Now for the final touches

 I am so happy with how this garden is turning out.

It certainly has the feel of a relaxing and peaceful space to retreat to.

I've been working on some fun little decorations and soon will be working on my fairy garden area.

For now ....here are a few things I have done

Lady bugs and 

Bumble bees for the tic tac toe stepping stone

Ladies of the garden for my strawberry towers. Made from recycled bottles, flower pots and stuff we had on hand. These will be the toppers for my topsy turvy towers.

Updated pic of how well roses are doing.

More to come soon. Working on a trellis from pallets that will go behind my bench and a few more things. And I saw a few buds just starting on my rose tree!!

Stepping stones and pond

 I got alot accomplished this past weekend. All of my roses are now planted!

Tons of blooms starting to open!

Got stepping stones and rock pathway in.

View of pond and bench

Front entrance view

Here are a few roses that have bloomed....I will have more to post soon!

Belinda's Blush

Iceberg

                               Artic Blue

                               Pond

Getting some roses!

 Last weekend I took a little break from my rose garden to give a couple of my other flower beds some much needed TLC.

Meanwhile.... I have a TON of rose buds and a few have started to open. I think by this coming weekend I will have several more.

Most interesting to me is Caribia....it had a bud when I planted it and was first to bloom. It was so pretty....but the blooms that opened this week..Wow!! All I can figure is the compost along with Neptunes fish oil made this change.

Here are the two pics...lighter peach was the first and this breath taking coral is now.....

Royal Kate (pink) and iceberg (white) have blooms and there will be more soon!

My last 6 rose bushes arrived, finally. All bare root. That will be what I am doing next....planting those. Then....I should be putting in my stepping stones and gravel pathway this weekend! 

Yeah for good weather on my days off!

Another pic of Royal Kate more fully open!

Made some good progress!

 I was able to get quite a bit done on Sunday.

Here is where I left it....

Got the middle island done and the back portion. Have a little bit more just in front of the pond area and the area you can't see in this pic to the right (which is where my bench is located). Soon I'll be able to place stepping stones and gravel for the walking path.

Slow and steady

 So I haven't done too much on my rose garden in a couple of weeks. Two weekends ago was cold and rainy and last weekend we got to camp for the first time in 2 years! Felt so good to finally have a little normalcy after this past year of the Covid pandemic.

I just finished painting my last stepping stone. Now just have to seal them.

Fall and winter

Was my hubby's idea to represent all 4 seasons....i loved that idea...we do live in New England!

I did a scene that reminds me of camping. I was originally going to do a tent and camp fire but I fell in love with this scene and it reminds me so much of hiking and camping.

Well....hopefully I can get out there and get more done on my garden today. Yesterday I just didn't have much energy for some reason. This weekend is Beautiful!

Weekend In

So this long Memorial Day weekend has not turned out to be an outdoor weekend as for weather.

I did manage to pick up some flowers to make a couple hanging pots.

I have all but 4 stepping stones painted now and I've been sealing them so from that perspective I have been productive.

I can't complain about rain, last year we were in drought status and until this much needed rain came, we were headed back into that status again.

I have had some nibbles on a few of my roses from our rabbits or deer or both. I'll have to re-apply but I got some organic Repel All spray which I have used in my garden in the past and works well. I also fertilized all the roses I have so far with Neptune's organic fish fertilizer. The remainder of this week looks sunny and next weekend hot and humid. I'm hoping it will just cause my roses to grow like crazy.

 Caribia is the first rose bush to bloom, can't wait to see it open!

Here's some stepping stones I have finished.

More progress

 So I got stepping stones 2&3 painted this weekend!

Also got to another section of the garden. Certainly can't say it's finished but it's definately coming along.

AND I got my topsy turvy strawberry towers put up....just need to find a topper for each of them

Still lots more to go and anxiously waiting to get some roses. I have 6 more bushes coming this week. 

Happy Mother's Day

 It's been 15 years now since I last got to have my mom with me on Mother's Day and that last one was rough. She was declining rapidly health wise and passed away just a few weeks later.

I owe it to my mom for my love of gardening and bird watching. It was when she was sick that I started tending her flower gardens.  I think she would be very pleased with my rose garden project.

I spent this past weekend, including Mother's Day, working on the garden. I'm making progress but of course...there is still way more to go. 

I've got all the bare root roses planted at least and more roses should be shipping this week. 

A couple pics of my progress so far. The white plastic is my pond; I covered for now so water and debris doesn't get in there before I'm ready to officially set it up!

