Working Week
The weather finally gave us some wonderfully hot (in the 90's) temps so we could begin the long, hard task of trying to put the backyard together. I don't remember how bad it looked when we moved it but my neighbor says that she can tell a huge difference. I just look at it and see the years of work that still need to be done. But I am very proud to say that we finally have all the plants and bushes in the ground. I have never planted so many plants in such a short amount of time in my entire gardening career. So I am going to take you on a very limited tour of the backyard....first we are so proud of our vegetables...
The amazing thing is that in the evenings before dark we make a walk around the yard..yesterday there were no little heads of broccoli...then our morning walk before Mark goes to work...we have three little heads of broccoli forming. Michael wants to know where the carrots are because he doesn't like broccoli. 
As you can see, the lettuce looks great. Real impressive when you drive up the driveway. The color just jumps out of the backyard. The peas are about 12 inches high and they are starting to vine up the new and improved trellises Mark so graciously provided. He never was sold on the stick one that I made. When we started out our day transferring the leaves from the huge pile to the compost bin, this is how it looked. Last fall I raked, raked, and raked some more until I have a pile about three feet by six feet. I think I can remember saying that I wish we had some trees in our yard in WI.
We started out with a few leaves that we had run thru the mulcher...which is on the fritz now...and ended up having so many leaves that Mark had to lift me in the bin to stomp down the leaves. I'm sure that the neighbors loved seeing that! I am hoping that this compost bin works and we get some good rich compost to add to the yard. I just wonder how long it is going to take to decompose? We will put Mark on that piece of research.
I was raking behind the barn when I found this interesting plant. I have no idea what it is. Mark and I have looked in my plant encyclopedia and can't come up with a thing. I think it is a really cool plant. While we were cleaning up behind the compost bin I found about 15 more small plants minus the flower. I have emailed a plant and flower guru. Hopefully she will be able to tell us what it is and a little bit of the history about the flower.(Just got her email back...Jack-in-the-Pulpit)
This is one of my volunteer plants...those plants that volunteer to come up anywhere in the yard without you having any idea that they are there. When I tilled this bed I didn't notice any hosta at all. Then a few days ago when I was cleaning off the patio I moved a flower pot and there they were. It will be interesting to see how the grow.
We have several bushes that are starting to bud and bloom. So far we have these yellow and white azalea. Soon we will have some orange and reds also. That should add lots of color to the back portion of the yard. Papaw said that these were pretty, I think he is correct. 
Ella has gotten into the act of gardening. She can dig up plants as fast as I can plant them. These dandelions seem to be her favorite. She will see one across the yard and go on a mad dash across the yard and attack them. She then sneeze three or four times. And we have lots of these!
After a hard day of chewing, eating, pooping and chasing the kids, this is how Ella spends her down time. Mark was thrilled that she chose his dirty clothes to curl up on. While the rest of us are sweating and getting dirt under our fingernails, Sarah is off practicing at the track or participation in a meet.
With this shot, she came in second in the meet at AHS.
We then made our way up the hill to the discus. We were surprised by my former preschool boss. She had come especially to see Sarah. That was nice! And Sarah came in 4th. Michael had a little trouble at the end...it was getting late and he was tired, thirsty and "hungry enough to go to a restaurant". All of this and more in one week around here. Seems like all of this would make anyone tired. Today was a little bit of a down day. My sister and her husband and my niece came to visit UC. We got to visit for a few minutes over lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. When I came home it was cool enough that you didn't sweat when you worked int he yard. Michael and I were able to plant six packages of different varieties of marigolds and 4 different kinds of sunflowers. Betsy is on her way over with some Solomon's Seal and ferns. I know exactly where I am going to put them.
The amazing thing is that in the evenings before dark we make a walk around the yard..yesterday there were no little heads of broccoli...then our morning walk before Mark goes to work...we have three little heads of broccoli forming. Michael wants to know where the carrots are because he doesn't like broccoli. 
As you can see, the lettuce looks great. Real impressive when you drive up the driveway. The color just jumps out of the backyard. The peas are about 12 inches high and they are starting to vine up the new and improved trellises Mark so graciously provided. He never was sold on the stick one that I made. When we started out our day transferring the leaves from the huge pile to the compost bin, this is how it looked. Last fall I raked, raked, and raked some more until I have a pile about three feet by six feet. I think I can remember saying that I wish we had some trees in our yard in WI.
We started out with a few leaves that we had run thru the mulcher...which is on the fritz now...and ended up having so many leaves that Mark had to lift me in the bin to stomp down the leaves. I'm sure that the neighbors loved seeing that! I am hoping that this compost bin works and we get some good rich compost to add to the yard. I just wonder how long it is going to take to decompose? We will put Mark on that piece of research.
I was raking behind the barn when I found this interesting plant. I have no idea what it is. Mark and I have looked in my plant encyclopedia and can't come up with a thing. I think it is a really cool plant. While we were cleaning up behind the compost bin I found about 15 more small plants minus the flower. I have emailed a plant and flower guru. Hopefully she will be able to tell us what it is and a little bit of the history about the flower.(Just got her email back...Jack-in-the-Pulpit)
This is one of my volunteer plants...those plants that volunteer to come up anywhere in the yard without you having any idea that they are there. When I tilled this bed I didn't notice any hosta at all. Then a few days ago when I was cleaning off the patio I moved a flower pot and there they were. It will be interesting to see how the grow.
We have several bushes that are starting to bud and bloom. So far we have these yellow and white azalea. Soon we will have some orange and reds also. That should add lots of color to the back portion of the yard. Papaw said that these were pretty, I think he is correct. Ella has gotten into the act of gardening. She can dig up plants as fast as I can plant them. These dandelions seem to be her favorite. She will see one across the yard and go on a mad dash across the yard and attack them. She then sneeze three or four times. And we have lots of these!
After a hard day of chewing, eating, pooping and chasing the kids, this is how Ella spends her down time. Mark was thrilled that she chose his dirty clothes to curl up on. While the rest of us are sweating and getting dirt under our fingernails, Sarah is off practicing at the track or participation in a meet.
With this shot, she came in second in the meet at AHS.
We then made our way up the hill to the discus. We were surprised by my former preschool boss. She had come especially to see Sarah. That was nice! And Sarah came in 4th. Michael had a little trouble at the end...it was getting late and he was tired, thirsty and "hungry enough to go to a restaurant". All of this and more in one week around here. Seems like all of this would make anyone tired. Today was a little bit of a down day. My sister and her husband and my niece came to visit UC. We got to visit for a few minutes over lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. When I came home it was cool enough that you didn't sweat when you worked int he yard. Michael and I were able to plant six packages of different varieties of marigolds and 4 different kinds of sunflowers. Betsy is on her way over with some Solomon's Seal and ferns. I know exactly where I am going to put them.
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