Buckets of Gardening Ideas

Monday, June 7, 2010

Woo Hoo - Still Purple at Our House!

Linking up with
Bloomin Tuesday
Tuesday Garden Party
Fertilizer Friday

Favorite Things Friday

Finding Beauty
Show and Tell Friday

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It has been raining for a couple of weeks and it is beautiful!

It looks like we are in Oregon.

This is what I can see today when I looked out my back window.
This week everything is still a lovely purple and white.

These are the Iris blooming right out my window (they are in the lower left corner in the picture above) - aren't they lovely!

Here are four of the Iris' that are currently blooming - I just love purple!
The top left Iris is a Grape Iris - it smells like grape - isn't that amazing!

Here are the lilac bushes in full bloom in our yard. All are different colors and a heavenly smell.

Here is a picture of our pond area - next week I will share pictures of it - things are really starting to pop out there.

Looking at the buds about to bloom - next week should be a pink week!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share with you!

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This week I am thankful for springtime freshness and new beginnings, my faith in a loving Father in Heaven and the beatuiful world He has given to us as a gift. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; D&C 59: 18

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Everything is Blooming Purple at my House!

Linking up with

Bloomin Tuesday

Tuesday Garden Party

Outdoor Wednesday

Fertilizer Friday
Favorite Things Friday
Finding Beauty

Show and Tell Friday

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Everything at my house blooming is purple! Isn't it awesome!

The Iris' have started blooming.....

Apple Tree's still in full bloom - it smell's like I would imagine heaven smell's!

Our Veggie Garden

top right - onions/top left - peppers

bottom right- raspberries/bottom left - strawberries This is the top 1/3 of the garden This is the side 2/3 of the garden areaDon't you love spring - a promise of new beginnings.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope you have a great week.

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Today I am thankful for my sweetheart - we have been married for 13,149 days....that is a long time. He is a trooper and he loves me!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Our Entry Area

Be sure and check out Glenda's blog and all the other Fertilizer Friday Gardens - they are always great! http://www.tootsietime.com/

Also hooking up with favorite things Friday - check out all these great ideas.....so fun!http://thehillsarelivin.blogspot.com/

Linking up With Friday - FInding Beauty http://www.dipityroad.com/

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I love to do the pots in this area. Every year it is a different color combination.
Last year it was purple, pink and white so this year it is a total new look

Entry Theme - Oriental Garden Mostly Shade/Partial Shade/One Corner is Sun
Colors 2010 -Burgandy Lime Coral
Plants for Pots -Potato Vine - Lime, Lobelia - White, Ivy Geranium - Burgandy,
Coleous Red and Lime, Impatiens - Burgandy & Coral Pink, Begonia - Burgandy
Still need to get some Coral Diacsia (? on spelling on that one!)

I have 3 more pots to get some little plants for.
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This is the area from the front door looking out

I love watching things grow up and fill in here.

This is the blue pot at the side of the above pix it needs some coral Diascia. I love this lime potato vine. It is amazing with the burgancy coleous and other flowers in this wonderful blue pot.

Same area - looking in from the driveway entrance area.

These are the cluster of pots at the base of the tree. There are a couple I still need to fill with plants.

To the left of this cluster is another pot with a begonia in it, just behind the lime bleeding heart. Don't you love the lime!

I will show pictures through the summer as these things grow. I love the lime, I have a couple of lime coral bells I am nursing back to life in this same area and I will show them when they are growing.
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This is the rain cloud that came and chased us indoors. I worked out a little in the sprinkling for about an hour, then it poured on us - it was perfect!

Thanks for stopping by,
Have a safe weekend!

Thank you to all the Veteran's - especially my dad. (Korean War - 1950 - 1952)
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I am thankful today for the smells of spring - the dirt, the flowers, the tomatoe plants, everything that is so full of wonder.

Our Apple Tree's - Aren't They Lovely!

There are three of our apple tree's in bloom right now - I am so glad they bloomed this week and not last or the snow and freezing temps would have killed them. (These tree's can go to 28* without damaging blossoms - it has been colder than that.

This is a picture of the transparent tree - it is loaded - this is the one year - lots of applesauce, pie filling, dried apples, etc.

Here is a picture of the blossoms close up - our entire neighborhood smells so sweet!

Woodland Garden Progress May 27th

The Woodland Garden is really growing! It snowed the first of the week and I was concerned about plants breaking off, but they did really well through it.

This is the south side

Close up of the plants falling over the walk - I love it when they do this!

This area is about 4 years old - this year finally things are touching! I see all these magazine photo's of lush gardens and this one is finally doing it! WOO HOO

This is the same area on May 10.

Same south side May 10 - look how much things have grown!

Planting Peppers and Tomatoes

I love to plant peppers - they grow nicely here and we always get a wonderful harvest. I make salsa with them, freeze them and dry them for storage and cooking. The top corner is on the south east side. The wind blows from that side so I put a little wall up to help protect them from that. Here they are first planted:

I have found I also need to protect them from the sun after they are first planted. I put tomato cages in each corner and hook a small blanket or a sheet to them for the first couple of weeks. It warms up here quickly (Literally overnight) and the poor little plants can get fried quickly until they are used to the heat.

Here are my tomatoes - I love the yellow and orange tomato cages! I am working on replacing my old ones with these bright colors - aren't they so cheery!?!?!?!

They are planted in tires because we fill up the edges of them with water. The daytime heat warms up the heat and when it cools down at night it keeps the plants nice and warm. OUr nigh time temps in the summers are in the 40's. We also add a milk carton upside down eith the bottom cut out. It is pushed into the ground. Then when we water, we fill them up so the water gradually goes into the tomatoes. They are planted against the fence - perfect protection from the wind. They get as tall as the fence and are covered in yummy tomatoes!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Blooming Tuesday!

Thanks for Jean for hosting this for us every week - be sure and check out the other gardeners all over the country - so fun to see what is growing in different zones.

http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/

http://www.anoregoncottage.com/

We live in zone 4 but some of our yard I can sneek in zone 5 plants because of mico climates. For for the past 3 days it has been snowing! We get snow sometimes in May but rarely this late.

My house is clean as per the sign above! Because of the snow and the cool temp's. Nothing has changed from last week and I didn't know what to share today. Then I remembered the plants hanging out in the car for protection.

I went to the nursery and bought bought the tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes we need for our garden. There weren't any people there - who could blame them - there was a blizzard outside! It was a perfect day to shop. The whole area got the storm from Montana down to south of Provo, Utah. (It is 100 miles to Yellowstone going north and 250 miles south to Provo + 350 miles that is a HUGE area.)

I realized then I could tell you about one of the four pot area's. I try to get what I need for them one area at a time, get them planted and then move onto the next one I used to buy it all at once and then I was overwelmed and didn't enjoy it - this is supposed to be fun! It is supposed to warm up the end of the week so I am ready to plant.

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The next post is filled with some garden art ideas - it was snowing on Saturday and I had planned to work outside - so I spent my time looking at others gardens - I mean I can only clean my house so much!!!

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I am adding to my posts what Darla does over at http://morefamilyandflowers-darla.blogspot.com/

Today I am thankful for the hope that sunshine brings!