These are a few of my favorite things

My favorite color is blue, my favorite unusual colors together are purple and orange, and my favorite complementary flower colors in the garden are red, yellow, orange and purple.

I remember a long time ago seeing flowers in a front yard with all those colors in it and thinking how very attractive it is. I have tried to recreate it several times, but have never achieved what I think I saw. Memories can be like that sometimes. You think it is one way and you have actually modified it into something else. Now I try to just stick with yellow and red. Well this year anyway - HA!!.

The orange Gerber daises you see in the picture are actually planted with double purple petunias. I was so excited when I saw the purple flowers that I had to have them. Unfortunately at the taking of the picture above, they were not blooming. I just pinched off the last withered bloom yesterday. There are lots of buds though getting ready to open so I will get a picture of that when it happens.

I like vegetable gardening and in general think it is easier than flower gardening, but I like flowers better. Here is a picture of my roses blooming:
I think they will fill in more in the coming years. Did you know you can't be afraid to trim your roses? The more stems they have the fuller they get. I always hesitate and then wonder why things aren't filling in like I think they should. Especially this type of rose, they are called carpet roses and will fill out nice, if I will cut them that is. Roses also get aphids. Being an advocate for organic gardening, I don't use pesticides. The lady bugs usually do a good job, and until they kick in properly, I just use a water hose with a spray nozzle to get those little buggers off. I took a picture of them as well. I haven't used the hose yet today, and in general they don't devastate the plant, but it is better to just get them off.

Here they are:They are the little lumps you see on the stem. They like the new growth because it is easier to suck the juices out of. I am about to go get them after I get done here.

Ben wanted to know.....

I think a compost pile is one of the best things in the world, but we are fallible humans and it doesn't always go to our liking. I have said in previous posts that my pile wasn't cooking enough and that is common, but okay. Ben asked in the comments for me to address the "stinky" problem and the "pest" problem. I have to be honest in that I have never really had a problem with either. In my last house my pile was right next to my deck and not 10 feet from my back door and I never smelled it. Now, the one I have now does have a small odor, but it is a "good" one. It smells like compost. I have to warn you that I like the smell of horse crap too - HA!!

So, to help Ben and any one else who might be facing some problems with their piles I went on a hunt and hit this site on my first try. I liked what it had to say so I stopped and thought I would link it on here to help.

Debi also mentioned in comments that I left the basil out on my list of what I am growing. I actually have that in the house in pots and commented to Alan today that they are growing good and getting a second set of leaves. I can taste the pesto now!! Soon, very soon!!

Hope the link helps Ben. Happy Gardening!!

What I have planted in my garden

There you go, that is the extent of my garden, as of this year anyway. It is about 18 x 5 and it is packed full. There are 5 roma tomato plants, 9 green pepper plants, 2 potato hills, red onions and borage around the tomatoes. Borage is supposed to make the tomatoes sweeter, or something like that, a companion planting kind of thing. I have my compost bin at the "top" of the garden. That is so that the nutrients leach down into the soil and then down the garden, it has a slight slope, so in theory, that should work. In the past I have planted tomatoes around the compost bin and used it to tie them up as needed. Those plants always did very well. I learned that from something that I had read about how well tomatoes like organic food. I don't know if I had said before, but I don't really have original ideas, I just copy what I read and see how it works for me.

I also have a couple of 1 x 2 areas, one that has carrots and one with beets. And of course there are pots of stuff as well. Cucumbers, and Japalenos in those. I still need a couple more bigger pots to transfer some things or just start something, cause I have some seeds. That is how it is with me, kind of like an addiction. I get a hankering and I HAVE to get a load of compost and dig up some part of the yard and start planting stuff.

One thing I haven't learned is patience. Seeds really do best for me if I just wait and plant them outside in the "real" dirt. Otherwise I end up wasting time and money trying to start seeds inside. I am not as good at that yet as I would like to be. I think my next project is to try and start some Columbine from seed - outside of course - HA!

