An Old English Bulldog enjoying her backyard.

Pretty red tulips and happy yellow daffodils enjoying the morning sun.

Day lilies, peonies, mums, asters, and hollyhocks greening up.

Began the morning praying The Morning Office in the backyard and finished it cleaning out the front flower bed and fertilizing it. It's so good to be working in my garden again and seeing all of the new life greening up! #MidwestGardeners #GardenSky #amgardening

Spring is here. The orange tree is blooming. The scent is intoxicating. #amgardening. #romancelandia

Monthly goals check-in: August, September, and October It's a busy season! These are mostly things that refill my cup, so I remind myself that it's okay . . . I'll sleep later, you know?

I finally sat down and wrote a longer update, since I hadn't done one since August (oops). I'm still finding joyful activities that refill my cup, and promising myself that I'll sleep later. #amblogging #amgardening #travel #inspiration

What do you reckon? Better? Does it need a second coat. #amgardening #amdiying

Crappy old garden bench awaiting transformation at my hands. #amgardening

Photograph of a circular spider web at night in the author's tomato garden

One must be cautious when walking in the garden at night. Almost walked through this. #AmGardening 🌱

A photograph showing a garden with orderly rows of tomato plants

A photograph showing a tomato plant with several green tomatoes

A photograph showing several green Tomande hybrid tomatoes on the vine with a human hand shown for scale

A photograph showing a harvest basket with dill flower heads, a few cucumbers, various small tomatoes and a jalapeño pepper

I've been pruning my tomato plants regularly this year, in the hope that I can keep them somewhat under control. They're finally starting to ripen. Started harvesting today. #AmGardening 🌱

Lots of pain in my arms and legs today, so I have been resting in bed. Have suddenly remembered…I weeded the garden yesterday!

Even as I weeded, I *knew* I’d get payback later. But, even after twelve years of M.E. and fibro, post-exercise malaise catches me out?

#Spoonie #AmGardening

Seven weeks on and Starburst is still looking pretty. And more buds to come. Tough as old boots, she is! #amgardening

The Battle of the Bindweed 2025. It was lovely but two weeks away leads to this! A trugfull of weeds. And I’ve only just started. What hadn’t died of thirst, is being strangled to death. Is it worth going away in summer? Yes, of course. But honestly…! #amgardening #amweeding

So exciting! A butterfly was visiting the native perennial garden I planted in a bump-out around the corner from my house last time I went to water. I think it's a Silver Spotted Skipper!

#amgardening
#nativegardening
#nativebutterflies

A photograph of a small bunch of freshly harvested garlic flowers

A close-up photo showing garlic flowers, some burst open to show the bulbils inside

Today I harvested the garlic flowers that I allowed to go to maturity. The little bulbils inside will be planted this fall. Next spring I'll harvest the scapes, then dig up the small bulbs for re-planting the following fall. #AmGardening 🌱

Clematis in bloom!
When I planted this 'Princess Diana' clematis last spring, it only put out one or two blooms. But this year, nearly a dozen!

#amgardening

A photograph showing several freshly harvested garlic bulbs, stems and roots still attached, next to a small garden trowel, all atop a weedy section of lawn

A photograph showing several freshly harvested garlic bulbs, still attached to the stems and roots, one bulb being held by a human hand

I've been watching the leaves on the garlic since I harvested the scapes, and this afternoon I decided it was time to start harvesting the bulbs. Tomorrow I'll get the rest of them out of the ground. #AmGardening 🌱

A photograph of a hand holding a bunch of curly garlic scapes

There appears to be more garlic back here than I first thought. I left a dozen or so to flower and spread more seeds. I've never attempted garlic cultivation before today. 🌱 #AmGardening

A photograph showing a lawn in the background with a curling garlic scape getting ready to flower

A photograph of a small area of lawn with many garlic plants beginning to flower

I can't understand why we get a bat or two in the house each spring with so much garlic around.

Please note that we've lived here for three years and never planted any garlic. #AmGardening 🌱

A close-up of some yellow tomato flowers in the sun with green tomato plant leaves blurrier in the background. The bottom-most flower spot has a little lighter green ball peeking out from the green flower base.

One of my tomato plants has its first little babby tomato!!! #AmGardening

photograph of a back yard garden showing raised beds and tomato trellises

We're getting the garden ready for the seedlings that are in the grow tent. 🌱 #amgardening

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Freshly dug grave.

The problem of my husband leaving the gate open has been dealt with, Rick. You can delete his phone number.

#amgardening

Photograph of shelves with reflective insulation on three sides, grow lights above each shelf, and domed trays on some shelves

Photograph showing young plants growing under domes on two trays

Photograph showing a seed packet for hot pepper seeds, a plastic tag reading ‘pepper hot mix’, and a small plastic container with tiny seeds soaking in water

Photograph of a seedling tray with a plastic dome over it, small red and pink tags placed in each cell of the tray

Some plants are ready to go into small pots. We planted two more 72-cell trays tonight. Tomatoes, peppers (sweet and hot), beans, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, cantaloupe, and pumpkin. Writing out the tags is the tedious part. #AmGardening 🌱

a bouquet of homegrown tulips in vivid colors like orange, pink, and fuchsia, plus some yellow jonquils

I lack a good photo of yesterday's sunset, but my tulips are FIRE. #bloomscrolling #tulips #amgardening

I am trying to grow jalapeños but it’s been 2 weeks and my little seeds haven’t sprouted. ☹️ I just want something green to grow. #amGardening #okayAmKillingPlants

Monthly Goals Check-in: February and March Checking in for February and looking forward to March!

Checking in for February and looking forward to March! #goals #checkingin #amgardening #amwriting #amreading

A hand holding a green plastic colander mostly full of fresh red raspberries, against a backdrop of raspberry canes.

Raspberrypalooza has begun.
I harvested about 7kgs from my raspberry patch last year. Hoping to beat that this year. #amgardening #gardens

A photograph showing a dark green sugar baby watermelon next to a harvest basket that holds various tomatoes

A photograph showing many ripe grape tomatoes on the vine

Though still ill with the SARS-COV-2, I had to go harvest in the garden. A storm the other night left some broken stems. That sugar baby watermelon weighs in at 14.5 pounds. #AmGardening 🌱

Photograph of many ripe grape tomatoes still on the vine

Photograph of a harvest basket laden with many tomatoes of various kinds

I need to harvest more tomorrow. Tomatoes are wonderful! 🌱 #AmGardening

Photograph of a large mass of fruit-bearing tomato plants

Photograph of a basket containing freshly picked tomatoes of various types and one yellowish-purple Cajun Belle pepper

The volunteer tomato plants continue to provide delicious fruit. The Cajun Belle pepper was a nice addition. 🌱 #AmGardening

A photograph of a mass of tomato vines laden with ripening tomatoes

A photograph of a small harvesting basket with many tomatoes, large and tiny

I was sweating heavily while clipping tomato vines to the twine I have tied to the bars across the top of the garden. I have lots of fresh tomatoes to show for it. 🌱 #AmGardening

Tomatoes, beans, and serranos, oh my! 🌱 #AmGardening

A photograph of a garden plot filled with tomato plants

Last year we put in seventeen tomato plants.

This year we put in two tomato plants.

Those two aren't really visible here. These are all volunteers. 🌱 #AmGardening