to do...everything is so crowded. I might have to do even more splitting and moving in the fall.


The tub 'o pansies on the back deck, with the cute little dragonfly suncatcher type thing on the side:





And the veggie experiment...tomatoes and peppers in baskets:




The peppers are supposed to be regular green peppers, but I've been watching them and I'm not so sure. By the shape of them, they're looking like green hot peppers. Is it too soon to tell? Will they change from a longish shape to round as they mature?

Oh, and the green globes in the pots are supposed to be slow release watering spikes. I'm not sure how well they work...I mean, we got the larger ones because they are supposed to be good for large containers, but it seems to me that they have to be placed in just the right spot to water everything. I planted the tomatoes before I got the globes, so I had to just stick the spikes where there was room. Which was near the side...not great. If I use them again next year, I'll put them right in the middle. Another tool that I've discovered that works insanely well is Soil Moist. You can't use it in food plants, but I've put some in with the pansies and I barely have to water, which is amazing because everything on the back deck usually dries out and dies by this time of year. Love it. As I re-pot my indoor plants, I think I'll sprinkle some in those too.


And baby carrots...we also have another "crop" that was planted two weeks after these:





The beginnings of my little oasis at the side of house. Mind the backwash hose...ahem... You can't really tell, but I planted creeping thyme in among the stones and Jon threw some grass seed here and there. Pinxit preferred the knee-high grass and weeds I think... I did leave some of the thicker bright green grass/weed stuff. I don't want it to look perfect.



Cael likes to water it all...





And that yellow thing in the background, is our new BIKE TRAILER!!





Isn't it beautiful? *snif* I love it...we all went out yesterday for a family jaunt and I stuck Iain in it on his own this morning to go for his weigh-in. Oh, its awesome. So much faster...I'm not much of a walker 'cuz its just so slow. I would walk anyway just to get out, but I'd much prefer to bike. I can't wait to get in shape. I feel like such a slob lately.


And just because Iain needs to be shown off too...here is a shot of him with Checkers. We had Jon's cousin's family over on Saturday for a bbq. Another friend came too and brought her dog...Iain LOVED that dog. The ball he's holding...its Checkers'. He scabbed it and the dog was desperate to get it back but wouldn't try too hard. Watching them was so cute...especially during dinner when Checkers was licking Iain's high chair seat to get the food he dropped. He'd get his toes on occasion and Iain would giggle like mad...adorable! And if anyone tries to tell me we should get a dog, sorry. Not gonna happen as long as the cats are around...they're too old and cranky. ;)





The little fence showing up there is to keep the I-man away from the pool. He'll crawl right for it and if we went out for some air I'd spend the whole time playing lifeguard. So Jon built the barrier with leftover supplies from the fence! Its worked great so far! On Saturday afternoon he was more than happy to stand at the fence watching everyone on the pool.

(And Lorie...those leftover ribs you guys left haven't made it to the freezer yet. I keep digging into them. Heh...)