What's this?

We had a visitor today!
Yertle stopped by for a peek at my garden.

For the last several years my outside gardening efforts have been grim. Lots of excuses really.
I blamed it on the weather when spring was too wet or too cold to get started before June.

Or the old tiller that I couldn't start by myself and was hard to control when it would start.

Or insects destroyed what they could and drought got the rest. And WEEDS. They had a way of taking over by the end of July no matter how diligently I started out at the beginning of the season.

But this year is different. RAISED BEDS!! Some of them were built deep enough to act as a cold frame and grow things by late April under glass, using recycled windows. So while some in Maine had to start their gardens over in June because of the rainy season that seems to have settled in this year, we were eating fresh spinach and carrot tops are a foot tall.

And bragging how high the peas were - even though I hate peas! Who knew garden peas make such pretty flowers, by the way? Planning on eating pods, but I'm still not eating yucky peas.

Starting last October I began to dig 4 X 6 foot holes in the lawn - 3 feet deep. It's a side lawn that's never really used, but mowed so the place doesn't go back to weeds. I sifted all of the dirt so no rocks bigger than a marble went back in and built all of the boxes myself. Has the look of an 11 plot cemetery going on that must look strange to low flying aircraft! When Tom asked what was planted in "this one" I suggested it was my other husband. He's been keeping the rows mowed real well for me. :)

Learned from a few mistakes how to make it better next year. And the bird boxes in the middle of the garden may not have been the smartest idea but they were there before I started.
A family of swallows are still renting the box above. I call her Grace.

And the family of CHICKADEES that were in the other one have flown away. I never knew chickadees built nest in a bird box until I saw it for my own eyes.