The Slacker Attacker Has Returned

I woke up to rain this morning, so I decided to work on getting this blog up to date.

Can it really have been three months since my last posting? I had the best of intentions, but life seems to always get in the way when it comes to sitting down and creating a blurb.

I will now pretend that it is May and carry on from there.

MAY

I didn't get a whole lot done this month, I must confess. It was very rainy and I had to work more hours, so I kind of was a slacker. I did some veggie garden work and some clean-up work here and there, but really didn't get into any big projects. I did get some wood chips hauled and put in, but that's about it.

Oh, almost forgot to mention where I went on my secret trip last month. The divine Ms M invited me and a friend to the Cincinnati Flower Show. I had a great time and have some images to share.



JUNE

It was either too hot or too wet to do much work in the garden for what seemed weeks on end. Coupled with the fact that I had to work later really made it hard for me to get motivated to tackle what needed to be done. So, I decided to divide and conquer and quit with the ADD style of gardening I usually live by.

The first task was to get the veggie beds planted. The three raised beds (aka, A, B, C) got planted with 'maters and peppers and eggplant in Bed A; greens and lettuces in Bed B; and carrots and beets in Bed C. I planted some San Marzano paste tomatoes for the first time. Hopefully they will give me some good fruits I can use for a nice pasta sauce.

I also got my potato bins up and running and have been topping the growing spuds with straw. I have never grown potatoes, so it will be interesting to see if I have any tubers to harvest at the end of the season. Unless the harvest is good, I will probably use mulch rather than straw next year, as bales of straw are pretty darn expensive.

the fenced veggie bed got planted with more collards and kale and swiss chard and peas. I had a good crop of these.

As for the ornamental garden areas, I finally got a start on the shady side of the sundial bed. I planted garden sage and lambs ear and although the garden sage has taken a beating by Amy and Fiona, they are both hanging in there. I re-arranged the base of the hill and moved some red daylily to act as a border and interspersed them with some catmint. Well, just one catmint, but I have another to move later on and if I like it, I will add some more this fall.

I did some major trimming on the opposite side of the fence in hopes of having a sunny, dry patch, instead of dry shade, which is a nightmare to find plant material for. Chopping out the fence line also helps keep the wild grapevines from taking over, which is a constant battle.

Garden flunky was very crafting this month and rigged up two more water barrels for remote watering use. He uses a sump pump and pumps the rain barrel water from the house up the hill to each new container after a good rain. We have a total of 100 gallons of free water to use, which is great. I hope it makes a 'splash' in our water bill next month.

Finally got the last of the limbs bundled up for re-cycle. Well, that latest batch-there is always a next batch right around the corner.

I hacked out some honeysuckle bushes and planted three 'Techny' thuja trees on the other side of the fence to give some winter screening of the backside of the veggie garden. They don't get so tall that they will interfere with the electric lines to the house, but get fairly wide, which is perfect.

Still no new neighbors yet.

Fiona dug up and killed my new blueberry bushes! Oh, well, life with puppies is always 'interesting'.

I tackled the pergola and got the sides mulched and weeded. It looks really nice this year. The evergreen trees are digging in and taking hold, and the 'Autumn Bride' heuchera has grown a bit and is actually looking like a border.

Toward the end of the month I had a load of mulch (5 yards) delivered and have been a busy bee getting it deposited to needy spots. I found a place just a couple miles from my house, which is going to be really handy to travel to.


JULY

June made the record books as the hottest month on record. Why we couldn't have broke the record for the nicest weather is just the luck of the Ohio Valley. As saying goes; It's not the heat, but the humidity. July seems to be shaping up to be nearly as hot. It has really made it a challenge to work in the outdoors, that's for sure. The one good thing is that we have had some good rains to keep the soil from being so dried out in the high heat. We had a two week spell toward the end of June that was dry, but that has been the longest period without rain.

The rain barrel system is working great! Do I have a great garden flunky or what! I have only had to water once this year with the city water hose.

The mulch pile is no longer a pile, I'm proud to report. It's been backbreaking labor, but the long border has been weeded, covered with newspaper, and mulched. Ditto the shade border.

I have also kept on top of the weeding in the thyme bed I put in this spring in the stepping stones and it looks vedy, vedy good.

Garden flunky has been mowing the grass most of the time for me, which is a great thing. He is also taken the weed-whacking job, which I really hated to do. Of course it helps that he has a new weed whacker to play with. It's professional grade, so we hope it lasts even longer than our last one (15 years).

