The Mother's Day Flower

Sometimes I wish I could shrink down to the size of a ladybug so I could truly appreciate all the intricate details in the center of a flower (especially this one).

Crowette

This is the newest edition to the Garden Crew Family:



Not only does she fool the birds, but family members and neighbors have confused Crowette with me. Great fun.

The C3 Community Garden

Okay, so I haven't started my own community garden yet, but I am volunteering for the Covenant Community Garden. It's a great way for me to learn about how a community garden operates, plus the harvest goes to a local soup kitchen. Today I used a tiller for the first time. That tiller was trying to get away from me, I think. Anyway, I also hoed the weeds around the tomatoes. I might be volunteering in the garden every Tuesday morning.

Here are a few pictures:


That's Debbie. She's the one who came up with the idea to donate the harvest to a soup kitchen. Smart lady...and she's always willing to give anyone a ride to the garden. She's really nice.


So many veggies..


The weeds have gotten a little out of control...


The Children's garden..They are growing sunflowers, pumpkins, and corn.


This is the corn field that surrounds the garden. There were two deer running through the field. I ran to get the camera but by the time I came back, they were pretty much out of the picture. You can still see one of them but they are about the size of this comma: , near the patch of brown.


More of the corn field. It is just so beautiful our there. Gosh, I love West Virginia.


This was a different corn field. I was walking down to the garden from where I had parked the truck and just stopped and stared. The wind was running its hands through the corn.



My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view.
~H. Fred Ale

Flowers on the beans

Purple flowers!! These beans seemed to be doing nothing at all. Last night I was passing through the garden before heading in for the night and there they were. Cute little purple flowers. Now I can't wait for the actual beans!

BINDI is here!!!

"Happiness is a warm puppy." ~Charles M. Schulz

This is Bindi, my aunt Jill's Australian shepherd puppy. Isn't she adorable? Look close and you will notice that one of her eyes is half blue.



This is my favorite picture.


munch, munch, munch...


Bindi and Poppy


itch, itch...


"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." ~Roger Caras

The Story Behind the Garden Fish

The one thing everyone always notices about my garden is the blue fish. It appears to be swimming in a sea of tomato leaves. He's about three years old now and his shiny blue gills are starting to fade. Between him and MooMoo (the garden cat), not too many birds enter the tomato forest.

My best friend Claire got this fish for me when I first started to really love gardening. I remember the day she got it for me. She was so excited. I had no idea what to expect because Claire and her mom tend to surprise me with very interesting (and lovely) gifts.

How the Garden is Doing..

I have to say this gardening season has been the most interesting. This year I have blueberry bushes and grape vines, but very little corn. Giant pumpkins but no white pumpkins growing in the hedges. The birds are extra hungry. So are the bugs.
Here are some pictures to update you:


The Garden Inspector: Grandma Nance


Lots and lots of sweet basil


The Giant pumpkin who is not so giant quite yet.


The blooms on my cinnamon basil


The newest edition to the garden. I had a lot of trouble with this plot because the birds decided it was fun (and tasty) to dig up all of my corn, lima bean, and sunflower seeds. Oh well, now we have a total of 19 tomato plants. That's the most I've ever had. I'm excited to see how they turn out.
We have quite the variety in this plot. We have roma, pink brandywine (heirloom), german queen (heirloom), celebrity, and Mr. stripey (heirloom)


Red Sunflowers in the front yard are doing awesome!


We have sunflowers galore. I forget what kind these are. The could be Mammoth or the mixture I bought.


These are the same sunflowers. I wanted to show just how many there are in this spot.


These are a different set, and I'm still not sure what kind they are. I guess I'll have to wait till they bloom.


Zucchini & lettuce


The broccoli my mom put in. I didn't really want to grow these but now I adore them. The leaves have a cool (as in temperature) feel to them even when the sun is beating down on them.


Spinach


The tomatoes are staked and producing tiny fruit.
Bush Goliath has two medium-sized green tomatoes.


Lots of tomatoes. These are big boy, I believe. Bush Goliath and a yellow cherry tomato (the one attached to the small white pole) are also squeezed in there. I have so many now it's tough keeping them straight. Also, the garden fish is peaking through.


We probably have as many (if not more) peppers than the tomatoes. We have banana, yellow, orange, and green bells.





"I'm not really a career person. I'm a gardener, basically."-- George Harrison