This Morning in Our Yard

There is not too much going on out in the garden.  I'm afraid my zucchini have succumbed to some sort of blight.  Here I thought we would be overrun with them and we've had ONE zucchini (it was tasty, though).

We have had a number of birds visiting our yard lately.  The photos aren't great, but these are cedar waxwings perching on the kids' picnic table and in the apple tree.

I have a number of gladiolus out - dark red, bright red and purple.  They took quite a beating during the wind storm that was our share of Hurricane Irene.

When I was looking out the kitchen window at the red and purple side by side, I was reminded of my piano teacher.  I know, I'm weird.  She used to wear a purple cardigan over a red dress a lot.

This one is really bent over from the wind.

We're getting ready for a family barbecue tonight.  My sister-in-law is home from Alberta and my brother-in-law is over for the weekend from New Brunswick where he is currently stationed at CFB Gagetown.  So, we're having a big family get-together.  We're having barbecued pork chops, hamburgers, and hotdogs as well as corn salad, broccoli salad, potato salad, and jellied salads.  I'm making a Greek pasta salad to take as well.  Should be delicious!

Thanks for visiting today!

What's Growing in My Garden Today

Not a very exciting post today.  My garden is at in-between stage - lots of things have finished blooming and some things are just getting ready to bloom.  A few photos for your browsing pleasure:

A couple of sad little pansies

Marjoram 

Our appleless apple tree

My Sub-Zero roses starting their 2nd bloom cycle

"Oscar" gladiolus

Behind our property today, there are potatoes being harvested.

There goes "another big loada potatoes".  If you don't know what I'm talking about (or even if you do!), take a listen to THIS.

Thanks for visiting today!

Garden Updates!

We have had a lot of rain!  I feel guilty that everything is so lush and green here when there are other places that are so desperate for rain. Anyway, a few photos for you...

Stargazer lily - I've been waiting for these since March!

Another kind of lily (Asiatic).  I lost the tag for this one and can't remember what it's called.

These are the fields behind our property.  On the left is wheat and on the right is potatoes.

My zucchini and cucumber plants are getting huge!

Tiny little zucchini!

Baby cucumbers!

I'm slowly getting organised for the new school year - SLOWLY.  I had this dream of schooling through the summer but it just didn't work out.  I think it will be good for Lass and Laddie to get back on a real schedule. Our "first day of school" is still up in the air, but I'm pretty sure we won't start until after Labour Day.  That gives me a little more time to get myself organised.

I need to get ready to go to Bible Study.  Tonight we're doing Psalm 10.

I'm linking to the Hip Homeschool Hop today.  Thanks for visiting!

Vegetable Garden At Last

I finally started planting some vegetables today!  It's been quite cool here and we even had frost a couple of nights ago.  So, I've been hemming and hawing about when to plant but I decided to take the plunge this afternoon.  We don't have a big area ploughed up or anything, so I just have a few little plots around the yard.

We had a bare spot behind our shed, so we dug it up well and mixed in a good dose of  "fertilizer" aka bunny poop, etc.  When I told my kids what we were going to mix into the clay, they were pretty disgusted!  I decided to plant some zucchini here because there is lots of room for it to spread out.

There is our little finished zucchini plot!  We'll likely be overrun with them by August.  My husband says the only reason why it's not safe to leave your car unlocked in the summer on PEI is that you may come back to a car full of zucchini and cucumbers!

By the way, can you guess what crop is planted in the field behind our place this year?

Thanks for visiting today!

Garden Discovery

My irises have been blooming for about a week now.  They are one of my favourite flowers and so easy to grow.  A lady from our chapel gave me a garbage bag full of iris plants a few years ago.  There were probably at least 50 rhizomes.  I gave a bunch away and planted the rest wherever I had room for them.  My biggest planting is by the steps.

I just love the blue/purple colours.  They make me happy whenever I look at them.  I'm so glad I said yes to the garbage bag full of plants when I had no idea where I would plant so many.

Then, a couple of days ago, I discovered THIS:

Where on earth did that come from?  I've had these plants for three years and thought they were all the same variety.  Apparently not.  This one is a deep, rich purple with golden yellow.  Please excuse the iffy photos - it's super windy here today.  Not only are these a completely different colour, they are much larger as well - at least twice as large.

These two plants are side by side.  See the difference in size?  To top it off, I have not one but TWO of these darker irises.  I'm pretty excited!  I almost dug up all these plants and gave them away this spring.  I did dig up a couple, but I'm glad I kept these.  A nice surprise!

Thanks for visiting today!

Garden Tour 2

As promised, more garden/flower photos:

First, the lupins...

This is one of the reasons to visit Prince Edward Island in June.  The ditches and roadsides are covered with these beautiful flowers.  They are not only purple, but there are also white and pink ones.  Lots of different shades!

Next is some sort of ground cover type plant that spreads like crazy (they were here when we moved in).  I haven't been able to find a name for them.  The flowers are kind of pretty, but the plants tend to try to take over the whole plot.

My stripey hostas (the leaves are so dramatic)

My Dutch irises are in bud.

And Bentley, keeping watch over everything.  He's a great gardening companion.

Thanks for visiting!

Garden Tour

I just went out for a wander around my yard.  Not many flowers blooming, but there are a few.

Violets

Lucky Strike Tulips

Queen of the Night Tulips

Bentley, our orange tabby, inspecting the tulips.

Going to explore somewhere more exciting.

I'm off to do some weeding if the bugs don't carry me away first.  Thanks for visiting!