Can you Teach an OLD Gardener some New Tricks??

Winter. .

Spring. .

Winter. .

Spring. .

We're calling spring around here. .

Finally!!

We were still getting freezing nights nearly a week after our average frost free date. .

Guess that's why they call it an average??

But. .

We've had moisture. .

So things are green and flowers are in bloom!!

Hooray!!

Here's a great photo of the Blue Flax. .

All you hot southern Kansas garden mamas. .

You NEED this plant. .

It has been phenomenal. .

AND you can probably sneak into my garden when I am not looking. .

Steal some for yourself. .

Steal some for your neighbors and friends. .

And I still wouldn't notice the gap!

You can see how the 4 original 2 inch potted plants 3 years ago have spread. .

I love it!

But don't look for it in the afternoon. .

Or even the evening. .

For the only way you will know which plant is IT. .

Is if you sneak in during the morning!

You've all heard my woes about the drought and the hideous garden plot full of Johnson grass. .

a NOXIOUS WEED!

So, while sitting in the waiting room New Year's Eve during Grant's surgical procedure. .

as I browsed one of my endless supply of gardening magazines. .

I found THESE. .

Gardening boxes. .

Grow the perfect tomatoes. .

along with other miraculous, intriguing claims were made. .

So, I researched and ordered. .

Six of them!!

These will be our 'garden' this summer!!

I had to be a little choosy about what to plant. .

And Grant helped me set them up and plant them. .

We have 2 Beef Steak tomatoes (red slicers), 2 Kellogg's breakfast tomatoes (yellow slicers), 2 Tomatoberry tomatoes (grape tomatoes that are shaped like a strawberry and super sweet), 1 Mater Sandwich (leftover seed from last year, a red slicer), and 1 Brandywine (leftover seed as well, an heirloom that supposedly has fantastic flavor). Each box was good for 2 tomato plants. .so that took 4 boxes. One box contains 5 pepper plants (1 jalapeno, and 4 colored sweet) and 3 basil plants (1 green sweet and 2 purple). The final box contains 6 holes that will consist of cucumber plants, 3 holes with pickling and 3 holes with slicing seeds. .I noticed today that there are sprouts in both sides (we planted on Saturday) These containers are self watering. .and they have GINORMOUS water reservoirs in the bottom!! I think they will work great!

We also planted some round self watering planters I found at walmart. .

2 pots have carrot varieties (cosmic purple, which we love. .and tendersweet, an orange variety) The other one has watermelon seeds. .I also intend to get one more pot and plant cantaloupe in it. You can see them perched around the memory garden. .

they will not stay on the sidewalk. .

you notice the small sliver of dirt you can see at the left edge of the photo. .

that is now a small piece of yard that is surrounded by sidewalk on the east and south and new patio on the west. .

It will be the perfect location for these pots, once we put down a thick layer of newspaper and straw.

If you want to read about these little grow boxes. .

you can find them here. .

http://www.agardenpatch.com/

I have also been pretty nervous about our little potato tower experiment!!

Over 3 weeks now with no potato vines in sight!

I stuck my hand into the tower last week to see if I could fish out a spud to see whether they were rotting or what. .

Dumb!!

I took a stinger to my middle finger that I'm sure went straight into my BONE. .

And the next day I got my long hand trowel and started again.

I found a few of them sprouted reaching for the sky. .

I was concerned that they may never reach the top. .

And lo and behold. .

2 little potato sprouts peeking out of the bottom of the tower. .

Just like the Internet said they would!

And finally in veggie news. .

We (mostly I) put in 10 asparagus crowns. .

I used the cedar fence along the back edge of the memory garden as the guide for their spots. . 

And planted some on the east side and some on the west side (if you scroll back up to my zoomed out photo. .they would be right about the location of my Yukon sitting in the driveway). .

4 of the 10 plants have emerged as of the last few days!!

I think this will be a better spot for them then the area in the garden that I tried a few years ago. .

And it will definitely be a better "permanent" spot for them!

Our favorite "special" way to eat asparagus is grilled with a little olive oil. .

or better yet, shoved in a slice of prosciutto stuck together with a little goat cheese. .

and THEN grilled!

YUM!!

In other gardening news. .

The lilacs were sparse. .

but fragrant. .

and pretty!! Hopefully next year will see more blooms. .

I enjoyed these from afar, but never took a bouquet to the house.

My aunt Jane shared some yellow water iris with me before she moved last year. .

It was loaded with blooms this week!

The regular iris are starting their show too. .

Yellow has been open for a couple days. .

The peach one is also about ready to go. .

There are several other colors that are starting too.

Last year I barely had a single iris bloom. .

and I was a little nervous about why they didn't bloom!!

So I was really thrilled to see them all performing like "business as usual."

Wondering if anyone else had that experience too?

I love columbine. .

but they haven't loved me much yet. .

I couldn't resist this purple one. .

And planted it near the pond, where I have tried to recreate a moister soil by leaving some of the pond liner under the soil with just a few holes poked in. .

So far it has worked for the hostas. .

And I am hoping the columbine will take to it too!

The Cardonna Salvia and Walker's Low Nepeta (catnip) from High Country gardens are expanding and looking radiant!

The pink penstemon in the same area and the Jupiter's beard will also join the color parade soon.

I tried another new trick I read about. .

 for a little Japanese painted fern that I wanted to add around my pitcher pump water feature when I get it put back together. .

I used an old hanging basket with the fibrous coco liner in it. .

I dug a hole out of the soil that was in the pot. .

Used an old pull up diaper from the stash of about 10 leftovers I found when we tore apart Cami's room. .

Opened it up and laid it in the bottom. .

Piled some more dirt on top of the diaper. .

and planted the fern in it. .

The diaper will hold the extra water and release it slowly to the root of the fern. .

Which I could NEVER hope to keep in total shade and get watered enough on my own. .

With this method, I think I can manage both. .

I'll keep ya posted!!

I dug this old bucket out from under my honeysuckle vine over the weekend too. .

And used it for a creeping jenny. .

which I also hope to add in a pocket when I put the pump feature back in on the new patio edge!

A few containers got some attention. .

like this old wire basket that got two pots of spicy fragranced petunias. .

Purple and yellow (or orange) is one of my favorite color combos of summer!

And we sat on the new patio this weekend and enjoyed the scent of them as it drifted by!

Another "out on a limb" purchase for me was this fuchsia.

I tried one last year. .

And the cats laid on it. .

Not to mention it dried up QUICKLY!!

And lasted like. .

A week!!

I found this little self watering hanging basket at Walmart for around $7. .

That fuchsia has sucked it dry twice a day since I got it. .

No wonder I killed it last year. .

But so far, nearly 2 weeks in. .

It is looking really nice!

And finally. .

I was TOTALLY surprised to find this little clump of Star of Bethlehem blooming right behind my little stone cross. I have transplanted these several times and never had them bloom. .
I don't EVEN remember transplanting this clump. .

But I love 'em. .

My daycare provider has a yard full. .

but me. .

always just a clump of stems!!

They are so sweet!!

So. .

despite my total lack of interest in gardening after 2 years of drought and incredible heat. .

I find myself adapting. .

learning new tricks to improve my success!

I am hopeful that the tricks will be successful come September. .

Guess you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!

STOP. .

And smell a flower. .

on the side of this super busy highway we call. .

LIFE!!

Glad you stopped by today!

You're FIRED. .the Project!

I find it hard to believe that May will be half way over in just a few short days!!

We finished another super busy week here. .

but a FUN one. .

With LOTS of partying!!

Grant made the cake in his nutrition class at school. .Cami made the plate at daycare. .Devin fixed the wind chimes at school. .and Tristan and his friend Cassidy got together Saturday in my kitchen and baked lemon meringue pies for their mom's!! And my hubby?? He came through too with a GREAT basket containing a couple of massage certificates, chocolates, bath salts, a candle and a me sized bottle of champagne!! I'm spoiled and I know it. .but I thank God for them all regularly!! Oh, how HE has blessed me!!

