That is so cool!! Is it a problem that his poop is green? I have ten of these guys and there is some blackish and some green colored poo. Just wasn't sure if that meant I had some sick ones?

Sue I enjoyed visiting your blog. That was the first picture I had seen of the front yard; all I had seen before was the beds up near the house....the one on your blog today showed it in perspective. I love the curving lines that follow the curve of the street! I have a dog that makes my gardening life more complicated too, but can't contain him so he does what he does. Liked the pictures of the deck and all the potted things...which I don't do. I always forget to water. You have lots of unique and interesting containers. Where were you when they were asking about lath houses. Yours is so nice and offers you good shade for plants and people alike. I have you bookmarked and will be back soon. Glenda

Sunday - Already having to water every day now. Lugging a hundred feet of hose around to water every day is a major drag. (ha ha). I enjoy watering, but dragging the water hose is no fun. The biggest tasks I did today (Sunday) were these: I pulled and dug grass and weeds and old plant debris out of one of the iris beds in the circular garden on the north side. Haven't been able to do that in several years, so it was in bad need of cleaning out. I let the water run and that made the weeds come out much easier and settled the dirt back down while watering them at the same time. There is still a third yet to do to finish that bed, but I had to stop for awhile. I got really hot and tired. When I am done, shredded wood chips mulch will go in there. It looks so much better already. BTW, my bearded irises have buds, so they will be blooming any time now. The minis irises are finished and the dwarfs have been blooming for a week. They a repeat bloomers. Later, I used my old-fashioned cultivator and prepared a twenty-foot bed in the vegetable garden. Then I set out ten of the broccoli plants there. There are probably 30 or more little plants yet to set out (somewhere). I only planted 20 seeds! How did 20 seeds grow 40+ plants? The rest went back into the greenhouse until I can till up a place for them. The soil is great in the vegetable garden this year because of all the manure-hay I put in there last year. I made one-inch collars by cutting paper towel tubes into 1-1/2 inch sections and placed them around each broccoli plant to deter cutworms from chewing through the tiny stems. I do that with tomatoes, cabbage, and peppers too. It works! I cultivated the potato beds - two 20 ft rows, to loosen the soil and then cultivated the path between one row of potatoes and the newly planted broccoli bed. The fern-leaf dill is up behind the broccoli where I sowed it earlier this month. Broccoli benefits from dill. I cleaned out the path along the asparagus bed where I planted the strawberries earlier this month too.(or did I do that in March??). Gotta keep the weeds down before they get away from me and drop seeds. Then I watered everything in there. I cut the lower limbs off the cedars on the east side next to the vegetable garden to allow more air and light into the yard and garden. I can't start the chainsaw (can't yank hard enough), so I had to use my bow saw. Ugh. The cedar branches like to et me up! I am allergic to them. Breaks out with an itchy rash and bumps like poison ivy, only the cedar's oil burns my skin too. Then DH came home and he came out and we hauled all the clippings up to the burn pile. He got out his chainsaw and cut down the big hackberry tree that was leaning over the garden. He cut all the smaller limbs off so I could throw them over the fence where he could drag them up to the burn pile too. Boy, do I hurt all over, but it looks great. Lots of sunshine now for growing tomatoes, okra, corn, beans, cukes and what-have-you. BTW, DH is going to buy me that little tiller so I can cultivate the rest of the garden. (he will probably use it too. He likes playing with gadgets and gizmos) :) Tomorrow, if I can walk, I am planting two rows of bush beans in between the two rows of potatoes. This is to confuse potato bugs when they fly over. It works. Marigolds will be transplanted on each end of the potato rows to help with repelling beetles. Garlic is growing along the other side of the potato rows. The radishes and beets are growing very well as are the onions. More onion sets will go into the garden in May to extend the green onions through summer. The strawberries are blooming and the asparagus are coming up. We will have to finish eating the rest of the strawberries I put up in the freezer last year to make room for this year's crop. Found more Morels today too. Yippee! Discovered that the Liatris bulbs I planted last week are up already. I never grew them before, so am thrilled. It was just such a beautiful day - I did not want to spend it in the house. I'd rather be in my garden. ~Annie

Marcia---Yes, those banana plants are mine. Here is a picture I posted last July showing my newly planted 2 dozen blueberries. The bananas are behind them. The pummelo tree is to the left. Anna---I do feel so lucky to have my 2 acres. I just love to be out working in my yard. Sometimes I stay out there all day. coffeemom---I almost forgot to mention, you got me laughing! My husband isn't into gardening, but he will do the heavy work that I am not physically able to do myself. I leave the tree dropping to him. As for my powers, my powers are that he says that he benefits from the veggie garden. He will eat the vegetables but he won't eat any fruit except the oranges and pineapples. I would like to say peaches but the squirrels get them first. Tom---That's not my back yard--it's my front yard, near the street. My house is located toward the back of the property. My yard is designed backwards. I don't mind because it does help with privacy. Tom, I would love to trade cuttings. I can root the poinsettia for you first before mailing it. I realize that the plumeria doesn't need to be rooted first. Today I got some tree dahlia cuttings that I potted up. If you are interested in one of those, I can include that too. The mother plant I saw was 5-6 feet tall. It is a background plant for sure. Christine