Rabbit Trails

I say cinder blocks are a gardener's best friend!  Cinder blocks don't rot, they don't break easily, they don't lose their shape, they don't ever go out of style. I will use the holes as planters and will plan on watering often.  I added a few other types of bricks that I have in random spots just waiting for a home. Sun-dial and Bird-bath. I had a really fun time today digging, fixing up, moving and planning.   This little spot here that you see is what's left of a square foot cinder block garden. (bottom pic)  My two boys bought me bricks for my birthdays.....and this is where they were first placed.  Today I was alone in my gardening efforts, but I used to have two boys that would be out back with me moving the heavy things and doing shovel stuff!  I'm on my own now, but I have the presents they gave me many years ago, and the memories. I'm going to let the grass grow over this spot, but it will always be a special *spot* to me.  One o...

Ice plant falling out of an old sink......... The dark pink zinnias remind me of a full dress with a can-can under it! My new garden art....a couple of mice. Munch Munch Munch Old pots I might need some day.  I threw all of my plastic ones away....ones like this only get better! I let this critter go......well, I gave it a place to get big drinks of water....and it got away.  Climbed right up a slippery pan and GOT AWAY.  I am too nice sometimes. Every once in a while, something curly happens to my flowers! We've had lots and lots of rain this summer, so things are growing and blooming like it was early Spring!

If I can get tickled over a little bit of lettuce from my garden for a few sandwiches, can you imagine what I'd feel like if I could actually coax a cucumber, watermelon, or cantaloupe from the ground? OR STRAWBERRIES? I have great respect for those that can grow a garden and have a harvest that can actually be USED and enjoyed.

Part of the joy of gardening is never knowing what will pop up, and where something might end up. It's hot and miserable here in the summer, but to have flowers bloom even through winter makes it all worth it.  I can't imagine life without gardening. I like to pull weeds. I like to plant seeds. I like to snip flowers for vases. I like to move bricks and rocks to decorate. I love Shamrocks and I love Irises. I like to see frogs hop around. I like to use mulch. I just wish I could get Morning Glories to bloom.

We 'were' going to have black bean burritos for supper tonight but got pizza instead. I wasn't really enjoying seeing my stuffed rabbits, so I made the hutch a skirt. As soon as I don't have anything else to do, I am going to sew buttons from Bird in Hand.... onto the hutch skirt. Trigger has been put out to pasture. Actually, this is my mulch spot. But he doesn't know. Free hot air, it dries towels. For free. This is the spot that I tried to grow a garden. I had it all squared off with cinder blocks and excellent soil from my mulch pile. But NO>>>>>> The neighbor has a tree in his back yard the size of an oil tanker that totally is shading our back yard.  It will be the tree that crushes our roof when the next hurricane comes. It is the tree that weeps black sooty mold on everything in the back yard. Including the clothes line. grrrrr. If I had a truck with a cherry picker on it.... I'd be cutting me down a tree. My neighbor ...

The Larkspurs are going to seed. I love it. They rattle when you bump into them. You can see little black seeds on the ground around the plants. Each day there are more to gather. I know my Grandma used to gather seeds from her flowers. I have an envelope that used to have seeds in it from her. It said:  Sweet William I love to save seeds for the next growing season. The plants and flowers just seem to mean more. Now they are not coming from a package I bought from the Dollar General . Now they are growing from seeds I saved. Just like Grandma .

Grandmother's garden had old fashion flowers, Hollyhock, Roses and Rue..... Two out of three isn't bad....... RUE: is rue a verb or a flower?

I just LOVE this time of year.

grilling finding fun things in my garden re-arranging wot-nots

see recipe on next post

Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts. Earth laughs in flowers. I love Spring anywhere, but if I could choose, I would always greet it in a garden. Ruth Stout One of the worst mistakes you can make as a gardener is to think you're in charge. Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow. Abraham Lincoln If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere. The butterfly is a flying flower, The flower is a tethered butterfly. Blossom by blossom the spring begins....... The tiniest garden is often the loveliest. Gardeners, I think, dream bigger dreams than emperors. I have never had so many good ideas, day after day, as when I worked in the garden. What a pity flowers can utter no sound. A singing rose, a whispering violet, a murmuring honeysuckle--oh, what a rare and exquisite miracle would these be. Anyone ...

This is my newest garden. It is the Timber Garden, because this is where the tree got cut down. I rocked it in and moved the shamrock plants around a bit. I got the prettiest and largest rocks from around the yard to fix this garden up. This square wash-tub will catch rain water. And here I was......trying to pare down my gardens, and then I do this. Except! this one is easy to keep because it is shaded and weeds don't tend to grow here. And it's right by the front door so I can pick weeds every time I go outside. To feed the cats. 5 times a day. This is frog water and the silver jar watering pots are for if any chickens happen by. They can get a drink, too.

January blooms........ The garden was glowing today! I love this time of year. On our way to Kansas we stopped at Starbuck's. They had old grounds to use for mulch and we had room for them in the car, so I got a bag. I haven't stirred them into my mulch pile yet. The leaves in the gray pan are cottonwood leaves from my dad and mom's yard.