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Finally a Few Nice Days in a Row

I've been waiting and waiting for spring temps to arrive for more than a couple of days without rain. And this is the week! We finally have some color in the yard and on our deck. So, I want to share what my husband, son, and I have been up to for the last few days.

First of all, we had our first cookout on Sunday, April 28 to celebrate our younger son's birthday. That officially kicks off spring.

I mixed the first batch of hummingbird nectar a couple of weeks ago, hoping the males would take advantage while the females were tending to their nests. As far as we can tell, 1 male has visited twice. Of course, we can't look out the window all of the time. But we do look out frequently. And we hang them in 2 locations that we can see directly from the kitchen windows.

The rose bushes started blooming about a week ago, and I finally had time to take pictures of them. I pulled out the grass and weeds that were growing around them a couple of hours after I took the front-facing pictures. We just ordered some 2-inch high edging from Amazon, and we'll put red lava rocks around the rose bushes and crepe myrtle once the edging arrives. For now, the fencing is keeping the mowers from plowing over them.



Rose bush 1 front

Rose bush 1 top


Rose bush 2 front


Rose bush 2 top

Just before spring, I bought 4 large garden containers at Dollar General for only $14.99 each so I could do some container gardening. And the bee watering stations were purchased from Amazon. I placed some small, smooth rocks inside them so the bees can stand on them if they decide to drink from them. Before I could use the containers, we needed to level off a few areas for them to stand. So, yesterday, I bought some heavy-duty square concrete pavers at Lowe's. My husband and I (mostly my husband) tampered the ground so the pavers and containers would sit level.

Below are 3 containers with pre-grown plants in them. The fourth one will have to wait for its picture day. I planted corn seeds and hope to grow what is known as corn bushes, specifically created for container gardening. A few carrot seeds (smaller carrots) got planted around the tomato cages inside the tomato plant containers. 


Butterfly bush - first time using a container to grow a butterfly bush


Cherry tomato plant


Tomato plant

I repotted the flowers that I bought at Lowe's yesterday as well. I'm craving lots of color this year, apparently. I bought the small containers at the Dollar Tree for $1.25 each. If these smaller plants start to outgrow the tiny containers, I'll buy some larger pots from the Dollar Tree to give them more room individually to grow. Oh, and I got the little hanging decorations from Dollar Tree as well. The tiny, standing "welcome" frog, butterfly on a birdbath, and pinwheels were bought from Dollar General.

Super bell


Dark orange lily and 2-tone marigold


Light orange lily and white begonia


Impatiens 1


Impatiens 2

I repurposed the tomato and cherry tomato pots to plant a couple of petunias in. They grow like weeds and are my favorite type of container flower to grow.


Purple super petunia

White petunia


Both white and purple petunias

And of course, I couldn't come home from Lowe's without bringing a yellow Bees Knees petunia with me. The color attracts bees to [hopefully] pollinate the other plants.


And I got the adorable garden rocks and gnomes from the Dollar Tree like so many of my other decorations.



Peace, Love, and Hope garden rocks and cute garden gnomes

And finally, to complete my deck "garden", I found these cute hanging stepping stones at our local grocery store for $17.99 each.



"There's always something to be thankful for" hanging Sunflower stepping stone


"Enjoy the little things" hanging Hummingbird stepping stone

Before I close for today, I wanted to also share a picture one of the cute bluebirds feeding its first set of babies of the season inside the birdhouse. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of the Canadian geese flying over earlier in the morning when I first started my yardwork. 



Male bluebird feeding his babies

After all was said and done, I repotted 10 flowers and 2 tomato plants. I used (3) 50 quart bags of Miracle Gro potting mix for outdoor flowers and vegetables. I hope you enjoyed the tour of the backyard today.
Have a blessed day,
Patricia








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