Friday Favorite: Bird Baths

May 24th, 2013

A couple weeks ago we were at a local greenhouse and I spotted this lovely concrete birdbath. It’s quite a beauty, intricate, yet understated. I’ve always wanted a birdbath in my garden, they’re my favorite form of garden ornamentation.

Somehow, I have never had a birdbath and most likely won’t for quite a while. If you want a nice one they’re rather pricey, I think this one was $190. There are always so many other things that take up my garden budget long before I can even think about adding a birdbath to my garden. Perhaps I’ll find one under the Christmas tree some year.

Do you have a birdbath in your garden? What’s your favorite garden ornament?

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Hello Johnny

May 23rd, 2013

As I’ve been working in the potager behind the house, I’ve been finding Johnny Jump Ups everywhere. I started digging them and using them edge the beds in the potager, figuring them bring some much needed color. Not only that, they’re edible beauties, I can pick the blossoms and add them to salads.
johnny jump ups 1 (1)
Lucky me, I ended up with enough of these beauties to line the inside and outside of the main circle in my potager. I can’t wait for them to fill in and start blooming more profusely.

johnny jump ups 2
I love flowers that self sow readily, at least for the most part. Things like nicotiana, forget-me-nots and anise hyssop. I don’t know if I have found any self sowing flowers that I don’t like yet.

Do you have any flowers self-sow in the garden? Do you love them or hate them?

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It’s Not a Race

May 22nd, 2013

This is the fifth installment in the 5×5 Garden Challenge Series. Every Wednesday I’ll be posting about the challenge, covering topics that will help all the new gardeners get started. If you haven’t heard about the challenge head on over to the 5×5 Challenge Website, we’ll also be putting up a page here that pulls in all the 5×5 Challenge posts.
5x5 garden challenge
This week I had great intentions of mixing up the soil to fill my beautiful timberframe raised bed built by Mr Chiots, but….I haven’t been feeling well for the past week. Tired, achey, nauseous, out of sorts, just not quite 100% myself. I actually spent the entire day last Thursday in bed, if you know me, you know how out of character this is for me. Generally you won’t find me sitting still. I think I’m just tired, worn out, and overworked. About the time I started gaining my energy back again, it started to rain.
wet raised bed
As a result, my raised bed sits empty, the seed packets are still on the table, and none of my garden tasks were checked off the list. That’s OK though, because gardening is not a race. The beauty if gardening is that it is very forgiving. Plants often don’t mind being planted a week late. One of the only things you really need to stay on top of in gardening is the weeding. So I’m giving myself a few days off, catching up on all my office work, and generally just trying to rest up for the busy days ahead. Remember, gardening is about enjoying it, it’s a hobby. Don’t get too caught up in all you have to do and make it unpleasant. There are times when you really do need to take a few days off!

Do you ever have to force yourself to take time away from garden chores?

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Plowing with Pigs

May 21st, 2013

Last week, two new members joined the Chiot’s Run family. They will be put to good use eating up the extra veggies from the garden and scraps from the kitchen. They’ll also be utilized to work up new garden areas and to clear some of our wooded areas of it’s underbrush.
piggies 4
piggies 1
piggies 2
piggies 5
piggies 3
So far, we’re really enjoying having them around. They’ve already come in very handy at clearing out the freezer of any food that was a little past prime for human consumption. This week, we’ll be putting up an electric fence for them and setting them free into the areas they’ll be in charge of clearing.