|
Recent Entries to this Blog
Preparing for Hurricane Irene
Posted: 28 Aug 2011 Posted: 20 Aug 2011 Posted: 20 Aug 2011 Posted: 08 Aug 2011 Posted: 07 Aug 2011 All Entries |
gardenmama's Blog
I couldn't help myself....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:24 pm I picked the ripening tomato. It looked so nice and was starting to get nice and soft. So last night I decided to pick it so that it doesn't split in the extreme heat that we are going to have this week. It smells so nice I can't wait to have it for lunch, tomorrow. Hopefully I can wait until wednesday to eat it. 
I did some work in the garden around 8 this morning. the tomato plants have really done some growing this week. They have gotten taller but also toooooo bushy. So they all got hair cuts! After the haircuts and tying up I gave them all a good drink of miracle grow and came in. Everything is doing so well. I love the use of the black plastic. NO WEEDS! I don't have to spend hours weeding to keep on top of it. Only a little bit of wedding required around the watermelons. I am enjoying this garden so much more then in the past. I am updating this at 8pm...I had to EAT it! It was sooooooooo worth it. I forget how much better my own tomatoes are from anything in a store. I ate it with fresh basil from my plant, salt and pepper. 
Last edited: Wed Jul 09, 2008 12:04 am This blog entry has been viewed 399 times
Back from our weekend away....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:52 pm Hello All!....On Friday morning we headed to the Southern Vermont area for my annual Family reunion. We arrived at about 1:15pm. We set up our tent and relaxed all weekend. the many kids played and the adults hang out and chat and catch up on what has happened over the past year or even years since you last saw someone. It was a good time. Good food, good people, good fun. It is a gorgeous location. Here is a sunset view from Friday night. From the top of the hill where we were we saw 4 different public and private fireworks displays. 
Here are a few of the daytime views. 
Here are a few other pics from the weekend: Me, my honey and Logan (logan is feeling so much better) 
Most of my fathers side of the family: 
We celebrated Christmas in july on Saturday. We had smoked turkeys and all the fixings. It was a great time. then afterwards had a Yankee Swap for gifts. I for a nice basket of candles and my hubby a bottle of red wine. On our way home we stopped at several site seeing places. We stopped at the Bennington Battle Memorial. This is a crucial Revolutionary Battle happened that prevented the british from taking Vermont. 
Over all we had a great weekend...even though Logan and I were sick. But we smiled and had a good time. We stopped at the top of Hogsback Mountain and took this picture. It is said that you can see 100 miles from this view. 
We got back to our house about 3:30pm on Sunday. I was amazed to find this when we arrived. 
I am going to pick it in a few days and have a sandwich! YUMMY The garden is doing great. Over the weekend it was very hot and it did a lot of growing... 
I acquired another tomato plant over the weekend. My gram brought 5 she was giving away to anyone that wanted one. So I chose the cherry tomato plant. It has many toms on it already! 
Here is a few pics of the herbs that I am growing inside. I can't put them out because of the neighbors naughty cats and bugs. Basil 
Parsley and Oregano 
I also have a huge pot of thyme but it is not looking nice right now..It goes brown every so often and then grows new green. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July and a nice weekend in other parts of the world. Last edited: Mon Jul 07, 2008 3:23 pm This blog entry has been viewed 415 times
Starting to feel better....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:35 pm My little garden helper Logan is starting to feel better. During the day he is full on energy and has a mild cough but at bed time he is still having coughing fits. the Doc says this is normal, however I am not used to getting 4 hours a sleep a night. On Tuesday, Logan was feeling better so we met up with my college roommate, her 3 years old son, mother and her nephew and went to Whiteface, NY to go to Santa's Workshop. It is the oldest amusement park in the USA. It is tucked up in the mountains. there are rides, gift shops, reindeer and plenty for the kids to do. Logan had a very good time. We took the ferry from VT to NY. He loved that too. So did the adults. it was less then a 20 minute ride, but very good.. I had never been on a ferry with cars before. It was a long day. We left at 7am and were home at 8pm. It was a really nice time with a good friend. I mowed the lawn this morning and tonight we walked around the garden. It needed some water. Everything is growing like crazy. I have flowers about 1/2 of the 49 tomato plants and they have doubled in size this week. I just gave them "haircuts" and tied them up on the weekend and they need it again already. The cukes are looking very good and there are now several flowers. It is so nice to see hard work start to pay off. I will be posting pics of our trip to Santas Workshop soon. Being sleep deprived has zapped me and I am taking longer to get things done. everyone have a good night. TTFN This blog entry has been viewed 337 times
