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Dear old man winter,
I am wondering where you are and what happened to all the moisture we were getting, fall happened and you are nowhere to be seen.
I had hubby move the snow blower into the garage from storage and now nothing. Not even a little flake here or there.
It seems as though you have let fall has go on and on, as today the high was in the upper 50s. This is Nebraska! It is supposed to be brutally cold and windy this time of year.
The squirrels are acting as though it will not snow. I saw them burying the nuts in the grass! I hope they remember those are there or I will be really angry come spring and I have a thousand little acorn sprouts in my backyard!
Missing you and hoping you will come visit soon.
kohoutjm
So, on the way to a shopping outing with my mom yesterday, My car just veered into the nursery! How did that happen??? Well, they had all their mums on sale. I love that mums are perennial, but are sold as annuals. Several years ago, I made a habit of buying discounted mums and had such a nice show of color with them every year. Those have since gone and I decided this year - it is time to start that again. So, I picked up 3 small yellow ones for only $1 a piece and 1 HUGE white one for $2.50. It will be fun to see if they come back next year.
I think I may have to check the other nursery tomorrow to see what else is on sale!
Well this morning was a sure sign in the changing seasons. Harley my little fly and spider catcher (he is the black cat) had something eyed this morning by the back patio door. So I get up just in case it was a spider and got down on my hands and knees and was looking in every crack and corner when all of the sudden out runs a mouse...after I screamed the chase was on.
I am not afraid of mice but when they run right at me unexpected I do scream a bit. We chased that mouse from the dining room to the living room...back to the dining room...back to the living room. Behind the couch then, behind the chair. Then over to the computer deck...back to the chair. I was laughing so hard I was not much help. Broom in my right hand and the cat on the left side of me it was a treat.
He runs back under the computer stand and I am thinking AH-HA bad mistake mister mouse. I am one one side and Harley is waiting on the other side. I take the broom poke at it and off it runs right towards Harley...and right between his legs and into the furnace room. LOL Mister Mouse won that round. But Harley sat at that door for 2 hours before giving up and going to take a nap.
Round one goes to the mouse....but round two I have a feeling Harley will win!
If the trap does not get it first!
Fall has finally hit! We are wearing our sweaters and visiting the pumpkin patch. I just love this time of year! Every weekend with weed-eater in hand, I tidy up a bit more of the garden in the countdown for the winter slumber. Last weekend, I had a bit more fun with my weed-eater:
I was considering doing this in the front yard - but my hubby may just crawl in the hole of crazy wife embarrassment :)
HAPPY FALL!
Cooler mornings... some leaves starting to turn and fall...not as many hummers still a few hanging around getting their bellies full. Seeing many Monarch caterpillars in the back meadow all over the milkweed. Still a few hummingbird moth caterpillars on the honeysuckle but most have headed for the ground to make their winter homes.
Starting to see more spiders in the meadow now instead of butterflies. A lot more bees, wasps, and hornets. The thistle flowers are gone so now they are fighting for what is left...a few small bunches of some sort of yellow wildflower. A few still seem to find my roses and butterfly bushes.
The birds are still pretty active and keeping to their routine. Chipmunks are still sneaking food from the feeders when their little seed bowl is empty. Saw a squirrel yesterday the second one this year. Odd you would think I would have a ton of them but I hardly ever see one.
So the signs are here they have arrived Fall is almost here!
First 2 photos Taken from my front yard view across the road.
Taken from my back yard view of one part of the back meadow.
I just love it! The air is cooling off - no longer highs near 100, the highs are closer to 90 now. The leaves are beginning just to turn and some are falling. The cooler nights and days have lead to slower growth of grass and weeds, so the routine maintenance has slowed down a bit. I have started doing some fall clean-up projects. I pulled out the summer veggie plants - that, I might add really were a total disappointment. Perhaps I will have better luck with my fall garden. i will put seeds out for that in the next couple of weeks. I am also starting to clean up spent perennials and foliage, as well as keeping up with the watering. In the next week or so, I plan to go purchase some ammendments to begin top-dressing the beds. Here are some pictures of fall, etc...around my garden:
Before we know it, we will all be picking pumpkins and planting mums!
