Backyard Fun

Some pictures from an afternoon of backyard fun.  Chloe loves playing outside so much and we do it pretty much daily when the camper starts feeling too small.

 Playing with her rocks

 Sweet little girl

 Playing with her new water table

 Sampling the water

 My little flower garden

 The Gerber Daisy

 Helping water the yard

 Taking a break to hydrate

 Who can resist this cute face!

Smelling the pretty flowers

I figured since we would be spending so much time outside I may as well plant my flowers this year.  I included some basil, mint and rosemary like before.  This year I also thought I would try my hand at growing a few veggies since I have plenty of space and sunshine.  I planted some tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers.  Hopefully they will give me some veggies this summer!  I will keep you posted!

Garden Ladys

My little garden had some uninvited guests arrive this past week.  They are bad news for my plants.  I tried to get some pictures but they were way too tiny.  They are aphids.  The aphids took up their main residence on my mint plants which did not make me happy AT ALL! I was nervous to treat my herbs with pesticides because we eat the herbs.  I found some organic spray that were supposed to kill the aphids, but after two applications they were still alive and well.  So today, Hubby took me to the nursery that we like and we brought home some reinforcements.

Yes, that's right it says 2,000 lady bugs, and yes it is really spelled "ladys" (I know you thought I misspelled it in the title...its ok I think it is weird too.)

Sprinkling them on the plants.

So many!

Just what do 2,000 lady bugs look like?  I am glad you asked!

The adventure seekers.  Off to see what the great, wide world has to offer on the other side of the patio.

This is the popular plant.  It is where all of the "cool" bugs hang out and socialize.  A little further up the plant a few of the hard workers have found the feast of tasty aphids, but the others.....well...

They had other things on their mind. How embarrassing!

Now don't let those party bugs give them all a bad name, some of them went right to work and worked really hard, only stopping on occasion to get a little drink from the water drops on the leaves or to wash their face.  There was a lot of face washing going on.

More hard working little ladys.

And yes, I spent a good 45 minutes outside watching the bugs fly away, eat aphids, drink water, wash their faces, get acquainted with their new surroundings and well the other stuff.... all I can say is maybe soon we will have some baby ladys too.

If the little ladys keep up the good work in a couple of days I hope my garden will once again be pest free, and in the mean time I need to shower or something, all these bugs have made me itchy!

A Post of Lucy

Lucy is the third member of our household.  She was my cat until she met Clint and most days she prefers him over me.  She is one of the most spoiled felines to ever grace the face of the earth I believe.  She had some strange quirks and habits that keep us entertained from time to time.

She hates the outdoors but she loves the patio.  She would stay out most of the day if I let her, but the minute I close the patio door she panics and the fun is over.

I planted some cat nip in my patio garden especially for her.  She was not impressed.

She prefers the impatients.  She makes a beeline for them as soon as the door is opened.  She grabs large mouthfuls and thinks they taste the best when the leaves are still wet from being watered. 

She loves ice water and while she likes it best straight from the glass.....

She will settle with some in a plastic bowl if that's all she can get.

Someone didn't like it when we got the carpet cleaned.  This corner was the only part of the carpet that didn't get cleaned so she took refuge for a couple of days.  Can you see her?

There she is!

Our little Lucy.  She is odd at times but is a sweet little companion.

Bless This Garden

A gift from my Hubby a couple of weeks ago.  Isn't it cute?  It looks so nice in my little garden.

New Additions

Clint has been telling me for a couple of weeks that he thought my little garden needed some more flowers.  I thought the patio was quite full, but he thought it could hold a few more so Sunday we went to a different nursery to see what they had.  The had so many flowers to chose from.  We did bring home some more flowers to add to the patio garden.  We now have to little boxes hanging from the railing.  It does look pretty cute.

Hawaii Blue  These flowers are so tiny and unique.  

Blutopia Blue.  These are also some small blue flowers.  Clint loves blue.

Torenia Clown Mix.  These remind me of little bells.  We got some purple and some pink.  They are so pretty and loaded with little buds.  I hope they open soon!

Purple Shamrock.  The little flowers on this one are not that impressive, at least right now.  What I really like about this one is the unique leaves that are such a pretty color of purple.

Bugleweed.  This one is just all around cute.  Its tiny little leaves, tiny little flowers that grow straight up in the middle, so pretty.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing all the pictures on my little garden that seems to be turning into a jungle quite quickly.

Herbs

This is the first time I  have ever tried to grow herbs so I am having a fun time learning about them and cooking with them.  A few of them are still trying to get established in their new homes and I am having to wait for a couple of them to get big enough to use, but the ones that I have been able to use have been really yummy!

