We'll start with Christine's garden, because she's not supposed to be standing in the kitchen making cookies.
Our house sits on a beautiful spot in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. If it hadn't been for Sam Walton this part of the country would still be hidden and a Garden of Eden for the the lucky few who passed by here. And we would never have found our place in it.
In the ten years we've been in this house we have planted almost 4 dozen rose bushes in nearly as many colors. Reds and pinks dominate, but the oranges, yellows, blues and purples have been numerous as well.
The house sits on a east-west axis with the front door on the north and the back door on the south. The back door leads to a patio where, eventually, we'll have an outdoor kitchen. For now it is surrounded by a railing of planter boxes with herbs for Michael's cooking. Katie and Michael put them up a couple of years ago. There's also the gas barbecue grill (heavy on the BBQ) where Mike has made some very delicious ribs, pork loins, and hamburgers. We've even been known to cook breakfast out there during power outages.
The stairs on the west end of the patio lead to the 4 by 4 planter boxes that Mike's sister Robin introduced us to. We have three of them within five feet of the bottom of the stairs. The first one is a strawberry patch gone crazy. Each square foot is filled with plants full of blooms and promise. Yum-Yum!
The next box has tomatoes, peppers and onions. Salsa verde on the run!
The last one also has onions, but it's main plants are cucumbers and squash.
The 4 by 4 boxes run parallel with the house and patio. Extending from them towards the east are three of the remaining rose bushes. Michael also planted two plants we received at Rebecca's funeral and they have just gone huge. We don't know the names, but they look weird. Just before they bloom they have big, ugly yellow pointed buds about two inches across. But when they burst into color the initial blossoms are a bright satin royal purple that, when they completely open have a light purple blossom about two to three inches across with long yellow stamens. They come in bunches of 10 to 15 blossoms from each of the ugly buds. They are amazing.
We tried to also grow a three tier garden at the far end of the property, but the "iron weed" grass, as Michael calls it, can overgrow and kill just about anything. The three tiers provide about 480 square feet in all. Over the years we have reaped rich harvests of peas, beans, cauliflower, cabbage, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, but each year it's like starting over. The weeds grow in winter, when nothing else will.
This year Michael finally gave up and put in the first of his berry bush plantings. He took the smallest tier and planted eight blueberry bushes surrounded with plastic and mulch.
Our house sits on a beautiful spot in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. If it hadn't been for Sam Walton this part of the country would still be hidden and a Garden of Eden for the the lucky few who passed by here. And we would never have found our place in it.
In the ten years we've been in this house we have planted almost 4 dozen rose bushes in nearly as many colors. Reds and pinks dominate, but the oranges, yellows, blues and purples have been numerous as well.
The house sits on a east-west axis with the front door on the north and the back door on the south. The back door leads to a patio where, eventually, we'll have an outdoor kitchen. For now it is surrounded by a railing of planter boxes with herbs for Michael's cooking. Katie and Michael put them up a couple of years ago. There's also the gas barbecue grill (heavy on the BBQ) where Mike has made some very delicious ribs, pork loins, and hamburgers. We've even been known to cook breakfast out there during power outages.
The stairs on the west end of the patio lead to the 4 by 4 planter boxes that Mike's sister Robin introduced us to. We have three of them within five feet of the bottom of the stairs. The first one is a strawberry patch gone crazy. Each square foot is filled with plants full of blooms and promise. Yum-Yum!
The next box has tomatoes, peppers and onions. Salsa verde on the run!
The last one also has onions, but it's main plants are cucumbers and squash.
The 4 by 4 boxes run parallel with the house and patio. Extending from them towards the east are three of the remaining rose bushes. Michael also planted two plants we received at Rebecca's funeral and they have just gone huge. We don't know the names, but they look weird. Just before they bloom they have big, ugly yellow pointed buds about two inches across. But when they burst into color the initial blossoms are a bright satin royal purple that, when they completely open have a light purple blossom about two to three inches across with long yellow stamens. They come in bunches of 10 to 15 blossoms from each of the ugly buds. They are amazing.
We tried to also grow a three tier garden at the far end of the property, but the "iron weed" grass, as Michael calls it, can overgrow and kill just about anything. The three tiers provide about 480 square feet in all. Over the years we have reaped rich harvests of peas, beans, cauliflower, cabbage, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, but each year it's like starting over. The weeds grow in winter, when nothing else will.
This year Michael finally gave up and put in the first of his berry bush plantings. He took the smallest tier and planted eight blueberry bushes surrounded with plastic and mulch.
1 comment:
I am so excited that you have started a blog. I hope you keep it going and I can't wait to see what you do with it. I LOVE YOU BOTH!!!
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