This sole blanketflower is blooming in a 'done' flowerbed by the rabbits. Must be that good old rabbit poop.
This single coneflower is trying to soak up as mush of the sunshine as it can before the snowflakes fly.
Cleaning out the window boxes and found these....
Sweet potatoes from the sweet potato vines in all the back of the house window boxes. Don't think we can eat them. Not feeding them to the chickens but I will cut them to see if the rabbits like them.
Garden In The Window Boxes?
We are trying to get everything in for the end of the ten year plan for the yard. Next summer will be the end. Yes, sure it will be. That's the plan anyway. Hard to believe we have been here almost ten years. Our first move to Cincinnati lasted 10 years. We could break the record! Nope the record is really 36 years in WV. We have really never decided what to do with this big flower bed. It is a combination of everything we have in the yard. Next spring we will be growing wildflowers.
First we have repurposed the split rails to the other side of the yard around the vegetable garden. There are some flowers in here that we will move to other places in the yard. Probably dig up the ornamental grasses...any one want them?
Thinking of just piling up the rest of the leaves that will fall from the oak tree (and all Mr.John's leaves) here and then tilling it all up in the spring. We will probably need to fence in this area so the chickens can't get in it.
Cleaning Up A Bit In The BIG Bed
Thought we would rework the garden so next summer at the end of our ten year plan we would have everything like we want it so we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
Using...repurposing and using some split rail fencing that we used on the other side of the yard to help build a fence. The chickens have found the garden and are scratching it to death. May not have any asparagrass that I have waited for for three years.
We didn't have any posts in our little pile behind the barn so Mark bought three. And just look where they are from. Going to be a great fence.
We took turns digging with the posthole digger. That's like work!
We cheated just a bit. We got smart and cut about 8 inched off the bottom of the post so we wouldn't have to dig as far. Then we pounded it in as far as we could. Worked like a charm. Usually we put our posts in concrete...not this time.
I couldn't stand it. One last post before dark. I knew I could do it!
Finished Job...well almost.
The plan is to dig us some rocks from the yard to line up under the fence to hold in all the wood chips that we are going to use to cover the grass. That way we won't have to mow and I can get a few more beds in. I want to try to do the herbs in a straw bale garden. Still have some work to do but I'm pleased with it so far.
Reworking The Garden
We tried to grow potatoes in a black garbage can. This is our harvest this year! Pretty excited lots of small potatoes...good fry fried potatoes to go with beans and cornbread.
First Years Potato Harvest
Every year we get one trumpet vine bloom. Just one, every year.
One of Mark's wildflowers. It is probable ten feet high.
Last days for the limelight hydrangea.
Just happened to spot this tiny bloom by the Little Girls.
I'm thinking we may do more wild flowers next year. They were beautiful!
Burning bush starting to turn.
The coleus is probably my least favorite bloom. Mark loves them so he gets to plant one pot full every year. This year I will have to say they were stunning.
I wish I could get my morning glories to bloom and spread like my neighbor on Woodcroft Drive did. More rabbit poop I guess in the answer.
Asters from Betsy lots and lots of years ago.
While I was cutting the grass last night I found blooms tucked in and hiding in the forsythia bush.
They Are Still Going Strong
Look what I found on the backside of the Water Tower...a cucumber! And I noticed that the chickens have found the Tower. All the tomato plants are naked up to where they can't reach their little beaks!
Another Water Tower Veggie
The very last cone flower in the yard.
The sedum don't last long...or should I say that the leaves on the sedum don't last long...the chickens love them. Then I just cut them off and feed the stems and flower tops to the rabbits.
Mark has two beauty berry bushes...the girls haven't found them...yet.
I always forget about these daisies...but the bugs don't.
Roses that are semi hidden in the City Park Garden.
The variegate lariapie blooms late also.
The knockout roses still going at it. I love it and so do the chickens. I put the petals in the nesting boxes.
Last Blooms In September
And before I blamed Mark for cutting them all down when he was weed eating the yard. I did see some take the dive but found these in the oddest places around the yard while attacking the weeds.
Gives me incentive to continue the big weed clean-up to see if I can discover more. I will be harvesting the seeds for next year. And next year I'll mark where I have planted them so everyone knows where they are...everyone but the chickens.
Hidden Sunflowers
Hopefully this year we will be able to stay ahead of the big fall clean up when the beautiful big oak in the backyard decides it is time to drop a three million leaves. It seems we go great guns and then get overwhelmed with all the work and give up. Always promising to get it all cleaned up in the spring. And we all know how that ends up.
I have until the 17th when the yahoos get back to get everything in order. We have been able to make a dent in it by finishing the front yard in two days. Now we are tackling the backyard. Today is day two. Thinking we might go at a little slower pace since Isaiah is here. One worker and one watcher...then the big switch off for water and a rest.
Sarah Beth's Garden. I was looking at it and thinking it might need some more pink...Naked ladies would be good. And she would laugh at the name. Wish it would have looked this good last week when Jason and Casey were here.
This is shared landed between the Amicon's driveway and ours. We take turns mowing the grass there and pulling weeds here. That's Mr. John's bowling ball. The rose bush has gone with me many places. The youth group gave me a little pot with a sweet little pink rose in it. I took it to WI with me and it survived the winters. I brought it back to Cincinnati and it is still going strong. I have even taking cuttings and grown a few other little pink rosebushes. Back to the bed...I yanked out all the vinca vine and now I am looking for something to fill the shady spot. Can't be hosta because the dear eat it as fast as it comes up.
Wish I had taken a before and after pics of this bed. It was beyond bad. We even had to call in help...Michael was a big help. I think we got at least a pickup truck full of junk out of this bed. Mr. Bill isn't going to know what happened when he comes home. We even did little work on the rock wall and the drainage ditch.
The lamppost never looked better. Wish the clematis was still blooming.
I guess I can tanks all the squirrels and chipmunks for transplanting the coneflowers and the black-eyed Susan's into the front bed.
I found all these little rocks under the burning bush. Carter threw them into the bush one day a few years ago. Wonder if I can find a little hosta or some phlox to put in that little curve?
See, more of Carter's rocks. Don't mind the coolers on the front porch. We are a drop off for fresh milk along with the CSA. They might look a little rough but they make for extra seating when you need it. :) I see hedge trimming in Mark's future. That is my least favorite job in the yard...it makes such a mess!
WE call this Mr. Bill's side. Simply because it faces his house. I like to have it looking put together because this is what greets him every morning when he opens his garage door. The grass is starting to fill in nicely and looks great.
We decided to work on the two raised flower beds in the back first. Thought they would be the easiest. Ha! The weeds were taking over! Now the rabbits will be able to see what the chickens are doing across the yard.
We call this the City Park Garden. I think our second truckload of yard waste came from here.
Today since we might get a little distracked it will be the beds around the patio and the oak tree. Wish us luck!
And The Big Clean Up Begins
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