It has been extremely hot here, just like everywhere over the past month. We did have a nice rain last night that cooled things off a bit today. So, I decided to get out in the garden and take some photos of the early signs of fall in the mid-August garden.
We begin our tour with a view of the front as you come up the walk:
As you walk around you will see to your left, the bed with some nice fall color:
Then to your right you will find the Red Bud with all of its seedpods:
Mo
st people find these to be a nuisance - and they really can be when they sprout all their babies, but they do provide a nice contrast of colors for the early fall garden:
Then
we walk around to the back to see some more early fall showers:
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The
n we head back to the veggie garden where we are finally starting to get some ripe heirlooms!
Also some nice color in the veggie beds with the purple basil and the new marigolds:
T
he creek greets us behind the veggie beds, where we can see lots of weeds, but some very happy elephant ears:
Then we curve back around to make our way back inside and spot some petasites that doesn't seem to mind the heat:
As well as some nice fall color with the japanese blood grass:
I make my way back to the house to find all three dogs wondering if it is time to go back inside where there is no humidity!
We
head back in for a little blogging break - now, back out there to mow the lawn :)
Happy gardening weekend everyone!
-soapHOUSE
Successes:
Hydrangeas: I have been adding to, transplanting and babying my collection of hydrangeas over the past couple of years and this year I really started to see their potential and envision what they will be given a few more years.
Cast Iron Plants: Same as above, except I tried something a
bit different and watered the tar out of them this season so that I hopefully
wouldn’t have to watch their tips brown like they always do – it worked! They
are still lush and green and make me smile. All the extra water prompted a
mystery canna to spring up out of the ground near one of these – so weird…I will
move him to a sunny spot in the fall.
Caladiums: Tried growing these from discounted bulbs and they have worked beautifully – I suppose I will go to the trouble of digging them this winter and try putting them back out next spring…
Here is a shot, from a distance, of the bed where the above mentioned plants are:
Mountain Oats Grass, Salvia, Sedums and new Butterfly Bush are all filling in nicely and making my sun bed lush:
The lawn in the front: Only my check book can take credit for this one, but I am so happy to have a nice fluffy lawn – the brown spot is where we are still waiting for the Bermuda to fill in. The guy that comes and fertilizes it does a great job!
Ichiban Eggplants: They are a proven winner for us. We love them and they are always reliable. May try to grow the striped variety from seed next year – they are just so pretty.
White Eggplant: LOVE these, wish I had planted more than one plant.
Yellow Crook-neck Squash: Finally grew squash successfully and we have really enjoyed it!
Cucumbers: My first year growing them – hubby hates them. BUT, guess what – he likes them now!
Bush Beans: So easy and fun.
Edamame: Even easier than bush beans – want more of these next year.
Marigolds: Put in a new double variety from seed this year
and they are so pretty – they almost look like carnations. I am wondering if
they will self seed like my single variety…
Failures:
Blue Cypress: The two that went on either side of the drive totally bit the dust – It was a rapid death at that! I think for 2 reasons – that area gets full sun ALL day long, with no shadows and I planted them about one week later than I really should have – but hey – they were on sale!
Weeping Pussy Willow: We moved him a bit late in the season and the prognosis is not good – but I will wait until spring to officially declare his death.
Fern Spray Cypress: Suffered quite a bit of brown out and I
finally couldn’t’ stand to look at it any more, so I pulled it out. Plus, I got
him for free, so not too big of a deal – I will try again next season.
Tomatoes: Well, between the Chihuahua, the squirrels and the fact that I only planted heirlooms – we have yet to have a ripe tomato! ARG! I suppose I can’t say for sure that they are failures and I am sure I will be jumping for joy when I am eating garden fresh tomatoes on Thanksgiving! BUT, I want some now :( So, next year I will be planting some hybrids as well.
