How Can I Get Mad at This Little Face?!
Click here for bigger picture.I actually got so close as to touch this little guy I found hiding behind my rasberry bush while I was watering everything! He ran as soon as I touched him, though.
Labels: garden rabbits, rabbits
My Homemade Earth Box
homemade earth boxHere's my first homemade earth box. I forgot to put holes in the part the soil sit on top of. I also forgot to place a drainage hole towards the bottom. I did find some pond baskets at Home Depot in the pond department in gardening. The workers hadn't the slightest idea what i was talking about when I asked them where they were. I had to show them! lol They had never heard of such a contraption as I was making! The closest thing they could relate to what I was talking about was hydroponics!
Oh well, they learned something that day! :)
Hanging Baskets
SINCE my dh won't allow me to hang anything from the deck for fear of splitting the wood, I thought of this idea. Nevermind the petunias on the left. I'm just trying to rescusitate them. They were a birthday present from my mother and I almost killed them by neglect because I was so busy during the time period in which I received them.
On the right is what I planted my cherry tomatoes in. I started these from seed and they are doing excellent. I am very proud of them!
Jerusalem Artichokes
I'm having NO problem growing these!The rabbits aren't even eating them this year!
Labels: jerusalem artichokes
Weeds or Rasberry/Blackberry?
I'm having trouble identifying if there is a weed interspersed in my berries or if it is another part of the rasberry bush, especially the one in the middle. To the left is a clematis. This side of the fence is to be my berry bush side.
Future Orchard
Miller's peach tree planted this year
Shumway's peach tree planted last year
Partially school propertyHere are my peach trees. They look very different from one another. One I bought from Shumways last year and one I bought from Miller's Nurseries and planted on this year's Earth Day. I think I might've pocketed some air when planting the Miller's peach tree this year. I hope it will come out of it. It only has one bud so far. I haven't had bugs on them yet as per someone I know on the ROE3 discussion list!
The longer view above is the whole area I where I want to plant more fruit trees (and ASAP!) We have a written agreement with the school corporation that we can plant A tree there if we mow the area and keep it clean up to the sidewalk. All of the area isn't our property there. So...I'm taking my chances. I have nowhere else to put fruit trees. I plan on planting pear and apple trees. If not both, I will use my inner backyard garden and try to grow some espalier dwarf apple trees and train them along the fence. Heaven forbid all of these things I'm growing along the fence if it falls down!!!
My Floating Row Cover Experiment
This is my floating row cover experiment. I'm going to use this mainly to keep the rabbits out. Here is where I planted some lettuce and carrots. I love those and know I and the family will eat these. I alternated each square foot with carrots (16 per sq.ft.) and Tom Thumb lettuce (4 per sq.ft.). When they seedlings start protruding enough to where the rabbits will want to eat them I will place some chicken wire at the opening and open and close it as needed. The water goes right through the cover. It does quite well. I am pleased so far.
Oh, I did plant a couple nasturtium up there in the left hand front corner. I didn't know where I wanted them and I needed to plant them or they would die so I just stuck them there.
Just Another Part of the Garden
Just a garden picture of part of my raised beds. I've planted mainly beans and squash here. The look of this bed has even changed since I took this picture. I've transplanted my peppers in the left>right part of the bed. The Victorian bell covers have been working wonderfully against the critters! If you click on the picture, you can also see a closer view of the trumpet vine and rose bush I bought and planted there in the background.
My Cherry Tree and Two Elderberry Bushes
The Back "40"This is a picture of my cherry tree from Miller's I planted this spring and then my 2 elderberry bushes I planted last fall. Sometimes I'm not sure if the elderberries are weeds or not! They sure aren't very pretty. The cherry tree did bloom and looked really gorgeous, though! I'm still waiting for fruits from these plantings. They're out in my "back 40" and I have to keep remembering to water the cherry tree--out of sight, out of mind.
Labels: cherry tree, edible landscaping, edible plants, elderberry bush, gardening
Aronia: an edible berry bush
I received these bushes from Miller's Nurseries this spring. Here is why I decided to buy and plant them in my edible landscaping:
"...In spring Aronia is covered with clusters of white, sweet scented flowers followed by shiny green berries that turn a dark bluish black in late summer to early fall, depending on location. The blueberry size fruit can be eaten fresh, usually with a sweetener and is known for making delicious and nutritious juice that also blends nicely with other fruit juices and wine. Aronia berries have up to 10 times the amount of antioxidants as other berries and are rich in Vitamin C, a great health benefit! Outstanding fall color of flaming red makes Aronia ideal for any landscape. An extremely adaptable shrub,it is rarely bothered by insects or diseases and has a high tolerance to salt making it ideal for roadside plantings. Once established Aronia is highly drought tolerant. Adapts to most soils but does best in a well-drained soil and a sunny area. ....Reaches about 6' at maturity and is hardy to -40 degrees...Self-pollinating. Zones 3-8."
Doesn't this sound like a good plant to have around? Hopefully they will do well and I will like them. If you are interested, go to
Miller's website here.Labels: aronia bush, berry bushes, edible landscaping, edible plants, gardening
Grapes!
After four years, I will FINALLY have some grapes! Yeah! The problem is, I recently bought an arbor to place at the entrance of the backyard (you can see in the topsy-turvy pictures below) so the grapes can climb around along with some clematis I planted awhile ago before the grapes were planted. The grapevine is totally wrapped around its present trellis.... I will eiher have to wait until winter to try and untangle it or I will just have to leave it in place and train the growing vines to go up and around the arbor. I would have bought an arbor sooner except that I couldn't find one I liked well enough for a reasonable amount of money.
This arbor was only $90 at BigLots. I REALLY like the wooden ones better but the ones I liked were anywhere from $300 on up. I didn't want to ask my dh to build me one because he and I think differently and he most likely would want one completely different than what I would probably want. We are already disagreeing on where the arbor should be placed--he wants it outside the fence, I want it inside next to the grapevine where I envisioned it. So we're at a standstill until he gets to the doctor and gets some blood pressure medicine because his blood pressure is high. I don't want him to stroke out on me because I insist on having it my way! I will wait until his blood pressure is controlled before I do that!
Labels: gardening, grapes, grapevines
My Topsy-turvy Upside-down Tomato Planter
I'm trying out the topsy-turvy upside-down tomato planter. So far so good. My dh wouldn't let me hang anything from the bottom of our second story deck for fear of "splitting the wood" so he came up with this idea--a chain hanging from around the tree limb. I hope it gets enough sunlight. It's been a week and it hasn't died yet.
Labels: gardening, upside-down tomato planter
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
Well, not quite but look!
This is my very first strawberry I've ever grown! The plants on the top are from my local garden place. The smaller leaves in a couple of the lower tiers are ones I started from seed. I didn't have anymore to put in the lower tiers. Oh, well. I am proud because this was the first year in three that I've ever been able to start some strawberry plants from seed.
Labels: gardening, strawberries
Click here for bigger picture.
homemade earth box
I'm having NO problem growing these!
Shumway's peach tree planted last year
Partially school property
The Back "40"
