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Schools out for summer!!!

Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 11:46 pm

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I don't know if I have told you before but I am a special needs school bus driver. Today was the last day of school for the 2 different districts I drive for. NOW we can have more fun in the yard and garden and the BEACH!

I was watering the garden late this afternoon and noticed I have small potato leaves popping out of the dirt! I have never grown potatoes before and am excited to see them grow. Hopefully we will be getting potatoes this fall.

Since the storm the other day the weather has been gorgeous. Lots of sun and warmth. Everything in the garden is growing wonderfully. the peas are several inches taller then last week, the pumpkins, zucchini, and sunflowers and really growing fast and some of the tomato plants I put in last weekend have flowers! I am so excited. I love to see everything start to grow. And some of the grass seed we sowed last weekend has started to sprout.

Last night I had the camera out and i took a picture of this new iris blooming. It bloomed the night after the big storm. I love the darker shade of yellow that this one is.



On Saturday it will be time to mow the lawn again and I need to start putting in the rest of the tomato plants. I cukes are going to have to wait another week or so until I am sure it is warm enough at night.

Everyone have a great night and weekend!


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And the wind blew....calm after the storm

Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:34 am

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We knew it was coming. Storm watches and warnings and even TORNADO watches for VERMONT,all day. At about 4pm this afternoon a fast moving, violent storm came through the area. We were not home. I had just parked my bus and was resting at our office when the rain came. When Logan and I got in the car it was raining very hard. The sly was blackish green and the wind was kicking up. Just as we were approaching an intersection Fire trucks with lights and sirens came racing threw. At this point I knew this storm had cuased some damage. I park my bus in Nh in the town of Haverhill. We joke that when the wind blows the power goes out there. As we drove the car was blowing all over the road. Debris was blowing all over the place. When we arrived to get my husband just south of my work. The sky was blue and you would have never known that a huge storm was blowing. I could hear the thunder in the distance.

We arrived home about half 5. We stopped on the way home to get the makings for cold sandwiches, because I just knew that the power would be out when we got to Groton. I was right. We knew somthing had happened because a small tree was down near my flower beds...then we noticed my hot house on the front lawn against the fence. That was about 100 yards from where it was left. The pea trellis had been blown over....then we noticed our 50 foot pear tree. SNAPPED about 6 feet from the ground. it just missed our inlaw apartment. Then I noticed a huge limb of our apple tree snapped...and part of a flowering cherry tree....The storm didn't drop a lot of water but it was fast and furious....we wandered around in shock and awe of what had happened. Glad that we were lucky to have not sustained any property damage. We do have some work we will have to do with the clean up. Cutting down the broken limb and cutting everything up for wood in our fire pit.

I have to fix the beans teepee trellis. When the hot box got blown around the yard, it passed through the bean trellis and the pea fence. We can see on the black plastic how the hot box got blown around and flipped and landed and put holes in. The wind must have been amazingly strong.

I took pictures of the damage and other scenes around the yard after the storm.

We were getting ready to spend the night without power. I had just got the flashlight and candles out and were about to light the candles and POOF the power came back on.

STORM DAMAGE

Apple tree limb broken...



Pear tree felled





Small tree down



Hot house 100 yards from garden
if the fence wasn't there it would have done damage to the neighbors house.



Tin Man down...lost his hat...needs repair work...



the calm after the storm...Pictures of blooms around the yard...









This iris has a little visitor...



I hope everyone had a nice day and have enjoyed their gardens. The severe weather is hopefully past and it should be a lot cooler now that this storm blew threw. We should be enjoying out yard and garden again on Wednesday.

Bye for now.

Last edited: Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:37 am

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Today's findings....

Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:22 pm

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we have officially had a heat wave. This is the 3rd day in a row that it hit over 90 degrees. That is very uncommon for this time of year and this area. They say one more day of the heat and then back into the 70's. Hopefully some rain will come tomorrow. Not a drop with all this humidity.

