A Slice of Smith Life: Garden Challenge Link Up

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Garden Challenge Link Up

7:55 AM | Posted by asliceofsmithlife | Edit Post

I think I'm a tad bit late for this Garden Challenge Link Up because I did not link up last month, but better late than never right? Find out more about the Garden Challenge at the Homeschool Village. They will be hosting a monthly link-up where everyone can share what they are doing, planning and progress on their gardens and/or containers.

I have to admit that I do not have a green thumb and half the time I forget to water things so you could say I am "garden challenged":) Unlike my neighbor who knows ALL the names of plants and flowers in LATIN, I can't even remember the names of what I planted in English!

But, I must say since my 2 oldest cupcakes are currently taking a homeschool Junior Master Gardener class for 2 hours a week at a local arboretum, I have been more interested in overcoming my challenges because of their enthusiasm and interest.

So in our backyard we replanted our flower garden during our spring break from homeschooling last week. The original flower garden looked like this. The big butterfly bush in the center of our small flower garden should bloom soon during the summer. (My neighbor told me this AND the Latin name for it)

Here's an up close picture of the Camelot Rose Foxglove ("Digitalis purpurea 'Camelot rose') that my daughter picked out to plant that is on the far left of the above photo.

We planted these Feather flowers in containers by our front porch steps. My cupcakes call them Easter egg flowers since they reminded them of the shape of eggs.

We bought some hanging baskets to hang on some stands around our yard.

I also went to the Dollar Tree and picked up some cute garden decorations.

My in-laws started a vegetable garden and my cupcakes and I helped plant their garden a few weeks ago.

Here are my cupcakes with my father-in-law as he dug the holes for the tomato plants.

Here's my oldest daughter planting collards.

Row of radishes and cucumbers

I am on the right helping 2 of my daughters plant. What fun!

Here is my son and youngest daughter planting more collards.

We planted peppers, radishes, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, collards, and blueberries and next month I hope to give you an update on my in-laws garden with the Garden Challenge Link Up in May!

Then after we helped plant the vegetable garden, we headed across the street to my in-laws neighbor. He has lots of land and some furry and feathered friends on his property.

I've never seen or touched a baby donkey before, but this little fellow came right up to the fence for us to pet.

He was staring right at my youngest daughter! So cute!

Here I am with my 4 cupcakes petting our furry friend.

After we saw the baby donkey we checked out the chicken coop and each of my children were able to hold a chicken.

Our family would love to raise our own chickens since their eggs are so delicious. Does anyone have any resources to share on how to get started with raising chickens?

Please join Lynda, Anna-Marie, and myself at No Ordinary Blog Hop (NOBH). Click button below for details and to read some great blog posts that have already linked up!

Labels:butterfly garden,Garden Challenge,No Ordinary Blog Hop

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great gardening pics! The baby donkey is too cute!!

April 30, 2011 at 9:59 AM

The Adventurer said...

I want to raise chickens:) since we chicken sit our neighbors chickens whenever they go out of town:) Looks like your house is getting all prettied up for spring. Princess thinks I haven't got enough flowers in our garden. I don't want to put the money out for flowers since we live in a rental. Whereas vegetable we can eat:) Looks like your FIL has a lovely garden:) Glad you were able to help him out with the planting

April 30, 2011 at 12:36 PM

Zonnah said...

Your flowers are beautiful! We got to pet a baby donkey for the first time last week as well! It was really friendly and cute :)

April 30, 2011 at 1:07 PM

Jess said...

Love the flower garden! Looks like everyone had a great time helping to plant the vegetable garden too. I have a "black thumb" but when it comes to house plants but we still manage to get some decent veggies out of our vegetable garden.

You can check out communitychickens(dot)com - they have a lot of resources on raising backyard chickens. I've been looking into it too but I haven't been able to convince the hubby yet.

May 1, 2011 at 7:44 AM

asliceofsmithlife said...

Hi Robin!
Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting! :) The baby donkey was adorable and so friendly! The Momma didn't seem to mind our presence either!

May 4, 2011 at 2:29 PM

asliceofsmithlife said...

Hi Anna-Marie!
That's funny to hear you chicken sit :) but what a great way to enjoy them without having to raise them. Do you get eggs from them that your neighbors give to you? Flowers are expensive and since I am good at killing them (not on purpose) it's hard to justify spending so much money on them :) I hope to go back to my in-laws soon and take updated pics!

May 4, 2011 at 2:32 PM

asliceofsmithlife said...

Thanks Zonnah for you comment and visit! That's neat that you were able to pet a baby donkey also :)

May 4, 2011 at 2:33 PM

asliceofsmithlife said...

Hi Jess,
Thanks for the resource about the chickens. I'll have to look into that! Thanks for your visit and comment!

May 4, 2011 at 2:33 PM