The large maple has finally dropped all its leaves, and I’ve cleared the last of the garden detritus out of the side garden.   As much as it pains me to say this, I’m ready for winter.

I did go outside this weekend – I couldn’t just craft away the whole time.    So yesterday, I put the veggies to bed, as well as whatever of the perennial pots had gone by (which wasn’t much – we’ve not yet had a hard frost here on the coast). I also did an initial sweep

Do you know what this is?    This is a hell of a lot of iris. I had a day off today, so I tackled the iris bed.    They’ve been there about ten years now, so it was quite thick in there.     About an hour and half later, I had the above, nice and clear. As

So I came outside on Friday morning to a bit of a surprise.   One of the first summers we’d move here (so at least eight years ago), I planted a couple of lilies in the side garden, which then proceeded to get well and truly decimated by lily beetle, to the point where they barely

What a difference a week makes.     Last week, I was somewhat stuck inside by the cold rain.   This week, it’s the incredible heat.    (We’re not in official heat wave territory here, but you don’t have to go too far south to get there…)     The iris are definitely out now – all types even. I still

They’re fore-casting 80 degree plus weather for multiple days by the end of the week.    I think that means I’ll be able to plant my veggies next weekend.

This weekend was all about positioning for next weekend.    Well, maybe.     See, normally, I can do my summer planting over Memorial Day weekend (the trigger other than date I look for is blooming iris).     But it’s been cold this Spring.    So much so that the gardening columnist in the local Sunday paper recommended waiting until

Some of the non-bulb and later bulb flowers are starting to appear.     Thank goodness it seems to have finally warmed up for good! Today’s project was to finally get the peas planted.    I meant to do it last weekend, but it just never happened.    I was also able to get the trellis in for the

The daffodils are in full bloom – showing just how warm that side garden is, as there aren’t many other daffodils out this far locally. So this weekend’s project was Operation Remove that Blasted Woodier than Hell Hosta from the Front of the Side Garden.      The above is the glorious free space after I was

When I think back to this time last year, I already had peas in the ground.   It’s been a little colder this year  (you can see last remnants of a snow bank  in the last picture above), but it’s finally starting to turn around, so I did some yard maintenance today. Last week (in the