A Baby and Catching Up

There is nothing like a baby. I finally dug in and cleared out the second garlic bed as the weeds were over two feet tall. OOPS. And I found a cherry tree baby. Today it was dug up and will be sitting with the four apple tree babies that are growing by leaps and bounds.

This is what 102 Tomato plants look like. Yep, 102 and room for 9 more. I have one flat left in the green house. As I have to dodge rain to get things planted.

I've had three very sick kids. Luckily one right after the other and not all at the same time. Just a weird fever. This was Ethan all curled up on an 80 degree day.

So this is the momma that had babies everywhere, I'm still moving the babies!

I will be doing a garden tour coming up. This is my front yard. Up front are my two herb beds, I'm working on filling them out this year.

This is in the backyard, one of my herb sections.

This was one morning of planting. 5 flats.

Cucumbers and pumpkins. Come on babies Grow!

And this project is FINALLY finished. It has taken nearly a year as we couldn't afford it. So buying so many bricks a week, and so many base rock a week. Finally got everything bought and hubby worked to finish this up.

To house this. A swing that came from my Grandmother. With my parents loosing their house we went and got this last year, and then it sat in our front yard. The swing is not 100% done, but it's finally in it's place.

Keep gardening!

I still have to finish cleaning out the green house, I need to get a lot into the ground and a lot of moving and working. So I'm not gone, I'm just in the garden. I'm hoping to do a garden tour soon so you can see my 150 plus tomatoes. OH speaking of tomatoes. I have a new tomato page at the top of the blog. I will be collecting and saving heirloom/organic tomato seeds. And that is where I will be listing the types I have. I will be adding a Sunflower page soon.

Currently all kids are well. But I'm dealing with a lot of rain. 

Friday

And What a Friday it has been. We have something here we call a Chicks Sale. Basically a lady opens up her property to about 40 vendors, they sell craft, antique and other items. It's a must go to if you live in the area. Just Thank Goodness we got there early today. As there was no parking as we left and a line of cars waiting to get in. Basically we walk around once, anything on our list that is a great deal we pick up asap. We then take a second trip around for the maybe's and to see if anything was missed.

Well I saved up for this, but only bought a few things. So we left and headed to Costco and Home Depot. To get more lavender trees, and 3 lovely new blue berry bushes. I won't admit I have 19 blue berry bushes at the moment! Just waiting for them to all go crazy now?

Well since I didn't find a tub today, I needed to build a bed. This is my new bed. No how to's it's just fence boards and 2 x 4's. Cut the fence boards to size and the 2 x 4's for support.

How lovely is this tray? They will go into my hens and chicks bed.

Oh how I LOVE this mushroom. I have been wanting something unique for the garden. Something you can't just get at a store. And today at the sale I found it. From the lady that did my garden markers. Sadly she only had one left. She told me to email her she may have more later. What I LOVE is you can't get this in a store, no one else will have this and it will last a good long time.

I adore this mushroom.

Did I mention Adore?

Look at this Apple Tree. There is a story here. See long ago I sold houses. I went into a house and lost the listing. Which is fine, it was going to be a hard sell for not much. So the house sells and the new owners hate the apple trees and want them gone. They came up on Craigslist, I answered, hubby came home going You are not going to believe where these came from.

Well we transplanted 3 apple trees. And they did nothing. Well neighbor decided it was time to pull them. Two were pulled, she didn't get to this one yet. And it bloomed. Last year we got 5 apples. This year look. It''s such a pretty site. It's like the tree know, you better bloom or you are GONE!

This spring it has grown and bloomed and looks ever so lovely. I can't stop going up and just staring at it.

And finally the best art work I have in my house I picked up today. Isn't this just the most amazing piece of art work ever?

Holy Gosh Darn It!

One of those days, I tell ya. See hubby hides his tools, well I found them the other day but didn't say anything. Then today came and it's warm out and we have heat coming and things need to be watered. For the past two years we drag the hose from the back yard, over the fence and water the front yard. But right now that hose is needed in the green house and my strawberries really need water.

So Ethan and I today bucket after bucket, we filled, as it took forever as the front faucet drips, not runs, but drips. So it takes awhile to fill a bucket and took over 30 minutes to water the front yard.

Well when your back is hurting and now you are lifting water buckets, it isn't ideal.

So I'm going to do it. I'm going to fix the front faucet, after two years, I will either tear it off or fix it! I went out to the garage and shut off the water, well except I either grabbed the wrong knob or something is broken out there? As I turn it off and got soaking wet. So I left it and figured I will go as far as I can on faucet.

Screw by screw it all came off, after the fourth piece came off I found something broken? So I dug it out and took it out, then I kept working on the rest of the broken piece, and got it about half out. Then it was really getting late, so I put it all back together. And look what happened!

WATER!

Gosh Blooming I have water in the front yard!

Tomorrow I hook up a hose and try out a hose.

Hot Diggy Dog.