After a long day we walked and watered the garden. All this heat has produced zucchini, pumpkin and sunflower seedlings. everything seems to be doing well. I have a couple peppers that were in the hot house that appeared to have gotten too hot. So looks like I will have to purchase a couple more pepper plants to make up for the ones that have died. All in all it is looking good and this weekend the rest of the tomato plants will get planted. The beans and the peas have really sprouted up and the accidental sunflowers that i transplanted on Saturday have recovered from the shock of being moved and look nice.

I will take some pictures tomorrow when I am not so tired. There are more iris blooms and morning glories are doing well.

Hope everyone has had a nice day.

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Too hot to move...

Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:46 pm

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We ventured out at 9am this morning...it was already over 80 and the humidity unbearable. But with things we needed to do we had to go out.

I had given up half of my veggie patch so that we could grass it and build a play area for my son. This morning we pulled the tiller to the garden area and tilled up the soil on what will soon be grass. We filled buckets and a trash can with dirt and filled all 40 of the tires in the garden. That was hot and tiring work. Every few minutes we had to take a break and head for the shady tree. Finally all the tires are filled and next weekend I will be putting in the tomatoes I started from seed. They are really enjoying being in the hot box in the driveway. Getting baked by the sun they have grown quite a bit already.

After the filling of the tires we had a nice break indoors and then ventured back out. I moved some Liatris, a Hosta and the Clementis and we raked down the area. The grass seed has been sowed and the area roped off. Now we wait and see if it grows.

The Clementis I moved we thought had died last year. When I bought it, it was gorgeous. But by the end of the summer wilt had claimed it and it appeared to be dead. But it came back and is bigger already then it was last year when I bought it. I moved it to climb the arbor that will be the entrance to play yard.

We are in for the day. It is over 90 and very humid and no breeze to speak of today.

Everyone have a great day.

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Summer has arrived.

Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 6:49 pm

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Well we wanted it and we waited months for it...so it is finally here. SUMMER...it was 60 degrees and rainy yesterday and today is near 90 and humid...and boy are we HOT.

We all were out early this morning to get some things done before it got too hot to move...I moved some accidental sunflowers and I hope they will come back after they adjust to the move. They look very wilty right now but I am sure with some water and time they will come back...Logan helped me fill some of the tires with dirt and manure. Logan helped me plant some yellow boys, grape and big boys in the tires. I bought a few six plants of tomatoes since I am still waiting for my babies that I started to be big enough to go outside. I think a week in the hot box my husband built will do it. I also bought a tomato plant with tomatoes already on it so that I can harvest sooner and have toms all summer long. We planted that one in a large patio pot in the driveway.

It was also time to mow the lawn. We didn't mow last week and it was getting quite long. It took 2 hours because I had to keep stopping to rest. When it got hot it got hard to move. My husband got the weed waker out and came behind me and cleaned up around the mint and the weeds.

We walked around the yard a bit ago and found that one iris opened and I have posted pics.




Full view of garden.



Full view of flower garden.



Drive way tomato plant.



Mint Garden, has hosta and peonie.



Butter cups..angels and others






Well it is hot and I need to get the fans out and cool us off. I think we will need to be putting the AC in the window upstairs in our bedroom.

Everyone have a great day!



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My growing garden...June 4th

Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:17 pm

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Hello Everyone. Sorry I haven't Blogged in a few days. It has BEEN so busy the past few days. Logan had his first spring concert on Tuesday night. He is 4 and in preschool. He was so cute. A bit nervous but cute. On Wednesday Logan had his preschool certificate completion day. He is all done and ready for kindergarten in the fall. My mom and I went to his class and we had a picnic on the floor. We were supposed to have a picnic in a nice park but it rained. So we had a picnic inside his class instead. After lunch the weather cleared and we played outside chasing bubbles.

This is Logan with his teacher, Miss Bean.


So this morning I had time to walk through the veggie patch and the yard. The beans and the peas are coming up and so the chives have flowers. Here are a few pictures.







