Flowers

This year I am not doing a vegetable garden. I am tired of dealing with the snakes. Instead, I am focusing on flowers. I started with some herbs in pots to keep outside the kitchen door for easy access. The flowers we planted in the hanging wall planter are doing well.

I still have some irises that come up from the bulbs I planted when we first moved in.

I love hydrangeas but have not been able to plant any due to our deer problems. I finally realized that I could put them in pots up on the deck. Ta da! So happy.

I finally ripped out grass around our mailbox and added some flowers. I hung up the baskets we bought just before Mother's Day.

I hate my garden ...

... when I find one of these in it.

I just wanted to go and pick some lettuce for dinner. But that snake is in the way.

Actually, he is all tangled up in the netting to protect our blueberries from the birds.

So I steeled up my nerve and picked lettuce anyway.

My totally amazingly awesome neighbor and his boys came over later to free the snake.

I am so over gardening.

The scream

Our garden has been growing very nicely this year. I did not plant as much variety as previous years. Just stuck to the few things that work well and we like to eat. 

I did NOT plant any tomatoes this year. That has really seemed to eliminate our squirrel_problem. Our zucchinis are starting to come in now. 

It has been a few days since I went in to check on things. I went out while it was still early, before it gets too hot to see what "pickings" I had. I also went around watering from our rain barrel. It's a new addition to our garden this year, but is sure does take a long time to water from it. I usually put the hose down in one section while I pick and weed in another section. Then I switch sections to water and weed.  I also decided this morning that it was time to pull out the peas. It is now too hot for them and they are turning brown and brittle. 

I had been out in the garden for well over 30 minutes by now. It was time to move the hose again and start weeding around the herbs. I moved the hose. I turned to go towards the herbs.

And I SCREAMED!!!

I caught my breathe, gathered my "pickings" and left. I called Clay. He called our neighbor who said he could help when he got home from work. I did not go back out there until Mr. Sholly came knocking.

This is what I saw...

A very long back snake hanging dead. Having gotten tangled up in the bird netting on top. And with the heat we have been having, it would not have taken long. 

This is not the first_time I have found a snake in our garden.

I'm telling you, this is about enough for me to stop gardening all together. I'm tolerating the bugs and the spiders. I've solved the squirrel problem. But I can NOT handle these snakes!!

Some of you are probably saying "but black snakes are not poisonous". I don't care if it is poisonous or not. It is still a snake. It can still bite you. And it is still creepy. 

I think the reason for the snakes is that birds keep building their nests at the top of those wooden posts under our deck. Both snakes have been directly below a bird's nest. I'm sure they are hoping to get some fresh eggs. 

I suppose I can knock down the nests as soon as I see them building one. But I am not convinced that that will get rid of the snakes. 

And it's really freaking me out.

Hydrangeas

Emma has just started with a new piano teacher. While we were waiting for Emma's lesson, Rebekah and I walked around the neighborhood. It was filled with hydrangeas!! About 7 or 8 houses on that little block had them. These were my favorite!

Look at that! They are dark purple, almost a navy. So pretty. If you are a gardener and know anything about hydrangeas please tell me how I can get that color at my house!! I did knock on the door, but no one answered.

Adventures in the Outdoors

Today was a great day! Rebekah wanted to have a picnic. She got out the blanket and laid it out on the deck. Some orange juice, milk, pita chips, string cheese, and apple slices. She had it all ready for when Emma came home from school. What a great kid!

 Here is how our garden is looking right now. Top left: carrots, radishes, zucchinis. Top Right: snap peas, strawberries. Bottom right: cilantro, rosemary, lots of lettuce and spinach. Bottom left: blueberry bush and arugula. 

 When I took off the cover to the grill, I found this little guy. He seems to go back there every week. And every time I take off the cover and find him back I do a quick *gasp* and then call Rebekah out to   *carefully* take him back to the lawn somewhere.

CAR and the Flower & Garden Festival

Our day began with a Children of the American Revolution (CAR) meeting. We met a the Red_Rock_Wilderness_Overlook. Emma and Rebekah, along with the Rosenlunds, we inducted into the society. My girls have been members since our the local chapter was organized in August, but we missed that first meeting. Our local chapter is called the Reverend_John_Marks_Society. My friend, Wendy Bye (in the orange jacket below) is the Senior Society President, and I have been serving as the Senior Society Vice President. The youth hold offices, but there is always a "Senior" member to help and assist with each office. After the official business was over we went on a short hike down to the Potomac River. It was a beautiful day.

This beautiful dragonfly got tangled in Rebekah's hair. The other Rebekah  worked hard to get him out.

 Once we got back from the hike we headed into town for the Annual Leesburg Flower & Garden Festival. My favorite part of spring! I love just to walk around and look at all the displays to get ideas landscaping and gardening. 

Love this little natural stone bench!

Rebekah got a butterfly painted on her cheek.

unwelcome guests

I hate squirrels. They keep finding a way into our garden. We have so much fencing and netting around our garden. But they keep chewing their way in. They go after my tomatoes and just take a bite out of it and leave the rest on the ground. Grrr. I have to pick them when they are just barely orange in order to get any.

What happens when you leave your garden for a week?

You get HUGE zucchinis and cucumbers. Big zucchinis are only good for one thing... zucchini bread. I can make 4 loaves out of one of those. But I don't know what to do with big cucumbers (I'm not much into pickling).

home grown

All of this came out of our garden (minus the pork on my plate).

"Everyone likes berries"

Fresh from our garden. We are freezing the blueberries to save them for something special. Like blueberry muffins or something.

Gardening and cakes

Here is what our garden is looking like. We've got a lot of things growing right now: strawberries, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, marigolds, zucchini, cilantro, mint, rosemary, oregano, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. While I was out taking this picture of the garden I noticed we had a visitor:

There is no way he is going to get in. We've got chicken wire, fencing 6 ft high, and netting on top. But he was looking for a way...

We had an activity tonight for the women at church, I was asked to make 24 cupcakes, decorated in white. I decided I wanted to make a mini-tiered cake too (top layer is just 2 inches). Just for fun to see what I could do. I wanted to cover it in fondant, but my fondant wasn't working, so it's just butter cream with edible pearl decorations.