This isn't a shot of my garden but it's too nice not to post.

It's my mother-in-law's garden.

There is nothing like zinnias to cheer up a garden.

 

Frank

Frank and the Sunflower Stalk

122 inches! That's over ten feet. It's a record setter for me. She bloomed yesterday so she probably wont grow any taller. The record is somewhere in the 25 foot range.

The 1ST Sunflower

Seems like I just finished putting in the supports for my sunflowers and this morning I found my first bloom. They are now all above the fence line and the front row of flowers are spilling out over the lawn.

Sunflowers...My New Fence

My summer fence is sprouting nicely. If only my other plants would grow as well.

These were planted four weeks ago from starts I planted in peat pots. The row against the fence is are Russian Mammoth - Last year two of these plants grew over 10 feet tall. The front row is a color mix. The birds liked these the best, more flowers to jump around and hang upside down from the branches to eat the ripe seeds.

I had to build a trellis this year because last year, and this year, the plants kept falling over. I remember setting up the sprinkler and after about 15 minutes of watering the sunflowers next the fence started to slowly tilt and eventually hit the plants in front of them and they all went over like a bunch of drunks leaning on a each other.

Thursday night I was watering the plant at the very far end next to the apple tree sank and took out the smaller sunflowers in the front. So I was out there at 10'o'clockish pounding nails in the fence and using twine to pull up the plants to a vertical position. All the while holding a flashlight in my teeth with the plants pushed against my shoulders. I think my clay soil prevents the roots from penetrating deeply. I tried to prevent them from toppling by digging deep and adding compost before planting but it didn't help,

The vertical posts are six foot long 2x3's which I drove into the ground using a sledge hammer while I standing on a ladder. If my neighbors had seen me standing there above the fence line like some crazed shirtless vampire killer they probably would have called the police on me. I added horizontal boards across there faces to hold the mammoth sunflower and added a wing on the front to support the smaller sunflowers. Very rustic.

Morning Glory is starting to octopus its way in between the Sunflowers so I should have quit a show in the next couple of months.

Ding Dong the Roof is Done...

My Valentines Gift to myself. I finished the dreaded thing at exactly 5:10 PM on Valentines evening. I would have finished earlier but I was 6 stinkin shingles short and my shingle stretcher was at the shop getting lubed.

Just in time to pop open a Guinness and watch the sunset.
Sunset was great. I will miss those.