Tag Archives: garden

Ready for Rain

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For a while now, I’ve wanted to make a rain chain. I think it’s a quaint and cheerful decoration.
I found a website that has helpful directions on how to make a rain chain.

There was a few things I needed to do differently from the directions.
I didn’t want to hang a chain under a gutter spout because if we decide to move, it’s something that we’d need to fix.
I toyed with the idea of hanging the chain from a shepherd’s hook and let it dangle over a container. It took me a day or two to think of a bird bath.
The chain would have to be shorter over a birdbath, but I decided a few small buckets might be quite charming.
I finally had it all worked out in my mind, I just needed to get my supplies together. It took a few weeks, but finally I had them all gathered up.

 

We worked on the flower bed off and all during last week and set up the bird bath. The weather Sunday was a bit chilly, but nice enough for us to stay outside and make my rain chain. It was quite late in the afternoon when we got started on it and after dark when we finished.

 

The stone dangling from the bottom of the chain is a small garden stone I bought last year. It set on my patio table because it was too small to put in my garden. I was delighted when I discovered it was the right weight and size to use with my rain chain. Pretty neat huh?4-4-2016-rc00

I plan to plant annual flowers around the birdbath and also I might even plant some chard for tasty color. Oh and I plan to put my garden flag hanger there too… as soon as I make a flag for it…

I can hardly wait for the next rain so I can see how my rain chain is going to do. I hope I can get a clear photo of it in action to share.

Wishing you all cheerful days of sunshine.ec-sunny

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Garden – 2016 – 1st planting

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IMG_7421 We planted out first section of the garden: onions, radishes and chard.
We’ve never planted chard this early. We usually wait until after last frost, but I did a bit of reading and apparently it can be planted 2 to 3 weeks before last frost. So, since we bought 300 seeds, we planted half and kept half just in case.
My brother introduced me to chard a few years ago. He told me that they’re full of vitamins and sent me some seeds. I planted it and was excited when I could harvest it for the first time. It’s an interesting veggie. The stems has a celery-like taste to them and the green leafy part taste similar to spinach. We love it on sandwiches and in stir-fries.
The onions should do fine, We discussed how nice it’s going to be in about 5 to 8 weeks that we can make Bruschetta with our own fresh green onions. Yum. To us, Fresh green onions make a world of difference in the taste of Bruschetta. Oddly, we prefer canned tomatoes to fresh ones in it.
The radishes should do fine, they usually do. I’m not a fan of eating radishes, but my husband eat them. I prefer them for pest control.I plant them in many places around the garden as we plant more things.

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And so another year of gardening begins.
I hope you all are making plans
and getting ready for the blooming season.
gardeningMay the lush days of Spring brighten your world
and bring you many smiles.
gardeningcouple

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Wildlife Wednesday- tomato horn worm

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IMG_3378Last week I was in the garden and spotted signs of a tomato horn-worm on one of our tomato vines. It took me about a minute or so to find the little critter, they blend with the plant so well. I carefully plucked it off the vine and carried it an acre away to where my husband was doing some yard work. He asked me what I was going to do with it? I told him that since I couldn’t kill it, that I was going to leave it for him to do-away-with (since he’s my official bug/creepy crawler exterminator).
I was surprised when my husband replies, “Oh No, you have to take care of this one yourself.”
I looked down at the huge soft pretty caterpillar that was now trying to figure a way off my purple garden glove. It looked like a pet and I knew I couldn’t kill it.
“Well, what are you going to do with it?” my husband ask with a chuckle.
I announced to my husband, “I’m going to put it back in the garden on the tomato vine.”
He just laughed and said, “I’m not a bit surprised.”
I said, “One little caterpillar couldn’t do any more damage to the garden than the rabbits and deer have.” My husband agreed.

IMG_3380I took it back to the garden and left it hanging on the vine where I plucked it from originally. It was still in its sullen-state but hung there without falling. I took a photo of it and went on with my gardening.

IMG_3576Sunday, my gardening didn’t take long. So, I searched around to see if the tomato horn-worm was still on the tomato vine. Sure enough, I found sign that it had feasted on many many leaves and was still happily munching. It is a beauty. I figure it’ll either eat until it’s ready to cocoon or until a bird or creature eats it. Meanwhile, it’s free to be the best big green caterpillar that it can be. 🙂

Happy Wildlife Wednesday!
Wishing you all a pest free day.
🙂

related post: Wordless Wednesday – Horn Worm – 07/23/2014

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Wildlife Wednesday – Butterfly in Flight

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IMG_0681Several years ago, my BFF and I was discussing our favorite photographs that we’d taken and the ones we’d like to take of different subjects.
BFF asked me if I’d ever taken a photograph of a butterfly in flight.
Mmm, nope and I’d never thought of it. I had at one time made an unsuccessful attempt at trying to capture water drops falling, but butterflies in flight never occurred to me to try.

The simple question sent me on a quest that took me awhile to accomplish. I was determined to get a photo of a butterfly in flight no matter how long it took. Besides, it was fun trekking across the yard chasing the little beauties… (and giving my neighbors something to watch: an old woman with a camera chasing butterflies must’ve been entertaining to watch.)

While my results were mostly blurred, I did manage get a few butterflies in flight. The butterfly in flight that I posted today is one of my favorites. I know it’s a bit of a blur, but I still think it’s pretty. I had quite a large flower bed that year and this gorgeous angel along with several others enjoyed the blooming buffet.

Have you ever photographed a butterfly in flight?
Wishing you all wonderful Wednesday!
z00m

 

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