I took this picture of one of our beds of lavender recently and was amazed at how much it has grown. But then to look back at the pictures from two years back – Oh my!
Two years ago it looked like this:
And then last year:
Last year everything was early so I was harvesting my dear Melissa (second from left) the first of June. This is more of a “normal” year and looks like the harvesting is a week or so away for most of our lavender.
I’m amazed at how this area has changed and evolved. Everything is getting bigger and our planning has paid off. In just three seasons, our shade and sun area has really come together. But this beauty doesn’t come without some work including spraying deer repellant. If Dave didn’t, there would be no hostas to enjoy.
The Astilbes below are from my master gardener friend Barbara. She brought these from Virginia and now they will live on here. Unfortunately, Barbara will be leaving this area soon, but this area will remind me of her.
In other gardening related news, I harvested our last bunch of asparagus for this year. In addition to eating asparagus at many meals, I froze 9 bags to cook with this winter.
I also made a cobbler from the cup and a half cherries I harvested from our little tree.
And here is the last of the irises to bloom – one of my favorite. Love those two colors together.
I’ve been looking at scrapbooks lately. I’ve quit making them since we both blog about much of what would go in those books. However, as I was looking at them, I really enjoyed sitting back and flipping through the pages. I had already decided that I will scrapbook about our Australia trip, but now even our picnics and other adventures would be nice to document.
I’ve wanted to make a book from our blogs, but since we are self hosted, I’ve only found one service that would make them and they are now out of business. If you know of any that make books from self-hosted blogs, please let me know.
Besides gardening, I’ve enjoyed teaching my marbling class (today is our second session) and working on some other stuff I’ll share soon.
So much to do. So little time.
@bloombakecreate Lynda, excellent work, thanks for sharing. Yes, your lavender really has increased, how nice! I’ve just started some seed.
@bloombakecreate Shoot, it’s already dying back in the heat here! Do you have any shampoo soap bar recipes on your site? I need to look!
Hi Lynda! Your garden looks great! And the goodies you get from it. What do you use for deer repellant? My friend is tired of sharing her roses with them. Pleas enjoy your summer!
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Marie, Our weather has been pretty cool so far but the heat is coming! No, don’t have shampoo bars.
Randy, Thanks. Starting from seed? Oh, my!
What a difference you have made and how pretty.
Denny, We use Liquid Fence Deer and Rabbit Repellent. It does work but every time it rains, he has to respray. We spray everything they MIGHT eat which is about everything that’s not fenced.
Kathy, Thank you! It’s so neat to see how things have really grown over the past several years. Thanks for dropping by.
What a yummy harvest and that iris is beautiful.
Rinda
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Yum…asparagus! Lucky lady!
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Love your garden (as always!). It’s amazing how much it has grown in such a short time. That asparagus looks so yummy!
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Kristina, Thank you! I, too, am amazed how everything has grown.
I grow lavender also.this year I threw some fertilizer granules and sprinkled water 2 to 3times a week trying to save water .I have had 4 harvests this summer.I injured my back so I couldn’t do my mulching. I have never had that much lavender.
Linda, You are lucky! I’m glad my harvests have been great the past couple of years because this past winter I lost most of my lavender. The lavender in this post are gone except for three which were badly damaged. I planted new this Spring so hopefully if they make it through the winter I’ll have another good harvest. Thanks for dropping by and I sure hope your back is better.