Bad Blogger

I have been a bad blogger this week!  Lots of things going on coupled with the fact that they don't really have anything to do with the garden have had me skipping out the past few days, but I will give you a little update - however boring it may be!


Loch has over an hour bus ride now.  I don't even know what to say about that other than we might as well live out in the sticks!  I had longer than that when I was a kid but we actually DID live in the country, not a city with half a million people as we do now.  I can't say much though, since it IS worth it that he is going to the gifted program and the district does provide transportation, so although I can get a little peeved that I had to reschedule after-school activities for later in the evenings, I really don't have anything to complain about and will just accept it.


The chores here the past week have consisted of maintenance type gardening and general sprucing up, rather than fall planting.  Here is Finn, using my little pruners for the first time, snipping off dead hosta flower stalks:

poor guy had me saying every 10 seconds "watch where your finger is!"

Our big Master Gardener Fall Community Festival is this weekend, so I've had meetings and baking to do for a bake sale.  Here's yesterday's start to a "15 pumpkin bread loaf" day!  Kitchen was HOT last night.

Speaking of hot, it's just gross here again this week.  Rain, high humidity and temps in the high 80's again all week, heat indexes higher, yuck - I want fall to come back!

For everyone following Mama Dove's Hurricane Irene adventures, you can now rejoice!  The babies are here!  I can't believe they (or rather Mama Dove) made it through all that, as well as being relocated in a dog crate in driving rain - doves are amazing parents.  Every other bird flew to greener spaces that weekend but Mama, she would not leave.  Even though Mr. Dove wouldn't go into the covered and lashed down dog crate, we saw him huddled below the deck where she was throughout the storm, unbelievable.  

So that's the news, or lack of anyways!   :)

Happy 4th of July!

Or is it Valentine's Day?

Blanched Hearts!

The fight continues this morning...

Above, the Brandywines.  Below, blight has hit the Hillbilly tomatoes hard.  They are looking scraggly due to all the pruning of affected branches.  Any bets on how long they can hold out?  It's 100º so I don't think it will be much longer :(

Speaking of Independence Day...

This morning the one of the two baby doves took flight.  It was more of a divebomb from the basket to the ground, but it's a start!  Now we have to be very vigilant when we let the dogs out and give mama time to herd them under cover.  They can fly halfway decently, but they seem to just sit there, I don't believe they know who the predators are quite yet, so mama is always nearby.  

I hope to salvage some of the day today since hubby did end up getting this afternoon off.  Not sure what the agenda will be, but I'm sure it will involve water, food and maybe some pressure canning!

As one of my friends said the other day, "Party Like It's 1776!".... hope you have a great day!

Unspeakable Acts

Kelly, avert your eyes!

Yes, those are all bush bean plants that had just started producing well that I just pulled out of the bed!  Contender, Yellow Wax & Dragon's Tongue.

Why?  Because I took the intensive planting methods a bit far this year I think.  I had them stuffed into the pepper bed and my peppers weren't getting any light.  No time to raise more peppers but I still have plenty of time for beans, so it wasn't a hard decision.  I did wait, however, until my new bean area had all sprouted successfully.  All the new beans are up about 2 inches high where the Amish Paste tomatoes met their early fate.

Below are the peppers now, free of beans and able to get the sun.  If this year has taught me anything, it's that closely planted things can allow disease to run rampant, so out they went.  I expect the peppers will ripen much better this way, this was the first year I crowded them with anything else but their own kind in my quest for the "cottage look", but cottage quickly turned into the "hoarder look" LOL

At least I got another dinner's worth of beans before yanking them!

The Brandywines are a freak show out there, that's a regular grocery-store size tomato in my hand... and no, I don't live near a nuke plant.  This looks like a banner year size-wise so that's why I'm really hoping they can ripen and stay healthy.

It's not just one, either... they all look that size!

The latest intruder, not sure what yet... could be canine but I'm thinking not, since they don't really stay outside long enough to work so hard at seeking shade.  This is also the garden fence that seems to be getting dug out, so I'm thinking intruder alert!

