gardenmama's Blog at GardenStew.com

The day out with Thomas adventure....

gardenmama — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:18:43 -0500

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 11:18 pm (GMT 0)

Hello everyone. Now that I have a few moments I can tell you all about our adventure to Connecticut last weekend. Logan and I were up and out of the house by 8am. We stopped in E. Thetford to pick up my friend Nancy and her 5 year old son Brennen. We had 1 more stop to make. We picked up the rental car in White River and off we went. We were on our way by 9:15. We made great time we were in Hartford by noon. We picked up my aunt and had lunch. We got to Essex, Ct around 2pm. Just in time to see Thomas load all his passengers and take them on their ride. The Essex Train Museum was the location for the Day Out With Thomas. There was food vendors, free kiddie rides and lots of other fun activities for the kids. Logan and Brennen had a great time. We rode the merry go round and another kiddie ride before we had to queue for the 3pm ride.

Thomas was in Essex to help the #97 steam train pull all the coaches filled with the excited kids and their parents. Logan, Nancy, Brennen, my aunt theresa and myself got to ride in the #8 car which was right behind Thomas. Once on the train the conductor handed out special Jr. Engineer certificates to all the kids. There was a story teller telling lots of stories about Thomas and the days train ride. There was also a lot of Thomas The Tank tunes being played on the train.

Logan and I had done day out With Thomas before when he was 3. That was a very hot and humid day and that took away some of the fun. But Saturday in Connecticut was gorgeous! It was sunny and in the mid 60's. Perfect weather for the trip.

After our train ride we went into the Imagination Station where the kids could play with toy trains, color and watch Thomas Cartoons. Then it was off to the gift shop! All sorts of Thomas merchandise plus a model railway all set up. This I think might have been Logan's favourite part of the day. He ran around that huge model railway table for over a half an hour watching the 2 trains and making up stories about them......then it was the end of the day. After we got to the car we got to see Thomas getting put away for the night. Thomas the steam engine does move by himself but he has a special helper that is a Diesel Engine that does most of the work.

Here is Logan and Brennen climbing on a HUGE Thomas made out of LEGOS!

Logan doesn't really like the up and down horses on the Merry Go Round so we sit in a carriage.

Before out ride Logan got to speak to one of Thomas' Engineers. All the men are very friendly and put on a great show for the kids.

Here is Nancy, Brennen, Logan and myself in front of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Logan is surprised when we start to move!

Thomas getting put into a shed for the night.

After we left Thomas we decided to drive 2 exits to the CT Shore. It was a gorgeous afternoon and my friend Nancy had never seen the end of the Connecticut River. The CT River runs the entire length of Vermont and dumps into Long island Sound. This is in Old saybrook.

The adventure was great. That night we all sacked out in my aunt's livingroom for a long nap. Afer breakfast on Sunday morning we took the boys to a park to let them run and play. The weather wasn't so warm then but the kids had a good time.

To end the trip was fantastic. After exchanging the rental for my car and dropping off nancy we picked up a pizza and were home just after 6 on Sunday night. It was a long ride but so worth it. What great memories we made last week.

Halloween Pictures....What a Spooky Evening.....whaaaaa whaa

gardenmama — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:43:19 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 10:43 am (GMT 0)

We had a great Halloween. I was dressed all day as I drove the bus. the kids love it. I should have brought my camera to get pics of the other drivers but I forgot. Opps...

Logan had a Halloween Party at school after lunch. He had a great time. He painted a pumpkin at school and got lots of treats from the teachers.

We ate dinner around 4:30 last night....waited and waited for it to get dark and then we headed out to a night of trick or treating....well more like an hour. We walk to a few of the houses right near us on the hill and then we drive into down and walk to about 10 houses that do trick or treating. Logan got a good haul. One of the houses did chips, a juice and a bag of candy. the night was cool but not too cold. I was expecting it to be freezing, since the weather this week has been a bit snowy and brurry but it was about 35 and not too bad.

Here are pictures from the day and spooky night.

We hope that everyone in Stew land has a safe and fun Halloween! Have a great weekend. Logan and I are off in a few hours to head to day out with Thomas!

It's Pumpkin time!!

gardenmama — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:45:40 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 8:45 pm (GMT 0)

Hello everyone..I haven't disappeared, just very busy with work. Last weekend I went to CT for a wedding. We have been very busy up here with work. We actually had some snow a few miles up the hill from us this week. But this weekend the weather has been sunny and gorgeous!