My Little Helper is Under the Weather....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:50 pm My little guy Logan has not been feeling himself the past few days. IT started with a little cough and sneezing. The cough got a lot worse yesterday and through the night. I didn't sleep much at all worried about him. He was coughing every few minutes. I called his primary care doc this morning and got him in for 9:30am. It isn't anything serious but it is a viral infection in his throat. He has swollen glands and a dry barking cough. She prescribed some Prednisone steroids and the use of steam. I picked up his script along with some Delsym and that seems to be working. We are at my moms right now and he has been napping for over an hour with out coughing. I hope he starts to feel better and gets some sleep tonight. We are supposed to go to Santas Workshop in Upstate NY tomorrow with my best friend and roommate from college. She has a little boy 2 years younger then Logan. As long as I control his cough I think we will be fine. This weekend we will be away also. We are traveling to the Bennington, Vermont/Hooksic , NY area for my fathers side of the family reunion. It is at my uncles house. It sits high on a hill and is so gorgeous and peaceful. We will be tenting for 2 days. I hope the little guy is feeling better by then. Hopefully after a full day of meds and some rest today he will be feeling more like himself. This is sickest he has ever been in all of his 5 years. I kept him home and out of daycare and now that he is in preschool/kindergarten he is getting bombarded with all sorts of germs that he isn't used to. I feel bad for my little guy. This blog entry has been viewed 367 times
spending time in the garden before the rains come....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:28 pm It was raining a bit this morning so I ran an errand to Walmart...even though milk was on my list I somehow forgot it and my English hubby needs milk for his tea...So off I went...I picked up the few things I needed and then saw that they have Japanese Beetle traps. I have noticed that the little buggers were starting to eat all the blackberry leaves, and this year I want to cut them off at the pass. I hung a trap near the berries and another near the garden. I HATE picking beans when the vines are covered with what I call "orgy" bugs. All they do is eat, mate and eat while they mate. AWFUL things.. 
Logan helped me collect my garden tools and off we went to the garden. Logan and I got on our hands and knees and picked weeds out of the watermelon and cantaloupes. They are looking very good and have some flowers. I put some soil on the vines to make a better root system and stronger plant. Logan was a big helper and put all the weeds in his wheelbarrow and brought them into the woods. After the weeding we both covered up the potatoes leaves. I had put another tire on them and we needed to cover them enough so that just a few inches of their greens showed. They are loving this weather so i expect we will have to put another tire on soon. My mechanic in town is dropping off more tires. i thought I had enough but i don't. So I stopped and asked. He is bringing up enough for the garden and to start a compost bin. 
While I was weeding I got a nice surprise..a FLOWER! I can't believe it. Last year and the year before I didn't get flowers until August! I guess they really love this hot, humid, wet weather! and Starting them inside didn't hurt either! 
I have flowers on one of the cherry tomato plants that i started from seed! YEAH!!! i can't wait to have these tiny yummies! 
A few new blooms from around the yard... I dug up these day lilies at my moms. She HATES them! but no matter how much we dig they keep coming back! 
Here is another peony..I think I will call this one Princess Anne. It is a lighter pink. 
We had a little visitor in the white tractor tire garden. My husband spotted this moth yesterday. We don't don't know if it had just hatched but it was having a hard time trying to fly. Anyone know what kind it is? 
Well the rains finally came after 3 this afternoon. Nothing too intense just a steady rain. It does feel nice. It was light enough so that I could do some grilled chicken and ribs for dinner. Have a good weekend everyone! This blog entry has been viewed 349 times
A misty morning walk in the garden....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:42 pm Before the weather takes a turn for the worse this weekend I wanted to check out the progress of the gardens. I first walked through the perennial garden and found my White Rose opening. There are several buds on this one plant and the largest has started to open. 
Walking around the front of the house I didn't expect to find anything blooming but I was surprised by my clematis. 
I can't wait to see this plant then it will full of blooms. I have been waiting patiently for this clematis to bloom. I was told it was a vigorous grower but it took 3 summers for it really take off. I was in the garden yesterday tying up some of the tomato plants and feeding but I didn't see any tomatoes but today there are several babies. They are on the Lemon Boy plants. There are also 4 on the lemon boys in the driveway pots. 
