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Photographee examines the camera

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I don’t know who the photographer was, but they managed to capture a once in a life time shot!

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The Blue Jays around here aren’t very friendly.

Sure, they’ll eat from the bird feeders and visit some of my plants, but the minute that either my husband or I go outside or one of our neighbors enters their yard the Blue Jays are gone. I’d never get a shot of a Blue Jay landing on a hand held camera in a million years!

It’s been quite rainy here in Toronto today, but the rain has just stopped and the suns out … who knows for how long … but I’m going to try to go out and get a little gardening done.  I have some annuals to plant in planters and a few bulbs to plant in the garden beds.  It would be nice if I could get this stuff done before it begins to rain again!






Want a peek at my garden?

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Join Green Thumb Sunday

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In the middle of July (July 14th to be exact) I decide to take a couple of shots of the backyard, front yard and my planted boulevard garden. Would you like to see what my garden looks like this year?

Here’s a shot of the backyard:

My backyard garden

It’s not the best shot. We had our patio table umbrella down due to all the rain storms we’ve been having. Our table gets tipsy in the high winds and I don’t feel like going through the pain and expense of having to replace the table glass if it falls, so no umbrella in bad weather! The green tube on the table chairs is for collecting rain run off from the rain spout so that the area closest to the house doesn’t get flooded in a heavy downpour.

The tall tree on the left – well the tallest in our garden – is the Rose of Sharon tree. It’s in full bloom at this very moment, but two weeks ago when I took the picture it was only just starting to develop buds. It’s blooming a little early this year. I’ll get some pictures of it soon!

My box turtles are enjoying a daily snack on the flowers. They are edible. If you have a Rose of Sharon or a Hibiscus bush you might even want to try using the flowers in a salad or as a garnish.

There are a large number of plants in those flower beds! The main plants are of course roses, lavender, salvia, hostas, clematis, balloon flowers and annuals such as petunias and portulaca’s. If you’d like to see a not quite up to date list of all the plants we’re growing in our back, front and boulevard gardens have a peek at my What’s Growing page.

Just click on any of the pictures for a larger view.

I’m pleased with how my front yard is looking so far this year. Our Lab puppy, Midnight, did a lot of damage to the grass in the early spring so we’ve tried to keep her off our tiny front long over the last two months and the grass has been growing back nicely. We helped it out my reseeding of course.

my front yard and garden

Our puppy still tries to bite at the roses, grasses and some of the other plants in the front flower beds as she walks by, but mostly she just sniffs at the plants. It’s quite funny to see her smelling a rose. I think she likes them! At least if she ever tries to eat a rose I know they are non toxic!

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The front boulevard is coming along nicely. I don’t know if you remember my earlier posts about cleaning up the boulevard garden in the spring. We had to remove thick sunflower stalks and lots of weeds before I could plant some new plants this year. It was a mess! It’s nice and tidy now!

planted boulevard

The sunflowers are beginning to bloom as are the pink Dahlia, daylilies, malva and gayfeather. Cosmos have come up this year as well. I haven’t planted cosmos there for at least three years and they were absent the last two, but I guess there were still some viable seeds in the ground and they decided to grow this year so there are cosmo plants scattered among the main plants and they are beginning to bloom now as well.

I have Marigolds and Alyssum planted along the edge of the boulevard and we’ve trained a few Morning Glory vines to grow around the No Parking sign that mars my boulevard garden.  Our neighbors seems to enjoy our planted boulevard quite a bit.

Overall I’m quite pleased with how well my garden is doing this year. It’s been fairly hot this month, yet we’ve had a record amount of rain (and storms!), so the plants are getting lots of water, free nitrogen in the air from all the lightening storms and some good heat to get growing. I actually think I’ve only watered the garden twice this month. Yay! I’m saving money on water too!

I think I’ll make up some of my famous Alfalfa tea later today and let it brew for a week or so. The garden has been doing so well I haven’t thought of using my secret sauce (great organic fertilizer that alfalfa tea is!) on it yet this year, but at least one dose won’t hurt it at all.