Lastly, we have some wildlife news... congrats to Mama Dove!  She survived the weird cyclone storm we had when her nest and eggs got blown to the ground and cracked, set two more eggs and survived I don't know how many downpours in her swinging basket up there but there are her new babies!  

Now I have to be super alert when I let the dogs out, since she will have them out and about in no time.

for the birds...

As if I didn't have enough to take care of with 2 boys...

"Are you my mommy?"

Now I have to go outside and babysit whenever I let Sprocket out.  We made up our own breed for her, the Outback Jack, since she's an Australian Shepherd/Jack Russell mix - but behavior-wise she's all Jack Russell.  It's hard being a baby bird with one of those running amok!  Marley just barks and barks warning me that Sprocket is up to no good!

I'd do just about anything for the birds that call our little oasis home.  Including asking hubby to put a roof over LadyDove's head so she won't get rained on.  You should have seen his face when I asked him - well, he won't agree to an aviary/pet bird so what am I to do?  It happens every year...

Perhaps I should sew her some gauzy white curtains around her basket to sway in the breeze?

Precious cargo in that flower basket...

Mama Dove is smart, she always picks this spot right outside the back door so she can see when I'm letting the dogs out and I give her a minute to herd the babies to safety under a bush.

So now there's one more living thing for me to talk to around here so I won't seem like the crazy lady who talks to nobody!

Peas!

Only a few so far, and they aren't really ready yet, but I stole a few anyways.

For stir fry!  I am also getting down to the end of my frozen veggies from last season, so I think I'm starting to get how much we need to put away for our family.  I had plenty of peppers and beans, but definitely need more tomato sauce this year.

I had to do a little wildlife control on the front porch.  Despite my best bamboo skewer efforts, the darn sparrows are building nests in my newly planted baskets.  Luckily they were caught just as they were starting to build - they had just pushed my skewers out of the way, LOL!

More skewers, and we are back in business

I had to break out the big guns for the darn mahogany wasps.  They are huge, I hate them and their sting packs quite a punch.  I do everything I can for all the bees, but these guys have got to go, they always build their nests right over the front door and in the kids' fort.  They are the only guys who get the foam spa treatment around here :) 

I spent the better part of the day in the 2nd grade science classroom again, this age group is hilarious.  Today was the first time I had the "yuck" reaction to the herbs.  We had all kinds of herbs out for them to sniff and all we heard was "yuck" and "ewww"!  The first kid said it and then of course everyone else followed suit :)  The school I was in today has turned their little courtyard into a butterfly and bird habitat and are going to plant vegetables too this year.  When I asked what was going in to the little bed I was standing next to (about 2 x 2) I was told squash, LOL!  Guess those kids will get some entomology lessons too!

All kinds of random...

I didn't get much of anything done yesterday, the weather has me down and I should have been working on the quilt, but instead spent the morning at my favorite locale for work avoidance...

When I got home I made some bran muffins with apple chunks in them and told the kids they were cupcakes... it worked!

Then, trying to get inspired to get back to quilting, I flipped on the tv to see if I could find a sewing or crafting show on one of the PBS channels...

What in the world????

this is what I found, apparently I'm supposed to cook dressed in a strapless gown with a rhinestone belt... maybe this is why my bread sucks?!  I obviously don't watch enough daytime television - basic cooking 101 has changed tremendously LOL...anyone know who this chick is?  I turned it off before I found out, it was depressing me :)

Hubby actually had a few free minutes before heading off to work so I put him to work in the garden - he's planting my potatoes!  This is huge because he really doesn't plant anything - don't get me wrong, he's the go-to guy for building my raised beds, fences, trellises, etc but planting and harvesting?  Nope, just the eating part of the deal.  Seeing as how I was so busy (in shock) watching the gown girl cook, when he asked me how to do it I told him "just go fork all that straw and stuff out of the bin, loosen up the bottom, throw them in cut sides down, dig some compost out of the bottom of that bin and throw a few inches on top".  I would normally watch this operation like a hawk but I left him to his own devices, when I went out to check later in the afternoon, he had left my dinner plate out there, but it looked fantastic!

See him?

