My Garden My Sanctuary

Welcome to my garden tour! I am linking to my good friend's Garden Tour Linky Party, which is happening over here at Jenniferrizzo.com. If you wold like to see some amazing gardens, go over there and take a tour!

We have been living in our house nearly ten years now and our yard takes constant transformation. Every year new beds emerge, new plants get planted (and replanted), new animals join the crew, and some unwanted things disappear. Take a look at my side garden first.

When you pull up to our house, you can take the steps on your right to enter my garden. When we moved in, this was a big jungle of fast growing trees, bushes and tons of lily of the valley plants everywhere. It took me a while to transform it into my vision, and believe me when I say - I am still not finished. 

This is what you see when you come up the stairs. 

And this is on the other side. I am about to harvest my lavender for the first time this year! There is more of it on the other side!!!

and turn around... My side garden is long and narrow.

This is the best smell on Earth!

When you walk through the gate, you will have to pass my kids' playhouse and sandbox in order to see my husband's pride - his pond! He created it himself from scratch, using a small digger. He dug up two circular holes and he used the dirt from the holes to create the waterfall hill. Do you see my pink bird house? Every year we have some guests in there!

I love this part of the pond front! This chive plant has survived several winters in this pot outside.

This is the look with my herb garden in the front. 

And a little watering can for decoration. The hosta pot is covering the pump system.

My very talented husband decided to expand my garden so I gained two extra beds this year! You can see what's behind the fence and look at my sprouts by clicking on this link. 

A little corner by the chicken coop. 

This is our chicken coop.

Say hello to our girls! You can read more about them here.

And their neighbors turkey babies. You can read about their introduction to our family here.

My corn is doing ok. I just transplanted it next to the porch together with my pumpkins. I am hoping they will do well.

The blueberries seem to be thriving thanks to a great advice from Jen.

And now my porch is slowly getting decorated with the annuals and I am planning on adding some herbs as well!

I grew these from seeds! First time and it paid off! I will do more next year!

I hope you enjoyed my garden as much as I enjoy working in it! Have a great day!

The beginnings in my vegetable garden

My vegetable garden is in full sprouts right now so I thought I would share some photos. This way I can also look back and see the progress. When I go there every morning, I see the same plants, being the same size. At least that is what it looks like.

Kale is this year one of my new veggies I am trying for the first time and so far it has been working out. I started it out inside in my glass house and it kept strong after being transplanted into the garden.

Spinach has been coming up nicely as well. I tried the 2 week planting method for continuous harvest. I planted 9 seeds the first week, then after two weeks I planted 9 more and I repeated this one more time.  This is the second batch, with some lettuce growing behind!

The green peas are surprising me everyday. This is the first year I planted those. I was a bit skeptical when I read to plant them very early straight into the ground. It was still freezing overnight. I wasn't sure what I was doing so I planted only few and now I wish I have done more. They are doing wonderful and the kids have enjoyed them for the past few days now!

My leek is also picking up some growing pace. I started some inside (those are the bigger ones in the front) and I planted 2 rows straight into the ground as well just to see what happens. Both methods are paying of so far!

I grew my onions from seeds inside. When I transplanted them they looked dead, but picked up in a week or so. Now they are growing strong. This was also an experiment. 

You cannot go wrong with red beets. I love to grow them and I love to use them as well. Last year I froze them for the winter and used them in a soup. I still have to go and transplant some because all of my seeds sprouted and now there are too many growing too close to each other. 

Oh, tomatoes! They gave me a headache this year. I tried to start them inside from seed and I made several mistakes. Few of them died after transplant but some caught up... slowly but they are finally getting stronger. I had to purchase some more and I also transplanted those that grew in the garden from my last year tomatoes that dropped on the ground. Yes, they survived the winter (I think it was in a frozen stage).

Edemame (soy beans) are another first timer in my garden. So far doing ok but only half of my seeds sprouted and the leaves are getting eaten by some bugs.

Bush beans - I have several different kinds: kidney, lima, etc. Again, leaves are partially eaten by some bugs...

Climbing beans sprouted nicely but then half of them got nicely eaten by a rabbit :-( That really got me mad since I had hubby built me extra protection for my spring veggies and had no idea that the beans might be another favorite dish for a bunny. As you see, now the chicken wire is up!

We will have raspberries for the first time this year!!! I am so excited as I got them from two of my friends two years ago and they underwent some drastic transformation last year. This year they are growing like crazy.

This red current sticks have been in the ground since last fall so we will see how they do this year. So far they are surviving.

I thought I would take a picture of these red strawberries before they get eaten by the chipmunk that likes to come over for a treat. I need more protection in my garden!!!

Some cantaloupe plants...

... and some pumpkin plants.

Pickling and salad cucumbers are coming out nicely. I have actually two plants coming up out of some spots. I will have to transplant them soon. 

Potatoes are doing amazing. I have to keep up with the soil adding!

And the peppers are ok. Those that I started inside got their leaves eaten (I am trying to get to the bottom of this problem) so I had to buy some and I would like to see if they will keep up. 

This is the eaten pepper plant. It is not dead, just not getting any stronger...

I hope you enjoyed my tour!

New addition to our family

Please say hi to Thanksgiving and Turkey! yes, I know this might be a bit too harsh to name my two new babies that, but that is what they are so far. And I never told the kids that that's what I call them. Officially we are calling them girls just like all the chickens (even though we are not sure what gender they are ;-)

They are 5 weeks old turkey babies and generally they are very tame and love to come close to people. They don't like my silver wedding ring too much but my white oversized watch doesn't bother them a bit - go figure ;-) You should see the hissing and pecking that goes on when my silver ring comes close to them. This is Turkey charging at my ring...

