My Vegetable Garden

By Hazel Holland

Here's some pictures of my thriving vegetable garden that I've been working on this summer.  It looks like a  jungle of pole beans, bush beans, summer squash, zucchini squash, sugar snap peas, carrots, cabbages, onions, chives, cucumbers, acorn and butternut squash, rhubarb, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, kale, strawberries, etc.  The huge tomato plants are not visible in these pictures.  I must have taken them with my i-phone instead of my camera.

All of the vegetable were planted from seeds, except the tomatoes, cabbages and rhubarb.  At first I thought they were never going to grow, and then suddenly they took off with the hot weather we had in August.  Using soaker-hoses and putting in a drip system really made a difference in my garden this year!

 A long range view of the vegetable garden.

 Beans, summer squash and sugar snap peas.

 I made this archway out of pruned cherry and apple branches! 

 Pole beans, cabbages, beets, carrots, cucumbers, etc.

 Yummy raspberries!

 Sunflowers, marigolds, Virginia creeper, and veggies.

Carrots, cabbages, beets, beans, zuchinni squash,

 spinach, broccoli, sunflowers and marigolds.

Raspberries, grape vine, acorn and butternut squash, 

rhubarb, cauliflower, and more marigolds.  That wooden

  box is not a coffin, it's my compost!

Frequent Visitors in My Garden

By Hazel Holland

 Here are some frequent visitors to my garden!

 

Noisy baby starlings running toward their mother for food!

Mother starling feeding bread crumbs to her two babies that are as big as she is.

A baby sparrow's looking right at me through my office window.  But I missed the cute shot of the mother bird feeding him seconds earlier.

Aha!  Another sunflower seeds that dropped from the bird feeder!

Think this squirrel might have found a little "nest" of sunflower seeds buried in the grass beneath the bird feeder!

Now that his tummy is filled he's on his way home.

My Flourishing Back Yard

By Hazel Holland

My back yard has been flourishing the last few weeks.  The lilacs are out... a long hedge of them... white and purple.  Just love these flowers 'cause they smell so good! 

Take a look and see what my back yard looks like...  I still have a lot of work to do to get it up to par so that it looks like an English garden. But that is the goal  I'm striving for. :-) 

 

I was delighted to discover that I have lilacs growing in my back yard!

 I love the white and purple lilacs.

I'm not sure what this these blossoms are, but they're not lilacs.

 My garden shed and a hedge of lilacs.

 

 I don't know what these little white flowers are, but they are all over my yard. 

 I dug up about 10 plants yesterday and transplanted them to window boxes

 in my front yard when I discovered that they grew from bulbs. 

 They survived the trip and are flourishing!

I thought this was a shady spot for a bird bath 

Purple irises growing near my back door

I burrowed inside this "hedge" and found a large woodsy area that I can make into a lovely place for my grandchildren to explore... after I get rig of all the dead wood and fallen leaves. 

 View of back yard

 View of back yard

View of back yard

These raspberry bushes grow near the weed patch at the far end of my garden

 Grape vine and a mountain of weeds to pull up. 

I began pulling weeds yesterday.

Today I can hardly move!

Here's another view of back yard from between the plum trees

 Small overhang by garden shed.  I put little candles in the lanterns tonight.

 I don't know the name of these flowers, but they brighten up the area.

  

This is hail that fell while I was mowing the grass three weeks ago!

I don't know the name of these flowers, either

I'm watching it hail outside from the bedroom window

 These apple blossoms have dropped now.

 I'm not sure what fruit blossoms these are, but they're not apple..

 These tulips were blooming a couple of weeks ago

But now the weather is warmer the flowers have faded

Max's First Birthday Party!

By Hazel Holland

We celebrated Max's first birthday yesterday.  What fun to be with the grand kids and see their laughter and joy!  Makes my heart smile. ♥   

One-year-old birthday boy!

 Jake "helping" Max open his presents

Max enjoying his new super heroes chair

Max's favorite birthday gift?  It's a toss up 

between the bow and the bike!


A thoughtful Max moment
 

Another precious pose

Spring in My Garden

By Hazel Holland

Spring is happening in my garden.  Bulbs and fruit trees are blossoming and budding leaves are blooming everywhere.  I just love this time of the year!

 red tulips

 yellow tulips

 apple blossom

apple tree in bloom

Pleasantly Plump Robin

By Hazel Holland

I got a picture of this fat little robin yesterday.  Lately I've noticed that he and his mate are always looking for worms far away from where the rest of the birds congregate...over by the bird feeders.  

Perhaps bird seed and bread crumbs are not their cup of tea!.  Although I got a picture of him eating a worm the other day, the picture was too fuzzy to post.

Spring Has Come!

By Hazel Holland

I decided to look around in my garden today to see what was growing and discovered that spring came this past Easter weekend!  Someone who lived here before me must have loved flowers, too.♥ 

purple violets

 mauve violets

 pink violets

 pink hyacinths

daffodils 

tulips & daffodils