Sunny Christmas morning...

After a few days of much needed rain, Christmas opens with a sunny sky and a lot of birds! I heard some hummingbirds fighting outside my window so went out to investigate. Apparently they all wanted to feed at the feeders, which of course was an impossible thing to photograph but I did manage to get one hiding in the shadows.

This is the orange tree they like to hang out in as it is right near 2 feeders. I am glad to see they are still around. I was wondering where they had gone when I didn't see them for a couple of weeks. Guess they hide out from the rain just like we do! This year the oranges actually taste good too! Goes to show what enough water and nutrients will do!

So out in the back my lemon tree is starting to show ripe lemons. Glad there are still a lot of them. A lot of the branches had to come down earlier so Andy could get the roofing materials in place for the carport roof that he re-roofed right before the rains came. Yay Andy!

And I am trying again for a small winter garden of greens. Hoping the rats stay away this time... some kale and lettuces are starting up again.

And I noticed my potatoes container had all died back so later today I will empty it out and see if I got any late potatoes.  Time to put some energy back into the garden!

It's the journey, not the destination...

Not a new thought, but has come to mind recently as I think about my gardening journey this year. Sure it is cheaper to run down to the market and buy some big agribiz veggies that may or may not be healthy for me, but the fact is -- I love just being out there with my plants and making them into my own health food store as the months go by. If you have not ever tasted a tomato right off the plant in the height of summer ripeness, then in my opinion, you have not lived!

So now that I am back from a week away from my garden (small Oregon trip,family visit and fabric buying), I am excited about how it is progressing and what I still want to do in it.

First though, we put a new hummingbird feeder right outside the new kitchen door and it is such a pleasure to watch those little guys every day. In fact (wish I had my camera but I didn't want to move to get it) the other day Andy had a few of them taking nectar out of a little piece of the feeder in his hand! They were so trusting!

They just love this feeder. Now the ones hanging from the front porch are hardly used.

And then in the front yard I am making a small 4' x 4' square garden to house some extra veggies and flowers. I just ran out of room on the side garden!

Last week I made the raised bed from a kit I wanted to try (verdict: make your own, this is sort of flimsey) and started collecting cardboard to put down on the bottom.

Then it rained for a day and I got busy so just today I got the rest of the cardboard in, put wood chips along the edges at the bottom to try to help keep more weeds out and added 2 large bales of organic raised bed potting soil. Man were those things heavy! Then I added some worm castings and now it is ready to plant. I will plant some things in it tonight when it is cooler and in the next few days. I mainly want it to have food and herb plants and some flowers. I am hoping it will look ok in the front yard. I wish more people in our neighborhood had an edible garden in the front of their homes, then mine wouldn't stand out so much.

The more I work on the garden the more eager I am for things to grow so we can start eating from it! I know, in a few months I will have way too many zucchini and tomatoes but isn't that always the way?