Gardening

My goodness! Two new followers! Thank you Vanessa and Amela! and I have been so slack about posting. Thank you for not "unfollowing" before I could get back. 

If only I could stay out of the teeny tiny garden there would be more time for the computer. Been a full time job keeping the garden watered in this hot dry weather we are having, like 97 degrees right now.

and then those Fordhook Lima bean plants decided to take off growing with long runners trying to reach over to the green bean vines...so I made a fast trip to Lowes for another bundle of 5' stakes. 

Pretty much got all the plants growing up now instead of sprawling out. It all looks nice enough, now if it will product a few vegetables.

Want to show you a weed that came up right along side the lilies I planted around the bird bath last spring...

this is Spiderwort. The stalk has grown bigger now and has several blooms. I kinda like it. and all those lilies I planted are fixing to bloom. 

and this wild blueberry grows between the house and Poppy's shop...

It is almost a tree. It was growing here when we bought this little piece of property 30 years ago and we just could not cut it down.

The berries are tiny but sweet and delicious. On my way to the garden I stop and pick a few for a taste, but mostly the birds get them and that's okay. One summer I did pick enough berries to make a cobbler.

and another project keeping me busy...

dividing and re-potting hostas and iris, and potting up cuttings that have rooted.

isn't this funny...did you notice Weetie sleeping under the bench in the last picture? Well here's the other side of that bench. These iris are in pitiful shape. 

running out of room, I found this old wobbly bench to hold more pots...this is just outside the playhouse. 

and just inside the playhouse...

in that birdhouse on the top shelf is a little Wren sitting on teeny tiny eggs.

I tread easily going in and out of the greenhouse and it's sweet how she watches me. As long as I do not make eye contact with her she is fine, but if I look, she flies away. So we have a little agreement about this. 

Well this was supposed to be a short post, so will end here.  Hope to be back real soon.  

Love,
Henny 

Oasis in a hot garden

I'm going up to the teeny tiny garden as soon as I finish my cereal and take pictures. Not that the garden is all that great, but it is growing...

Got the idea from somewhere on the internet of turning old tomato cages up side down and and putting a flower pot on top to pull the legs together. 

The old tomato cages here are over the pepper plants. Does it look cute, or is it silly. I kinda like it. 

Would you believe, after months of too much rain...it is now dry as a bone around here. Well it is. The garden needs watering daily. Seems we jumped from winter right into the hot dry weather of summer.  

and speaking of hot dry weather...a little Oasis, right here in the garden...

actually, my thoughts were on the lizard and couple of frogs that lived in last year's garden and how I had placed a saucer of water under a squash plant for them. Water in a saucer didn't last long in the sun.

"Do you think you will ever grow up", Poppy often asks. "Well, no, I don't have any plans to". Why not make work more like having fun??

The half barrel is full of Bee Balm. Hope it blooms. We now have two wattle fences, yay! But, I've simply got to be done cutting small trees, and stay out of the woods. Ticks are terrible this year.

Hope there is room enough  for both the squash and zucchini in this corner.

and back up in yard...

Smokey, stretched out in the sun, against this snaky looking background, made a right pretty picture. Our birdbath has started leaking, so I'm using this antique bowl from the thrift store.

and the vine, the vine, the vine...

Have you ever seen anything grow like this chocolate vine has!! Oh, I should have taken a picture in early spring when it was covered in tiny white sweet smelling blooms. (I'm not showing off my pink wheelbarrow. It just happened to be sitting there). :) 

It was Lynn who told me about the Chocolate vine or Five Leaf Akebia several years ago. Info on line from NC State Extension says:

"It grows rapidly and can over take other shrubs and vegetation in the landscape if not kept in check. Flowers are followed by a large sausage shaped purple fruit which split open in the fall to reveal edible white flesh and tiny black seeds".

This huge healthy looking vine of ours has never grown any fruit, but the puny Chocolate vine that once grew on an arbor near the front porch did bear fruit once. Isn't that weird? I was afraid to taste it. :)

Well, that's about it. Hope you too are enjoying gardening and working outside. I'm just thankful for every day that I am able to work. 

Hope to be back real soon.

Love, 
Henny

Little Biddies

Sometimes I simply can't wait to get a new post published and move the last one on down the line. Don't know why it embarrasses me to look back at my posts.

Just when I was seriously thinking about finding a home for all the hens and getting out of the chicken business, look what turned up...

Three days old and already asking questions.

aren't they sweet

Then tonight when I closed the chicken house door, discovered another baby chick peeping out from it's mama's wing.

.........................