Mother's Day was a highlight for this spoiled mama!!

And the gift of a super cute Mother's Day plate given to me on Thursday. .

Hand painted by Miss Thing herself. .

provoked a birthday celebration of great magnitude for Grandma Pat on Friday!!

Grandma celebrated another birthday on Saturday. .

And after Cami's plate gift on Thursday. .

I knew JUST how we should celebrate her big day!!

 I was excited that everyone could make it at the last minute. .

and we all got together Friday afternoon to try our hands at painting ceramic!

My friend Tiffany (or Tif. .as Cami calls her) just opened a ceramic shop called. .

You're Fired (clever name, huh!). .

And we had a GREAT time. .

chatting. .

and painting. .

and indulging in red velvet cupcakes!!

These three kids were SOOO involved in their work. .

and QUIET. .

we hardly knew they were there!!

This girl. .

on the other hand. .

was BUSY. .

Checking out the playroom in the loft. .

Checking in on Tif's tiny puppy. .

Checking out all the other possible creations and making her to-do list. .

And just plain. .

Checking in on TIF!!

She shamelessly allowed Grandma to help her paint up her little mermaid piece. .

since she had a hard time staying still enough to paint it herself!!

 Despite that little problem. .

of staying still, that is. .

 she has already decided that the NEXT time we go back she will paint an egg!!

Even Granny quietly painted up a little lady bug box to put her earrings in!!

Aunt Amy (in the far corner) was down to celebrate Granddad's birthday on Thursday (our first party of the week). .

When I asked her to come along, she gave me a really funny look. .

and I still think the only reason she came was because she didn't have a good excuse NOT to come ;-)

BUT. .

She is already planning her next visit to come back and do it again!! She made a super cool square plate!

We lovingly teased my sister in law Lisa. .

about her plain colored flower vase with NO added pizazz. .

And I tried to pay Tiffany extra to jazz it up a little after we left. .

But I noticed in Tiffany's photo of the finished projects. .

That her vase is still one color. .

AND. .

 it will be a very sleek, simple vase to display all of her garden's glory this summer!

Here's Cami's mermaid. .

Very fancy. .

And last I knew, she and "Tif" were plotting to put some sparkle product on her after the firing process took place!!

Devin painted a car (surprised??)

Emma painted a fairy. .

and she will have to go back to finish painting her. .

because there were so many parts to paint!!

Keith painted a football helmet!

And when Grandma wasn't working on Cami's mermaid. .

She fixed a cute little cupcake box. .

Pink. .

with a silver wrapper!

And I painted too. .

I created a bowl. .

that I could put summer goodies into. .

It's bigger than it looks. .

and will be colorful and perfect for veggie dips or salsa!

The studio was certainly a buzz of noise as we worked and chatted for about 2 1/2 hours. .

Which, went REALLY fast!! Here we are with our creations before they went into the kiln. . 

                                

And here are our creations AFTER the firing took place!!

I am still amazed at how different the colors are BEFORE the firing process. .

I suspect that there will be a lot of happy painters in our group when we pick up the projects!

The rest of the weekend was spent crafting, gardening, and relaxing!! My idea of a PERFECT weekend!! I was even served breakfast in bed by my 10 year old who was banging around (quietly) in the kitchen by 6:30 Sunday morning. .

And by 6:50, he brought in a SHEET cake pan. .

full of a egg, sausage and cheese sandwich that he made himself on an English muffin. .

a banana, a bowl of watermelon, and a glass of orange juice that he and Cami made Saturday afternoon and put in the spare fridge. .

informing me NOT to open the fridge and spoil the surprise!

I hope the rest of you mama's had some spoiling too!!

I'll be back soon to share our weekend garden experiences!!

Where do I Start??

Howdy from southwest Kansas. .

It's been another few weeks since I have checked in. .

