Some Miscellaneous Stuff

This afternoon I donated my 120th unit of whole blood. For this achievement, I received my 15 gallon pin to add to my blood donor flair collection, plus a t-shirt and lovely purple water bottle. You know, it really doesn't seem like that long ago when I was celebrating my 100th unit.....

I realized when I was hanging out laundry the other day that I haven't shared any photos of the garden yet this year, so here they are. This garden bed contains 2 yellow zucchini plants (foreground), 3 pepper plants -- yellow banana, red and purple (at the left hiding behind the zucchini), 4 tomato plants (center), and 2 rows of giant sunflowers that I hope to harvest to have sunflowers heads to put out for my birds this winter (far right side).

Here's the other raised garden bed, containing radishes (pretty much done for the year now), leaf lettuce, beets, carrots, onions, and green beans. The orange flags were to mark the rows before everything sprouted, but I could probably take them down now. The white stuff between the rows on both these gardens is horse bedding (wood shavings). I was hoping it would help to keep the weeds down between the rows and I could till it into the soil as compost in the fall.

Remember a few years ago when I did a garden makeover at the front of the house? Here's how it looks today. Now that the plants and flowers have had a couple of years to grow and fill in, this garden has turned out exactly like I envisioned (hoped) it would. The lilies are especially fantastic this year.

I think this sunflower was planted by a chipmunk. It's right outside the basement window and I decided to let it grow. It has a perfect blossom and I'm sure the birdies will love feasting on the seeds later this season.

I finally got my fish children into their outside pond for the summer. They're not at all cooperative about having their picture taken and usually stay under the big rock when they see someone standing by their pool, but I did manage to catch a couple of them hanging out by the water lettuce.

Here's a little bit closer (but not necessarily better) look at them. They've adapted well to living in the backyard pond and I'm sure they won't be too happy coming back in to their 20-gallon tank in the fall after living in 60-gallon luxury for the summer. I have until October sometime to decide whether I want to invest in another larger aquarium for inside the house.......

Garden Makeover Completed & Monarch Question Answered

I finally finished the front garden makeover yesterday afternoon. We had to make another run for cypress mulch on Thursday evening, so that delayed the completion, but I still managed to get the job done in less than a week.

BEFORE

AFTER!

(Sophie likes it too!)

Here's how it looks if you're walking up to the front door.

That's a good job done! It's nice to get rid of the weeds and actually be able to see out of those windows again! If the plants all make it through the winter, this garden should look really nice next spring. If I want to add some flowers in pots for more color next spring and summer, there should be enough room between the plants for doing that too.

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In the comments on my post about monarch tagging, Danielle asked how I tell the males from the females and here are a couple pictures to show you what to look for.

This is a female

And this is a male -- notice the differences??
There are 2 main ones: the black wing veins on the male are thinner than those of the female and the male has those 2 little swollen pouch spots on his hindwings.

Front Yard Garden Makeover

Here's my deck thermometer last Saturday morning at 6:15! Mmmmmmmm, this is my kinda weather! And looks like it's going to be a perfect day to start that front yard garden makeover I've been planning in my mind for months now.

Is there anyone out there who doesn't think this garden is in need of a makeover??
It's become a neglected eyesore because I've been too lazy to work at keeping the weeds out. Since we're thinking about selling this place in the next few years, I need to spruce things up a little bit anyway. So why not re-do it now, and we'll get a chance to enjoy it also for our remaining years at this place?

So in my mind's eye, the plan is to expand the garden out several feet into a semicircle. I did the landscaping trick where you lay out the garden hose to mark the shape you're going to work with and then it was time to start the hardest part of the job--removing the sod.

I suppose I could've rented one of those sod-cutting machines but why deal with the hassle and expense when I can do it myself. And besides, there's no sense in letting my female super powers go to waste!

Good-bye ugly, worn-out, wooden dog-eared edging! Good-bye old and no-longer-working low voltage accent lights! You served your purpose well over the years, but it's time for something new and functional.

Well, here's the result of my Saturday afternoon's labors. Doesn't look like much yet, but it's a good start!

Monday after work, I got back to the landscaping project again. My nice neighbor Kevin sharpened my shovel for me and it was much quicker work removing the remaining sod!

Now it's time to start moving the plants. I had mostly hostas and Asiatic lilies in this north-east facing, fairly shady garden. I had purchased a couple of new hostas earlier this summer, but I'm going to just take the rest of the existing plants and replant them. They will be spread out and have more room to grow than they did at the foundation of the house. Some of these hostas are huge, so it will be nice to let them take over a larger space too.

After supper we made the run to Menards to pick up the edging blocks (113!) Now it's starting to look pretty good, don't you think?

Never underestimate the power of a woman with a shovel!!

Today we had intermittent rain showers for most of the day, so this garden project is on hold till the weather clears. Tomorrow is probably going to be a lawn mowing day, but hopefully I can get the garden makeover project completed on Thursday. I need to get the rest of the plants in the ground and then put down the cypress mulch. I talked Mr. Johnson into purchasing a couple sets of solar accent lights (on sale at Menards!) for the garden too. It's been a lot of hard work and sore muscles, but it's turning out exactly as I had envisioned, so it's all been worth it. Hopefully I can show you the final pictures of this project on Thursday.