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Blooming Beauty Around the Gardens and Yard | June 2018

June 25, 2018 By Laura 5 Comments

Just a short but lovely post, to share with you all the beauty of the flowers blooming all around us, that we have been enjoying every day around here. We have a long list of vegetables growing in the garden beds as well right now, that most likely we will show you at a later date. This early in the season, however, they all have much more growing and producing to do, and they are hardly worth photographing quite yet.

But oh, the flowers blooming!

As you will see, this year we went crazy with Superbell – Calibrachoa hybrids, by Proven Winner.  And we have to say, I think they are a favorite we’ll be sticking with, year after year, from here on out!  They are so easy to maintain! They are tolerant of the heat, the occasions we didn’t get to watering, and there is never any deadheading to be done!  We’ve got them in all kinds of colors, blooming all over the place, and couple of other kinds of flowers as well to let you take in, as well.
Let us show you!


This wooden bucket holds a bountiful spillage mix of Superbells in Plum and Chiffon, as well as some Snowstorm Giant Snowflake.  So in love with it.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Gardening, Re-Purposing, The Homestead Tagged With: beautiful-gardens, container-flowers, flowers, garden-container-flowers, gardens, Lantana, Proven-Winners, Superbell-Calibrachoa, superbells

Front Yard to Garden Sanctuary Transformation| Big Progressions and Little Confessions

July 4, 2017 By Laura 2 Comments

We have our great big garden-sanctuary-accomplishment to share with you today. Big progressions, and also some little confessions! But in order to appreciate it in all of it’s glory, you have to learn a bit about what we started from. If you’ve been following us for years, this post will refresh your memory. And if you are new here, you’ll be able to appreciate it just as much.
We all love a good ‘Before and After’, don’t we?
So we encourage you to read along!

A Look Back at a Bunch of Nothin’.

For as many years as we have been blogging, we have talked about this project. Plans to transform our hideous (oh, we have proof!) front yard of simple garden beds, into a beautiful garden sanctuary. And in these conversations with you and talking about our little garden dreams over the years, these changes were always imminent! Definitely about to happen.
Except that it really never did get very far.

First, we confess, that although every time we were all hyped up and ready to get going, every time too, for one reason or another, our grand plans always got sidelined. The seasons to get it done would end before we really accomplished much, and so we never really made any progress! Whether it was lack of time, lack of money, or how things are just easier done in your head than in reality – well, most times it was probably all of those things! Weekends are short, and our family is busy. All of that. Every time, we only got as far as maybe building some garden beds, which we have just done for the 3rd time at this point, since we originally told you of any real front yard transformation gardening dreams. And some planting for the season.

But the aesthetics and bigger vision for our garden area, in our front yard mind you, never really came in to play, as we just kept talking about it.  It was pathetic.

You can see where we generally started with our little blah-lot in here in 2009, and how we expanded what little space we had, by sacrificing some driveway.
And how we were still just getting another garden bed up or whatever  here in 2010.

And since then, there has only been many seasons, where we have just shared lots of photos with you, of all of the beautiful and bountiful vegetables and flowers that we have grown in what garden beds we had.  You can find countless blog posts on them in the garden archives here at the blog. 

But the little garden sanctuary dreams just weren’t coming together. The space as a whole, where these garden beds resided, has been just so UGH.

ANOTHER CONFESSION. . . .

Yes, I have enjoyed working in these garden beds over the years, anyway. But I have loathed feeling like I am doing so, in such an on-display manner, in our front yard! I often wonder if I might be mistaken for one of those yard ornaments, of the bent-over woman’s bum, weeding her garden.  You know the one? Ugh. Granted, we live on a short dead-end road, so the traffic is next to none. But there are also neighbors frequently walking by on their way to the beach and such, and to be honest….when I am out working in my gardens, I just want the peace and solitude to do my thing! By myself. Alone. (Or with my family) I don’t want to say hello to people, and make small talk as they walk by. Call me a witch. Of course I do say hello and chat anyway, if it so happens, because it’s only polite. But I don’t want to, in the least bit. Especially when I am hot and sweaty, with dirt sticking to me . . . . just . . . . no.  Please, leave me be while I play in the dirt. Thanks.

