Memorial Day Update

May has been a busy month and I haven't got much posting in, so here is an update of the work done this month.

The patio pots have been filled.  The pretty red flowers are begonias, planted with some pretty purple petunias.  In the shade we've done some impatiens, which I have never had much luck with, but we'll see.  In the big pots, we also are trying our elephant ears from last year that we over-wintered in a temperature controlled area of the garage.  We will see if they come up this year or not.  We also have some beautiful zinnia plants from the greenhouse.  Last year they were tall spikes with one flower on the top.  I wonder if they get pruned if we'll get more blooms?  Time for some research I think.

Before planting, I added a mix of top soil, compost and miracle grow potting soil, about a third of each.  I'm also watering once a week with liquid miracle grow for blooms.

What do you think?  I think I need more pots...!

We have three hanging baskets this year, purchased from Gerten's.  We added this cool hanger and put the hummingbird feeder out by the hammock.  I haven't seen any birds on it yet, but hopefully soon!  We have seen a couple buzzing around though.

The butterfly garden is slowly coming along.  It still needs some major weeding, but we are making some headway.  Once the plants start coming in strong and flowering, we will see about adding some plants, etc.

Hey look, the hydrangeas are growing and the sod is still alive!

And last but not least...the lilacs are blooming!  They have just started, but the smell is heavenly.  My favorite time of year.  

Woodland Wildflowers

Here are some lovely wildflowers we saw just starting to bloom on our Mother's Day walk through the woods.  So pretty!

Springtime planting

Here are some photos of our progress yesterday.  We made a new planting bed around the deck (half of it is done) so we filled it with some new hydrangeas and the little roses from the front yard.  We also laid some sod.

The lilacs are greening up nicely, hoping they will be blooming by Memorial day.  The little Hummingbirds are back too.  I don't know if they have found the feeder yet though.

I forgot!

I forgot to mention I saw our first butterfly over the weekend!  It was darkly colored, I did not recognize it in my quick glimpse, but I do hope it sticks around.  Signs of spring are so comforting

First planting of the season!

Finally!  We spent some long but enjoyable hours outside this weekend.  We spent a few hours raking up the sticks and dried grass and seeds and leaves from the backyard.  Hopefully with the warmer temps the grass will start to grow and the lawn won't look so sparse.  The front yard still needs some hard raking, which will hopefully get done after work over the next week.

We also had a nice bonfire this afternoon, burning up a lot of the brush that accumulated over the winter.  We still have enough for one good bonfire yet, perhaps next weekend.

In the garden, I got one of the planter boxes loaded up with some compost and a new layer of dirt from last year' pots (next year maybe we can do that in the fall...).  In it, I planted a row each of our spring crops:  sugar snap and snow peas, red and green romaine, spinach, arugula, radishes, carrots, cilantro and parsley.

We also made our first trip to Gertens this year.  We got some nice hanging baskets (I'll post pics later) as well as potatoes and onion sets for planting.  Hopefully we will get those in the garden this week.

I put my hoe from Johnny's today!  Used it for the first time-it works splendidly!  

Finally, we got the bird feeder stand put up in its new location.  I'm not convinced of it yet-it's a little low to be seen from the deck, but we will try it for a bit.  The feeders are full, except for the hummingbird feeder, I need to make some syrup yet.  We'll see how long it takes for the birds to find them again!

The next week looks to be filled with 60 degree temps and scattered showers.  Hopefully everything will respond and green things up!

...bring Creeping Charlie

It's the only thing that seems to be growing!  We have gotten over 4 inches of rain in the last week, but it's been so cold and dreary that the only think that seems to be growing is the pile of branches for the fire pit from all the wind we have been having.  Today, however, I got home from work and the weather was a stable, not too breezy 55 degrees.  The sun even tried to peak out for a few minutes!  So I spent an hour or so in the butterfly garden trying to carefully weed out the Charlie without disturbing the perennials...never an easy task.  But even if I accidentally sacrificed a columbine flower or two, it's worth it to get ahead of the creeper.  And since I don't trust it in the compost bin...it's more fuel for the fire pit!

Hopefully the balmy weather will continue this weekend and we can get a nice bunch of spring cleanup finally done.