Yesterday morning I spent some time carving 4 of my best pumpkins. I had to throw away 4, they had gone soft and were rotten. I gave away 2 to my mom and aunt.

Here are the pictures of the pumpkins. I will be posting more pictures in the next week of Halloween.

Next Saturday Logan and I are heading to Ct again to go to "day out with Thomas". We have done this before up in North Conway , NH. A life size Thomas the Tank Steam Engine pulls coaches and we get to ride. There are also a lot of other activities. I will be posting pictures of our weekend away.

I hope all you stewies out there are doing well. I will be back soon with more goings on. I plan to try and get pictures of a snowy mountain this week. Ug...SNOW!

The spookiest time of year is coming.....

gardenmama — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:49:43 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 12:49 pm (GMT 0)

My FAVORITE time of year in about to start..I LOVE HALLOWEEN! I love the pumpkins, the ghosts and goblins...vampires, werewolfs everything. Last year Logan was the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz and I was Dorothy. The year before he was a frog and I was mother nature. Logan loves it as well. This year Logan is going to be Indiana Jones and I, a mime. We won't match this year but it will still be fun.

I make caramel popcorn balls for halloween treats and give out plain popcorn as well. This year I will have a batch of warm cider on the porch for the parents.

This weekend we finished cleaning up the yard and we finally pulled out the decorations to decorate the yard. 3 years ago when we moved in I made wooden lawn decorations. Pumpkins that are 3D and lite up at night, candy corn, cats etc.

Here are pictures of our spooky decorations:

3 witches park their brooms here and call this house their home.

This is the witch I melted last year as Dorothy.

Fall decorations:

Busy, Busy Busy

gardenmama — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:09:54 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 12:09 am (GMT 0)

Hello everyone...Np pictures to post today, I have been way tooooo busy driving bus this week. I have picked up about 15 extra driving hours on top of the 27 hours I normally drive. I am out of the house at 5:30am and I get home at night at 5pm. A LOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGGGGG day! The school I drive for a school that has had to move into temporary classrooms due to roof and school that has been condemned. the roof isn't up to code, the ceiling and walls are full of mold and the electrical isn't up to code. They moved 4 grades into a National Guard Armory that isn't being used right now. the kids that I bus to school are special needs and they have a classroom elsewhere. But the hours I have picked up are busing all the special needs kids to other activities during the day ei: gym, art, music etc. 3 small runs a day but it adds up.

My driving ankle is sore but I will get used to it. Everyone is so upset at the situation. The building is only 17 years old and it was being re shingled this summer when they determined that the roof was failing. Upon further investigation they found the mold and determined that the building was never built to code. They are very lucky the roof did collapse last winter with all the snow we got. Support beams and trusses were cracked. Now the mold problem has been found and they condemned the building. They moved the kids out and are waiting to see if they can raise the bond to fix the school. To the cost of 2.1 million or better. They hope to be back in the school in 3 months but at this point more people think it will be half a year or better.

I will pop on here from time to time. I hope to be able to take some pictures this weekend. The foliage is at it's peak and very beautiful. I hope everyone out there is stew land is well. Goodbye for now.

Foliage in Vermont

gardenmama — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:11:15 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 5:11 pm (GMT 0)

Fall is in full swing in Vermont. The cooler nights and cooler days have started the leaves turning and they are gorgeous! It has been several years since I can remember wanting to "leaf peep" in my own state. Last week before the rains came I had my camera with me in the bus. These are a few pictures that I took on the hill that we live on.

The garden is nearly cleaned out. Today I put a mixture of bone meal, blood meal and lime in the tires that the tomato plants came out of. To start rebuilding the soil for spring.

Not all is dead and dying. Somehow we have managed not to get a deadly frost here. My wild roses are still blooming and gorgeous. They seem so much more colorful this time of year because everything around them is dull and brown. The morning glories are still doing well and give the arbor some nice color this time of year.

The pumpkins were cut off the vine a few weeks ago and they have been sitting out in the sun and are ripening very nicely.

Today I spent the morning cleaning out my largest flower bed, pulling out the glads and dahlias and getting them ready to get put away for winter. I was going to plant my fall bulbs in this flower bed but there really isn't enough room....so to my honeys dismay I started digging up the grass around our well . I planted daffodils, tulips and crocuses here. I also tore up all the flowers in the large tractor tire on the front lawn and put in black and deep purple tulips as well as irises, hyacinths, crocuses and some more daffs. I can't wait for spring to come and see the wonderful color. Finally some color to take pictures of in the spring!

