Around My Yard

The beautiful irises are blooming.  Too bad they don't last longer.  

I love this mound of phlox.  I can spot it from the bottom of my driveway whenever I'm coming home. 

The peonies are very close to blooming.  Can't wait to being a bouquet into my home!

And the compost is growing, which is just hilarious to me.  All it takes is a bit of potato to start a plant growing. We have 4 raised beds and rotate which one is a designated compost bed each year.  And every year we get potatoes from our compost bed.  

Mr. GV has the rain barrels set up, and they've already been used this year.  Right now as I type this, the one we have (barely) emptied is filling back up quickly with the pouring rain we are getting. 

Macy supervises me. 

As does Milo. 

These are kale plants that have been growing for about 3 years now.  I keep expecting them to die off, either in the very cold or very hot weather, but they just keep getting taller and putting on new leaves!  Right now they are flowering, and I am going to gather seed when it is ready, then probably pull up some of the larger stalks.  I have watched several bumble bees, and what I think was a honey bee, hanging around and enjoying the flowers.  I'm overjoyed by all the beneficial insects that hang around (after all, that's a sign of a healthy garden) but I'm especially thrilled about the honey bee because of all the talk you hear about their declining numbers.  

The lilac bush has greened up. 

Mrs. GV has been working hard to make the flower beds look good by trimming, mulching, and the other back-breaking work that is needed if you have landscaping.  

The pear trees are blooming.

And my Japanese maple looks so beautiful right now.  I just love it.  It was here when we bought the house, and I'm glad, because I don't know that we would have spent the money on one otherwise.  

I do love these days of spring, before the terrible humidity arrives!

Front yard water fun

We had more water fun here in our yard one day this summer.  We even convinced Mr. GV to get out and play too!

Mr. GV and J carry the bucket and water squirters to the front yard.

Mischevious-looking Mr. GV!

A little water in the eye.

Having a fun time!

Mr. GV practicing his aim.

When we were finished, J suggested we pour the remaining water over each of our heads.  He got to go first!

A fun time was had by all!

Berries

The berries have been coming in like crazy this year.  I don't know if it's the lack of a cold winter, the early summer, lack of rain, or what but WOW. 

We have a couple big bags full in our freezer, Mr. GV has eaten plenty fresh, I took the first ones of the season over to the family reunion, and we have given several away at Mr. GV's job and to his mom.  Hmm....maybe I should think about making a berry cobbler?

How's the berry season in your neck of the woods?  Do you have your own bushes or buy them? 

Outside Work

It's that time of year again:  time to pull the weeds and put down more mulch.  We don't use any chemicals outside, so it's a fight against the weeds each year.

First things first:  mulch, and plenty of it!  This truck load just did the two beds in the back.  The front is currently a work in progress.

The pups hung out on the deck while we worked, taking it easy.

One of the finished beds, where most of my lilies grow.

Finally, we have the hose off the ground/flower bed.  Mr. GV bought and installed a hanger for it.  (Excuse the green on the house, please.  The back of the house is in quite a bit of shade and as a result the green blooms there.  We have yet to scrub it off, but it's on our list!

And the hosta bed, newly mulched.

Ahh, clematis.  Love when those start blooming!

Back to the land

I don't think I ever posted what we did with our Christmas tree this year.  In the past we have:

1.  Thrown it into our woods whole.  This would be OK if we had a large woody area but in reality we have a smaller piece of wooded land, and frankly I didn't enjoy seeing it every time I looked outside.

2.  Taken it to my mom's land and thrown it in her woods.  We have done this once before, but we almost always drive our Prius and not our truck the 40 or so miles over there, so not a lot of opportunity.

3.  Taken it to the dump.  We have also done this, although we hated it, and will only do it in the future if there is absolutely no choice.

4.  Taken it to my dad and gave it to him to burn in his shop stove.  (My mom doesn't use that now that my dad is gone.)

Other ideas for future years:  Advertise on Freecycle if anyone wants it for their pond (I believe it's used as a fish habitat), to burn in their stove/fireplace, or to chip up for another use.

This year we decided that Mr. GV would use his electric chainsaw and cut it into small pieces, thereby making it much easier to break down out in our bit of woods. 

(Please notice the bit of dog nose in the lower right hand corner.  Naturally she likes to watch what's going on!)

Outside

Thursday was a warm day, and since I knew some cold days were coming, I decided to sit outside in the sun and warmth.  In shorts.  In February! 

Macy brought a toy and came outside with me.

My accessories:  cell phone and current mystery novel.

 This is our sweet gum tree.  No leaves but some of the fruit is still hanging on.  It's not fruit in the "eating" sense, just the hard, prickly, interesting fruit of this species of tree.  My grandmother had one of these in her backyard and I remember how painful it was to walk over the sweet gum balls. 

 I watched the sun set.

 Noticed I need to refill the squirrel feeder with a new ear of dried corn.

 And the bird feeder needs a new supply as well.

 I spent some time just watching the clouds float on by.

 Until it was finally time to head inside, although I kept the door open with the screen across the doorway so I could listen to the frogs singing in the pond behind our home.

 Macy brought her toy back in.

 And eventually figured out there was a better way to hold it.

A Tree Falls in the South (my apologies to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)

A few weeks ago we had a storm blow through.  We actually got some rain, which was much needed, but there was also some wind damage in a few counties.  We were the lucky ones once again, with no damage to our home and electricity the next day in the sweltering heat. 

We did, however, lose a pine tree along the edge of our woods.  It hasn't been cleaned up yet because Mr. GV hasn't been able to wield a chainsaw until recently.  (More on that to come.) 

I might collect some of the pine cones, make sure they are not buggy, and use them to decorate with this fall.

In my backyard

I love these little blackberry lilies.  They pop up after most of my other lilies are done for the season. 

See this?  It's lemon balm.  Don't ever plant it unless you want a bed full of it. 

Because it will seriously take over.  Seriously. 

 This is frogger.  He is supposed to live inside, but I found him a few days ago where "someone" (Max) partially buried it.  Macy will take toys out when the weather is nice and I can leave the door open, and Max will bury them if he is able.

I planted a potato 3 years ago in this backyard flower bed.  I had one left over from planting in our barrels and just randomly stuck it in this bed.  Well, that year it came up and we had potatoes there, and this year it looks like we will as well. 

The hostas are blooming.

The furry resident who likes to hang out in the backyard. 

Uh oh, looks like more rain.  We had a few very dry weeks, but not anymore!  Lately it's been just about every day that we've had some pop up thunderstorms. 

The cannas are coming up but the Japanese beetles are already munching away on them.

And there's the rain.