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For the first time in my life, I'm going to have a big flower garden! I'm really excited and would like to share my adventure, so I'm going to write about my experience as it unfolds, beginning with a bit of history in this article—let's just say I I

With the success of my front garden and metal feed trough planter, I began thinking about how nice it would be to have a large garden where I could plant many kinds of flowers. I realized that we already had the perfect spot, it just needed some work to

Even though I'd pulled all the weeds out, I still had a lot of work to do before I could plant seeds, but I was now a juggernaut of excitement because my dream was going to come true!

One of the most exciting parts of a new flower garden is selecting and planting all of the different bulbs and seeds. As you'll see, I went completely bonkers with all of the choices available!

This is my master list of the flowers and bulbs I planted this year. I may add a sorted version below this one to identify which are annuals, biennials and perennials. I need to keep track of what species germinated (and how many?), which seem

This beautiful seedling is a King Henry Hollyhock! There are 6 other seedlings and since I took this picture, each is showing off their second set of leaves. (I also have a section of Black Hollyhocks. Only one has sprouted so I will be

My husband is an amazing cook and he loves to have fresh herbs when possible. I thought to myself, "How hard could it be to make some room for an herb garden?"

There are new kids showing their faces, and the seedlings that popped up first are getting a lot bigger!

This adorable but detrimental ground squirrel is drinking water out of one of the dishes we put out for the birds. Raised Bed Garden, 1 Month Update: The Bad (and the sad) When I was preparing my raised bed, I discovered that many ground squirrel

The bugs and critters have discovered my seedlings and they are laying waste to many of my precious little ones!

Steve and I have wanted to grow pumpkins and gourds ever since we moved to southern Oregon, but something always got in the way. This year I finally got started at the right time and with Steve's help, we have a pumpkin patch!

Maybe the only way to get rid of these ants is to blow up the house...

Despite the attacks from insects and ground squirrels, my raised bed garden has flourished and is an Eden-oasis in the middle of our bone-dry property!

The vertical pumpkin patch is a success and I am slowly training the vines up the trellis that Steve made for me!