Gardening...make a difference in 15 minutes!

 We had a great weekend outdoors with family. We played and picniced then cooled in the house for a bit. After a nice rest I became restless. Ironic, I know. I need to keep moving and keep doing. Evening was coming but it was still so hot. Thankfully there was wonderfully inviting shade around front. I had already trimmed my shrubs this year but holy cow, they are growing. I decided it would be a good time to take a few minutes to clean up.

 My flowers had busted out with great glory but now they were looking heat worn, browning and tired. I love the blossoms; enjoy them while they last then clip them back to start over with fresh blooms. Yep, it was time to get some trimming done.

I grabbed my clippers and started with the shrubs. They are full and lush. I haven't gotten my power clippers yet but still manage to do a good job. Just like farming or making garden rows I eye a spot on the house and trim even with it. I actually want the shrubs a little shorter so they go just under the window but have a hard time getting them there. Trimming front to back and left to right I trimmed those shrubs nice and neat.

Then to the rose bushes. I love them but they can easily get overgrown. I am rather generous with my rose trimming. I want the bush to stay small because it will grow long branches before reblooming.
It didn't take long but has a big impact on my curb appeal for my house. I love how clean things looked when I finished. Now I feel better. A little activity and tidying up before the close of the day...just makes my heart smile.

See, what do you think? Gardening doesn't have to take all day or be sweat inducing. Just a little shade and 15 minutes. Look what you can accomplish.

How to trellis a grapevine

When I planted my grapevine it was the beginning of a new gardening adventure. In Idaho it was simply too cold most of the time to grow grapes. Mom and dad never grew them. Dear grandpa, who had the greenest thumb around, never grew them. My farming uncle never grew them. After generations of gardeners and farmers I never thought to grow them my self either. Further south and closer to the warm desert however is a different story. I am learning to grow things that I couldn't before. Our grapevine is loaded with grapes. Imagine my delight....then concern....when I saw the branches loaded with bundles of green grapes but they are also getting quite heavy. I didn't realize they would be so heavy. I needed to get the vines trellised somehow. By now the folks at Home Depot know me, my 4 boys, and my dear hubby quite well. It's like another craft store, yep, I am addicted. Anyway, I bought a couple of fan trellis'. Stuck 'em in the ground on each side of the vine and stood back to admire my ingenuity.... Only problem, it didn't look so ingenious. In fact it didn't work too well to hold those heavy vines at all. Time to do some research. Gotta love google. After watching a couple of tutorials this is what I did....

 

We cemented 2 4x4 posts in the ground about 6 feet apart. Sometimes that sandy soil is nice.

I wanted the posted to be level or slightly below the top of the fence. That meant digging a 2 foot deep hole.

My grapevine is at the end of my raspberries so I will be able to use the post to trellis my raspberries as well. Double duty! ;-)

I measured about 6 inches down from the top for the 1st wire line. Then another 2 feet from that for the 2nd wire line. The goal is to get the branches to trellis to the side at a comfortable height for harvesting. Predrilling the holes helped to screw in the hook. I used a slightly smaller drill bit. Then a pair of pliers to help gript he hook.

Then just twist until there's no threads left poking out of the board.

Now, I needed a way to adjust the tension on the wire without restringing it each year. This doo-dad was just the thing.

A turnbuckle eye/hook.

See...VOILA!

Now just to get the wire then I can share the rest of the plan. For now, get your posts in the ground so the cement can set. ;-)

Landscape update

What a difference a little time can make. After showing a friend my old landscape blog posts I realized it was time for an update. We have lived in Utah for 2 yrs now- WOW! We started with only the front of our home landscaped. The back was....well....see for yourself....

Yeah, pretty nasty.

After a bit of time, and a lot of sweat our yard is coming together.

These quakies are growing so fast. They were just spindly little things, now they are branching out and actually provide a bit of shade.

The front beds are needing trimmed and perenials split.

Maybe by the end of summer I will have a bit of a flower bed trimmed around this tree.

I have Hastas and Bleeding Hearts filling the shady areas. I just wanna add some Columbines too.

I love the timeless look of the Bleeding Heart.

I love the rock work too. It creates texture and dimension to our yard I had not imagined. An added plus is the boys get to climb all over and have a natural "bunker" for their play time.

