June is here and we are getting the garden ready for a garden tour reception. In a couple of weeks we expect about thirty people to attend a dinner party. It seems like each month we have something scheduled that has kept us motivated to get stuff done. This weeks task has been painting the shed a different colour and residing some areas of it. We picked out a grey for the siding and a dark blue for the trim. This will give the shed a fresh new look.
Then there was all the stuff that had been collected over the years.The lumber, plant pots and accessories that we thought we might use some day had to be sorted. Some of it went to the landfill for recycling, some was sold and some was put to use. Luckily we were able to cut our own siding from old lumber.
The gazebo in the front garden is now empty and ready to be prettied up with a new coat of stain. Of course we can’t decide on a colour for the gazebo so any ideas would be appreciated. Farmer Jim wants to use a natural brown stain but this corner is dark and if you left it to me I would be painting it a bright yellow or pink or some other crazy colour. Farmer Jim will be installing lattice along three sides of the gazebo to make it more private. Whoever thought placing a gazebo next to a busy road made a bad decision years ago. It adds character to the front shade garden but we don’t spend any time in it.
Of course, the gardens are getting worked on as well. All the annual flowers and vegetables are planted and the kitchen garden is thriving. With the sunny weather plants are taking off. In the shade gardens I have added a few more perennials in bare spots where the harsh winter took away others. I was able to get a smoking hot deal on these annuals so I will be planting them where needed. Most of the annuals are slow to get going this year. The cold spring has flowers set back a few weeks.
June in the flower garden has us smelling the roses. They are amazing again this year. The arbor is about thirty feet long and covered with roses, clematis and honeysuckle. I am busy removing dead wood from this long tangle of climbing roses.
I would really like to take the arbor down but once I saw the rose blooms I had second thoughts. This area is one of high maintenance with miss morning glory popping her head up daily. She keeps me humble as I know she will always win in the garden.
The new fence is almost complete and it will keep the grandkids from getting too close to the waters edge behind our garden. It turns out the old lumber pile had enough posts for the fence and Farmer Jim even had a large roll of agricultural fencing to use. The next step is to add a gate at some point so we can manage the weed growth along the fence line of the property. For now I was able to pick up a few rail planters that will add some colour to this new addition to the garden.
I also had Farmer Jim move an arbor from the garden to a new spot at the back of the kitchen garden. Each side of the arbor has a container of bean plants which are now happily twining their way up the arbor.
There is always a project going on in the garden as we think of ideas to use up our old lumber or repaint the outdoor structures. If only there were more hours in a day. We both love to be outside. I spend all my time in the garden and Farmer Jim loves to be outside working on projects.
