Grow baby, grow!

My plants have done really well, despite the heat. I'm so glad! My flowers are beautiful and the herbs are awesome. I love being able to walk to the garden and clip off what I need to spice up dinner. I will definitely hang some more herbs to dry soon and make some pesto to freeze. I just got a few photos today to show you my progress. I didn't photograph some of my herbs today because the heat has wilted all the leaves. After a nice soak tonight they will be plump again. So in the meantime, I can show you some of the other plants.

You can see my lavender is huge, my coneflower has finally bloomed and my sage plant is doing well. Even my dianthus came back! I love the mums too, even though you normally see them in the fall. Sorry the photos are so small. I will also post them on Flickr later today.

My lovely grape tomatoes need to be picked every day. I better get munching on some salads!

And here is our compost heap. The cage was sold by the county to help residents go green after the county forbade grass and plant clippings in the weekly trash. We already had a heap but it wasn't contained and it was too close to the house. So here it is! I want to put some flower bulbs around it or something so it's not such an eyesore.

I also dried out some lavender and made some bath salts with the dried buds. I used Epsom salts, baking soda, dried lavender buds and lavender essential oil. I mixed them together and read that you should continue shaking the jar for a good week to get the oil to evenly mix with everything. And a little oil goes a long way, in my opinion. I like a hint of lavender and this smells nice. And the jar looks pretty too.

So that's all I have to show for now. I have a cross-stitch finished that I need to mount and frame. And I'm working on a new gamer pattern. I'm also trying to make EK a little dreamcatcher which has been an effort of trial by error. I'll be sure to link those posts from my crafty blog to this one, once they are finished and online. Stay cool friends! Tschus.

Belated Mother's Day

Holy cow, how could I have forgotten to blog Mother's Day!? I haven't had a lot of free time these last few weeks. I hope all you mommies had a great day. And remember, I include moms of fur babies. I got a card from my husband, one from the dogs and one from Elsa. It was very cute the way everyone "signed" the cards.

We spent a couple hours at the arboretum which is a short drive from our home. It was wonderful to get lost under the thick canopy of branches. All sounds were dampened, save whatever bird calls we could hear. EK did amazing. The little wiggle worm lasted two hours in her stroller before she announced enough was enough. She outlasted even me! I am glad I had the foresight to bring my cane. This is the first time I have been photographed with it. I felt sort of like FDR. Some people gave me a second glance but I didn't feel ashamed. Instead I felt happy to be out in such beauty despite my annoying joints. I will quit boring everyone and just put some photos up for you to see. Have a wonderful Memorial weekend! Tschus.

Plant Impatience

I'm plant impatient. Through the generous help of my husband, father and neighbor, I was able to get my flower beds going this year. I tried to choose a lot of perennials to save money over the long run. All the plants are so little! I can't wait for them to fill out and have more blooms. I can already see the front yard needs more water and the back yard...the dogs and I are still battling for supremacy over the plants.

I didn't pick last year's onions so they grew back. I gave up a bit on doing vegetables this year and only put in one tomato plant. The rest is herbs: thyme, rosemary, basil and oregano.

What a mess this is. Last year the crab grass took over and the dirt was hard as cement. My husband dug it all up again for me and we planted a peony root, five coneflower roots, sage and lavender. If the roots don't come up I will try putting in established plants one more time before I mulch. If those die off, I'm saying hell with it, covering the area in mulch and making it look more like a tiny park. I'll put various sizes and shapes of potted plants there instead of trying to put more plants in the unforgiving soil. I would also like to try attaching a lattice to the fence behind it and seeing what I can get to grow up the fence.

The front yard is starting to come along. I hope the summer sun is kinder to us this year because last year it was way too hot. Here is what I have done so far.

Last year's lavender is really growing! And a zinnia to keep it company.

This is part of the bed on the side of the garage. Coneflowers and a peony have started growing. I have another lavender started, more zinnias and a few petunias.

This was a real eyesore but it looks 100 times better already. I'm worried that the next big rain storm will wash it downhill. I'm hoping that the plants will establish well and prevent too much erosion. I have lavender, dianthas and coral bells.

Roses are going crazy. Not sure what the other bush is called but it doesn't have much going for it. I need to get them trimmed up more.

This is a beautiful bloom on the tree in our front yard. I have no idea what it is, do any of you??

Welcome! This solar doggy doesn't work. Kind of a POS but I will keep him around anyway. That's all for now. Hurry up and grow already!! G'night.