Sovereignty Farms

Etc...

i feel like the only thing i post here are pictures of daylilies in summer and complaints about weeds every other season.  I pulled some today. it made me like the garden more. i am trying to bring myself to pull weeds when he naps, but i can't bring myself to do it.  i hate the garden when i am inside.  but then when i take the boy outside to play, i bend over and pick a few weeds. and a few moments later i am in love with the garden again.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The garden looks horrible.  Especially the veggies.  The weeds are horrid - embarrassing. They are taller than Cooper in the veggie garden.  And Alley could get lost in the ones in the back island bed.  So, I took lots of pictures of the good areas, the bad areas and the really really ugly areas. One day I will look back on this time and wish that I had no time to work on the garden -- that Cooper was a baby.  I am trying to cherish this time and not worry too much about the weeds.  But I can't let them go, either.

Anyway - ugly or not, the veggie garden works - haha.  Here is today's harvest of snap peas.

Playing Catch Up

I have been paying a lot of attention to Cooper's blog lately, so I am using this post to make several weeks' of updates.  I am still working on the pictures from the Athens Garden Tour that Linda and I went to.  I hope to post those tonight.  And - drum roll please - the Connesuier's Tour is next weekend.  Woo Hoo.  Ray and Ginnie are coming in for the weekend, and Justin's BDay Party is Friday (a sleep over), so I think Cooper will be going with me on Saturday and Sunday.  I know that is going to be hard on him, but this tour is so important to me.  Sunday is Mom's Day so maybe Ginnie and Ray and Dan will be going with me. That will help - maybe. It might make things worse. Anyway. To the garden...

My love for this spirea is renewed each year as I see its red tips come alive.

This is an Itea I am pretty sure.  It was in the Iris bed and all the trees fell on it (and it's brother) during the tornado.  It was broken and stripped of its leaves.  Finally started looking good so I moved them to the front bed.  They are really taking off now.

Here is the rose bush I moved.  It looks nice here in this picture, but now it is yellow and all dead. The plan is to pull it up and plant a sweetshrub there once it stops raining.  It really stinks that I killed that big beautiful rose.  But the good news is that it is a Fairy so I can propagate another very easily.

Some other flowers:

Here are some of the irises that bloomed this year.  Many of these are new this year. More Iris bloomed this year - probably a combination of more sun and the dividing.  The light purple ones gave a good show this year. Previous years they only showed one or two blooms, if any. (some are duplicate pictures from above - sorry).

I planted new Lemon Zest petunias in the front by the door.  I like them with the red door.  I'd like to add some light purple ones with them. I think the yellow ones also look good with the hosta. I dunno how the hosta will do in that location, though, during the summer. We'll see.

Here isthe New Dawn rose that I planted a few years ago.  Most of it was killed by a falling shed fromt he storm so I thought it was gone.  Lots of dead wood.  But, I cut that off and it started to grow and bloom.  Woo Hoo.

Last post I said there was another purple bush I bought, but I couldn't remember it -- it is a Purpleleaf Sandcherry Prunus x cistena

I harvested radishes and mustard greens last night.  I discovered Dan does not like radishes.  And there were too many for me to eat, so I gave them out at the MG plant sale.  We had the greens tonight and they were great.

Speaking of, I bought plants today. Daylilies, Iris, and others.  Once the rain stops I will get out there and get the names.

Whew - I think that is all - and it is 9:30 already so maybe the Athens Plant Tour pix will go up tomorrow. :)

Testig Notifications

Testing Notifications

If at first you don't succeed....

Seems like people still are not getting updated on my posts. I tried something else this time so hopefully this works.

I have a few new pictures out there. Click Here.

The newest bed is frustrating me. First I will share that I have dubbed it the "ladybug" bed. I dunno why. I have bought a few ladybug garden things to go in it. I was thinking of doing a fairy garden - I saw one on TV once and it was cool. But I am not all that into fairies. And the ladybugs seem so cute. So, there ya go.
Anyway, one of the red daylilies will bloom any day now which is cool. The hydrangeas look good except for the heat of the day getting to them. But many of the new Hostas are looking horrible. Their leaves are almost all burned off. How is it that the Hydrangeas are ok but these are not? Either they are getting more sun somehow or they are super sensitive cultivars. So anyway, I think I will move them over to the driveway bed. The ferns there are looking pretty good. I may even move 2 Hydrangea shrubs over there. I was also thinking of moving the Weigelia to the new ladybug bed, as well as one of my peonies - one in a pot. I was thinking of planting it in the ground. This is the time to do it.

I also decided today that I am going to plant a butterfly bush in the area of the yard between the pink and yellow bed and the herb garden. There is a nice little place there for one. The garden plan from Habersham actually calls for a round bed of 6 roses there. But I like the idea of the butterfly bush attracting wildlife. Especially because the next bed I want to do is a butterfly bed. The bush will be a nice transition between the beds, since the butterfly bush will be over there, closer to the driveway though, near the pear tree and the grape vine.

I need to do some research on how to preserve the Canna and Elephant Ears this winter. Help.

This weekend my plan is to start some fall veggies from seed. Broccoli (sp?) and lettuce. I will plant more beans and carrots (good for stew), greens and then keep the sweet potatoes. Just a small crop, since I will not have a lot of time with the Master Gardener Class going on at that time too.

Back to the Ladybug bed. It seems like everyday I look - even at the same time of day, the conditions in that bed are all different. I am at such a loss as to what else to plant there. I need something that can take the part shade and full sun. Like the daylilies, but there are so many there already. Maybe some coneflowers or something like that. But those are tall. Ahhh.

