One of Those projects

Ever have one of those garden projects? You know the one, you plan it out, and get started, only to discover that it's a much larger headache than you planned on?
That was my Friday. I took the day off to get some stuff done in the yard before the frosts start. Had a planter box to put the citrus trees in planned for the day, leaving the whole of Saturday and Sunday to finish up the small jobs around the existing beds.
I got up reasonably early, and picked up all the supplies first. Then went for the cinder blocks. We've got a great hoarder for a neighbor, he has tons of stuff that "people just give him," but he's willing to sell anything :)
He's kept me supplied with cinder blocks for years, and only knows me as the "block lady." So I went to visit, and started loading up the 40 cinder blocks I needed. Whew! That was a workout! By the time I got them all home and unloaded, I was starting to realize my mistake. Laying them out to shape the box, it was confirmed.

Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but the string level from the right to left corner is letting me know this spot of the yard slopes over 16 inches from one end of the box to the other. Crap.
Accounting for the slope of the yard, we'll have to dig 16 inches into the ground on the left to even it up with the right. And I'm going to need another 40 blocks to make this work the way I needed it to. So, mistake accounted for, it was still doable. Until we woke up Saturday to rain clouds. Oh well, looks like it'll have to wait for next weekend. I suppose at least now we know what we're in for. Here's hoping there are no more surprises.

Bright flower in Fall

Our Lime tree is starting to flower! Great way to pep me up, just as I was starting to feel the cold whispers of fall.....

The Ivy Barrels

April 2012 came around and again, I volunteered with Keep Blount Beautiful to help at their annual Rain Barrel sale. This year they offered a new barrel from RainWaterSolutions, the Ivy (http://www.rainwatersolutions.com/products/ivy-rain-barrel). Ivy is an updated barrel, easier to use than the Moby barrel, because it has a more compact frame and the same environmental benefits, such as being made from 50% recycled plastic. We've added a workshop under the old carport, and some new plants to our rain garden that really needed more water, so I purchased two of them, and pushed my total number of barrels up to 11 (double digits).

The Ivy really is great, it's much more compact, fits easily into smaller spaces. My only issue is the compact style is taller than the Mobys, and it holds less water. But it fits great in place next to the strawberries, and I was able to move the Moby into a daisy-chain with the other one next to the rain garden.
We're still waiting to install the gutter on the back of the work shop, so the other Ivy is waiting it's turn ;)

Spring 2012

Tomato box March 2012

This year we moved the trees out of the garden to their permanent locations, which gave us room for three more boxes in the veggie garden! These three lay end to end and go the whole length of the fence inside the garden. These tomatoes benefited from the three Moby rain barrels we set up last year, they eventually got to be taller than the hubby!

Tomatoes, on left, in June 2012

The garden did wonderfully this year! We got 44 jars of tomato canning alone! Only three barrels keep the veggies green all year long, it's already October and we've still got Bell Peppers, Jalapenos, and herbs growing!