Garden Tour June 17 2007

Since it's nice and sunny today (and 92 degrees), the solar-powered bird bath is in action.

In front of the bird bath you can see the tops of the radishes. I pulled up the first radishes yesterday and they tasted wonderful. You can also see the tops of the spicy salad mix. We had a salad using that last week -- probably one of the best salad dishes I've ever had -- Bruce's sister, Gretchen, found the recipe on Epicurious. I got the spicy salad mix seeds at Bennett's in Lafayette the weekend I went bike riding with my brother, Mike and niece, Caitlin.

In the whiskey barrel, the Basil is growing quite nicely. Gretchen used some of this for the pesto pasta she made us while here in early June. I really enjoyed the dish, while Bruce found it to be too "green" for his tastes.

The only reason the barrel is there, in the garden, is to hide the tree stump. I slammed the barrel down over the stump, (helped that the bottom of the barrel was rotted), and filled it with Miracle Grow potting soil and it makes a nice place for the herbs to grow and get plenty of sunshine.


The asparagus is about 4' high. This is year two for these plants so, hopefully, next year, we can begin harvesting. I can't stand asparagus, but Bruce loves it.

In front, and to the left of the asparagas are the strawberries. These have been in the garden for three years now. They are the June-bearing variety so we expect to continue harvesting them for a few more weeks. I started with two plants and now have many more. They're quite the tasty addition to my Honey Nut Cheerios.


To the right of the asparagas are the green beans and sunflowers. I lost all of the original green beans to the ground hog. The second batch is planted inside clear Solo cups without bottoms. I'm hoping that will give the plants a chance to grow, without interference from the wildlife, until they're ready to start climbing up the trellis.

The sunflowers will make nice a back-of-garden border and the birds will love them.

The zucchini have recovered from the ground hog attack. I had three fairly large plants and after he was finished snacking, they were just little green sticks. Bruce found me a couple of replacements at Martin's Pet & Garden Center in Elkhart. This place has been in business for over 80 years. I'm guessing the reason they haven't been put out of business is because of the WONDERFUL people they have working there (compared to the big box retailers' garden centers who don't give a hoot if their employees know anything about gardening.)


Behind the shed, I have several hostas in the shady area; some sunflowers including a new orange Mexican variety that Gretchen provided; purple balloon flowers, morning glories and tons of zinnias. I *never* thin my zinnias as directed on the seed packet. They are so much prettier when growing in bulk. I can't wait to see them in bloom later this summer.

This time of June is all about the lilies.










The Asiatic lilies are transplants I brought over from our farm house. The orange daylilies came with the house, although this is the first year they've bloomed. In April we took on the major project of clearing the woods to the east of our house. We ended up with a burn pile of wood and leaves that was about 20' long x 8' high. I think clearing the woods let in enough sunshine to prompt the daylilies to bloom. I did bring over a few Stargazer lilies from the old house and I'm hoping this is the year they finally bloom. I love their fragrance.

In the shady area behind our house, the Astilbe is in full bloom.

And, the ferns are larger than ever. I'm trying to talk Bruce into putting in a hot tub where the ferns are now. You can see the little fireman fountain peaking out from the ferns. He belonged to Bruce's dad who worked in the fire industry most of his career.



The hostas around the tree in the middle of the back yard are huge and in bloom right now. Bruce's grandmother is continually amazed by how large these hostas grow. They were also moved here from the farm house. I went back the spring after we moved from there and dug up quite a few plants and transported them in five gallon buckets. Since that place was just a rental, I couldn't see leaving all of my plants there since the next renter probably wouldn't care about them the way I did.


The last stop on today's garden tour is the back of the patio where you can see the hummingbird feeder next to the wave petunias.

My favorite garden center, Bill Vite's Greenhouse, was out of the deep purple petunias when I decided to replace the fake pansies (that I had in the planter boxes on the patio for the past two years) with real flowers. So, I settled for these pinkish-purple petunias. I gave them a shot of Miracle Grow a couple of weeks ago and they really shot up. We've had quite a few hummingbirds stop by to visit. I hope to get a photo of them soon, but so far, I haven't been quick or quiet enough to catch them feeding.

Thank you for joining us for today's garden tour. Now, please join us on the patio for a refreshing glass of iced tea.