Fertilizer Friday

Good Friday Morning. It's that time again each week when we link up with Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday - a time when we like to share what's blooming and what's not. Have you fertilized your babies yet this year? Finally -I did that yesterday. Ya'll head on over to Tootsie's and check out who else is flaunting their spring flowers.

I have some pretty daffodils still a bloomin. This is the first one like this. Did I tell you that the 55 bulbs I bought in January for $5 contained different kinds of daffodils. I love this one that just opened.

I love how this snapdragon keeps showing itself.

This is what I have in various plantings and germination and seedling stage. Many are on their second plantings. Don't know where I'm gonna put it all. I think I might need to create another small garden - perhaps in the back of the house. Most of these come from fellow bloggers. Enlarge to see what is currently going that you may have sent. Several packs from other bloggers didn't make it the first round and they have been started again and a couple just didn't do at all before using all of the seeds. There are still more that haven't made into the seed start yet.

This is how the new porch garden is filling in now. The big mass you see to the right is Breadseed Poppies and a few more plants. There are Red Melon Poppies down to the other end.

Full Tide Iris is up. Sure hope all of the iris's bloom.

The blueberry bush is loaded. Enlarge and check them out.

Check out the cluster of peaches.

The pear tree is producing good but not like the peaches. Little pears.

WE NEED RAIN BAD. The fruit is going to affected by this drought we are currently experiencing. Seems the weather affects is every year with too much rain or not enough. I'm gonna hose them this weekend. It takes a lot of water to make a difference with fruit trees and then it may not be enough. I've been watering the flower gardens as the seedlings are starting to suffer a little. I have watered well over the past three days before adding a small of amount fertilizer. It has been since mid March since we have had any rain to amount to anything.

Thanks for visiting today. Hope you all can get out and enjoy your weekend.

Bird and Butterfly Garden

The weather this weekend reminds me why I like living on the Alabama Gulf Coast. For the past week our temps have been easing up even if only slightly. Saturday was a beautiful sunny day with highs around 60 and Sunday was the same with slightly warmer temps of 64. You all know what this means to a gardener this time of year. I spent both days including Friday outdoors.



I managed to get this garden edged on Friday with the rubber edging you buy from Walmart. Saturday my friend came to visit for the weekend with Molly, the rat terrier. Well Molly has a fetish with rubber and gloves of any kind - though clean ones are not the ones she is looking for. After siezing my gloves a few times I quickly learned to keep them on or in a safe place. The rubber fetish drove me crazy because she pulled up ALL of the rubber borders taring up my beds around the edges. I had no choice but to head to Walmart and pick up the scalloped stones to edge the bed. Of course it looks a lot better but I wasn't planning on that expense this year.



I'll have to pick up stones for all of the beds.



Doesn't this look good and all ready for some plants. What I have so far are a few daffodils, blue hyancinth (blooms are on my new kitchen table). The piece going down the center is a piece of flashing that wasn't usable. It is temporary. I am going to purchase some flat stones for getting around here. This garden ended up measuring 16x6 - much larger than my plans but I am glad for all of this new space. This bed will be part sun in the summer. Currently it is more shade. This will be a Bird and Butterfly garden.









This new bed is full sun. This is an enlargment actually more than doubling its size. It will require 35 12" scalloped stones to go all the way around. Already here in the section I put down last year are yellow and red cannas and 52 daffodils. I won't be digging in these areas of course. This garden will also be a Bird and Butterfly Garden.

I hope you all have a great weather day and maybe do some gardening.

This and That Weekend

We were expecting some beautiful weather and warmer days and we got it . Friday was a beautiful 60 degrees and Sat and part of Sun were beautiful. Clouds began to move in on Sun but still it was a good day too. I got out and accomplished a lot this weekend.


On Sunday I was running out of time getting the broccoli and lettuce in the ground. I was scrambling for edging for this bed. I was able to use a thin piece of flashing from the house that wasn't usable. I put it to use. I also found some plates in the shed we worked on this weekend and they were perfect. The broccoli and lettuce will be very happy here facing the south. I amended the already rich soil with some compost I made last year and mixed it in well. What you see on top is the seed start mix they started in. The backside of this area will be filled in with leaves or whatever. That is the drip line off the house.

Speaking of compost - I learned a lesson this week - don't use green onions that still have the roots on them. They will try to root in the compost. They won't decompose unless you remove the root.

I have a question - do you think I will need to cover this with plastic with the cooler temps coming in? The lows are going into the low 30's. Help me garden Buddies.






This is the front porch bed I started last weekend. I started out with a curved front. Well I had to keep evening it up....


after evening it up 3 times this is what I ended up with. The area is about 6 1/2' wide and 13' or so long. I think this will hold a lot flowers. I have to finish up the edging and rake it out with some added fine garden soil with vermiculite. This garden will receive 6 or so hours of sun a day.
I am looking forward to filling it up. There is another garden in the front that I will be enlarging too and also a garden around the pecan tree in the front to work on.

This will be the new spot for a veggie garden. You see here it is the middle of the day and there is plenty of sun. Any poor plants like the Dusty Miller in this area will be relocated.

This is where the veggie garden was last year. It is the middle of the day like the other photo but it is shade. This is why my garden didn't fare so well last year.

My friend and I worked hard on the shed out back burning lots of trash and limbs and clearing out an area that was snakey looking. There are still many good finds in the shed but look what I salvaged this trip. I have not had a real dining table in 5 years and well this one is going to work fine. It had car oil and all kinds of other stuff on it and was covered in webs but it cleaned up nice. It is old and VERY heavy and solid wood.

Another find in the shed. It is in perfect condition with a little rust but it is going to clean up nicely too. I need a little paint and some cushions. (Please don't look at how dirty my porch is - It needs painting and powerwashing but will come later. I've only lived here 2 years and you should've seen it before I moved in). I love the iron work on the chair and its fan shaped back.

Do you know what this is? Take a good look. Well some of you do - it's a BIG Christmas tree stand. My first thought - oh that looks good and usable for some plants and then I saw what it is and I still intend to use it for that. It will work great - put some holes in the bottom and dress up the thing in the center and WA-LA. It'll look good up in the garden bed.

Of the seeds I planted - this is the only lupine up and it's the Russell Strain Lupines from Hometown seeds. No others are even hinting at coming up yet.

This is the tray of Red Breadseed Poppies I received from Catherine at A Garden in Progress. OK Catherine - tell me how much do I need to thin these babies out. The seeds are so tiny there was no chance of just dropping a couple of seeds. Look at them. I think I will have lots of poppies. After taking the photo I put up the Foil folders to keep them from reaching out the window so bad.

Since I was into getting dirty this weekend I repotted the house plants too. These 3 containters I picked up 2 weeks ago at Walmart for $3. a piece on clearance. I love the red, orange and the yellow colors.

The green pot I picked up at the Goodwill. I love it.

Well that wraps up a busy weekend.

I've had a couple of comments asking me about my 'friend'. He is a fellow I broke up with last year. It's one of those - I like to be around ya and have some fun but ain't gonna live with ya. He drinks too much and never stops talking and is extremely messy. I like him and enjoy his company but I don't think I'll ever marry again and don't think I'll ever live with another man either. His name is John.