Autumn is here and the garden is winding down.

gardenmama — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:29:39 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 1:29 pm (GMT 0)

Oh it has been a busy week or so. This time of year there is a lot of cleaning up to do, getting things ready for winter and back to work and school.

Last weekend we spent sometime on Saturday cleaning up the garden. We had had a few cool nights and the pumpkin vines were dead, so we cut all the pumpkins off and pulled out the vines. We got 12 nice carving pumpkins. Some are not orange yet but they are getting there.

The string beans were done producing so they were ripped out and a few more of the tomato plants. we haven't had a killing frost yet , so every weekend we just pull another cherry tomato plant out that is done producing.

All that is left in the garden are a few tomato plants and lots of weeds where the pumpkins were planted. We were going to pull it all out this weekend but the rains are a comin'. So we will be doing a lot of inside chores and cooking.

Last of the beans, huge and tough.

Last of the zucchini's

The dying garden

the green bean pole is empty now. you can also see one of the last cherry tomato plants in the back ground.

Some of my pumpkins with my mums in the rock garden. Soon I will have it all spooked out with the Halloween decorations.

There was a special Kindergarten lunch on tuesday. Logan could invite a parent or grandparents for lunch. My mom and I both went and had lunch with him. We got to see some of his artwork while we were there.

Last Sunday my mom, honey and I took logan to Clark's trading post in Lincoln, Nh. It is about 45 minutes from here. It is a place where they have been raising the american black bear for nealry 60 years. It is located on the White Mountain Railroad. This was the Railroads 50th year. We road a caboose, railbus, train and rail wagon. It was a day of trains and a lot of fun for Logan.

Here are some of the days pictures. the last picture is of the "wolfman". he lives on the branch of the White Mountain Railroad and trys to chase off the train. He hates tourists and wants us to go away. He chases the train in an old car and lets off firecrackers and an airgun. It is a lot of fun. We did this train ride twice. Clark's is a great place to visit while in the White Mountains.

Citzenship Day September 17, 2008

gardenmama — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:04:26 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:04 pm (GMT 0)

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.

You have got to see this ZUCCHINI!

gardenmama — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 10:36:25 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 2:36 pm (GMT 0)

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.

A very productive weekend...

gardenmama — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:43:55 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:43 pm (GMT 0)

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.

Slowly but surely...tomatoes are coming!

gardenmama — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:51:19 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:51 pm (GMT 0)

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!

Tuesday was a very busy and exciting day...

gardenmama — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:38:52 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:38 pm (GMT 0)

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.

Amazing what a little sun will do....

gardenmama — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:26:16 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 6:26 pm (GMT 0)

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!

It's been a very busy week....

gardenmama — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:27:04 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:27 pm (GMT 0)

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!

The work contiuned Sunday afternoon...

gardenmama — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:18:22 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:18 pm (GMT 0)

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!

Fungus, caterpillar droppings ...means alot of work to do...

gardenmama — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:31:55 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 4:31 pm (GMT 0)

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.

A little bit of this and little bit of that....

gardenmama — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:46:00 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:46 pm (GMT 0)

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!

Finally a Blue Sky weekend!!!!

gardenmama — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:49:04 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:49 pm (GMT 0)

Saturday morning started off with showers, I didn't think that weekend would amount to much more then laundry and some baking. I took my honey to work early Saturday morning and then Logan and I took a nap. I heard rain on on the roof while we slept. But when we woke a few hours later, a miracle had occurred. The sky was clear and the sun was OUT! I just hoped as we went to pick up my husband that it remained clear long enough to mow the lawn.

We arrived home about half 11 and wouldn't you know it...Blue skys. I pulled the mower out and started and we finished the lawn! The sky was clear all day. We managed to mow all the lawn, weed wack around the flower beds, pull up the dried up peas, weed the garden, tie up the tomatoes again and give them yet another haircut, burn out Gypsy Moth nests in the apple tree and do some berry picking. Whew...what a day...We were all so knackered from the days doings that we cleaned up and got take out from a truckstop up the street, planted ourselves in front of the tele and watched a movie and some olympic games.

I found 1 zucchini hanging down the back side of my tires. Not a huge one but good enough for 2 meals for me.

A gardeners feet, well at least mine look like this after a hard day in the garden.

