Rockin' Robin

Just a picture update of our garden' progress. No blooms on the sunflowers yet... The birds wanted to show their love, and waiting patiently for the seeds, so inside of beautiful blooms, I have birds! There were a couple families out there today loving each other. It was really kind of adorable, just sitting with the kitchen door open and listening to them. Such beautiful little songs they have for us. The doves were there yesterday, four couples of them, nestled in the bark. Mik and I were listening to them as well. So sweet when my honey asked if he had heard an owl. They get often mistaken for each other. He didn't seem all that surprised though. I love doves.

 We're patiently waiting for the garden lately. I want so badly for those things to bloom, but I just can't wait. Its seeing all my favorite flowers growing, and easily these sunflowers are growing on the north side of seven feet tall! Still nothing. I will await them longer still, but I can't give up hope. I just want them to get there with their tiny little buds. They'll get there. Our birdies and I will continue to encourage them!

Meanwhile, the caterpillar eggs from our friendly little butterfly has hatched. This one will make you all smile. These are our stages of caterpillar! 1-3. The next stage is a cocoon! Lets go Pillars! And in addition, some of our porch garden pictures.

Stage 1: There are several of these guys on the plant varying in size. These are the most tiny. Starting from that size, to about a quarter of the tip of my finger. Forefinger, not thumb. Sadly, Simon was eaten by a bird, so this leaves only the new babies at this size, since Alvin has moved on too.....

Stage 2: ALVIN! His first day of Stage two, and his little puttum feets! Munch away little guy! You have to catch up to Theodore, who has moved on to....

Stage 3: The Big Daddy

Bigger everyday! We're rooting for you pillar!

And for a finisher! Our garden as of late.

 Grow, grow little garden

Picture-Palooza

So many things I would have to say, so instead I shall simply SHOW you the greatness.  We went, flower shoppping!

The garden:

The Dill. Sadly is getting quite sad but it still managed to show me its little yellow flowers before it took a turn for the worst!  I'm not sure why, but the whole bottom of it is yellowish and then the upper leaves are now turning to a sad sort of brown.  It began so bushy and stayed that way until I tookthe vacation, but the dill never really liked mom I guess.  Maybe we'll revive it yet!

This is a new addition since the last blog but still got planted recently where as the flowers we aquired last night are still in the ground.  Its very cute and is drought resistant.  I believe!!! this is my aunty's favorite kind of plant.  Only stands a mere 2 inches tall right now!

 This picture was just a quick shot toshow off our nicely growing dahlias which aren't saggy yet, and some brand new pots mom got over vacation of begonias! Not my favorite flower, but I like these because their leaves are as red as they are!

The above speak for themselves! BEAUTIFUL!!!!

 

The shopping spree!!!!

No idea what they are called but I like these they are very purple and very nice.  We have been searching for something purple with some height that wasn't too derpy looking for some time.  Hopefully this is the match we've been looking for!!!

Mom's echinacea

below: MORE echinacea w/ a spiky celosia, a plant called sparklers, and a HUGE pot of petunias!

 Yes so many plants so little time. Not even pictured here is a new oregano, jade (nifty cactus thing), a second enormous petunia pot of purples, and red puffy plants like the yellow ones above. I just couldn't help myself and neither could mom. We love out plants! There's also five coleus not shown yet.  Can't wait to give more sneak peeks!!! Keep your eyes peeled.

Reporting In

So here I am in FL, and pleased to report, that the garden has a tender!  Mom is doing a wonderful job keeping the babies well tended and growing happy as clams.  The transplanted sunflowers have even made it passed a week of life now and I'm so happy!  There were three babies, but only two made it, but that's better than nothing!  She's even sent pictures to show us all how wonderful they were doing!  That picture is the weekend that I left, and the one on the right is as of last night! You can see the two tiny baby sunflowers in the bottom left corner!  The bud below is from the sunflower that towers over the shoulder of my momma now, and she reports it as a 2 inch in diameter, golfball shaped bud.  Hopefully it doesn't bloom until I get home on Sunday!