I have order a grape holly mahonia - the birds will love it. Also 4 fatsia, 4 golddust acuba and 2 pink and white variegated camellia. I want all of these to go in the back yard - which desperately needs me to finish laying down pinestraw. Also, the pink and yellow bed needs pine bark mulch in a major way.

Anyway - with the bloglet notification service and with the ladybug bed.....I will try and try again!

Zucchini Power

We have more zucchini than we know what to do with. They are like little rabbits multiplying in the night. I brought about 8 to work yesterday and 11 to work today and people are taking them home. I didn't think so many people liked this veggie, but I am glad they do.

Last night I also picked the first of the crookneck squash - 3 of them, more beans, and some carrots. They were not as big as they should be but they needed to be thinned out.

We saw baby cucumbers and pumpkins and watermelons. They were embryonic, though - about the size of a dime or smaller. Also, there is an eggplant or few growing. One of them is about golfball size.

I got the new Dr Dirr Hydrangea book. It is amazing. But it makes me sad to think about my Hydrangeas that are just not blooming well. How can it be that I like a plant so much and it does not like me? Maybe I can talk Dan into digging a few holes for me this weekend in some sunnier locations.

The rest of the garden is kinda stagnant. Some of the lilies are bulging like they could bloom any day now. Other than that - same as always. I did get a few leatherleaf fern and Canna Lilies in the mail the other day that need to be planted.

It is seeming to be a gloomy summer to start. Not as much rain as last year, but the days are cloudy. I think the plants would prefer some more sun. And the mosquitoes. Ick. My legs are so messed up from them that I couldn't wear shorts if I wanted to.

Stormy Feelings

So, I have these feelings sometimes that tend to not last long, but I think I am not a good wife, or not a good Product Manager, or not a good cook.....Right now I am thinking I am not a good gardener. I think it really has to do with the Hydrangeas in the back. They are just not blooming well and I should have known that there was too much shade back there, and all my hoping would not bring more sun.

I have been contemplating moving them around the yard instead of in one location in the back. 2 by the fire grill, 3 or 5 by the hammock area.....They would get more sun and it would share the blooms around the yard. Make them more enjoyable. I could till up the area over by the fence near the road and put two rows of them there, tall ones in back and dwarf ones in front - and then some low growing perennials in front of that. Then I need to get some shrubs to replace them in the back. What grows in such dense shade besides Mahonia and Acuba? It is the right thing to do, but so much work - after I have already done so much work - in vain.

The yellow and pink bed has tons of weeds. And all is so small still. It needs another layer of mulch. In the herb bed, the gallardia and daisies have taken over. I think the four o'clocks are trying to get through the mess. But the roses in that bed are not blooming like the other ones are. And I put round up on the crab grass but now it is just brown crab grass everywhere - not that attractive.

I still have not tied the beans or cut back the squash and tomatoes

And I have lost interest in finishing the back since the hydrangeas aren't blooming. They look healthy though. I am not sure whether to move them now or in the fall.

I am going to try and fix all this stuff this weekend. Work really hard to get it done and I am sure I will come out of this slump. Gardening is rewarding and I love it. I just need to get on the stick.

Also, hopefully I find out this month if I will be able to take the Master Gardener classes.

Awesome Authors

Once again I changed something on the side bar so I need to make a post. I removed the Best Gardening Books and decided to change it to Best Gardening Authors. There are links to one of their books from the sidebar. This will take you to Amazon and from there, if you click on the authors name, you can see more books by them. Linda, I think you will especially like some of these books :>

Ponderings

It is pouring down rain right now. I'm not at a window, but I can hear it on the ceiling here at work. So much for laying out more mulch tonight. Or working today (I'm day dreaming about gardens).
I'm not sure if it is me or if all gardeners are the same but I have more imagination about gardening than time or money to actually do it. I can finally begin to see my ideas for the woodland garden coming into shape (even though it is only about 10% done). Part of the pine bark mulch path has been laid. And I put pinestraw on either side of it. It makes the Hydrangeas really stick out, even though they are just babies.
I don't think much will happen this year with the yellow and pink garden. I have a lot planted there, but it needs time to take off. Next year will be amazing, I'm hoping.
Even though I have more than enough to handle right now, I continue to ponder the front yard garden. This fall (with lots of help from Dan) we will till up the large beds there on either side of the walk, amend them and then build a picket fence around before planting the area. I really want to paint that fence white, unlike the other fence that Dan built which remains a natural color.
So the things in that bed will be all purple and white. every shade of purple. Maybe a few hints of light pink. It is part sun in most of the areas. One section is full sun so I will try a white rose there. I'm still compiling the list of flowers to go there. Irises. Coneflower. Verbena. Beautyberry. Annabelle hydrangea. I have to really be careful what I plant where. I could put a hosta right beside a rose and it would be ok because of the strange light coming through the Black Walnut trees. I will probably try to do as much evergreen as possible since it is the front yard. maybe Wisteria on the arch over the gate. Phlox. Do they have purple daylilies? Heuchera. bee balm. Aster. delphinium. Liatris. Catmint. Monkshood. Geraniums. Astilbe. tri-color sage. Butterfly Bush. Lenten Rose. Plus Hosta which I love. I'd like to put some small cyress in there too. Sedum. Baptisia.

Cool Quote

Saw this today and really liked it....

"The only things in your control are your thoughts and then your actions. Positive, powerful thoughts lead to positive, powerful actions, and when done with repeated consistency this cycle leads to greatness. Dream it! Pray for it! Believe it! Work for it! And then be ready when it happens!" - Greg Werner