SharivilleLife stories from Shari

I used to call the garden ” my garden”, I can no longer do that , as Jerry has pretty much taken over in my absence, for the last 5 yrs.  It seems medical problems have kept me more or less housebound for these past yrs.  That’s about to end.  I will be back out in the garden in the fall. I have so missed it.  Prior to that everything done out there was done together.

I woke up this morning to the sound of hoeing under my bedroom window.  Jerry was out there clearing the weeds out of my wonderful row of lavender.  He also got rid of the Morning Glories around the tomatoes.  We have a big yard area with lots of things planted.  We also have a huge empty acrage where we took out the almond orchard.  Jerry keeps is disced and mowed , fire hazzared and snake problems otherwise.  One year when I talked him out of mowing the field, feeling that my wildlife and birds, Quail and Pheasants, rabbits etc. would prefer the grass land we killed no less than 8 rattlesmakes, of all sizes.  Therefore,  No more grass lands.

Jerry is very fond of his tractor and mower and disc.  I never knew anyone so happy to be out there mowing or just moving around mounds of garden brush.  He spends countless hours just pushing bush around  out there.  I think he likes this because  it reminds him of the old row cropping days.  Every spring and summer we go thru the same thing, I say “Oh dont burn that pile,  its spring and the birds need it for nesting and nesting material. ” In the fall its the same thing ,” Oh dont burn that pile, the birds need it for winter protection. ” And so on and on it goes, and the piles just get bigger and bigger.  We have lots and lots of bird feeders, they take care of my garden, for sure.  And then there’s the Hummingbirds, Jerry is very factidious about keeping them in sugar water. Jerry is very fond of the Hummers. We spend a fortune on bird seed, I use only the quality seed, otherwise the birds just toss out the cheap stuff.  I have some wonderful ground feeders, I have a huge covey of Quail.  They are so much fun to watch out my bedroom window.  Sometime look up why they are called a covey.  They are beautiful fun little creatures.

Awhile back I took a precarious walk around the yard, it was a beautiful day and all kinds of plants and flowers were in bloom. We have every kind of fruit tree, including Pomagranite and  Persimmon.  We have 3 cherry trees, never see the friut from those tho, we planted them to close to the Redwoods and the birds take advantage. In younger days I picked the plums, I have 4 varieties, and made jelly, maybe someday I will get back to that.

We have a glorious Blue Spruce, which we are very proud of.  Love, love Blue Spruces.  We have the most lovely Betty Boop rose bush, like no one else, by the pump house.  The pink carpet roses are beginning to bloom all along the driveway, they are stunning when in full bloom.  Of course there is a Kitchy part of MY garden, where I have an old footed bathtub an old toilet and lots of garden art, like the precious pink flamingo that Tommy gave me awhile back.  It just got home this year, brought back in our trailer.  The banana tree is still recovering from a very cold winter, also got our avacado tree, not sure if it will recover.  Got most of my lime and pink lemonade tree.  If they recover at all they are really set back.  We have several bird baths, because of our huge bird population.  Teddy knows just where to get a drink and wash his feet.  Im really sure the birds appreciate that. Twelve yrs ago a neighbor donated his palm tree to us and it has grown from 3 feet to  30 ft.  It’s lovely, we have a couple of Mexican Palms to flank it.  I have lavender and believe one cannot have enough lavender or Japanees Maples.  We have several. .I have a fondness for roses, not so with Jerry,  he is constantly being attacked by them.  I have two precious Josephes Coat climber roeses,  and several other rose bushes.  I will be planting more soon, in a sunnier area. The play house for the grand daughters, who have long out grown it will be our new Garden Shed. Its all finished inside and even has a ceiling fan.  I just have to change the paint color inside, take out all the toys, some antique, I will save for Felecia’s little ones someday.  Jerrys old high chair is out there, generously given back to Jerry by his daughter, Debra.  It has raised two grand daughters at our table.  I have pictures of Felecia and then yrs later of Sarah eating in it at our table.  Jerry is proud of that chair.

Well that about wraps up my garden tour of our garden and thank Jerry with all my heart for keeping it all going until I can get out there and help him again. He has really become a serious gardener and is proud of his yard.  Make no mistake our place is not a show place, its very rustic and bird friendly, we stll do have fox tails and Johnson grass, but not a much.  We are completely organic, mybirds take care of the bugs, you can eat the fruit and vegies right off the trees and bushes.  That we are proud of.    Well more later……………..Hugs S and J………….PS, Teddy showing off his credentials.