I know many of you are going, well why didn't you call a plumber? Bottom line money. They costs money. We did call one last year, when the back faucet was ripped off the back of the house and we had a full blown leak under the sink and under the house. That repair costs us nearly 400 dollars. We cant' just call people and have things fixed. The front faucet at one point yes, will have to be replaced, but if I can buy us a year.

Today we went to Costco and found these. OH so pretty.

I adore Lavender.

We thought they would look good on the corners as we are redoing this area this year.

Well Happy May Day!

First my UPS watcher outer is Fired! Tuck spent two hours in front of the window just waiting and waiting, and somehow totally missed a big brown truck and someone walking up to our door.

So these herbs arrived today, these were my Anniversary present. But I had to wait until budget allowed. Well I finally saw my window and ordered. Welcome to the herb family: White Yarrow, Vanilla Grass, Epazote, Conehead Thyme, St. John's Wort, Yellow Lavender, Lavender Mint, Syrian Oregano, Variegated Spanish Thyme, Fo Ti, White Rosemary, and Pink Rosemary.

Wait until you see Mother's Day, I found a new nursery to order from.

Then for my birthday some friends signed me up for seeds of the month club. SOOOOOOOOO excited. The gift that keeps on giving. This is going to force me out of my comfort zone and grow things I normally would not grow. Cress is first up. I went out to the green house and got the zucchini, tomatoes and peppers started today. I know late in the season, but I"m playing. The Melon will wait. Peas will go in the ground within a few days. If you want to sign up or check out Seeds of the Month go here

The other day we checked out a nursery. Welcome Grapefruit Mint. Plain Rosemary in the back, can ya believe I didn't have a plain old Rosemary?

And Fennel Copper



Now before I get any questions about HERBS and so many herbs and why so many herbs and what all you do with them? It's not just about herbs, it's about collecting them and having a nice collection, beyond what you can get at your everyday nursery. I want a dazzling garden. I want to make tonics and salves, and just have fun. 

And Then He Bought A Truck....

So let me set the scene for ya. Last Monday. My back it just out, I can barely walk or move or anything. So hubby went and got hay, he comes back going there is a truck up the road, I'm going to go and look at it. Fine I'll go and feed the outside bunnies. As I"m coming back from the bunnies, the blue berry patch looked at me and was like seriously? Can you seriously walk past us one more time?

CRAP no. I figure hubby will be home soon and can help and I can crawl around. Although I forgot about the getting up part and dumping it over the fence. So I go and get the tools and such and I get on the ground and start working on the two feet of grass in between all the blueberries.

So hubby comes back, and says the truck will be too much work, but there is one on craigslist he wants to go and look at. Seriously? Sure go for it, I will keep crawling around working on this massive area.

Hubby and son 1 was gone for over two hours. After all the truck was in Lacey. And he needed to test drive it. He came home to get his money and to head back up and buy it. So after about 3 hours of work, I was just done anyway. Stiff as a board, I couldn't move. Fine lets go up and get "your" new truck. So we drove back out to Lacey, where I drop off hubby and Ethan to bring home the new truck. I run home and start dinner because now it's well after dinner time. I'm hungry and dying in pain. Told hubby he owes me, really owes me.

He was out the next day finishing up the bed for me, because by now I just can't move. The next day we weed blocked. On Saturday we finished buying the bricks and mulch and this is the end project. Hoping this weed block works as the last one didn't. Grass in there was over 2 feet tall and crowding the blue berries. 





My husband has been spending the week getting up at 8am, starting home school. So he can get out to play with his new truck. Good Golly!

So hubby has a new truck, and in the middle of selling his other truck. He is happy, it's all I can ask for. And it's paid off, that is a big plus! With money left over to take it to his truck guy on Monday for a check up. And my blue berry patch is done.

Projects

So a few projects I'm working on.

I started yet another quilt. Looks Awesome right?

This is our driveway. The grass on either side has been driving me batty for ten years now. This is the year it's going! As you can see I have all ready started. I'm hoping this is the year to get the front yard totally done. So it will take time to dig all this up. I'm taking time because my back is not 100% and I don't have weed blocker or dirt on hand, so no real rush. I plan on digging up the grass, laying weed blocker and dirting it over. I hope hubby doesn't flip when he gets home. (He doesn't know yet)

One of the four strawberry beds. Other words a nightmare I plan on fixing. This bed is over 30 feet long and is divided into three sections. I went to weed it and it was just nuts barely going 2 feet in 45 minutes and I was dying in pain. I did some digging and realized there is no weed blocker. What are we NUTS? So I dug it up. I started with the middle bed, got it all dug up and sorted the weeds and strawberries. I weed blocked got a few bags of dirt and trimmed up the strawberries and replanted. Today I worked on the bed on the end. It's now empty, tomorrow weed block, Friday dirt and replant Strawberries. Then work on the front bed. Then I have the 30 foot bed right beside it to do. lovely. So might be light on the strawberries this year. But I'm sick of the weeds. I can't believe we made these big beds and didn't weed block.

