gardening around comfy house

I think we're a little bit late in the game this year with our gardening efforts. We can blame yucky weather (we've had a lot of rain and cool temperatures), full schedules, and my knee. I still can't crouch down or kneel and I'm still struggling with swelling, stiffness and discomfort after being on my feet for several hours. This is despite still being in PT and doing some exercises at home every day, plus elevating and icing. But, I digress.

This narrow gardening space is on the south side of our house, up against our (nice) neighbor's fence. Last year, Brian planted the clematis and four cherry tomato plants. This year, Brian dug up more ground and so we have from left to right: pole beans (we're using our kid's old crib springs for a trellis!), rhubarb, yellow and red cherry tomatoes, clematis, and a peony bush - which I know is hard to see in this photo. It's tiny right now.

I am thrilled with the clematis this year. Brian bought this plant for me for Mother's Day last year and it was maybe 6" tall. Amazing that it's already growing over the top of the trellis.

The idea of even planting something against this ugly privacy fence came to me last year when Brenda at Cozy Little House said something to the effect of, "If you don't like the view out your window, do something outside to make it pretty." So, we did just that. Much better!

We have a little circular garden in our back yard but it doesn't get a lot of sun. The tickseed that I planted several years ago that came back beautifully every year, didn't appear at all this year. And the rose bush I had here was scrawny and weeds were overtaking it, so Brian dug that up and threw it away. That left two phlox plants and one was looking pitiful, so that got dug up, too. All that remained was one lonely phlox. Brian dug up another from the butterfly garden and planted it in the circular garden, and then we purchased two Bleeding Heart plants and planted them in the circular garden as well. When all these plants fill out and flower, I think this little garden will be really pretty.

On to the butterfly garden...the only thing blooming right now is the Columbine (back, left). Brian dug up (notice Brian has been doing a lot of digging?!) a small area in the middle of the Lamb's Ear and we planted Bee Balm. We planted two more Bee Balm plants near the back, right underneath the bench. I can't wait to see if these do well in this garden...they're supposed to grow tall with beautiful, brightly colored blooms. Most of all, I hope the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to them.

While Brian was busy doing all that digging, I was busy planting flowers in pots. We picked up this two-tiered planter on our last trip to IKEA. They sell these pots individually, so you can make however many tiers you want. After filling up the bottom pot with dirt and flowers, I found it was really heavy, so I didn't want to do the same with the top pot. I found three small, lightweight planters in my garage and planted vinca vines in each. I think this will be really pretty when the vines start growing down the sides of the planter.

We've not set up the patio yet this year except for uncovering the patio furniture and getting it into place. It's been so rainy that the cushions are still in the garage. I did get one large patio planter done - except I ran out of petunias when doing this planter! Back to the garden center for me.

 Yellow petunias hanging on the fence...

Meet my new gardening buddy - the Fiskars Deluxe Stand-Up Weeder. This thing makes weeding so easy; I wish I knew about it earlier. You simply place the pointed prongs over the weed, put your foot on the foot press...

tilt the weeder back as you're pulling up...

and then eject your weed into your pile! It actually makes weeding kind of fun...though my entire yard is weeds, so I'd have to dig up the whole yard to get them all. And that's not gonna happen. I'm just pulling up the ones around plants and the walkways.

I still have more to do...coleus is waiting to be planted and so are a few more herbs.

What's growing in your gardens right now?
Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend!