Bougainvillea

August in the Garden

August is the time of year that the gardens begin to wind down. The Hyssop blooms a second time, never as nice or as full as the earlier blooming. Luckily, we have planted nearly 100 summer plox throughout the property. They all burst into bloom in mid July and carry me through to September.

The Potager Garden

The potager garden was a garden that I started to encourage my children to take an active part in the growing of the food we eat.
We grow a larger garden in the back property, but wanted to grow a garden with the vegetables we eat most often near the house.
In keeping with the theme of the other gardens I added herbs and a few flowers for color and scent.
My husband recently added the center arbor for the bittersweet to grow up.
We have grown both Chinese and American bittersweet on our property for years, to service my wholesale business. Since I sold my business this past year we are now growing it for Fall color. Finally, I can just let the bittersweet hang and enjoy the colors, without feeling like it must be cut and turned into wreaths.

Garden Paths

When you own twelve large breed dogs you must have spacious paths for them to run.
Of course I learned this the hard way. Having lost my share of Ostrich ferns, Hosta Lillies, and Coneflowers, I now make way for large open areas between gardens.
Oh, I still lose the occasional plant, most usually to the Old English Sheepdogs but that is to be expected. I lose just as many plants to my teenage boys chasing golf balls.

TURKEY

Our Toms pace back and forth waiting for the hens to come out. Three of our hens have went into the house and have refused to come out. All three have decided to go broody and sit on eggs at the same time, leaving our toms restless.
The hens collectively are sitting on 32 eggs. We will just have to wait and see what comes out of the house.
Narragansett turkey are the tamest of all turkey breeds. Similar to the silkie chicken ( which we also raise). The Narragansett Tom Turkey is so docile that he will eat out of your hand and allow you to carry him around. The toms also make excellent fathers, rarely harming a young poult.

LAVENDER

Lavender, is one of my favorite herbs. I love the scent and the color, but it has been a challenge to grow in Indiana.
We have harsh winters and heavy spring rains, making it difficult to grow and maintain healthy lavender.
Pictured is Lady Lavender it has proven to be the most generous of our lavender plants. We will have three cuttings per season, and the plants winter over very well. The spring rains are not an issue because we have added a lot of sand to the soil for drainage.

PottingShed

Originally, Frank (my husband) built the outhouse as a changing house for the kids after they would finish swimming in the lake. We then built the outside shower. I started storing garden tools pretty much from day one in the outhouse, and Ivy quickly swallowed the outside shower that I now use to water plants.
It is a very pretty site after a spring rain.

Daisies

Pretty Boy, Head White Silkie Rooster

I have several white silkie roosters, (a line of hardy fluffy white poultry that has been in my family for years) but I only have one Pretty Boy. That is the name for my oldest , most gentle silkie rooster.
I do not name all of my poultry, but Pretty Boy is special.
He may look like he has a mean side, but Pretty Boy is a softy! He has been known to watch over even the smallest of chicks.

Santolina, few people still grow it.

I have been growing santolina for many years. I grow it in a raise bed, to insure it does not get too wet.
Most people do not grow santolina for it's flowers, but for it's durable silver folage in wreaths. So pretty, I use it as a base and then top it with cut up hydrangea blossoms.

Yarrow ! Just too pretty to cut.

Yarrow is just too pretty to cut.
This is among the hardest decisions for me to make every year.
To cut or not to cut.
I still grow hundreds of Yarrow plants spread throughout the property.
I originally grew yarrow for my dried herbal wreath business that I owned for 20+ years (sold in 2009), and is one of the few herbs that I still grow. I make a handful of wreaths still for friends and family so it is nice to have the yarrow on hand. The stems of the yarrow make it an excellent choice for wreath making, and a great addition to dried fruit wreaths ( my specialty, wrapped with quince slices, pomegranates, cinnamon sticks, orange and apple slices and of course my friend the yarrow cluster.

Finally Finished With Mulch!