The zucchini really are enjoying the weather. This one has really gotten massive the past few days. Here are the 2 pics I have taken this week to compare size. June 24th 
Today 
The blueberry bushed are LOADED with growing fruit. One of the bushes gets very large berries. Last year we didn't have a lot of berries but from what I have been told that every other year is a good harvest. I think this years will be a BUMPER CROP! 
It is supposed to be a very wet weekend so I probably won't be getting out in the garden too much. I hope for some sun so that I can get the lawn mowed and some weeds removed. I hope everyone has a great day and a wonderful weekend. This blog entry has been viewed 453 times
Papa's Roses Opens....YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 11:25 pm I know I have said this before but 2 summers ago my Aunt Theresa cut out a piece of one of my Grandpa Tony's rose bushes and brought it up in Vermont. The Rose bush and its huge root ball was in a 5 gallon pail all tied up to a couple of rods to keep it from breaking. It made it up from CT and we transplanted it right away. We had 2 wait until the next spring to see if it would grow. It grew some vines and leaves...and it did the same the following summer...This summer we are FINALLY BLESSED with GORGEOUS bright pink roses. I nearly cried this afternoon when I went out and 2 roses were opened. These are off a rose bush that my grandfather planted for his sister when he bought the house my mother was raised in. I am not sure how old the bush is but I am sure it is over 50 years old. I love the idea of having a piece on him here in Vermont. 
One of the hostas that wasn't eaten by the naughty, haughty deer last week has flowers on it. So I took a picture of this one today. 
Logan came to the veggie patch me this afternoon to see how everything is doing. Even since 2 days ago everything has grown a lot! Here is Logan with my tallest sunflower plant. 
The large tomato plant that I have in a patio pot is doing wonderfully. It had 4 tomatoes on it when we bought it and now every day I find another one. It has about 6 tiny toms on it and some larger ones! 
Today was a gorgeous sunny day but it will be short lived the stormy, rainy weather is back tomorrow. All it took was 1 nice day to make the roses open. Everyone have a good night. This blog entry has been viewed 479 times
Lots of rain...leads to a happy, healthy garden.
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:07 pm Over the past 10 days to 2 weeks we have got a lot of rain. Not nearly as much rain that the mid west has got but more then normal for this time of year. The almanac had said expect a rainy spring but normally that means April and May not June. We got a thunderstorm that last several hours last night. We didn't get damaging wind but the rain POUNDED down for hours. This morning Logan and I walked the yard and garden and to our SURPRISE nothing was damaged.I expected bent over tomato plants and destroyed peonies but everything looks wonderful and happy. Everything is so green and looks so healthy. This is one of the Yellow Boys that I bought. I planted 6, 4 in tires and 2 in a large pot in the driveway. All off them have doubled their size and have flowers on them. I can't wait to have yellow tomatoes. They are so good. 
The peas are starting to climb the pea fence. I planted them about a month later then normal. We hadn't set up the tires and needed to bring in the soil etc. Now that they are all set up I can plant them earlier next year. They seem to be doing great though. With all the rain and the slightly cooler then normal temps they are looking great! I hope they flower before it gets too hot and they fry in the sun. 
The Kentucky wonder String Beans are really shooting up! They love this warm, humid wet weather. they have started climbing the strings of their trellis. 
The zucchini really likes the miracle grow that I fed it Saturday. The plants look like they are trying to escape the tire stack that it is planted in!
I wasn't too optimistic about growing potatoes this year. I have never done it before and wasn't sure about the tire method. But I am changing my tune. They are growing very fast in this wet weather and are ready to have another tire put on top and covered with dirt. So that will be a weekend project. 
The "accidental sunflowers" are growing fabulously since they were transplanted. Here is one that is over 3 feet tall already! I can't wait to see what it looks like when it blooms. These will all be surprises as to what type they are. 
After walking around the veggie patch I took a stroll over to the perennial beds. good news, some of the hosta that were destroyed still have a few leaves and are popping up a flower. can't wait to take pictures of their good fortune. My Princess Elizabeth Peony was hiding a little surprise for me. A day lily has opened. 
Logan and I paid our neighbor a visit this morning. He has some gorgeous lighter pink peonies and he had me cut some and bring them home. He knows I love flowers. Some days when the lilacs are blooming I will find bunches of them in my porch. He is such a nice man. 