Of course, I had hand scketched a plan of the garden but have made changes (multiple times) as I have progressed....realizing in the process I may have been over zealous in the quantity of roses I ordered....I am barely going to fit them but I believe I can get all of them in there...32 rose bushes total (30 different kinds).

Can't wait to see which one blooms first!!

Front view of the garden. This will be the entrance....have blueberry bushes and rhubarb here; I also decided to put one rose bush on either side out here due to space and how many roses I purchased. 

White plastic is the pond. This is also where I plan to add fairy houses and such...as well as some roses...of course!

Tired and sore but loving this project!

 So I've learned a few things the hard way. One....don't ever touch a screw that you just used an electric screw driver on! Ouch!!

2nd...i will never use Spar Urethane to seal my decorative pots again.....it coated them all yellow and to make it worse I had applied the first coat with a sponge applicator....ugh...it made drips.

You know...its all okay. So my garden won't be perfect....it will be unique and mine!

So many times I hear people say they are afraid to try gardening; I look at it as an adventure...just like life. So you make a mistake, but you can learn from that. I killed my first Orchid.....was afraid to get another one; but I recently did. Looking up info online, I am gonna try a different potting medium. We will see.

Part of my mission with my garden is to recycle and use as much as I can of what we already have. The back fence doesn't look the prettiest so I added some lattice that was left over from previous project. By the time our grapes fill the back fence it won't matter. Plus, soon we will have rose bushes a trellis and bench. 

Here is how I left it when I finished for today

The front where you see fresh mulch is actually just outside the garden. We've had blueberry bushes and rhubarb there for years. But you can't have a shabby looking entrance into a rose garden, so I am dressing that up.

Got my 5 yards of mulch and soil today.

Still alot of work to do! Oh, I purchase a set of 5 roses that were selected by the company I got them from. Figured it was a surprise. They got delivered this week and the selection they sent is wonderful and look how amazing the roots look

I also mixed, by hand, 4 bags of cement to make my stepping stones that I plan to paint. I have one finished that had been just sitting in our garage.

Can't wait to start painting the rest!!

Earthquake tiller Rocks!

 I am so impressed by my little rototiller. Definately worth the investment. It's still crazy hard work clearing a garden but I love this thing! Have a bit more to do but here is a pic before I started and what I got done today.

I am also super glad I saw this little one before I hit him with the tiller, I would have been super sad.

I was just about to do a bit more before I called it a day but nature decided for me. First the black flies came out and started biting but also 3 turkeys decided to have dinner. 

Anyway, it was a super good day. I got to play in dirt, see lots of birds and got some work done on my soon to be rose garden 🌹

Strawberry tower progress

 

So I painted my last pot for the strawberry towers; I am very happy how it turned out. My husband suggested I add our town's former chief of police' badge which I thought was a wonderful idea. Chief Maloney passed away in the line of duty in 2012 during a stand off in our town for a drug raid. Not only is this symbol on my tower in honor of him but for all the people who effortlessly risk their lives serving our communities on a daily basis.

I was hoping to put the towers together today; but after some research have determined that I need to seal the pots or all my work will eventually chip off. I will be working on sealing them this week and hope to have pics of finished project next weekend.....stay tuned!

Weekend project

 So I still haven't used my Earthquake tiller yet. Hoping next weekend the weather will cooperate. 

I have been busy planning out my rose garden, making my wish list of rose bushes I want and looking up deer resistant companion plants.

I was lucky enough to have a 4 day weekend so I decided even though we had April snow showers to keep busy on a super fun project.

I am making 2 strawberry topsy turvy planters. Not put together just yet, but I am having so much fun painting the clay pots.

I am no artist, that's for sure; but it is so fun painting, using my imagination and using up supplies around the garage and house.

Part of my rose garden idea is recycling stuff we have that is basically rotting and using it for decoration in my garden.

I didn't get fussy about paints, just using what we had on hand from previous projects.

Here are a few pics of my project so far. Will definately post pics when my towers are complete! 

Breaking Ground

 I know....it has been years of silence. That's what happens when you decide to go to grad school. You have no life....literally!

Fortunately, school is behind me and I have plans to fill my free time by creating a rose garden. I have given up on attempting a veggie garden. As much as I love growing and eating fresh veggies, we have too much wild life that also love them, so all the work and they reap the benefit. I have decided to support my local farmers and signed up for a CSA for 2021. I will be turning our overgrown, neglected plot into a beautiful oasis. So far....knock on wood, wild life hasn't bothered the few rose bushes I do have.

I am so excited about this project. I will take pics and update our progess as we go.

I bought an Earthquake Versa tiller/cultivator based on the amazing reviews. I have it put together and ready to go; can't wait to see what it can do.