Summertime!!

We went away for 9 days to camp in Yosemite National Park and when we came back I couldn't believe how much everything grew! Here are some pictures. This is the vine house. It is covered with purple passion vine. Makes a nice shady area for the grands sand box.

The Sunflower House.

One of the sunflowers on the right looks like it wants to move away!

This picture is of the Plumbagos that I planted this spring. I want a hedge to hide my view of my neighbor. I got them from Walmart and paid $5.50 for them. They were just sticks when I planted them and they look like they tripled is size. The blue color will look great for a background for the purple Jacaranda!

Then the awesome Jacaranda. Just wish the blooms lasted longer!

The Hay Field

The hay field has been cut and now all the bales are sitting in the field!

There are over 200 bales out there.

He's picking up the bales right now!

My daughter and granddaughter-- Rachel and Kaylee

Solar Water Pump

For my birthday I also got a solar water pump for my livestock fish tank. We found an old water pump at a garage sale and I wanted to pump some water up it to look like water coming out of the pump. But we didn't have any electricty near by so I found this solar pump to do the job. It was a little pricey and I wish the pump was bigger so more water comes out. But it does the job I wanted and looks and sounds like running water.

Here's some of the goldfish in my tank. I think there is about 16 in there. The water is a little dirty cuz I'm stirring up all the gunk and cleaning in out.

Fairy Houses

For my birthday and Mother's Day my daughter-in-law Amy painted 2 of my gourds to look like fairy houses. Aren't they adorable! The top picture are the backs of the gourds and the bottom picture is the front of the gourds and the door knobs are little button and some gold sewing pins. I need to put a sealer on them then I will put them outside and they will be the beginnings of a fairy garden. Thanks Amy I love them!!

New Pictures of Vine House

A kitty cat bird house

We added some cut up logs. I would like to make these into a table and some chairs.

I put in my Pot Man that my sister and parents made for me several years ago.

I also hung up some gourds and plants in the window frames

Spring Garden Show

We went to the home and garden show this weekend and this chair caught my eye!

And I really want to make this salad table. The table and chairs are all planted in different kinds of lettuce! Maybe this would keep the rabbits from eating my salad garden!

Winter Rains

With all the rain we have been getting I thought I would post a few pictures to show how lush and green everything is.

But with all the rain comes the weeds! Somewhere in this weed mess is our propane tank! Blaine our propane guy is not going to be happy!

The Vine House

This is my lastest project. We got a sandbox and swing off of craiglist. And being in southern Calif it is so hot in the summer that I didn't want my grandchildren getting sunburned while playing. So I moved an old homemade clothesline into the garden area and covered it with wire mesh. I have a passion vine plant that just wants to cover the wire mesh. So hopefully next summer we will be able to play under the passion vine. The mini pumpkins were planted here last year and I just threw them in one place so I could put them in my compost pile. The front of the vine house has old window frames that I wired to the clothesline.

The Sunflower House

Last week I cleaned up my sunflower house and here is what it looks like in the month on January. I should of taken a "before" picture. The recent storms tore my cover off the swing and there were lots of weeds and dead sunflowers lying around!






The Granddaughters in their matching coats swinging!

Bird house gourds

I planted last year a whole packet of birdhouse gourd seed and here are the results! There's 59 of them. They look like little soldiers all lined up!

Anyone interested in doing a craft with their kids let me know--I have lots to give away!

Rose Garden Marker Stones

Yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making these marker stones. I want to label the names of my roses -I think the names of roses add to their beauty as well ( I have a rose that is called Bees Knees--love that name!!). I saw these stones being made on Rebecca's Garden and thought that they would be perfect for the rose garden! I really had a hard time finding the kit. Supposedly Joann has them but none of the stores carried it. So I had to order the kits on line. They do offer many different kinds of kits to choose from. I got it from Amazon. The kit made only enough for 3 stones. But it tells you what kind of cement to buy to make more.

These are the names of 3 roses that I have.

I'm back!

ok--It's been almost a year and a half since I last posted. I'm going to have a new lease on life. I have been inspired by my daughters-in-law's blog sites, my husband, and staying in touch with friends and family! So this site will still have stuff about my ever changing garden, but also about my family, our big renovation on our old in desperate need of repair 1930's house, plans and ideas as to what to do with our 9 acres, and anything else that might be of interest. I also will post lots of pictures--if I can remember how! I love to hear from all of you so please, please make lots of comments!

Finally they are Blooming!

Thought I would put a happy face on this one.

The Sunflower House-July

These pictures were taken in mid July. Still no blooms on the sunflowers and I strung string across for the morning glories to grow to make the roof. We measured the tallest sunflower and it is 11 feet 8 inches. I'm standing in front to show you how tall it has become.

The Sunflower House-Early June

These next pictures were taken in early June. The yellow chair inside shows how big the sunflowers are getting. The morning glories are climbing up the sunflowers but are not across the tops of them.

The Sunflower House-May

I have always wanted to make a Sunflower House. So since I have become a grandma this year I thought that I would practice making one. So when my granddaughters become old enough we would have lots of garden tea parties in the Sunflower House. I'm looking for a child's table and chairs to put inside. Haven't found one yet--but I still have plenty of time to find one. This Sunflower House was started in April 2008. This spot was once a shade house but the fires of 2007 destroyed it but the foundation is still there.