Instead of sharp thorns that sting even after being pulled out we have soft grass and a playset for 4growingboys.

The grass is growing well....guess I need to mow again. ;-)

We hope to have the deck on this fall. Something with a nice Pergola for shade in the summer.

My tulips are all spent but the Dianthisis are popping out with beautiful shades of pink. I took these pictures earlier in the spring...you should see them now!

I love these!....plus, see my lady bug hiding in the plants. FUN!

I hope my raspberries will really fill in this year. I am anxious for some raspberry/huckleberry jam.

One last plant I didn't get a picture of is my grape plant. I am thrilled with all the clusters of grapes forming. It was too cold in Idaho to have grapes vines so this is a new adventure in the garden.

Not a bad before and after huh!

Fresh picked strawberries!

 The picture might be a bit blurry but the sweet flavor was right on!! This was our first picking of the season of berries. Some of them are still a bit small but they are all packed full of flavor. We made several smoothies, enjoyed berries and cream, and ate them fresh. The boys all loved it!

I could have made a batch of jam....gonna have to get some pectin to keep on hand. Ooooh boy! I love fresh strawberries.

Gardening lessons....

There's peas and lettuce growing....slowly...I planted them several weeks ago.... I spy.....well....uhmm. Dirt? Yeah, there are suppose to be beats, bean, and carrots peaking through......  Learning to Garden in new soil lends itself to a certain learning curve. I have been watching my precious seeds for signs of life. They are coming albeit slowly. We added compost to the garden last year and again this year. Wondering what was going on I started my search. I found this great site "In the Garden Online". I wanted to pin it but you have to have an image. They have tables on seed germination. This is a sample of those tables. I wanted to keep track of it so here it is with the link so you can find it too. Seed Germination time...

Crop	Germination Time
Basil	7 to 10 days
Bean	7 to 14 days
Beet	10 to 14 days
Broccoli	7 to 10 days
Brussels Sprout	7 to 10 days
Cabbage	10 to 14 days
Cantaloupe	5 to 7 days
Carrot	10 to 14 days
Catnip	7 to 14 days
Cauliflower	5 to 7 days
Chervil	14 to 28 days
Corn	5 to 7 days
Cucumber	7 to 14 days
Dill	10 to 21 days
Eggplant	7 to 10 days
Fennel	10 to 21 days
German Chamomile	10 to 15 days
Lettuce	4 to 6 days
Mint	12 to 15 days
Parsley	21 to 28 days
Pea	7 to 10 days
Pepper	7 to 10 days
Pumpkin	7 to 10 days
Radish	3 to 5 days
Spinach	7 to 21 days
Squash, Winter	7 to 10 days
Tomato	7 to 14 days
Watermelon	5 to 7 days

Of course my strawberries are doing beautifully. I have berries already turning. These are the everbearing....I hope my June bearing plants take off this year...

 Happy Gardening!

Best part of Gardening!

Can you guess what I may be up to this week?

I pulled a couple to beets to see how they were doing. I knew we were close to harvest time.

I was hoping to wait until Monday to weed the garden and pick beans but I realized they wouldn't last so I got dear hubby to help. Of course he took to the harvesting part like a pro. He said "this is the best part of gardening" while he picked the beans and peas. In the meantime, I am pulling all the weeds. That's ok. It's all good! I love company when I am working in the garden and the weeds aren't too bad to pull from our sandy soil.

This week I will be canning beats. We stopped at Cal Ranch and picked up a camp stove. Now I can go out back and cook without heating up the house. My power bill will thank us as well.

This weeks Bountiful Basket was great. We miss the apples but I suspect they are coming soon. 

This week we get to enjoy:

5 bananas

1 bag of grapes

1 lb strawberries

5 plums 

2 mangos

1 canteloup

2 red peppers

3 tomatoes

3 roma tomatoes

3 onions

6 ears of corn

and 

2 heads of romain lettuce.

All this for just $16.50! It really is the best way to get some great produce in the house. We eat so much more fresh stuff with this. Can't beat that in the store. YUMMY!

Hummingbirds....

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a hummingbird zoom around the back yard. I was thrilled! I love to watch these amazing little birds. We had some nectar but our feeder got broken in the move last year. My next trip to the store included picking up a new feeder. We filled it up and stuck it to the window where we could watch.

and wait.....

