just zip it

An upside down plastic milk crate makes a perfect seat for when I'm weeding the flower beds. It's easy to carry, easy to move, and when I'm finished, I can turn it over and gather up the weeds or use it to carry my tools.

The problem is...those crates are designed to hold 4 gallons of milk - about 34 pounds, and I weigh substantially more than that!

So my milk crate started cracking between the side and bottom. I was afraid I would get pinched in there, so I fixed it up with zip ties.

That worked for a while but then then another side started cracking.   I haven't tried putting more zip ties on it yet. I have other milk crates but this one still seems too good to throw away!

Anyway, there are a few things blooming around the yard.

Out front around our red maple a few hostas are bloomimg, and a yellow helianthis...

In the back porch border, the St Johns Wort (yellow) is beginning to bloom and Catmint (purple).

The shade bed is filling in and one of the hostas are blooming there too... 

 Here is a nice bright combination that I like...purple gladiolus and red crocosmia....

It's a huge clump of crocosmia... 

I am keeping my eye on  these wild blackberries growing right by the edge of our yard...

A few are ripe already.  They are small and seedy but still tasty!

It seems like blackberry picking always results in a lot of itchy chigger bites.  I'll have to decide if the berries look good enough to suffer through the bites!