When you can finally say the words I am done and refer to mulch, well then Summer can actually begin!
My goal has always been to complete my flower bed/ garden clean up and mulching before my children get out of school for the summer. Lucky for me we had a bad winter so school is in session until the second week of June this year. I made my deadline this year.
This by no means that I am finished with my garden chores, but I can safely say the worse part is behind me and begin to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Having just cut back all of the lambs ear it was a fine time to mulch. We had 3 bushel baskets of top quality lambs ear to hang in the drying shed, so the gardens were desperate for some cover. We cut just before the flowers opened so we are sure to have a second harvest.
The Yarrow is next. I wait far too long to cut the Yarrow every year. It is so beautiful right now, and it will stay vibrant for at least a month. Once cut, it looks so drab, and since it is a garden of nothing but Yarrow,there is little to look forward to.
Strawberries are coming out of our ears this year. I made some changes last year and it has paid off in a big way!
My strawberry crop in 2009 had dwindled to tiny berries and few of those.
So, I went out on a limb and pulled them all up (close to 75 plants or better).
I added new soil. I had my good friend "Dump Truck Steve" bring me a garden composted soil mix, and one wheelbarrow at a time added and tilled in the new mixture. I also decided to go with a different berry plant. I decided to go with a mid season berry for flavor and size, Cavendish.
At first I was very unhappy with my decision, because of the weeds. I weeded every week in that bed all last summer. Mostly because of the composted manure in the mixture.
So here I am one year later, with hundreds of lush big strawberries. I guess it was worth it.
My hydrangeas are all in full bloom. The mulch looks so beautiful around the lush green. The blooms are large and full of color. All conditions must have been just right this year for hydrangeas.

Grooming Day!

This day comes but a few times a year. This is just one of those days when I gather my Old English Sheepdogs and take them to the groomer. The trip itself is an adventure. I get both Sheepdogs in the car (SUV,) my female (Liberty) is not a fan of cars so she wants to sit in the passenger seat. My male (Patriot) on the other hand loves to travel, and wants to drive. He refuses to get out of the drivers seat. I cannot drive the car when he is in the drivers seat because he is nearly as big as I am. Nothing else to do but to wait him out. I just sit in the driveway until he settles in, and eventually he will move to the back seat, but only after he has tried to sit on top of Libby in the passenger seat.
You are probably thinking why not put them in the very back, it is an SUV..... well, I tried that last time! No way I am doing that again! I put them in the very back first in a kennel, they were so upset I stopped at the end of the driveway and pitched the huge kennel. Since I do not kennel the dogs they were not familiar with it.
After I pitched the kennel, I just left them in the back loose in the hatch back of the SUV. At first they were relieved to be out of the kennel so they sat quietly for about 2 minutes. Then, once I was on the highway they wanted into the front. They jumped seat to seat.... I could feel the entire car shaking side to side, until finally they ended up in the front.
Now a days, I just start with them in the front, give them sometime to calm and then head into town.
The fun actually starts once we get to the groomers. The ever so excited Sheepdogs suddenly do not want to get out of the car. They know something is up. So instead of pulling the leash(which is something else they are not familiar with) I just pick one up and carry it in, and then go back for the next. My groomer is exceptional. She is not only prepared for large breed dogs, but is not afraid of them or the challenge that lies ahead.
She tells me to come back in 4 hours....then takes a good look at Patriot and says, I will just call you. Patriot has the coat of a Show Dog as far as Old English Sheepdogs go. Fine, straight and grows like wild fire! Only trouble is Patriot has no desire to be a show dog. He would prefer to be a scrapper. He loves the lake and runs into the lake and back to the garden as long as I let him stay out. So you can imagine the coat he has. Even with frequent baths, and brushing, he will still have mattes. We decided to shear him this year. My veterinarian is against the idea, but I have decided to do it anyway. My Vet believes that shearing a dog takes away protection and reduces their ability to regulate temperature. I agree with my veterinarian. I do not shear any of my other dogs. I have decided to shear only Patriot for TWO reasons. One, so I can see all the goings on when he is breeding ( which we are expecting in the next couple weeks) and Two, because since he is an inside dog he requires lov'in! If he is dirty and unmanageable people will not want to love him up. Love'in him up is what he lives for. So lov'in is just what he will get!

