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Preparing for Hurricane Irene
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gardenmama's Blog
I am back!!!! Bring on the planting season!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:53 pm Hello all Stewies! I am back! It is time to start the spring planting. Today is the day, yes Valentines Day to start my seeds. I am starting 3 trays of tomato seeds today. I am still looking for a few varieties that I love but haven't seen any seeds for them yet. I will find them! I have been fairly busy since the end of the garden. In November I started selling Lia Sophia jewelry. I go to peoples homes and give AWESOME parties. If I am lucky I will build up my business this spring and summer and won't have to drive school bus anymore. So here is to hoping. If I don't have to drive bus anymore that means being able to spend more time my gardens! YEAH! My mother in law and father in law arrived her eon December 5th and are permanent residents of the states now. They come from England. Been busy getting them all settled. My mother in law is taking her driving road test in a few weeks and then will be out to look for work. Logan is in 1st grade and is doing very very well. He loves school. This is one of many blogs to come. So much to document now that I am start my plants. Yeah! MANY MANY pictures to come as well! I hope everyone out in STEWLAND is well! Let spring come on in! YEAH!!! This blog entry has been viewed 359 times
The garden is nearly past...
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:14 pm This summer has been a big let down. The weather never fully cooperated for me then a day or two at a time. too much rain and not enough dry days. I can't fully complain I didn't get early blight like a lot of people in the area but my plants were not the best looking. For the past 3 weeks I have been picking a lot of tomatoes and cooking them down with peppers from the garden. I have made several wonderful batches of tomato base which makes a great sauce with the addition of tomato paste or add some fresh veggies and it is a great soup.. 
I spent most of Monday morning, (us labor day) pulling out the 30 spent tomato plants, all the cukes, string beans and some other things. All that is left is zucchini, eggplant and some hot peppers and a handful of tomato plants. The nights were too cold for a lot of the tomato plants and the cukes so that is why I pulled all the cukes. I have a few trays of tomatoes ripening in the sun porch and I have a huge bag of green tomatoes that a friend is making into relish. The sunflowers are still gorgeous and blooming with plenty more coming along. 
My honey made a nice table to have by the fire pit. When we bought the house 4 years ago we found a nice piece of pink marble or granite (don't know which) in the garage. The long time owner had worked at one of the Quarries in the Barre VT area and brought lots of mistakes etc home. This one happened to be a large grave marker...Sooo the slab has been sitting around and finally Michael made a table out of it. 
On Saturday my dear friend Tami got married and my honey and son went with me to the wedding. It was a lovely sunny day and a wonderful wedding and after party. All us girls from high school that were in a group together all sat together and took the bride away for a few pictures. The picture of us all together is taken in the same exact order as a year book photo was taken back in 1989! It was a great day. Me and my family 
Me and my friend Tami, the gorgeous bride 
All the girls...20 years later and better friends then ever. 
We are once again trying to prevent the skunk from getting underneath the in law apartment. My honey spent Sunday afternoon digging a 12 inch deep and wide trench, lining it with fencing and then back filling. Hopefully this will work! 
After the wedding on Saturday we went back to my brothers house where several other friends joined us with their kids. We had a great bonfire with S'mores! An over all great day! 
Last edited: Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:52 pm This blog entry has been viewed 383 times
Summer is FINALLY here...hot hot hot!!!!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 3:21 pm We have been waiting and waiting for summer to REALLY show up....It has been a mostly cool and rainy summer with a nice day here and there thrown in for a tease! However this week, well since Thursday it has been DRY and HOT! My son and I have been spending quite a lot of time at the lake in Groton. We went on Monday, Wednesday (it ended up pouring), Friday and saturday. He loves to swim around in his blue tube. He isn't afraid of the water this year. He doesn't know how to swim but isn't afraid to paddle around in his tube. the beach was packed for the first time this summer. We have been going and maybe 25-30 people. there had to have been several hundreds if not low 1000's. there was no parking available in the afternoon and cars were parking on the road. 
The garden is doing great and I am doing some amazing cooking..this week I made an amazing roasted garlic and fresh basil pizza..Best pizza I have ever made. I use my pizza stone on my gas grill. Comes out like a good brick oven pizza. Then the next night I picked, peppers, onions, a zucchini and bought and eggplant..I made what i call a deconstructed ratatouille. Basically it isn't a stew. I grilled everything, cut it up into cubes...roasted some garlic and onions and served it on a fresh basil flavoured couscous.... FABULOUS! 
