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gardenmama's Blog
Citzenship Day September 17, 2008
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:04 pm Yesterday was a very proud day for my family. Yesterday is the day my husband finally became a US Citizen. The ceremony was held at Shelburne Museum in vermont. The ceremony was held on the ship ticonderoga. A federal judge presided over the ceremony and Vermont's Governor Jim Douglas was the Special Guest. the ceremony took about an hour. My son and my husband had their photo taken with the governor after the ceremony. After the ceremony and pictures, all the new citizens were registered to vote. Michael was interviewed by the history channel. They are doing a special on citizenship day. we will know soon if they are using his interview. our family was filmed walking off the boat. our local NBC news did a spot and it was on at 11pm last night and there is an internet clip. Here is the link to the news segment. http://www.wptz.com/news/17498705/detail.html Here are some of the pictures of the day. 
This blog entry has been viewed 524 times
You have got to see this ZUCCHINI!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 2:36 pm Well it was a nice cool morning so after my husband went to work for a few hours we went out to the garden. We decided to pick every last large tomato and put it in the sun porch. With all the potential rain that we can get from Hannah, Ike and Josephine we decided it was better to just let them ripen in the house. So we picked and picked and then pulled out the empty plants. When we were done picking the tomatoes and removing the plants my husband said.."is this zucchini ready to pick." So I went to look, I saw a small zucchini there, not quite ready to pick then looked under a leave and yellow " Holy S--T! Look at this." I pulled out two HUGE zucchinis. One weighed over 10 lbs! One was in the shape of a hook and the other a really long bat. Here is Logan sitting on our car with the zucchini! 
Here is Logan with the days harvest in beer boxes. 
Here is a wheel barrow of the finished tomato plants. 
We also found 2 other surprises, 2 more good sized pumpkins that will be great to carve next month! The other pumpkins are already turning orange and we will be picking them in the next couple weeks. 
We still have some sunflowers hanging on. 
And some sunflowers are coming to an end. They are all drying up but the little birds love them! 
So now that all the tomatoes are done in the garden, where are they? They are on my sun porch which is the entrance to the house. The porch is getting a bit cramped! 
I decided to go through the tomatoes and see what colors that I could find. Here is a rainbow of tomatoes. 
My favorite color this year is the tangerine. They are all perfectly shaped and the color is gorgeous. I haven't eaten one yet, but may do for lunch today. 
After emptying the garden yesterday the humidity really got bad so I decided to stay in. It started to rain so I decided it was time to make a batch of sweet pepper relish, cook down the tomatoes into sauce and make another batch of roasted salsa. It took all afternoon into night. I started at 1:30pm and didn't put the last sauce in the fridge until nearly 10pm! Everything came out great. I can't wait to use some of it. Missing from the picture below is the 2 1/2 quarts of sauce that I made. It was already in the freezer. 
This morning when I woke up I used the smaller of the 2 zucchinis. I grated it up and got a little over 6 cups. I froze 4 cups and make a large bread. I also made a banana bread. My mom and a couple of her friends are coming over today. I am making fried green tomatoes, fried egg plant as well as some fresh veggies etc. I can't wait to see how the fried green tomatoes come out. I hope everyone is well and safe. I hope that Hurricane Ike misses all your southern stewies out there. My prayers are with you. This blog entry has been viewed 671 times
A very productive weekend...
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:43 pm We had a gorgeous weekend up her in Vermont. Sunday was sunny and not too warm. My mother came up to spend the day and give my honey and son haircuts. We did some shopping and just hung out for most of the day. Monday was a busy day inside and out. I now know why we call it labor day. We did a lot of labor in the garden and out. The cucumbers had given up their last veggie so we had to pull their vines out. We found a few hidden here and there. The hot and sweet pepper plants were not looking their best, they don't seem to like the cooler nights. Sooooooooooo we picked every last jalapeno pepper and bell pepper.The green peppers had just started to turn red, too bad our growing season wasn't prime for them to turn colors. But they are just as good green. I picked a bunch of ripe cherry, yellow pear and grape tomatoes. I decided to start removing more of the green tomatoes from the other plants. I cleared off several plants and we pulled them out of the garden. I now have 4 flats of tomatoes in the porch ripening. Empty Cucumber Trellis: 
Clearing out the garden: 
Logan and Me in the garden: 
Peppers are all done. 
We have a huge apple tree on our back hill and we noticed we had lots of apples this year. So we made a picker from a 4 prong rake and a long pole. We got a huge bowl of apples. they are not good looking at all but most were decent enough to save. I cooked half of them down and made 3 pints of apple sauce. 