I do need to be done with this asap so it's where I"m focusing my time right now. The grass between the beds may go as well. I hate it. You go and mow and the grass gets into the beds. I think I would rather dig up the grass and mulch. After we weed block. Weed blocker will be my new best friend!

Until later!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Pretty sure I used that title last year about this time as well? Well it's pouring and will be for days. We run out during the breaks and run in when it's pouring. So thought I would update the blog on the going ons this week.

First dirt pile is GONE! 15 yards of dirt gone. We kicked butt Tuesday and filled the double decker beds and topped off all sorts of beds, and filled the inners of the bricks, which now house onions. More photos to come.

Don't know if you remember this baby? I bought a bare root fruit punch mint off eBay last winter. I nursed it and babied it and now look at it. I know if I didn't move it soon it was going to take over the green house. So it was moved Wednesday.

To it's new home, it can now spread.

Wednesday was the day of moving and planting. We moved 80% of the chives from the front yard to it's new bed. The chives I have left are going to other people.

We now have a massive chive bed for the chive Freaks I live with.

Becca and Max say Hi.

I have three mommas here.

And together they had MANY babies. But of course NOT in the box, nope all along the walk way. So we have maybe moved 1/3rd of them. Hoping for a break in the weather so I can move the rest out of the walkway. I spent many hours one night looking up this plant as it has lost it tags, I never thought I would see babies so I didn't think anything of it. But after finding the leaf online and sending it to a friend she came back with Lupine. I'm digging up the babies and moving them to an area in the back behind the chive bed.

HI Sierra!

As we were planting some new shade plants and cleaning the front area under the trees we found two little baby pines. When they get bigger they will have to be moved, they can't grow where they were born. We will move them across the road, so not far.

So I found out Friday you can fit 11, 10 foot gutters into a mini van no problem. This will be next years project, this year I'm just collecting. I got 4 from freecycle and then ran to the Restore and cleaned them out. 11 is a good start. Hubby is actually excited (which I find weird) we can place them here and here and here. Next year I remind him.

Are these Rosemary's not the prettiest thing ever! Well unless you are a herb freak like I am, maybe not. So this past week as we have been moving dirt I have been looking and keeping my eyes open and I have finally came to the realization that I do not have a plain Rosemary. How can that be? I know it was a total shocking to me. I'm thinking I got Blue Tuscan, and thought for some odd reason I grabbed regular Rosemary. Nope, I have lots of Blue Tuscan planted. So I need to head back to the garden store to get me a gallon size of Rosemary. At this point I will only buy Rosemary in gallon size or bigger. It will help with making it through the winters here. I am also learning how to do cuttings, I know how to do cuts, but I want my cuts of herbs to be 100% every time. Not just oh hoping they make it.

These will have their own tubs so I can store them in the green house if need be. Let's say we have ten more feet of snow coming? I can bring in herbs that need to come in.

Carrots, Parsnips, and Spinach was planted on Wednesday, along with a few herbs like dill and cilantro. I have bought 6 bunches of onions, will probably have over 500 when it's all said and done. Got the first 3 bunches planted on Wednesday, and that night the bunnies came in and played move the onions. So every morning I go out and play find the onions and replant them. What I need to play is find the hole and stop them from coming in!

I still need to get peas on the ground. I'm not growing them for us, but Ethan wanted snow peas. I got the first round of lettuce in, now I will head out every Monday and plant a row of lettuce and salad goodies.

Green house is getting greener everyday. I like that we have a heater now. Hopefully if the rain ever breaks I can take garden photos?

Progress

We are hauling dirt and kicking butt, and snuggled with the heating pad at night. So thought I would update you with a few photos.

This is the new herb area. Looking good right? So on the sides with the pots, there is a layer of horse poop, topped with some dirt, covered by a weed blocker in which you see, and will be topped with mulch. The middle was filled with horse poop, then a weed blocker and topped with dirt. The big ole middle bed, guess what we are growing there? I have a house full of chive freaks. That middle bed is reserved for chives. The sides will hold 24 different herbs. The filling will start soon.

Close up photo

Hello Chives (well soon) did I mention Chive Freaks?

These two new beds have been filled.

This middle bed has been topped off.

This bed we totally dug up and out, since the wood could have used some help we replaced it with bricks, weed blocker and new dirt. Hoping for success this year.

Double Decker One was filled today, notice the weird mark in the middle? The goats snuck in and Sierra went jumping up into it.

This double decker we are filling tomorrow, Wish us luck.

Same with this one. These three double decker beds will be carrots and parsnips.

OK a before shot. I have a very short window to do this bed as strawberries are growing. I dug out everything sorted the grass from the strawberries. I then decided to weed block it (again!) and I topped with dirt.

Here is the after. Strawberries go back in tomorrow.

We have two days to move the rest of this dirt. We need luck.

Kids have been helping. Cole and Tucker and gate holders. The open and shut the gates and keep the goats in. It allows hubby and me to move faster. Ethan fills the buckets. I just haul and dump. Hopefully when we are all done, I will post photos of the done garden....Stay tuned.