Getting some good tomatoes from the garden these days. Blackberries are in right now too. GF and I have been pretty good at picking the ripest ones, which are super sweet when you pick the right ones.

Pulled up the lettuces and will replant at some point. I still have some chard and kale, but am waiting for edamame and pole beans. I also pulled up the garlic and they are drying nicely in the shade of the lanai. Peppers and eggplants are still small.

Yesterday I weeded all day. I did some repair work with the stones that somehow, magically threw themselves onto the patio along with some mud. Hmm, I wonder how those fairly heavy rocks got there??? Big, giant, brindled mole, maybe?

I planted a tray of golden oregano on the sundial bed after I weeded. I think it will look nice when it fills in-if Amy and Fi don't do it in before that time.

I also filled in the attempted dig out by the front gate. I planted some cast-off annuals around the flag pole for a little bit of color with zero cost (well, no $ cost). I put in an ornamental pepper called 'Peggy's Hot' just for some interest. It fruit are black and it has silvery green foliage.

The first of the month I fiddled around in the front garden and did some weeding and mulching and planting of a few things. I had some bits of astible that I put in, and dug up a few odd items that were performing badly and will stash them elsewhere.

I must report that we carried out an execution in the garden this month. The wisteria was executed by lethal saw on July 3rd, 2010. It was a sparsely attended event and the wisteria had no last words to offer.

I have most of the plants I drug home from work planted except the two blueberries, the climbing hydrangea, and a tray of garden sage and a tray of thyme. I still need to put in some artemisia, the 'Becky' Daisy, some carex, and find a home for the cherry salvia.

News 4U: the vacant house has been sold and the new buyers seem very nice and have black Lab named Bella!

Coming attractions: the attack on the gravel parking pad.

What's in Bloom for Thunder Weekend

It has been so unseasonably warm for the last two weeks (temps in the high 80'sF), that it feels like summer instead of late spring. The pansies and violas are pouting, but most every other group is taking advantage of the warmth to let loose a flurry of activity. The containers of spring bulbs that I potted up this past fall look especially nice right now. I really like the striped tulips so well that I might just let them die back instead of ripping them out early, like I usually do.

The big fireworks show Thunder Over Louisville is this Saturday, and since this heralds the kickoff of Derby Week(s), no self respecting l'ville gardener would miss the opportunity to boast about what is blooming in his/her garden. I know it sounds snotty, but a garden in full bloom on Derby Day is a major coup d'etat around here. So, here is what my 'castle' has to offer:

• "Forest Pansy" Redbud in nearly full bloom.
• Dogwoods, both pink and white are glorious this year.
• Purple and white lilacs.
• Most of the Azaleas are in full bud and some are just now blooming, except the yellow-still tightly held.
• creeping phlox is brilliant pink and blues
• Amelanchier is beginning to fade-lst year it's been in full bloom on all stems!
• hideous yellow blooms of Oregon grape holly are inn full swing.
• The last of the daffodils are beginning to fade, but still a few double white ones scenting the air.
• A few of the hellebores are still in full bloom.

After that, it will be a few weeks until the early summer act kicks in.

In the interim, it's nice to sit and listen to the soothing sounds of falling water, now that the water feature on the patio is up and running for the season. I should really refer to it as the water cooler as Amy thinks of it as her personal drinking dish. With that long, geeky neck, she can easily lap at the water at the top of the basin. Poor Fi has to be content with licking the water as it runs down the sides of the vase.


The patio looked great for about five minutes yesterday after Garden Flunky swept it of leaves, but the ash tree is budding out, so it's a short lived tidiness. At least the coral bark Japanese maples are leafing out, giving us something to look at instead of flower detritus.


The old waterfall that used to empty into a fishpond is slowly being converted into a dry stream-bed. It's prettiest in the spring, as most of the sedums, bulbs, and alpines are in bloom. it still needs some work, but it's beginning to be a focal point instead of an eyesore

Speaking of eyesores, I wanted to post an image of the old and new grill. The old one is currently dismantled, and will be upcycled into a barbecue grill. I will add it to the 'Spitting Image' page when it's final transformation is complete (aka, when I ask my Father to help me pull it off!)

Our old, sad gas grill

And, now, our New Gas Grill!

I must sign off and get started on some chores before the rain kicks in this afternoon and I'm still here, surfing, and sipping coffee.