This morning I caught it slipping in for a sip. By the time I got my camera it had already zipped away. I thought I would be sneeky and keep the camera close but with 4 boys around I've not yet caught the little bird. I am hoping to have more start hanging around. Next year this will, hopefully, be full of flower blossoms waiting to have the nectar stolen.

If I fill the birds up maybe they will help to pollinate my fruit trees. Hummingbirds are like bees that way. They just have an added benefit of being beautiful to watch!

Keep coming little birdy!

We look forward to your company!

So share what your favorite Hummingbird and Butterfly attracting flowers are. I still have room for more perennials!

Succulent wall decor....

Using succulents in wall hangings, even a globe, is one of the articles in this months Better Homes & Gardens magazine. I love it. I can't wait until we can build our deck so that I can do some of the fun projects I have planned. I want to plant lots around my deck to help keep it cool and inviting. Now mind you I live in the mountain desert. Our new house is even hotter and drier than our old one. With few trees around I am gonna be planting a lot. But until I get the shade I want, succulents are becoming increasingly inviting. An added bonus, they don't take much water!

In words and pictures

Growing my garden....

It usually takes a couple of years to learn the soil and water requirements in a new area before you really have a great crop. My garden is doing well but I can tell this is the first year here. We have much more sandy soil whereas before we had thick clay soil. My soil is also very 'wild'. Nothing was grown in it prior to our moving in. This fall I plan to add some great compost or manure. Just to enrich the soil for next year. 

My tomatoes are usually fuller by now. I gave them a bit of Miracle Grow. Hopefully it helps. I do have some blossoms already. The warm days and nights are great for tomatoes.

My mom and dad have several plants of rhubarb. They dug a few up that were needing to be moved and shared with me. Since rhubarb is harder to kill off than some weeds, you can bet those spots are already growing more rhubarb. My mom was only slightly surprised. Right now my plants are setting down deep roots. I may have gotten too many myself. Soon we will be enjoying some rhubarb crisp of our own.

My cucumbers had a really rough start! I think they are coming round. I plan to trelis them up the side of the steps.

My pepper plants are doing well. I am hoping to have enough to make salsa; Tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers....

I had to use some of my flower beds for vegis but I am planting some perrenials this year too. Dear hubby commented he loves the plants with bold color. When I saw these beauties I had to grab a couple. He was in Lowes grabbing some screws. I parked near the nursery entrance to 'wait' for him. He just laughed at me when he saw where I had parked. "I knew you couldn't resist" he said. Ahh, he knows me so well.

I do love the color starting to show in my flower bed. There are a couple that I don't remember the names of, a climatis, dianthus, some bulbs and these new flowers. Next year should be popping with color!

I made a couple of lady bugs from bowling balls. They are GREAT! So much fun. I wanna make a bumble bee to and maybe a couple for Christmas gifts.

I bought some flower bulbs the end of June. I planted them but didn't expect them to grow this year. To my pleasant surprise they are coming up wonderfully.

My watermelon plant is on slow motion. I don't know if we will get any fruit from it but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Way back when Mr. M's speech therapist suggested the book "The Sunflower House". I haven't gotten the book (I can't find it) but did plant the giant sunflowers to be a great 'house' for Mr. M. They are REALLY growing. It was sunset when I took this picture. Notice how much the leaves are turned to the west. "SUNflowers" always point to the sun.

My garden... lettuce, beans, carrots, beats, and peas. I think I will plant another crop of beans. I had more but boys and a puppy wiped out one of my rows and thinned the others. I can't decide if I should do square-foot gardening in my little 10x10 plot. I may try a few things this fall to help me decide. What do you think? Rows or square-foot?

My everbearing strawberries are exploding. I think they are doing better than anything else. The birds have gotten several of them but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. he he he!

They are sending out so many runners already. If they keep this up it won't take long to have my beds full of green plants and red berries. Ohh, yum!

I hope to plant some June bearing plants next year for jam. I also want some June bearing raspberries. My everbearing raspberries are doing well too. Not bad for a first years growth.....

I will need to build a trellis for my grapevine to grow up before next spring. It isn't real big now but the fruit grows on one year old vines. Hopefully next year we will have lots of berries and some grapes!