Jalapeno Peppers: I think I just didn’t give them enough room this year and they got crowded out by one of the aforementioned tomatoes….
Artichokes: Maybe b/c we had such a hard winter, they never came back this year – I will try again.
Yet to be determined:
My late plantings of white patty pan squash, zinnias and purple pole beans. They are all looking good, but I have yet to see if they will produce anything in time.
Other things I have learned this season:
And my aspirations for fall:
Speaking of fall veggies, maybe I should pull out some of those “failures” and replace with something new and more hopeful! Stay cool everyone!
-soaphouse
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
- John Muir
We don't get any trick-or-treaters on our street, and that's a part of Halloween that I always looked forward to when we lived in the city. So we are throwing the grandkids and some of their friends a Halloween party at our place. The party starts at 12:30. We've got three 2yr olds and two 3 1/2 year olds so I can't make it too spooky. I've been planning for weeks now enjoying the anticipation of the whole thing. I've bought some cute trick-or-treat bags that look like pumpkins and have stuffed them with goodies, coloring books and crayons. So the first thing they'll get to do is "pick" their pumpkins out of our pitiful patch and then I think we'll eat lunch. I'm sure they'll be hungry. Lunch will consist of "spooky" sandwiches cut out in the shapes of pumpkins, cats and haunted houses, monster smiles (made out of green apples and peanut butter), green goo punch, stuffed eggs and a cupcake or two as well as usual garbage you have at a Halloween party. After lunch they can carve their pumpkins. Then we are going to have a trick-or-treat hunt in the back yard. I've bought several bags of those little plastic pumpkins and I'm going to stuff them with candy and hide them in the yard for the kids to find. Then I've also got two crafts for them to do. One is a bat puppet that you make out of a lunch bag and the other is a little bat you make with a cardboard toilet paper roll. Finally we will have story time. I've got several great Halloween books, but my favorite is The Monster's Test by Bryan J. Heinz. The pictures are phenomenal and the artist's name is Sal Murdocca. I also have Little Witches Big Night which is okay but not as nice as Heinzs' book. I guess I'll have to make a trip to the local library or thrift store to find a few more treasures. I figure after I fill them up with sugar I'll send them home...LOL :o)
I've been puttering around in the yard today getting ready for fall. You know raking all the leaves into the flower beds. Ironic isn't it? We spend most of the year trying to keep them out of the flowerbeds, but now we're pushing them back in. Well, when I took a break and took the dog for a walk here is a pic I clicked with my cell phone. It looks like there's a little autumn color on my street after all. The leaves are finally starting to change in ALL of the trees, and that means that the days are getting shorter. My days just seem to fly by now. It seems there's almost as much night as there is day. It's still cool up here in the evenings but we are back to long sleeves instead of jackets. It's been in the low 40's high 30's. My pumpkins are dying a slow death I'm afraid. I don't think they'll make it until the 26th, but I'm out there watering and feeding just the same. I guess I'm just a sucker for lost causes. I've gotten out the Halloween decorations and will probably go all out and really decorate the inside of the house and the back yard in a few days. I'll be sure to post pictures. Oh, I almost forgot I put a lot of pictures of the local mountains changing color in my Autumn 2009 photo album. Take a peek. Now I realize we don't get the flaming beauties you guys in the midwest or east do but it's downright gorgeous for Southern California.
I've given up on the flower beds. They will live till they die I guess. My pumpkins in the garden are starting to turn orange. The kids are excited to start stabbing at them. The concept of holding out until Halloween is completely lost on them. Jack o' Lanterns are year round you know.
I'm kind of hoping for 1 ear of corn before summer is done. I'm more than a little dissapointed that the 6 rows of sweet corn we planted is green, tall and very, very naked.
