Time and Patience

I'm checking in a bit early from my self-imposed retreat because I really wanted to share this now.

Back in May (that seems so long ago),  I met Valerie and discovered that my brown thumb was a brilliant emerald green when it came to succulents. 

The soil filled spa (non-functional for years and non-fixable) in the backyard had gone through a variety of floral incarnations, none of which were successful. Then I discovered succulents and a love story began. Over the summer, I added to my collection. Valerie, Lowe's and cuttings from friends all conspired to come together to form my sweet green corner.

Succulents are so much fun.  You can plant them in anything; they just get better and better.  I have them in hanging baskets, hypertufa containers, old vases, colanders,  bottle crates, and peanut cans.  What's next?  Well, I have these old boots . . . . hmmmm.

So Farmer's Market season is over until next May when the cycle starts again.  It is beginning to drop into the 40's here at night now so I'm intending to put up stakes in the four corners of "the spa" and cover the area at night to guard against frost.  The 40's will drop to 30 or less soon and I want all my little lovelies to survive to spring so I can share BLOOMS with you.

A morning to remember

It's not everyday that I get hit in the face with a blast of water but . . .

It was 5:30 a.m. this morning when Little Mister Delaware decided that I was awake because I moved.  I moved and he pounced . . . on my head.  So much for sleep. 

No sooner were we up, me shuffling to the backyard for the morning ritual, than Tanner also got up.  Thirty minutes later, Tanner took care of business and Little Mister danced around.  I gave up and went in.  Tanner retired to his bed again.  Little Mister curled up under my leg.  Yes, my leg.  I considered the day ahead and sipped my coffee.  It was 6:30 a.m.

Two hours later the phone rang and brother David was on his way to Lowe's Garden Center; did I want to go?  Heck, yes.  An hour later I was home with three 6-packs of petunias. 

On the way home I thought about what I needed to do to prep the area of the yard under the front window.  I was going to do this RIGHT.  I was going to be organized.  I was going to think like a man.  My Man.   I was going to DON. 

1. Entered the shed
2. Take out shovel and hand tools
3. Take out the watering can
4. Clean the cob webs off of it.
5. Observe that it is very ugly and think that aqua colored RustOleum would be a good choice to brightening it up.
6. Turned the water on in front and discovered a sprinkler headwas not working
7. Messed around.  I can fix this. Turned it the wrong way and the head disconnected.

Which gets us to the blast of water in my face.

Yep.  I was leaning right over the errant sprinkler head and surprise - the gusher erupted.  I felt like a kid playing in a crazed fire hydrant.  It was sprinkler heads gone wild.  Once I turned the water off, I determined that the head was just loose and needed to be screwed back in.  Turned the water back on and it worked perfectly.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed the petunias actually fill in and the heart actually looks like a heart.  Total cost:  $6.00 and change.  I think I'll get more flowers tomorrow.

The Repurposed Birdbath

I have about as must luck with attracting birds to a birdbath, as I do with growing most plants.  When I discovered that I actually had a knack for succulents it still remained a long journey to realizing that my underused birdbath and my happy succulents might be a marriage made in heaven.  So . . .

 . . . I went to the store and found two pots of varied succulents and filled the bowl with cactus soil.

I placed the pedestal in the repurposed spa

(old and useless and now filled with dirt)

One pot reset

Two pots reset

The bowl and the pedestal brought back together

And another mini-garden is added to the spa garden.

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday.

It's all about succulents this summer

In May, when the Farmer's Market opened for the season, I met Valerie, the knower of all things succulent via her little business, Hooked on Cactus.  Click on Valerie's name for the original post that introduced her.  I have been going back every week picking up something for the succulent garden I am creating.  So far so good.  My brown thumb seems to be cooperating and the succulents are thriving. 

One of the things I've learned from Valerie is that succulents self-propagate very easily.  Of course, the loose Pork & Beans had not met me yet.  Nevertheless, V gave me a handful of loose P&B babies with instructions on what to do.  Below are the babies nesting in a pot of cactus potting mix.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some of these babies will thrive.

I've had the crate below for at least 35 - 40 years.  I've taken it with me everywhere and it has suffered lots of exposure through many seasons including cold/hot exchanges in the not temperature controlled shed behind the house for many years.  Don has long since given up on trying to separate me from my junk. So - after exploring succulents on Pinterest, I was inspired to haul the old girl out and put her to work.  I have her in shade and I will baby her along with the little P&B's.  I think she looks happy so far.

I found a little pot of succulents for under $4.00 at the local grocery store and since I knew Valerie wasn't going to be at the Farmer's Market this week, I picked it up.  My $4 has netted me potentially 11 lovely little plants that will get transferred to a larger setting when they are bigger.

This last picture is the box making friends with two of the arrangements I purchased from V a few weeks ago.  They all seem to be getting along just fine.

Tonight is Adrian's birthday and Krista is throw a big party at her house.  It is the first BIG party she has ever planned and she just about had a meltdown at Costco a few days ago.  Now that this is posted, I'm heading out into the backyard (again).  This time I'm pre-grilling all the hamburger patties and hot dogs.  Fun times.  Thank you, God for a temperature of 84 degrees today and not the 98 from a couple of days ago.