Oh, FYI:
I have a fabulous trip planned for this weekend, and when I get back I will post some images. I am very excited and it's hard to keep the secret, but check back next week for the reveal!

Finally! done with the leaves!

This weekend I got some much needed and appreciated help from my garden flunkie. He chipped up the last pile of leaves in the back garden and also in the front. While he was doing that nasty chore, I was free to do some other much needed tasks.

• I got the shade bed 90% weeded and about 1/2 of it mulched.
• I got all the chipped up leaves transferred to the '10 bin (compost bin for this years' leaves)
• the last-or, shall I say, current-batch of sticks bundled up for recycle.
  
• got the last logs of wood moved from pruning/culling trees over the raised beds.
• cleaned out the leaves from the sidewalk bed.
  
• planted the physocarpus shrubs along the driveway.
• planted the last bag of bulbs in the ribbon bed alongside the sidewalk
• gathered up all the plastic containers for recycle day.
• got the grass mowed on the 2nd level-looks really nice except for the pigpath that the gurls have carved into it!
• stopped our rickety, temporary outdoor kitchen counter from wobbling.
  
• replaced the door stop on the sliding glass door in the hot tub room.
• cut back the russian sage, the grasses, and caryopteris in the front.
  

Lastly, I tidied up the area to the right of the raised beds. I had already re-located the metal lawn edging to curve around to the rear of the beds, so I planted three boxwood 'Green Velvet' and trimmed out the edging with the red daylilies. I also re-planted all the bits and pieces of perennials that were waiting for a permanent home after I had gotten them out of the way of the raised bed install. Now all I need is some mulc and it should look fairly decent over there.

Since I was in rehab mode for this area, I decided to pull out the ivy from the steps and re-plant the treds with dwarf mondo grass. Hopefully this plant will fill out better and faster than the ivy-which was quite dissappointing, I must say.

And, the best work of the whole weekend? A New Gas Grill!
We were too impatient to wait for the store to put it together, so, after a solid two hours of assembly, we are happy to announce that we can actually cook on this thing!

I will post some images later, when I have more time. Also, check out my new blog page : Image of my Father"

Another Sunny Day

I so enjoy looking out my windows to see the daffodils in bloom. Every room in the house affords a great splash of yellow and green. Even though it is only in the low 40's (F), the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home, as the song goes. No matter what task or chore is ahead of me, The sun never ceases to make things better.

Spring and Fall always seems like a time to stop and reflect on life; and how precious it all is. It is both melancholy and reassuring at the same time; the death of winter on top of the birth of spring. I guess it is all about balance; of remembering what is lost, and being grateful for what is.

I came across the following quote that really resonated with me:

"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity."
--Edvard Munch

So, every flower I smell, each gust of wind, and each ray of sunshine on my face must be from the good side of Eternity.

Ok, enough of being maudlin; time to rake some leaves!

Rainy Day Baking

Woke up to rain today-and an aching back and legs. The cause of my pain and suffering?

Leaves

Yes, leaves-the bane of my existence. The good news is that two weekly attacks on the little nasty buggers has reduced their numbers to just one pile. I can now enjoy looking at all the daffodils coming into bloom without grimacing at the piles of brown marring the whole picture.



The battle is not without causualties, though. My upper back and ankles took some direct hits, but nothing that my old friend NSAID can't cure. I just hobbled out of bed this morning and steamed my pathetic, middle aged self until I could reach down and actually touch my toes instead of wishing I could wash them.

My sore throat and stuffy nose is also a direct result from breathing in those nasty little beast's dying body bits. So, I decided to whine to my good friend and fellow co-worker LindaWithaY to play hooky from work. That is, of course, if SHE hadn't already called dibs; luckily for me, she had not (she'd rather have Easter off).



So, having only to hobble around my house instead of the greenhouse, I decided to ignore the desire to sit and watch TV all day and do some doggy baking.

I decided to make salmon treats, since I needed to use up the package I had in the freezer. Also in the freezer was a package of gluten-free baking mix-perfect for pups who may have wheat allergies.

As I didn't want DH to confuse salmon cookies with dog treats (he likes to sample the goods behind my back), I got out the cookie cutters. I chose two shapes; a bone and a fish.

Get it? Fish + bone = fishbones!
(I just crack myself up, sometimes)


I made three batches, so I should have some for a few weeks. These are the Very Good Gurl cookies, so they are just for pups on their best behavior. They are dairy, soy, and wheat free, so hopefully they will be good for Fi and her cousin, Brittany.

