Adding to our garden...

I pulled out some weeds under my raspberry canes. As I was standing up, I saw a red token or appreciation awaiting for me! Yay, there is a cluster of more about to change color!

Strawberries are known for having white flowers, so when I saw this Pretty in Pink Strawberry Plant, I knew I could make room for another strawberry plant. The yellow center is already forming into the edible delight! The tag indicates it's a perinial, so year after year, I'll have these pretty pink flowers to enjoy.

When we're in the backyard, this chicken (who still remains nameless) keeps following me, everywhere I go, and whenever possible, it like to be eye level with me. If I'm turning the soil, it's right there to catch whatever juicy creature pops out of the ground. This chick is truely my "Wing Man".

I love harvesting plants, and my future endevour is to harvest water following from my roof... I just hope it doesn't rain until I purchase and install it... These rain barrels cost about 199 at H&H nursery in Lakewood.

Max wants me to catch the butterfly that kept spiraling all around up. The butterfly reminded me I need to work on my butterfly garden...

We found aspargus plants, (For many years, I wasn't sure how I thought they grew, maybe from a tree, kinda like pineapples...) so since we like eating them, we got them.

What do football players do during the off season?

Fresh pickings: Grapefruits, oranges, passion fruits, limes, cherry/grape tomatoes (hint: the twins favorite, I didn't even see him take the tomato until after the photo came out. We also have avocados (i forgot to put them in the picture) and strawberries (we ate them on the spot- so sweet and juicy!)

A lot of weeds were growing between the strawberry/onion patch, so I covered the walking patch with the staw that was holding up my pumpkin display. The strawberries are where we had planted the zuci's last year. So this year, I'm planting the to the right of the strawberries, you can kind of see the bare land in the picture. To the bottom left of the picture, you can see my star jasmine, it didn't fill in the fence quite liked I'd hoped. I'm thinking of replacing it with a kiwi or passion fruit vine.

(still wondering what the answer is to my question?) The good ones usually prepare for the next season. And while most people are thinking of gifts, holidays and new year resolutions, gardeners are thinking of what to plant for spring. I received my burpee catalog and my Nichols Garden catalog back in early December. While I love shopping and am a strong believer in helping local shops, I really want to grow hops this year, and Nichols' seems to have several varieties. They also sell Cheese making kits (this sound like a great mom's club activity). I'm also hoping Ed finds his truck keys soon, so we can load up on free fertilizer from Norwalk Dairy (don't let the name fool you, it in Santa Fe Springs) 13101 Rosecrans Ave, Santa Fe Springs, Ca. Yes! they have over a hundred cows there and you'll never know it, even if you're intentionally looking for this place, it's easy to miss.

I've been scouting out place to buy to best fruit trees for cheap. So far, it's Costco (the bulk store- although they are selling the trees individually price) the rose are 2 in a box for 16.50. They have this year's one and only rose winner "Easy Does It." I'm not a huge fan of roses, but Ed likes them, and since I accidentally killed his Veterans of Honor roses last year when my worm bin fell and broke rose branches. Then I decided to move it while it was blooming to a better location. I uprooted it and place it in a temp pot until I'd get around to it later that day. Well a few minutes later, the boys and I got hungry and went inside the house for lunch... and forgot about the rose bush until a month or so later when I was looking for my flower pot.

Remember my pea/peacock/tool shed frame. My friend Ester came by a while back and helped me plant Aloe Vera on south facing part. The North side seems to be to shady to grow anything, until (hopefully) now. I planted so cabbage, bok choi, and broccoli there. I'm also going to sprinkle lettuce seeds and see if they bloom.

Even great atheletes make mistakes... and that holds true for novice gardeners- like myself. I used twisty ties to hold it to its support stick. Then a few months later the truck grew around the ties- I couldn't pull the ties out, it's like the tree ate them! What do we do with our mistakes? We learn from them and try not repeating them...