Flowers and Greenery

The garden is basically in a stage of not needing much more than watering.  Everything has been planted, the weeds are at bay for now, and things are just starting to come up.  Yesterday there was some okra and potatoes poking their heads out of the ground.  I have said before that I will do whatever I can organically.  This includes pest control.  To help with that I planted some marigolds by the tomatoes and nasturtium in with the squash.  A great book to find out what kinds of thing there are for organic pest control is, Carrots Love Tomatoes.  It is also great for the Oklahoma gardener because its author is from Oklahoma and knows what special problems we face around this area.

Marigolds and Nasturtium

Since the veggie garden is taking care of itself (I still need to put some straw down), yesterday I focused on my flower beds.  All of my beds are in the shade, I naturally (no pun intended) chose shade flowers.  One thing about them is finding enough variety to make a bed interesting.  I see so many that are just green hostas.  I love hostas, but I like a little color as well.  I chose some caladium with different shades of red and pink.  I found some coral bells that look good with those colors.  The foliage is purple and the flowers will be white.  They will not bloom until next year.  I planted some 2 years ago but the ducks ate them last year so they never bloomed.  UGH!  Right now I just have two flower beds planted.  We are making plans to put in a small pond next to the deck.  Then I will plant more around and in it. I also have a few pots on the front porch.

Just so you know, I am a Longhorn, not a Cheater, I mean Sooner.

One of our Oklahoma problem is the wind.  Yesterday we had gust up to 45 mph.  My strawberries in the Topsy Turvy aren't faring too well.  They are really taking a beating.  The peppers and tomato look alright though.

You cant really capture the wind in a photo, but trust me, it was windy!

In Elijah's climbing tree we have a little nest of wrens holed up.  Why they chose that tree with him constantly in it is beyond me, but every year we have a pair of wrens make their home there. 

Easiest bird house I'll ever make!

Our other birds (chickens and ducks) are laying a bounty of eggs.  I have a fridge full of eggs right now.  I do mean full.  There are about 30 dozen chicken eggs and 10 dozen duck.  Just now a friend brought me a bowl of guinea eggs.  They are really cute, if an egg can be cute.

Chickens-brown

Ducks-white

Guinea-Thanks, Deborah!