The Phoenix !

We all rise from obstacles, inconveniences and ashes.  Dust ourselves off and get on with the process of living.  Having been a contractor for  over 35 years I know that huge messy jobs get divided into smaller more manageable tasks and get completed one obstacle at a time.  I emptied my studio, swept first, the floor and the walls and the ceiling.  Then vacuum , then mop, then paint.  Now already I am putting it back together.  I will reseal the floor but wait until everything is done.  I am going to empty my office, a 10'x10' room that over the years has become a "catch-all" , full floor to ceiling of things I might need!  I don't even know what is in here!
In the meantime I have power washed the outside, pulled two of the three blueberry plants out, radically trimming the remaining one which had some green leaves remaining.  The bamboo is also radically cut back but I am not worried about it.  Bamboo is difficult to kill.  Then I tilled up the soil and added about 6" of great compost based potting soil.  It is ready, like a blank canvas.  I radically cut back the Jasmine also and think it will live.  I removed two blueberries but am thinking I have room for three new plants!  So that will be a bonus.  I have wanted to improve the sprinkler system in this area for a long time so I did that too!  I made one huge truckload of debris to the recycle yard and that is where I picked up the compost potting soil.  It all looks "brand new"!  It will probably be a couple years before the new plants produce many berries.  The time to plant is in the Fall, October through March.  In the meantime I will plant a winter crop of broccoli there.  The ground with its perfect drainage will not go to waste.
I got a little welding job so I will now take a break from this clean up and have some fun.  Then I will attack this room, my office that has never been painted!  Then the shop itself.  It has been over two years since I have done that and bits and pieces accumulate, it seems as if by magic in the middle of the night!  I wonder what is in there?

Garden Palette

 Playing in my studio

 Lettuce in a planter, picked daily.

The "back porch", filtered sun and perfect for fuchsias!

Add caption

Nude for now but getting dressed. This is the main garden entry with the Trumpet Vine.

My garden is my biggest palette, where I put most of my effort, most of my energy and all my artistic talents are tested.  I plant early the things that can be planted early.  I have 70 flower pots each larger than five gallons and the early vegetable crops do well in them.  I plant peas in February followed shortly after with spinach and lettuce and chard, cabbage, then strawberries.  I wait until the weather is warmer and I can til my main garden area.  I measured it today,  it is 31' x 40' enough room for a lot of vegetables.  I will plant tomatoes, of course! and squash and carrots and beets, cabbage, peppers and some odd and ends.  I try something new each year but the focus is always on my tomatoes.  I have saved the seeds from the best tomatoes from last year and have a genealogy of tomatoes that go back almost 25 years.

The pool, looking toward the blueberries and my studio

This area has about 20 pots and a waterfall. The "Mural" is 1/2" concrete board.

New area this year, I have developed the area to the east of the greenhouse.

   My garden is divided into areas and is sometimes the same from year to year and sometimes totally different.  I have two garden entries, like a main arched entry and a servants entry, an area of blueberry plants, a sitting  area surrounded in potted flowers and the concrete slab between the greenhouse and the garden with its own 20 or so pots.  It takes about an hour each day to water these pots by hand and I enjoy that time to commune with them.  I like elevated gardens and have flower pots and planters as high as seven feet off the ground.  My elevated pots are on automatic watering systems and the others I do myself by hand.

Three varieties of blueberries about 6' tall.

I'll keep you updated on this area, it gets really pretty!

   Most of my flowers are the same:  wave petunias because they are spectacular.  I do have some others this year but couldn't tell you their names, just "pretty flowers" and a contrast from my usual.

Blueberries and pots on garden wall.

I haven't learned how to place the photos in the proper order to go with the story.  Anyway, my garden has begun and the weather forecast is nice for the next ten days!  Lots to do and plenty of time!