It's time for peas!

Today I put in the first seeds of the year ... peas! I planted some last fall and they were so incredibly delicious that I've been champing at the bit to get them started this spring. I'll plant again on the weekends for the next few weeks in the hopes of getting a long harvest. I took some pictures but I've managed to lose the download cable for the camera, so they're trapped on the camera until my dear husband buys a card reader. Once he does I'll post pictures of before and after, as well as pictures of my little tire garden before and after. I gave it a spring cleaning and turned the soil so it's all ready for seeds or seedlings, in a month or so.

Also, we're going to try Square Foot Gardening this year, so I'll be posting about how that goes as well. I'm excited about my butterfly garden as well, since I should have three different colors of monarda this year as well as the new pink variegated butterfly bush that I put in at the end of the season last year.

Happy spring, everyone!

Hummingbird Moth

The day that I took pictures of the butterfly bushes I saw the strangest thing... it was about the size of a hummingbird but it was striped almost like a bee and had antenna. I think it was a Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. I could hear it's little wings humming just like a hummingbird! Sadly I didn't get the camera up in time to snap a picture, but it was one of those moments that stopped me in my tracks and I just stood there, staring.

On another note, the deer discovered my sweet potatoes last Friday night and mowed most of the greens off one of the tires and found the other one the following night. I don't think they're dead, just pretty defoliated, and after research online the quickest solution I could come up with was stringing baling twine and hanging pie plates over them. It looks... ummm... well... very rural... but so far it's working. *giggle* Next year my husband says he's going to help me to put in a more formal garden space including some kind of fencing, although I'm not interested in traditional row gardening. I'm sure that'll be a great research project for the cold winter months.

The Butterfly Bushes (of which there are five)

Here are the pictures of the individual butterfly bushes, starting on the north end.





On February 2, 2007 I had to euthanize my Saddlebred gelding Fantasy, whom I'd had for 23 years. I didn't do anything over him for months because I couldn't bear to go out there, but then I found this butterfly bush at the farmer's market and decided it was perfect for him. It was only about knee high when I bought it. It's so beautiful now! I feel that it honors him perfectly.





This is the biggest butterfly bush, it takes off like crazy every year. It's planted over Denny, the little black miniature horse we lost three years ago.





This one is overshadowed by the white one... I may move it at some point, since it hasn't grown much in the three years it's been there.



This was the first one I planted, it's over Li'l Bit of Sass, a sweet and beautiful miniature horse who was the first we lost. Like the white one, it's huge and towers over me. It's flowers are lavender and usually copious, although for some reason this year all but the white one seem to be blossoming sporadically instead of bursting into a riot of color like in past years.





I planted this one three years ago and it hasn't grown much. I'm not sure why, maybe it's the kind that it is? I think it's called a Dark Knight Butterfly Bush, but I'm not positive.

Every year I try to improve the butterfly garden somehow. This year it was the monarda, hopefully next year I'll add a new variety of butterfly bush. I can't quite describe how happy it makes me to pull in the driveway and look over at the beautiful flowering plants and bushes.