Is it really a weed?

I have this little flower garden.  It has some Flox and some Dianthis and some Allysum.  

In previous years, its had Petunias or Vinca flowers. 

Randomly, this year a few purple-violet Pansies appeared.  There has never been Pansies in that bed before. Head-scratcher.

Now, I know these are cold weather flowers.  I thought that I would put my new Dianthis in and once the weather was consistently over 80 degrees, they would die and  would pluck them out.  And given they are the color that I really wanted to do in that bed, it couldn't do any harm, right?

Well, a few months of consistently nearly 90 degrees and guess what?

 It's not 3 little buds. 

It's this explosion!

So, I've left them.  Even though, technically, they are a weed. 

Guest Blogging for Mommas Kinda Crafty - Rock Water Feature

I am super excited to be able to guest post today! My name is Allie and I like to make stuff. I like to craft and bake and I love to sew. I love to sew so much that I received a degree in sewing! I also like warm weather and living in the Chicago-land area, I relish the summer-time. Especially since we only get about 3 months of nice weather!

With that said, I like to so lots of gardening. Lately, I have been more adventurous than just simply installing a ready-made fountain with a submersible pump. We have this fabulous place in our area called AquaScape. They have all sorts of things for people who want to put water-scapes in their yards and businesses. Last time I was there, I saw this lovely water feature in (over) a bucket. They had pre-drilled the rocks to fit the parts through. All you had to do was add water basically. But at over $100, it was out of my reach. So, I decided to fashion one myself. And guess what!? It was SUPER easy! It produces a very natural spring-like look and a wonderful soothing water sound. I am glad we tried it.

Want to make one?

 Here is what you will need:

5 gallon bucket

Shovel

Small grate chicken wire

Tin snips

Gloves

Rocks ranging from pebble to football size

Submersible pump

Tubing to fit pump hole

Dig a hole deep enough for your 5 gallon bucket to sit a few inches below the level of the ground.

Attach your hose to your submersible pump

You can put your pump into an old nylon stocking to act as a filter to keep debris from entering the pump and clogging it.

Put something heavy (a large rock) over your pump to keep it from floating up.

With a pair of safety gloves and your tin snips, cut a hole into the middle of your chicken wire and thread the end of the hose through. The chicken wire should now be flat to the ground and the hose should not have any kinks or bends within the bucket.

Cover the edges of your chicken wire with dirt, but keep it enough away from the edge of the bucket. Try not to get dirt into your bucket.

Start to pile the larger of your rocks around the hose. You may have to arrange and rearrange these until you get something that looks right, hides your hose and is stable. Or, you could drill through the center of a few of your larger rocks and feed the hose through. I was not in the mood to get the drill out and this works nicely, so, no drill on this one for me.

When you feel you have it just how you like it, cut the hose as close as you can to the top of your rocks.

Fill your bucket at least half way, enough to cover your pump. Then plug in the pump and make sure the rocks spill the water back into the bucket. If they don’t rearrange them until they do. You just need to make sure the pump stays submersed in water.

Add some river rocks

Depending on the size and the flow adjuster on your pump, you can have more or less water pressure.

Pretty easy, right? It was fun to do! I hope you give it a try.

I would like to thank Joy for letting me guest post for her! And hope you all come visit my blog, as well. You can find my other fun crafts like:

Freezer-Pop Cozy

Mom and daughter fashions

Lots of t-shirt refashions

Baking

And lots of other crafty things!

You can find me at AllieMakes.blogspot.com. Drop me a line! I would love to hear from you!

The Weekend. It's a Start

Well, yesterday, I seasoned up a pork butt (which is actually a shoulder cut, but I didn't make up the name...) with a marinade and sent it to the fridge to tenderize the meat. And then started outside to work on the front flower bed closest to the front doorway. This has become my project in the summer ever since I got a little too ambitious and decided to eliminate the icky witchy-prickly creepy stuff. I don't recall what it is called. All I know is that it took days because the roots were like a tangled web and about 3 inches in diameter in lots of spots. And I still come upon some of it in different places each summer. This year was no different, except this year there were mushrooms growing on the piece of root that hat worked its way up 12 inches to the surface. I will be a neurotic mess if it makes its way out and starts to bud...

But I digress. Each year we watch the Azalea plant bloom and fade very quickly and then get the bug to plant the area with lots of color. This usually leads to Annuals. This is usually very time consuming. But the color payoff is beautiful. But its also kind of expensive. So, a couple of summers ago, I decided to put some dianthus in. What I didn't notice, was that I actually grabbed the perennial dianthus instead of the annual. So the next summer it came back bigger and better. So, I divided it and it flourished even more! We decided that we would add more perennials to the existing flowers this year and divide and replant until it looked like we wanted. This would save us both time and money.

This year, the great growing dianthus has exploded. And gotten thick and tangled and LEGGY! Ugh. Well, it had to be done so I set out to do it. Ugh. Can't I play in the sprinkler with AuBrynne? She's having A LOT of fun. And on this 92 degree day, I'm actually breaking a sweat. This is rare for me. I'm the lucky one in the family... Ask me later... I actually got ALL of the old dead dry stuff removed and the bed was ready to be divided and planted. But I got a nice reprieve when the baby told me she was shutting off the water, and that it was time to go inside -we did. Three hours later.

So, today, I popped the meat in the oven for a few hours and went to finish the planting. Eegads! The temp seems hotter today! And given that it's the Chicagoland area, its really humid too. But I got everything divided and planted. In a few weeks, all of the dianthus will spring back and bloom again. I can't wait!  Now, the other 90% of the yard...

And I got the fountain going. Yay! Me... See, I don't need my little brother to do it...

And my mother even got into it and did the bed that surrounds the mailbox.  It looks great!

 

And I even had enough energy to make the barbecue sauce and some fresh cole slaw too!  It was pretty yummy!  And it was all soy free! Gotta love when your food doesn't make you sick.  You just have to make every  bit of it yourself. This is not a new concept to me, just reminding myself how satisfying it is to help me to be happy about doing it all again... Anyways It was a good weekend.