The Weekend

My favorite swinging bridge. You have to click on the photo and enlarge to see the swinging bridge just above the concrete railing here. This is in Florence MS.

You couldn't have asked for a prettier day than this. Such a pretty shade of blue with a few wispy clouds. Even the temps were pleasant. Actually set some record lows for this time of year. This AM is was 62 degrees - temps we normally see in Oct. (Could this be the reason a few pecan trees are losing their nuts prematurely?) Maybe an early fall?

Buddy has to be clean to visit relatives. He hates the whole bath process - but just like children he loves the water.

He rides in the passenger seat in his bed. He is most comfortable in his own diggs with a pillow to block some sun.

Luci's birthday cake. She is going to be 5.

The hand is suppose to be a puppy dog begging, but one hand had to hold the purse.

Ben love the pirates. Everything is about pirates right now.

Calm.

I had a great weekend. The only thing that could have made it better is if I had stayed and gone to church with them. I regret not attending with them.

Gardening and Other Stuff

I had a good and productive weekend. How do you like my new bench compliments of my cousin who has recently moved in with me. Buddy makes a good supervisor even though he is looking the other way. He's watching.An antique wash basin stand compliments of the previous tenants.

My peaches are turning and falling to the ground before they mature. I had this problem last year and thought OK the trees need some fertilize and pruning. Done. The tree and the fruit look better than last year even though the fruit is not maturing. They are not ripe to eat. Anybody with any ideas - please speak up.

The appearance of my Johnsons Blue Geranium. Can't wait to see this baby bloom.

First appearance of cannas.

Seeds dropped by the Troy and Karma (cousins grandkids) a week ago. These seeds came from National Home Garden Club and is a mixture.

Everyone needs a garden frog. And he is doing a marvelous job in this bed.

Looks like velvet - royal purple. You can almost see these babies growing.

Ranucula planted in March. It doesn't seem to be growing like I think it should. No buds yet. Is this a finicky plant?

These petunias are putting on a very colorful show. They seem to be giving it all everyday. You can watch them grow.

I will be eating squash - I'm guessing 3-4 wks. They are not blooming yet - but once they start it'll be no time to mature. The other plants in the garden are doing remarkably well. Everything in the yard is requiring the garden hose over the past 7-9 days and there is no prediction of rain anytime soon either.

Pop said that I need to break up the dirt around the plants and pull it back in around the stems. I'm planning to get this done this coming weekend. And you can see that I have grass coming up between the rows. This is the first time for a garden in this spot so grass is to be expected. I need to pull as much as my poor body can handle this weekend.

The blueberry bush is loaded. These should mature in the next 3 weeks or so. I can almost taste the blueberry cobbler. Oh and I'll remove all of the calories and fat before eating.

My sweet little Buddy. He takes such a good picture.

We had a stranger show up on Saturday and Buddy struck up a friendship. This bull dog had escaped from her yard and was returned to her parents as soon as they came back home. Isn't she pretty. Buddy didn't care that she was more that twice his size - I really don't think Buddy knew.

On a final note I have been waiting for my magnolia's to bloom and yes they are blooming but only on the top areas of the tree. Same thing last year. I have no idea why only the tops of the trees bloom.

Anyway - Happy Gardening to all of my blogger friends and have a nice day.

What I did this weekend...

I had a nice weekend working in the yard. I managed to plant these babies in pots. These can stay where they are or later incorporated into a bed. I love to put potted plants in the beds along with the in the ground flowers. These clay pots are old and have been here for many years and still mostly in tact.

After the potted plants I set out to the front yard. These are the pretties that you'll see in my completed photo.

Its always nice to have helpers in the gardens. Last week my cousin moved in with me. We have always hung out together and have a blast most of the time cracking funnies. Anyway these are two of her grandchildren who came for an overnight stay. Karma and Troy worked hard and did everything I asked them to do and did it so well.

The ground as we have just begun the tedious work of removing the sod and shaking the good soil off.

Troy wanted to help with the sod using a trowel - but my shovel had it under control.

Karma is a charm. She loves to pose for the camera. They both helped putting the plants in the ground and spreading the seeds. Actually the seeds mostly ended up in the same spot but who cares. The kids had a good time and now have the opportunity to see their plants grow. By the way I had intended on using the ground cover sheet you see but it just didn't want to cooperate in the wind so I gave it up. Maybe I'll get some mulch for this bed. All of the blank spots are filled with some of the bulbs from the dollar buys I got at the local Walmart last week.