My poor apple trees are trying to hold up under the weight of all those apples. The Greening is a bit suicidal. Last year it was so heavy it actually split right down to the ground and 1/4 of its trunk is now gone. This year we actually trimed away a few branches and strapped the trunk together in hopes of convincing it that life is not so bad and it really isnt worth it. If it eventually does manage to kill itself, I can at least say it was a great tree... a real overachiever. I may bury a few prozac around the roots and see if that helps.
Anyway, As I said, I've been busy. Unfortunately, none of my new stuff has to do with outside-though you could say it does promote cooking what you harvest? Well, anyway...
Its a wine bottle display. I kind of like how these turned out.
These grapes were so darned nice...I may add some to the next wine rack below...
Maybe a cluster of grapes at each leaf thing...Oh, and this was an experiment, but I think it turned out good enough to try again. Its a pumpkin :)
Time for my end of summer update! I am ready for fall and have been thinking back on yet another growing season - successes and failures.
Durin
g July and August, we enjoyed many harvests from our garden and spent the rest of the time inside and out of the heat. The girls are growing up fast and keeping us super busy! They are both getting into helping mommy in the garden and we have discoverd that the little one LOVES getting dirty! Her favorite place this summer has been smack in the middle of the tomato bed, picking them right off the plant and smooshing them all over her face!
We planted 9 varieties of tomatoes, 10 basil plants and 4 eggplants.
Here is a nice shot of some of the results:
It was great fun to try so many different varietes! Our favorites were the heirloom tomatoes, of course; and the japanese eggplants. We have had so much, that we have also been doing some different methods of preservation for use through the winter. I have dehydrated tomatoes, eggplants and figs. I am excited to use the dehydrated eggplants to make pasta sauces and babagunish (sp?) I also pureed tomatoes in the blender and put them in ice cube trays to freeze for making sauces later. I also did a pesto with 5 varieties of basil that I froze in ice cube trays too - now all of our ice tastes like basil!- HAH!
Funny thing about the veggies; I always plant more than I should of every seed and it is just survival of the fittest. Well, this year, I put in a few different kinds of bean seeds and then forgot which kinds i put in - until a few months later, noticed that what had won out was the "yard bean":
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em>
So bizarre! and actually not that tastey...but fun and the kids thought they made great necklaces!
Next year, I will give more thought to the beans...we did miss having them this year.
SO..here is the list:
Successes:
Heirloom tomatoes, will plant more varieties next year, perhaps will order some plants online for even more variety.
Cherry tomoates, love them...will only plant one plant next year....we had way more than we knew what do do with.
Artichokes, they germinated successfully and I am looking forward to them producing in seasons to come.
Asparagus, continues to do very well and next year, we should be able to harvest continually throughout the season.
Sunflowers, the "king kong" did great and next year, I may devote 1 entire bed to just sunflowers...I would like some for cutting.
Nastursums, did great. I just love them and they are so pretty!
Failures:
Green Eggplant, it did well, but is quite prickly and tough...not all that tasty.
Beans, need to give them more thought...missed having big harvests of them this year.
Wished I had planted:
Cucumbers: hubby hates them, but they are so easy and I love em'
Carrots: the kids would have had fun with them,and they are super easy too!
Squash: I always have trouble with them, but I am always trying some weird variety, so next year I will plant to standby summer squash and hope for the best. These will be great to pre-cook and freeze too!
For the Fall Garden:
Poppies: I put out some in the spring, but still dont have any signs...will try again (i don't know why I can't seem to get these going to save my live-they are suuposed to be easy!)
Spinach
Sugar snaps
Lettuce
Cabbage: I have never tried growing this, but I think it will be fun.
