It’s been a bit since I wrote a blog post, but I’ve been busy getting my backyard garden set up and working in my front yard too. I’ve continued with the container gardening, but I added two metal raised beds and I have two more metal raised beds to put together. I bought these raised beds last year, but never got them put together. Each one has 40 nuts and bolts and my fingers were worn out after getting these two together. I have some diabetic neuropathy in my fingertips and I’m giving my fingers a rest before attempting to put the other two together. Filling them was easier than putting them together. And yes, my patio needs pressure washing desperately – I’m always potting and messing with plants on it.
The dog is Marius, my late husband’s dog and he’s 16 years old. I put down a different ground cover fabric that I ordered online from Grower’s Solution. After watching a Living Traditions Homestead video, where Kevin and Sarah offered tips on using ground cover fabric, I’m skipping putting woodchips on top of this, like I did with the cheaper ground cover fabric I used the past two years. This better quality ground cover fabric is working much better and by skipping the woodchips, I’m noticing a lot less bugs bothering my plants so far. The only issue with this ground cover fabric is it gets very hot on hot days and I’ve had to keep the dogs off of it, even though Marius loves to walk on it and lay out in the sun on it in the mornings. Marius walked onto it when it was hot and he got in a panic.
The green beans are getting ready to bloom.
These are the same Burpee Veranda hybrid tomatoes I’ve grown the past few years – it’s a patio tomato, gets 18″ to 24″ tall and produces loads of cherry tomatoes that grow in tight clusters. I started my seeds inside in early March. I have some bigger tomato plants too – think I started Better Boy this year.
This is a yellow squash. I planted a few zucchinis and patty pan squash too. There are two types of peppers and cucumbers growing. I have some grow bags with celery and I’ve never tried growing celery before.
Zinnias from seed I saved a couple years ago.
Cosmos from seed I saved.
Marigolds from seed I saved.
This tarragon plant I started from seed last year and it’s growing back.
This oregano I started from seed in 2022 and it keeps growing. I also have dill, lemon balm, parsley, stevia and thyme that just grew back too.
I bought a small pot of rosemary at Walmart in 2022 and it just keeps growing.
When I decided to get back to gardening in 2022, I ordered some fruit bushes from Stark Bros. I got 6 blackberry bushes that spring, but didn’t plant them in the ground until fall. I didn’t build a trellis, just let them ramble. They are loaded with huge blackberries this year.
I had gotten 4 blueberry bushes at Lowe’s in 2022 and this year I added four more blueberry bushes.
I’ve got other assorted flowers and herbs growing too.
I started some balloon flower seeds in a small square Dollar Tree container in 2022. They grew and grew and I gave some plants away. This spring I’ve given more away and I filled this raised bed with them, plus have some other large flower pots with them. Apparently, in Korea the roots of this flower are eaten and it has medicinal uses. I just think the flowers are beautiful, but I’m containing it to this raised bed from now on.
I’ll be back to politics when I have time, but for now it’s pretty busy in my own backyard.
libertybelle diaries 