Adventures in Gardening Part 24 ~ Birds and Blooms

It was lovely outside today, so I really enjoyed my time puttering in the garden.  One of the wonderful things about gardening is that there is always something new going on each day.  Of course it’s not as much fun when there’s bad things happening like pests or diseased plants, lack of rain or too much of it and so on, but when things are good it’s just so very rewarding.

And it’s especially fun to find unexpected things!  As I was standing at my potting bench filling up my watering can, I looked up and saw this robin sitting on its nest in my mom’s lilac bush only a few feet above my head…Several days ago I had noticed a mess of grasses and twigs on top of my potting bench, but I thought it was just debris brought by the winds during one of the storms that rolled through.  How exciting that I will be having a family of robins keeping me company now while I’m gardening!  🙂

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I keep forgetting to take photos of my peas!  We’ve just been so busy picking them and eating them up.  But today I caught myself and snapped a photo before I popped them all into my mouth (see one is missing ;)).~

My cukes are really starting to take off and are growing so nicely!

In an earlier post Adventures in Gardening Part 7 ~ Trellis Time, I shared about a little A-frame trellis I built for my cucumbers to climb on, and I’m so excited to finally have them doing just that!  I’ve got two different varieties growing up each side and then my lettuce growing underneath… An A-frame trellis is seriously an excellent idea for space saving in a small bed.

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Strawberries are still continuing to grow in abundance on my one little plant.  Here is another one just starting to show the first hint of color…I simply adore strawberries. ♥

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I also adore flowering things…

Over the years I’ve always enjoyed growing Astilbe in my shady garden areas and planted some for my mom in hers too ~ they are blooming now.  ~

Her Hosta are blooming as well.~

At one of the garden nurseries I visited earlier this spring they had a special promotion where the first 500 customers got a free plant.  Mine was this lovely begonia…~

Now, I realize that marigolds are quite ordinary and nothing special, but they are still bright and colorful, and a faithful bloomer.~

And another shot of my English lavender because it’s my favorite…~

The ants and aphids are still hanging around doing their thing, but don’t seem to be causing any real damage at the moment.  I’ve just been spraying them off with the water hose for now, but I’m keeping an eye on them…

~Gardening is my therapy~

Adventures in Gardening Part 7 ~ Trellis Time

Me and my sis built a little A-frame trellis today to put inside my garden box for my cucumbers to climb on.  I had seen a design for a similar type one in the Gardener’s Supply Co. catalog and liked the idea, so using some leftover lath we had from building the box, we came up with our own version.  It’s nothing fancy and it may fall apart after a few years of use, but it was so simple to make.  And because I was with my sis ~ it was fun too.  🙂

We needed to cut 2 of the pieces of lath to the length that I wanted them, but the only saw we had was a hacksaw that I found in my mom’s basement.  So even though I know it’s not the right tool, it still did the trick.

Turns out I’m pretty good at sawing in a straight line.  😉

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I picked up some 2 x 3 garden fencing at Fleet Farm and then had fun using my staple gun again…

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The only staples we had on hand were 1/4″, so they weren’t quite deep enough to clear the wire and embed far enough into the lath.  So I needed to hammer some of them in.

But I was kinda in the mood to pound things so it was fine by me…

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Here it is all finished and sitting inside the box…

Because my garden box is only 4 x 8 and I need to conserve as much space as possible, I only made the trellis 2 feet wide.  I placed it at the northeastern end so that as the vines grow and fill out, they won’t shade the other plants growing.  I may plant a few lettuces underneath it though because they don’t like as much heat and sun.  I just really love the idea of this design that will allow the cucumbers to hang down through the middle ~ makes for easier harvesting.  🙂

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When we finished, my sis decided to load me down with a bunch of tools (including a pair of dorky safety glasses) and take a picture of me with them all.

Pick a tool, any tool…

Ah geez what a goof!

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But then I needed her to be in a photo with me too!  Along with her circular saw ~ that she wielded so well!

My partner in crime (and gardening adventures)…

… and bestest friend in the whole wide world.  ♥

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