This weekend, Project Front Yard

Our friends at friends Cactus Rescue told us about how the CSN Charleston campus is closing their Plant Nursery. Well we decided to take a quiet trip over on Saturday to see what they had to offer, and we picked up five plants and four cacti for $19. Their last day in business is May 31st. They are selling out quick but still have a bunch of stuff left. I recommend going over there and checking it out! It was well worth it for us.

One of the cacti we passed was planted into the landscaping. We talked to one of the guys that works there and told him how much we loved the cacti and how we wished they had some to sell. Well the great thing about cacti is, if you pull off a limb, you can use that limb to start a whole new cacti. Which I think is really really cool. So since they didn't have any cacti to sell, the guy just broke off a piece of what was there and gave it to us. I will be able to plant it in about a week.

Here are the small cacti we picked up. Two they gave to us for free, and the other two they charged us only $.50 a piece for. Below you can see how I planted them.

We didn't even notice until we got home that one of the cacti came with a stow-away. We didn't know if snails were good for the garden or not, but my friend Jarrett said that they will practically kill anything we have. We didn't know how to get rid of him, but this morning we went outside, and he was all dried up anyway so we didn't have to worry about anything.
And here is Lucy helping us decide where to place the plants.

The following are the cacti that we got from my friends over at Cactus Rescue. Even though I did exactly what they told me to do when planting, ie using gloves and tongs (I used my BBQ tongs) I still got bit twice. And this little guy in particular is very vicious. He doesn't look it, but he is. I haven't decided what I am going to name this one, but Little Shit comes to mind right off the bat ;). But anyway, my friend Jarrett said that with water, this guy will be more than likely three times this size by next year (at least that is what I remembered). So I put him on a dripper, but it is almost completely closed up.

This guy also hasn't been named. I also cannot remember what his real name is either. What I do know is that he will bloom. And it will be very pretty.

Matt and I have been in a debate on what Jarrett said about how old this one is. Matt says he heard he is approx. 100 years, I say I heard 30. Jarrett if you read this, will you clear this debate up? I am hoping that we don't lose him. When I took him out of the pot to plant him, I thought the root broke off, but maybe it was just really small. I do remember Jarrett saying that they don't have a very big root to them so maybe he will live afterall.
We did name this one, and his name is Sonic. As in the hedgehog. He is tough and rough and really really awesome!!!
Here is the finished product:

Matt helped with the yard this weekend too which was great! He also hung up all my wall decor. In these wall sconces that I got from my grandma, I bought some coconut cloth, or at least that is what I think it is called. I couldn't find any that fit perfectly, so I had to cut it and do my best! Let me tell you, this stuff is not easy to cut at all!!!!

The cacti that are from the plant nursery at CSN's Charleston campus. I don't remember the names of what we picked out, but I do think they are very very neat looking.

Here is everything from a distance glance. The little sign between the seats says "Welcome to my Garden." I got it for Christmas from my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Linda.

The weather has been insane. It is probably why everything has been blooming so well and growing like crazy. However, we finished all the projects today before the temp dropped down to the low 60's and got too cold to work outside. Yes you heard me, it was too cold in Vegas in May to work outside.

Last year when we got our table, my in-laws gave us their old umbrella for our table. It has survived a lot of things, but apparently, this wind we have been having finally killed it. So next weekend we are going to replace this broken one with this one with solar lighting in the ribbing.

When I walked out this morning, my red roses were in full bloom. They are so pretty.

The bogenvia, is going insane. I picked up some wire anchors and wiring to make a permanent lattice. After gluing it, you have to wait 24 hours before installing the wires. I am probably just going to wait until next weekend unless I get a bug up my butt to do it this week.

The honeysuckle is looking pretty good too.

These neat little purple plants are from my dad's garden. He gave me a bunch a few weeks when we were over there for a visit. I thought that I was losing them, but yesterday when I inspected them, they had bloomed. I am so excited. I love them and think they are so pretty.

