Progress in the yard . . .

So this weekend I got to working on more yard and garden stuff.  I did a couple hours on friday, all morning saturday, and even an hour this morning (Sunday) on the rain (more like sprinkling, but it was still wet.).

I'll show you some pictures. :)

The front of the house BEFORE

and AFTER

Looks so much better doesn't it?

I'm also working on the corner of the house. There were three large arborvitae on the corner, and it was just too much - blocking air flow from the siding, etc. So I took down the center arb.  Here's a picture mid-way through.  It's not finished yet though.  We purchased birdhouses, and I'm going to keep the trunk and clean it up and use it as the post for the birdhouses. The top branches are off now, and I'll show you a pic when it's done, I just have this one in-progress photo at the moment.

I did a little more work in the garden. Cleaned up a few more beds, added peat.  

I planted beets in this bed:

Here's a picture of what the vegie garden looks like right now.  I always like the clean look of the beds in the springtime, before the weeds have a chance to take over.  The bed bottom right is the one I planted with peas, radish, parsnip, and carrot.  The one bottom left is the one with the beet seeds in it.  The bed that has the green in it already is ready for beans, but I haven't planted those yet.  The green is actually chives which over winter here very well.

Another project I took on yesterday (and finished first thing this morning) is restoring this bird bath.  It was one that came with the house, it's cast iron, and the general structure was good, but the black had chipped off, and it was rusting in parts.  So I used some spray paint we had, plus purchased the purple, and did my best to restore it.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a "before" picture.  You do get to see the "after".  Would love to hear what you think about it.

Here is is in it's new place in the yard.

We also had our first fire of the year.  I burned some garden debris, and small twigs, etc (mostly from last year, as this years' cuttings are a bit wet yet.)  But it was enough of a fire that we had delicious fire roasted hot dogs, and a couple of marshmallows as well.  I do enjoy having these little fires, wish I took the time more often!  We certainly have enough debris to burn up.

So that was my weekend.  Now I'm just relaxing. . . 

Some planting in Pots

So I had a few minutes this morning and I'm posting this quickly so I don't forget what I did!

I am trying to use up old seed .. it may germinate, it may not, but I'll try.

By our front door we just placed two half barrel pots.  I had filled them with soil on Sunday but hadn't planted anything in them.  Today I put two seeds in each of them of Red Kabocha Squash from some squash I got in the farm share last year.  I then surrounded them with Red Poppy seeds and some Baby's Breath seeds. both of which are very old seeds .. maybe as much as 10+ years old. So the chances of them growing are slim, but I'll give them a shot. If they don't grow, I can always buy some annuals to put around the squash plants.

I also planted 4 seeds of Jarrahdale Pumpkin in the pot that we moved to the side of the garage (still the fron tof the house .. this is the area that I worked in trimming bushes on Sunday .. still need to clean up the rocks, but overall this small area is ready for summer.  Around the pumpkin seeds I put some gomphrena seed that is 14 years old.

In the backyard, we also have a large pot, and I planted some pumpkin on a stick (ornamental eggplant that looks like little pumpkins) and some dipper gourds along with some cypress vine.  I also put some of the pumpkin on a stick in a short purple pot .. just to use up the seeds.  We'll see how it goes.

I have pictures of the seed packets ..

So we'll see.  I am trying to use up seed that is old so that I don't have so much downstairs. No sense keeping it any longer, either grow it or toss it right?  So I'm trying to grow it.

What have you planted ?

First Garden Bed Planted

First garden bed is planted for this year. I am going to try to document what I do here in my blog.  If you like seeing my progress (or lack there of) please comment.  It will motivate me to keep taking pictures and posting what I do in the garden.

In this picture from left to right are planted a mixture of two different sugar snap peas, cherry radish, parsnips, and deep purple carrots. It is divided in quarters approximately with the peas and radishes in a broad spread and the others in three rows each. The hoe is placed between the radish and the parsnips.

Here are the seed packets that I used.  The peas had been left in the garage and gotten wet so that the package was damaged, but I figured I'd try to seed them and see what happens.  The other packets I only used part of the packages, so I can do another seeding with them later or next year if I'd like to.

It feels good to get seeds in the ground again.  

I was going to seed beets too, but I ran out of prepared space and time.  I will see if I can go out another night this week and get one more small bed planted with some of the beet varieties I have.