Backyard Blossoms

Endless Summer Hydrangea 

Howdy friends! Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day celebrating with your favorite peeps!  The Yankee and I have a tradition for Mothers/Fathers day. Instead of going out for breakfast and fighting the crowds we stay home and cook- in for each-other.  This year I made him Cheese and Onion ( heavy on the onion ) Quiche with dried red peppers sprinkled on top and homemade blueberry muffins. Sorry, no pic's we ate it all! YUM! What this has to do with backyard blossoms I haven't the faintest idea. I just felt like sharing!

Snapdragon and Delphinium

Good news on the garden front! All eight raised beds are planted! I  " tucked in " the last of the greenhouse seedlings plus a flat of snapdragons and a few delphiniums Saturday! Whew! What a relief to finally have everything in and growing...

Dahlia's

We've had rain off and on the last two weeks which has brought about slugs...but I've managed to keep them at bay with a dish soap and water spray once a week. Little buggers...

Sunflowers

Wider View of Cutting Garden. 

 Creating this large cutting garden has been a ton of work ( thank you honey I couldn't have done it without you ) but worth every sore muscle and droplet of sweat. Not to mention it's one heck of a workout! Now that the hard work is done I'm looking forward to watching my Backyard Blossoms arrive!

Since this is my first year I decided to try a number of different flowers to see how they would perform.

Here's what I've planted:

 Cosmos, Bachelor Buttons, California Poppies, three types of Sunflowers, Dahlias, Zinnias, Snapdragons, Delphinium, Parsley, Ornamental Eggplant, Oriental Lillie's, and I made room for some heirloom tomatoes too!

Here's what I've learned:  This was also my first year with the new greenhouse which has been mostly trial and error. Because I didn't start seeds indoors ( with heat and overhead light ) I waited until the end of April to plant my seed trays in the greenhouse. I relied entirely on the warmth inside and extended daylight hours for germination. Somethings did well, others not so much. Some of my Zinnia trays didn't germinate at all so I replanted them in mid May and they did better that time around. Plus, I also sowed one entire bed by seed after the danger of the last frost just to see how it would do...So far so good!I'm already thinking ahead! Next year, I'll plant three times what I think I need to fill the beds just in case some don't germinate  and I'll start some seeds with heat and light ( in the greenhouse ). Once they've germinated they'll stay there until planting time!

Can anyone recommend what kinds of heat mats and growing lights I should look in to? 

The joy of stepping into the cutting garden every morning, coffee in hand and greeting my new garden in progress makes it all worth while... I can hardly wait for the first blooms! You know I'll keep you posted!

What has this garden season taught you? I'm sharing this post with An Oregon Cottage Tuesday Garden Party! Swing on by for more clever cottage gardening ideas!

Saturday Scenes with BOZ

Rose Campion

  A Saturday Scene for your enjoyment~ with Boz

Wishing everyone a SUPER weekend!

Thanks for looking...

Boz

Farmgirl Friday blog hop # 62

 

Howdy friends and welcome to the 62nd Farmgirl/guy Friday Blog Hop!

Your place to let your hair down and share what's new in your corner of the world whether it be your backyard or farmyard, kitchen or craft room, we want to see it all! Well, not ALL; you know what I mean!  

 Here at Dandelion House the sun has finally come out! The clouds lifted and floated away with the rain today!  My sweet mother in law is here for the weekend and I love to put fresh flowers in her room and in the kitchen! After I finished up the last of my " skirt work " left over from yesterday I asked my daughter's BBFL to go cut some yarrow for me.

 

 Someone has to teach these young un's farmgirl ways! 

This weeks FEATURED FARMGIRL is Katie from Brighton Park Blog! She recently returned from a trip to France where she saw some above average looking chickens! Apparently the french have chic' chickens! Be sure to stop by to see them if you haven't already!

  Katie wants to know...

" Do you look for chickens when you are away from home too ? "

French Chickens

If you're looking for new ideas for creative container gardening, check out this months guest post Up cycled Container Gardening at Kanelstrand!

Now it's your turn to flaunt your farmgirl/guy spirit! 

1.) Write a post about your farmgirl lifestyle and brag a little about your farmgirl talents while your at it! Share what being a farmgirl means to you. Include lots of photos of your farm, crafts, animals, quilts, home decor projects and thrifty make overs, your backyard garden, chicken coop, recipes, studio or workshop. You get the idea!

2). Leave your entry in the Mr. Linky space to your Farmgirl Friday post.


3). Please include the Farmgirl Friday button ( or link back here ) in your post and remember to share this hop with all of your blogging friends!


Have a great week everyone and thank you so much for all you share here every Friday! 

Farmgirl Blessings to all!