The Yard & Garden

Last year I really wanted a small vegetable garden, but I was not able to do the work involved in getting one planted. So, over the last few months, I have been looking around the internetz and Pinterest, and gardening websites, and and and…I have figured out a way to make a raised garden that I won’t have to bend over or do heavy work like digging or raking or all that other stuff to get it prepared and planted. It involves using some normal everyday things in unique ways to accomplish my goals.

Yes, yes, I am going to use those two green canvas camp chairs for part of it. I might even use another blue canvas chair that has been under the back porch for more than a year. These chairs seem to be unstable at best, and they are very difficult for me to get up out of if I sit in them. So, they are going to be re-purposed into a veggie garden.

The concrete well head that is in our yard, covering up an old, out of use well, will also be incorporated into my garden. The last time you saw this, it was when I was planking you for voting for me in a contest. If ( and I really mean when) this garden is up and running, I will be showing you pictures of it every Friday for the entire gardening season. I am so excited and just can not wait!

So, I am planning to plant swiss chard, onions, kale, and English peas first. Later on, I want to plant some green beans, squash, peppers, and eggplant and some tomatoes. If you had a little garden, what would be your “must have” vegetable to plant in it?

I took a walk around the yard the other day, and found several pretty flowers blooming out there. Before I got sick and not able to do much, I used to love to plant flowers and work in the yard. It has been very hard for me to not be able to plant petunias, salvia, zinnias, shasta daisies, and cosmos this spring. I’m also missing planting an herb garden, something every cook with a little space needs to have. If I could, I would plant basil, dill, thyme, marjoram, oregano, parsley, and garlic. It would be so nice to just walk out the door and cut the freshest herbs for dinner!

The pond is especially pretty right now, with the plants in it coming to life. We were surprised on Saturday with a water lily blossom!

Here is a close up of the same flower:

Out by the driveway, these irises have been blooming for a week or so.

They smell so good, but you have to get up close to get that sweet scent.

This plant is growing by the well head. The flowers close up at night, and open back up each morning. I don’t know what it is. Do you?

One last photo of the unknown plant:

I thought at first that this was a snowball bush, but now I think it is a type of hydrangea. What do you think?

I can’t wait to see what blooms next!

As the weather warms up here in Georgia, we are finding abundant life in the tiny pond in our front yard. The water lilies are growing and getting ready to bloom. There is another plant in there too, but I don’t know what it is.

This frog usually hides from us, but today was sunny and he was taking full advantage of the warmth. A couple of weeks ago, he kept us awake all night with his toad mating song. I never knew frogs could be so loud!

This lizard is evidently the male of the species. He was puffing out his neck into a fabulous red collar earlier, but stopped when I went inside to get my camera. And yes, there was a different looking lizard that is probably the female.

I tried to get photos of the tadpoles but you can’t see them in the pics I took. There is a lot of living going on over in that pond.

 

 

We have discussed back and forth for several months whether we wanted to pay someone to mow our lawn, or if we wanted to buy a lawn tractor.  This house came with five acres, so it is no small job to keep all that grass cut. Last year when we were gone to Arizona, we paid a neighbor $100 a month to do the job. Of course, we weren’t here to see if they actually DID mow the lawn twice a month or not, but they said they did and when we got back it looked ok.

Those neighbors moved over the winter, so we were looking for someone else to do it. When the landscaper came out, he started out saying it was a “$100 yard”, and needed to be cut twice a month at least. So, he was actually talking about $200 a month. After talking with that guy, we felt that we would be better off just buying a lawn tractor and do it ourselves, and by ourselves, I mean Fabgrandpa will be doing it.

Off we went to Home Depot. There were several brands of lawn tractors sitting out there in front. It was really hard to decide which one to get. Fabgrandpa settled on a Cub Cadet 46″ 22 HP Lawn Tractor. It is huge, but it gets the job done, and won’t be worn out in a year doing a 5 acre yard.

He has spent the last couple of days pruning trees and crepe myrtles so that he won’t have duck his head when he’s out there mowing. He is almost to the point where he can just go out and mow. But to tell you the truth, he is loving every minute of it. I just wish I could be out there helping him.

…Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet
But they’re so spaced out, Bennie and the Jets
Oh but they’re weird and they’re wonderful
Oh Bennie she’s really keen
She’s got electric boots a mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine
Bennie and the Jets…

I have no idea why this song lyric is in my head this week, except that I have been thinking about a raised bed garden that I saw in a magazine way back in the 1980’s. This particular raised bed garden was built for a handicapped woman so she could sit in her wheelchair and tend to her garden. She was growing flowers and vegetables and herbs. The whole setup was beautiful. I think it was in Better Homes and Gardens as one of the featured gardens of the month.

When we owned our last house in Douglasville, Georgia, I had a raised bed garden in the back yard. There were actually two raised beds, each one measuring 4 feet wide by 12 feet long. I could grown a lot of vegetables in that space. It was easy to tend to, easy to keep weeded and watered. Those were only about 12 inches tall though, so I would have a really hard time, if not it was not impossible for me, to work it.

Yesterday we went to the hardware store so Fabgrandpa could buy a wheelbarrow and a leaf rake. The store had spring plants out: basil, parsley, oregano, thyme. They had some vegetable plants of things I love like lacinato kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, tomatoes, peppers….That is when I started missing the raised beds.

I have googled raised bed for handicapped gardeners, and found quite a few plans and actual kits online for some pretty cool looking gardening beds. They have a pretty steep price tag on them, though. I know we could probably make something that would work for me, so I’ll just keep on searching and planning, so that maybe next year I can be prepared for springtime. I did find these online at Home Depot. Maybe a raised bed fairy will bring me one.

I love to see the yellow bells, also known as forsythia, start blooming in the spring. They are usually the first thing you see, along with daffodils. They just brighten up the countryside all through the south. These are by the fence of my front yard, by the road. We have thought about building a fence on the outside of the driveway, and planting more forsythia along side it.

Our property goes all the way down there to where you see the other road turning off to the left. I am eventually going to plant more yellow bells all the way across our property in the front. I have had these bushes at almost every house I have ever lived in.

The oak trees haven’t shown any signs of budding yet, though:

I am sure I will find more things in the yard as spring progresses. Right now, there is a small tree or bush that is ready to leaf out. I’m not sure what it is though. I could be a fig tree, but not sure. What do you think?

Here is another view of the same plant: