Welcome to Homestead Happenings.
Spring has indeed sprung here in the Piedmont of North Carolina!
We have all kinds of color popping up..
Let's see what's going on in our Zone 8A garden.
The strawberry bed is filling in nicely,
and flaunting a bevy of blossoms.
The goal is to transplant these to a tower planter
to hoodwink the squirrels!
Last year, we got only a handful of fruit,
despite my effort to thwart them.
This week, both the strawberries and
the blueberries were fertilized,
along with all of the trees and bushes on site.
The asparagus was sampled this week in salads,
as well as eaten fresh while working outside.
I prefer the narrow, thin stalks.
The spears are coming up faster now,
and I hope to have some to share.
The front bed is sporting many shades of purple,
with the ajuga, irises, nepeta, and phlox dancing together.
The pops of golden color belong to abelia and ligustrum.
I have come to really enjoy this color combination.
I'm not the only one who is enjoying the blooms.
The purple iris adds a dramatic flair to this corner of the bed.
The lamb's ear had all but taken over the front porch bed.
Some of it was dug up in order to help with our erosion problem.
Along the west side of our driveway the soil washes down,
as the property is sloped toward the back of the house.
Although we have lots of leaves and a few hydrangea planted there,
it didn't seem to keep the soil from running down the slope.
This lamb's ear is very low maintenance, and grows quickly,
so I'm hoping it will fill in here and keep the soil in place.
The candytuft is such a gift to the garden.
It shares space with some johnny jump-ups here
in the pollinator bed.
It comes back readily in the spring
and brings a brightness to the surrounding green foliage.
So, I was looking to start my winter sowing
and I needed topsoil as one of the components.
I mix topsoil with a couple of different elements
to create a wonderful planting medium,
used for starting seeds as well as for filling beds.
I decided to try a new resource, as last year
I was not pleased with the quality at my usual place.
This is what I got.
The stuff is like cement once dried.
After filling holes in the yard with the first batch,
(that's really all it was good for),
I went back to my original source to see if
maybe they had a better option.
This is just some of the material that was sifted out of my haul.
Really?
This looks more like mulch than topsoil.
Not sure what I'll do next spring,
but I'll have to make the best with what I've got.
So disappointing.
It was so exciting to see this first ever (for me)
columbine bursting into bloom!
There are a couple more coming up
and I think it will be worth saving seeds to increase the collection!
The fact that it's purple doesn't hurt my feelings one bit!
After visiting the doctor last week,
(the office is right next to the hospital),
I decided to check out the walking trail
that surrounds the hospital.
What a great place to put in a couple of miles.
It was a crisp, clear morning, and the views were lovely.
When the scenery is so appealing,
you forget that you are exercising!
I can imagine those who work there
are happy to get outside into the fresh air
and take a stroll during their lunch hour.
The bonus for me during this visit was that I really liked
the practitioner, and I finally got some answers
to the health issues that I've been dealing with
since late last year.
It seems that I am on the right track with healing.
Grateful.
This is what spring looks like here.
Pollen, pollen, everywhere!
Hopefully, the rain will wash some of it away.
I'm just wondering if it's like this everywhere?
So much to love about spring,
I won't complain about the pollen too much.
Even the sweet dandelions are welcome here,
to help bolster the food sources for our invaluable pollinators.
How's spring shaping up where you are?
