~~~Heat Wave~~~

The heat is on, my friends. We're like crispy fried chickens over here in Kansas. It's been close to or over 100 degrees for weeks now. I'm still watering the garden daily in hopes that everything doesn't just evaporate into nothing. I'm fearful of the water bill. I'm getting quite a bit from the garden -- gorgeous onions, potatoes, basil, and brussels sprouts. So, the dedication to watering is paying off. But some rain sure would be nice...

This is our new, smaller compost bin. We moved it because it was right by the new patio. Now it's on the other side of the house out of sight. 

This is where the compost was. I realized I have dozens of pictures of Chris in this position. Always digging, building, etc. 

Have to throw in a picture of my cutie kitty. Notice the replica of her on the windowsill. My sister gave it to us for Christmas. It even has a short ear and two different colored eyes, just like Bella. 

A new summer cocktail: freshly juiced Crenshaw melon and cucumber, 

lime juice, seltzer water and gin. YUM.

The fence is done! The fence is done!

Chris worked his booty off this Sunday on finishing the fence and it looks spectacular! I'm so excited that this part of the garden project is finished and we can move on. We have several projects going on at once but the fence was definitely the biggest one. There is still a chance of light frost, so I'm glad that I haven't planted any warm weather crops. It's so hard to resist because it's nice outside but if you plant too early, you can stunt the growth of or even kill your baby plants. Hopefully I don't have to wait too much longer!

French Breakfast Radishes. Delicious!!!

Chris also built this cute bamboo fence around the herb garden. It's a little different than the one we've had in the past. He screwed the bamboo together inside of weaving it.

Making magic.

The garden fence is almost complete. It feels so fancy and sharp compared to the reed fence that we've had up the past couple of years. While we work I have to keep pausing to take a look around and soak it all up. This is my magical garden and yard! I'm so lucky.

French radishes!

Our Clematis vine has probably 100 buds on it. I'm giddy!

A grackle proof bird feeder! I went to the farm and feed store down the street and the character of a man that owns the store dug through his pile of junk and found this cage that we put around a regular bird feeder. He was really nice and gave it to me for free! My little songbirds and I thank you!

Here's Chris putting in the stones for the entrance to the garden.

Mixing concrete for fence posts.

Chris got really far on the fence yesterday! Only a few slats left to go up on the backside.

We are making a lot of garden progress lately. We have definitely thought BIG. But after we do all of this really hard work of putting in the raised beds and building the fence the next years in the garden will be a breeze. All we will have to do is haul a load of compost and a load of mulch. Easy peezy. Well, until we come up with some other huge project.

Kitty loves to drink out of the pond.

Oh yeah. I decided to take out the straw and put in mulch for the paths. I spend so much time in the garden, I might as well have it exactly how I want it. I think it looks so much better. Don't you?

Shoveling

This week was a doozie. Wednesday night I unloaded a truck full of (really heavy) soil into the wheel barrow, up the hill and into the raised beds. Chris hurt his back so I was on my own and I have to say, I'm pretty proud of my hard work. Thursday night was another night of unloading but this time something a little lighter. Mulch.

I had to get a running start to get it over the stairs and up the hill.

Ahhh. Only 3 more to go...

We went with straw paths this year instead of mulch and I'm not so sure that I like it. I suppose it will look better when everything is green and lush.

Unloading gig #2.

Taters all nestled down in their trenches. They get covered up a little and then as they grow you mound the dirt on top.

Radishes!

The peonies are shooting up fast!

Our garden is going to be on the Lawrence Food Garden Tour on June 11th! I'm really excited about the opportunity to share our passion and hard work with our community. There are 17 gardens signed up to be on the tour so far. This event will give us even more motivation to have our yard looking just how we want it.

Chris built me this screen door so I can have the doors open on beautiful spring days.

Tulip Magnolia in all of its glory.

Planning the layout in my garden is my favorite thing to do at the beginning of the season each year. It snowed an hour after this photo was taken. ?!?

This trellis is yet another thing that Chris custom built for me. I'm planning on growing these on it.

Carrots, french radish and fennel are in the ground. I put pine needles on top of the carrot seeds in order to keep moisture in the soil.

I cleaned out the pond yesterday and I can see my fish again! They are so happy!

Make my bed.

Chris is working so hard (surprise, surprise!) on my raised beds for the lower garden. They look so great and should be done by the weekend. We'll have to fill them with soil and compost and then they will be ready for planting! We decided to go with raised beds in the lower garden because we basically carved the garden out of the front yard and could not keep the grass out. It's nice too because it's on a hill and these will make it so it's kind of terraced and easier to work in.

Our first daffodil is blooming! It's here! Spring is really here!

All of my tulip bulbs that I planted last year are coming back up! I don't know why, but I was kind of thinking they wouldn't come back up. Maybe because the soil is rocky and saturated with ground cover? Sure enough, there they are!

The Tulip Magnolia is in full bloom and looks gorgeous with the gray-blue overcast Spring sky.