I've been spending the last few soaking up as much sunshine as possible and working in my gardens (which need plenty of love)... I'm actually sitting on my front porch in one of my adirondack chairs as I write this!
On Sunday, my parents drove up to visit and deliver a beautiful Mother's Day giftie that is now residing in a position of honor on the stump of one of my dearly departed aspen trees from last fall...
The one upside to losing those trees to bores is that I have a couple more spots of sun in my otherwise shady yard... I'm taking advantage of the other new sunny spot by sticking a tomato in it.
I haven't had much luck with tomatoes at this house... grow, baby, grow! It's an heirloom variety called Pink Brandywine. I took that photo the moment the sun touched it this morning -- it should get 6 or 7 hours of sun daily in that spot, and since the plant information tag says that's okay I'm going with it. It's times like this that I miss my Utah house with its garden and its sun and my rows of sweet corn and peppers. Oh well, thank goodness for farmers' markets!
Grandma and Grandpa also brought some strawberry planters that I had been looking for. My boys adore strawberries and are over the moon excited at the idea of picking them on our back deck. So excited in fact, they had to throw on some gloves and help out when it came time to plant:
Last night I also planted my first hydrangea -- I'm a bit nervous since lots of people seem to have issues with getting them to bloom, but I'm going to give it a try. Doesn't it look pretty in its anti-chicken armor?
That's the sad, sad truth of running a backyard poultry farm, friends... nothing young or low to the ground is safe from our feathered frenemies.
I just love this time of year, and I love spending as much time as I can outside -- it's a good thing since I've got a couple giant bags of soil amendment to work into my flower beds soon...
Are you a gardener? Do you know your stuff or do you just pretend and call your dad a lot, like me? ;)
What a fun blog! I really enjoyed it
ReplyDeleteDon't be afraid of the hydrangea. They are so easy and hardy. :) Just remember to give them plenty of water and don't trim the stick further down than you want it to grow back next year.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you stick nails in the ground they will change colors. It has something to do with soil content.
yes, the acidity of the soil determines the color. mine is an endless summer hydrangea and it blooms blue flowers all summer long, howver, i read that if you put pine tree needles around it that the acid from the needles will make the flowers change colors. i can't remember if it will change to pink or blue but i wanted to tell you that i read about using pine needles. it would be a natural/organic way to change the colors if your intereted.
ReplyDeletei love your plant and hope it takes!
Jennifer @ Decorated Chaos
http://decoratedchaos.blogspot.com