On Saturday I picked up a gorgeous hanging basket at my local plant shack. I love the color orange and this one will be covered with little black eyed susanne flowers soon! 
Logan got a package from his Nannie B and granddad today. They live in Southport, England. Here here is to proud of his new clothes from his Nan. 
I hope everyone had a good day and have been able to enjoy their gardens. Bye bye for now. Last edited: Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:07 pm This blog entry has been viewed 380 times
Tin Man reporting to DUTY!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:10 pm The greatest thing about having the tire garden is that the day to day maintenance is reduced. The past 2 years I would have had to spend HOURS weeding the old garden patch. But now with the use of the black plastic and recycled tires I have only a few minutes of weeding and that allows me to spend more time doing other projects. For instance.....Fixing my biggest tin man who was damaged in the big storm nearly 2 weeks ago. Here is my tin man back on duty. This time not in the veggie patch but over looking the perennial gardens that were invaded by deer a few nights ago. Hopefully he will scare off any more invaders. 
I spent about an hour Saturday morning weeding, fertilizing and putting up a rope fence about the veggie patch. I picked up some tin cake pans, cut them a bit to flatten them and hung them around the fence. Hopefully this will act as a deterrent to any deer that wants to feed upon my veggie plants. Our neighbor Jimmy has a Shepard and I hope that the smell of him and his urine will also help keep the deer away from this part of the yard. Here is one of my other Tin men with the new pie plate deterrents. My little helper Logan says they are shiny flowers. 
We had a very busy Saturday. My mother picked up my 5 year old nephew and my son Logan and she took them on a train journey. They went on a 2 hour train trip just north of here. There was a fiddler on the train. The boys had a great time. Here is my son blowing his train whistle while the fiddle player plays behind him. Logan LOVES trains! 
My brother and his family came over for a little family party for my 14 year old niece. Her birthday is Wednesday. Everyone arrived at our house about 1 and stayed until about 7. It was a very busy day. This morning it was a bit dreary but I was able to get some pictures of the ever growing garden before the rains came. Here is my Princess Elizabeth Peony in bloom with my gardens guardian angel. 
This rambling rose was on the property when we bought the house so I don't know what it's true name is and even if I had planted it probably wouldn't recall so from now I am going to call it Bloody Mary. If you haven't figured it out I am an English history nut and my husband being English I have decided to name all my perennials after the english/british monarchs. I name this one Bloody Mary because she is so thorny that I give blood anytime I get near her. 
My morning glories are doing very well and with all the rain that we have had this week are growing fast. This is a bloom I found this morning. I can't wait to see these gorgeous blooms all over my arbor! 
As I walked around the front of the yard I looked closely at my Clematis. This is the first one that I planted 3 summers ago. It FINALLY has BUDS all over it! I can't wait to see this one bloom. I am sure it will soon as the SUN comes back and the rains leave. 
As I was taking these pictures it started to rain and has been raining for a few hours now. We lucked out on Saturday and even though thunderstorms were in the forecast they hit north and south of us and we had a beautifully sunny day. I also picked up some more hot peppers to put in the garden and a hanging basket to decorate the front entrance area of the house. I hope everyone has had a fabulous weekend. This blog entry has been viewed 372 times
The Only Good Deer is a DEAD ONE!!!!!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:28 pm As I walked around my flower beds this morning to my SHOCK and HORROR I found that 6 out of 10 hostas have been partially to completely EATEN over night! And the culprits left HOOF PRINTS! I have never had an invasion of deer like this. From the number of hoof prints and the different sizes it looks to be a mom and her baby. Well I have spread nasty tasting powder all over the rest of the flowers in the perennial beds and have shaved a bar of soap all over the place. A friend told me that you can shave Irish Spring soap and the smell keeps deer away. the next step will be setting traps and catching some DINNER! Here are the pictures of the destruction: 
Hoof Prints of the Culprits: 
Not all was a HORRIBLE SHOCK this morning...the lovely fuschia peony that I took a photo of yesterday is even more full today and SO GORGEOUS. Her name shall be Princess Elizabeth. 
I hope everyone had a better day then I did in your gardens. Have a wonderful night. This blog entry has been viewed 441 times
You're reading one of many blogs on GardenStew.com.
Register for free and start your own blog today. |
|