Spearmint.  I haven't been able to use this one yet because it is still a little small and doesn't have a ton of leaves yet.

Cat nip.  I planted this one for Lucy.  She could care less and mostly ignores it.

This pot contains chives, rosemary and parsley.  I have used all but the chives from this pot.  They are still a little small.  The rosemary is delicious!

This pot contains cinnamon basil, sweet basil and lemon basil.  I have only used the sweet basil out of this pot, but the others smell so good I can't wait to try them in something.

This one is the apple mint.  I wasn't sure this one was going to make it when I got it, but it has perked up and is going crazy.  I have used this one a couple of times to make mint water and mint tea. UMMMM.  YUMMY!

This one is chocolate mint.  I cannot wait to try this one.  I just planted it yesterday so it needs a little bit to get settled and start putting on a few more leaves but it smell so yummy, just like chocolate mint. 

So, I now you know what is growing in my herb garden.

The Benefits of Having a Flower Garden

Have I mentioned I love my flower garden? One of the reasons I love it so much is because it gives me fresh supply of flowers for my house.


Cheerful little daisies!


Floating begonias

Intorducing the pieces of the whole....

The little pretties that make up my garden.


The gerber daisy. This one is pretty much favorite. It was a splurge because I thought it was beautiful and my Hubby insisted get it.


This one is my bargain plant. They looked a little sickly so were on sale for $0.50 each. I decided to take them home and see if I could nurse them back to health. It has taken them a little bit, but at last a bloom! I think it is a dahlia. I have several colors but the white one is the only one that has bloomed since I have brought them home. I guess the others are still recovering from their traumatic life before I found them.


Begonias. They are going crazy with the flowers.


I am not sure what this one is called. It was given to us as a gift from my father-in-law who does landscaping. I sure do think it is cute though.


Impatience. They are going crazy with the blooms as well although they have their own struggle to overcome, namely a cat, Lucy, who thinks they were planted there for her own personal enjoyment. She chows down on them like there is no tomorrow.


I am not sure what these are called either. It was a gift from my Hubby when I told him I wanted to plant some flowers on the patio. This one was the first member of my little patio garden. They are the most cheerful little flowers ever and stretch to get as much sun as possible. They also close almost all the way up when it gets dark.

So there you have the flower part of my little garden. Next time will be the herb part of the garden.

It has been a while...

So, it has been a few days since I have updated my blog....What's that you say? Ok, Ok, so it may have been more than a few days. Just a little...

It turned in to a looong winter. It snowed a few times in the southern city that we call home. Now, it wasn't snow like some of my friends who live a bit further north consider snow, but white fell from the sky and it was enough for the airports to call a trace so therefore, snow! We had several freezes, which successfully managed to kill many of the flowers and other green, growing things that live in our part of the country year round. It seemed like we had far more gray cloudy days during this winter than sunny ones. In many ways it was winter in our personal life as well, dealing with financial stresses, family moving away and dreams and desires that, month after month continue to remain unfulfilled.

During this long winter, as you can probably tell, we didn't keep up with our project 365. We had a lot of fun doing it and I love looking back to see all the pictures and remembering what happened during specific weeks or months. After a while we started having such a hard time coming up with creative pictures while being confined to the apartment due to the weather, and the stress of coming up with a new picture every day, along with all of the other stress we were facing, was too much so we decided to give it a break. One day soon I hope to pick the project up again with a few slight modifications. I do miss taking pictures of our life.

But now IT'S SPRING! The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and the weather is beautiful. The trees have been covering the cars and sidewalk with yellow pollen (ACHOOOO!!) and life is good. Sure, money is still owed us, family is further away than I ever thought they would be and many dreams are still unfulfilled, but spring has also brought a spiritual renewal and hunger in to my life and I know that I can face these issues and they don't have to control my life or my mood. Spring has brought hope. As long as I have God to lead me and my husband to walk with me I can face the uncertainty.

So....with spring has also come a new hobby of sorts, something that makes me smile, something that gives me something positive to focus my energy on, something that I can nurture and take care of, something that makes me happy and gives me a place to escape when life gets overwhelming.

Introducing.......my peaceful escape, my patio garden.




The cheerful little yellow flowers that greet us when we get home.


Table top flowers.


Back patio.


The other half of the back patio.

In a few days, when I have more time I will post some close up pictures of the plants so you can see what makes up my little garden. I also have a few little plants in the house that I think are pretty cute too! (my garden may have gotten out of control!)