I know. .

because my mother keeps reminding me that I have been missing!!

And the rumor is. .

that my back-home family. .

starts to ask around if we are OK when I don't check in. .

I will try to do better. .

But for another few weeks. .

You will have to trust that we are ALIVE. .

and SURVIVING!!

We have all been doing a lot of road tripping it seems. .

And we are definitely on the tail end of it!!

So life might resume a little bit of normalcy soon.

This past weekend found me and the two little ones picking up my mom and heading to Topeka to hang with my sister and her family!! Kristi, mom and I drove up to the far northeast corner of Kansas to go to the outdoor flea markets held in Sparks and White Cloud that weekend. .

It SOUNDED like the thing to do. .

And we have been planning it for a couple months, though not finalizing any plans until last week. .

Unfortunately for us, Mother Nature was still throwing a temper tantrum. .

And we found ourselves fully engaged in a cold, rainy, and blustery field trip!!

My mother even stopped at a booth and bought an extra pair of socks for herself!!

Despite the FREEZING cold temperatures (high was 43 with wind. .and some drizzle. .and did I mention it was breezy??) We enjoyed GREATLY our outing. The countryside was really green and pretty. There were many vendors that never untarped their tables. .

and some that didn't even show up. .

But we enjoyed browsing through the selections!!

I took my camera. .

but only took 2 photos. .

because it was sooooo cold and bleak, I flat didn't think about it!!

The picture above was for the benefit of my friend Robin. .

There were tables and TABLES of antique costume jewelry!!

You would have LOVED it!!

I was looking for some vintage baby dresses and women's hats to use in decorating our bedroom when we finish the remodel. .

I was a score for those. .

I also spyed an old Red Cross poster in the BACK of some guys van, that hadn't even been unloaded. He had bought part of somebody's collection. .

And was willing to make a STELLAR (His words) deal on them. .

Which, I'll admit. .

He did!!

So. .

I am also the proud collector of 2 new-to-me Red Cross posters to go with the 2 that I had already. .

they range in years from 1918 to 1931 (I think)

My AWESOME hubby will frame them for me really soon!

You might have noticed that my pickup ended up REALLY loaded down. .

A little stop to Lowes garden department. .

as well as a digging trip to mom's flower garden at the farm ensured that I had plenty to do when I got home Sunday!!

All the shopping and play time with the cousins took care of these two campers!!

I couldn't resist the photo op!!

Everyone else in our house has been plenty busy too. .

The guys went to a weekend race a couple Saturday's ago. .

Tristan was pretty pumped up to get TWO first place trophies in the high school racing division. .

Uggg. .

I'm afraid that the bug has bitten him good now. .

and I assume it will become a big hobby for him as well!

And Grant can hardly stand it until he turns 16 next year. .

Which means HE will be old enough to race!

Tristan and Grant have both been busy with golf meets too. .

Devin has been drawing out plans to a go cart that he wants his dad to help him build in their spare time. .

We have also picked up some new chicks that Devin is caring for. .

Sunday we couldn't resist bringing home 2 barred rock babies. .

which I have since learned, are great chickens for kids to raise because they have very docile personalities. Devin is pumped because he has been waiting a year to take chickens to the county fair!!

And Cami. .

has become a very proficient bike rider. .

She is getting ready to go to Kindergarten round up next week!!

I think that all of them are ready for school to be over for the summer. .

which will occur before we can even blink our eyes 3 more times!!

In other big news. .

Our remodel is nearing completion!!

We have been sleeping in the bedrooms for about a week now. .

Which, after 6 weeks in Grant's room. .

Has been BLISSFUL!

And every evening finds us unpacking a few more things. .

Last night (after I took photos) Jeremy helped me hang some things on the walls. .

I picked up this door from my friend Lisa under the pretense of using it for the door going into my closet. .

Jeremy and Kelsey were LESS than impressed by the idea. .

And Jeremy was sure that it was going to fall apart the first time we shut it (which could have been a true story, based on the number of finish nails we shot into to continue holding the wobbly parts together). .

