Bottle Wall, Day Two

 Been working pretty hard and have not had the time to do much towards the bottle wall. We had a much needed rain last night and are supposed to get more today so I stayed home. Tinkered cleaning bottles, they clean easier when wet from rain. I do have a lot of buckets to soak bottles in too.

Here is a design I made in the creative zone.

After placing bottles into the design.

 A close up of my blue flower. The pink eye is a flower vase I found in the recycling bins, there was also a red one. See the triangle shaped blue bottle? That brand of vodka now uses blue plactic bottles, this one must have been around for a while before someone recycled it.

 This pile of cleaned bottles was almost used up making the design in the sand. I need more clear bottles a lot more clear ones. This pile is a fraction of the pile behind my shed, I took a photo, you do not want to see, nor does Meg.

I have been working on a page here with our plant photos on them. If you like hellebores you really want to see this page, it is a work in progress.

I wanted to take a photo of our Swiss Card before we picked any of it. Meg made quiche (if I got the spelling right) pie with it last night. It was yummy! Not had chard in some time as the greens in the cold frame have been filling our greens needs now for about 6 weeks. Still hard to tell any chard was picked?

Here is our Rape starting to flower. I think it is what is also called Chinese Broccoli. The mustard greens are also going to flower. The Red Mustard we planted Sunday before last is already showing red and green.

 The hyacinths have started to open up. These news ones are supposed to be fragrant, nothing like I can remember in years past. 

Last note. On Sunday while it was raining I planted some seeds inside, 4 kinds of tomatoes( Rutgers, Jubilee, Big Rainbow and Roma), Genovese Italian Basil, Sweet Basil, Common Thyme and  Serrano Peppers. Still to early for sprouting, I am watching them.

Waterlilies and the garden update

Last Saturday I got out in the solo canoe and trimmed out the willow trees that had fell into the pond to clean it up some. Sadly it was the last time we saw the pair of Mallard ducks in the pond. But the next day exactly a week ago, the waterlilies came out, only 3 but a start. Below is 2 of the 3.

I planted the waterlilies 6 or 7 years ago, they now cover 3/4 of the 70- 80 foot diameter pond. In a few years I'll likely have to do a major thinning to keep them under control. We also have several nice clusters of Pickerelweed in the pond.

Today a portion of thew waterlilies in the pond.

This iris is either an Louisiana Iris or a Siberian Iris, the blades seem too thin to be a Louisiana, could it have crossed with the Siberian nearby?

This is an Louisiana Iris for sure and only a few feet for the other iris.

One of my seedling tomatoes in the garden, we have had a terrible year for growing seedlings.

This was last Sunday nights dinner Swiss Chard from the garden finally. The next morning Meg found a pile of chard leaves on the deck that I must have dropped.


Beets and carrots growing in the garden today.

You know I'm legally colored blind, only greens and reds. Meg pointed out to me that this spiderwort was a bit pink and not blue. I stopped at a garden club plant sale yesterday, the garden they had the sale in was full of all kinds of spiderworts and none for sale. I did get 6 plants including a cultivated goldenrod, exciting.

Lemon Cucumber for this morning in our garden. we have an old fashioned tripod set up over it to grow on.

The upper half of the clematis growing along our walkway I featured last week on my blog entry.

The latest project here, Meg wanted dog protection for her batchler buttons. I made the lattice from scraps left over from a customers recent project. Each panel is removable too.

A first look at the garden in 2009

Hi everyone!

Randy and Meg just north of Durham, NC. We started planting our vegetable garden on January 24th , 2009. Meg planted arugula, peas, mixed salad greens and kale.the seeds on the 24th, I amended the garden with top soil and sand then tilled in it a week or so before.

To the left of the garden plot is our small pond. The straw is covering the planted seeds and sprouting plants. In the center back there is the newest garden plot, not planted yet. You can see the make shift trellis that we green cucumbers on last year. Last year 2008 was the first year we planted in the main garden plot, the organic soil already looks pretty good.

Here is a look at the small plot where we grow morning glories up onto the porch. We just started this last year as the addition was finished last year. Those planter boxes were what the morning glories grew in, but keeping them watered in our droughty region is a huge task. Today I added 4 wheel barrows of top soil and a half wheel barrow of sand and mixed it all in then added the field stone edging.

Above is some of the greens Meg planted on January 24, 2009. Hopefully they will survive the 26 degree night expected tomorrow night. Meg added more straw for insulation just in case. On January 31th Meg planted more greens Then February 14th we planted Bright lights Swiss Chard, spinach, golden beets and red beets. On February 15th, Meg set out the onions, more peas and Easter Egg Radishes.

Here is the biggest achievement of the weekend, moving out the top soil pile and making way for the creek stone path between the ramp to the deck and the pond. I planted a Chinese Butterfly Bush, Buddleia lindleyana that was being nursed in the top soil pile, and a few other unknown plants hiding in it also. The dirt is mounded up about a foot and will be part of the butterfly garden.

At one time I used to get 30-40 or this dutch iris blooming in February, but all the garden and house renovation has scattered them to who knows where. Hopefully more with pop up. This was the first spring flower to bloom here this year.