The WORD on Wednesday: Springtime, Gardens + More

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of the singing of birds is come,

and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land....

Song of Songs 2:11-12 KJV

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As I write this today a blue sky is overhead

and  sunlight will soon stream through the family room windows.


 

Outside our entire yard looks like it is in bloom--

indeed the whole countryside is beautiful!
 

 

Our resident toads have appeared again, jumping into the pond at the most inopportune times,

always surprising whomever happens to be walking by:)
 

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The mixed lettuce seedlings I planted just over a month ago are pretty well

ready to eat now and

one of our strawberry plants even has a blossom bud just about ready to appear!

 Rhodos, azaleas, camellia, columbine, bleeding hearts and more delight my eyes daily...

putting a smile on my lips.

 

 I am SO incredibly grateful for this beautiful season of spring;

 I wish it would last forever!

 

My favorite season is early fall but a close second is spring--

especially a spring that brings us many days of sunny (or partly sunny) skies.

What is your favorite season and why?

Blessings,

Aimee

 

Photos:

Taken at Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm--

unsure of name of this plant but it is beautiful and did you notice...it's pink:)

Bleeding heart 'spring magic'

Brunnera Macrophylla 'Jack Frost'

(our forget-me-not plants are blooming too)

Camellia Japonica 'kumasaka' -- I think:)

Bleeding Heart 'alba'--

I absolutely LOVE both of my bleeding hearts!

Blueberry 'Earliblue'

Lettuce--looseleaf mixed varieties

(some of these photos were taken about 2 weeks ago, this being one.

The lettuce is much bigger now)

 

Container (wine barrel) Planting:

Even though we have a regular space for growing veggies and such,

we haven't used it for years--mostly because I HATE snakes and because it is more difficult to maintain. Instead I grow many things in wine barrel halves on and near our decks.

Among the things I have grown are:

culinary lavender, strawberries, herbs, raspberries, small veggies...

 

If you are interested in how I do it see this link:

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2009/05/container-barrel-gardening.html

 

Since I planted ours back in 2009,

I've come to the conclusion that the wine barrel halves work very well for our needs

and I am actually thinking of buying more in the future just because I like them so much

and they are readily available here.

I should say that I have made one change since we first planted these about 4 years ago...

and that was to place supports under the three wine barrels that were on our back deck.

This was to allow the wood of the deck to be able to fully dry out underneath the barrels.

We used some leftover pressure treated wood blocks under the barrel to elevate ours;

but there are other options available.  

 Of course it goes without saying that the barrels must be completely stable however you choose to elevate them and that wherever you locate them, other than the ground, must be able to support their filled weight. Be safe:)