Hi Eleanor!Oh yeah, the garden.

First, near the stairs we have the blueberry patch (3 plants) with red raspberry along the wall, a plum in a pot, and a slippery elm that was already there. I removed about 8 huge bushes! I am still deciding what to put at the bottom (maybe a fig in a pot). Whatever I decide, the bottom will have bettor soil on top of this clay and then it will be heavily mulched (which will hide the hose). There is a trench in the clay to allow excess water to flow out  to give the plants at the bottom some drainage. Among the blueberries, near the back, I will add comfrey and horseradish (for chop-and-drop mulch), wintergreen, lupines, and I’ll plant sweetpeas and heather in the front.

On the east side (higher up the slope) I plan to remove the azaleas and plant hydrangeas and peonies with dianthus and lobelia up front. And maybe I’ll stick another comfrey in the back.

Along the fence on the east side of our property, I have 5 jasmine plants coming to grow along the fence. In front of that, there is an empty space that I’d like to add a trellis and plant more red raspberry canes (maybe next year).

Here’s Adele’s special garden. It’s hard to tell, but it is getting going, albeit slowly.

Herb Spiral with mesclun mix – we’ve already had several harvests from these cut-and-come-again producers. There’s rosemary at the top, then lemongrass, lemon thyme and regular thyme, cilantro that’s not too happy, oregano, parlsey (with some carrot seedlings just popping through), garlic chives (almost invisible seedlings) and regular chives (almost invisible seedlings), then Thai Basil and regular basil (which are almost hidden by the lettuces. And, in the middle of the lettuces on the low side, I’ll plant my lavender (which I haven’t bought yet). And those three pots have Peruvian Daffodil bulbs and Double Tuberose bulbs (my absolute favorite of all flowers I’ve ever smelled).

 

Here’s the other side, showing the mint add-on and the frog pond (which is currently being well-used as a bird bath). We need to add more rocks to hide the cardboard (yikes!).

Here’s our cherry tree we planted after Eleanor was born – with LOTS of cherries. I’m still deciding whether to net it or let the birds eat some. There is flowering comfrey and some yarrow (which I accidentally almost killed with mulch) below and Adele is doing acrobatics on the hammock chair behind. 

 

Bean teepee is growing – with watermelon, summer squash, and butternut squash around the outside.

There is an alcove near our front stairs that had some ugly bushes but now it has a pomegranate tree! And I transplanted some comfrey (which should perk right up) and planted some yarrow from seed (which hasn’t sprouted yet).

On the corner of our garage, there was a sad little evergreen that looked like it had been dead for a while. I dug it up and planted an Autumn Olive.

 

This is along the road – because it has the best sun exposure.

 

This is kind of near the road – but it’s my best guess of the edge of the yard when they widen the road next year. This border has a lilac tree, then a peony, then a peach tree, then another peony, then the crepe myrtle. I plan to add hardy lavender, comfrey, yarrow, ecinacea, chamomile, and false indigo. The pot of sand is there so the kids don’t trample my newly planted “trees”

Kent made one big Fried Ice Cream (with chocolate sauce) for dessert on Cinco de Mayo.