Ahhh.....finally back to the easel, and WHY the garden kept me away!

This painting is called "Light Coming Through", and I finally finished it today.

12 x 9 pastel

OK, so WHERE have I been?????  For those of you who like to garden, continue on....otherwise you can skip the rest!

We moved into this house last summer and the basic landscaping was put in last November, right before winter.  Spring was good to us here in the high desert, and one must act quickly to put in a vegetable garden since the growing season is short.

strawberries, then tomatoes and beans, and  lettuce at the end

The landscaper built three cedar raised beds for me.  The paving people had a pallet of left-over pavers and blocks right in the middle of my garden area.  So, I built them into 4 more raised beds!

my paver raised beds:  peppers and basil, onion box, mint box, then rosemary and thyme

I bought a cold frame so I could keep small pots of vegetables in there and also start some from seed.  When the danger of frost was over, I planted them all in these beds.  We are already enjoying our own lettuce!!!!

I also planted some flowers, and some had to be protected from cottontail bunnies and marmots.

wire baskets protect from munching bunnies

We added chicken wire along the fence to keep the bunnies out, and then used a live trap to catch them so we could relocate them to a distant field.

There were still more pavers which I wheel barrowed over to the back of the yard where there is a hillside.  I made stepping stones so we can reach the other side of the yard for maintenance.

Stepping stones lead from lawn to bird feeders and along to then end of the yard

There were many cute garden things like chimes, bells, hummingbird feeders and garden furniture to get out of storage and set up in and around the pergola.

The pergola with bells hanging

There were problems with flooding in our yard due to the lawn outside our yard (owned by the neighborhood association), and for two weeks I was calling them after hours and getting them to fix the problem.  Finally, after two weeks, they fixed it!

We had problems with my drip lines for my vegetable garden.  They kept bursting off and shooting water everywhere.  It took a week to get my own landscaper to discover the pressure reducer on that valve was faulty and replace it.

It was also time for home warranty repairs, and I spent one day with plumbers, electricians, caulking, landscapers, etc.

red leaf lettuce, spinach, romaine, arugula, parsely and sage

Well, there you have it!  I'm planning on spending less time in the garden now - and more time eating it!  AND, of course, more time painting!