This is normally all I see of him... he's always heading off to work!  This is his preferred mode of transportation, but I admit with him coming home in the middle of the night lately it has me worried, especially when he's riding home at 3 am on Friday and Saturday nights with all the bar hoppers on the road, but he insists.

We had the sun peek through for a couple of hours, so I "walked the estate" to see what was going on out there:

My creeping plants are creeping all over the place

the trays left outside for Mother Nature to sprout aren't doing anything yet

Mizuna

direct seeded spinach is up and growing finally

Peas are going strong finally

I was so worried about my 8 artichoke plants outside in these 20-30º nighttime temps, but they are fine.  They like to be transplanted early when it's still cool, but I had been very afraid for them the past few nights.  Last year I waited until mid-late April to plant them out and they all died.

Candytuft (snowdrift), named for it's early blooms

 Below, darn raspberries popping up into my raised beds!  Time to get out the flame thrower.

more lettuces...

Below, this one is for my mom... this is a "walking foot" (she reads the blog but not so good about checking her email!)

Again... can you believe it? This one just south of us, that's twice in 3 days...

You can read the full story about the whale here.

No more randomness today, cold and rainy again and I'm going to go quilt right..... now!  Well, maybe after I catch up on blogs, figure out what's for dinner, do some laundry, but then for sure LOL!

Dove update...

can you believe it? That's all I've got for now...

No work done today

I just heard on the 5:00 news that our heat index is 106 right now... am I getting used to it or just losing my mind? It's hot out, but to me it doesn't seem as bad as it was before, even though temps are the same. I could tell the humidity was bad however since at 5 pm I had to wipe down my camera lens before every shot, and still a bunch came out foggy! I only went into the garden today to take photos and check on the melons, then it was right back into the house - I didn't even glance at those jalapenos!

Here's what's going on now:

Everybody loves fennel! I have caterpillars of every different instar stage on my fennel, I stopped counting at 53, and that was only one plant! I can't even imagine how many are on the other fennel, dill and parsley plants. The butterfly weed is already constantly being visited by beautiful huge Swallowtails, I hope to have the camera handy next time. Speaking of, this morning while watering I saw a Hummingbird Moth at rest just chilling out on the peanut plants - ran in, got the camera, of course he was gone when I got back!

Honeybee! This is very exciting this year. We have always had loads of bumbles and mason bees, but never honeybees, even though my yard is the only yard planted out for almost 1/2 sq mile! This year - they found me! I couldn't be happier. Of course now I have to teach the kids to step carefully around the clover, they are used to the bumbles which pay them no mind and the Masons which are clumsy and cannot sting!

Look closely, 1st instar stage!

Jump for joy! It's greens! I haven't been able to grow them since early May thanks to the heat. Even my heat tolerant lettuce blends said "no, thanks". On a whim I planted out some Mizuna which apparently tolerates some heat (I didn't believe it!). Germination in about 6 hours, I forgot how darn fast that stuff is! I am letting it sun in the morning, and covering with shade the rest of the day in hopes of a salad for my tomatoes. Better get out there and thin...

UFO's are coming fast and strong now, but still not the top ones that look different

4th of July Hybrid has been a steady producer and has done well in a container in the heat

These mini yellow Stuffing Peppers look like lollipops! I love how they all grow upside down like a bouquet with all the peppers on top. This looks like alot, but I am hoping to make mass quantities of stuffed (with rice, etc) and freeze - they are meatball sized, so I am hoping they will be like premade dinners, just pour tomato sauce over the top and bake.

That's the plan, anyways LOL

Planted Japanese Climbing Cucumbers June 10th, they are now flowering and looks like they are doing okay with insects so far... I threw zinnias or something in there too, that's the other thing you see. Funny how slowly flowers grow in seed trays but go crazy direct seeded. These were planted 1 month ago and you can barely see to the right of Marley's ear one lavender bloom that opened tonight!

Cosmos self seeded last year all over the place - I have a 6 ft wire fence and they are above that!

Still not ready.... maybe I'm checking too much - is 10 times a day too often?!

Easy garden dinner tonight! Scrambled eggs w/cheese & salsa made last night, strawberry jam