Update #15

Hello! We finally got a chance to work in the yard today, so I took some pics to catch you up on our growing kids and growing plants.

Ethan enjoyed the ride in the carrier while I pulled dandelions and kicked the ball with Aubrey.

He is rolling over and scooting backward on his back. He's an all-around good guy.

In the next photo, please note the lilac bush on the left, just starting to bloom, and some boards on the right where Jason is planning to put in a raised bed. Planting in said bed may have to wait until next spring. We plan to put a big bush or small tree in the corner (at Jason's shoulder) to create a better focal point. Also a bird bath, as requested by Aubrey.

The most impressive plant in the yard at the moment is the clematis - It's in its 3rd year now. The first two years, we got maybe 5 flowers. This year it's really gorgeous.

The birch tree is dying and will likely have to be removed in about 5 years, according to our arborist. He suggested planting another tree ASAP to shade the house after the birch tree goes, and suggested where in the yard it could go, so we are going to plant a tree for Ethan to go along with Aubrey's plum tree. Possibly a crabapple-type tree or an oak of some kind.

Otherwise, we're just trying to do the minimum amount of mowing and weeding so as not to get fined by the city, and dreaming about someday having more time to garden. Hope your gardening is going well! Talk to you soon!

Update #14

Hello!  Jason worked tirelessly the last few weekends and we are officially done with the planting.  Now we have a lot of weeding and mulching to do.  Speaking of weeds, here's the bloom of one weed you might recall:

The lilac bush is in full bloom and we got the second annual photo of Aubrey in the lilacs.  Here it is:

And here is last years, which you may recall seeing already:

The hydrangeas are leafing out, but no sign of buds yet.

Only one shasta daisy came back.  The other three never came up.  So we planted wildflowers in their place, on either side of this planter.  In the planter we put mint.

I transplanted some daylilies on either side of the walkway at the corner of the back of the house.  I read that you can transplant them any time of year.  It recommended cutting the leaves off and just transplanting the stems, but I kept the leaves on, so now they look very sad.  Hopefully they will perk up.

We've put up some toddler fencing because Aubrey was traipsing across the beds.  It works pretty well - she makes no attempt to cross the fence even though it wouldn't be too difficult. 

Clematis!  Very pleased with this, and I want to plant them everywhere.

In the hanging baskets we decided to go with portulaca.

Salvia is blooming.

Side of the house: daylilies, lilies of the valley.

The raised bed, with tomatoes (left), okra sprouting (center) and a greenish yellow creeping plant whose name I can't remember right now, but we're hoping it will grow over and down the box.  I think phlox would be a good replacement if this doesn't work - I see it everywhere around the neighborhood.

That's it for now; let me know if/when you'd like to start your garden blog! I'd be happy to help.

Update #13

It stopped raining so Aubrey and I went out for a photo shoot. So here's a garden update! Click on the pictures if you want to zoom in for a better view.

But before we get to the garden, here's a picture for Dad of regular instant pudding (as opposed to fat-free sugar-free). This is the store brand, and you will just have to trust me that the Jell-O brand was being sold adjacent to it. It was about 3 feet to the left of the fat-free sugar-free variety.

Glad we got that settled.

A garden store had astilbe for half price so we couldn't resist planting 7 more in the rock garden - now we have eleven! Two white, two red, and seven pink. Rest assured you will be seeing more of them in the coming weeks.

Aubrey is a great helper in the garden. In the above photo she was testing the sturdiness of the bird feeder (it passed). In the photo below, she's multi-tasking: moving rocks and picking dandelions. And singing "Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go..."

She got a sandbox (turtle, background) handed down from her friend who outgrew it. She looks forward to playing with it on the next warm, non-rainy day.

Asparagus. Note the big one just peeking through.

The clematis, about 2 feet high. It grows so fast!

Black raspberry patch, leaves starting to sprout.

Hydrangea, sprouting.

Daylilies (right) and lilies of the valley (right foreground and left side just past the curved metal thing). Everything else you see is weeds except a little columbine. I think I'd like to transplant some errant columbines from around the yard into this patch on the left. Jason I hope you are reading this.

