Making progress on the fence

I made quite a bit of progress on the garden fence over the Memorial day weekend. Left to do is trim some height off a few of the posts, build a gate for the entrance, and stain the fence and the shed.  I'm still not sure what I want to do across the back of the garden, right now I am going back and forth between two ideas, either install more of the same fence and close off the garden or run privacy fencing from the shed, behind the garden, and all the way across and behind the kids play area, not sure which way I'm going to go yet so I'm going to just take my time and think about it for a while...

Productive day in the yard

We spent the day out in the yard working on the fencing and got a lot more accomplished than I thought we would. As usual we let the girls run around the veggie bed while we were working, but this time they went right for the cucumber and squash and began to decimate our tender little plants so I think they will be getting their garden privileges revoked until the plants become large enough to handle their destruction...

And their off!

Destruction in progress

 I was able to get the front and one side installed today, this is my first time installing a fence and so far it has not been as bad as I thought it would be

The Irises are waking up

When we were cleaning up a turtle came walking by my fire pit. Not sure who will win this race?

The next Project

The next project in the yard will be to fence in the vegetable/patio garden. I went to Home Depot and picked up all of the fencing and posts yesterday. Below, I leaned them up against the existing green garden fencing to help me visualize what it will look like and motivate me to get to work!

The temperature has warmed up and it's starting to show

From Iowa with Love

Two years ago I drove from Massachusetts to Iowa, we drove so my wife could bring home some things she still had at her parents home. We brought back everything she wanted, but I also brought back a peony, part of a Christmas cactus, which started from her great grandmother, two clumps of bearded iris, and a small clump of pampas grass. I brought everything back in old ice cream buckets and they all survived and are doing well. This year will be the first year the peony blooms! What was also nice, is that her parents came out to visit us this year and were able to see all the transplants. The Christmas cactus has not bloomed yet, but hopefully it will soon. I planted the pampas grass on my back hill to shield the compost bin, but now think it was not a great spot as it has been spreading rapidly and actually growing into the bin. I also recently transplanted a clump of it to the corner of what will be the chicken run for the permanent coop. I am counting on chicken power to keep it under control, well at least the portion that spreads into the run.

I think we may drive out again next year so I'll need to start my shopping list soon!

The Golden Chain & a Special Edition..."INSIDE THE TRACTOR" Never before seen pictures only on My Attempt at Gardening!

We have a beautiful Golden Chain Tree just off our deck, which is getting close to flowering

And as promised, never before seen picture from INSIDE THE TRACTOR!

OK, I just took pictures from the open end of the tractor, but they are pictures from within so I am technically accurate.

Beautiful Beds & an update on the girls

Here are some pics from the restaurant we went to for Mother's day. It was a great location for photo ops

It's been a while since I posted an update on the girls. They have been living outside in their chicken tractor for a few weeks now and seem to enjoy it. I planted my vegetable bed this weekend and collected all of the grubs I came across for the girls and did they ever love them!

After three years of disappointment my apple tree finally flowered...does this mean we will get our first apple? Only time will tell.

Aruba 4/28-5/5 ---Part 3

The final series from my trip

Hard to tell, but we were driving on some rough and steep terrain

We passed a wind farm on our trip

This is the "famous" Divi tree they feature in all of the catalogs, it was located on our beach, which was kind of cool

 That agave is taller than my wife

ok...so the fake chicken reminded me of home...

I almost didn't see this little guy...great camouflage job

so sad...on the way home, wind farm from the sky

Now it's back to reality, the vacation was great and I would recommend Aruba to anyone looking for a relaxing tropical vacation. Hope you enjoyed the pics.