Garden addition

I've been doing a lot of digging lately and in this blog I'll share the latest garden development.

It's been fun looking  back at the progression of the gardens.  Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the yard when we first bought the place.  It was all quack grass, creeping charlie and bare patches of dirt.  Some would say it was ugly ...I saw a blank canvas.  This first photo is from May 2018 when we added the raised bed on the side of the shed. The back is still just with the decking.

The initial garden was just around the tree.  

This got expanded in 2019.

Later on I added a secondary garden island figuring he could mow between them.  Keep a visual record of that "grassy" area on the side of the shed.

He recently asked if I could combine them because it was difficult mowing between them.  So I connected the two gardens and added pavers to create a path.  I didn't think to photo that development.  I added pavers to create a little strolling lane through the garden.

Then I asked if I could extend this combined garden up to the shed.  Permission granted and the shovel came out.  On Thursday at 9 am the area from the mailbox to the end of the shed was just grass. See the photo above if you need to. I started digging that up to prepare the area. Then I went to buy pavers and bark mulch.  I grabbed lunch for us on the way home for a quick meal and then went to 101 Market for top soil and a few starter plants.

I dug in the five (40 lb) bags of top soil into the existing ground and placed the pavers.  Got the plants planted and laid down the bark mulch. Watered everything in and cleaned off the pavers.  It was 3:30 pm when I put everything away and went into shower.  Garden in a day.

It's not completely done yet.  I ordered an arbor to place at the start of the path and will add some clematis if I can find the ones I want, otherwise that will have to wait until next year.  The bird bath may have to go due to space constraints.

Long Live the Queen of Gardening

What's Blooming Now?

It's early June and some of the plants are just starting to show their buds.

The rose on the side of the shed is doing wonderful and I hope it time it covers the trellis

This is the back of the shed.

Here are the Asiatic lilies.

There are three clematis on these trellises but they are so tiny you can hardly see them.  However one produced a huge purple flower that I couldn't resist sharing.

If you look closely you can see the purple bloom on the right side.  The plant is only a few inches tall.

Even the cactus my friend Larry gave me has new growth.

These little pavement roses are starting to bloom as well.

It's fun watching things blooming at different times.

Long Live the Queen

Fairies Abound

We had fairies living with us in Wisconsin and they seemed to have found me again.

This is where they live most of  the  time, in this little cabin in our little woods.

I don't always see them, but sometimes I hear them laughing, so I know they're there.

Apparently they are like humans and like to get away from it all once in a while because I discovered their campground on the other side of my garden. 

It's not very far away, but sometimes you just have to get out of the house.

Ooops.  Clotheslines are not allowed in the park, so I'm going to have to ask them to dry their wings inside.  No photo as it seemed like an invasion of their privacy.

Long Live the Queen

Garden Expansion

Left Brain mentioned that he would like to have me plant the area between the two gardens as it's hard to mow in there.

I don't know if he meant for me to take it as far as I did, but I saw a green light for more garden space and went with it.  I interpreted it as stripping all the sod up to the shed, so that's how I spent my day on Friday.  Nothing a couple of Aleve won't take care of.

Since I had so much fun putting in the first pavers (note the sarcasm), I decided to add them here also.  Hmm, I might have to order another arbor for this side of the garden.

This will look really nice when the additional plants are added and the ground cover fills in. 

Long Live the Queen

The Cat Kennel Gets an Upgrade

I'm loving the new catio in our yard, possibly more than the cats are.

It will look really lovely when the vines are develop and start blooming.

I have one tall shelf so they can get way up there, and a second shelf to allow them easier access.

There is a pop-up cube on the bottom shelf for when George feels nervous and needs to hide.

And the water dish is on the bottom shelf of the other side.
The second shelf has a red "Jacks" to add a touch of whimsy.

What other kennel do you know that has metal art and stained glass?  I mean, this is a very upscale cat cage!

There are four pavers inside by the door so Gracie can roll about on the concrete where it's cleaner.  I hate it when she does it by the RV as there's so much dirt and she gets filthy.

I planted oat grass in a prime location so they have a little salad bar to enjoy in addition to the regular grass.

Long Live the Queen

Love Your Neighbor

It's only three words, but so hard to do.  We have a person in our neighborhood that has some challenges and makes it very difficult indeed.

He's on medication that makes him go a bit crazy and he doesn't always make good decisions.  Many of the women in the park are fearful of him due to his bizarre behavior, such as spraying the hose on the side of their house in the wee hours of the morning.

When he introduced himself to me he was very nice and my theory is always to be nice to those who are nice to me.  

Last night I asked Pete to mute the TV so I could ascertain if what I was hearing were gunshots.  It sounded like a low caliber, but still.  Then there were several in a row.  Gunshots within hearing distance always is scary to me, especially since we had once lived near a man who committed suicide in his RV. 

It turns out this guy was throwing firecrackers at the geese to keep them from his yard.  We live on the banks of the Mississippi so to me this is a given if your house is right on the river.  Seemed like those that complain about the noise of the airplanes when they buy a house next to the airport. 

Tonight I asked him to mute the TV so I could make out what was going on as I could hear loud voices.  Yup, a fight was about to break out and I watched the next door neighbor get into it with him with some shoving.

Left Brain is on the Rules Committee, so he ran out the door to intervene .  He's a very patient man and a good person to diffuse the situation.  I didn't see any kind of weapon.

Our park is an HOA and the board has been dealing with the issue of this man for some time.  It may come to having to revoke his membership, which means he can only come on the property to sell his property.  That scares me because of the volatile nature, but we'll take it day by day.

Ok, the police just pulled up.  That should quiet things down a bit.

Long Live the Peace Loving Queen