Ron and I had a wonderful week off. The weather was just about perfect. We traveled a little and saw some old friends. We were home in time for time for a visit from my brother, his wife and two kids. They were up from Texas for my nieces graduation from college. Mom was here and Apple and John came up. It was great to see everyone.
We were able to get a bit of gardening in between the coming and goings. This is the view from our front porch. There is a little piece of land across the road that the farmer that rents our land just doesn't use. Ron tilled it up and planted sunflower seeds everywhere you see the darker green. He did a mass planting by the road a few years ago and I loved it. He thought it would look great with the field behind it and the old purple martin house right in the middle. It will be fun to watch it develop. He had fun on the tractor with the plow even if nothing grows!
This is what the one from a few years ago looked like....
The vegetable garden is pretty much Ron's baby. He decided he was too busy and didn't do one last year. This year he went crazy! The garden grew and I mean grew! Our friend Dick has cancer and he is on a special diet that is primarily a vegetarian regime. His numbers have fallen drastically and he is able to put surgery and radiation off for now (hopefully permanently!) He credits God for the turn around but feels He used the diet to help in the healing. Ron figured he could cut his grocery bill this summer by growing a ton of stuff. I married a man with a kind heart. That is going to be a lot to weed!
We had sparkle strawberries in the vegetable garden the last couple years and we usually make sure we have some new plants going for the next year. Since we didn't have the regular garden last year, it slipped by both of us. We plowed the old ones under and planted new ones that will bear fruit next year. We (well Ron) planted 100 plants! I'm sure we won't have any trouble getting rid of berries. They are a little sweeter than the ones from most of the strawberry farms around here. We ended up making a new bed for all the berries and for the few grape vines that won't take off but won't give up either. If we get to it with our list of things to do, we would like to build a mesh fence around it to keep the birds out. Last year we had a ton of raspberries but the birds got most of them!
This is the last project we started but is still in progress. This is an old chicken coupe. The couple that lived here for 50 years before we bought the place turned it into a green house in their later years. It has it's issues but it has huge potential! We are trying to get the water fixed (there is water inside but when you turn it on it sprays everywhere!) It has gaps so big the birds have set up residence. Our goal is to have it as a functional green house for next spring! Although we need to address the issues inside, I decided to add a bed in front of it this year. I also added flower boxes to the windows in hopes of making it look like a country cottage. I'll show you more as it develops.
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