During this season in the photo above (circa 2010?), though it is hard to see here, we actually had 4 garden beds at that point, and then the ground-level pumpkin patch which is closest to you in the photo.
In the gardening seasons 2013-2015, the kids kept a super cute square garden as well.

It was during that period we tore down the wooden beds and put up cinder blocks gardens, which I came to be a big non-fan of.
I was almost immediately like . . . . disassemble and build wooden beds again, please. (That didn’t get undone for 2 years I think. My knees and shins hated it, and I also especially hated the concrete jungle in our already-ugly front yard.)
–

– BEFORE –
Proof of Hideous  . . . . .

But aside from the garden beds we built, growing beautiful, delicious and healthy produce and blooms over these many gardening years, the space itself has remained fairly ugly!!
Without the garden beds in season, it’s been actually hard to look at. 
For me, anyway.  In part probably, because all I see is the garden dreams in my head, missing.  And a whole palette of blah-colors, that blend together like yuck.  I felt bad for the neighbors passing by daily. Whether I’m out there bending over, or not.
–


(It’s coming, hold on . . . .)

Then last year, we took our first gardening season completely off, to, you know, really get something accomplished in our ultimate goals for the front yard.  Or that was the plan, anyway.  :/ I was SO MISERABLE, not having my gardens to work in, Y’all. It was rough.
But again, even still, we didn’t get much done, again!  We did take down all of the cinder block gardens, and got building new beds. But we only got 4/8 done that we wanted, not to mention all else we were definitely going to get done.  (Yeah, right.)

Busy family, flying time, the whole 9 yards . . . .

BUT THIS YEAR . . . .

. . . . come the first sign of spring, we hit it hard! Time was not going to get away again. Really, really, really.
We would make time, we had the money, and after some good collaborating brain storming, as usual, Michael had some loose garden-layout plans down on paper.

 

We have finally….really….seriously…..put a BIG dent, in the transformation of our front yard, into more of the garden sanctuary we have been envisioning for all of these years. 

And we’re so excited to show you today! 

*Just know first though….

>>>>>  That it’s all not done yet! Consider this Phase 1! We’re just excited to show you what we’ve done already.
It’ll continue to be a work in progress, and grow in beauty, as there are still many exciting plans still left undone.

 

>>>>>> What is planted in the garden at the time of these photos, were still little seedlings, and the rest hadn’t been planted yet! So while it’s not the lush beautiful full gardens they will be this early in the season, it’s the structure and set-up of the new garden space layout we really want you to show you all at this point.

That said, we think it definitely qualifies as a transformation at this point. It looks completely different now. 

Will you agree?  We are about to see!!

Take a look for yourself!
– AFTER –

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Filed Under: Gardening, The Homestead Tagged With: front-yard-garden-plans, front-yard-transformations, garden-ideas, garden-sanctuaries, Gardening, gardens, organic-gardens, private-gardens, sanctuaries

Tropical Hibiscus and Blueberry Bush Blessings

July 20, 2016 By Laura 1 Comment

No one could have known how sad I have been this season, without my gardens to work in, and watch grow.
But I have been. Until I was blessed by surprise, with a Tropical Hibiscus and Blueberry Bush.

Hibiscus-and-blueberry-bush

We had decided to completely overhaul our garden area this year, in an effort and plan to re-plot and grow a lot more of our own food. Although I’ll be the first to admit, there’s been many plans made over the years, that never materialized. And considering we’re deep in July here now, with little accomplished still, I’m losing hope on this one, too.

But I’ve happened to get a lot of joy and satisfaction out of working in the soil and growing things in my gardens over the past years. Growing anything, beautiful or nutritional. This year, however, there has been nothing out there, but dirt.  Then, some gardening-related joy came my way. On two separate occasions, I was given these two very unexpected gifts:

A Tropical Hibiscus and a Blueberry Bush.

And oh, how they helped soothe my little gardenless-woes! I have been loving having them to tend to, and seeing them grow. But what makes them mean the most to me, is where they came from.  Let me tell you a bit about that.

The Tropical Hibiscus

Tropical Hibiscus

This is probably the kind of beautiful plant that I would always want to buy, but never buy for myself. And therefore, I would have probably never had something so bold and lovely.  But now I do.

