What’s blooming in the garden?

After a long winter, it is nice to finally see green and color everywhere I look.

Last week, we had an entire week of cold temps, gray skys, and rain on and off. We now have bright sunshine and our temps are moving towards the mid 90′s at the end of the week. Can you say Mother Nature is conflicted?

You can also say rain plus sun equals everything is growing – grass, veggies, fruits, trees, shrubs, and perennials.

In a walk around yesterday morning after chores, I just smiled at all the color.

And as I headed back out, I was thinking about the color red – as in tomato red.

Concord grape arbor

Lady’s Mantle

Bleeding Heart

Dwarf Korean Lilac

Ferns

Clematis

Solomon’s Seal

Cambridge Cranesbill Geranium

Veggies under slitted plastic

Bloody Cranesbill Geranium

I’ll be taking a little break from gardening this week because we’re heading out on our yearly historical tour with our granddaughter.

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What will we have to talk about when we get back? How about witches, presidents, white picket fences, equality, horse racing, polo, and Clydesdales?

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It should be fun.  :-)  Have a great week.

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Gardening and DIY

I must admit I like Pinterest – there I said it out loud. For me, it is like subscribing to a variety of magazines but only looking at the pages you want while skipping the ads.

I visit a lot more in the winter months than during the gardening season and that means a lot of photos saved for projects.

I did two quick ones recently and am pretty happy with how they turned out.

There are several painted bicycles with flowers shown on Pinterest, and I like them all. So, a couple of weeks ago there on the side of the road were four bikes out for free pickup. Not being able to pass up a deal, we loaded two in the car.

Covering the bike required three cans of spray paint purchased at a box store. Three baskets were purchased at a local thrift store and used for plants – the two with handles were $1.99 each and the one with no handle was $.99. Liners were needed for the baskets, and I found some clear salad containers in the potting shed that I previously used for transplant covers.

Being the Yankee gardener that I am, I used small plants and have to patiently wait for the containers to fill in and drape over the sides but that is okay because I can enjoy the gardening journey.

With the painted bike done, I needed to make the bird bath made out of dishes I had seen at a recent craft fair for $50 each regardless of size or style.

The total for the dishes (plate, cup, saucer, bowl and two vases) was $9.98 at the thrift store, and I also purchased one tube of Loctite Stik’n Seal outdoor adhesive. Your imagination can go wild and you can be as creative as you want.

I wanted something kind of sturdy that might not break if the wind blew it over and I also lean towards monochromatic because I find it soothing. You can feel free to insert ‘boring’ here, It won’t hurt my feelings because I still like the soft sage green color.

I’ve also found two best friends when working outside. A Sharpie laundry marker purchased at an office supply store that lasts longer when you label plants and these ingenious Keeper bungee cords (25 for $8) I ordered from Amazon that I’m using for everything.

The marker is great for our seedlings and the bungee cords are holding tarps on the chicken run and temporary things all over the place.

Now for a few photos of what is coming up in the garden, and I wish you all good weather and a great gardening week.

Linked to:

Grandma’s Briefs Grand Social

Mamal Diane’s Gathering Spot

From the Farm Blog Hop

Family Home and Life Say it Saturday

Wordless Wednesday 05-23-12 – Clematis

Lanuginosa Candida

Asao