Oh my goodness, it’s been SO beautiful here all week long I’ve been loving it! But…why does it always seem to rain on the weekends, leaving the great weather for the weekdays? Bah.
So, it kinda turned into an ‘all things garden’ 3 things, which gives you an idea of what I did during what bits of free time I could take during the week! I’ll have to save the 3 (!) more books I listened to for next week. Gardening + audiobooks = a good thing.
On to this week’s things I’m loving – and the links I think you’ll love! (Some of the links I provide are affiliate links.)
My newly planted hanging baskets. I plant these every May and I always think they start out looking so sad compared to the big, lush baskets you see in the stores. But I’ve learned to be patient over the years – it doesn’t take long for these to take off because I planted them with these steps to help pots look good all season. I’ve had the lush store planters given to me and usually by August they are not looking so good anymore, but my start-off-small baskets are still going strong.
Curious to know what I planted? (I always am!) Two Creeping Jenny that overwintered from last year’s baskets, two overwintered fuchsia shoots that I planted in the middle, just to see how they’d do, two purple calibrachoa (love!), and three purple and white alyssum. I’ve planted white bacopa in the past, but finds it turns brown by August, so I tend to just do alyssum now. Do you find that? I love how bacopa sprawls down the basket, but don’t know how to keep it looking good!
A sweet nest and egg. While weeding in knee-high weeds (don’t ask.), I found this perfectly formed nest with a gold-speckeled egg. I could tell right away that it was probably an unhatched egg, because I’d been weeding near it for awhile with no birds anywhere near, unlike in the past when I’ve discovered ground nests. I did leave it – and the weeds around it – for a couple days and watched it just to make sure, but no bird ever visited.
MY LATEST VIDEOSSo, do you think it’s a spotted towhee egg? The specks are a little lighter in color than the last nest I found, but that could be because it had been sitting awhile? It would make sense, because we’ve had their nests in the past and they are regular visitors to our house.
A flourishing (and mulched!) flower bed. I thought it would be fun to update you on this area of our yard that we planted 4 years ago and used to illustrate our 8 easy steps to a new shrub and flower bed. The doublefile Viburnum on the left has grown the most, but the biggest thing you’ll probably notice is the lack of background trees. It gets a lot more sun now, which some plants like and some don’t. But everything here is growing well and we added a small Douglas Fir and a little Quaking Aspen shoot. It’s easy to take care of with it’s yearly paper and compost-mulch and finishes off this part of the yard nicely.
Water-absorbing crystals. I had to throw this in, just in case you don’t follow the link to planting pots above because these are the #1 thing that changed my view of container gardening! They not only help you not be a slave to watering on hot days (some hanging pots wouldn’t even make it a whole day!), but they enable you to have lush-growing containers instead of straggly-brown growth around mid-late summer.
I used to use the Soil Moist Brand, but was happy to find this more natural product on Amazon for a cheaper price. #win Do you use this product, too? I really almost gave up on containers that were in the sun because I just couldn’t seem to keep them watered enough!
Links To Check Out:
A checklist for simple living.
Look at the built-in bed in this boy’s room makeover – cool!
A delicious-looking pork chop & noodle salad.
Tassels, anyone?
Make your own instant noodle cups – love this idea so much!
10 common household items to use as garden fertilizers.
Like these links? I’m always pinning these and lots more – follow me on Pinterest for more inspiration and ideas!
Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links and by clicking on them you help support AOC at no extra cost to you – thanks so much! Plus you can trust I’ll only share what I love. (You can always read our entire disclosure page here.)
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Giving the basket a haircut will rob you of some flowers, but it will increase branching, tighten the habit, and help keep the basket looking good long-term. Your flowers should come back with in a few days to a week or so and your plant, given enough fertilizer, is likely to start growing more strongly again.