Finally, the lillies have started to bloom!

I’m actually going to try and visit some other GTS bloggers today.  I’m usually too busy with the kids / garden or working to spend time on the internet but if I get a spare hour, I’ll be here seeing what’s new with everyone else!

What’s blooming in your garden this week?

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

I’m busy today thinking of all the ways I can bake with and preserve all this fruit!

I slept most of today away as I was recovering from night shift, but I was able to spend a good three hours working outside.  Also, my parents are visiting for a few days so we had a lovely dinner in the front yard, built a poor man’s firepit, then had a soak in the hot tub.  What a great Sunday!

Our poor man’s fire pit built out of an old tire rim we found in the garden when we moved in.  I still want a grate and maybe some sort of surround.   It’s not pretty and not kid friendly but it will do the job for now:.  Any suggestions on how I can tart this up on a budget?

Some hens and chicks that I stuffed into a driftwood border:

A flowering stalk.

‘Upon maturity (usually around 3 to 4 years old) the plant will send up a single stalk that can reach 5-15 cm tall. The head of the stalk is a cluster of star-shaped flower buds 1-2 cm in diameter, which range in color from dark pink to yellow and that flower for several weeks. After blooming, the plant will die. Usually by this time it has produced many offsets (’chicks’).’

What’s blooming in your garden this week?

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Why do I keep buying those tasteless US strawberries when we have the sweetest, most juiciest berries in our own backyard!  Here’s Cailey with today’s harvest, and that just from one bed!

Some random photos from this week in our garden (we are still working on securing all the sand for the sandbox, but Bart lugged home 1/6th of it from Thormaby Island today).  Poppies in the veggie garden:

Veggie garden:

A few of the raised beds at the front of the house:

What’s blooming in your garden this week?

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

What is this, the third day of summer or something and finally we’ve had a half decent day!

We’d been planning on making a wooden sandbox for the kids but since money is a little tight, we decided that rather than buy timber, why not get it for free.  So we spent this afternoon down at the beach gathering driftwood.  We came back and laid it all out, removed the sod and dug down a bit.  Unfortunately, and to the disappointment of the kids, that’s as far as we got as there are no building supply shops open on Sundays in our town so the completion will have to wait until tomorrow.

Now to source out cheap / free sand.  I suggested to Bart to sneak down to the beach after dark, every night for a week with a big bucket but he’s not to keen on that idea.

Here are some pics of what is blooming in my garden this week:

What’s blooming in your garden this week?

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

And another week of neglect.  I’m working a lot the next few weeks but desperately trying to stay on top of things.  We’ve decided that it was really really dumb to sell our old utility trailer last year as there is no green waste pick-up here and yesterday alone I (over)filled the wheelbarrow twice with weeds.

This week, my daughter and I transplanted some carrots, more kale and a dozen or so jack-o-lantern seedlings from the greenhouse into a raised bed on the east side of the house.  I had to booby trap said raised bed as our black lab Agnes is fond of digging in that exact spot.

The beans are coming along and the apple trees are out of control with zillions of apples starting to grow, as is the plum tree.  I was sad in my discovery that some of the ‘weeds’ I pulled out of the veggie garden were actually giant poppies, but there were crowding the beans and strawberries, and I’d rather have fresh food over pretty petals.  I’ll save the seed from whats left and plant them next year. 

No pics, but the tea-tree seedlings are finally starting to look like little trees, which is quite exciting considering the age of the seed packet I found them in.

I needed a last minute hostess gift for dinner tonight, in addition to a bottle of wine, so I gathered some flowers from the garden and arranged this (not too shabby considering I’m no good at arranging flowers):

The potatoes are thriving, I top them up with topsoil every week because I read somewhere that they produce more that way:

The other veg is coming along nicely. I harvested the last of the asparagus today. The strawberries are budding and I replanted the beans in the front garden. I transplanted some kale and lettuce seedlings today to this small square patch in front of the dryer vent (shouldn’t be too warm as we usually hang our clothes on the line). I also planted a bed of mixed lettuce greens, as well as cilantro and basil and four tomato plants:

I planted a Clematis Ascotiensis at the front, hoping it will climb and cover the new fence mom made:

Bloom Time: July - September

Flower Size: 5-6″

Height: 8-12′

Pruning group C (blooms only on the currents year’s growth. Cut back late February or March to two strong sets of leaf buds on each stem, normally within 12″ from ground level).

Another post-dated photo this week as I am away being pampered at a spa resort all weekend, my first ever trip away from my kids since my eldest was born over four years ago. Can you tell I’m excited???

I took this photo to record the size of this giant hosta, although you can’t really tell that it’s almost as high as my waist. It wasn’t until I uploaded the photo that I really noticed the lonely yellow poppy. I have these poppies ‘popping up’ all of the garden in the strangest places, even on my gravel driveway:

What’s blooming in your garden this week?

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.