My oh my.
Mother Nature has been good to us so far this gardening season. After a gorgeous long sun day, we had a gentle rain start right at bed time. It was so perfect, so soft, and just the right way to end the day.
Our rain barrels were filled this morning, and all of our gardens looked happy.
Ocean came to check on things with me this morning. She likes to check our raised ‘greens’ boxes first. We had baby bunnies in one raised box a few years ago, and she loves bunnies, raised ours, and loves to be with them. So each morning, she checks, just in case. This particular greens box has already been cut back twice, used everyday, and we have two frozen bags of green cubes for winter use. Small but mighty!
Our pond that we built last year, is used more than we thought. Our dogs love it.
$eeker and Story go in after they have been worked, or just to cool off on a hot day. Ocean likes to take a dip in the morning, after our garden work, just to hang out. She just lounges in the cool water, floats a little, and enjoys the morning sun on her face. It must feel so good on her old bones, it looks like it feels awesome anyway. She seems to enjoy a ten minute soak every morning. You have to love the Gran Dames, they just know what they like!
A few of you wanted to know what greens I am growing this year. I always rotate, it’s better for the soil, to avoid pests, and our taste buds like it that way as well. So here is what I have started.
Kale & mixed lettuces together.
Kale & a different mix of lettuces.
Chard.
Three varieties of bush beans.
Cilantro.
Orac. This is a red ‘homestead’ spinach. The plant grows to about 7′ tall, the leaves are thicker, and vary from burgundy to chartreuse. We like the bigger older leaves, as they hold up well when cooked, great in stir fry. We actually don’t plant this anymore, it just reseeds every year and grows wherever it wants too. Super hardy, like the dandelion.
Mustard Greens.
Curly Kale.
My other flower beds, well here is more. The lilacs smell so good right now, the yard is perfumed. Simply my favorite time!
Lilac.
Lambs Ear.
Wind Daisy.
My Pink Oriental Poppy. This plant in full bloom is jaw dropping gorgeous.
Fern.
Renn’s Clover Mounds. They give our shade garden a fairy like feel. I love them!
Our dark Clover Mounds already starting to bloom.
Purple Dragons. This ground cover is hardy in Zone 4, but almost on the invasive side. I have to pull up new starts all over the place, all of the time!
Montana Purple Centennial.
Rose Shrub. This is a gorgeous Mexican rose color when in bloom. The only rose anything that has survived a winter here, and it is going into it’s 7th year with us! woop!
Lemon Balm.
Enjoy your day, enjoy your time out and about with your dogs, enjoy some dirt beneath your finger nails! It just feels good this time of year! Nancy
Nancy Tanner 
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….that water feels…just right!!!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Oh wow – I didn’t realize you had built your own pond! Finally – someone whose brain I can pick! I’ve long-dreamed of building a small pond for Blueberry. There is one someone built at the hiking area we frequent and it is a concrete bottom which I am not really crazy about since concrete is so heavy and it’ll just be me on my own trying to building this thing. So if I may, I’d like to ask you a few questions about this. I live in Arizona so a shallow pond would be ideal. I’ve done some research but most ponds are really labor intensive and I’m looking for something quick and easy and fairly easy to maintain. You say you used a pond liner and then put pea rock on top of that and then just use a sump pump to drain it every few days? Just want to make sure I have that right. I’m not interested in a waterfall right now though so I wouldn’t need a pump then, right?
Your garden is amazing! And that pond you built – it’s just perfect.
So the 5 posts I did on the POND PROJECT last summer, hold pretty true to what we still have, EXCEPT, we took out the water fall this spring because I just really didn’t like the sound. I watched a ton of videos on youtube on rock placement, because ti actually is a THING. The pond and water features experts actually study the sound of water on rock, and rock placement. So I wasn’t just being picky 😉
We bought a fountain tube, and moved our pond pump into one end, covered in with stone, and I LOVE the sound, and it airrates the water better and keeps motion int he pond which is awesome.
We have a little sump pump that we put in there about once every 3-4 days, and attach it to a hose and sprinkler and water our gardens. This way our gardens get watered as we would normally do, and the pond gets emptied and refilled with fresh water. I don’t want old water sitting in there, and I am not wanting to add fish or water plants as I’m not looking for a full pond eco system. It is really a super duper glorified kiddy splash pool 🙂
I am loving having water int eh garden, there are some cool youtubes by professionals that can give you atleast an idea. But truthfully, the hardest part was digging. Putting the skin in is like putting a sheet on your bed, we choose pea gravel, and then put stone along the edge so we can sit around it, and it is easy in and out for the dogs.
Just make sure you choose the depth that is most comfortable for your dogs. A bit deeper for swimming, a bit less for walking.
Our insurance would have gone high sky with anything resembling a pool, or deep water, so we chose walking depth, where they could lay down comfortably and cool off. Hope this helps, Nancy
Nancy – thank you so much for answering my questions. I actually built a smallish pond this weekend and it turned out pretty well. Not nearly as nice as yours – but I’m happy with it and more importantly, Blueberry is happy with it!
OH YAY! please post a photo, I would love to see it. Doesn’t it feel good to get something done in a weekend?
You can see the photos on my blog – spottyspottypolkadotty@blogspot.com. It’s not nearly as pretty as yours but I’m hoping to eventually add some shrubs or other greenery around it once the weather cools enough to plant things.
I just read it and looked at your photos. AWESOME! I think the fact of making it happen, is the satisfying part, and it is a great pond… I think you and Blueberry will truly enjoy the cool water dip! And having water in your yard just feels good! So bravo! you did it!
Ohhh, what a garden growing, and what a lucky dog!
These pictures just brighten my day. Where in the world did you learn all of this? love you, Mom
Hi Mom, I wish you could come up for a visit, in one more month it will be in FULL bloom!