Early Spring project

Robin has been eyeing this little garden for a couple of years. This past weekend we had beautiful weather and it prompted us to make some changes to the area.

Part way done.....

We were at the store contemplating getting the stone we needed and took a guess at how many. It turns out we have pretty good eyes, we were only three and a half off. We will let this settle with this weeks rain and she will be able to plant and we will put the slate back in to form a path to the hose shut off. It was almost like one of those DIY tv shows, just an afternoon project, yeah right!

Spring thoughts...

With the first day of Spring behind us now our thoughts are moving outside. We had a couple of beautiful days last week and that brings you out naturally. My thoughts seem to centered in and around the barn. This corner is receiving a new post this year and I have some ideas in the back that involve moving compost bins and light grading, planting grass, you know fun stuff. Robin's mind goes right to the gardens and many features. Our fish survived the winter in our pond, when we were looking at them yesterday the conversation went to the waterfall and then to a water feature off the deck. We looked online last night and found a very cool idea using our giant rhubarb leaves, more to follow on that. It's snowing outside as I write this, but who cares, we all know Spring has the upper hand now. So we will stay inside with our projects this week and let our thoughts stray outside.

Dinner items from the backyard and thinking ahead

Nothing like having Robin say "Can you go up and get me some potatoes and tomatos from the garden?" Yes! Is the answer!

I grabbed an onion too, just for good measure.

Then I had to take a picture of two of our Hubbards, they are growing patiently towards future dinners. How about Mr. Spider? I hope he isn't laying claim because he won't win.

Can you smell these cooking with butter and brown sugar? MMMMMMMMMMMM! Hard to think of that now though with this current little heat wave we have. It will come soon enough.

Latest from the flower gardens

Robin has said this is the year of the Sunflower, she has also said this is the year of the Dentura Lily, either way it has been a splendid year for both.

The Sunflowers have been out for some time, as you have seen in recent posts, the Dentura's foliage has been flourishing also.......

Now the blossoms are coming in full strength. Very beautiful. I think it's been a great year for everything so far, I don't know if this is the year of anything in particular, or just a blast from the past. I hope you have enjoyed this year as much as we have.

Strawberry and cream

This is only the third strawberry we've been able to pick this year. The plants are looking healthier and have more fruit coming now, which is encouraging, so it seems we will have more. I don't think we will be having "strawberries and cream" any time soon though. Having them up on the hill gives us something extra to go and check on which is half the fun. It's nice to have all the different gardens to check, very relaxing to just stroll around the yard, and it is a built in excuse to be outside enjoying the late afternoon or early evening. Robin has been doing this for a long time, and now that I have some things to check on, I can see why she enjoys it so much.

Colors of summer

Robin and I were talking about the seasons yesterday, the likes and dislikes, and our favorites. A gentleman mentioned to us yesterday that summer was half over. It doesn't feel like it's half over. We don't want it to be half over! For me, this has been one of the best spring and summers, I have had. No specific reason, just enjoying every day, and will continue this through the remainder of this year. In our conversation, we decided to enjoy all of the seasons and not pinpoint one, waiting for it to come and then sad to see it end. Looking back to previous posts on this blog, has helped me appreciate the winter and spring, and now these beautiful flowers will be with us in the middle of next winter!

What's for dinner?

The vegetable garden is in full swing with this beautiful weather we are having.

Summer squash and Zucchini. Every year Robin and I say we are going to pick them small and enjoy them. It doesn't take long, with this kind of weather, for these guys to get out of hand. These pics were from Friday.

And the picture from below is from about an hour ago. One picking down, hopefully, many more to go! These are cooking right now with butter, onion, garlic, bread crumbs, and salt and pepper. Let me say it now, even before I taste it, YUM!

Sunflowers

The sunflowers are starting to show their smiling faces. I don't know if it's just me, but when I look at these guys, I just imagine them with a big smiling face.

Maybe it was too many cartoons when I was a kid.

Maybe it's because I know they make Robin happy and that puts a smile on my face. I hope they put a smile on your face too.

Rasberry!

I picked our first rasberry today. While I was (finally) mowing the lawn tonight, I spotted a ripe rasberry, and promptly took a photo and gave it to Robin. Mowing the lawn took a little longer than planned after I mowed over Ginger's dog cable. It wrapped around the middle blade and took me a little bit to remove it. Great night to be outside doing anything, even unwrapping a stubborn dog run cable.

Garden pictures

Rain drops on Elephant Ear.

First blossoms on our squash plants. Things seem to be getting bigger by the day right now. Exciting.

Lillies

The lillies are just starting to blossom. Robin has declared this year, "The year of the Dentura Lilly". They are not out yet, so these will have to do for now.

More summer color

Brought to you by Robin and her very green thumb.

More flowers from the gardens

Peony

Primrose

Robin has tried for many years to have Roses and this year she has succeeded.

Afternoon Beauties

Irises in the afternoon.

Peonies
Mom will be happy to see the ant in the photo below. Peonies need to have ants.

All winter I thought about how much I was going to be able to post to the blog once spring came around. There would be so many things going on and so many things to write about. Well now that we are in the throws of late spring, there are many things going on and many things to write about. The problem seems to be time, the days have been so great and long and filled with the outside, that I just haven't gotten around to posting. That and me being in the beverage industry (we were a little busy last week), so now that the vegetable garden is planted and the grass is planted in the new lawn area, we should be adjusting to the summer schedule. Just in time too because Robin's first craft show is next weekend, Zonta's Country Faire in downtown Glens Falls.

Compost and Garden

This is one of my compost bins. I went with the pallet construction because they are free and I like free. Robin has often said my bins are not the prettiest, but she has no problem with the black gold that comes out of them.

I would love to have one of those cool (expensive) composting barrels, but this method has worked for us so far, and a little pitchforking never hurt anybody.

This hayfield is our vegetable garden. That's right, if you don't know, we are lasagna gardeners.

We tried the "no dig" method last year and were pleasantly surprised how well our garden did. So we made the garden bigger and this is where our potatoes and onions are planted. The hay kind of flattens the picture out, but you can see some of the hills started for the potatoes in the back.

Strawberries are coming along nicely, we have our fingers crossed on these guys.