Playing outside

Our last house was in a rural area, but the area was so heavily wooded that I could barely get a few cherry tomatoes to grow on the deck, and bell peppers would rot out before they ripened.  Our new house is in the city and our back yard is open and receives lots of sun.  With the nice weather finally here and staying, I've been really excited to try growing things and composting again.  Just about everything seems to be doing well, though there has been, and will be, a learning curve.  I guess I don't have a black thumb after all.  I just didn't have the right conditions to do what I wanted.

The first group of photos are the Asiatic Lilies that I had planted last year.  These survived the move to the new house and actually grew back this year.  The other two plants that were in this planter box didn't make it.  The pink and white Lilies look tropical, and the yellow Lilies seem so bright and happy.

We've bought some pineapples this year, and thought we should attempt to grow our own pineapple plants from the tops.  We started growing roots on five tops, but the center of the plant where the new leaves grow became moldy on one of the plants, and was hollow on another.  These three rooted and are doing well outside.  I'll bring them back in the house in the Fall.  We'll see if they actually flower in a few years.

We found a great price on this rain barrel at Lowe's earlier this year.  We don't live in an arid area, so I think most of these plants would be fine without much effort on my part, but it seems silly to me to let all of our precipitation go to waste and end up using city water for my plants and compost during any long hot and dry spells this summer.  The barrel has been staying pretty full, even with regular use.  The plants on top seem pretty happy with their arrangement.

Did you spot the photobomb in the last picture?  Chewie wanted to say hi.

We planted three blueberry bushes in some planter boxes Lee made this year.  The one on the left and the one on the right are the same breed.  The center plant is a different breed for cross-pollination.  The bush on the left has been struggling, but it seems to be coming back to life.  The middle plant is probably the youngest, and it's quite small, but it has some gorgeous looking berries growing.  The one on the right has been growing quickly, and it has lots of berries too.

This plant was here when we bought the house.  We were planning on pulling it out as Lee's parents want the oak tree that's growing through it, but there are berries growing and ripening on it.  Any idea what kind of plant this is?

We were given this hanging basket during the spring, and had it hanging in the front yard for a while, but it was dying out.  I moved it to the back yard to get lots of sun and watered it well.  It seems like every day there's a new color coming back out.  It started with leaves growing off of some dried up looking branches, then the purple flowers came out.  The red flowers came next, and now there are yellow flowers sprouting.  The center still looks a bit bare, but it's on its way back to it's original state.

At our old house, we had a small round trash can with a lid that had holes drilled through it as a compost bin.  It worked pretty well, but was challenging to mix.  Lee and I looked online for different types of compost bins to try this time, and came up with a plan for one with interlocking boards.  This way the bin size can be scaled based on our needs.  This bin's compost will be used next year for the blueberry bushes and any other foods that I grow.  This bin is filled with food scraps, compostable household items (like paper towels and toilet paper rolls), lawn clippings, and sawdust.  We also have a bin near Chewie's section of the yard that will be used to fertilize the flowers.  That bin has her waste, lawn clippings, and sawdust.