Parsley
Brussel Sprouts
Garlic - have always wanted to try this
The rest of the garden has been just truckin along. It is nice that we are somewhat out of major project mode (other than the deck) and the garden is down to just routine work. I am enjoying watching the beds in the back fill in. I noticed today that the purple beautyberry that was just a few inches tall when I planted it - is now doing its thing:
I am really liking the textures that are happening in this bed. Here is a nice shot with the deck in the background:
Close up of solidago and miscanthus:
An
d...bumble bee having some fun on the autumn joy sedum:
We really had a bad time of spider mites early this spring. They really set up camp in a big oak in the back yard and they migrated their way over quite a few of my plants. The fruit tress suffered a great deal and I am not sure that they will bounce back - but hey, if they don't then I have a chance to buy more plants! A failure in the garden always presents another opportunity, doesn't it???
I finally killed all the grass around the veggie beds and fruit trees and have been slowly spreading wood chips there. I want to make that area more path-like and tuck plants in nooks and crannies.
I also plan to put in some encore azaleas in the front porch bed this fall. I would like another shot of color in there and some evergreen interests when the autumn ferns aren't looking their best during the winter.
All in all, we have had a great growing season and I am ready for fall and all the cool temps to come!
Happy gardening!
-soa
pHOUSE
The other night there were EIGHT raccoons in the yard at around midnight or so. They were all over my bird feeders, climbing on my pots and plants and generally making a nuisance of themselves. I chased them off several times, but the little critters would just go into the shadows and wait til I went into the house and then they'd come right back.
So now I'm not feeding the birds for a while. And I guess that might work because my daytime visiting raccoon just showed up, he checked out the entire yard and then left cause there's nothing there for him. Yippee! But my poor birdies are confused. They will be fine though - it won't hurt them in the least for my feeders to be empty for a little while. Especially at this time of year - there's plenty of natural food sources for them.
Last night my sweet hubby filled all my hummingbird feeders for me - he is so sweet. Then when I went to put the extra nectar away in the refrigerator, I spilled it and it went all over the entire insie of the refrigerator. So then we had to clean the entire 'fridge at 10:00 o'clock at night. And he helped me even though it was entirely my fault. I truly love that man,he is so good to me.
I'm trying not to notice that the garden is winding down. But yesterday at Walmart they had all the fall mums on display. They were pretty, but I'm just not ready for fall yet.
Last weekend, my friend, Sharon, who lives in Oklahoma City, came down for a visit with her husband. She brought me a gift: all the planters I gave her when we both lived in Washington State. So those planters traveled from me to her in Washington, then she took them with her when she moved to OKC and then she brought them back to me in Texas - those things have moved around. But I was really glad o get them. I want to plant some crape myrtles and I want really big pots for them as I don't want to plant them in the ground since this isn't my house.
Then my other friend, Ann, gave me some really nice gardening gloves. I told her I don't wear gloves when I garden, so I guess she thought I needed some. They are really pretty, but I just can't wear gloves to garden. I may start out wearing them, but pretty soon they come off and I'm digging in the dirt bare handed. There's just something about it. She told me I need to wear them to protect my nails and cuticles - it's a little late for that - I'm 59 years old and have never been able to wear gloves, so it's a little late to try to change now! I think the damage is already done!
Add 2 more needle hollys this fall. Add more blue fescue if the ground cover doesn't cover rest of the bed.
Make a border of a perennial succulant.
Mulch by fall. Fertilize for winter.
Add rocks, maybe a dry garden path.
Add stepping stones.
We have been busy over the past month with all sorts of things! I have managed to carve out some time here and there to do the usual garden clean up that needs to be done this time of year. Our final moments of fall have passed:
And we are well into winter. We saw a couple of dear the other morning out by the creek which was so magical and my little girl was so excited to get to meet Rudolph :)
See them back there?
Most of the garden clean up is done now except for a few odds and ends and we have moved on to decorating for Christmas:
I always do a bit of a garden theme with my christmas decorating: using a lot of greens from the garden along with fresh herbs and grapevine. Here is a nice closeup of an area of the tree with a small grape vine wreath. I have these spaced all over the tree this year:
I love the look of the rustic grapevine against the shimmer of the lights and the ornaments :)
I did a bit more clean out in the garden this afternoon. Shook some dead leaves off the hardy clematis, cut back some mint blooms, and cut down some spent cannas. Once the holidays are over, I will set out to get pinestraw over all the beds and start all my spring planning. Unfortunatley I didn't get the compost in the veggie beds soon enough to get out a fall crop :( so, I will have to enjoy planning for the spring.
