The Pond 



The pride of my backyard landscaping
Pond with water lilies. They only bloom in the
spring before the leaves fill out on the trees,
otherwise they don't get enough sun to bloom.




Lilies in bloom



Goldfish waiting to be feed

Lily in bloom

 



Friends enjoying lunch by the pond 

Zeke taking a drink from the pond,

watching the fish.



What Almost 30 Years of DIY Landscape Looks Like

Backyard landscaped area view from south side


 

View from back of yard towards backyard, decks & house
You can hardly see the house for the trees. Yes, Ben's
shop is equipped with TV




From house towards back of yard. Old
metal bed frame covered with Asian jasmine

My husband and I have spent almost 30 years working on the landscaping of our home. It started with digging up and planting red oak trees when we first moved into the house. Once the trees started growing and the yard became more shaded, we added different landscaping features - a shade bed, decks and patios, brick walkways, my pond with waterfall, more shade beds. We've also added a vegetable garden at the back of the property (we have just under 1 1/2 acres). Most all of the features in our landscaping are salvaged materials and not purchased new.

 

 

Walkways and patios are built from salvaged bricks, which is why we have various colors. Old metal bed frames are used for trellises for vining plants. The wooden bench and table beside it incorporate metal wagon wheels and rims. The fire pit was constructed from an old tractor tire rim.









 







How Does My Garden Grow?
After last year's 100 degree temperatures in March, it is refreshing to have near normal temperatures this year. My vegetable and herbs have flourished.

Herb Bed

Basic

Cantelopes

First cantelope growing

Green beans & carrots

First radishes

Tomatoes

First lemon cucumber

Lemon cucumber vines

New lavender bed

How does your garden grow?

This year in North Texas, very well, thank you. We've always done a tomato bed (you can see pictures of previous years on older posts. I've also always had an herb bed. This year we decided to have a full garden. Bennie tilled, composted, tilled, added more stuff, tilled, etc. beginning late last summer. We planted green beans (my favorite vegetable), 4 kinds of squash, zucchini, yellow, butternut and acorn. I've never had butternut before, but Hungry Girl makes faux french fries from it & several people have said it is good. Cantelope, 2 kinds of cucumbers (one is something I've never heard of but thought I'd tried, a lemon cucumber, shaped & colored like a lemon), stevia, green bell peppers, radishes, carrots and okra. We've already eaten some of the smaller variety tomatos and most of the radishes. I picked a whole row of green beans yesterday (I have 3 rows). I have a new respect for people who pick vegetables for a living, by the time I got to the end of the row, my muscles were protesting. I also picked 10 zucchini yesterday. Last night I fixed garden fresh vegetables with dinner - YUM!!!

I know my friends in the northeast are going to be jealous of these pictures. I think most of them are just beginning to plant their gardens. I can't believe it isn't even June and we are already starting to harvest vegetables. It is amazing, once they started producing, it was just a matter of a couple of days until they were ready to pick.