Sweet Gum Saga Finale

The sweet gum tree, which suffered a big loss last Friday, came down this morning. It was time for it to go.
I am amazed by how quickly the tree company workers were able to remove it in it's entirety.





I think the back of the house looks naked...and the family room (just inside of the patio doors it a lot brighter and warmer now).


Probably will need to move a few of these plants which prefer shade. Their getting full morning sun now and a bit in the evening, too.

Sweet Gum Saga

Remember this spring when I posted about how my backyard sweet gum's days were numbered? About how I despised those little balls it produces? About how I thought it might be time to cut it down?

This weekend I got my wish...but not exactly on my terms...

Friday night there were storms with wind gusts up to 50 mph. My sweet gum lost a substantial limb.





This limb is easily 50+ feet and that hole on the side of the tree is at least 4 feet tall. The limbs reach higher than my house, too.

I'm getting estimates on having the tree removed.

Vegetable Garden Pics -- June 2009

Holy mole-y, the garden is growing like crazy!


With all of the rain, things have been growing very fast. This picture includes a ton of marigold (which have since been thinned), onions, bell peppers, 4 basil plants (some of which has since been used for some delicious pesto), rosemary, cucumbers, green beans, and lots of mixed lettuce/spinach (some of which has been used for salads and sammy toppings).







And here are the tomatoes. The 'better boy' already has 5 or 6 green tom-toms. I can't wait!

This, compared to less than a month ago, is just amazing!

New (to me) herbs!

Just confirmed what a couple of perennial herbs in the herb garden are!

This is winter savory.
I'm told it's good in green beans.









This is oregano. I have a lot of it and am willing to divide.
I'm told it's better dried than fresh.











This I still don't know what it is. It's an herb -- I know it looks like bee balm, but it's not...

Vegetable Garden 2009

The vegetable garden is completely planted. This is strongly modeled off of the Square Foot Gardening method, with "Mel's Mix" as the planting mix of choice.


You can see both beds here. They are 4' by 8'. The raspberries are to the south of the beds.






This is the bed with the tomatoes. There are 2 Early Girl, 2 Romas, 1 Sweet Cherry 100, 1 Purple Cherokee, 1 Better Boy and 1 Brandywine.

There are also some sunflowers, 'Autumn Beauty' and a mound of zucchini and yellow summer squash each. There will be a trellis (like the one on the other bed for the cucumber) for the vines.



This bed contains lettuce, mesclun, and spinach. Nearest to the camera are a bunch of marigolds. There are also onions and carrots, green beans 'french fillet' and cucumber 'market more'. Basil, oregano, rosemary and cilantro are the herbs. And there are 5 peppers -- 2 California Wonder (green), 1 yellow, and 2 red (one is the 'Fat and Sassy' -- yes, it was only purchased because of it's name.)


For many reasons, I am hoping for some of the best produce and in huge abundance this year. I'm trusting in SFG and Mel's Mix...

My "how to" on Building a Rain Barrel

Almost a year ago I purchased a 55 gallon drum via CraigsList. My intentions were to make a rain barrel and, finally, I've completed (well, almost -- you can see I need to do some more painting) this project.


I should have painted it before putting everything together. This was electric blue, so I found some spray paint, specifically designed to be used on plastic. This color is cocoa bean.

After all of the recent rains, this bad boy is full and ready to water.


Here are the steps we took to make this happen (which is a bit different than other instructions I've found):

• Acquire large container. I'm told pop producers generally sell these for pretty cheap.
• Remove old downspout and affix an adjustable downspout (I bought this one at Lowe's for about $8), so that the water will run directly to the input hole of the barrel.
• Cut a hole in the top of the barrel (we used a hand saw for this, I'm sure a reciprocating saw would have make this simple)
• Drill a hole near the bottom of one side (we used a 1" hole bit) -- this is where the water will come out, and one near the top of the opposite side -- this is where the overflow will leave
• Cut a piece of window screen/wire mesh for the input hole on the top
  
• Screwed the wire into the plastic to cover said hole
• Installed super handy (and available at my local Ace Hardware, $10 each) contraptions that take the place of washers, silicone, etc. to make a tight seal for both the spigot at the bottom and the overflow valve
• Attached 3/4" spigot and 3/4" bib (to attach a a drain hose)
• Painted it (I suggest doing this at the beginning of your project)
• Put it in place on 2 cinder blocks
• Attached 5 foot hose to the overflow bib attachment
• Collected water!

Remember to close (aka turn off) the spigot, or your rainwater will just run out of the barrel...

Or, if this sounds too complicated, you can always buy one. If you're in Indianapolis, I suggest buying one from Keep Indianapolis Beautiful. They will plant a tree for each barrel purchased.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2009

May is when things really start picking up around this Zone 5b garden. I've almost made it through one complete year at this house, so I'm still finding new gems (and some that are not-so-gem-like) that were left by the previous owner(s). Slowly but surely the gardens become more of me and less of them. Here are some thing I found blooming...

Many "firsts" happened this week:

The first peony -- our state flower.

The first blooms opened on the clematis vines. I'm not sure of the name of this pink one, but I really like it.

The first perennial geranium, barely peaking out of the foliage.

The first irises. I love the smell of irises--it reminds me of helping my neighbor in her garden as a child. (Anyone know the name for the bi-color bearded iris above?)

Other blooms have been around for a week or so...

Lily-of-the-valley lurks underneath the lilacs.

Huge alliums bloom balls of purple.

The azalea has several blooms this year.

One of my favorite blooms tells me that raspberries will be here soon!

And now we come to wonderful blooms for which I have no name -- any help is appreciated here!Interesting, almost neon purple-blue flowers with a black base.


Large bush that within a few days went from nothing to spectacular!


And finally, I believe these a bulbs, perhaps related to crocuses as they have similar foliage. These tiny white flowers I've found in the herb garden and near some peonies.

Happy Bloom Day to all -- may the next month be full of beautiful blooms!