Time for some holiday baking...
Well, this is the first home that I have owned with a lawn worth taking care of. I had sod laid when the home was built, and it has been almost a year and a half now. I took care of it as best I could over the past year, keeping it cut, mulched, and I applied Grub-X and Weed and Feed in the early spring. My question is now that it is November, and I have thoroughly slacked off for a majority of the fall, and it is now averaging 44 degrees every day, is it too late and too cold to apply weed and feed again, or should I just wait until spring?
Please advise! Thanks.
Well, it finally bullied its way in--late autumn, that is! We had weeks of mild temperatures -- a couple days near 70 degrees, including Halloween, which brought the little ones out in droves. Where was my camera when that adorable, 2-year-old pirate showed up with five protective adults and a mildly growling Pug dog??!
Then, like a party pooper, November sent in its first wave of cold. It's nothing drastic--just a mild front and it's now about 50 degrees, but still, it feels much worse, especially with a stiff breeze. But I'm not ready for this! The air conditioner is still in the window and a couple plants never made into the ground (do chives revive?).
The squirrels, who had backed off during the warm spell, are diving for cover once again, in our attic. But let's look on the bright side. Two obnoxious neighbors, who like to rev their motorbikes for half an hour, will put them away soon, if they haven't already. (WHY do guys do that? Both are middle-aged, so it's not a teen thing. Is it a macho thing...the making of loud noises? I know it's something like this, since they never stop down the street to do this!).
The little kids are inside more, no longer shrieking in their yards and people are walking their dogs much faster ("Come ON, Fido--I'm freezing!"). Our poor neighbor across the street, who owns a 4-family, has been compulsively raking for weeks! I expect him to collapse one of these days...good thing I know CPR. As for leaves, I don't let them bother me. If I don't get to them, they make good compost for all the perennials and shrubs...and it's much nicer to rake in the spring.
One good thing about Fall is that I'm geared up to cook lots of good things, like chili, stews, lasagna...maybe even a roast! I actually was 6 weeks ago, but the previously blogged-about illness hit. My lungs are still protesting mildly, but this cold makes you want to fire up the stove!Besides, I need to fatten up my gangly son before he takes off to Hawaii early in December (It MIGHT be Pearl Harbor day--egad!).
He'll be gone for over a month and is notorious for not eating much at other people's houses. (Do mainlanders get "Montezuma's Revenge" in Hawaii? I'd suppose so--different "flora" in the belly and all!).That's it for now...I must go call the squirrel-trapping guys! What a waste of time...I might just buy a couple ferrets for Christmas...!!!
Well, its been over a month since my last post, but I have been busy enjoying my favorite time of year! I just love fall...for many reasons, but mostly all the gardening. There is something so refreshing about cleaning up the garden and getting it put to bed in anticipation of another growing season!
My camelia bush has been in full bloom for the past few weeks and is just beautiful!
I think this is the best it has ever looked.
I have also been enjoying the White Muhly grass that I ordered online last year and wasn't sure what they were going to do...
I suppose next year it will get fluffier and start to look more "cloud like"
what fun!
The first frost has come and gone in late Oct, so I also have had some fun with the pruners and cut the laurapedalums and junipers way back in the front. unfortunately, the junipers have a lot of dead wood in the middle (as I know junipers are prone to do) so, I am hoping that the pruning will help.
It felt good to get things opened up a bit.