How are they getting along with the chickens you ask? Not so much... So far anyway. When we brought them in, chickens acted like chickens, that is scared to death trying to get as far as possible from the two new birds. They were tripping over each other just to try to escape. Look at this, this is Thanksgiving trying to make friends with our black girl. The chicken looked like she was pretending not to notice - if I ignore her, maybe she will disappear ;-) At this point the chickens are glued to the wall because there was no place to escape.

You have to give it to Turkey! Look at her letting the girls know who is the boss! BOO!

But yesterday the chickens got comfortable to the point when they became a bit aggressive and we had to separate them. 

 Now I have to learn what a turkey needs in order to thrive and hopefully be happy in our chicken house. I will check back in couple of weeks on how they are doing - or if we still even have them. 

Peonies are in season!

Peonies are now in season!!! I love the texture of their blooms and the smell is just phenomenal! 

I created this bouquet to bring a smile on someone's face today. Even though flowers will not fix a problem, they can show that you care. I hope this is what will happen in this case!

Paint a little bird house!

I love to teach the kids to care about animals and our environment. One day we went to Michael's to get some art supplies and T spotted unfinished wooden bird house! Since we already have one in our backyard, that was given to us as a gift by some special kids, T had a plan in mind!

One rainy day, we grabbed our art supplies and painted away!

We used acrylic paint so it doesn't wash off outside. B looks just like a real artist holding her palette!

Since we were a bit too late this year to hang it up for the birdies, we will enjoy it on the porch as a decoration. I love the colors!!!

Look who came back

This nest has been next to our bedroom window for years now and mommy American Robin keeps coming back! And it seems like this year they are expanding their house ;-) She has been sitting on her eggs for days now and yesterday was the first day we saw babies sticking out their necks looking for food.

The kids are very excited to watch her coming back with juicy  worms and caterpillars. Another great lesson in nature!

Potato pancakes

This has been one of my favorite meals when I was a kid growing up in Czech Republic. This is my grandma's recipe:

You will need:

4 large potatoes, peeled and grated (fine)

1 large egg

1 cup of all purpose flour

2 bigger garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons of marjoram

1 tsp of salt

oil for the frying pan

Mix all of the above ingredients together (no oil). Add more flour if needed until you reach this consistency. If I put a bit too much flour, I add a little bit of milk.

Heat up some oil and transfer some of the mixture onto the pan in whatever shape or size that you like. My grandma used to make giant pancakes that spread over the whole pan. I like the smaller size better, the kids can eat it easier and the size doesn't look so ovewhelming. 

When the pancakes look golden brown (such as those on the picture below) remove them and serve them warm with sour cream and pickles on the side. Sometimes my husband asks to eat venison sausage with it.

Bon Appétit! 

Rosemary

This year I was so excited to buy my first rosemary for my herb garden! Here, I placed it towards the back of my herb garden into a beautiful blue pot, which gives it more of a mediterranean look. It is right on the edge of our fish pond and it is framed on one side by yellow ornamental grass called Carex Trifida and on the other side by a hosta.

Rosemary tends to grow taller so you should place it towards the back of the garden, especially if you have it in the pot. Also keep in mind, if you live in a place with cold winters, that you will have to bring it inside. I put it in the pot right away but I know people who just dig it up at the end of the season and transplant it into the pot then. However I know that any plant can only take so much change so I would recommend putting it into the container right away! 

Rosemary is easy to grow, you just need good air circulation, good drainage, and sun.

I love using rosemary in my Italian dishes, such as grilled chicken breast or lamb. 

Healthy breakfast smoothie

I am always looking for some healthy breakfast tips, so my kids can get in the good stuff at the beginning of the day. This time, it was my kids who came up with the ingredients for this yummy smoothie!

And the ingredients are:

Banana

Pineapple chunks 

Apple juice

Frozen blueberries

Sounds easy, doesn't it? The kids always like to make these smoothies by themselves.

We use Magic Bullet, which is a kitchen appliance I cannot live without! You can use regular blender as well. Put banana in first, then pineapple chunks, and mix. Then add just a small amount of apple juice and mix for a very short time (2 seconds).

It's time to pour it in!

Kids decided to mix some frozen blueberries in and eat it out of a bowl with spoon. I drank it out of a cup. It is also yummy with fresh raspberries or strawberries!

Lily of the Valley

This flower with tiny bell-shaped blooms, pointy green leaves, and amazingly strong smell is one of the first signs of spring. I used to walk miles to get it, now it grows in my backyard and I can't wait to pick a small bouquet that will fill our house with it's distinctive aroma! 

The plant does so well in shady location and it functions as a great ground cover. Watch out, it spreads very easily, which could be a great thing but also it could be difficult to contain or get rid of it if you needed to. 

Did you know that the flower has a Christian legend behind it? It is also known as "Our Lady's Tears" and it is said that it sprang from weeping of the Virgin Mary during the Crucifixion of Jesus. 

For me, it brings me back to when I was a little girl, spending weekends in a small cottage in a middle of a Czech forest. I can imagine the smell of the morning air after a spring night rain. Putting on my rain boots and walking next to my grandpa up the hill, old leaves crunching under our feet. When we reached the top, we could choose any direction and we were sure there would be tons of lily of the valleys everywhere. Somehow it became a small competition among the people vacationing in the same spot as we did... Who will get out there first and brings the biggest bouquet!? Everyone wanted a piece of spring in their living rooms. 

 Now, I live thousands miles away from this magical place, yet, the beautiful smell of a small bouquet of the lily of the valleys, sitting on top of my table, brings me right back to those days of simple childhood joy.