Getting Rid of Grass

I took the first step towards my goal of removing all -- or at least most -- of the grass from my backyard and replacing it with flower beds and hardscape. Behold, the bird and butterfly garden:







So, I''ve still got a lot to do. But I''m pretty happy with what I managed to get done this year. I''ve got about 2/3 of the planned flowers planted. I''m working on getting the drip irrigation system in. Also need to level the pavers. And get a birdbath. Next year, I''ll finish up with the rest of the flowers and an arbor over the gate.

Vegetable Gardening 2006

Due to the wonders of lead contamination, I got to completely re-do my garden this year. The new garden consists of two 4'' x 9'' raised beds, 15" deep. The walls are made out of "Veranda" brand composite decking. I started using the "Square Foot Gardening" method this year, so I''ve got a ton of stuff planted. It seems to be working out well, but I''ve already had to prune some stuff back, so we shall see what it looks like by the end of the season.

This year, I planted:

• Tomato ''Black Prince'
• Tomato ''Matt''s Wild Cherry''
• Tomato ''San Marzano''
• Pepper ''Lipstick''
• Pepper ''Tam Jalepeno'
• Pepper ''Carmen''
• Pepper ''Gourmet'' F1
• Pepper ''Yankee Bell''
• Cucumber ''Diva''
• Sweet Corn
• Zuccini
• Eggplant
• Okra
• Spinach
• Cantaloupe (Muskmelon)
• Watermelon
• Red Potatoes
• Carrots
• Onions
• Parsley ''Forest Green''
• Parsley ''Titan''
• Cilantro ''Santo''
• Basil ''Genovese Compact''
• Basil, Cinnamon
• Dill ''Superdukat''

Yes, those tomatoes are already over 5'' tall. In June.

Busy Bees

Here's a nice shot my lavender. I'm pretty sure it is Provence Lavender. The bees and butterflies love it.



You can also see some of my newer plants: in the middle right is Purple Pygmy Agastache, to the far right is Lilac Frost Spiderwort, and in the back is my monster Black-Eyed Susan.

Blast from the Past: Front Flower Beds

Here is what the front looked like in 2002, shortly after I moved in:



Here is what it looks like today (most of this work was actually done in 2003):



I ripped out the evergreen (which was not a dwarf variety and was growing into and killing the shrubs) and replaced it with a weeping cherry tree. Ripped out the rusty stakes and wire mesh that the PO had used as a fence and put in a basic surround of landscape blocks. These still need to be capped. You can see in the current picture that I'm working on a small bamboo fence, though this has kinda' been put on hold. I ripped out the lilac and replace it with, um, a lilac. In my defense, the old one was pretty ugly. It had been pruned into a misshapen wreck and didn't really bloom much anymore. The jungle looking area along the side of the house is a combination of Forsythia and Black-Eyed Susan. The yellow along the front is Coreopsis. Some other things that I have growing:

(Spring) Grape Hyacinth, Dwarf Iris, Hyacinth, Crocus, Daffodils, Tulips, some kind of white daffodil looking thing that I planted and then didn't save the tag for, Forget-Me-Not
(Summer) Gladiolus, Lavender, Spiderwort, Phlox, Day Lilly, Stargazer Lilly
(Fall) Ribbon Grass

One of the best looking flower right now is the Stargazer Lilly:



I've got a good bit of worked planned for this fall and next spring. The Coreopsis needs to be moved, because it ended up being too tall for a front row plant. Day Lillies (which are currently hidden behind one of the shrubs) need to get moved out to the front so they get more sun. Spiderwort needs to be moved or thrown away (I didn't actually plant the stuff, it just appeared there). And I still have a small section of flower bed in the alley that needs to be completely re-done.

The Garden II

The garden is kicking butt. Much progress has been made in only three weeks. I've already got a few cucumbers, one of which should be ready very soon. Some cherry tomatoes should also be ready soon. And the ''Fourth of July'' just set a few tomatoes. Nothing set on the earliest flowers, which is annoying. The peppers got off to a rocky start, due to the birds, but are making a good effort.



I've also got some cherries which I think are about ready to harvest. I would have had more, but the tree really needed pruning and, unfortunately, the branches that needed pruned had most of the cherries on them. Next year I should have more cherries than any one person can eat, though.

The Garden

This year I planted:

(Front Row) Sweet Banana Pepper (x3)
(2nd Row) ''Giant Marconi'' Sweet Pepper (x2), ''The Big Early'' Red Bell Pepper
(3rd Row) ''Sweet Slice'' Cucumber (x2)
(4th Row) ''Early Girl'' Tomato, ''Better Boy'' Tomato
(Back Row) ''Tami-G Hybrid'' Grape Tomato, ''Fourth of July'' Tomato, ''Roma'' Tomato

Here it is shortly after I planted it:



The damn birds attacked it with a vengeance (hence the cages). The Sweet Banana Peppers bore the brunt of it. The one in the front left was literally just a stem with one leaf before I realized what was happening and put up the cages.

Ladybugs to the rescue!

I noticed that some of the leaves on the cherry tree were starting to curl and die. The obvious culprit, aphids (at least as far as I can tell):



I thought that I was going to have to spray them, so I started doing some research on what would be most effective and whether there were any alternatives to pesticides. It turns out that ladybugs (and ladybug larvae) are voracious predators of aphids. I remembered seeing some other bugs on the leaves, so I went back out and took another picture:



Score, ladybug larva! Literally within days, the aphids were gone. Ladybugs are one of the best bugs you can have in your garden. They don't eat plants, but attack all kinds of other insects that do eat plants. If you don't seem to have any around your garden, you might want to consider buying a shipment of larvae and releasing them.