Yesterday's Storm

We have had a very nasty bout of violent storms over the past few days.  Yesterday one of these storms blew up so I took a few video clips.  This video clip does not show the full force of the violence as I ended up having to take cover.  Cedar trees to the left just out of range of the camera moments later were bent almost in half.  The rain came down so hard the garden was barely visible. 

A Petunia Garden

Petunia GardenJuly 10, 2010
Part of loving gardening is enjoying and learning from other gardeners.  Saturday we took the boat out for a wonderful day spent on the water.  I managed to snap this picture of a petunia garden from the boat.  I'm actually impressed at how clear it came out.  Aren't those frogs simply adorable?  They look like they are enjoying their quiet spot tucked in the petunias!

More Spring Blooms

Spring activities in the garden this year have been rather slow mainly because it is still early weatherwise for us but also because we have our house on the market.  We had hoped to be moving in time to establish a garden at the new house but that doesn't look like it will be happening.  I am plugging ahead working on the area we started last fall so there has been minor improvements there. 

A Flower Mosaic From 2009

Flowers of 2009
April 6, 2010
I love taking a lot of pictures of my gardens and any other gardens I may happen upon. A great way to display some of my favourite pictures aside of online through my blogs is in scrapbooks. Yesterday morning I sat down to make a tutorial on making a simple mosaic for one of my blogs. I thought I would share the resulting mosaic with you as well. It was a fun

First Robin of 2010

First RobinMarch 24, 2010A few days ago I spotted the first robin of 2010. That's a sure sign of nicer weather to come so now it's time to get excited. Spring is always a fun time of the year in the garden. This one will be just a little bittersweet with the upcoming move. I'm sure everything will work out well and I'll be able to report not only on this garden until we move but the new

Garden Reflection and Moving On

My gosh when I look back at what we have accomplished here it really is amazing. In some ways we did not accomplish what we wanted but with our decision to sell, it is time to do a bit reflection. This property brought about many gardening challenges with the most extensive one being ripping out extreme over growth. The shear volume of ripping out our first two years was so discouraging.

Garden Visitor

Garden VisitorNovember 7, 2009This little guy visited us earlier in the month. He was a bit sluggish so I moved him off the path. Autumn has been rather mild and for the most part drier than the spring and summer. There isn't much left to do in the garden and yard other than the last minute tidying. We've cleaned the beds from debris and most of the leaves have been raked up from the yard.

Garden Bounty

This blog focuses on what grows in my garden so it isn't often that you get to see how I use some of my garden goodies. Today I thought I would share a couple of ways we use garden goodies. If you would like to see more ways we use the garden produce, please visit my cooking blog.Summer Garden SaladWe eat some type of salad almost daily year round so really look forward to fresh, home grown

This Lawn is Your Lawn

I'm of the mindset that every household should have a vegetable garden. This is not a new idea as Victory Gardens were encouraged as a way to save energy and keep people fed during World War I and World War II. Twenty million of these gardens existed producing 40% of the vegetable produce consumed nationally in the United States. Planting a vegetable garden was seen as a national duty.I hope

Purple Martin House

Purple Martin HouseThe Purple Martin (Progne subis) is a member of the swallow family. It is a medium sized, migratory song bird much desired in gardens. The male is entirely a glossy dark, purplish black sheen while the female is purplish black with a duller sheen and lighter underpants. Several Purple Martins will nest in a multi-compartmented birdhouse much like a bird condo building. They

Last Thursday was moving day. It was an extremely long and tiring day yet I was up at the crack of dawn to explore our new surroundings. I did a walk about the gardens with the camera noting some of the plants that I haven't grown before or have very little experience with.GreenspaceOur property is on a deadend road. A greenspace dotted with a stand of trees separates our road from the main

A Final Goodbye to this Garden

My garden here as I knew is is no more and may cease to exist entirely after the new owners take possession of the house. This garden gave me much more than I could even begin to put into words. It was such a learning experience in all aspects. I have so many memories and pictures of this garden so it will live on in my mind, in our family discussion and in the scrapbooks. It will also live

Bluejays

Attracting birds to my gardens has been one of my goals. Most birds are beneficial in the garden and while some can be pests, they are easily controlled. I was shocked when a fellow gardener referred to grackles as junk birds! As gardeners, we are stewarts of the land so there should be no such thing as junk critters. Some are pests and some are beneficial but all serve a purpose. I took this