So. .

His idea was to cut the cool window and the ornate trim OUT of this door. .

and insert it INTO a sturdier door. .

To which I quickly replied "FORGET it". .

I would just make a full length mirror out of it. .

And we did!!

It is at home in the corner of my new bedroom!

The baby dresses are now hanging on the wall off of a piece of old crown molding that I put antique wire hooks on. .

I am LOVING the french doors. .

And so far, the sun entry into the room hasn't been as bad as I had anticipated. .

 since the doors are facing that eastern morning sunshine!

The photos were taken rapidly. .

And I didn't bother to pick up the clothes hanging off the bed :-)

The closet door is at the right top of the photo. .

I can now walk INTO the mess. .

And shut the door on it when I am done!!

LOVE IT!!

Here's my big bare sunroom!!

My mom was down a few weeks ago and got to see the paint colors. .

But the flooring wasn't down, nor were the windows in!

They finished up most things in there last week. .

And cleaned up the tools and equipment from the floor.

I moved a couple things into this room last night. .

I can't wait to find a smallish oak drop leaf table to set in the corner window area. .

Which I plan to sit at and look out of. .

just enjoying nature!!

I saw a couple I liked at the flea market. .

but it was simply too cold and wet and muddy. .

And I just wasn't in the mood to mess with it!

All in good time. .

All in good time!

One of my favorite things is this old door!

We ran across it at a huge antique barn near my mom's when we picked up the wardrobe (which is currently being finished off this week too. .can't wait to show you!!)

I really wasn't looking for a door like this when he showed it to me. .

But my gut just kept nagging at me. .

I finally decided that we could use it as the outgoing door from the room. .

But ended up putting the door inside the house. .

separating the laundry room from the sun room. .

Jeremy used some fiberglass and filled a couple dings in it. .

And took out the brass mail slot that was right under the window. .

He sprayed on some paint that I had laying around which was bought for a different purpose. .

Finally, I used some antiquing glaze to finish it off. .

It makes me smile every day. .

One of the coolest things is the design in the middle of the glass pane!

It was definitely a fun addition.

And of course. .

Miss Thing's room was also remodeled. .

Lath and plaster came down. .

Termite ridden boards from 30 years ago were removed. .

Insulation was inserted. .

Energy efficient windows were added. .

And topped off with a lovely lavender paint. .

chosen by the diva herself. .

She is lovin' it too!!

And best of all. .

she was glad to get her bed back. .

And quit sleeping on the loveseat!!

This week finally looks like spring. .

AND feels like spring. .

The grass got mowed. .

The plants transplanted. .

A greenhouse of starts that need to be put into the garden. .

And some more moist, drizzly weather to settle in those new plants!!

I have a gardening weekend planned. .

I am excited to get the veggies out. .

And planning the landscape design around the new addition. .

Hope to be able to show some more photos soon!!

But for now. .

Enjoy your day!

Thanks for stopping by!

April Gardens

It's the middle of April. .

How does that happen!!

Kansas can't decide on winter. .

or spring!!

Last week, after some very SPRING like weather. .

We had a rainstorm. .

with hail. .

and sleet. .

That ended up icing everything over long enough to delay school by a couple hours the next morning!! This week also forecasts rain AND snow!

The daffodils were nearly spent already. .

but the tulips were really starting their show. .

They have been so much prettier already this spring than last year.

I was so burned out on drought gardening last fall. .

that I hadn't ordered any bulbs. .

I have identified some locations that would really benefit from having some planted next fall.

There are quite a few clumps in the memory garden that I had forgotten were there! And some gorgeous ones (that I haven't gotten photos of) near the waterfall that I don't even remember planting there. .

I wonder. .

Maybe I have a Fairy Garden-mother. .

Ya think?

My little clump of creeping phlox is blooming. .

It looks so cool snuggled around the boulder. .

I think I will dig it up, and make several new little plants out of it.

