How my gardens have changed.

It seems every year I add a new garden bed to my collection. I am not saying this is a bad thing as if I add a new one that means that I was able to handle last years load.  Now when I say add a new garden I usually mean for edibles......but this year it wasn't just 1 new garden it was 3.....Take a look

2009:  Lets start when we bought the house.  The front yard had minimal gardens...but some

 Here there is no Butterfly bush garden or my boarder garden full of Iris

 The poor Pussy Willow in a small little circle....

The back of the house where the greenhouse is now.....certainly makes the yard look bigger with out it.

 And the kitchen garden....a cleaned up version of it but this is the shape it was in....


That brings us to 2010:  Where the first of many new gardens were added to the yard.

 The beginnings of my blog started right here with my greenhouse.

 Later that same year this is the completed greenhouse and extension garden growing away.

The kitchen garden got a bit of a make over.

Then comes last year 2011:  Where gardens were added again and some were given new life....like

 Yup the kitchen garden again....a new flower bed area was added and the rest was straightened out a little more.

 The now bigger Pussy Willow tree now has it's very own shade garden....granted it provides the shade.

 Hard to see but here is the Iris boarder garden just after it was added.....

 Unhappy with the first try the Kitchen garden had more added to it....now I could harvest all of the garden.

 Then back by the Greenhouse the Strawberry mint garden was added.....sorry Strawberry Chocolate Mint garden.

 As was what became known as the vine garden....

   Another view of the Greenhouse for reference  as here comes 2012:  This year.....

The first of the gardens to be added this year.  One for the gardening class and one for Shannon.

 Remember back in 2009 that picture of the front yard with the Forsythia on the left?  Well to the right of that is now this guy....the Butterfly Bush garden.

Oh and that Boarder garden back from 2011 the one I promised was full of Iris.....well here it is.

And finally the last of the gardens built so far this year was added on to the new one at the back of the greenhouse.  One has plants for Aiden guy and the others are some of the veggies.

So my gardens have changed a lot over the last few years.  I imagine they will continue to change not only in what is planted in them but in how they look in general....then again I hope not too much....hard to name the gardens when they keep changing.

Crazy weather means.....

.......My herbs keep growing.  Not complaining of course just worried.  I mean it's the end of November and it's 60 outside and I can spot new growth on not only my herbs but my rose bushes and some of my hydrangea's.  What is wrong with this picture.  Anyways I wanted to see how things in the Greenhouse were progressing so I took a few pictures.....so on to a tour of my still green greenhouse.

 It may not look like a lot is growing in there but there is.  Lets take if from the front left first hidden from view is some Sage and Echinacea.  Then in the back on the left that big glob of green yea that would be carrots.

The small middle row will be next.  There are two rows of herbs in there so we will start at the front left and move back.

First up would be this lovely Rosemary.  Can you see it in the big picture...don't worry it's there.

Next just behind the Rosemary would be Mint.  Not just any mint.....but Variegated mint.

See look at the colors....it smells heavenly too.

 And behind that is Apple Mint.  Yea they are a little close to each other but it forces me to prune often.

 Back at the front of the middle part again is Spearmint...not looking so good cause it is pot bound and not at all happy with me.

 That big bunch of green in the middle yea that would be my herb....lemon balm.  Growing and very very happy.

 Right behind the lemon balm is Banana Mint.  Yes there is such a thing.

 And lastly in this row comes common oregano.

 So starting at the front again but on the right side hidden out of view is Vicks plant....with some onions in the middle.  Vicks apparently doesn't like the cold...

 Just behind that and up against the side is my Greek Oregano.....man this stuff is great.

 Finally coming in view of the over all picture that green mess in the front right would be this guy Sweet Marjoram.  Oh and some more onions.

 About the middle of the right side is this to the right is Marshmallow and the left is a small pot of Echinacea.

 Along the back wall we find my favorite mint of all the ones I have.....Chocolate mint.

And to the right of Chocomint is Winter Savory.

So thats the tour of my greenhouse.  Lots still growing in there and I love it.  Hopefully Mother Nature will pick up her calendar and realize that it's late fall and drop the temp some.  Cause when she does winter can come and go and it's on to spring...time to plant again.

The end has come..........

.........for this years outdoor gardening season.  Last night it snowed a little....not enough to stick.  But the current temp outside is 29.  Coooolllllddddd.  Ok so it does get colder than that at times. Anyways I may  not like the cold a lot but I do love the pictures that it produces.

 Just look at my poor parsley.  It looks so sad when it is heavy with frost....but the outlining of the leaves looks pretty neat.

 An oldie but a goody is the water in a bucket that has frozen over.  I just love how cool it looks.

 Of all the different things I looked at today this has to be my favorite.  This is chocolate mint next to my strawberries.  Although the strawberry leaves are also outlined I just love the way the mint looks.  Almost fake it's so perfectly outlined.

 The Greenhouse has a new shade today....frost.  This is taken from inside the greenhouse but the frost is on the outside.  I thought it looked cool.

 Because it's the simple things in life that are important here is a simple picture that many would not have taken or even realized.  Grass.  Yup plain old grass frozen and looking much more like a spider plant than green grass with all the frost.

 Because I love taking frost pictures (can you tell) a Rose of Sharon seed pod covered in frost.

My poor silly marigolds that are still trying their best to grow may have finally met their end.  But what a picture they are.  The leaves look so incredibly delicate covered or outlined in frost.

What do you enjoy most about a winter garden?

Thriving Thursday - Mid June

The middle of June in these parts means school is beginning to let out.  For Irish Gardens it means more attention is needed in the Greenhouse.

Green cover's the ground in the greenhouse now and watering becomes a daily event.  The one vent isn't always enough to let all the hot air out and temps often rise above 100.  But no worries.

 The dill is loving it and just getting taller by the day. I mean check it out it's over knee high.

 The Marigolds that just kept getting taller are finally beginning to open and a Morning Glory plant is showing off it's climbing abilities....thrive and climb baby.

Every where else I have planted Echinacea it seems to die but here in the Greenhouse this guy is truly thriving and getting ready to flower.

So what can you show the world that is thriving in your gardens this week?  No matter what it is join in and show off I know I can't wait to see what is Thriving around the world.  Just add your posts link to the widget below and or a comment.

Thriving Thursday - The Gardens

Welcome to another addition on Thriving Thursday.  Today I would like to show off the over all views of some of the gardens today.  Being June and just about summer many things are Thriving around the gardens so why add pictures of them all individually when I can show them off together.

 This is the new garden in town...hard to see what all it's growing but I will just tell you it is doing great.

 If you have read any of my blog then this picture needs no explanation....thats right it's the Greenhouse.  Getting very green.  There are flowers planted in there too....somewhere under the herbs I am guessing.  Anyone need some herbs?

This is another little garden up front.  Most of which was there when we purchased the place but on the lower right is my newest Rose of Sharon bush.  But the true star is actually the Yucca plant....it's beginning to grow on me.

Last but certainly not least is the Grape arbor.  This guy clearly took a break last year from all the wind damage and had a wonderful winters nap as almost every day I am having to go out and retrain a few branches so they don't reach for the trees.

So now it's your turn show off what is Thriving in your gardens.  Leave a link with Mister Linky below and leave a comment.  Don't have anything to show off?  Thats ok too...read what other put or just leave a comment.