And how is that? Because . . . . a very special and thoughtful young man in my oldest daughter’s life, surprised me with it. I think he got quite a surprise, himself, by [Read more…]

Filed Under: Faith, Gardening, Life In General, The Big Picture, The Homestead Tagged With: blooms, blueberries, blueberry-bush, buds, flower photography, flowers, Gardening, gardens, health-benefits-of-blueberries, tropical-hibiscus

Flower Photography, and History Repeating

June 3, 2012 By Laura 6 Comments

003_iris-flowers-150x150

I don’t know where time has gone, but I sure wish it would slow down some.  I’ve done the best I can all along, to cherish every moment of watching all of my children grow up, knowing it will all happen too fast. It’s yet another reason I school my kids myself. I don’t want to miss any of their fleeting childhood. Still, it seems like yesterday that my first baby girl, Alexis Grace, was born.  She grew up in the blink of an eye. Next thing I knew, she was in high school, and taller than me!  She’s athletic and strong, and it blows me away.

And now she has a real job! She’s been trying to figure out how to get one sooner for awhile now.  She has worked with both Michael and I in our businesses quite a bit, in the past few years, weeding and prepping truck lettering with Michael, and as my photographer’s assistant when I was doing a lot more portrait work. We’ve paid her of course.  Also, she’s actually been pretty creative at finding safe ways to make a little cash of her own, in the meantime, too. I’d venture to say she chooses to spend her time differently than typical girls her age. She’s a determined soul, who loves to research, earn her own way, and make things happen. If anyone is interested for their own young teen kids, I can share those ideas at another time. She’s always been diligent with every dollar she’s gotten.  Since she was little, she’s been strict with her own budget for spending and saving.  And now, she’ll be making a real pay check from someone else, other than us. There was a lot to consider, knowing she has a lot on her schedule, especially with schooling, and more upcoming heavy sport seasons. Not to mention of course, being such a young age still, at 14.  But she gets excellent grades, is self-disciplined with her daily responsibilities like clockwork, and has been really wise with her money. There was really no reason to not let her.  She was hired in a heart beat. We just had to get some extra paperwork signed off here and there, because of her age.

001_flower-nursery

She’ll be working at a nursery here in town, watering all of the flowers, helping customers, etc.  It’s a job we’re comfortable with as her parents, because we’ve known the owner for years.  He’s a good client of Michael’s, so we trust him to watch out for her, and he has a good staff. Also, it’s all outdoors, where Alexis loves to be.  It’ll be real hot some days this summer, when the humidity kicks in. But it’s still pretty ideal work for her.  I’m excited for her!

002_greenhouse-inside
The funny thing is, I used to work at a nursery and greenhouse for a couple of years in high school, right around the same age as she is. I have to admit, I was not all that interested in plants and flowers at that time. But I was working with my friend, so it wasn’t all that bad. I learned what I had to know, to take care of the plants and flowers, and help customers.  But it was just a job to me.  My second job, actually, working with a lot of plants and flowers. I started working when I was 9 years old, cleaning an older couple’s home and maintaining their impeccable landscaped yard on Saturdays, until I was about 14. I got paid well too!  But I was well into my married years, before I honestly took an interest in real gardening and such. However, when I fell in love with it all, I fell hard! I really love working in my gardens.

The funny thing is, my daughter is as passive as I was about gardening right now, as I was at her age. She’s not as into it as my younger daughter is. To her credit, she’ll volunteer to water the gardens on summer nights, which I always appreciate. But I have wished she would love gardening as much as I do.  So this job of hers, gives me hope. Already, she jumped in and helped plant some flowers the other night with me. It could very well be that all she learns at her job, will serve her well, years down the road. I think it’s a wonderful education to have. I know I was happy to have some agricultural knowledge and experience to draw on, once I decided to start gardens of my own.  I believe she’ll be a valued employee, because she is definitely a people-person, always smiling, loves to help people, takes pride in her work, and despite her supposed lack of interest, she really remembers the names of flower varieties!  I’m just so excited she’ll be working in this environment, in particular.  I mean, what a great first job on her own.

Well enough chatting. Yes? I’ve been having fun taking photos of the beautiful blooms around our home. Some are on the edge of neighbor’s property. I am always so happy with my camera in my hand.  So I thought I’d share with you some of my photos.


003_iris-flowers
An Iris.
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004_geranium-flowers Geraniums.