This is the other half of what he gave me. I really thought this one was done for. There are three stalks here, and I honestly think that two of them are gone, but if you look closely....you can see a bloom on the third. Again, I am stoked.

Let's play name that plant.

So I planted some seeds, some by mistake (I dumped some little pots I had herb seeds in and forgot about them, and well they started to grow).

And then I planted some normal seeds....But now I can't remember what I planted where. So lets play Name that Plant. And go.

These are the herb seeds that started to grow.

I think this is the start of a sunflower plant. Either that or holly hocs
And this is the product I am sure of the mystery seeds my step mom gave me. Soon the mystery will be over!

And holy crap! I just looked back at my past posts and I just barely planted these seeds on or around May 8th! Look at them go!!!!

Saturday was a big day for us because we picked up a bunch of new plants for our back yard and thanks to my dear friends over at the Cactus Rescue, we picked up the cacti for the front yard too. I am very excited to get these guys in the ground. We weren't able to do it on Sunday like I originally planned, but this weekend will be the magical weekend.

I really can't wait to get them in. The best part is, they are all native species, and except for the big one, once they are settled, I will only have to water them once ever couple of weeks or so. It works perfect because I am really bad at remembering to water plants if they aren't on a drip system.

But you should check out the Cactus Rescue website. It is a great site, and run by some really great people :)

My basil and cucumbers are taking over my garden. I must have about 15 cucumbers. I also have like a million tomatoes. And my rosemary is out of control as well.....Anyone want some fresh basil and rosemary? I have plenty to share!

Lucy loves to be outside, so during our Star Nursery trip on Saturday, I got some flower of many colors to help teach her her colors. She says purple, pink, blue, green, and orange. However, at first everything is blue or "bu". She also likes to help water them with me, which I find totally adorable.

The gardeners just left some of the original dirt and rock in this area since it was "negative" space. I really didn't like the rock that was there, it was a reminder every day of what the back yard used to look like. So Saturday when we were looking for ladybugs, I found these flower. They are called Mexican Evening Primerose. My mother in law has these by her front door at her house, and they smell soooooooooooooooooooooooo good. And apparently they are near impossible to kill. And they spread like weeds. So that is good because it will fill in this area, and then hopefully spread throughout my garden above it and be a ground cover. I LOVE this flower and for $2.98, I couldn't beat it!!!

My grass is really taking a toll. It is depressing what one cup of dog pee does to a yard. About every three weeks I re-seed areas and put top soil over it. This is round two of a re-seed in this area, but you can see where my baby grass came up. I am so proud of it :)

I went Saturday looking for ladybugs for my aphid problem but they didn't have any. I am going to take the advice of my friend and put mint in my garden to help get rid of them. Then today, when I went outside, I found this guy, who found my garden on it's own accord.

Finished the sprinkler lines

Here is where I ran the drippers from the garden on the right to my two rose bushes. It isn't the prettiest thing ever, but, it works. I also pruned them a little. I am worried about my yellow roses because they haven't seemed to grow much. My red ones are getting huge. But I will gain some patience and wait a little while. Matt is going to help me drill a couple holes in the planters so that they can drain better. And I think with the new sprinklers it will help to ensure they constantly get water because I do forget some times.

Two items on my list done this weekend

Here is what I worked on this weekend. My tomato plant was getting a little wild, so I had to tame it with a lattice thing. In the process of tying it up, I accidentally broke a few branches off, some that included some tomatoes. I felt like a huge jerk, but seeing as I have a million tomatoes on it as it is, I just buried what broke off in hopes of making some mulch out of it. I also raked up the dirt and put in some fresh soil.

Here is a picture of my cucumber plant. When I bought this, it was just one leaf. Now it is a huge vining plant and it's getting a little out of control.

Here is my baby bouganvia that I thought I was loosing, but, it came back to life after all!

In this little dirt space I planted some sunflower seeds my dad gave me, as well as the hollyhock seeds and some lettuce seeds.

Over in this little area of dirt, I planted the mystery seeds that my step mom gave me.

My little gnome on guard.

And these little seedlings are some mystery herbs that are growing.