Making a Garden *WELCOME* Sign!

Joining Susan for Outdoor Wednesday!

~*~

Here is a fun way to

*Welcome*

friends to your garden!

~*~

I searched the barn for an old scrap piece of lumber,

grabbed my pruners and headed for the brush pile

that I had created a couple of weeks ago

of prunings from some Rhododendrons

and a couple of Buddleia.

Finding several pieces of trimmings about the same

size, (I used the Buddleia branches)

I snipped pieces to form the letters

and laid them out to get the spacing

and height that pleased me.

After nailing the smaller pieces to the board

to form the word,

I took some larger and longer branches to

frame the board.

Finally, after nailing it all together

(and replacing many pieces that split

as they were nailed to the board),

I have a nice rustic sign to

*Welcome* friends and family

to my garden!

If you would like to make one for your garden, here is what you will need: 1 weathered board ~ Several twigs and branches (I liked ones with interesting bark and shapes) ~ pruners for trimming branches to size ~ Hammer and small nails ~*~

Working in the Greenhouse

A little break in the weather had me itching to get

outside and do something!

I just received my garden seed order

so decided to play out in my greenhouse.

When ever I head outside,

my trusty sidekick, Harley (cat)

tags along for the adventure. There is always

some fun to be had for him.

Today was no different ~ as I pulled dried

weeds and old broken pots from inside

the greenhouse and outside,

one of our roosters found him

to be quite interesting!

As Harley reclined in the wagon

supervising my efforts,

Taz hopped into the wagon with

Harley to try to convince him

that the lovely weeds

would make a much finer nest than

the bare wooden bottom of the wagon!

Harley, "You've got to be kidding me, right?"

A few more weeds and a few minutes later, Fly and his girl added to the merriment! Harley began to get a bit miffed at the intrusions upon his leisure time. He said I could continue entertaining these jokers without his support and headed to the barn were his presence would be more fully appreciated ~ helping the Gentleman Farmer build me a couple of seed benches for the greenhouse. These benches will be topped off with some sturdy hardware cloth (wire) to hold these newly planted up trays. Anise Hyssop for teas, potpourri, and gifts to the neighbors bees! Four kinds of heirloom tomatoes, hot peppers, and broccoli.

Sweet Meat Hubbard squash, Carnival Acorn Squash

and Rouges Vif D'Etampes (Cinderella) Pumpkins!

Queen of Sheba

and

Large Leaf Italian Basil

And trying Grandma's way of raising seeds in

eggshells ~ roots won't be disturbed. Just lightly crush the

shells and transplant into pot or garden!

Joining Amy at Homestead Revival for the

Homestead Barn Hop!

Hop on over and see what others are working on

at their little homesteads!

Seeds of Change

I have finally ordered all of my garden and flower seeds

for this year. It seems to take me ages to peruse the catalogs,

choose seeds, pare down the endless list of wants to

only the seeds I 'must have', make the order and pay!

But I finally got it done and my order confirmations have come back.

The seeds are on their way!

BUT...

The day after they were confirmed and paid for,

(I always seem to be a day late and a dollar short! *smile*)

I recieved an email from a friend, containing a list

of seed companies that either buy seed from Monsanto or

are owned by them!

Amy has a terrific post on this subject here!

All of the seeds I ordered are from those companies

(according to this list!) DRAT!

It is too late for this year, but I will be all the more diligent

in making sure I do not support these companies in the future!

It will be more expensive and I probably won't

be able to get the specific varieties that I am fond of,

but I refuse to continue to support these people.

I will be writing to them and asking to be

removed from their mailing list and telling them why!

If you are interested in the list,

you can find it here.

(Do you know anything about this site? I do not.)

They also have a list of Monsanto-free companies. I will be purchasing future

seeds from them from now on ~ and telling them why!

And I would like to try saving my own seeds.

Sometimes change is good!

~*~

Joining Amy for her Preparedness Challenge!

2011 Northwest Flower and Garden Show

Inspiration....

creates....

anticipation!

(Photos of just one of the many gardens displayed

at this year's Northwest Flower and Garden Show)

Longing for days in the garden from

sun-up to sunset!

How about you?

Joining Amy at Homestead Revival

Hand Crafted Grapevine Wreath

The deer got into the garden and ate EVERYTHING

which included raspberry plants, blueberry plants,

Marion berry plants, pole beans, 40 tomato plants,

and my Grapes which were nearly ready to harvest!

But, every cloud has a silver lining (and reasons such

as this is why I have 'silver threads among the gold' if

you know what I mean!)

So I took advantage of the leafless vines to do a bit

of pruning.

With the trimmings, I tried my hand at wreath making.

This is what I did.

~*~

Trimmed away the leaf stems and extra branches

leaving single, long whip-like vines with all of

the little curly tendrils attached!

You will need about ten to twelve

5-8 foot vines.

Found something round to wrap the first and longest

vine around. In this case, the bucket will determine

the size of the inner circumference of the wreath. Use

whatever you have handy that is about the size

of your desired finished wreath.

~*~

After wrapping this vine around the bucket and overlapping

it on itself, I wove the small end into a gap in the vines.

Holding on to the starting point, I carefully removed the

base of the wreath from the bucket.

~*~

With another piece of vine, I poked the large end into a gap and

snaked the vine around the entire wreath base, tucking the

small end again, into a gap in the vines to hold it secure. I repeated this step

several more times until the wreath was the thickness

I desired, always starting with the thick end of the

vine in a space around the wreath like at the numbers

on a clock face.

~*~

As these were freshly cut vines, they were supple

enough to be bent without breaking. If your vines are

more brittle, you might want to try soaking them in

warm water for several hours before you begin.

(See how the vines serpentine around each other)

I think it turned out pretty well for my very first

Grapevine Wreath!

I just love those little tendrils!
~*~

Joining Susan for

Why not hop on over and see more

fun Outdoor Wednesday posts!

From the garden

Lilacs

Snowball Viburnum
~*~
Joining Kathleen at Faded Charm for White Wednesday
and
Susan at A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday

The Garden in May

The Pink Dogwood

Hitchhiking Viola
Came in a potted Peony I purchased.

Chinese Red Poppy

Bridal Veil

Double White Lilac

(I've named it Breath of Heaven ~it's scent is so divine!)

Double purple lilac

Blue Columbine

(I'm saving seeds of this one. They will be available

at Lady Farmers Seed Swap soon!)

Rescued Rhododendron

Ajuga (with bee) in the 'wild' (read=neglected, unweeded, forgotten) part of the garden.

Solomon's Seal in the shade of the Banana Apple Tree.

Ages old Red Rhododendron nicknamed "Grandma's Lipstick"

(My Grandmother's favorite shade!)

Pink Bleeding Hearts

Green Hellebore Seedpods.

Dainty Sweet Woodruff.

Winesap Apple Blossom.

Diminutive Weed!

(This little plant is sooo tiny ~ the stem stands about 3 inches tall!

The wee little flowers are so precious! I don't have the heart to tear it out!)

~*~*~*~*~*~

Joining Cindy for Show and Tell Friday!

Head on over to see what other's have to share!