For about a week all I had on my zucchini was male flowers and then about a week after a good fertilizing I have 13 on 4 plants and more coming....be careful what you wish for! The cukes are coming slowly but about 2 a day and they are so yummy. I planted straight 8's this year and they are sweet and not bitter like pickling cukes. I have a new favorite! Blueberries are not in huge abundance but they are BIG! The one pictured below is just about as big as a quarter (25 cent piece)! 
Finally a growing eggplant! and there are several others starting! WHOO HOO 
We are all heading to York Beach Maine tomorrow. My husband took the day off. We are meeting my best friend Jessica there with her kids for the day. I can't wait! SUN SUN SUNS and surf surf! See you all later! Bye! Last edited: Sun Aug 16, 2009 3:23 pm This blog entry has been viewed 329 times
The garden is really coming along now.
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 2:52 pm Lots of different types of tomatoes are starting to turn and be turned into salad. This week I have picked a black brandy wine, sun cherries, grape tomatoes and regular tomatoes. The peppers are starting to come and cukes are really growing fast. Zucchini has slowed but is coming along again. I have been grilling zucchini and making zucchini bread. 
Flowers are in bloom, of all sorts. Sunflowers, phlox, and others. 
This blog entry has been viewed 381 times
gardening, building and birthdays Oh my!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 4:01 pm The garden is coming along quite nice. We got a lot of rain on Sunday but for most of last week it was dry and the garden got to dry out a bit and do some growing. Here are the cukes. With all the rain and the heat they have really taken off. 
FINALLY an eggplant flower. I hope I have enough of the summer left to pick a few. I had no idea the flowers were purple! Hungarian Wax Peppers are getting close to getting picked. They haven't thrived like my other pepper plants but I have tons of the other varieties! 
The string beans are finally flowering and in thei picture you can also see a tiny bean! 
On Saturday night my honey decided we should have a fire and that means S"MORES! I had some huge marshmellows left over from a visit to memorial day so I started a huge fire and we made amazingly yummy s'mores. 
Michael has been doing a bit of building and he made this windmill and it is mounted on one of the honeysuckle (formerly rose) trellis'. 
On Sunday we had Logan's birthday party at Groton State Park and Lake. Rain or shine i decided to go, and of course there was more rain then shine. But the kids didn't care. Since not very many people were there the covered pavilion was available so we set up his party under there and the canopy tent at the beach. We stayed dry and the kids had a great time. We stayed until about 2:30 when it really started to come down. 
This blog entry has been viewed 341 times
Starting to harvest!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 3:22 pm Things are starting to slow down here...and I am spending more time in the yard and garden. Berries are coming by the bowl full, zucchinis are coming and coming...and tomatoes are growing and turning. We have still had a lot of rain and I was in the garden for an hour the other day trimming off A LOT of leaves. I pulled off a 5 gallon pail full of spotted and yellowing leaves. I sprayed the plants and everyone looks pretty healthy now. 
This super cherry is over 6 feet tall..and growing rapidly. 
All the rain and the heat have burst my sunflowers...they are so pretty and are all at different stages. I should have sunflowers until fall. 
Here is the tinman hard at work. 
I have been harvesting peppers, tomatoes and zucchini... 
This puppy is 5 months old and I call her a miracle worker. Until our neighbor got her Logan was terrified of dogs...now he wants a puppy. This is Riley, a lab mix. 
Summer arrived this week and it was HOT HOT HOT. We finally pulled out the sprinkler and Logan enjoyed. 
Logan's birthday is today...Happy 6th Birthday Logan. His party is Sunday and we are heading to the local beach. Logan wanted a pinata but I really didn't want to spend over $20 on something that we will destroy. So we made one! I used an brown shopping bag with a handle and made an pull away bottom. We decorated it with Thomas the Tank stickers and ribbons. One of the ribbons pulls the bottom away! All the candy will fall out. 
Last edited: Fri Jul 31, 2009 3:26 pm This blog entry has been viewed 365 times
Lots of humid weather and rian makes the garden grow.
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 2:05 pm During the past 2-3 weeks I can say that there has been MAYBE 2-3 relaly nice summer days. Most of the days have been cloudy, humid and rainy. Last Thursday before I left town for the 4th of July weekend I took some pictures of the garden and flower progress. The Clemitis are gorgeous, the day lilies are in bloom and HOW DOES MY GARDEN GROW? The answer to that is very very fast. On Thursday morning of this week I did get a chance to get out into the garden (since the past few days was nothing but wet and one storm after the other) and spray some fungicide on all the plants to hopefully prevent fungus growth int he wet conditions. All the tomato plants are looking great. I have tons of growing tomatoes and flowers..and soon will be picking the first one. I think it might be a paste roma. Here are some pictures from last weeks garden. I took new ones last night but have not uploaded them and do not have the camera with me at the moment. So that means that i will have to do another blog this weekend! 
