Gardens

I just had to write about how happy I am to finally have a yard that I can garden in. If you haven't seen much of my work on Ebay or Etsy it's because I can't get my hands out of the dirt:) My DH gave me a generous gift certificate to my favorite new greenhouse for Mother's Day and I bought so many flowers that I had to dig a new garden. I have had a little one planned for a week now around the old butterfly bush that didn't grow back after my overzealous Fall pruning. On the dead branches of the bush I have rested a shallowed glazed pottery dish to serve as a bird bath. We don't have the money for a tiller right now so I'm digging everything my hand. The veggie garden was the hardest and luckily Kevin helped with that one. So far I have planted 2 heirloom Brandywine tomatoes, 2 types of cherry tomatoes, 1 roma and a tomato from Washington Boro, a nearby town famous for the fruit. That leaves space left for two more, another roma type for making sauce and maybe a black Brandywine, zebra or Cherokee purple. Haven't decided yet. My mom and stepfather raise heirloom tomatoes for restaurants so I have to raid their greenhouse soon for something good. Also in the veg garden I have about 11 red sails lettuce plants and a row of spring mix lettuce that we're already eating from. There are also many different herb plants and a ton of basil planted for making homemade pesto, yum!
For something fun I've planted nasturtiums. I thought they would look really pretty in our salads.
There were two main gardens out back when we moved in. Both were completely overgrown with poison ivy, weeds and baby junk trees that were a real pain to dig out. After several bouts of poison ivy rash I think I've finally gotten it under control. In those gardens I've planted a ton of flowers such as spiderwort, lungwort, shast daisy, coneflower, black eyed susan, butterfly bush, tickseed, peony, bleeding heart, foxglove, russian sage, lavender, marigolds, dusty miller, purple salvia, petunias, snapdragon, cosmos, love in the mist, cocks comb, lilies, lilly of the valley, hostas, wisteria, impatiens, scabiosa, bluebells, balloon flower, caladium, yarrow, evening primrose, forget-me-not and several more I can't think of right now. I even have a little strawberry patch with about 2 pints of strawberries growing on the plants (I have my fingers crossed that the critters don't eat them).
I've taken a few pictures of my gardens. They are not filled in yet so they're not much to look at. I think next year they will be spectacular. The best thing with all those perennials is that the flowers will spready and multiply and I can make new gardens without all the cost next year.
I did manage to get two cat pieces painted today because it rained. I will have them on ebay in the near future!
~Jen