LOVE IS...

when your husband comes home from work and lugs dirt into your potager without you even asking.

POTAGER PROGRESS REDUX

i did not reach my goal of getting the carrots planted, but i can't complain, as i finished the paving and hubs finished building the raised beds. our neighbors were a great help, especially the boy in this photo...

this is what 2 pallets of top soil looks like, or 120 bags (40 lbs each.)  after this, hubs went back and got another pallet.  our neighbors helped us move about 30 bags, which means we still have 150 bags decorating our driveway.  the deer fencing remains to go up as well.  we have our work cut out for us!

POTAGER PROGRESS

 dwarf iris are blooming...

we made great progress on the potager, but then ran out of wood and pavers.

tommorrow we'll make a home depot run...  and the crocus are blooming.

RUSTIC TRELLIS

here's how i spent my saturday:

oh, my aching everything! but 448 pavers later, i got the center square done...

and today i built a rustic trellis for the sugar snap peas, which i planted behind the lettuces...

hubs was ill and so did not build more box beds, but this is ok for now. he did bring all the sand and pavers from the driveway into the garden, which was no small feat, all things considered.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

the  goal today was to fill the center bed (6' x 6') with organic soil and plant the lettuces.  it took about 25 bags of dirt, but we did it!  here we are about half-way done:

tomorrow the rest of the pavers come, and next weekend we'll pave and build, weather permitting.

UNSEASONABLY WARM DAY!

today was unseasonably warm for early march, 68 F (20 C) and everyone enjoyed the weather.

there were bees on the species crocus!

gonna get me some pollen!

the clump...

the snowdrops unfurled...

i used luna to clear the canada geese from the local track; here she is returning to me, banking a turn at a gallop... she's incredibly efficient clearing the geese (goose poops are considered a nuisance on the track.)

hubs and i started building the potager... (more tomorrow, weather permitting.)

earlier in the week, when it was below freezing, the dogs sat touching each other (dau's photo.)

and i made cupcakes from a mix that came with dots (did you know cupcakes have belly buttons? well, mine do.)

FARCH MADNESS

we are ankle deep in farch! more snow, but i did get the day off work... and the jasminium nudiflorum is blooming...the sparrow is begging me to let him in the house...
hubs cleaned off the mini to go to work...
while i trudged through snow to capture the north garden... (the red tree is japanese maple sangu kaku)
h. diana continued to blaze away...
the garden bench looked unappealing...
the rhodi drew up its shoulders against the bitter cold...
the river birch exfoliated...
the larch held promise of things to come...
the cherry held snow...
the crepe myrtle held snow...
and the dwarf apple held snow...

DEER HORDE

ever wonder what's happening in your garden while you're slaving away at work? our investigative reporter, aka my daughter home from school with mono, photographed the shameful evidence:

please note the deer on the steps, ensuring that yew can be decimated top to bottom...

i remember this doe last summer, with her twin fawns skipping down the road like school kids, now look how they've grown!  my how big you are... the better to munch your garden!

HARBINGERS OF SPRING

today is raw and rainy, but the snow drops are up...and yesterday the witch hazel was blazing...

H. DIANE EXPLODES

hammamelis 'diane' could not resist the warm sun this weekend; its buds exploded into tiny red streamers.

ROUGHED POTAGER

with the swing set dismantled, hubs and i laid out the potager in old wood today:

this was taken from our 2nd story deck.  i hope we have it finished in time to plant lettuces in march.  meanwhile, in the house, the dombeya continues its display...

and, on the deck, my favorite marauder...

GF TURNS 3!

yes, garden fool has been entertaining gardeners all over the world for 3 years now! of course, there's not much to wow you with at the moment! here are two pictures of nearby sugar pond covered in ice...

what's new for gf in blogger year 4?  i'm getting rid of the old swing set (giving it away to a family...)

and using the 24' x 24' leveled area to finally build that potager that i wanted to build a year ago, but could not afford! i'm so excited! let me know your opinion of these two plans: plan 1

 and plan 2 (there will be an obelisk trellis in the center of each plan.)

and, finally, another anniversary! snoopy has been with us for a year now! here's snoopy showing his loverly pattern against our (not so clean) kitchen rug...