The elephant ear has grow exponentially! From the tiny bud in the last post, to a two pronged leaf baring beauty! Soon it might get taller and I simply can't wait. There are so many growing things that she has had to send over 9 pictures last night to cover all the bases!  And apparently last night she potted the picasso petunias, the tequila sunrise petunias, and weeded! The picasso's you can't really tell, but they have purply pink flowers, with lime green tips! They are beautiful! You never know what you might find! She added some other plants but I can't quite make out what they are but there's also some spikeys!

Its the neatest thing ever.  The dill, and the lavender are yet to be close uped, but I saw some yellowing on the dill's lower branches but mom said that was from a few days in between where she couldn't make it.  It will recover and hopefully get nice and strong and big! I love the dill, its so fluffy! And for those of you that keep up on the garden progress and knew the marigolds were just starting to recover right before I left... I have a picture for you!!!!!

WHOOT! WHOOT!  More to come!!!!

From your loving gardener in the forever spring!

-Tine!

P.S.

Guess who's growing! (Mom found him while culling at home!

The Elephant in the Room

Another good day today! Just another documentation of how big the sunflowers are getting. Mr. Bean is only just 4 years old, and it is now over his head. I can't wait until it gets bigger. This of course is the largest of the sunflowers and the others are rising slowly now that I've been watering for almost a half hour straight each day. It appears to be helping! There's some real progress in the garden, despite thinking they were getting a bit tired, they weren't! The sunnies are growing, the elephant ear emerged, and the marigolds are starting to make a whole new round of flowers now that they are coming back from the desert weekend. So exciting! With high hopes I say these just may make the summer!

My Garden!

Its grown so beautifully people! There is just something so great about having gone over there last night to see my people and the product of hard labor. The plants look gorgeous! I'm overwhelmed.

The whole thing turned out great! Look at how it thrived! Before and after!


Just look at the marigolds and how lush they are!


And the spikey plants!



Everything is so beautiful, and all the potted plants lived, but just look at my sunflowers!!!!! Following the sun and the kept safe from todays storm by the fence. There are so many blooms I can't wait to see them again!

of pests and men!

SO! The herbs are loving the out of doors. I sent them out there and check them every hour with a cold water spray bottle and try to scare away the mites. It seems... that along with the mites having left, the plants have taken over. No one seems to mind them. In fact, there is a local stray/housecat I have dubbed 'Hector' who likes to wipe his face all over the lavender. Its cute so long as he doesn't... you know, do his business on my plant!

Anyway sicne these 4 have done so amazing outside I took the next pot out to get the buggies off of that one too. Even so mom thinks I should leave the cured ones outside because they've gotten so strong in the rich sunlight. Its true ^^

SO! I was reading more about my lavender plant since its been saved from the pestilence, and it seems I'm not going to have flowers this year. They flower only on the 2nd or 3rd year. ALSO! I'm suppose to have been pruning them! Because if you don't prune them in the summer than the next year the plant will grow... 'unruly?' Now I still don't know what the 'woody' part of the plant is, but I think I did well when I took my scissors out there this afternoon. These dried leaves will be an attempt at lavender basil tea. I hear the mix is quite nice. I know the smell is!

*dies of heavenly scents*

Anyway lets hope that the plants enjoy some more outdoorsy time and I get to enjoy the nice smells! Guess the shampoos will wait til next year!

Busy with the Buggies

Sooo I failed. I thought that the uggy buggies had only taken over a few of the plants. Well upon getting them off those plants they returned... from the other plants. So NOW! I'm going to eave them out of doors. Well the first bunch I am going to leave out of doors. I have 4 outside now. The Lavender, the second boxwood basil, the mint, and the sweet basil. They are going to be getting the 'cold shoulder' of bug techniques. First they go outside, then! I spray them with chilly water every few hours and sprinkle it all over them until the bugs decide its the worst place EVER to live.

