A Dry Weekend At Last

At last - a weekend without rain! And I put it to good use. The yard is in dire need of attention so I managed to fit in mowing and trimming, but more importantly I got to play in the garden. Some of my tomatoes and peppers got to enjoy the outdoors, but protected from the wind inside this wonderful mini-greenhouse. There was only room for about 1/3 of the plants I started indoors, so I'll have to switch them from day to day. I found the old aluminum storm door panel with the "S" to be quite useful in keeping the plastic door from whipping against the tender young seedlings when the wind was gusting. Our last name starts with S so I use this as part of my front porch decor, though usually in a different way!

I tidied up this flower bed a bit as it needed trimming around the perimeter and a dead plant and couple of weeds removed. I am so proud of how it looks already this year, and it should only get better. Next to the concrete blocks are Sweet William and Red Wonder Wild Strawberries. I started both from seed last year. The strawberries actually bloomed and produced berries late last year, but the Sweet William won't bloom until this year. The white blooms in the photos are the berries - and they already have several tiny fruit forming. Buds are just beginning to show on Sweet William - couldn't capture in the photo, but it looks like there will be both white and pink.
Next to the wall, the yellow leaved plant is a eunoymous, which will become more green as the season continues. The other plants are Hollyhocks - and I'm so anxious to see them bloom this year! I've never grown them before. I started these from seed last year, and because they won't bloom until their 2nd year, I've been looking forward to them for what seems like forever. I had some more Hollyhocks in the veggie garden, but needed that space for more veggies. So another chore I tackled today was to create a small bed for them next to our front porch and move them. Got that done, so if I didn't disturb them too much, their blooms should be visible to passers-by instead of hidden behind our house!

I have several items to decorate my gardens, and just created this fun tipsy watering can totem. I was inspired by Dottie over at D+G Gardens and Crafts Blog. She is wonderfully creative, and shares the how-to for her creations on her website. She has some beautiful crystal totems that I want to copy as soon as I get all the pieces gathered. She also does tipsy pots and tipsy tea kettles....the inspiration for my tipsy watering cans. I had been collecting them over the last couple of years with the intention of using them on a giant grapevine wreath I have. I still have yet to complete that project, but there are more than enough left over to do it too.