We also limbed up the redbud a bit and I had some wonderful help from my hubby
Doesn't
look like much now, but I understand these have a decent growth rate. The chicken wire is to protect it from our 3 puppy dogs until it gets well established. I have great visions of what it will look like one day :)
I also picked up a threaded cypress that i have been wanting for a while. I would like to add more, but only got one for now:
It went in in the front of the deador cedar and is surrounded by autumn joy sedums and some grasses. It also crossed my mind to replace the junipers in the front with these if the junipers don't bounce back nicely from the pruning. we'll see...
And I also picked up a cripii (?) cypress that said it took shade and gets 8 or so feet tall, so I put it at our property corner back by the creek and I think it will anchor that nicely.
You can't even really see it in the picture yet...its so small :)
Here are some shots of the creek area as of late:
The green giants are doing great...so far so good! I think this winter when i cut back my ornamental grasses i am going to divide some and plop them around the creek area.And, finally...my latest edition of garden art:
The mirrors on either side of the tree trunk...a rescue from the dumpster at hubby's job. My hope is that the ivy will grow up the chain link fence and surround the edges of the mirrors and they will look all nestled in like they have always been there.
In the veggie beds, the spinach, brussel sprouts, sugar snaps peas and onions are germinating. We finally dug up the sweet potatoes and i made a big batch of them in the oven and didn't even need to add sugar, they were so sweet! I don't know if i will grow them again as the harvest yield was quite small for what i paid for the starts. but, it was fun none the less :)
I still have kale, bok choy, romaine lettuce and parsely to sow once hubby goes to get more dirt.
This weekend will consist of more cleaning, pruning and straitening :)
Enough rambling for now...have a great gardening weekend everyone!
I just love this time of year! The air is crisp, the heat is leaving and its time to tidy up the garden and dream of another spring to come. With the hot weather cooling down, I have been enjoying some time in the garden and have managed to carve a few minutes out here and there to do some things and take some pictures.
The northern oats grass is looking lovely:
And the autumn joy sedums are bursting with color and look especially nice next to the black and blue salvia!
>
The trumpet trees are in all their glory and have such wonderful fragrance in the morning and evening! A great treat with the cool air:
The cannas have finished blooming and have the most beautiful seed pods on them:
I amv ery please with how the sweet potato vine has provided weed control in this bed:
This winter I plan to get a nice blue conifer to put in the back of this bed.
We had some great rain at the end of the summer that the purple hyacinth bean and moon vine flower really loved and they just scurried up the arbor:
It will be time to dig up the sweet potatoes soon also :) Tomorrow on his way home from work, hubby is goingt to pick up a truckload of compost that I will top dress the empty veggie beds with so that I can put in fall crops of spinach, greens and brussel sprouts. Can't wait!
And, I am reminded a lot lately that the garden in faithful and continues to go on with or without me...and i am able to enjoy it all the same :)
I know it has been a while since my last post, lots going on. G and I are getting ready to move to an apt. Gardening will be minimal there, however there is always plenty to do over at the "family house". For instance right now Dad an Z man are hooking up the water features in the front and it will be sublime when done!! Complete with goldfish, G loves that part, hopefully Hobbs won't decide she likes sushi!!
The peppers, zinnias, sweet potato vines and the cardinal climbers are thriving!! It looks nice. Mostly the garden is self sufficient except for a few watering times when there is no rainfall. Mom calls it "ignore gardening". It is still hot and to muster the energy to get out in it , well let's just say , it's difficult to muster!!
As far as the apt goes paint is being chosen, houshold items being purchased and move in is in less than 2 wks. G and I are excited , we live in the "penthouse suite"(AKA the 3rd floor). I have plans for the "solarium" already. I have always enjoyed house plants so am going to be more the inside gardener I guess. I am also planning on a kitchen herb garden and African violets. My Grandma loved African violets and recently I remembered that, and to pay homage to her , I am going to start growing them too. I think they are pretty, full of texture and vibrant colors.
Here are a couple of the fruits of the neighbor swap, awesome right???
Hope you fall planters are ready because here it comes!! Happy gardening!!
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