First Clematis Bloom

Gerard took this photo of the our first Clematis bloom this season! I love it it's so pretty! I love the shading of the petals! AND I spotted rose buds breaking open to bloom! YEAY!

Here's a weed we have growing and it looks like a wild blackberry to us. What a pretty weed! It's hard to pull them out when they look so pretty, but if we don't the silly thing will cause Trouble with a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for PULL! (yup I love the Music Man LOL)

Spring!!!

We bought 2 small strawberry plants from WalMart and potted them, they are very tasty! And so cheery looking too!

Here's a view of 'Climbing Peace' that we tied to the arch early this spring. Just in time too because now it's all leaved out and even has buds!!! Yeay!
We still have a ton of garden work to do in the back but things are starting to bloom, and plants that reseeded themselves are growing. We even have lots of clematis buds getting ready to pop open!

Front Garden 10 March 2007

Well last growing season the mini roses in the front grew bigger than their space so we decided to expand the border out a few more inches. Isn't that how it always goes! A little expanding here a little there...and the garden grows!

We added in top soil to the gap made from removing the grass.

Then Gerard raised and spaced the mini roses a bit more to give them more breathing room, since this is the perfect time to do any moving. While he was doing that I was pruning all the roses, and then spraying them since the aphids were already attacking the new nubs just starting to grow on the roses! That really gets me they don't even wait for the roses to leaf out! LOL I should name this blog "Aphids are Evil" LOL

As you can see we let China and Madie hang out with us but our subdivision only allows dogs on leash so they have to be tied up but it's better than being stuck in the house, they even play! You can see how happy they are too!

We still have to put new mulch down and weed a bit more, as well as start planting the annuals we have growing. Not to mention the work waiting in the back yard!

First Big Bloom: May Flowers 2006

5 May 2006

Looking good and starting to bloom.

Everything seems to take off and really start growing faster.

10 May 2006

26 May 2006

I love this view so romantic looking!

As you can see we love the anything goes style that's more like the cottage style garden.

Sunflowers blooming and peaks of hollyhocks getting ready to bloom.

Lots and lots of roses! This is the most roses we have ever owned at one time! Out here the aphids really attack them so we always have to be on the lookout for them. I wonder how the big fancy gardens keep the bugs at bay, anyone know? Do they have a regular spraying routine? This is something that is never mentioned in all the garden magazines and something I always wonder about since the bugs attack our garden so hard that everything would die if we didn't keep on top of it!

Garden Beginnings : April 2006

21 April 2006
Starting to see blooms!

You can see we planted more as well, whenever plants would arrive in the mail we had to add them in.

23 April 2006
Here's a look at the back yard we mostly only use containers in the back. It's fun to get to arrange and re-arrange them for best viewing as the season goes on.
It was fun to sit out back and just enjoy all the color and perfect weather!

27 April 2006
Looking good! More leafing out and more blooms! We started adding mulch too.

Garden Beginnings : Feb. - April 2006

18 February 2006
Garden is ready to be planted.

22 February 2006
A few things planted already.

28 February 2006
More planted and plotted.

12 April 2006
Planted and leafing out!

It's getting there...

Garden Beginnings : Feb. 2006

Since we had to remove a bunch of thick clay we had to replace the vacuum with something! So we ordered top soil and had it put on the driveway. You can see that this photo isn't even the full size of the mound of dirt from the dirt stains on the driveway. In the last post you can see the pile in the side view photo.

Wheel barrel by wheel barrel we filled in the huge garden hole. Some of the neighborhood kids wanted to "help" and they did a little since the wheel barrel got filled up a little faster each trip!

The LAST wheel barrel full!

DONE!
With that part...now to stomp it down mix in some compost and plant everything!

Garden Beginnings: Feb. 2006

Here you can see just how deep the nasty dense clay went! Gerard dug through it to get to the nice sandy soil underneath. This was a HUGE job now! This is now Feb. 2006! We started working more on it since planting time was coming up and bare root roses were going to be arriving soon!

Here is Gerard hard at work! Look at that clay! There was no way anything could grow in that...we had to dig it out if we wanted a nice garden of any kind. We bit off more than we could chew but I think any gardener who's addicted will agree it's worth it in the end.

China and newly adopted Madie are helping out.
Hard work? Nah this is fun!Okay, now I'm tired!

Garden Beginnings: Oct. 2005

Here is a view of the front garden when we first started working on it. We don't really have a good before, this is the earliest photo we have. These photos are dated Oct. 2005 we worked on the garden all winter. It was a big project because there was so much clay to dig out to replace with good soil.

Here is China helping Papa dig! What a good girl!