Backyard wildlife ...

In addition to the baby birds
I've already told you about, here's a photo of a dragonfly I took this afternoon.
This one shows Tori holding 3 salamanders that Emma caught in her yard, right next door, a few weeks ago.

3 Sisters are Growing ...

The 3 Sisters are Corn & Beans & Squash ....

To read an Iroquois legend about the Three Sisters, click here ... or read a different version by clicking here!



To read an interesting article on Companion Planting from the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, click here!


Summer Squash-(seeds planted 6/1/08)-photo taken 6/14/08

Cucumber-(seeds planted 6/1/08)-photo taken 6/14/08

Beans-(seeds planted 5/25/08)-photo taken 6/12/08

Corn-(seeds planted 5/25/08)-photo taken 6/14/08

more random flowers ....

OK ... flowers, weeds, whatever! This plant is growing near the tool shed, and I was intrigued by the enormous leaves, so we left it alone to see what it would do ... well, what it did was grow ... and Grow, ... and GROW .... and now it's getting little yellow flowers on the top ...
Does anyone know what this IS??

Petunia ...

Red Clover ... (Trifolium pratense)

Gerbera ...

Baby Birds are getting big ...

Look how they've grown since last week!

Baby Birds!

Last weekend, when I was taking pictures of flowers, I discovered this nest in the bush next to the Rhododendron -- actually it was when I snapped the pic of the rhododendron, a robin came flying out of the neighboring bush, and that's when I saw the nest ...
On closer inspection, here's what was inside:
2 shiny turquoise-colored eggs!

And what did we find THIS weekend??


2 brand-new baby birds!!


They are SOOOO Cute!!!

Check out the bean plants!!

OK, I know this is silly .... but I'm so excited about how quickly they're growing!!

LOOK:

The BEANS are growing!!!

When I watered the garden this morning around 9am, I checked *very* carefully .... and still NO beans!
But today after work .... BEANS!!!

These photos were taken around 7pm!


And the corn is visibly bigger, too!

This is soooo exciting!

Composting ...

When we began our gardening venture, another project we began thinking about was starting a compost pile, but didn't want a garbage heap ... so we did a little research (actually a LOT!) and finally came up with a simple, low-cost (free!) solution!

We designed a composter using an old 32-gallon Rubbermaid trash can, the kind with the handles that pop up to hold the cover on.
Chip used a power drill to cut holes in the sides and bottom for ventilation, then we lined the can with netting from an old screen door and fastened it with a staple gun!

Now we can recycle kitchen scraps and yard waste into nutrients for our gardens.
Here are some pictures of the composter being created, and a link to a composting site. And another link to a Kids' Page about Composting.

Here's the result, sitting behind the tool shed:

Strawberries ...

Here's a picture of the 7 strawberry plants I transplanted from my sister's garden a few weeks ago:
There are a few berries on each plant, and I'm hoping we can get some netting over them before they ripen and the critters eat them all!! We have some wild bunnies who enjoy the clover in the backyard, and along with the birds & squirrels, these strawberries probably don't stand a chance!

What's growing ....

Last weekend we planted our first 2 raised bed Square Foot Gardens, using the formula prescribed (1/3 blended compost, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite). One bed is 6x2 and the other is slightly larger because it's cut at an angle, so the back is 6' and the front is 8' (it's against a fence).

Tori & I planted these with corn, beans, radishes, several herbs and lettuces, sunflowers (all from seeds) and a few transplants, including tomatoes, cayenne pepper (Chip chose this plant!), red cabbage and chives.

Here are some pictures of what's up as of this afternoon ... (not much, which was a bit disappointing, but we're still figuring out the watering requirements with this type of gardening mix ---it's not the same as with regular soil).
Radishes:

Corn:
(also some mesclun and basil, but the pics are too blurry to see.)

I can't wait for the beans to sprout, and to grow up the teepee we constructed from bamboo poles!

The box we planted today contains garden soil and compost, and we planted cucumbers, summer squash, corn (I'm going to experiment with a THREE SISTERS GARDEN ... I'll add some beans once the corn is up) and we left some empty boxes because I'd like to get a couple more tomato plants, and maybe a pepper (NOT cayenne!) plant ...


Here's the sunflowers from the little plastic cups I planted with the kids at my Library StoryTime 2 weeks ago:
They're now in front of the fence surrounding the garden.

some random flowers from around the yard ....

Old Fashioned Bleeding Hearts, transplanted from my grandmother's garden several years ago.

A pretty perennial that Tori chose at Wal-Mart ... not sure what it is!

Rhododendron in front of our house.

Salvia (May Night) in front of the fence.

a potted gerbera daisy

petunias in the window boxes on the tool shed

This plant was given to me, about 12-years ago, by one of my preschool students. I planted it in the backyard and it s-p-r-e-a-d all around!
Common name: "Perennial Bachelor Buttons"
Latin name: Centaurea montana

One of MANY wild daisies in our backyard.