Saturday, May 31, 2008

New Catnip, A Cute Visitor and Other Things.....

My Mum called me yesterday to come over with my camera and see the visitor in their bird tree....

You can click to make these bigger. He`s so gorgeous!


Isn`t he adorable? His eyes are lit up due to the angle I had to take the picture. He almost looks like a toy.

He eventually decided to climb up the tree away from the annoying person snapping his picture...
Teds stands by while I take the pictures of the racoon...

Angus doesn`t seem to look half as big as he did in real here. He just looked so huge and comical, I had to snap him. The pots are back outside but that mint has to go and be replaced by something nicer. Maybe next weekend we`ll take a trip to a garden centre. Need some more basil because I killed all 5 of the 6 I ordered. Left them outside and it was unnusually cold.

My Dad brought me a larger catnip because the cats totaled the small one. It only has stems left on it.


The bricks are just layed unevenly here at the moment by the veg garden. Need leveling and sand.

Oh for petes sakes! Is it worth trying to get these to grow bigger? Yes. If only to see the antics of cats catching a buzz. "Why don`t I plant it in the garden?" you might ask.
Because of this next picture. And it`s only parsley!
I`ve never heard of Red Kew Lavender but it looked so pretty that I ordered it from my Richters catalogue. If you click on the picture you can see the flowers much better. I put it in a pot because I might like to bring it inside later after the summer, but I may just put it in the ground instead to spread about in this sheltered spot near the regular lavender that seems to have survived the nasty winter well.



My Dad planted some Japenese Willow bushes along the back
fence near my own garden....

Here`s a close up...

I love the smell of Lily of the Valley bath and perfumes so I decided it was about time I had some plants. There was tons along the woods-line so I stuck a few in the veg garden under the tree. Most of the bricks are still waiting for me to dig them in but too many mosquitoes out there today as well as on and off rain and thunder-bangers..

Time to pull the grass out of the Ajuga. Its a pretty plant but a mad insane spreader...

The Clematis is doing great this year. Sweet Woodruff seems slightly out of hand surrounding other things that hopefully will still do okay. It sure makes a good weed stomper.

My gardens are a real mess still. Need to weed badly as you may notice. I chopped down the killer rose bush today in front, that gave me such grief when I had a long term thorn stuck in my finger. Tetanus shots, poultice, antibiotics etc. It was one of the first posts I did. The bush never did well, yet had the best and most vicious thorns of every size you could imagine. From tiny minute needles to massive honkin big thick 1 1/2 inch suckers. It actually had two different kinds of roses on it but they never seemed very healthy. It looks bare at the moment but I hated that nasty thing. I`ll either leave it like this and see what comes back up or did the whole darn thing out and plant something nice.

I had a wack of beautiful lilacs but they have died, so I just grabbed some Sweet Woodruff from the masses I have growing outside (another great ground cover and spreader and very easy to pull out and move) as well as a branch of Honeysuckle to set on the table........

Hope everyone has a great weekend! There seems so much more to blog about without the darn winter!!


Friday, May 23, 2008

Lets Demolish the Catnip and Elvis Has a Bath

These speak for themselves..........


So far the catnip is holding up fairly good all considering, but I think I really should have bought more.

I don`t know what Elvis has been into, but he smelled unbearable. Hubby put him in the tub. Poor Elvis LOL...


Lots of dirty water and mucky splashes and ring around the tub! Massive scrub and clean duty for me afterwards.



Good boy, Elvis. Here`s a nice chew bone....

All nice and fluffy and smelling much better....

Still working on the garden. Did some planting and need to finish burying the bricks yet....

Saturday, May 17, 2008

'Gooses', Elvis and Cats and Catnip

The geese are back and do lots of honking...

Elvis is enjoying the nicer weather...

Some of my plants arrived the other day. Lots of Basil. Some Italian Oregano, Chili Peppers, Golden Peppers, Italian Parsley, more Bergamont ( Bee Balm ) and Bay Leaf, but I will wait until next weekend to plant them along with the tomato plants, just in case we get some frost. The Thyme survived the winter in the garden...

That`s Sweet William gone mad in the background....

I had to remove the catnip from the box because the cats wanted to get inside at it and I didn`t want them to spoil the herbs. That`s it in the pot....

All the cats decided to come around the back at once....

Izzy Isobell checks out the catnip.....

Then gets very upset when Teddy arrives...

Sniff sniff.....

Mmmmmmm....tasty...

Hey!

Angus wants a turn....

"Fine, then!" says Teddy...

Partially cleaned up garden. The catnip along with some of last years cat mint is now contained in a large low pot so it won`t take over the garden, yet the cats can still get at it. Hopefully they don`t eat it all before it grows more. This outer part of the patio isn`t straight yet at all! Those twiggy things...I might use for the cucumbers this year or take them out.
I`m going to plant some sunflower seeds along the fence and maybe brick planting areas....maybe...

It`s pouring rain here on our long weekend unfortunately, but I hope everyone still has a nice one :)

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Back Garden Visitors, Elvis` New Cousin and No Bags

It`s been forever since I`ve last blogged. Between having a large computer crash and then some surgery.....nothing serious :)and well....business and laziness....I`ve been away a long time.
The other morning hubby snapped these pictures of some visitors that have never visited the back garden before.

They usually like to hang around the pond in front.

Do let me introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Mallard Duck :)

There are a lot of pictures coming up next, but I couldn`t choose my favorite.
My sister has a knew baby and Elvis a new cousin.....

Her name is Sandy and she`s a miniature Australian Shepard.....










We made a trip to Toronto and on our way back decided to stop in Milton for groceries, just for something different. They have a huge new Loblaws. Lovely store, if you like the big ones that is, I prefer the smaller. When we got to the check out and the lady was just finishing up putting everything through the till, we happened to notice that no one was packing our food up and there were no bags for us to do it ourselves.
"We`re the first environmentally friendly grocery store and don`t supply plastic bags." The lady smiled.
Well luckily our cart was only 3/4`s full. She told us that she`s seen some very surprised and unhappy faces since they opened because the sign is very small. Some people have mountainous shopping carts! Luckily we only had one 3/4`s full and laughingly just dumped it all in the back seat LOL