A Garden Amongst The Weeds

A Garden Amongst The Weeds

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sweet Sunday!































*Small footnote* It really is worth it to try the black oil sunflower seeds in wild bird seed. All the above sunflowers were birdseed. I have lots of others in my garden that were packaged seed specifically for planting from brand name companies, but these are every bit as pretty and cost me nothing extra. I love how the centers of so many of them have something different going on!

Happy Gardening!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Outsmarting the Enemy!

I don't generally have enemies. I'm a pretty easy going sort,
even when it comes to my garden. 
I like to share. After all sharing is caring...

But there's no sharing with grasshoppers.


Nibble nibble..

So here are a bunch of pictures in no particular order
and I'll tell you of my dilemma as we go.


You see, I have this incredible family and they indulge me quite often. The garden continues to grow and they help me to do crazy things like  plant seeds by the moonlight and construct things out of old rusted wire and help me haul heavy buckets of rotting manure all over the yard and the list goes on.



This fine gentleman, my son, Johnny asked for sunflowers this year. 
He loves to roast them himself, so he was really looking forward to this giant row of sunflowers. 
We've babied these things and he's really been a huge help.
 
Here's the enemy! There must be tens of thousands of them on our property. We have a wire fence around the garden to fend off the deer but it provides no protection from these voracious little suckers! We live on twenty nine acres of grass land and there's no stomping these guys and winning the battle. You hand pick all day and they still come by the bizillions. Two years in a row now we've fought these nasty devils. The cabbage is shredded, the potatoes are un-recognizeable, flowers have no petals, they even ate the poisonous plants! My foxglove is teeming with them. So many you can hear the clicking noise as they eat.


It's heartbreaking to plant so much and have so very little to show for it at the dinner table. Greenbeans, not even enough to put away seed for next year and none for the table. Peas, two small bowls full and then eaten to the ground. There's one squash vine still trying out of 10 plants. Every last baby's breath eaten to sticks, broccoli leaves look like lace. My hydrangea has like 1 leaf left.
There's a plague in my garden.
It's horrifying.


So Johnny and I put our heads together and we think we've come up with a plan.
Turkeys!
We'll build a fence around the fence that surrounds the garden
and ring the garden with hungry birds.





















Come winter time, we'll eat the Turkeys that eat the grasshoppers
and finally have a harvest!
That's the general idea anyway.
Thanks Johnny, for taking pictures up high where I can't see or reach with the camera,
to show me that some things, up very high in the air have survived the hungry beasts.
Better luck next year perhaps, if we devise a perfect evil plan...
Any and all crazy suggestions are muchly appreciated!

Monday, August 8, 2011

The Quiet, Warm Days of August

I love flowers. It seems to matter not, the color, scent or size!


 I like the cheery purple annuals

 The dainty, spicy Cilantro blossoms

 Clarkia in all his showy splendor

 His blossoms remind me of the Crepe myrtle tree we had when I was growing up

 Cheerful Marigold scattered here and there
This is one of my Dad's favorites, Ajuga!

I hope these grapes mature before the snow comes!

Forlorn little whiskey barrel devoid of fishies... Dang raccoons!





Sleeping kitty in the shade

Crazy cone head taking on another wild shape.


The ants seem to be protecting it from the grasshoppers!

A peek at the mountain


 and a peek at my buddy




 Anyone ready for some Digitalis seed?


 Sweet Potato vine, taking it sweet, ever lovin' time!

Don't forget to appreciate the simple things, like single showy roses

  and stately trees...

 And good garden soil,

 Pretty Hostas

 Wild and unruly Wisteria

 


 And say a thankful prayer for the bumblebees!

Happy Gardening,
See you next time!