005_chrysanthemum-flowers A Chrysanthemum.

006_azaleias-flowering-bush
Azaleias.

007_azaleias-flowering-bush
Azaleias.

008_foxglove-flowers
Foxglove.


009_foxglove-flowers
And more Foxglove.

I think this last shot is my favorite, tied with the Iris. What’s yours?

Also, I’d love to know how old you or your teens were when you got your first job, and what you did.  Scroll down and tell us about it.

So glad you came by. : )

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Filed Under: Gardening, Homeschooling, Life In General, Photography, Photography & Lettering, The Big Picture, The Homestead Tagged With: agriculture, azaleias, chrysanthemum, education, flower photography, flowers, foxglove, Gardening, gardens, geranium, greenhouse, homeschooling, iris, photography, plant-flower-nursery, yard-flowers

Garden Peek!> Early Summer 2011

July 20, 2011 By Laura 1 Comment

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-12

I believe we’ve been both gardening and blogging, for about 3 years.  Our life is filled with so many various passions, there is more than we are actually able to get to blogging.  I sure try to get it all in though!  But one area that is especially hard to keep you all updated with, is the gardening!  Good gosh. Things grow and change SO fast, by the time I photograph what I want, edit the photos, and start putting a post together (while you know, living my life and doing 1,000 other things in the midst of it all), the post report, explaining the photos I took, don’t seem very current by the time I get to typing it out! But my intent today, is really just to share with you all what we’ve got growing this year.

In that light, after the first photo, the photos in this post were taken in early July. As I type, it is the 20th of July. Still, while reporting with photos is unavoidably a little delayed, we like to try and give you the picture of the process as a whole, even if the photos are a little behind the 8-ball of the gardens in the moment.  I imagine it is all still relate-able for the interested gardeners (or wannabes) reading, and perhaps it opens a door for conversation, as you reflect back on the few weeks prior to your own gardening-status, and the subsequent changes.  So we’re going to roll with this delay-thing we have going on in the gardening blog-shares, and hope you all can too.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos

One thing we did differently this year, that we have not done in the past 2 years, is start our vegetable plants from seed!  Our experience with gardening has been that we learn a little more every year.  While we were somewhat successful in growing the plants from seed indoors, to transplant to the garden beds come Memorial Day weekend, I’m not sure our timing was right with everything. (?) For example, our pepper plants started out so tiny in the beds, that I couldn’t imagine them ever producing fruit this season!  But in sharing this with my Mother-in-law when she visited in early June, she mentioned those seeds probably should be planted in February or so.  She and my Father-in-law kept a beautiful yard full of gardens when they lived in this area. In the course of our conversation, I could not even remember the month we actually did start the seeds. But I was sure it was not that early!  The packaging of the seeds did not say, that I could tell, how long prior to replanting, that the seeds should be started. It only seemed to say how many weeks before they should bare their first fruits. So….I was winging it all. All of the seeds did sprout, grow plants, and were transplantable. In fact,  some grew too tall to keep the clear cover on, for the greenhouse effect.  What to do about that? And as I said, maybe different seeds should have started at different times. But when, for each variety, is my question. So, more researching to be done, and more lessons to be learned.  But as I have said all along, the learning as we go is half the fun!  Next year , also, I’ll keep a record of when the seeds were put in the soil. At least write the date on the containers!

Here is just a couple of other small points to note:  1)  As a reference, these photos were taken in early July. Things have grown and changed a lot since then.  So we plan to update you soon, but a little after the facts of course. : )  2) Please pay no mind to the very patchy crabgrass, in our sand-dirt, that needed mowing badly. It was done that evening.  But I am working on not procrastinating photos or a post, due to a likely irrelevant detail, so don’t call me out on that, or I may have a relapse with my self-therapy. ; )  Alrighty?