There really is always something to do

I know it has been a bit since I posted anything - my apologies to the few of you who might come here for a bit of gardening wisdom.

There on the left you will see my compost pile. I mixed it around the other day and it was cooking good, starting to get warm. There are all manner of things in there and that is good, adding the brown matter of shavings, manure and hay from the horse park helped a lot.

So, back to the title of this post. There really is always something to do in a garden or the yard, and I am a firm believer in enjoying what you do. Not the "I have to do this!", but the "I can't wait to get my hands dirty!" attitude. Did you know it is actually better to let the weeds get a little bit bigger so that they are easier to pull? When they are young and tender you will only pull a small amount out and then you have to pull it again later and again later to get the roots. Of course there is the walking around looking at your creation and seeing what you have done and how things are coming along, how much they have grown, and if they are faring well. My favorite is the sitting, for a short while, enjoying the atmosphere of the garden, bugs and all.

Alan helped me to learn to put pictures up so I wanted to show you some things. There on the right is part of our front landscaping. I had this idea about a cluster of red and green and yellow. In the pot there is a red rose bush, in front of that in a row are euonymus, then roses, and finally yellow coriopsis. Right now it is kind of bare looking but once it all grows in it will be beautiful. I wanted a little bit of a different approach to a traditional landscape and I had, for once, an original idea and once it grows in we will see what happens. I have added a touch of blue in there too. Delphinium, balloon flowers and blue dahlia. I can't wait until they start flowering to see the effect. Of course if it doesn't work for me I can always dig it up and plant it somewhere else.

I suppose that is enough for today, as Alan is sitting here waiting for his laptop - HA!! Happy Gardening!!

Signs that there is something wrong with your compost pile

O.k. I will be the first to admit that I DO NOT know everything there is to know about gardening. I have a lot of opinions and really enjoy it, but yes I do make mistakes. I don't know if you know this but most potatoes you buy in the store have a chemical sprayed on them to keep them from sprouting and growing in your potato bin. My Mother in Law gave us some really nice small red potatoes back in the late winter and I never cooked them and they ended up going bad and, dang it :-) they ended up in the compost pile. Thursday or Friday, I happened to notice some beautiful green plant sprouting out of the compost pile. Saturday I pulled out and planted 2 red potato plants - Hee, hee. Then I added some "brown" material and I think that will start to take the temp up enough to kill any other things that decide they want to grow instead of turn into food for my other plants.

Just thought you all would enjoy my little faux pas in my gardening world. HA!!

Is it too late?

In my last post I was talking about a good foundation for your flower beds and garden. That a good foundation actually starts 2 feet under the ground. Well, what if you have an already established landscape? Is it too late to change to organic gardening and get those good nutrients down there where they are supposed to be?

Let me tell you, boys and girls, it is NEVER too late. At every house I have ever lived in, until now, the landscaping was either picked for me or already pretty old and well established. Of course you do have the option of digging everything out and then re planting it after you get the ground good and worked. I DO NOT suggest that for established trees and shrubs. There is a really easy way to get the good stuff on, in, under, and around what is already there. If you have a local farm, or here in Kentucky, specifically Lexington, we have the Kentucky Horse Park, and they give away compost!! I have shoveled my own more than once but they offer the option to have them load you if they aren't too busy. If you don't have that option, any home improvement store is going to offer bags of compost or manure that you can purchase, if you don't have your own. Instead of hardwood mulch use compost. It is dark and rich and pretty to boot. And as it rains guess where those nutrients go? Straight down to the roots of your plants. If you have a small tiller you can work it in around those established shrubs, but not too close as to harm the roots. If you don't have a tiller, just putting it around on top of the ground will work. In no time at all (a couple of years) you will be amazed at the change in your soil as you plant you annuals not to mention the good health of your plants.

So, don't give up!!