When we moved in almost 9 years ago, my mom n dad helped me build this cute little raised railroad tie bed in the back yard. It was a lot of work, because they overloaded their trailer with dirt to fill it up (somebody somewhere in Iowa had a mysterious gash appear in their ditch), and one of the trailer tires popped under the load. My dad chain-sawed 2 ties in half to make the short ends of a rectangle. He had an extra-long drill bit and some spikes that he used to fasten the ties together sort of lincoln-log style (or maybe more like legos, where they overlap). They have one of their own just like it in their back yard, though they covered the corners in metal press plates mom got from her work at the newspaper. At any rate, we covered the bottom over with black silo plastic as a weed barrier and poured in the dirt. Presto! Instant raised garden. I use it almost exclusively as a vegetable patch, with the occasional herb or two thrown in. This year we updated our medicine cabinet. The old one was rusted on the bottom. Instead of throwing it out, I had my husband drill some drainage holes in it, and bolted it to the side of the RR ties.
The plants are doing great this year. Last year was pretty pathetic because I could hardly get outside to do the weeding, what with a brand new baby n everything. I weeded it a couple times this year, which means it's pretty overrun with weeds. The green lattice things in the pic above we bought at Menard's 9 years ago too - they are pretty shabby now, and need to be relocated somewhere else. I use landscape fabric on top of the soil, and cut holes in that to put in seedlings my mom and I buy every year. I usually leave one or two sides without fabric to put seeds in. This year's produce is looking really great, despite all the heat we've been having (and the weeds).
Bee-u-tiful eggplants. They have not been doing as well in this heat wave. :(
The cucumbers are flowering! Green pear tomatoes behind them that will be yellow when ripe.
Bell peppers are liking the heat
What's left of the lettuce. I had a beautiful row of lettuce in the medicine chest planter, but we only got a few leaves out of it before they all shriveled in the heat over 4th of July weekend (we were out of town, so they got no rain and no water). BUT, there were a few hearty souls that managed to sprout again. They were volunteers that got transplanted from the main veg patch, along with some leftover seeds from last year.
Bib loves to help me "weed" - he throws them back in my garden! Just chillin on the front porch with the bee planter mom got me, and the ? Aunt Elaine filled it with. She told me the name, but I've forgotten. I remember the important stuff though, he doesn't like to be watered. Easiest potted plant I've ever owned.
Speaking of potted plants, this is what I've got going on in front of the house. My mother gave me "wave" petunias. They are supposed to sort of vine out and artfully overflow their container. Mine are not far enough along for that, but they aren't dead, which is what I worry about more. I put them in the top of my strawberry planter that only sprouted one plant this spring. I supplemented with some that mom was getting rid of from her garden. Hyvee had some blowout end-of-season deals, so I picked up some lemon balm for 50 whole cents. I don't really do anything with it, but I LOVE the way it smells when you crush the leaves. Maybe if I'm really lucky it will come back next year. It is *supposed* to be an annual.
It just rained a little bit ago, and Bib found a puddle on top of these buckets. He gave himself a little rain shower.
Last year we were a little late getting jack-o-lanterns into the yardy. Only half the pumpkin came up when I picked it up. Since there was already snow on the ground I decided to leave the bottom half where it was. So of course this spring we have some pumpkins in our front yard. I decided there was no reason to dig em up since they are coming along so nicely. We may have some nice ones come this fall. They are right behind the row of marigolds I planted from seed this year. They took a long time to come up, and then to bloom, but I am really proud of how pretty they look. My planters look pretty good too I think. In the top left corner I have a metal plant hook. It doesn't show here but the hyacinth beans that I harvested last year are coming up now too. They are a voracious vining plant that will completely engulf the plant hook.
Here is a visitor to the purple coneflowers that are new to my front yard this year. Hello little guy! I'm particularly impressed with the new guys' ability to stay green through massive heat waves. The bees have definitely found these flowers, and seem to hang out here all day. I think I will move them next year. Right now they hang over the front sidewalk, just inviting bee stings, though so far so good.
I don't remember the name of these variegated fellas. I bought them on sale at the end of the season. After I planted em it took a few weeks for them to come up. I thought they were dead maybe, since I bought em so cheap. But low and behold, patience has its virtues. I was SO happy to see these shoots come up, and now they are holding their own on the shady side of my house that has about 4 feet from my neighbors' house.
We own one tree on our property. I think it is a ginkgo tree. Our neighbors own a lawn/snow biz, and in exchange for having parking lot for their garage that faces the wrong way (onto our property), we get free lawn mowing/weed whipping. The guys come by about once a week with their giant mowers and things and mow the lawn. It always leaves a bare spot around the tree, so I tried to fill it in with hastas last year. They are going gung ho this year, but still had some gaps around the base of the tree. I filled em in with my cute little variegated (forget the name) shade plants. I think they look nice together. Unfortunately the bare spot has moved out to around the hastas now. Oh well.
Lastly, we have my ancient thing-a-ma-bobbin in a sea of seedum. I picked it up at a yard sale several years ago, thinking it would make a great re-sale if I could figure out what it was used for. I like it an awful lot though, so it is still here. I never did find out what it's for (not that I tried too hard). It has a little door on the front that opens, with a circular vent that opens and shuts. The top has a circle disc that lifts completely off, with a small hole right in the center (for some kind of handle possibly). It was obviously meant to have fire or coals inside, but whether it was supposed to be a portable picnic bbq, or to warm up a room away from the main fireplace is still a mystery. The legs and front have a nice finish, but the top seems a little unfinished, like maybe something else goes on top. Anyway, he weathers nicely outside in my bed of seedum.
I have some mystery seeds that I harvested from Uncle Gary's garden. I was silly enough not to label the seeds. So now they're sprouting and I have no idea what they are. When they bloom next week or so I will have a better idea. I hope they are as hearty as the coneflowers they are planted next to. They have one of the hottest locations in the whole yard.
I think I am going to let the seedum take over as much yard as it can. The creeping charlie and other weeds are winning the battle with the grass. Seedum seems like it could win the battle over any other plant trying to grow in my so-called lawn. Only needs occasional weeding, and is pretty darn drought tolerant. Also didn't do too bad in the long cold wet spring we had this year. Drought AND flood resistant. Sounds like my kind of plant!
Other than that, I don't have a whole lot of plans left to execute this year garden-wise. I'm pretty happy with the results this year.
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