Over the past week my wife and I transformed our front yard and several planters in the backyard. When we first moved into our house a month ago, the large bed in the front yard was dirt, weeds, and bushes. Several of the bushes were dead. We pulled all of the weeds, turned the soil in three areas, planted seeds for wildflowers, sunflowers, and other flowers in the beds, cut the dead bushes out, and mulched the rest of the bed. There is also a smaller bed in the front yard with a trellis. We planted flowers to grow up in the bed and morning glory which will climb the trellis.
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| Morning glory growing below the trellis. Over one week it grew about five inches out of the ground. |
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| The first sunflower in the front to sprout. |
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| The sunflower bed in the front. |
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| Flowers sprouting up everywhere. |
We also have several potted and hanging plants in the front yard.
In the backyard we planted sunflowers and blanket flower in a large bed. In two smaller beds flanking the shed we planted sunflowers, blanket flower, and morning glory to climb the columns. Along the fence we planted morning glory as well.
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| The large sunflower bed in the back. The string and poles are to keep the dogs out. |
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| I planted morning glory behind the stones at the base of the fence. They will grow up the fence. |
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| The first sunflower to sprout up in the back. This is a mammoth sunflower and it will grow to be up to twelve feet tall. |
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| These beds are planted with morning glory at the base of the columns and on the corners of the shed, two mammoth sunflowers in the back, and blanket flower everywhere else. |
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| The morning glory coming up. |
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| The morning glory along the base of the fence. |
A little less than a month ago I planted nine different vegetables in pots in the backyard. Three of the vegetables are heirloom tomato varieties: Mr. Stripey, Cherokee purple, and . I also planted red bellpepper, cowhorn pepper, Ichiban eggplant, crookneck squash, zucchini, and cucumber.
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| Red bellpepper |
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| Red bellpepper - This is the larger of the two bellpeppers currently growing. |
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| Cowhorn pepper |
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| Cowhorn peppers - The largest is about four inches long but they will eventually grow to be six to eight inches long. |
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| Yellow cherry tomato |
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| Yellow cherry tomatoes |
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| Cucumber |
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| Zucchini |
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| Mr. Stripey - We received a lot of rain last week and I had to poke holes in the pots to let the water drain off. The water did not drain off quickly enough for Mr. Stripey but I think it is going to pull through. The same problem occurred earlier for the eggplant and it is now looking great. |
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| Cherokee purple tomato |
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| The first Cherokee purple tomato |
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| Ichiban eggplant |
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| The first eggplant in its beginning stages. |
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| Crookneck squash |
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| The first squash in its early stages |
Finally, I have basil, mint, thyme, and oregano growing in planters on the front porch.
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| Mint on the left and basil on the right |
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| Thyme on the left and oregano on the right |