Below, the strange bush with the flat spiny branches is on the right, leafing out. Still don't know what it is. On the left is the prickly bush that you thought might be flowering quince. It's blooming; see closeup in next photo.

Front garden. Trying to keep it weeded. Not doing too well with that.

Here's the current state of the church garden that we passed on our walk while you were here. I love watching the progress - something new practically every day.

Our garden bed with tomatoes (left 4 plants), okra (buried seeds) and purple bells (right).

Here's the bush I said might blossom while you were here - it waited until after you left. Aubrey and I had a photo in front of it last year so we decided to carry on with tradition.

Here is last year's photo.

The last few days have been great for bird sightings - I've seen lots of goldfinches at the feeder and surrounding trees and even a couple of orioles which are gorgeous. Also these rose-breasted grosbeaks.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Update #12

First update of the year! Not a whole lot happening as we just had our thaw but I think there is enough to report. Aubrey is enjoying exploring the outdoors - it's almost like the first time since she probably doesn't remember much from last year.

Grass! (Albeit dried grass from last year.)

Tulips are about six inches high. I think they might like to be divided after the leaves turn brown this summer.

A hosta.

The clematis.

Signs of life on the clematis.

The hydrangea bushes. In hindsight, maybe we shouldn't have shoveled snow on top of them.

Running up to show me a stick.

She fell down but she's still smiling.

Bubbles?

Can't wait for your visit!

Update #10

This will be a short update. We just had our first snowfall of the season, so this photo sums up the current state of the garden. Note the branches from the elm that fell from the weight of the snow.



We brought the basil and rosemary inside a couple of weeks ago, and we had one last harvest of green tomatoes along with some nice beets. I think it might go without saying that this is the final garden update before spring.

Now that it's winter I have to figure out how to entertain Aubrey when it's too cold to go out for a walk. Here's one idea I had.




See you soon!

Update #9

Hello! Aubrey has two more teeth, for a total of six. The most recent ones came in this past Thursday. They are the ones next to the two top front teeth, the lateral incisors, just barely visible in this adorable photo. Click the photo to enlarge but WATCH OUT as the cuteness will become unbearable.

Her canines look like they are about to come in as well, but they don't feel sharp so I don't think they have broken through. She complains a little bit about the pain now and then but it's not too bad. She's not crawling yet, but she hops in a sitting position, pivots, rolls around, and scoots backward on her belly. So she has lots of ways of moving slowly across the floor. Who needs crawling?

So, on to the garden. You may recall these plants in the front, which looked like weeds during your spring visit, and may very well be, but I wanted to show you what they look like now. Four foot tall spikes:

With pretty pink flowers at the top, about 1.5 inches wide.

And the butterflies like them!

But, I don't like them. Too long of a wait for too little bloomage. So next year I'm going to pull them as soon as I see them. Unless I'm too busy.

The sedum in the back corner behind the tomatoes is starting to bloom.

And the bees like it!

Did you notice in the August or September Martha Stewart Living that there was a big article about sedum? Apparently there are 450 varieties and they grow in zones 3-10 and don't need much water or sun. PERFECT!

Here is the current compost situation. I sure hope you're interested in our compost situation.

The front one is for new compost, the middle one has older compost that we hope will be ready by spring, and in the back is a crate we got for free that we are using for leaves. This past weekend, Jason helped some friends of ours build the same type of bins with the moveable levels so they can have leaves in one and compost in the other. It turned out great and they are very happy with it. It feels really good to compost and it felt good to be helping people get started with it.

We have string beans!

We harvested 5 beans yesterday and had them for dinner (along with other things of course). They were delicious! The odd thing about them was that they only seem to grow inside the fence, between posts. Any idea why that would be?

I mentioned that one of the hydrangea looked a little pink, and now most of them have at least some pink in them.

Other hydrangea around the neighborhood that is similar to ours with the cone shaped blossoms (as opposed to the round) is also turning pink. So it's probably not something we did.

That's all for now. Talk to you soon!