Here is the fence of the memory garden. .

We are going to start doing a little food gardening in there too. .

Along this fence, on both sides, I planted some Jersey Knight asparagus crowns. .

I HOPE they come up!!

Do you see the buckets of sheet rock mud that the guys have used up and cleaned out. .

LOTS of that going up right now!! And painting to take place in the next few days!

My most exciting find last weekend. .

Clematis stems. .

Since I planted this one probably 5 years ago. .

This was the first time I have ever had anything coming up from the root. .

The same stem always gets green leaves on it and a few blooms. .

 but never any more vines. .

I hope it really goes to town this spring.

Some little anemones near the waterfall. .

as well as the little pink flower on the living stone succulent plants.

Not sure whether it work or not, I dug out the old fragrant honeysuckle I had planted by the boy's bathroom so it wouldn't get demolished in the construction.

I put it in a big pot and it is growing new leaves already. .

Not sure where it's new home will be. .

somewhere I can smell it for SURE!!

I never really thought that I would have to be the one who would need to relocate ALL the limestone I had hauled in. .

And more than once, we have joked about the next owners of our home having to doze them all out if they decided they didn't like 'em. .

BUT. .

The boys and I had to move all the ones from the east and north sides of the house. .

It turned out to be a large and messy pile. .

NOW. .

to get them all put back before the rattlesnakes take up residence!!

The possibilities on design should be pretty endless. .

I hope that I won't start a project that will call for another trailer load of them. .

I'm afraid that Jeremy's patience will be pretty thin with me and my ideas by then!

The greenhouse is FULL!!

The purple salvia seedlings in front and the love lies bleeding starts on the left side are all promising blooms already!! It is supposed to hit 25 again at night this week. .

so that will delay their new home placement for a bit yet.

                                     

The lemons are growing. .I think there are 7.

Another fun project is this little pomegranate plant. .

complete with a little fruit. .

I was disappointed after I bought it to read later that very few plants like this will bear fruit to eat. .

So far, this one seems to be enlarging and looking like the real deal. .

I will have to keep you posted on whether we get any harvest from it or not!

Even if it doesn't. .

the plant has gorgeous little flowers and really interesting leaves.

Not able to wait for non-freezing weather. .

I planted some gladiolus bulbs in containers to get them a little earlier start. .

I should be able to lift them out easy enough and put them in a final resting place later. .

I still have plenty left in the sack to put out as well!

Still harvesting tomatoes. .

big and small!

Here are the summer starts, awaiting planting time.

There are also several peat pots of chives. .

I did plant 3 little pots into the area that will be planted with perennial herbs. I had to transplant my sage into the area, which only has a huge rosemary plant in it right now. .

I also rescued a couple starts from the tarragon plant and put them into nursery pots and buried them in the ground. .

That is how I grow the sage too. .

so it doesn't take over.

The tarragon was given to me years ago by Grandma Pat. .and it overran it's little area, that will soon be buried under a concrete patio.

The cucumber Diva has provided us much winter enjoyment. .

and I seeded a few more plants in the existing setup to get us through until the summer crop starts. We ended up with 3 cucumber vines. .

And next winter I will easily double or triple that amount I think.

The Carmen peppers have been sluggish. .

but the peppers are really sweet and yummy. .

We've picked more of them than any other pepper I've grown in the greenhouse. .

so they will likely be on the winter list for next fall again too.

I've been rooting lots of stuff. .

including a couple small honeysuckle plants from the vine we moved. .

several pots of different succulent plants. .

The red sweet potato rooting hung out in the greenhouse this winter waiting for spring with the rest of us. .

I've also repotted some lemon grass starts that I germinated from seed a few months ago too. .

It's been fun to look through the gardens, seeing what has reseeded and what is peeking through the ground that survived 2 drought-y, hot summers and is ready for another chance to live.

My favorite part of spring is just that. .

the promise of new life and a second chance at growing. .

For flowers and vegetation. .

And for my own soul and life!

Have a GREAT weekend!