I was very busy canning Sunday and MOnday. On Sunday I made a batch of zucchini relish and a batch of sweet pickle relish. I got a total of 7 pints of relish. On Monday i cooked down more tomatoes for soup and got 1 quart. I also made the 3 pints of apple sauce and i experimented with roasted salsa. Tomatoes cooking down for soup: 
Veggies ready for roasting for salsa. the salsa came out a lighter shade of red due to the fact that I used red, pink, yellow and orange tomatoes. 
Mondays Harvest: 
Here is a picture of all the canning I did this weekend. The light pink jars are pink apple sauce. I left on the skins since the apples are so tiny that peeling would be fruitless! 
I will be making pepper relish, which uses red peppers and green tomatoes. I just need to buy some peppers. There will be a lot more canning to come in the next few weeks. This blog entry has been viewed 455 times
Slowly but surely...tomatoes are coming!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:51 pm Here and there I see signs that autumn is trying to come. The sugar maple tree leaves have started to turn red and some have begun to fall to the ground. The nights are getting cooler and the mornings are a bit brisk. The pumpkins in the garden have started to turn orange and the garden isn't as green as it once was. I have seen several gardens that are done. They look so sad. The plants are all brown and dried up. I don't know why, so soon. Mine are still pretty healthy looking. Maybe they didn't have someone looking out for them as well as mine does. We have had some of the best weather of the summer over the past 2 weeks. The rain has finally left and the sun and warm days have returned. With this sun and warm days my tomatoes have finally started to turn colors. I have had some tomatoes over the past month and a half but not like this. I have picked 2 flats of tomatoes in some stage of turning colors this week! I have picked over 4 quarts of the little tomatoes. I have grown yellow pears, grape and cherry. I have been giving away some of the tiny tomatoes. There are only so many salads one person can eat! This is what was picked the other day. 
Today we had a gorgeous day. We decided to run some errands as a family after my honey got out of work. We ended at walmart. I had to get canning jars, and they had plenty! I had looked at 2 other places and they were all out. We thought we were done and then we noticed that the swingsets were 50% off. So we decided to pick up one for Logan. We had planted grass just for this purpose. So after some waiting and aggravation we got the swingset apart and in the car and home. It took me and my honey about and hour to reassemble it. Of course all the nuts and bolts are wrong and we need to get better ones. there is also a part missing and we will have to figure out how to make the see saw work better. But my honey is great at that. It will be much better when he is done with it. 
While we were assembling the swing set i noticed that the garden was full of turning tomatoes! I was over joyed. So i began to pick and pick. 
I picked a lot of the tomatoes that have just a bit of color on them. I want to give all the tomatoes a chance to turn. Pulling off the slightly ripe ones will let the energy ripen the others. I picked 11 cucumbers today, 4 peppers, 5 hot peppers, 2 handfuls of green beans, 2 huge zucchinis and many many tomatoes. 
Here are the biggest pumpkins: 
I have some beautiful blooms today. The tractor tire planter is looking fabulous! I thought by now the flowers would be past their prime but they look better this week then they have most of the summer. 
My tinman is looking very nice. He has a pumpkin vine growing up him and I think it is so cute. 
This is the weekly harvest. The tomatoes are turning quickly on the porch. I have a lot of the paler colored tomatoes, yellow and pinks. So I think I will make some fresh salsa and can it. I have never canned it before so this will be a good experiment. 
Here is Logan with the weeks harvest. The items in the canning jars are tomato soup concentrate. It tastes really yummy! 
I hope to make some zucchini, pickle and pepper relish over the next few days. Plus once the tomatoes are ready i will be cooking them down and canning and freezing them. Of course the tomatoes are turning now when I am back to driving bus and busy, busy , BUSY! This blog entry has been viewed 432 times
Tuesday was a very busy and exciting day...
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:38 pm Yesterday was a day full of stress, nerves and new beginnings. My son Logan started Kindergarten yesterday. He was so excited, me and dad a bit nervous. When we got to school Logan was so excited. He found his cubby and hung up his bags and sweatshirt. he wanted to run and play. So I kissed him good bye and off me and my hubby went. I have to admit that I got a bit misty eyed. he is gotten so big and he is so self assured. He had a very good day. My mother picked him up after school and brought him out to dinner. My husband and I would have picked him up except we had a very important interview. I don't think any one here at Stew knows but we met online 7 years ago. My hubby is English. So getting married involved immigration and the INS. Well....yesterday we had the final interview...the interview for citizenship. Michael passed the interview and the short test! On September 17th Michael will be sworn in as a UNITED STATES CITIZEN! Yeah...we were ALL exhausted last night and went to be early. Logan was still excited about school this morning. Here are a few pics of Logan getting ready to go to school yesterday and today. the last picture is of Logan on his bus with his driver. I drive school bus but not for his school. 
