Garden Friday

 Welcome to the first Garden Friday of June!

Everyone I speak with says the same thing,

"Where did the time go?"

It's feeling more like summer these days,

and we are surrounded by colorful blooms!

 

The apple tree that had fallen over in last week's storm

has been removed.

We have a neighbor who takes care of these types of jobs

for folks in the neighborhood.

He's an older gentleman who likes to stay busy,

and so he quickly took the wood home in his tractor.

 

What apples that remained 

were added to the compost pile.

The squirrels and bunnies have helped themselves.

 

The pollinator-friendly plants are coming alive with the heat

and the rain we have gotten over the last week.

Coneflowers are one of my favorite blossoms.

The pollinators love 'em as much as we do.

 

This is the first time I've grown these sweet lil'

fire zinnias.

I will work on collecting seeds so that I can grow them again.

 

The rudebekia is surrounding the birdbath

and loaded with flowers.

The bees are on them all day long.

 

They are gorgeous even before they open up.

 

The Shasta daisies will no doubt make a lot of pollinators very happy.

We have these planted in almost every ornamental bed.

 

This tickseed easily self sows,

as I found out this year when it came back in the pollinator bed.

Another great flowering plant from which it is easy to collect seed.

 

The yarrow is still flopping over and I was wondering

if I should cut it back halfway to encourage the stems to get thicker.

I am still looking for supports for this and a couple of other plants.

Any suggestions?

front porch container

 

 

 

Our pumpkins enjoyed the soaking we got this week.

Although there is no irrigation here,

I've been consistently watering these two plants.

 

I planted another three pumpkin seeds in a different hill.

 

I was happy to spy flowers on some of our melons.

It will soon be time to give them a dose of fish emulsion,

to encourage more flowers and forming fruit.

chooks and cannas

 

The best news was saved for last!

We had wanted to get 4 chicks this spring

to add to our flock of 6 hens and 1 rooster,

but never got our act together in time.

Well, after perusing CL last weekend,

I happened to notice someone selling an Omlet Cube

(like one of the coops we already own),

and I was curious.

The coop came with four 1-year old hens!

Sold!

We are thrilled that we were able to grow our family this way.

We are being overrun with eggs,

but I'm not complaining one bit!

The new girls lay almost every day,

so we will have plenty to give away.

What a gift to be able to share our bounty with others.

These girls are being kept separate from the others

for a month, just to make sure they are all healthy.

Then we will introduce them slowly to each other.

Thus far, we kept the name for the black Australorpe,

which is Jubilee.

Her feathers glisten a brilliant emerald green

when the sun hits them just right.

The darker Comet (inside the run here) is Ruby,

and we are still awaiting the names for the other two to come to us.

We are SO very blessed!

I hope this week brought you wonderful surprises as well!