Garden Time

Where would a witch be without her garden? Less frustrated says I. Gardening in Colorado presents challenges for even the most experienced of gardeners who must deal with cool June temperatures and hail. This year I expanded my garden kingdom to include a plot at our community garden. In late March I started the seeds for ornamental corn, birdhouse gourds, and mini pumpkins in orange and white. Come harvest time I am hoping to have a bounty of fun fall things to decorate and gift.

Pumpkin seedlings

At home I have the usual suspects planted and growing in their pots. Though I do have a yard, the Colorado soil is hard and rocky so raised beds seem to be the way to go, however I don't have a good spot for one so for years I have been growing things on the back porch with reasonable success. This year's crop includes tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber, peppers,tomatoes, and a variety of herbs. I like to grow enough for us to eat and enjoy right out of the garden without having to worry about preserving the extras. Since I am the mom of four cats, I make sure to have a catnip plant for them to much on while they are outside with me. I do harvest the plant now and again and air dry the catnip to stuff into small muslin bags.
This year we put up a new hummingbird feeder which has started to attract some attention, but with the recent cool weather and rain, we haven't seen any birds for a while. When spring arrives I start to look forward to the summer days where I can sit outside on my yard and knit, embroider, or read while sharing a blanket with my cats. It's not as relaxing as it sounds because I must keep a watch on them as they look around for the baby rabbits that live in our yard. Fortunately my cats are well fed and horrible hunters. In fact it is I who has to chase the chattering squirrels away from us as they let us know how upset they are that we are in their yard!
My husband put together this workbench that I ordered through the mail. It has made it easy to pot all of the plants and given me a space to include more herbs and a few decorative cactus plants. I have also found Luna and Merlin sitting in one of the large pots on the bottom shelf. Apparently, they approve of the workbench. 

I've included a link to ToadWerk's new Facebook page. Be sure and check it out. You will find the link on the right hand side of this blog. It will including some daily tidbits and of course show off some of the shop's new merchandise!