Posts from the ‘Flower & Garden’ Category

Apr 19

Keeping My Ferns Pretty

New Fern Fronds

Just yesterday and every spring I cut off the ratty old fern fronds. This not only accentuates the baby fronds as they uncurl and grow, but keeps my ferns from getting big and ugly.

I have no idea if this is what you’re supposed to do or not, but it works for me.

Apr 15

8 Comments

What’s Blooming April 15

Mount Tacoma Tulip

Candytuft

Apple Blossoms

Blueberries

Strawberries

Alpine Strawberries

Vibernum

Daphne Summer Ice

Native NW Bleeding Heart

Bleeding Heart

Bluebells

Lilac

Iris

Hens & Chicks

Euphorbia

Ok. These aren’t quite blooming YET but wanted to share anyway.

Tree Peony

Double Peony

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day takes place on the 15th of every month and all started with May Dreams Gardens.

Apr 14

4 Comments

Apple Trees are Blooming – Wordless Wednesday

My Apple Trees are Blooming!

Apr 10

6 Comments

My Backyard Inspiration Picture

As some of you know, we’re in the process of remodeling our front and back yards. I already shared my front yard inspiration picture (source unknown) but I haven’t yet shown you my back yard inspiration picture and progress. In short, we’re removing the grass and adding a stone patio with more flower beds.

Here’s my inspiration picture from Valerie Easton’s book The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden.

Back Yard Inspiration Picture (the water is a dream - don't focus too much attention there)

What I like about this picture/garden/patio: 1. the different shapes of the stones 2. the shape of the patio 3. the gaps between the stones 4. the different colors and textures of the ground covers 5. how the patio flows into the garden 6. it looks natural and not cold

Tumbled Pennsylvania Bluestone

Now that you know what has inspired us. I wanted to share what we’re doing to our space to pull off this look. Just a couple days ago we purchased a tumbled Pennsylvania Bluestone that comes in many different shapes and sizes. It’s sitting in our back parking spot until we get the prep and front walkway finished.

We really like the natural tumbled look of the stones.

Here’s how the spot looks right now. As you can see we still need to remove the rest of the lawn, level the space, add gravel & sand and plan the shape of the patio before we can set out the stones.

I also need to find ground covers that the chickens won’t eat! Those little rascals love to eat/kill all my ground covers…

Lots of work ahead... can you visualize the finished patio?

And in case you’re interested, here’s what the space looked like last summer with the patio furniture and paths – taken by the garage and facing the house.

Why we need a patio - I'm sick & tired of moving all the furniture to mow the lawn.

Apr 4

10 Comments

Germinating Nasturtium Seeds for GROW Project

My failed attempt at germinating the seeds

As I mentioned in an earlier post (you can click here to read it), I’m participating in the Seed GROW Project and growing Nasturtium “Spitfire” along with other garden bloggers across the country.

Today I’m going to share what I’m doing to get the Nasturtium “Spitfire” seeds from Renee’s Garden to germinate. So far I haven’t been super successful with indoor germination. I typically germinate directly in the garden so starting seeds indoors is new for me.

I started my first seeds on March 13 with my tomatoes. I followed the directions on the back of the seed pack and in addition placed on our heat mat with heat lamp over head. As you can see in the picture on the right – nothing germinated. Because I was curious, I dug up the seeds to see if they even attempted to germinate and they didn’t. I wonder what I did wrong…

Recently I’ve read some tips on twitter that I’m trying with my new batch:

I’ve scored some of the seeds with a knife
I’m soaking the seeds between two damp paper towels to soften (similar to what we do with pea seeds)
Some seeds I scored and set between damp paper towels

My "Red" Chicken Coop Garden

Later today, I’m going to pot some of the “softened” seeds inside and plant some in the chick coop pots I just got. I’ll mix it up a little to see what plants do best. Eventually I’ll figure out what works best for me. I’m really looking forward to see what others did to get their seeds to germinate.

You can read all the posts here on the Seed GROW Project site. Like all the other participants, I’ll be posting my progress every first Sunday of the month.

“I’m growing Nasturtium “Spitfire” for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee’s Garden for the seeds.”