Crops And Coops

I've not posted much  about my veggie gardens, but we have been enjoying radishes,onions, and lettuce from them already. Our carrots are getting real close , as are the beans.  Knockout roses are planted on the way to the fenced in garden...

Beans, carrots, sweet onions, tomatoes, and lettuce.

This crop of onions has been my best ever.  I bought them as Vidalia  transplants, but you know true Vidalias can only be grown in Georgia, or so I've heard.  Anyway, they're sweet and yummy!  We're using them daily as they are not a good storage onion, so you wouldn't want to harvest them all at once.

Cucumbers and red onions in another bed...

This has become my overflow garden bed, with more tomatoes, squash, and okra.

Just simple goodness from the garden...Romaine and radishes.

My baby chicks home has been completed, but it will be a couple more weeks before they'll move outside.  I didn't know I'd be getting chicks when I planted  veggies over here, but most of it should be harvested before the 'girls' start free ranging. 

Looking inside through one of the clean out doors, you'll see we have their roost and their laying boxes ready.  We just need to add pine shavings and chickens.  There's wire buried in the ground all around their coop, because I know we have some big raccoons running around here at night.

My 'girls' getting some outside playtime...

Have a great weekend.

April Garden

The garden is most lovely this time of year!  Lots of blooms, and what's not blooming is full of buds, assuring us of more beauty to come.  My Amaryllis are blooming a little late this year, but I prefer this, rather than them blooming early, all alone...

On the other hand, my Agapanthus will bloom early.  This one is already showing color...  

Agapanthus are one of my favorite summer blooms, and they're so easy to grow here in Central Florida.  I have them everywhere in my full sun gardens.

Another great plant for zone 9 gardens is Gaura lindheimeri.  It's just begun to bloom, and it's another plant that I use extensively in my full sun gardens.  It's available in pink or white, but I prefer the white because it returns more faithfully than the pink...for me, anyway.  

Zinnias do well in full sun also, and these have only just begun to bloom.  They're the kind of flower that makes me smile, when I see their cheerful faces.

I bought this Red Yucca off the clearance rack last year, but it didn't bloom at all.  Finally...

Two more photos out in my full sun garden...

Around back by the gazebo, the clematis and gardenia are both blooming.

My shade gardens are also a tad slow this year, but it may be because I buried everything under many inches of good oak leaves.  Everything will soon push it's way out.  There's plenty of pretty for right now...

Sinningia sellorii, Hardy Red Gloxinia

It's bloom...

English Dogwood

I planted this Mexican Flame Vine behind my fenced vegetable garden. so it could cover up a stack of old wood.  So far, so good.

We've been working all week on the chicken coop, off and on.  It's almost done and I'll be posting photos soon.  The chicks are growing  fast, and yes, I will be happy to move them out of my house and into theirs.  

Happy Gardening!

Life Within The Garden

We've always had rabbits around, and luckily they've never been too much trouble.  In the past they've cropped a few newly sprouted beans, but nothing we couldn't live with.  They've always been very skittish, taking off whenever our paths crossed.  But then...the other day I came across  this bunny that has no wild in it.  I  walk by this camellia, probably twenty times a day, and was noticing a cat bird often flew out the other side when I passed.  I took a look inside to see if perhaps there was a nest...

No nest, just this bunny.

A couple hours later, I was out front taking a few pictures.

And, bunny shows up again.

She had brought pine straw from the other side of the yard and she was making a nest.

I'm three feet away from her, and she could care less.  She steps out and starts picking pine straw out of her teeth.  She was so darn cute!

She washed her hands.

Then she washed her face.

She hopped under a lily, and appeared to be taking a rest.  When I came back out an hour or so later, her nest was covered up so neatly, you would never know she had been there.

We see her in different areas of the garden every morning now, I'm glad she's made herself at home.  We also have some beautiful birds that have returned for the season.  This Flycatcher has already chosen a house to nest in.

The Humming birds have returned as well. 

This is the first  American Redstart I've ever seen in my yard.  I think he's heading home from down south.  The sprinklers were on the day he stopped and he had a great time playing in the spray.

The same day we had another rare visitor, a House Finch.

This Carolina Chickadee is also nesting in one of our houses.  I'm so thankful for my garden and all the life it draws in.

  I want to share my new adventure with you...they're all tuckered out after a long day.  I've had the notion of getting chickens for some time now, so today we brought six little ones home.  Tomorrow, it's off to get lumber and wire to build a permanent home for them.

Just a couple clematis, one by the porch...

A new one started up the arbor out front.

Thank you all for stopping by.