Sunday, June 13, 2010

Random Garden Happenings

Aside from veggie planting, there's plenty of other garden action at Millertime! Ants busy on the peony buds... ...harvestmen hanging out as well.



This clematis bloom is pretty, but what's up with the folded petal?
It's a spider hideout! Generally I find them to be beautiful, but the eyes on this Jumping Spider kinda freak me out.
The lupine blooms are always a welcome sight...
...as are the Showy Ladyslippers! This year there are two blooms forming-yay!
I got my first winter catalog the other day! Huh? (Actually I understand the wisdom of preparing to harvest in advance, but I was put off at the mere suggestion of winter this time of year. Heck, summer only started what, like ten minutes ago?! :)
Here's the area I'd burned off this past spring (can't you tell?)
I sure can't believe it looked like this barely a month and a half ago.
The taverns up here have a drink that's popular when the weather gets hot: lemonade mixed with vodka (the "basic" recipe, though this one sounds good too :) Anyway, the drink is called a "summer hummer", but here is my preferred variety...
See the droplet of water at the top of the image? I'd left my hose dripping over the deck railing onto a fern that's planted next to a tree and always dry. I turned around to find Mr. Hummingbird here using it as a shower! Glad to help, dude. Then I saw this "ghostly" weed orchid re-appearing, twice the size it was last year.

I had some guests over Memorial Day weekend, I think they wanted to hang out someplace quiet due to the extra ATV traffic.
My Wine Cap Stropharia bed has been producing very well this year, after a quick harvest only three months post-innoculation last year!

This gigantic amendment project needs to be repeated throughout the flowerbed areas. I began by laying down wet newspaper (I also used large paper kitty litter bags which gave me lots of coverage). Then I topped the wet paper with a 2-3" layer of composted manure....
....then covered that with a layer of wood mulch. Looks kind of "bright" at first, but it will fade in the sun. The plants in this area have really responded well, especially since we started getting rain.

Well, back at it then! :)

10 comments:

meemsnyc said...

The flowers are so pretty! The burn area is interesting, it's all grown back!

lisa said...

Thank you! You can never have too many flowers, I say! I'm just astounded by the vigor in the plants growing in the "burn unit", even things I'd have thought to be delicate are growing their butts off!

Ann Flowers said...

Beautiful flowers are One of the best things to me is nature. That is why I believe that I enjoy flowers so much. Flowers, with all of their wonderful scents.

lisa said...

I certainly enjoy all the creatures in my yard, even if I have to "share" my plants with them :)

Anonymous said...

I just LOVE spring green! And the blue of the sky in summer...

The turkey and her poults (sp)
must have been an awesome sight!
Yesterday I was working in the yard and heard a "clatter", turned to look and saw a roadrunner on a fence post about 6 ft. away. Later I saw him/her again with a young rat snake dangling from its beak.

Your yard looks great. You've been busy!
v.

lisa said...

I always welcome wildlife, and turkeys are no exception! But a roadrunner?! That's wicked cool...and snake hunter to boot! What's not to like about that? (Although I do like my snakes, but none of them are poisonous, either :) Thank you for the kudos, I try and stay busy the best I can (if you don't use it, you lose it...y'know? :)

Mr Brown Thumb said...

I'm so jealous of your lady's Slipper! Looks awesome.

Also, that spider makes me want to squish it.

lisa said...

Thank you! It was NOT wild collected either, it really steams me when people do that! Squish my spider?! Nooooooo! :)

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

Love the 'shrooms. Also, I think that spider is the kind my Venus flytrap just ate. Which I kinda wish it didn't. Cos I like spiders. And really, it's WAY too big for my VFT!

lisa said...

Those venus flytraps certainly are ambitious, eh? :)