The family went to Connecticut last weekend to celebrate the 4th of July holiday with family. I took some amazing pictures at the fireworks that night. These were the best fireworks that I have ever seen. My camera has a setting for them and I got some amazing shots! 
This blog entry has been viewed 400 times
I've been very busy so here is a long post of updates.
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:06 pm I had 2 rose bushes die this past winter...well we are not sure they are dead but they didn't start growing a few weeks ago....so we decided to dig them up and plant something in their place. My husband and I went to a nice landscaping place and picked out two new honeysuckles. One is called flame and has pinkish red blooms and the other is called the Ghost and has very light white blooms. 
I also picked up several annuals in red, white and blue and planted them in the tractor tire on the front lawn. 
After the arbor got blown apart int he wind storm a few weeks ago my husband planned to build me new fences. He cut up the yellow birch and used parts of it to make 2 fence panels. The morning glories and clematis will grow up them in the summer. 
Everyday I find another tomato growing in the garden. The plants are doing so much better then I had expected. More and more flowers everyday as well. 
Peppers are coming too! 
I have been doing a lot of work for my brother on the Michael A Corcoran Cancer Research and Scholarship Fund. My brother started this organization in honor of our father who passed away from a cancer he contracted from his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. He served from 67-69. The organization was started so that we could offer scholarships to Vets and their children who live in the Upper Valley region of Vietnam. This past weekend my brother, myself and some other members of the family set up a booth at the Quechee Balloon festival in Quechee, VT. We were there promoting the organization, spreading the word and raising money. We made a lot of business contacts for the future. It was a great weekend. The weather wasn't always great but promoting our cause is what is important. You can check us out at our website at: www.michaelacorcoranscholarshipfund.com This is my brother in front of our organizations location at the festival. 
This is me with my brother and his wife at the festival. 
Here are some of my favorite shots of the Hot Air Balloons over the weekend. 
About 5 times on Saturday a paratrooping group flew over and then dropped on the the field at the festival. They were amazing. 
Last edited: Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:37 pm This blog entry has been viewed 497 times
Lots of hard work....the garden is finally all planted!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:39 pm We had an absolutely gorgeous weekend...FINALLY! So out the door I went at 8am on Saturday, and headed right to the garden patch. First on the list was to till the dirt portion of the garden, so that I could smooth it out and place more black plastic and tires. After the tilling was done my honey and I laid down the plastic, placed tires on and strategically placed bricks to prevent the plastic from blowing up. Afterwards it was finally time to bring out all the tomato plants from the sun porch. While I was moving plants out and planting them in the tires I made a great discovery....3 cherry tomatoes growing already! WHOO HOO! I couldn't believe it! 
After a lot of bending and walking to and from the house all 34 tomato plants were in the ground and looking happy. I have never had such success starting my tomato plants. All the plants took great and a few are over 3 FEET TALL!!! WOW 
You will notice if you followed my blog last summer that the entire garden is now on plastic and planted in tires. Hopefully the weed problem is long gone! I have decided not to plant pumpkins this year. They take over everything! There wasn't a single place last fall that I could walk without walking on pumpkin vines. So my honey is going to let me buy as many as I want this fall! Next year we may have a load of manure delivered on our back hill and plant them there. We shall see. 
Peas are growing nicely. 
Hot peppers in the tire. 
The tinman has reported back to work! 
On Saturday my brother came after lunch and helped cut up the tree that had fallen on the apartment. we also cut down one of the other trees sharing the same trunk. 
My bearded irises are in bloom! and are gorgeous! 
Last edited: Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:40 pm This blog entry has been viewed 399 times
A year later and the WINDS RETURN...
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:18 pm Last night we were visited once again with HUGE winds. This time we were home and experienced it all first hand. Around 5pm last night we heard the winds picking up. We could hear small branches brushing up against the house. The around an half an hour later I looked outside and noticed my arbor was leaning, then saw that the swingset had been THROWN into it! we went outside to stop things from blowing around and while we were out there, a panel of the trellis blew off and nearly hit me and Logan. Then a few minutes later a HGUE gust came through and blew it completely apart, cracking it off at the base. The little green houses were blown all over. This is the trellis before it was totally destroyed. 
The panel that nearly hit me and Logan. 
The trellis totally ripped off at the base and all the other debris. 
Once we decided it was time to go in I noticed that there were branches on the roof of the apartment...Well not just branches a HUGE part of a yellow birch. No damage, just a lot of work needing to come up this weekend. 
We were lucky that the power just went of quick and came back on. This blog entry has been viewed 376 times
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