So, it's now Tuesday morning and the weather has turned cool. Sure feels good. There were bad storms just south of us yesterday. Lots of trees down and homes damaged. 

Got so much to do today, I don't know where to begin. :(   Did want to finish this post, oh, and answer a question or two from that last post. Sorry for not getting back to reply...

Carla, no, Poppy didn't get a turkey this time. He was disappointed. We sure do not need another turkey tail feather display on the wall!

Debby, the stir-fry broccoli is something new, developed by Bonnie Plants. It grows one small head of broccoli in the center of the plant. When that one is cut out, many stems then grow with little broccoli heads that can be cut and eaten whole. We grew these last year and loved it. Lots of tiny tender broccoli heads. 

Dianna, if the Ford Hook Lima beans do good, I'll give you a call. :) I really will if you will come for a visit. 

Connie, thank for the encouraging words about blogging. I think I need to start back in about the third grade and pay attention. :) 

Willie, glad I was checking back. I love the quotes about "Mothers".

Thank you friends for the nice comments, I love and appreciate every one. 

Okay, I'm off to work now.

Oh, Smokey wanted me to show you this picture. This is his new hiding place, on the little shelf under the new dining table...the one Poppy said, "you need to keep the cats off this new table". :)

Okay, I'm off to work now.

Love,
Henny

Gardening, and a little row of dogs too

Oh my goodness! Two new followers. Thank you, Pelinpembesi and L. McKnight! That is such a nice surprise. I feel like my posts get sorrier and sorrier... 

but I do still love blogging and love and appreciate my blogging friends. 

There is simply no end to the work around here. Seems lately, half my time is spent mowing since Poppy is tied up with turkey hunting. I've also got the garden planted.

The garden is not all that great yet but here are a few pictures...

 outside the teeny tiny garden, looking in

inside the teeny tiny garden, looking out

Along the fence line are zinnias, cosmos, asters, and a few sunflowers seeds planted, and the tall green plants up at the far end are red potatoes.

Along that wattle fence, "my little wattle fence", which this year happens to be the best one I've built; the half-runner green beans are growing. I'm proud of that wattle fence. Real proud.  :)

and next to the green beans are tomato plants and three sage plants, still so tiny you can hardly see them. 

and there goes Poppy up the road. He did stop and speak. He's pretty disgusted with turkey hunting this season. No turkey yet. Thank goodness we are in the last week of the season. Maybe life can get back to normal next week.  

anyhow, that empty row next to the tomatoes is planted with big ford hook lima beans, and two eggplants. Then another row of half-runner beans, a different variety...

and the last row is half stir-fry broccoli and half peppers. Then along the fence line is okra and onions, and in the half barrel way up in the corner I've planted little leaf cucumbers.

Also down near the garden gate are three zucchini and three yellow squash plants. 

meanwhile, back at the playhouse; I've simply got to get all those Iris divided and re-potted. 

this one was so pretty.

a new little friend.

Smokey sees him too.

I suppose a frog is not as much fun as a mouse.

Should end this post now, but first, want to show you a few pictures of big Eli and little Weetie and how they have been sleeping lately...

yep, these are our guard dogs

Thank you for visiting. Hope to be back real soon. Hope you will come back too.

Oh!  "Happy Mother's Day" to all you mothers out there. 

Love,

Henny

Pussy Cats, Pussytoes, and other flowers

That old sweet Smokey kept me company in the kitchen last night...

He looked like he could hardly hold his eyes open but we talked about baby birds and little bunny rabbits. 

"With all the cans of kitty cat food we open every day, you need to stay away from little bird's nests and baby bunnies", I told him.

"Oh mom, you know me. I wouldn't hurt a flea". 

"That rocking chair over there looks mighty comfortable".

"Are we about done here"? 

and...

the wild 'Pussytoes' are beginning to bloom. Aren't they cute? The blooms look and feel just like the soft little toes on a kitty.

Said I would be back with pictures of the yellow water iris around the pond, so starting here at the dam...

then across the front toward the pier...

and across the little footbridge...

to the pier...

and on around...

up the hill to the mimosa tree...

and way over on the other side by the woods...

not that it's all that great, but the amazing thing is that we bought one, just one,water iris in 1996 and planted it by the pond.  

Well, surely I have worn out my welcome. There's lots of work to be done today, so I need to get busy. Oh, The teeny tiny garden is planted. Not much to show yet, but I'll be back.

Thank you for the nice comments on my last post.

Thank you to a new follower, Susan Salmon. Thank you so much. I sure appreciate my blogging friends. 

Love,
Henny