Now What Are We Up To?

 

We have been looking for options.  Found this one but I am not sold on it yet.

We bought some beautiful Native perennials.

And they go in here when it is safe.  Right now I have a concrete chicken guarding.  She is doing a great job because the dogs are scared of her.  They bark and pounce at her.  Then look at me as if they are saying, 'Why isn't she running away.'

We all are busy with things but I have a text out to Murph for when he has nothing to do to come and brainstorm and measure for the fence.  

Also I am on the lookout for an old metal gate something like this one...

It doesn't need to even be this fancy.  Just a gate to keep yahoos and dogs from getting in.

maybe with latches like these

We looked within an hour or more radius around West Lafayette, IN with no luck.  We are going to check out some places that we know around here but if you have one stashed behind your garage or have seen one around please let us know.  We are sorta getting down to the wire on this one.  My new plants can't live in the little buckets for much longer.

Still Chugging Along In The Weeds

 Trying my best to get this bed looking like someone cares what it looks like.  In my mind it is beautiful.  I worked today until I made myself sick.  It was s dang hot!  I literally had to come in and take a break and Mark had to get cold rags for me.  Thinking I was on the verge of heat stroke or heart attack.  Mark was ready to call the squad.  

I know, I know!!

I took the bed frame off the barn to get the weeds and leaves from behind it.  Now I can't get it back on.  That's a project for another day.  The I will plant the Dutchman's pipe on it and more than likely hosta on either side behind the stella doras.

Cleaned out this little bed on Mr John's side.  I.m thinking a mixture of Native plant seeds will go in there in the fall.

My little round helper. Three grey headed coneflowers will go beside Ollie.  They grow pretty tall I think and they will fill in that spot nicely.

I found a peony and transplanted it up to the front of the bed with two others.

My plan may change when I do a little more research on the height and diameter of the new plants we bought to go in here.

Another Field Trip With Pappy

 So there is one final area that needs to be tweaked and turned into a really nice FLOWER garden.  We call it the City Park.  Somehow one of us got it into our little heads that it would be a  perfect place for a Native Plant Garden for the flowers that growing Ohio.  I took a class on that topic a few months ago from the Cincinnati Nature Center.  So off we go across town and out a little dirt road to Keystone Flora.

5045 Wooden Shoe Hollow

Cincinnati, OH

When we drove up I knew I was going to love it just by the looks of the place, and how about that road name.

Pouring the rain.

If you zoom in your can see Steve, the owner.  Nice, very knowledgeable man.  I liked his hat.  He even went inside to get me an umbrella.

It finally stopped raining and we got to walk the grounds and listen to Steve tell us interesting facts about each and every plant.  It was amazing.  He would say the Latin name and Mark would say the common name.  Mark should be a Master Gardener, seriously.

I want to say that this is a grey headed coneflower.

Dutchman's Pipe

Poppy

And here is the start of the Native Plant City Park!

We got...

Bergamont...beebalm

Blazing star Spicata

Blue Indigo or we call it False Indigo

Dutchman's Pipe

Gray headed coneflowers

Great Blue Lobelia

Lace leaf Coreopsis

Milkweed butterfly

Orange coneflower

GreatBlue Lobelia

Rose Mallow

Rattlesnake Master

Culver's Root

I have been researching and there are 8 pages of Native Plants.  We have some in the yard already that will be transplanted as soon as we get a fence up so the three plant smasher/root digger-uppers can't get to them.

The Watermelon Bed

 Last year we combined all the melons into one bed.  This year we aren't growing  pumpkins and watermelon and they will have their own beds.

There was a huge ornamental grass and a bunch of iris in the middle of that dirt pile.  But Murph was on the case and took them down with the metal blade on the weed eater and then the tiller.

But he wasn't finished yet.

He wasn't finished with it yet.  He dug it up with the shovel.  Mark asked him how deep he was digging down and he said a far as his weight would take him.  Looks like he is digging to China.  

Mark and I had to leave because we were going to Alaire's swim meet in Indiana.  On the way home I get these pics from Murph.

The man is possessed!  I love how he loves with his big heart.  He loves the Wammyville yahoos and he wants everything just so so for them.

As you can see he left a walkway all the way around the bed.  That was a great idea.  Now to find seeds!

After we plant the seeds I think all the planting is complete.  Now just maintain, weed and eat!  Oh, and I still need to clear out the bed for my native plants in the City Park for all of our pollinators.

Finishng Up Some Beds

 

We have two varieties of pumpkins this year.

white and orange

All we need to do now is put straw on to keep the weeds down and the moisture in.

Murph tilling the dirt we got out of the bathtub.

We filled in behind the new wall and I split some hosta.  Now we have to get the bush trimmed.

I  trimmed up the scarlet honeysuckle.

One of my worst clean-up spots.  There was poison ivy everywhere.  And if I look at the stuff I get it really bad...like shots bad.  As soon as I finished I took a shower and lathered myself in peppermint and coconut oil.  So far so good...a little itchy but no blisters. 

Garden Update

 

We got the tiller back so Murph went to town on the Pumpkin Patch.

View from the back of the yard at the City Park.

View from the Strawberry Garden.

Speaking of the Strawberry Bed...it is all mulched.

If you look really, really close you can see that there are finally some zucchini coming up.

We had some left over so I put them out at the street to share with anyone that wants them

One side of the inside of  the Goat Pen Bed.

Rainy Day Projects

 

In between the storms and before the Frontier Days Parade Murph and I got a little work finished.  These blocks were an accident waiting to happen for little fingers lifting them to find big juicy worms.  Now they are a beautiful little wall in the Watermelon Patch that is a WIP.

We cut about 16 8 foot bamboo poles and gave each of the tomatoes a pole to lean on.  I'll get a better pic tomorrow when it stops raining.

There are still tons of things that need to be done but little by little we are checking them off our list.  Slow but sure!  Slow and steady wins the race.

Working Into The Dark

 

I had some shade in the City Park so I took advantage of it.  Still have a long way to go but at least I did put a dent into it today.

Well, would you look at that?  Mark was able to cut a few swipes of grass.  He is really trying to work that swelling out of his leg.

I had a little burn party.

The Watermelon Bed is ready to be tilled and planted.

Anyone want some Naked Ladies

I found this little twig of a limb that some squirrel took off one of the tomato plants.  I have no idea what variety it is, but I know that if you put it in water, it will grow roots.

garlic scapes

I transplanted some groundcover from the driveway to around the bathtub.  Wish me luck...hope it grows.

I planted two hills of green Patty Pans, two hills of yellow Patty Pans, and some longneck yellow squash.

The tiller is back and ready to tackle the Pumpkin Patch.

I planted the mystery tomato in the middle of the zinnia bed in the Watermelon Patch.

This is where all the unearthed rocks go to die.  They line Sunflower Lane that is inside the Pumpkin Patch.

It is about 11PM and I am still at it.  Have you ever weeded in the dark?  I can now say that I have.  I think I had too much Pepsi at dinner.