The Pond With A Few Friends

The fish had babies again this year.  If you look very closely you can see some tiny, tiny black smudges.  They don't have any coloring on their bodies, just on their eyes and the end of their tails.  Most of them are still black, but s few are already growing and turning orange/white.  This is the cleanest my pond has ever been.  I think I might be getting the hang of ponding.

We have frogs!!!  Finally!  I have been waiting SO LONG for some frogs to find my pond.

There were 4 of them.  I took a lot of pictures.

Garden Update

The garden is growing.  Rain + Heat = Green!

Tibby (on the chair) and Catty check out the fish.

Fruit Question

I've thought that this was a cherry tree for the last 3 years.  Am I wrong?

It grows like a cherry tree, has leaves like a cherry tree and bark like a cherry tree, but these are some BIG cherries!

This is the first year that it has had any fruit.

My finger for size comparison.

Next tree.  This is a plum tree.  It has had plums before, so I KNOW that is is a plum tree.

One of the 3 currant trees that I planted last year.  They are growing HUGE!

Finally apples on the apple trees.  Well, on one of the trees.  The other 2 still don't have any fruit on them. 

And that beautiful apricot tree with all the blooms?  Zero fruit.  Last year I had a few apricots even with all the fruit drop after the late freeze.  BUT I remembered to prune last year.  Next year.....

Pond and A Few Blooms

My water lilies that over wintered in the pond.  They are blooming a lot earlier this year.

So this is what the pond looks like now.  I am NEVER moving it again!

Foxglove.  One of my favorite flowers.

Delphinium.

Garden 2011 - Spring

A lot has changed in the backyard since last year.  I planted grass, for one thing.  This is the first time I have ever planted grass in my entire life.  I have killed a lot of grass over the years, but NEVER planted it.  Turns out it is kind of difficult to grow.  Well, if you have a puppy that insists on running across it and trying to dig it up :)

The pond.  The white trellis fell over a couple days ago.  Well, actually it was picked up and twisted around by the wind.  It was a strong wind, because that is not a light trellis. 

The water lilies over wintered with the fish in the pond.  They seem to be fine.  I replanted them and there are many leaves already floating on the water.  Soon water lilies!  I also added some water lettuce, water hyacinth and parrot feather.  I also added 40 Japanese trapdoor snails.  There is a toad that lives in the rocks around the pond.  So lots of wildlife in/around the pond.  I wonder what happened to all the salamanders and frogs I added to the pond last fall?

Only 6 garden beds.  I took out 7 beds.  I wanted to cut back, because it seems like - yes I can grow a ton of food in my backyard - but why am I doing it?  A lot of stuff went to waste last year, because I didn't have enough time to care for everything.  I want to have a garden that is productive and looks good too. 

View from the porch of the grass.

I'm really happy with the changes that I made.  It's pretty and now I have more time to enjoy it, instead of only having time to take care of it.

Can't remember what the garden looked like last year?  Neither could I :)

Click on the links below if you want to see the yard last year.

Garden Sept 2010

July 2010

June Garden Update 2010

May 2010 - easiest on this post to see the difference between this year and last year

Apricot

The apricot tree is in bloom!  I think I might get some fruit this year, if the weather stays warm.  Last year it was warm too early and then we had a late frost that dropped all the tiny apricots.  Being the lazy gardener that I am, I didn't manage to prune any of my fruit trees.  I got the cherry tree half done, but didn't even touch the other ones.  There are a lot of crossed branches, so hopefully I can do a little green summer pruning after the fruit (fingers crossed for fruit)!!!

Some More Birds

I took these pictures this morning.

There are a lot of birds in the garden this year.  Even more than last year.

Mourning Dove

This mourning dove visited the pond yesterday.