What happened to May ?

It is now June 1st, 2010. I have no idea what happened to May.
I did manage to get all of the projects complete that were on my list, with the exception of two. A tree that needs to be replaced and my front flowerbed that is in need of thinning, and mulch.
Both of these projects I hope to have complete by weeks end.
The tree is especially bothersome to me. It was a tree that I had planted in memory of a friend of mine that passed away a few years back. The tree was a pink dogwood. I must have planted it too deep, along with the heavy rains this past year and snow, my trees roots died.
I have been looking for weeks for a nice pink dogwood to replace it and have had no luck. I did however find an exceptional white dogwood and may settle for that one.
In May I encountered a set back when I got terribly sick with a case of E Coli that I contracted from a steak that I ate at a very popular restaurant. Finally after a short stay in the hospital I pulled through. I lost 11 work days to this steak. I have not had any beef since.
I am happy to announce that I did get 12 of my 15 gardens in top shape. I even installed brick stones around nearly all of the gardens. This should make weed eating much easier.The wisteria on the greenhouse looked amazing in May, even though the bulk of the blooms were on the inside of the greenhouse.

I even expanded the greenhouse front garden. I will post photos of all of the gardens very soon. Lucy my Komondor chewed my digital camera Sunday night while I was busy helping Mattie May ( my Great Pyrenees Friend) deliver her 10 puppies.
The next project (once the remaining two are complete) will be the expansion of the new Potager garden. I have decided to not use the garden in the back field for vegetables this year, but to move it back to the front by the barn.
My vegetable garden is far too pretty to hide, and it is much more convenient for us to pick just what we need when we need it.
We will be placing the sweetest picket fence around it, just like in the greenhouse garden. I am very excited about this garden, because we will be growing all of the vegetables we all love side by side with the most fragrant herbs and flowers.
The temperatures in Indiana this spring have been unbelievably warm. We have had days go up to 90 degrees already this year.
I decided to have my male Old English Sheepdog sheared all the way down. I chose to have him sheared because he likes to jump from lake to dirt, but also because it is mating season for him shortly and I need to be sure he can do the job.
I will be taking Liberty ( my Old Engish Sheepdog female) to be groomed tomorrow. I will not have her shaved like I did my male, but she will get a good hair cut.
The biggest barn news for June is that every bird on the farm wants to be a mom. Eggs are being laid about everywhere you look, and I have Silkies, Turkey and Barnevelders all setting. I expect turkey poults again in a little over a week.
We have several Barnevelder chicks in the brooder because when we had our large hatch it was too cold to ship. This just means that we will have juvenile Barnevelder for sale this summer. This should make a lot of people happy!
Now that May has passed, and I have no idea where it went so fast, I have my hands full of puppies and vegetable plants to put into the ground.
I cannot wait to see what June sends my way.

The Hilltop Dog Kennel

Project #2 for Spring 2010. I plan to add life to this surround garden. The garden surrounds the Dog kennel arena that we built to show new puppies. The kennel works well for the purpose intended, but it would be nice to have a more colorful display around the kennel. I have deemed this project as Number 2, I will have the new photos posted in 3 weeks.

The Main Barn Before The 2010 Garden Changes

Pictured above is the main barn. Inside the main barn we have several poultry rooms filled with wonderful birds. We also have several stalls to house Babydoll sheep when lambing, and the occasional Great Pyrenees mother to be.
Notice that the outside of the barn is clean and calm. My plan for 2010 is to add more color and enlarge the barn gardens, making room for more fragrant and colorful perennials. I also planned and have already started on the hard scape portion of the new additions. I hope to have the new photos posted within 3 weeks.

Bogart, My Male Great Pyrenees

The Greenhouse

Choices are hard to make when you own a farm. Do you work in the garden, or should you work in the barn? Whenever there is sunshine the garden usually wins, but there is always the guilt of cobwebs in the barn.