I'm still in the garden!

 I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted!  It has been so busy around here, I've barely had time to go on the computer let alone take pictures or blog.  Our weather has been just gorgeous, very summer like and it's hard not to be outdoors when it's like that.  After two awful springs in a row we are all celebrating all this sun and warm weather.  The Littlest Gardener has already been out playing in the sprinkler.  Last year I think it was July before that happened. 
I tried not to go overboard on the pictures, but it was hard not to.  There is just so much going on outside!

 We've been working on getting more planted around the picket fence out front.  I think it's going to look really pretty this year.  The Pink Dogwood ended up having a great bloom!  It's still covered in flowers.

 Deutzia 'Pink Minor' near the front door.  I moved it last year and it seems to love it's new spot.

 Some containers near the front door.

 Clematis 'Asao' is in the wine barrel planter in the previous picture.  The flowers are huge!

 The two raised beds out front are beginning to look like real veggie gardens!  Besides herbs there is spinach, beets, radishes and all kinds of squash plants in this one.

 The other bed is full of kale, chard, basil, peppers and hopefully carrots.

 The Lilac 'Ludwig Spaeth' is having it's best year ever.  The color is so bright and really grabs your attention.

 From the other side of the bed you can see how full it's gotten.

 The neighbor kitty found a nice shady spot under the pear tree.

 Alliums are coming up everywhere!

 Spanish poppies have a really pretty scent, bloom like crazy all spring and summer and I love their tissue paper appearance.

 Gracie found a warm spot on the gravel to plot her next escape.  Here Clematis, rose, Delphiums and phlox are filling in.

 A container I put together last year.  Lewisia is blooming.

 In a shady corner Clematis 'Miss Bateman' is covered in blooms.

 The shed garden is just packed with flowers!

 One of my favorite Columbines.

 The variegated Rhododendron has been here for three years and finally decided to bloom this year.

 We've had herons visiting and so the fish have been hiding a lot.  There is only one so far that I can't find.  After the last time we had heron problems I put an old plastic crate in the pond with plants on it.  It's a perfect hiding spot for the fish now, especially since it's covered in algae.

 The path garden has also taken off.  You can hardly walk down this part everything is so big.  I'm still hoping the Clematises will one day cover this arch.

 For now there are a few 'Nelly Moser' flowers blooming.

 A view of the path from the other direction.

 The raised beds on the side yard are full of Blueberry bushes.  I hope we get lots of berries this year!

 The chicks had their first night outside last night and did great.  I had been putting them out during the day and they loved it so much and hated being put back in their brooder.

 They are growing so quickly!  Now the house is empty of seedlings and chicks and it can get put back together again.  We are all enjoying the chicks.  They are so relaxing to watch.

Hope you lasted for the whole tour!  I realize I forgot to add the driveway garden.  I'll do a post on just that garden next time.  

How's your spring so far?

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

Hillside Farm - an adventure in rust and treasures!

 Often on the weekend my family and I get in the car and set out with no plan in mind.  Usually either my husband or I have an idea of an area that we want to see and then we just get in the car and go.  It's amazing how many really great places we end up finding that even if we tried to find we wouldn't.  Today's adventure started with my husband's craving for Dim Sum.  This lead us to try Top Gun in Bellevue.  It was a lot of fun and very good.  Then he thought heading out east sounded like a good place to drive.  We saw lots of pretty areas, and after deciding to take random turns we ended up on Renton Issaquah Road.  As we were admiring the scenery and pointing out horses all of a sudden on the left side of the road we all spotted a place that was unlike any I'd ever seen.  Even the girls said we had to turn around and see what it was.
We drove up a driveway lined in old windows, shutters, wood cutouts of reindeer and other cool stuff and parked.  A really friendly man came right out to greet us and told us to explore.  I could have asked him questions all day, but I didn't want to keep him from his other customers.  I'll tell you what I learned.  His name is John and this was his family's former petting zoo called Hillside Farm.  When his kids grew up and moved out he got tired of taking care of all the animals.  He retired from his job and opened up this place.  He said he goes picking in old barns and that's where he finds all these treasures.  He also teaches black smithing (how cool would that be to learn?!), jewel faceting and other art trades.  John showed us some of his art that he has displayed around.
I only had my phone camera but I just had to take some pictures to share.
 

