So, now that our fence is finished (YAY!!!) I decided to take some new pictures of the entire back yard....and some of the growing things in the front yard. Please bear with me if you find these things tedious - or just feel free to skip this entire post.
Our lovely garden beds and rain barrels - which we forgot to close last night, so they are now empty {sigh}...but we are supposed to have rain on Sunday and Monday, so they will fill back up again.
Shed and part of the back fence - 4' tall because we actually like those neighbors and keep an eye out on them since they are a nice, older couple.
The rest of the back fence and the swing set that is in desperate need of a paint job.
Corner showing how our wonderful installers sloped down from the 6' section to the 4' section - we probably should have had 6' for a few more of the back sections, but it's still nice.
Most of the side fence - 6' tall - blocks out a lot more of the traffic noise than I actually expected. Rose of Sharon bushes in the right corner.
The rest of the side fence and part of the short, front section, with yet another rain barrel and one of the heat pumps - which is where the strawberries are growing.
My mutant rose bush. I say "mutant" because I once had 2 rose bushes here. One was a Peace rose (yellow/pink) and the other was a Home and Family (bright white).....so....how did they mutate into this??!!?? It does look quite a bit like the roses our backyard neighbors have, but there are a few differences....odd, but still a nice color.
Another view of the short, front section of fence - the window is my workroom/office space. At least I don't have to see or hear the loud teenagers and cars when I'm working now....but the fence provides a boring view, so there will probably be another flower bed put in....next year.
Not part of the yard/garden, but what I spent part of this week doing - building the shelf and organizing the variety of (top to bottom) camping gear, paper products, juice boxes, and shoes that have been worn outside.
The other side of the dryer with boxes that I am still debating over, the shelf I bought from our next door neighbors, which is currently holding (top to bottom) gardening gloves, gardening implements, extension cord, lampshade for the lamp sitting in the lower left of the shelf area. At this point, I'm only really about 1/3 finished with cleaning the garage....totally overwhelming at times.
Our lovely butterfly bushes and the grass that is supposed to thrive in wet areas....yeah, well, it isn't dead, but not so much water gathers there since we have the drains now.
The spread of the "blue and gold" which started as a single plant back close to the house.
Yes, it is a purple flower, but this is what pops up when the "blue and gold" blooms....at least it adds a little bit of color to an otherwise boring and colorless front yard.
Same type of plant as the "blue and gold" but I can't remember what they are actually called....this one is the same color combination as the Peace rose (yellow/pink).
Our dwarf Japanese maple that likes to spread out and tries to take over the entire front of the house. Ken trimmed it this year, so I won't touch it....I'm a much harsher "barber" than he is.
Better shot of the pink/yellow flowers in the front of the house.
Front shot of the new fence. All the wood stacked there are fence pickets that were delivered for installation, however, they are still here because they were warped or cracked. Now we are just waiting for Lowe's to come and pick them up. To the right you can see the flower bed that i am trying to bring life to.
Yet another sad rose bush. This is the second Peace rose that I've tried to grow here. There is ONE branch coming up and the rest is relatively dead stump....not sure what happened to this one {sigh}.
Closer shot of the 3 blooms and the buggy leaves that I dealt with tonight.
Rebekah's flower choices for color - purple, red/coral, and yellow (no, can't remember their names off the top of my head).
The pink/white dianthus and yellow begonia with the Peace rose "stalk" in the middle.
forget-me-nots in the foreground with the other rose bush (purple!) behind them. This one has a lot of branches, but no buds yet....I will be trimming off the dead or dying bits tomorrow.
So, that's basically a walk around my yard. In the flower bed that we just went through, there have also been seeds planted: pansies, johnny jump ups, nasturtiums, marigolds, different types/colors of daisies, and....crap....some sort of spreading carpeting flower in a purple shade (nope, forgot this one as well). All are ones that were suggested for shade/part sun areas, and that's exactly what this area is, so (fingers crossed) we should have some blooms in a few weeks. We also put some marigold seeds in the garden beds to help keep the bugs away....not sure how well it will work, but worth a try.
Tonight, after once again having to deal with a migraine, I played in my dirt. For some reason, I am more involved (and want to be more involved) in the care of the garden beds, so I spent a good 30 minutes out weeding and checking for bugs and keeping Brady from walking through them. He's good about ignoring the initial 2 garden beds, but is still adjusting to having the 3rd one in the yard and I've caught him going through it 3 times now....probably part of the reason the first round of cucumbers died - squashed to death by a 115lb dog!!!
Need to read through a few things and hunt up some potential future garden designs, then get back to canning and dehydrating....not that I'm a prepper, but I feel more comfortable knowing that we have food put aside should we need it....still aiming to make the homemade version of Pop Tarts.....re-read the recipe today and I definitely need to get some apples canned and ready....and will dehydrate some on the same day for healthier snacking....working up to making homemade fruit roll-ups...lol.
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