I tore down the potato tires to see if anything had survived once the leaves had died. I found 2 of the tiniest potatoes I had ever seen. All the stems and other spuds had already composted. All the worms that I found in the pile of dirt I moved into my tire composter. Hopefully they will do a good job in there , like they did in the potato tires. Of course I tossed the tiny potatoes in the compost bin BEFORE i could get a picture.

We expected today, Sunday , to be rainy and stormy. So far so good. The sky was blue most of the morning. Though today I did have to get some indoor things done before fresh produce was no longer fresh. i froze over 12 cups of blueberries and blackberries we picked on Saturday. So this morning while my honey and son watched Manchester United beat Portsmouth in the Charity Shield (WHOO HOO) I made 3 pints of dill pickles and 3 batches of Zucchini Spice Muffins and Breads. I did a total of 6 batches of the zucchini breads today. Some I put mini chocolate chips in. What a great way to get people who hate veggies to eat veggies.

After lunch we all went outside for a bit and I picked 2 yellow tomatoes, 4 little cukes, a large handful of green beans and a few grape tomatoes. I blanched and froze the green beans.

After I finished my baking at around 12:30 I went out to take pictures of the flowers. I got some good shots of bees doing their jobs.

This is one HUGE bee..anyone know what kind it is?

This is a huge honey bee...we thought it was dead. It wasn't moving at all. My honey was able to pull the bee balm towards me to get this picture. I was wondering if it was a queen that has lost her hive.

The glads are all blooming and gorgeous. I had to stake and tie them so that they would stop falling in the rains.

This is a picture of our side yard from the rear.

After taking pics of the yard I came back indoors and made the last 3 batches of the zucchini muffins. I will be sending some in to work my honey. That HUGE zucchini made 24 GIANT , muffins and 2 rounds breads. They are yummy.

Strong storms are headed this way. I hope to get that last batch of muffins baked and dinner cooked before the skies open! I hope everyone has had great weekend!

Between the rian drops....

gardenmama — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:39:38 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:39 pm (GMT 0)

The rains have come AGAIN!!! Sooooooooooooo I have started to turn my harvest into some yummies..I made blueberry muffins the other morning...Thursday morning I had 7 pickling cucumbers that I needed to turn into something (Logan and I can only eat so many cukes in a day) so I looked up pickle recipes. So Thursday after lunch I pulled out my slicing mandolin, a couple of Ball canning jars and got to work. I sliced up 4 large white onions and my cucumbers. I made 4 pints of bread and butter pickles. Never made then before and it was very easy. The hardest part will be waiting 6-8 weeks to taste them! My mom loves bread and butter pickles so I hope they come out good. My mom and dad made pickles in the 80's and made amazing pickles. I hope I can do half as good.

On the way to pick up my honey from work in the afternoon the skies opened and we got a whopper of a storm. The thunder and lightening was intense and the rain came down in buckets. When we got home it had let up and was just lightly sprinkling. When we got home i ventured out to the garden to see what I could find. There was a couple of cherry tomatoes, a cuke, green beans and blackberries. It started raining again so I didn't get to pick blueberries.

It is nice to have a cuke and tomato salad just about every night. I add some fresh basil as well.

A few nights ago my husband brought this HUGE zucchini home from work. A man he works with has a huge garden and loves to share. This one will become Zucchini bread this weekend. I will send his co worker some.

The skies opened up again this afternoon. We got home and immediately went out to the garden and blueberry bushes. The thunder clapped in the distance so we worked quickly to pick what we could. I found 8 cucumbers ready to become dill pickles this weekend. As well as some green beans, a few peas and a green pepper. My honey and I picked at a very quick pace. We picked until a huge clap of thunder sounded over our heads and the rain started coming down again.

I don't think we will be picking too much this weekend. Rain is expected for the whole weekend. That cucumbers are going to love it, along with the few watermelons that have really started to grow and the pumpkins. I would however LOVE it if the rains held off for a few days and give my tomatoes a chance to get ripe! Good news on the tomato front, no more blossom end rot has been found! The tomatoes are getting much bigger. So when the sun finally shines I will be busy, busy ...BUSY!

Everyone have a fantastic night and weekend!

A little snack

gardenmama — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:40:57 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:40 pm (GMT 0)

This morning I decided it was time that the tomatoes, sweet bell pepper and 1 jalapeno that I picked the other night were put to good use. They were nice and ripe and needed to be used.

So out came the wooden cutting board, the nice sharp knife and the food processor....cut up some fresh parsley and added an onion...and

Voila...Fresh Salsa!!!

A nice healthy snack...