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-1

Here in Bed #1 we have little pepper plants on the far right, behind the Marigolds.There is Green Peppers, and Jalapenos.  Aside from the Marigolds, we also have Cosmos, and a sweet single Sunflower that {O} grew.  I plant the Marigolds and Cosmos in ever bed, to attract bees and butterflies, for assistance in pollination. But also, because I love bees and butterflies.  : )   On the far left, we have Cucumbers growing.


early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-2

In Bed #2, we are growing Yellow Summer Squash and Zucchini.  We were adamant about the squash varieties growing in another bed this summer, after last year’s devastation!  Some of you may recall the sudden and devastating death of our squash bed last year, and eventual discovery of the culprit!  More on our remedy for this in just a bit.  But also in this garden bed is something new we are trying to grow Sugar Snap Peas! We had no idea what we were doing there at first, but I researched it and learned quickly. They started out ‘thin’, in my Mother-in-law’s word. That was her nice way of saying ‘puny’ I think. Made me giggle. But they are looking GOOD now. A closer look on that in just a minute as well. All else we have here, is the Marigolds, Cosmos, and still sitting there is our now-virtually-famous Coke Bottle Box and Candy-Cane Striped Petunias. There’s also a few Snap Dragon in that box.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-3 Promising buds of  squash.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-4

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-5 Squash Flowers.  No, we have not prepared them as a recipe in any way yet. Fried? Stuffed? It just sounds strange to me.  We’ll see who can convince me.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-6 We were pretty excited to see these 2 pods!  I have fond memories of picking & gobbling peas in my aunt’s garden, when I was little.  I want our kids to be able to do the same.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-7

So as I implied earlier, I wasn’t sure starting out, how we would do producing Sugar Snap Peas this first year. But regardless, I have loved watching them climb our wooden frame, and zig-zagging twine.  The hornets are ‘having at’ that wood frame, by the way.  I’ve found myself watching & studying their activity intently, both fascinated & irked at the same time.  I hope the frame holds up through the season anyway. It’s easy enough for Michael to whip another one up next year.  As an update, the peas are doing wonderfully, and I’ll show you more on that next garden post.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-8 Garden #3 is the Strawberry Bed.

You are welcome to check out the post prior to this one, for lots of photos and chat on our Strawberries this year.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-9 Another new learning experiment this year.  Since last year we learned that we planted our Pumpkin Patch too soon, this year we thought we’d try using the bed as a Watermelon Patch first!  The kids planted the seeds into this bed themselves. You can hardly see them well in this early photo, but let me point them out among the Marigold plants.  The Watermelon plants are in the upper far left, the one in the middle-ish, and far center-right.  There were just a couple others that the squirrels pulled out, before we got to spraying a Deer-Off border.  So I planted a row of 6 new Watermelon seeds in the soil vertically on the far right side. Updated photos of the plants will be coming up too.  We’re not sure if we’ll actually get Watermelons this year either, as my Mother-In-Law said those should have been planted earlier too.  But the plants are spreading like mad now, and I did catch a glimpse of a flower. So there’s a small chance we’ll get at least 1 melon. Heyyyy, we can split it!

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-10 Lastly, in Bed #4 we have 4 Varieties of Tomatoes:  Cherry, Early Girl, Big Boy & Beefsteak.

This is the bed that was our Squash Bed last year! First, we screened all of the soil, looking for any Vine Borers that were hibernated down into the soil, pupating, after the devastation they do in the year prior, waiting to reak new havoc again this year!  We learned that’s what they tend to do!  We didn’t really seem to find any, but we used a new bed for the squash this year just in case.  Besides, we try to rotate the beds every year or 2, so the soil is not depleted of any nutrients from one particular plant variety.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-11 Some Cherry Tomatoes on the vine.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-13 Marigolds.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-14 Cosmos.

And lastly, a quick look at how our Mailbox Garden Tub has filled in….

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-15 I love how the Calibrachoa spill over.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-16 And I have always loved Snap Dragons.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-17 THIS, is not a photo from early July, but a more recent photo after some picking, last weekend. We have been enjoying Yellow Summer Squash, Zucchini, and Cucumbers, so far.

And that my friends, is your Late Garden Report!  Stay tuned for more Late Reporting, right here in the The Homestead ~Home & Gardens section, of Our House Of Joyful Noise.  Meanwhile, I’m open to some sharing and garden chat in the comments!

 


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Filed Under: Gardening, Photography, The Homestead Tagged With: cosmos, cucumbers, early-gardening-season, flower photography, flower photos, garden beds, garden photography, garden photos, Gardening, gardens, green peppers, jalapenos, peppers, snapdragons, squash, strawberries, sugar-snap-peas, vegetable-plants, watermelon-patch, yellow-summer, zucchini

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