How is your garden doing so far this summer? Has the weather been good for it? Have you been getting a lot of rain and like us haven’t had to water much?

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Helpful tips to avoid injuring yourself in the garden

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Now that it’s July, you’ve probably finished most of your major gardening work for the summer, unless of course you are in the process of doing some landscaping. However, it’s always a good idea to use proper body mechanics while in the garden to avoid injury to your back or other joints.

Autumn will arrive soon enough and some of us will have more planting to do and other garden maintenance to prepare for winter so here’s some tips for you to help you avoid injuring yourself when you’re just trying to get a little gardening done.

Protect your joints

If you will be kneeling while working in the garden use knee pads, a knee cushion or a kneeler seat to protect your knee joints. Also remember to use tools with padded handles or easy spring loaded grips in order to minimize stiffness in your hands.

Take care when lifting!

We just finished mulching our garden – yes we were a little behind as usual! bags of garden mulch, soil and other garden supplies are heavy and can be difficult to carry. Use a wheelbarrow to move items from your car and place them close to the area where you will be using them. Another great idea is to open the bag, dumping the contents in the wheelbarrow or close to where you’ll be using it and then use a shovel to move small portions of the material to the garden.

Plan your tasks and conserve your energy

Just like in nursing and many other jobs it’s best to prepare everything that you’ll need before you start a task. Gather up all the gardening equiptment that you’ll need in a basket or container and carry it to the yard. This will save you trips and perhaps some time searching for tools once your already working in the garden.

I tend to bend or squat while working in the garden and I almost always end up with a sore back. Sit or kneel in one area and complete your gardening task – weeding, planting, pruning before moving to another area of the garden. This will also help conserve your energy and kneeling or using a kneeler seat will help your back too.

Moving heavy plants and other heavy objects

When it comes to landscaping your yard with new trees, shrubs or plants – perhaps large plants or ones in containers always try to move them with a wheelbarrow.

Tip the wheelbarrow forward as close to the plant as possible. Then gently rotate the pot or ball of plant onto the wheelbarrow. Slowly bring the wheelbarrow into standing position (keep your knees bend while you do this to easy your back). Carefully move the plant to it’s destination and reverse the process to get the plant off the wheelbarrow.

If you were thinking ahead and already dug a hole for the plant you might be able to move it right off the wheelbarrow and into it’s new hole!

If you have to lift a heavy item squat down, get a good grip and use your legs to lift. Don’t use your back or you’ll risk injuring your back. If there is someone else around to help you move heavy plants don’t hesitate to ask for help.

Work on one project at a time

I’m guilty of starting several projects at once and then feeling compelled to finish all of them before I stop gardening for the day. Don’t be like me – start one project at a time and finish it before moving on to another project whether it’s planting your annuals or planting seeds or seedlings or digging holes for your new roses. One job at a time.

Take a moment to decide which task needs to be given priority. Perhaps one task will take a lot longer than an other or your plants are desperately in need of care. Decide which job needs to be done first and start it. This can keep you from overdoing it and you might feel more satisfied with yourself when you complete the task rather than having several unfinished jobs on the go.

Listen to your body!

Yet another rule that I’m guilty of not following. I push myself in the garden even when I’m not feeling well or when my back is in full on spasms. I just will not go inside until I’m finished whatever I started. (I am getting a little better at listening this year as I try to plan smaller tasks).

Your body will tell you when it’s had enough. Listen to it. Muscles aching? Feeling tired? Sit back and take a break or stop your work for the day.

If you drink water while working in the garden you’ll remain well hydrated and well hydrated muscles will cramp less.

Don’t forget to stretch once you are done working in the garden. Stretching will help reduce muscle soreness and keep your more flexible. Once inside take a shower or a long soak in the bath tub to ease those muscles. Your body will thank you for it!

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