Our Little City Park

Murph got the old dead tree down and Jon chopped it up for firewood which made a pretty darn good fire one night.

 

So now I have to go in and clean out the weeds and figure out what to do.  Murph says that he can picture a little white picket fence around the perimeter.  I have gotten this far up one side.  I'll tackle it next week after everything else is planted.

WOW!!!

 

This came up a few days ago.  We thought we were behind in everything garden.  But it seems we are right on schedule or maybe even a little ahead.

This space sure does look a lot different this year.  I am so proud of our gardens!  Vegetable and flowered ones alike.  I think Mark, Murph, and I should be called the Three Garden Stooges.

And we aren't finished yet.  Are you ever really finished?

Another Sunday Of Helpers

 I am so thankful that Emmy and her crew like coming to help in the garden.  They came back today to help with the flower planting for the pollinators.

We pulled out all eh sun hats we could find.  The sun was HOT.

Saffi found this little cutie and decided to paint him a face.

Pappy went a little overboard with the flowers.  He was supposed to exchange two flats of almost dead marigolds.  He did that and then added about 6 more flats of all kinds of flowers.  The marigolds will go around the interior of the Pumpkin Patch for pollinator help.

Fiona was planting them in the shade for a while.

Saffi also found her own shady spots.

Ernie found some awesome strawberries.

Fiona found a few also.

Safi found some giants.

We got a big bowl full.  We divided them between the Manders and PJ.  He wanted to come today but couldn't because he didn't feel well.

Saffi still digging away.

I love my gardening hat and my camping crocs.  They make for a stunning gardening outfit.

The girls were taking a little break and made sure that Walter was calm, cool, and collected.

Saffi back at it.

Among other things, Ernie and Emmy filled the empty pots and we still have pots to be planted.

We planted marigold seeds in front of the tomatoes, filled six empty pots, added flowers to the four whisky barrels, put inpatients in the wringer washer, planted zinnias in the goat pen, added a few coneflowers in the red door bed, put some really pretty purple flowers in the galvanized hosta tub by the Cluck-Thru, planted coneflowers behind the peas, and still have two flats to plant somewhere.

As soon as school is out all the weeding will be done and the pumpkin patch and watermelon patched constructed and planted.  Then it is on to sunflowers.  We still have 3/4 of an empty raised bed to fill.  And I just read on a Gardening Page on Facebook that you can plant and grow berries in containers.  I am hoping that blackberries are in my future.

Thanks again Gardening Crew.

Making It Perfect

 

We had discussed finishing off the bed so it would be a true raised bed but then decided not to this year.  It would be a project for next year.  The next thing I know Murph is building the box.  He and I are a little OCD about gardening things.  And I am so thankful for him in so many ways.

The tomatoes are happy now.

The peas are overjoyed.

The garden looks great!

Still have our bamboo waiting to be cut and used when the tomatoes get bigger.  We are also thinking about making some kind of tee-pee with them also.

Looking from the Pumpkin Patch.

Looking from the double gate.  I got to dress up around the Tower Garden.

I had asked Jon Milligan if he could cut down a dead tree in the City Park.  He was coming tomorrow.  But with tornado Murph, Jon will only need to cut the trunk into logs.  I see a good campfire in my near future.

Into The Garden We Go Again

 

Oh no!  Tomato down!

Working on try to figure out how to dam up the end of the tomato bed so we don't lose dirt when it rains.

Board on the end should work.

Between the three of us, we finally got the Tower Garden put together...with no instructions because we couldn't find them.  And it is leveled.

Now we get down to plant selection.

Fancy Tomato Stakes

My friend Betsy's brother has bamboo growing on the back part of his property.  Murph thought it was a good idea to get some for the tomato in the Goat Pen Garden.  So I asked for 20 as long as they could get them.  This is what we picked up at Betsy's in Mt. Washington.

It took three of us to load it.  It must have looked like the circus coming to town because a few of her neighbors came out to watch us load it into the truck.  We had to open the little back window and shove it all the way to the windshield.

I was a little nervous about driving on the Interstate to get home.  I didn't think if we went the back way we could make the tight curve in Old Milford.  I was holding on for dear life like there was something I could do about it if it shifted or started to fall out.

We called Murph on the way home to see if he could help us load.  He sure didn't need our help.  He singlehandedly pulled the bundle out of the truck and carried it to the Strawberry Bed.  I am telling you that the man is a beast!

One Last Bed

 And if you believe that...

We are trying something new with the tomatoes this year.  We are growing them up strings.

Jeremy and Murph got the holes dug and the posts set.

I got a smashed thumb.  Murph says it is because I am still in training.

So Very Close To Planting

 If the weather would just cooperate we could put all the plants in over the weekend.  Murph has been working himself to death getting everything ready.  He has also stepped in as an assistant in Wammyville since we are a half-man down.

All the new fencing for this year is up and Ollie proofed.

New pavers in so we don't slip.

If you look real close you will see sticks in each bed.  That is where a plant goes.  We are beyond ready!

A final resting place for the Mason Bee Condos and two of Mark's watering cans from his collection.

The new fence that will guard the watermelons.

Murph's invention...childproof locks that almost kept me out.

If you look really close you will see two hanging buckets.  I think I will fill them with sweet potato vines.

And after all this hard work...and this doesn't even scratch the surface...you need a little downtime.

Thanks, Denise for doing your magic and creating something unforgettable.

Crack me up!  The man that gardens shirtless!  Now takes a break in the bathtub in The Goat Pen.  There is never a dull moment!  And we love it.

The veggies are going to love it and they don't even know it yet.

More Progress

Everybody works around here.  The yahoos helped me carry all the bricks we could find.

Then we had the union snack break.

More raised beds going in and look at the new home for the bathtub.

This is the view from our bedroom window.  Still some things need to find new homes but I'm thinking we are really close to planting.  But I could be wrong.

The bathtub is going to be overflowing with native pollinators.

We had to do a little fence repair.  Not actually repair but maybe I should call it an upgrade.  See the board fence.  Then the heavy metal fencing on top of it.  Now there is chicken wire secured to the metal fencing.  And here is why...

Pumpkin patch will be ready to plant as soon as we get chicken wire up.

Oh no!

The 76 pavers! do look nice and now maybe I won't slide all over the place when I go n to tend the garden.

Since it was going to rain on Mother's Day Emmy came over and I talked her into doing a little fence maintenance with me.