This is my next project. Where you see the bags of soil will be the next bed.

As yet I haven't put up the fencing around the vegetable garden. I have not seen any new deer prints but they'll be back. Maybe I'll get around to the fencing this weekend. All of the garden is doing very well. Sunday looked like the bottom was going to fall out all day but never did. I just lounged all day. Felt good too.

We have not had any rain to speak of for over a week now so everything is requiring a garden hose for now.

Happy Gardening to you fellow bloggers. I just love this blog world - don't you.

Easter Weekend

Hope everyone had a great Easter and some nice weather. I ended up spending my Easter weekend in the veggie garden. Not much fun but I enjoyed it.

Have you seen a magnolia that looks like a shrub. Well I have about six magnolia's and they are all trees except this one. It doesn't even look like it wants to be a tree. It is getting ready to bloom - way before the magnolia trees.

The veggies are starting to pop up. This is butter beans planted by seeds on the 5th of April and they are looking good. It sure didn't take long for them to pop out.

I planted more seeds and plants this Easter weekend. I felt I needed to get everything into the ground before the 15th. I managed to get 65-70 hills from seed and plant this weekend alone.

This is what I have in my garden:

Butter beans, snap beans, peas, yellow and white squash, red yellow and green bell pepper, jalapeno, tomato, cucumber, eggplant, watermelon and cantalope. I probably left out something. I have a good variety.

This is all the flowers I have to show today. My new bed has taken a back seat to the veggie garden this week.

The weather here has turned out to be just beautiful. Plenty of sunshine. Everything around here is starting to pop out with the pleasant temps and rain and sun.

This time of year just makes you feel good.

Weekend With The Grandchildren

I had a marvelous time with my Daughter and family. Could not have asked for better weather. As you can see from this photo it was beautiful. The time spent driving was good me time - to think about gardening and planning my next garden. Are we always thinking about the garden? I guess so - I think our minds are always in the dirt.

I know you can't see the sign that reads out of business for this big food broker company. Just a sign of the times in which we are living. It is sad isn't it.

This is a quaint little town. Florence Mississippi. I love old town. If we could just take a peek at the goings on in a little store. That is how people spread news of anything was to visit the local grocery or feed store.

If you enlarge this picture - you can see a swinging bridge. It is still in use today.

A nice place. I love water. That is what I always seem to gravitate to when I am painting.

Gavin, helped by his dad and little Luci. She wants to garden too. Here is my little gardener. I took Gavin some seeds that I have for my vegatable garden for him to plant. He was very appreciative and has quite a variety going in his containers here. He has about 6 of these yellow containers Dad brought from FedEx. He is very excited about producing some etables. This is smart boy too. He is such a smart kid. My daughter home schools these kids and all three of them are well above their average age student.

What a beautiful day to plant some seeds.

Luci loves her little dog Maw Maw bought her. She named "her" Daisy. All of the animals and dolls must have names you know.

Luci must dance for the camera. She is a ham.

Ben the new Karate Kid. Getting ready to show his stuff. He has just recently started karate and already has his yellow stripe - next the yellow belt. This has made a world of difference in his behaviour and his abilities in school. Being homeschooled has worked best for this one in particular. You can check out Aprils (my daugher) blog at Homeschool-Musings at blogspot dot com.

This is the scene coming home on Sunday. Drizzling and just plain yucky.

On Sunday after arriving home I immediatly headed for the garden to get my seeds in the ground. By the time I got home the skies turned to partly sunny and hot. Well, I'll shoot some photos after I have planted the remaining fruits and vegatables from plants purchased from Walmart or a local nursery.

This week I have plans to get the new flower garden set up. The plants I ordered from Springhill Nursery will be arriving in the next 10 days maybe.

Hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

After the Rain

Yesterday turned out very well for us weather wise. No extremely serious weather. Hail that kind of stuff - but it was over by the end of the afternoon. After the rain yesterday the color everywhere was green. Everything is greener after a rain. Today the flowers are reaching for the sun and popping up all over. That makes me feel good too all over.

Lots to do this weekend - plant all my vegetable seeds and some more vegetable and fruit plants from the Mart store. I also have got to get to work and this new flower bed I need. I have babies arriving next week from Springhill Nursery.

In addition to planting this weekend I am going to visit these three kids. Three of my favorite people - Gavin, Ben and Luci. They were sick last week so this week it is. Can't wait to see them.