June is flying past!

Sometimes things don't work out as planned.

My 'quiet' country life has been anything BUT quiet these days!

I'm back to work full time, Little Country Girl has just finished a session of Spring Skate and is now playing soccer. I am busy at the soccer field 2-4 days a week.

Country Boy is working lots of shifts at a local fast food restaurant, as well as getting ready for a summer job with the Pan Am Games coming soon. He is saving for a car and that will surely help loosen the load on Big Country Girl and I, who have been driving him around.

Father has started a new job, and so this means more time away from home.

There has been so much to do around the yard!

The grass hasn't stopped growing, nor have the weeds.

The veggie garden is now planted, and the pool opened.

2 more weeks and Little Country Girl will be on summer holidays.

It might almost be time to slow down a bit!

We had a very wet week, and so yesterday was spent cutting grass, weeding, and planting.

Today was another rainy day and so the housework was done, and I even had a chance to sit down!

I have been snapping photos for weeks, and finally I can post a few of what is going on in my yard.

I finally got the veggie tomatoes, peppers and zucchini's planted, and Little Country Girl talked me into trying watermelon one more time. Now the hard part ... keeping ahead of the weeds!

Our Asparagus patch was bountiful this year and I think we can all say that we had our fill.

Planted a whole lot of spinach and salad greens that should be ready to eat any time now.

I thought this Red Romaine looked good, but so far it just tastes bitter.

The first big weeding out there took almost all day, and filled the wheelbarrow!

Have you ever seen such a HUGE Rhubarb plant?

 I found a new recipe for Rhubarb Cinnamon muffins that everyone seems to like, and we have had stewed rhubarb and rhubarb strawberry crisp. I have also frozen some and given lots to friends. I think this plant really likes the yearly topdressing of manure!

I've been trying to get the back flower beds cleaned and planted up too.

Thank goodness for the perennials, or there would be no color out there. I just haven't had the time to get all the annuals in yet! There are some pretties out there...

Snow in Summer

 

Garden Loosestrife

 Maiden Pinks

 Allium

 Flag Iris

 Iris

 Spiderwort

The Hosta beds are coming to life, some are getting split 

 The Peony's are starting to bloom 

This week things should slow down for me a little.

Hopefully the weeds don't get away from me before then.

Spring is in the air!

Oh my goodness, it has been a long time coming!

After a long, snowy, cold winter, spring is finally here!

Winter technically ended for us with the Skating Pot Luck Luncheon and awards ceremony, at which Little Country Girl was awarded Top Junior Skater! Way to go!!

Time to hang up those skates for the summer and lace up those soccer shoes!

So the long winter allowed me to plan out my veggie gardens and one of the top items was to improve the soil out in the plots. I took advantage of our towns compost giveaway as well as neighbors manure pile and spent a weekend working it in. I am now convinced the soil is in top condition for my crops.

I am happy to see that last years new apple tree survived the winter and is doing well.

I added a Plum tree this spring too, I hope it 'takes'. It didn't have too much root.

The last old apple tree had all the dead wood trimmed out this spring and we are being rewarded for our efforts. I do hope there are enough pollinators out and we get a heavy crop this fall.

The old apple tree we lost 3 years ago has sprouted.  A few new 'trees' have grown and been pruned. I will eventually have to decide which one I want to keep and cut the other out. I do hope it grows and produces Apples one day!

Mother Nature is rewarding us for the long winter with fragrance from the Lilac's. They are just loaded with blooms this year!

 I wish I could remember the name of these beauties

These were added last fall - 'China Town'

This is the second season for the Frittilaria Imperialis

Some other pretties

The cold weather crops have been planted and are coming up.We had a frost this week, and there is another predicted for this week. I wont be able to put my tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini in just yet.

I am just so glad I can be out in my gardens again!

My garden mid August

Such odd summer weather!

August should be hot and humid.

We have had cool and wet.

The veggie garden isn't doing as well as it should be, but I am still picking lots of tomatoes and beans. The carrots and onions are doing very well too. With the zucchini's a complete loss, and the peppers and cucumbers doing poorly I am already planning next years veggie garden.

What IS doing well is the backyard flower beds!

 

 Remember that 'Black Lace' Sambuccas that I had to cut back this spring and thought was dead?

 Look at it now ... as tall as it was before the winter!

Isn't nature amazing?

Sharing this post with Tootsie for Fertilizer Friday

August 10th in the garden

The time continues to pass so quickly, I can't even believe we are into August!

In a few weeks time, Little Country Girl will be back to school, and Country Boy will be heading off to college! Our soccer season ended yesterday, and so I will have a little more time to spend at home with the kids and gardens. The veggie garden continues to produce peas, beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers, but I have given up hope of any zucchini this year.

This week we also had the first harvest of Cucamelons!

These cute little fruits taste like a mixture of cucumber and the white part of the watermelon. They have a tough skin, though, and so I'm not sure that they are loved enough to replant. I think they are more of a novelty item.

A friend gave me a much appreciated gift this week that I am still bubbling about...

49 packages of seeds!

There is a huge variety of lettuce, spinach, herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, squash, tomatoes... this is almost everything I need for my vegetable garden next year. The only thing missing is Sugar Snap peas! Thanks NS  :)

A few photos from the flower gardens, which will be getting a good watering today...