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.

GBBD May 2012

Ahhh it's that time of month again here around the blogosphere.  Time to post about whats blooming in our gardens.  After this crazy winter and beginning of spring things are blooming earlier than usual.  I don't mind much though as I have lots to show off today.....so here goes.

 I'll be honest not sure what this guy is.  His leaves look like that of a columbine but he is so tiny I am just not sure if that is what he is.  But sure is pretty.

Growing wild all over my vegetable garden.....why? Well because I haven't weeded in there yet.  And this guy is right in the middle of some parsley....crazy.

 This gal I bought this year.  I liked the difference between all the others that I have....the white and yellow are very delicate and quite pretty.

 I love snapdragons.  They just look so neat.

 What interesting designs on the pedals don't you think?

 More snapdragons.

 My columbine....I know what this one is....

Even the coral bells have finally come out and bloomed.  Ok so they were out before but now the flowers on them are actually starting to open.

 Strawberry buds are all over the place.

 My blue Iris just opened up today....I love this guy he stands out next to his buddy below.......

 .....that would be this guy the purple Iris.....who is showing off all over the yard this year.

 Although not open yet the peonies are out and ready to go.....the ants are seeing to that.

 Two different views of my Iris in what I now call the Iris Lane Garden.  I transplanted these here last year when I created the garden and they didn't bloom but they did multiply a little.  I just think it's cool that all of them are the same color.  I couldn't have done that even if I had tried.  As I have yellow, blue, and these purple all growing in the same area (these were from previous owners).  Either way I think it looks cool.  Just pay no mind to the truck ....it's full of wood that needs to be piled up.

So now you've seen mine let me see yours......or rather stop over to Carol's blog and see others and post a link there so I can see yours.

First ever sale

I love Spring! Plants that die back to the ground like Hosta and Peonies begin to grow again and grow inches each day.  Tree's and bushes that look half dead begin to show signs of life.  Little leaf buds begin to grow as do flowers.  Things seem to come alive.  The gardens get a fresh start after months of rest.

Well last weekend was my first every plant sale for Irish Gardens.  It wasn't all that bad.  Would have liked to sell more but I did sell some and got my name out there.  With the crazy mild winter we had I lost a lot of plants to late frost.  They started to grow and then bam a frost hit and killed the new growth.  What plants I did have  all had growth on them....but I think that if there was more lush looking plants I would have done better.  Lessons learned. Here are a few pictures from the sale and the gardens.

 My special little helper.  He helped me move the plants out from under the tents every day of the sale.  Even the ones that were taller than him.

 The tall plants that were not going on tables.

 My special red headed helper in the back ground checking out the price list..  On this table is was Iris, Lily, and Hosta roots as well as pots of Chocolate Mint

 The table full of plants...Fountain Grass, Four O'Clocks, Spirea....lots of stuff

And the other bench and other big plants.

The sale isn't the only this that has been going on here at Irish Gardens.....my gardens have been bursting out with color....

 My Iris decided that it would bloom last weekend.  Good timing too cause I was selling some and there were a few customers that weren't sure what Iris flowers looked like.

 A little sad looking by my columbine also is flowering.

 I bought this foxglove already in bloom.  Is that cheating?  Yea kinda...instant color.

 Now this columbine is far from sad.  It's absolutely beautiful.

 The Coral Bells have decided that it is their turn to grow like a weed.

Lily of the Valley started showing off their cute little white flowers.

And although not part of the garden he was part of the sale.  Buddy Dog joined us outside for the last day of the sale.  Spent the time between customers under the main table.

Blogging dilemma

I love my blog.  I love writing about what is going on in my gardens and sometimes other things.  Actually I just love to write.  I always have.  But thats neither here nor there.  My big dilemma of the day is simply this - what should I do when I like someone else's idea and want to post about it?  Silly I am sure but think about it.

My sister has a great blog that started as a place to put her cooking adventures.  So to speak.  I can't remember how it started but she wanted to try a new recipe every day for a month and did...then My Side of Life was born.  A few months after she started her blog I started mine.  She's my younger sister but it sorta felt like I was copying her.  Granted my blog is about the garden and hers started as cooking but also has garden stuff and so much more.  So if I have a recipe that I like and want to pass on I feel funny adding it to my blog.  But she is a guest author on here.  She has a wonderful garden out in CA and posts about it. Hence asking her to join me in telling others about gardening.

Then there are blogs or post like ONG has.  His post about his peony made me want to post about mine.  Instead I wrote a comment on his blog.  Is there a waiting period before I can post about mine with out it looking like I stole his idea?

Then there is one of my favorite blogs to read May Dreams Gardens.  I love her witty humor and posts about Fairies.  In fact I loved it so much that I sorta used her idea but with birds not fairies.  Is that steeling? Other in this post now does she get the credit for the idea?

Or how about Heather's Garden and her post about Iris this morning.  I have the same Iris in my yard and would love to post about them if not to show her that I have some that are the same coloring.  Or would that be rude.

Thinking about all this gives me a headache.  Course then I look at those blogs with good idea's and see that either they have been blogging years longer than me or they have hundreds of followers unlike my small 41.  Do the blogs I read read my blog?  Would they even notice? I have no answer to this question but regardless of a lack of answer I will continue blogging and hope I don't step on any toes.  I will post about my

Bowl of Beauty Peony.  Even if it doesn't look like the catalog pictures or like the one in ONG's garden. Because it doesn't look like his and I love the way it looks.

And I will post about my

Pretty Iris because they are just so pretty like Heather said.

I will post about foods I cook but most likely only if I used something I grew. But what happens when I see someone else using an idea I used on my blog?

Easy due to my lack of readers I will jump for joy.  But until then I guess I will just post about what I want to post about.  Like my Rose of Sharon...

But you'll have to wait till later as the post isn't ready yet.  But it's gonna be a good one.  I can tell. And you know what?  Not everyone started with over a hundred readers so I may catch up.  If not....thats ok too.  My thoughts are out there and available to those who would like to read it.  Steady readers doesn't a good blog make.  It's the passion and content that makes a good blog.