THEN! I move them indoors after washing down the plant area and take the next batch outdoors. I've decided the soap thing is evil because it killed most my plants. Well it ate away at the leaves and its sort of miffing me off so that tech is gone. But this way I'm hoping that I'll get everything all cleaned up and such. Anyway I hope that my wonderful neighbors don't think of this as an opportunity to put their cigarettes out in them. They seem decent enough people. Anyway. Here's hoping.

Poor jail babies!

More New Additions

Yesterday was EPIC! I started out the day checking out my bank account to realize I had about 50 dollars more than I thought I did, so! I brought home some new additions to my store bought plant family. Its been an awful growing season so far, but its finally starting to look good rather than the bleak sadness that has been going on here.

To start out the happy day, I opened my windows and let in the morning air. The strange thing about that, though I live at a complex with little to know yard, there are outdoor plants that stand about as tall as my window and blew their smell right in. LILACS! It inspired me. So seconds after getting up I whooshed through the house to find a jar and filled it with lilacs to begin the oiling process for the essential oils. Its so cool. I've read that no one makes lilac oils, but I'm going to try and I'm going to succeed.

After that we went to do the laundry like we do every weekend. Between the loads we usually do something so mom took me to the dollar store where I found some more nice candle holders and we gathered some pots for mom since she thinks we should put some flowers in the Chris/Kelly garden and I think she's right. Next step was getting the flowers, of course! That's where we found Walmart, and holy cow, it was amazing. I found dwarf lavender! Something I can grow at home for only 2 dollars! Its amazing. Here it is!

Mom however did not fin the flowers she was looking for, so after changing over the laundry again, we headed to Menards. That was even more amazing because mom found the flowers she wanted and I found, you guessed it, ANOTHER lavender plant! This one was an herbal lavender, meant specifically for the fun stuff, and it was even cooler because they look so much different, I mean look at this!

Its been so very fun! Look at how beautiful. The day just went so amazing. I had this great day and it wasn't going to go unwasted. That wasn't the only thing huh!? We went to my cousin's/auntie's house so that I could hang with the fam. It was so nice to drop by and see my family enjoying the day. Check out what they've got in their front yard.

We were there until 8pm and my goodness it was just nice. I've missed you spring, so much.

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Today! Today is going to be something that resembles, though a home version. I'm going to be replanting today, the boxwood basils that I have been claiming to replant for a week, and after mom gets home I will gathering up some cheese cloth so that I can take care of step two of the dandelion oils. The full day to come, later!

Catching up

I feel so bad because I disappeared for so long and didn't show anyone my hard work that I've been so proud of. So here we are all my hard garden work:

That happy lady is my momma after we finally put the mulch down and had officially finished the planting part. This section is allll done. But Chris did see it and say something about giving me the front yard to work on too sooooo very awesome right? I'll put up the before and afters after the plants have come up and flowered.

On a similar planting note, these were my presents from mom that you can see in the full garden shots. these are the stones between the larger rocks, 6 in total! And this is my garden snail!

Its all very exciting and I also have pictures of the other things she gave me, but you never know where I might post them!!!!

And in the spirit of spring I am starting my very first essential oils project and I am stating with the smell OF!!!!!

I just figure that there are lots o them to practice with so wish me luck!!!

Who Needs a Stork!?

So I don't know about you people, but I don't! I have a garden Snail!!! Who needs a stork when you have a snail? Its awesome. Mom bought it for me, along with a bunch of garden stuff for my faux garden. She said if I was going to have a garden it needs hanging things and spikes and stones and there's no reason why I shouldn't have them! So she took me first to Lowe's (never been to one before), to pick a nice blackwood mulch. Very nice stuff if I do say so myself! While there, she got me a beautiful boxwood basil plant. Let me tell you it smells AMAZING! Definately going to be aiding the candle making business. ^^ Then we went to Walmart to check their prices and procured some weed and feed so that the gnarly death plants won't regrow. AND THEN! we went to Menards to check the prices of hyacinths. This is also where we got Ant killer, because there's a large amount of them in the garden and well, we all know I don't like to be crawled on. In between all THAT! We went to the dollar store and got these amazing little garden sparklies which I can't WAIT to show off. I promise pictures of the middle process will be taken tomorrow. Before is before we tackled it, middle is cleaned but no flowers, and after is once all the plants come up!

