Let’s not forget about the flowers

Before admitting that I really was going to plant the vegetable garden this year, I had made plans to spend the summer attending to the controlled chaos that are the flower beds.

We’ve got a strip of garden that runs along the side of the driveway.  It’s about 30 feet by 4 feet.  There are some good size trees that overhang a large portion of it.  When we moved in, it was lined with sickly looking  hostas.  Naturally, I couldn’t leave it alone. So I dug up all the hostas and moved them to the back of the house where they have been growing great guns, and needs dividing this year.

hostas

Now, I’m not necessarily a big fan of hostas.  I mean, they’re nice and all, especially of you’re dealing with a lot of shade areas. But to look around this yard, you would think I loved them.  We must have at least 200 hostas scattered about the property.  The thing is, the pesky things keep growing, and need dividing.  I think next year, I’ll pot a good chunk of them up and have a hosta sale.

The space the hostas used to occupy has become my ” Put it here temporarily until I make a place for it” space.  Because we always seem to get plants before we know where they’re going.  So I’ve got a hodgepodge of plants that are all waiting for new homes:

the catch all garden

There’s a pretty white hydrangea in there, some day lilies, a Sedum tucked behind the hydrangea, because it was there first, some black-eyed susans, some volunteers that I think is german chamomile, a butterfly bush, two giant hostas that were babies when I stuck them there two years ago, all the raspberry bushes, and some asparagus that I missed when I transplanted them to their permanent home.

But I have a plan!

The front yard of our property  is on two levels divide by a hill.  The first couple of years we lived here, I mowed that cussed hill.  Let me say straight out, that mowing a hill is an exercise in stupidity.   No one walks on the hill.  We can’t put furniture on the hill.  Why oh why am I fighting with the lawn mower to mow the damn hill?

So two years ago, I started digging up all the sod on the hill, screening the loam and planting flowers.

The hill covered in flowers

I’m only half done. The other half is supposed to be the project of the summer:

The un-flowered side of the hill

I’ve made a start digging up the sod.  The black-eyed susans got plopped there because they were a gift and the side  catch-all garden was full, and I couldn’t very well turn away free flowers!  They’re going to need dividing this year anyway.  I’ve also started moving the vegetable garden down to the lower level.  The potatoes were the first to go.  I thought I was going to be able to make the whole of the space ready before I moved a single box, but the DH was hot to get the potatoes into the ground.  There’s a lot of leveling that needs to go on in the space before I can move the boxes.  That lower level is where we will plant the fence.

Further down the driveway ( it’s 200 feet long)  I’ve got another catch-all hodgepodge of plants.  Mostly day lilies  but there are also some creeping phlox, a real pretty peony that came with the house, an azalea and some little shade loving bells whose name escapes me.  All that,  are going on the hill, except the bells, which will go down by the mailbox.

The other catch-all

We are going to take a few trees down in this area, then all the raspberries, strawberries & blueberries will go here.

We’ve also been busy making a shed for the generator. And since we’ve had the generator, we’ve only lost the power twice.  Had we known that was all it took to not lose the power, we would have gotten the generator years ago!  Full disclosure:  Tommy did the actual building, I did the painting.

The generator house

I also have been busy making a wall with an awesome cache of stones we got.  It’s dry laid.  My first.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself!  Now I’ve got a new planting bed in the front of the house.  How cool is that?

The new stone wall

The potting bench finally got moved to its permanent home and all the pots are in one place at last!

The potting bench’s new home

Summer is hands down my favorite time of year. I love the heat, the thunderstorms, the smells and especially all the colors.  Summer is a feast for the eyes!

How are your gardens growing this year?  What are the plans for the rest of the summer?  Leave a message, don’t be shy.  I’d love to hear all about it.

Petunias in the watering can