It may just be a flower (or two) or it may be an informative post or it may involve a give-away. It may include lots of thoughts or none at all. If you'd like to join me and post your own 12 days ... feel free to jump in any time, any day. Just leave me a comment and let me know you're doing it also and I'll come check out your 12 days too."]
Day 7:: Hoe and Shovel's December Potager
The vegetable garden and the gardener are finally getting along this fall. We had quite the rough start back in September and October.
With critters, aka armadillos, ignoring boundaries and causing much mischief in the nighttime hours, we had to be diligent in order to proceed with enthusiasm.
Seeds and seedlings were tilled under by their long and over-worked snouts pillaging through the soil for grubs and worms. But, finally, extensive barriers were erected that could not be compromised and we are at peace again. Now the carrots, onions, and lettuce are playing catch-up after being re-planted a couple of times.
Today, more seeds went into the ground. Beans in succession to the first patch as we would not want to be without them anytime soon. More collard greens, lettuces, and radish to fill in every inch of bare soil.
The skippers are everywhere but they especially like all the tall blue porterweed that has scattered itself among the veggie beds.
So nice to have them fluttering about in numbers as I work.
And, oh, the music of the bees finding every possible opening to nectar among the flowers. So peaceful and so mesmerizing all at once. They are the sweetest little creatures. And have you ever noticed how very busy they always stay?
This fall garden is very much a mix of flowers and edibles. With an eye for combining the two together into one space I choose my plants for their visual appeal as well as for their food supply.
The red salvia coccinea is a self-seeder.
Summer squash in the fall. What could be better!
Gazania sitting at the feet of tall tomato plants.
I know I already featured the bleeding heart vine but you know what! I am just loving it this week as it is bursting with buds and blooms.
And... finally... another birdbath. This one at the other end of the veggie garden.
The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens,
easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives
with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas."
W. C. Jones
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Don't miss leaving a comment on Day 6 for a chance to win Judy White's newly released book, Bloom-Again Orchids.