This blog entry has been viewed 419 times
Amazing what a little sun will do....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 6:26 pm Finally over the past week there has been more sun then rain and it is beginning to really show in the garden. I went out this morning and I picked and picked. This is my largest harvest so far. It isn't huge by any measure but it makes me very happy. A lot more of the tomatoes are turning which is a good sign. I picked quite a few cucumbers as well. So between what I picked over the weekend and today I will need to pick up some more canning jars.I want to make pickles as well as some relish. 
I picked this one heirloom. I don't exactly know what it is, but I think it might be a Pink Lady or Brandywine. It is so oddly shaped! I picked it a bit early so that the other toms on the plant will start to turn. 
I hope everyone is having nice weather where they are and that their gardens are doing great! This blog entry has been viewed 389 times
It's been a very busy week....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:27 pm This past week has been very busy. We are getting ready to get back to school and work. Logan is starting kindergarten this Tuesday and I will get back to driving bus on Wednesday. I drive for a different school then the one that Logan goes to. Tuesday we had plans to go to Groton State Park and go to the beach with a friend of mine and her kids but it was RAINING all morning and it never got above 60 degrees. It was so cold a few nights this week but the tomatoes and other veggies seemed to have dealt well with it. On Wednesday my mom came up to the house early in the morning to watch Logan all day so that I could go to a 4 hour training session for work and then go to the walk in clinic for DOT physical so that I can keep my bus license. It never got home until after 3. Thursday morning we woke and the weather was GORGEOUS! Sunny and warm at 8, so I called my friend and we planned to hit the lake again. It was a fabulous day at the beach! the sun shown all day and it wasn't too hot. 
Friday we had a lot of house cleaning and errands to do. My cousin was coming up for the weekend and things needed to be straightened up. We did everything we needed to do, went shopping and then picked up my hubby at work. We did get some picking done. This time of year the mosquitos are HORRIBLE. we lasted about 15 minutes before everyone was getting eaten ALIVE! I had tons of bites on my ankles. 
The tomatoes are starting to turn. There are several plants that have a few tomatoes each turning red or yellow. I think some of the heirlooms that are purple and maroon are starting to turn as well. 
This sunflower is starting to be done, the head is very head and droopy. Looking so very sad. It must know summer is coming to an end soon. 
Though this sunflower thinks it is time to be born! 
Roses are blooming as well. 
This dahlia gets more beautiful everyday. 
Here is a birdhouse my husband built last summer. It sits high on our back hill. Last year we had some cute small birds in it and we thought they were back this summer but it is empty. 
My cousin arrived at about 9pm on Friday night we stayed up late talking. On Saturday, we all went to my nieces 3rd bday party at a park in Bradford, VT. the kids played on the climbing structure and most of the adults played bocce. 
Saturday night we had a fire in our fire pit and made S'mores and had some margaritas. It was a nice night. Here is Logan and Sarah outside Saturday night. 
I hope everyone has had a good week and weekend! This blog entry has been viewed 524 times
The work contiuned Sunday afternoon...
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:18 pm After lunch I decided to cut up some of the cucumbers and make more pickles. I had enough cucumbers from today to make 2 pints of bread and butter and 2 pints of dill. This time I put in a garlic clove and a dried cayenne pepper from last summer. This dill pickles should have a nice bite! Around 3pm Sunday afternoon my honey, son and I went back outside. My honey and I both had a huge bowl for berries. We picked for an hour! We got a bowl of blackberries and blueberries. I froze up the blueberries and there was over 12 cups! My fingers were stained purple from the blackberries. They are so ripe that some of them burst when they are touched. 
I took another look in the garden..and what did I find? These 2 zucchinis hiding under some huge leaves! 
Here are some blooms that were out today. I have been experimenting with the settings on my camera. I think this setting made the colors really pop. Auto Setting 
Manual setting , the color really pops 
Bee Balm 
Clematis 
Glads 
August Yellow Rose 
My husband suggested that we have bacon sandwiches for tea. So here is mine. He forgoes the tomato but I have to have fresh tomato when i have it. the yellow tomato was soooo sweet! 