The mint we planted 2 summers ago has left the yard and is growing wildly along the driveway. But it smells so nice. Time to make my hubby some REAL, English mint sauce.




Here is a dalliha that is popping up. Just planted it 2 weeks ago.



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Yummy, Yummy PIE!!!!

Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:09 pm

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Monday's are always a long day. Getting back into the workweek routine and being so tired from the weekends projects. BUT somewhere deep inside I found the energy to attempt a Strawberry Rhubarb pie. I did cheat a bit, I bought a crust. I know when I am tired making the pastry is risky. So on the way home I stopped by the local grocery store and got some strawberries. One thing I learned growing up, if the "fresh" doesn't look good go for the frozen. So I picked up fresh frozen berry's and hoped for the best. I combined 2 recipes that I had found online and gave it a try. I adapted the recipe and changed the spice from cinnamon to nutmeg. Instead of a top crust I used a crumb crust. It looked good before and after it went in the over. The hardest part was waiting for it too cool, which meant waiting all night until breakfast! It was amazing. The best one I ever made. So I ran out and picked more rhubarb this morning and will be making 2 more to freeze.




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What a productive day....

Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:47 pm

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It rained all day on Saturday May 31st and I wasn't feeling very well so we didn't work out in the garden. BUT we made up for that TODAY!

Logan and I were in the garden by 8am. I worked the soil, adding manure and compost and we managed to get a lot planted. While I was planting the sweet peppers in their planter boxes my husband was building me a new hot house to place over them. I still think it gets a bit cool at night so we have 2 hot boxes we place over the peppers to keep them protected at night.





Logan helped me to make 4 hills for the pumpkins. We are cutting WAY back on the number of pumpkins we plant. We got TOO many last year and couldn't get rid of them. I carved about 6 and gave 4 away and that should be enough. We should get about 12 pumpkins from what I planted. We also planted several packets of sunflower seeds around the pumpkins. Sunflowers did well near the pumpkins last year.

I put in 4 cantaloupe plants and 4 watermelon plants that I started from seed about 8 weeks ago. I put floating row covers over them to protect them at night. I have been hardening them up by putting them on my cool porch so they should be okay.

Here is a picture of Logan standing in from of the pumpkin hills and near the floating row covers.





I planted 2 tires with 5 pieces of potato in each. Hopefully they will grown and by fall we will have 2 stacks of tires with nearly 50lbs of potatoes.

I planted zucchini in a stack of tires and also in a hill. That should be enough for me and my mom. We are the only one that eats it. I can't wait to grill it and also make some bread!

I weeded the asparagus out a bit. I left some accidental sunflowers that grew from seeds of last year. This is the second year for the asparagus and we have had about 7 stalks pop through. It is so hard waiting 3 years to harvest! I love asparagus and wanted to pick that first stalk, but resisted. Here is a pic of it gone to seed.



We got the stakes out of the coop where we store them and we put them up with twine. I outline certain areas of the garden with little "fences" to keep child and husband from trampling things that are growing and not yet growing. I have some really cute signs I made 2 summers ago that need to go int he garden but they need some work to bring back the words. I carved the names of my veg into stained boards and put them on stakes. the words have faded so once the garden is done I can work on them and get them in the garden.

after lunch we did some harvest of the rhubarb. I think we picked 10 lbs! I have already given away that much and there is 2 times that much out there still. I am going to attempt to freeze it. My mother in law loves in but they don't come over from England until winter. So I am freezing as much as I can. Next weekend I will try to make a pie again. Last year it was a failure but I am determined. Anyone have a good recipe????



The last big project of the weekend...the tractor tire needed to be filled with peat moss, top soil and compost. It took a lot to fill it. we spray painted it first then while we were picking rhubarb it dried.

Here is the BEFORE...



Here is AFTER...



I planted snowball marigolds, red and white petunias and blue and white labilia...My husband had the idea to plant my onions in it too. So I planted about 30 red onions in and around the flowers. I ran out of room in the garden so this was a perfect place.