I'm going to be working on the garden tomorrow morning, well more like noon, BUT gonna put in the stone works, sparklies, and ornaments. Also going to use the weed and feed, mulch and then plant the babies! Very exciting work for tomorrow. I can't wait. Just telling you now. I'm in a great mood.

Planning!

Hellooooo!!!

So today is the day of plan. I didn't update on Saturday, but I have news!

Spent a few hours at Kelly and Chris' house on Saturday with mi madre and Emma. It was great. The kids running around squealing and enjoying themselves, but the best was the fact that little Jonathan was 'help weed!' Hehehe. He had the hand trowel and was turning the soil to get out the weeds. He's a very helpful little man. Where baby Sarah was far more interested in putting the leaves in the brown bag. They were both so amazingly helpful and cute. So as of Saturday, the garden area has been turned and weeded, ready for seeds!

Anyway, with mom's help I have decided the next stage in the works. Sunflowers. We've decided we need far more of them as well as different varieties. This time there will be autumn beauties, but these being planted directly into the dirt. The Dahlias are going around the bench and something purple or blue. Yes that's right this is quite an endeavor and I hope its all worth it in the end. I definitely am still feeling Saturday's shoveling.

SUNDAY! Mom bought us some more seeds. I got another packet of chive seeds to fill in the edges of my pot. Hopefully this all works out because yes I believe I am vaguely jealous of the fact that Nicky's chives are already so huge. I planted those this morning and I will be potting the sunflowers we already have, attempting to give them more space to make it through the next week.


BUT! These are all the beginning stages so I am just riding the wave.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have decided between the most difficult and messy things and those which would yield the most stuff. SO! After mass reading online I have discovered that I can make essential oils WITHOUT a distiller. Perfectly grand. So this year I am making candles. I am going to make basil candles with chive flower accents in them because the flowers have no smell once doused in wax. I'm also going to make some spice candles using the cumin. (which is great because another cumin plant came up the other day)These of course are suppose to have an effect on mood which each different smell.

Candles, sounds fun right? I know I'm looking forward to it!

The First Melon!

For those of you who don't get that, its from Ice Age, or rather the 'last melon' is from Ice Age. Anyway! The point remains that I am in awe and have become quite jolly! I produce before you! The first planted pots of 2011!


Very exciting, VERY exciting indeed! Mom produced me with some dirt. I would have bought it myself, but as we are all well aware,... I'm cheap. Plus I forgot that I could acquire some from my friendly neighborhood garden providers. They have a mountain of dirt that currently has no home or plant to cover until I get the remaining leaves cleaned out of the area.

Speaking of them by the way, I mentioned to mom that perhaps since she's going through yard withdrawal as well, that I'm sure she'd be welcomed to join me on a weekend to bring the Emma-pie and let her play whilst she aids me in the garden. They are such wonderful people those Morton's. I honestly want to repay them by making what I think will be a grand garden for them. I think she wants to plant an actual garden with potatoes, which is something I would love to do, but in order to do that I think we'd have to find a different plot. The current plot providers aren't into growing root veggies I think.




Nice and tall those sunflowers are. I wish they'd hold off just a wee bit longer, I have to wait another two weeks before they go into the ground and all. I would prefer if they'd get more stocky rather than taller, but they are already growing a second pair of leaves! Those in the middle there are the cumin, looking very nice and healthy. They didn't make it into the pot today. Only the basil managed that feat, though I did plant, in that short snubby pot, some chives! I new attempt. Anyway, the little ones are the strawberries, finally getting on their way. They are three where they once were only two and I'm so pleased. The poor man's weather glass, they are doing alright but I still need some research done on those. Make sure they aren't climbers.

Alls looking great people! Can't wait to keep a weather eye on the horizon for those baby chives (Nicky has some accidental ones in her garden, lol), and get this garden off to a better start than spring is!

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Garden Bunny