Blooming Idiots In My Garden

Here is a pic of my pansies! They are soooo happy this year! They be loving this cool wet spring. They are a bit confused though as they think they are residing in Oregon! This is one of my favorite spring flowers - they always have such happy faces!

Top Flower Colors for 2010

I attended my garden club in Nampa a few weeks ago and wore a new bright orange red Ann Klein jacket that I had scored at the thrift store for $4. I received several compliments on it from my Garden Club friends. I then visited a new garden center and the lady there raved about my jacket and the color of it - she said that the latest fashion colors and the latest flower colors of the season go hand in hand and that my jacket was one of the hot colors for flowers this spring! I walked out to the car and passed by a lady who commented to me, "Nice Jacket!" Wow did I feel like a hot flower child! Four or five compliments within a couple hours! I am attending a container planting class tomorrow on flowers that attract butterflies - I think I'll wear my new jacket again and see if I blend in with the colors used in the pot (whoever heard of red orange camouflage) or see if a Monarch butterfly lands on me looking for something to eat! I'll let you know what happens........

In A Garden

This is one of my favorite poems and also this is why I chose the name of my blog:

IN A GARDEN

The kiss of the sun
for pardon,
The song of the birds
for mirth, -
One is nearer God's heart
in a garden
Than anywhere else
on earth

Dorothy F. B. Gurney

I have always enjoyed this poem and the miracle of watching the little seeds grow - it is amazing how you put a dried up old seed in the ground and in a couple of weeks it becomes a living growing thing! I have attended two container gardening classes this year and am going to another one on Weds. I will share what I have learned in the next couple of blogs.

Yesterday I had the most beautiful bird in my garden - it was bright yellow with a large orange spot on the top of its head and it had black and white striped wings! It was as large as a big fat Robin! It must be some kind of a wild canary! I also have had several hummingbirds come to my feeder! I also hung up two finchfeeders and another hummingbird feeder! I am determined to get birds back in my garden despite the presence of my two cats, Sis and Budgie. I also have not had birds due to the ominous presence of all the squirrels raiding my supposedly squirrelproof birdfeeder! I have thus far captured and humanely (of course) released 11 squirrels. They especailly like to be turned loose next to a large tree - one squirrel ran clear across the newer park (with little trees) into a guy's yard before he found a large tree!

Back to Sis, the cat! She has always been my garden cat and always comes and hangs out with me when I am outside gardening! She just sits there and then follows me as I move from garden to garden! She was my garden cat in California and even though I once gave her to the neighbors (they would let her sleep in the house), she still would come over and help me garden! When the neighbors divorced, I asked them what they were going to do with my cat? They said they had found a home for her but I told them I would like her back! Other, then the time Sis leaped five feet into the air and actually caught and killed a hummingbird , I have really enjoyed her hanging around!

"Some Say Tomato - Some Say Tamato"

I am not a master gardener but I know a few tips and can grow a mean vegetable and flower garden. I have lots of people of all ages ask me gardening questions so I thought I would start a blog and try to present some new ideas as I learn new things myself! The new thing I learned this year is that tomatoes like Epsom salt (adds needed potassium) and bone meal (fertilizer).

Dig a hole deep enough so that when you plant the tomatoes the dirt will cover the plant up to the first set of leaves, put 1 T. epsom salt and 1 c. bonemeal into each hole, then put in tomato plant and cover with dirt up to the first set of leaves. Water, pray for sun and warmth, and watch them grow! My awesome husband built me cool white trellises to trellis my tomatoes on and it worked awesome last year. I love heirloom tomato varieties, and alway grow pink Brandywine tomatoes and am trying one this year called longkeeper (which lasts a long time). I also am going to grow a tomato called Whopper ( this one is supposed to weigh in at 2 lbs.) I am also going to grow several kinds of basil to enjoy with my tomatoes! Happy Gardening!