Hope everyone had a good weekend! This blog entry has been viewed 475 times
Fungus, caterpillar droppings ...means alot of work to do...
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 4:31 pm During the week I noticed that several of my tomato plants had spotted leaves. After some internet search I discovered that it was a fungus. I wasn't too surprised considering the wet, humid summer we have had. The week was busy and rainy so i didn't get to deal with it right away. On Saturday morning I risked life and limb in the thunder and rain to start trimming off as many of the affected leaves that i could. Of course as soon as I get in the garden the sky darkened and the thunder started. I was determined, even though i fear thunder to get most of the affected leaves out of the garden. My little helper was with me until the rain wasn't a sprinkle any more. I stayed until the skies opened up and the rain poured down. As I was trimming off the leaves I noticed some large pea sized poop on one plant. Looks like it could be evidence of a caterpillar. GRRRR...though there are no signs of anything being eaten. Time to FIGHT the possible HORNED WORM. In the afternoon on Saturday we went into town and I picked up some fungicide. Today wsa a gorgeous morning. The sun was shining and the skys were clear. My little helper and I spent 2 hours working through the garden. I mixed up one 5 gallon pail of miracle grow and another for the fungicide. I trimmed more leaves as we moved through the garden. Logan picked all the red cherry and grape tomatoes he could find as I picked the prickly cucumbers. I sprayed every plant with the fungicide and gave them a good feed. After I went through the whole garden I then mixed up a batch of the BT to spray the toms to kill any harmful caterpillars or worms that may be hiding in the plants. I went through the garden again trimming off more leaves and tying up the plants that are getting weighted down with large fruit. I also picked 2 handfuls of green beans. I looked all over the tomato plants and didn't see any more evidence of worms or caterpillars but I am not chancing it. Bacillus Thuringensis is a natural occurring soil organism that will help control larva and caterpillars. We did get some sun this week and with the trimming off of a lot of leaves in the past few weeks the toms have gotten larger and have started to turn. 
The Mamma Romas are really getting large. Some have a slight ting of yellow and hopefully with the sun that is expected this week will be ripe soon! 
The plants are loaded with toms. The lack of leaves should really aide in them turning. 
The cherry toms are doing very well. I get about a handful every few days. That is if Logan doesn't eat them all before they get in the bowl! 
Peppers are still coming. The plants are getting so heavy that I have had to brace them up with bricks! 
The Jalapenos are great! But they are turning purple. they taste great but have never seen them this color before. 
Our largest pumpkin is doing very well. 
The sun is supposed to shine most of the week. So here is hoping that it does and the tomatoes get a blast of sun and heat that they need. Here is today's pickings. I will be making a few more jars of pickles today. 
Last edited: Sun Aug 17, 2008 4:34 pm This blog entry has been viewed 1461 times
A little bit of this and little bit of that....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:46 pm Things have calmed down a bit here, Sunday was so busy. On Sunday my honey finished a wooden train for Logan. Logan is sooooooo in love with it. Logan loves trains of all kinds, Tho Thomas the Tank Engine is his FAVORITE! the train is made out of bits of maple, walnut, cherry, ash and pine. 
On Tuesday Logan had a dentist appointment. His nice teeth are perfect. After the dentist we went to Kohls to do some school shopping. Logan will be starting Kindergarten in less then 2 weeks! Here he is in 2 of the outfits he helped pick out. One is for now when it is warm and the other for when ....it gets cold again. 
When we got home last night we spent over an hour and a half outside before we had dinner. There were beans and cukes to pick and a ton of blueberries. 
Here are some sunflower pictures i took last night. I love sunflowers in all stages of their lives. From starting to grow until the birds pick out all the seeds and we put them into the weed pile. 
The cukes are doing very well and here is a nice one hanging on the tomato trellis. 
This is one of the bigger pumpkins we have growing. Right now I think that there are 4 or 5 growing jack-o-lanterns. 
The Zucchini have been doing better since I cut them back, here are pics of 2 but there are 3 or 4 growing now. 
The peppers are still doing great and babies are still coming. Here is one of the larger ones. 
The tin man is doing a great job keeping the critters out of the garden. 
This weekend I will hopefully he making more pickles. There are a lot of little ones out there and the weather has improved a bit. Rain mostly at night or early in the morning and blue skies during the day. Hopefully the tomatoes will start turning as well! I hope everyone is enjoying their gardens and lotties! Have a great day and night! Last edited: Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:47 pm This blog entry has been viewed 485 times
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