Gardening

Spring is here & we are loving working in our gardens. Well, at least I am.  Shane has been hard at work, but I'm not sure that he loves it...

This is what our vegetable garden looked like last summer.  It didn't look much different at the end of the season...our yard is mostly clay, which apparently plants don't enjoy.

Shane decided we had two options.  1) Dig out several feet of clay with a shovel and fill the hole with soil, or 2) Build a raised bed and fill it with soil.  Easy decision- he got to work using his new miter saw (thanks Nanette & John).

You don't want to know how much dirt it took to fill that garden.  Rest assured that was more than you see pictured.  Thankfully, after all of this was carried to the back of the yard one bag at a time our neighbor had pity on us and brought over a wheelbarrow.

Here's the final product:

We've already planted some yummy veggies...eating & pickling cucumbers, green & red bell peppers, okra, jalapenos & carrots.  Uncle Benny shared his tomato growing wisdom with me and as soon as it's warm enough I'll plant tomatoes.  I'm sure we'll have enough vine ripe red beauties to share with everyone we know.

The electrical box in our back yard has been an eyesore since we moved in. 

Also an eyesore, these red tipped photinias were way too tall for the front of this bed.

But we took care of two birds with one stone & fixed both problems.

Two rose bushes from our front bed were failing to thrive (apparently roses love the sun), so once the photinias were moved, we transplanted the roses to the back bed.

The roses have filled out so much since we moved them, here's a close-up.  Two many buds to count!

I love having a bed full of pink roses right outside our dining room windows.

Shane also made another bed for beside the electrical box.

Then he planted strawberries and blueberry bushes.

In the front beds I've planted several flowering plants: begonias, double-impatients, fuschias, columbine and caladiums.

The large leaves on the sides of this bed are what's left of my tulips.

We have the cutest little brown bunny living under our woodpile on the side of the house. We've seen him several times but I haven't gotten a picture yet.  He must have seen these little bunnies from my mom and decided that he was welcome at our house.

We do love bunnies around here...but he might soon find himself evicted.  I'm thrilled that all six of my hostas have come back this year, but not as thrilled as our bunny friend, who seems to think they aren't only pretty, but tasty, too!

Wrascally Wabbit!