Fertilizer Friday

It's Fertilizer Friday, folks - time to fertilizer our plants indoors and out, and post pictures of what's growing in our little corner of the world today. This meme is hosted by Tootsie Time - make sure you stop by to link in, or to find links to other participants.

I missed the last two Fertilizer Fridays :-( My niece got married on August 8th and I took a trip to Temple Gardens in Moose Jaw the following week. Altho' I got home in time to take pictures, the weather was not cooperating. We had major rainstorms here last weekend. I am behind in most things gardening. I did, however, make about 4 gallons of bortsch last weekend, which I froze in small containers for the winter. My beets and other veggies came in handy for that!

But I snapped some pictures on my lunch break today and this Fertilizer Friday, I am ready to flaunt:

Stargazer lilies, purchased at an end-of-season perennial sale

Finally, some ripe tomatoes (sweet millions)! I was watching and watching this one little tomato - I actually blogged it weeks ago because it was the first one to form. It was turning ever so slowly. I got home from Moose Jaw and it was gone! I'm pretty sure it was my petsitter, hahahahahaha (love you anyway Miss Michelle!).

An angel tucked in behind some raspberries and my new Therese Bugnet rugosa.

Begonias are still going strong.

One of the hanging baskets on my deck.

Scarlet runner beans in my herb bed.

Kentucky wonder pole beans climbed all the way up my handstrung trellis and then some. The bush beans in front are the royal burgundy ones.

Other side of the pole bean trellis.

Marigolds are still going strong too.

My sunflowers are a bit of a surprise - much much taller than expected but very pretty. Not too many blooms open yet.

A supermacro shot of a borage flower. The bees love these!

Himalayan impatiens in front of two barrels with wave petunias.

And a different view of the barrels/Himalayan impatiens:

What's happening with your plants today?

Fertilizer Friday!

Fertilizer Friday: Flaunt Your Flowers

I missed last weeks' Fertilizer Friday because I took a flying trip to West Edmonton Mall with my sister and her three daughters. We were gone for 38 hours (it's a 13-hour round trip drive, plus we needed to sleep a bit, hahaha). I found the cutest little chickie retro sugar dispenser and creamer set at Anthropologie, but anyways ... Fertilizer Friday! It's time to fertilizer your plants inside and out and post pictures of your gardening efforts.

I think this a dahlia bud? I know it's not a peony. My mom planted it years ago.

Bada-Bing begonias in a $2 copper teapot I found at a thrift store.

I think marigolds are highly underrated.

I got this Columbine last year at a perennial close out sale in July. I bought a bunch of perennials and the Columbine is the only thing that survived. It's pretty though, and I do have bunches of it scattered around. I'm looking forward to it spreading.

When I saw this little guy at the thrift shop, I had to snap him up because this is exactly what my dog Gabe would look like if he were fertilized. I should know, we've been on a reducing plan for over 2 years now. We'll just call it a "lifestyle choice."

Make sure you check out Tootsie Time for her Fertilizer Friday: Flaunt Your Flowers meme!

"Before" photos

I finally got the last of my flower seedlings planted tonight. The calendula, sunflowers, and last of the marigolds went into the ground. I rarely plant anything right in the ground because the dogs will just trample it. If I do put something right in the ground, I try and position it close to a barrel or planter or fence or someplace the dogs don't usually go. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. They've broken about 4 of my snapdragons already. I love my dogs more than I love my garden though (I love my dogs, I love my dogs, yes I love my plant-trampling dogs *very* much, I really do). My whole yard is evolving around the dogs, really. The raised beds were all about the dogs. It's working. It's just a work in progress.

I also had some pansies which I stuck into pots (above) and the alyssum, which I stuck into planters I had already planted (on the side of the house).

So, this is my first "before" picture. With luck, by August this will be all lushly green, and you won't even see the boxes. This is the view from my back fence. You can see my handstrung trellis for my pole beans in the foreground and my little yellow house, with the patio lanterns gleaming, looks faaaar in the distance. (Okay, you may have to click on the picture to enlarge it in order to actually see the gleaming patio lanterns.)

Take note because the above is an extremely rare photo of my "orchard." My orchard is always very weedy and I hate taking pictures that showcase my weeds. However, I got it weed-free last Saturday and figured I better take a picture before the green sprouts start showing again. In the foreground on the left is my dad's poor crabapple tree. I think it's on its last limbs. Dad fussed over that tree endlessly and I have absolutely no knowledge of what the fussing entailed. So, it is languishing. Beyond the mailbox my mom painted (gardening hand tools stored inside) are raspberry canes; and beyond those, the saskatoons. There's a sweet millions cherry tomato plant in the planter in the foreground.

Okay, this is my "deckio." It is a wooden deck, but only about 4" off the ground - not a stone patio and not a deck, hence the "deckio." I love it. It's very cosy. My mom and dad built this themselves and I have a picture of them in my verandah in which they are looking hot and grubby but giving big smiles and thumbs up while they stand on the completed deckio.

You can see the fuschias I bought for my mom for Mother's Day hanging there, and beyond the deckio is the firepit, barrels with wave petunias (and marigolds planted right against those barrels)and then the raised beds. On the right is a "ladder" my dad built my mom specifically to stick little planters on, and my poor snappies are precariously arranged around the ladder. What the dogs need to do over there is anyone's guess. But anyway, again, barring snow in July or a tornado, this should look very different in August.

Knock wood.