Some Garden Projects for the Gardeners

 Hi everyone. Happy Thursday.

Today instead of art I want to share some photos of one of my latest addictions. 

I've been working on some more garden projects when it isn't raining. I guess I have been  inspired by all these gardens I've been visiting. Smile.

My new projects don't look great yet, but since they are in process , it will take time to see what happens.

It all started with this strip between where the woods behind my house  starts and where my grass ends, out behind our fire pit. I don't want anything fancy but I do want something to separate the woods from the lawn.

Several years ago, I originally planted some overflow iris bulbs here, thinking they would make a nice hedge of green all summer. Unfortunately it wasn't sunny enough for them. 

This year I bought the 2 shade loving shrubs, a friend gave me some vinca (periwinkle), and I bought some sweet woodruff.  I'm not adding anything else to this area to give these little plants a chance to grow, with hopes that by next spring these plants will be larger and will have spread out some more than they are now. The 2 posts in this photo are where I put my bird feeders for the summer since I wanted to keep the chipmunks (especially) out of my veggie garden. That part has worked great so far.

To the side of this same area, you can also see my hosta. I bought those 3 years ago and after being eaten by deer the first year, they have grown back but only a bit.  I had hoped this year they would get bigger, but they are still pretty small. (Sad face about that.) I thought that since the irises wouldn't make a green hedge that these hosta would do that. Nope, not yet at least. I am curious about how some people get these large shrub like hostas.

I had an ugly plastic snow fence up here to keep the deer out for the last 2 years, and this year I decided to replace it.  These fence pieces aren't the largest, but they blend into the scenery from afar which is what I wanted. And they look way better than the snow

fence, even if they were tougher to put in because of tree roots and rocks. (And when my plants get larger, this fence will blend into the scenery even more.)

And don't you love that Polynesian or Easter Island  style head I found when I bought the fence pieces?  

Then there's my next garden in the process.

I am calling it my bee garden, because, obviously, you can see my beehive from here. Last year I built this stone walkway down to where the bees would be going. This year while visiting my hive I noticed lots of garden plants that had self seeded themselves behind my veggie garden fence. Plus there's a few sunflowers growing too from winter bird seed spillage.

I've got grass to pull out on the far end, but I've been moving some garden plants that I have thinned out down here. I'm hoping that next year I will have more of a full sun garden with lots more flowers for the bees.

And if my bees make it through the winter (which I am hoping and planning on), I am going to add a second hive next year. I don't want a huge honey producing set up, but I am enjoying the bees and would love a second hive.

Everything is so lush this year. This is my main garden.  I thinned it about a month ago. I am now trying to decide if it is still too full and needs a bit more thinning or if it is good as it is. Part of me loves the wild meadow look and part of me isn't crazy about it.

There's lots blooming and about to bloom.

In another week all my oregano will be blooming since you can see the blossoms above. That will add a lot more flowers.

I tried brussel sprouts in my veggie garden this year. They are doing fantastic.

So are the weeds. (smile) And you can see my carrot starting also.

When I weed my veggie garden I only weed around the plants themselves and leave the walk areas weedy. I've tried various methods of weed control, but nothing seems to do the trick completely. (And I don't want to bark mulch here because I like to rotate my crops a bit.) Maybe next year I will get more raised beds. This year I put in 2. With all this rain there is not enough time in the day to totally get rid of all the weeds. 

I do have some grapes coming. I'll get to make more grape jelly this fall.

And I left behind some milkweeds for the butterflies. Hopefully next year they will seed in my bee garden.

That's some of the gardening going on here at my house.  I love that it changes constantly and next summer, may be a totally different place from now.

Hope you're having a good week, and thanks for visiting.