After all the hard work was done I walked the yard with my son and husband and took some pictures of buds that are coming. Soon I will have bearded irises. I transplanted them from a neighbor last year and the summer before and never got blooms. BUT THEY ARE COMING!

Here are various pics of buds coming:











This rose bush is very special to me. My grandfather planted this rose bush nearly 50 years ago in Hartford, CT. He passed away 8 years ago. In our first summer in this house my aunt cut a chunk of it and brought it roots and all to us. We planted it and waited to see if it would grow. The winter of 2006 we covered it with leaves and sheets to protect it. It came back last summer and didn't bloom but grew and grew up the trellis. It has come back very strong this year and we HOPE to get roses.




Here are the ACCIDENTAL SUNFLOWERS..there are quiet a few of them around the yard...I love to see where they pop up from. We get a lot under the bird feeders and all over the garden area. I just let them dry in the fall and let the birds and critters have at them.





Well that was my weekend. I am tired but so happy to have accomplished so much. Next weekend we will be tilling up some areas and planting the rest of my onion sets. Almost all the really hard work is done. I can't wait to be able to watch everything start to grow.

Good night all.

Last edited: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:49 pm

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What a nice sunny morning...

Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 1:18 pm

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It wasn't as cold this morning as it has been. the sun is shining and they say it will hot about 80. My morning school bus route was a short one, only 2 kids rode today out of the 7 I transport. So i tool my son to Agway and picked up some more cedar mulch, top soil and compost. I hope that if I am not too tired tonight I will get some things done around the yard. We are expecting rain this weekend and that makes for little fun outdoors.

My TRACTOR TIRE arrived last night. I asked the family of one of the kids that rides my bus if they had any old tractor tires and they had plenty (since they have a dairy farm) and they brought it up to the [house last night. Now I just have to fill the monster thing and decide what to plant in it. I know I am going to put in some tulip and daff bulbs in the fall, but am mulling over what to do with it right now. i might do a red/white and blue annual tire. I plan to paint the tire white, so that would look nice.

I have been going through some of my disks and have found more picture to post.

Here is our little pine when we first planted it in the spring of 2006.



Here is what the tinman looked like when he was brand new.



Here is the bird feeder mounted on the top of the trellis for the honeysuckle. I have noticed that this is now about 3 times the size it was 2 summers ago.



My husband is English and his mum and dad brought over these cute Footie Gnomes:



My husband researched and then built me 3 different types of rose trellis, climbers:







Here is one of the 2 cold frames my husband built me last summer. This summer we hope to get a start on a greenhouse!



My son loves to be outside exploring the garden and nature. He will be 5 this July.









Well off to get ready for the rest of the day. I am going to wander around the yard later and see if anything has started to grow. Everyone have a great day!

Last edited: Fri May 30, 2008 1:20 pm

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Pictures from the past few years...

Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 4:45 pm

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Here are some pictures from the past 2 summers. We bought the house in the fall of 2005 and the one thing I had to have was a gardening plot. I have several perennial beds and a large veggie plot.

The first year we planted this Bee Balm plant it only had 5 or 6 stalks, it is a very vigorous spreader!



I love gladiolas. This picture was taken the first week of Sept 2007.




I love sunflowers! I plant several varieties and let them go wild!







Here are some pictures of the tomatoes from the last few years.








Brandywine Plants






String Beans and Pumpkins





We planted way too many pumpkins seeds last year and we harvested about 30 pumpkins. So we are cutting back this year. They took over the entire garden and back yard!

More tin men...





More pictures will be coming..I have too many disks and need to sort through.


Here are my yellow pears before they ripened. They are a great small tomato, and a vigorous grower. I have read about a vine that grew over 1500 toms on 1 plant! I could never do that with our short growing season but I have gotten over 100 off of 1 plant! they are yummy!



Last edited: Wed May 28, 2008 9:33 pm

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