Happiness is dirt under your fingernails!

Forth of July this year has meant a 5 day weekend for me.  I've spent a great deal of that time in the backyard and I'm loving it.  

And it looks like I'm not the only one.  The birds are everywhere!  It's like they've now decided the yard is their new social club.  I have to water down the sod twice a day and they come splash in any puddle and then grab worms from the soft ground.  Cracks me up.   I'll have to get them some feed & bird baths ... eventually.  I think Hubby will kill me if I spend any more money on the backyard soon!  I've made sure to use every single dollar of the planned budget we'd saved.  I still have an arbor coming that I'll put in the corner near the garage - here below where the garage and wall meet.   Then I've got some plants coming to fill in a bit more.   Some kiwi to climb up the arbors plus add some fruit!  I had no idea you could grow a type of kiwi here but you can!  I got mostly male plants as they have gorgeous pink on their leaves but I did get one female so that in one area I'll get fruit from them.  If it goes well I may add more females for more fruit next year.   They aren't the kiwi you get in the grocery so I don't want to dive in full hog. 

I also ran to the nursery and got some more herbs.  

The basil I already had as I'd started it from seed.  I've got a lot here because I use it all the time.  Plus you can always make pesto and freeze it for later!

I also got chives & rosemary. 

Parsley and some GORGEOUS sage.  It has the prettiest leaves - I actually got one more and put it in a pot in the yard just because it is so pretty.   Not to mention I love how it smells!

The sunflowers are clearly happy in their new home. 

They are growing fast!  

The cucumbers seem happy too but no noticeable growth just yet.  That's okay with me though because I want them to grow up the sunflowers so the flowers need a head start to be able to support them. 

My tiny grape tomatoes look comical with the big huge cage around them but the research I've done online says to put the cage up right away so that you aren't disturbing the roots of the plant as it grows.  

The tomatoes I started from seed are happy.  One even has a little tomato starting on it!  

I moved all the cages over to one bed.  If the cucumbers don't grow up the sunflowers as planned I may need to go grab a trellis of some sort for them.  

For the other wooden planter I got a cantaloupe.  It will spread pretty rapidly so I left it in the center of it and then put some marigolds up near the front edge. 

Hubby hates the "stupid rainbow things" but personally I like throwing bright colors here and there in a garden.  I also got a bunch of marigolds since supposedly they help pretty much every plant they are around ... I need all the help I can get!