 He and some artist friends are planning to install a large whirligig they are making in the next couple of months in the front.  He said it will be larger than this windmill.

 Everywhere you turned there was more and different things to look at.

 Rails and rails of horseshoes.  My girl each chose one.

 So many great rusty garden tools!!

 Where he does his black smithing.

 Out on the front porch.

 Inside there were so many interesting pictures, books and other things.  It was like being in a museum with the huge variety of items in there.

 All sorts of marbles.

 Primitives

Notice all the hummingbird feeders everywhere.  I saw John had his tomato plants outside already, it seems early but they were huge and very healthy.

I searched and searched online for more information on Hillside Farm, but I found nothing at all.  I'm so glad I took one of his business cards so that I can share the address of this amazing place.

Hillside Farm - 11309 Renton Issaquah Road SE, Issaquah, Washington.  Phone number 425-761-6936.

We left with an old goldpan(lots of goldpanning tools there), some horseshoes and a galvanized washtub.  I can't wait to go back and see what we find next time.

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

Late April flowers.

 We've been pretty lucky as far as the weather goes the last few weeks.   Sunny weekends followed by some rain during the week.  It looks like this weekend will follow the same pattern.  This means that the plants are really taking off growing (as are the weeds).  After living in this house exactly 13 years this month I've really started to notice patterns in some of the trees and plants in the garden (although there are few that have been here since we moved in).  This seems to be looking like a great year for roses, Clematis, Lilacs and Pear trees so far. 

 The pear trees are in about their third year here and are absolutely loaded with flowers.  Since we've had quite a bit of sun and some warmer weather I have high hopes they were pollinated.  Last spring when they bloomed it was cold and the bees weren't out much.  We ended up with 2 pears.

Pear flowers that will hopefully be pears come this fall.

 A kind of neglected part of the front yard is slowly starting to fill in with plants.  Not sure why I ignore this section of the yard, maybe because it's been hard to find plants that like the mostly shade and clay soil here.  These plants are all beginning to show some good growth.  The large shrub by the fence is a Snowball Bush.

 It doesn't seem to be a good year for blooms on the Dogwood tree.  It had an amazing show of flowers last year so maybe it's on a break.

 I love the bright pink of the Dogwood flowers.

 Another shady bed in the front yard is starting to look good after I pretty much removed every plant 2 springs ago to start over.  I've never had my Astillbes look this big and healthy before.  This soil is also fairly heavy clay with poor drainage, but I've worked on amending it over the years.

 The Tiarella also loves the shady bed, I'd had these plants in the backyard path garden for years and they barely ever bloomed, in this spot they have tons of flowers.

 This is another area I sort of started over with last fall.  This is full hot sun and I've been working on plants that can take the heat and don't really need too much extra watering.

 Awhile ago I found this galvanized chicken feeder at an antique mall.  I can't believe how much the plants area already growing.

 Solomon's Seal in the backyard path garden is having a great year.

I planted this Indian rhubarb (Darmera peltata) in the pond last year.  It had already bloomed when I bought it so I didn't realize what pretty flowers it had.

A quick update on the chicks.  They are really wanting to try to flap their wings and fly some.  I try to take them out of the brooder everyday or so to let them have some room to move and explore.  They are all getting along really well after needing to separate the two babies for about a week after we first got them.  Two of the older chicks were really chasing them around.  I put chicken wire down the middle of the brooder and everyday would let them mingle while I supervised.  Now they all sleep together.

I hope everyone has gotten a chance to get out in their gardens some.  I read that some people were seeing snowflakes this morning! 

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.