The garden is coming to life, once again. In the front garden, the Cornus mas tree is almost in full bloom. It has bright yellow flowers that one could mistaken for a forsythia, which also blooms near the same time. There are dark purple-black buds on the purple redbud tree, and most of the perennials are in various stages of poking through with some green leaves.

I have almost finished with the first round of clean-up in the back garden and then it is on to the front. I have taken a few stabs at it already. I did a bit of tidy-up on the sidewalk beds and put in some pansy and dianthus around the mailbox, but that's really just scratching the surface.

I am glad to report that I am holding fast to my Winter Solstice resolution of tackling one small job a day and one large job a week and giving myself credit for getting a task done-regardless of how big or small.


Some days, though, it's tough to look at the list as 1/2 full instead of overfilled.

Yes We....uhhh....Me Can

It's that time of year when I start to feel overwhelmed with all the tasks to be done.

The leftover leaves mock me and so, being the zen master of procrastination, I just look away and find some other job to do.

I did get the three raised vegetable beds finished, which I am quite pleased about. (I'll post some pics later). I filled them first with some leaf mold, then followed that with some composted wood chips, and topped it all off with some fresh garden soil.

Many, Many thanks to my parents for helping me construct the beds. We even made a vertical potato growing bin, which I am dying to get some 'taters into.

I quickly discovered that I need some fencing. It seems that someone has been digging big holes in my brand new beds. Gee, I wonder who would do such a thing???? I'll tell you who; it's that 3 foot long mole that I call a dog, is who.

After sniffing about, digging is her favorite hobby. That girl can DIG. She has already sniffed out, dug up and ATE three of the seed potatoes that I planted. That's 50% of my crop, right there. Darn varmits.


While the raised bed job was quite an accomplishment, there are so many spring jobs that still need attending to;

• I have some major pruning and whacking and weeding to do in the front.
• Gotta cut down all the ornamental grasses.
  
• tidy up the patio
• move the tree hydrangea to a new (say it: healthier) location.
• chop out the fence;
• get the fountain up and running.
• attend to the back border.
• fertilize the bulbs.
• mulch the rose bed.
• mulch the hill bed.
• I have to get some evergreen screens in between our house and the house next door that's up for sale.

And, I'm still lost on what to do with the area that my bedroom window looks out onto. It has to be something I can run over with a vehicle (gate is on this side), and something that can tolerate seasonal water runoff. All I have now is ditch lilies, which look fine, but there is large season of ugly to contend with. I am seriously thinking of some type of mint, or some other thing that is quick to get started in spring. It travels, I know, I know. But it has to be a contender with all the weed seeds that get washed into the rocks.

Oh, well, as I weed, I will pontificate further on it.

Seeds are up!

Well, not all of them, but the Swiss chard, the kale and the turnip greens are. The nasturtiums are big, tough, dry seeds, so I had to file the seed coat down and then soak them, so they will be the slowest to come up in this batch.

As I was figuring out my germination calender I discovered I was a month behind on onions! Oh, well, I will tackle them tomorrow and hope for the best this fall. I was really hoping for some bigger bulbs than last year, but even small, they are more fun to eat than what I can buy.

Of course, they are calling for more snow flurries on Wedesday. This is really getting irksome. I don't care how little it snows or how much-I WANT WARMTH! Okay... rant over.

Fiona just loved the snow, so at least someone in this household can appreciate all of Nature. She loves to root around in it, sniffing for who-knows-what.

Finally! A garden-themed post.

Since it was a balmy 39 degrees yesterday AND sunny, I decided it was time to do something-anything-in the garden. Granted I have started some cold weather crops in the house and also at the greenhouse, but that wasn't cutting it. So, I took my peas, the inoculant, a shovel, and a trowel out to the veggie bed and got to work.

I sowed three types of peas;
Burpeeana Early,
Dark Seeded Simpson; and
Dwarf Gray Sugar.

I flanked the 'Early' and 'Simpson' peas around the garlic rows, figuring the pea should be over by the time I'm ready to dig the garlic. I placed the dwarf type along the fence, since I will be ripping them out before I plant any pole beans later, in much warmer weather!

Since my garden shed is on hold for a bit, I plan on using the sunny space to put in a few raised beds for tomatoes and peppers. That's the biggest problem with lack of sun; I am always trying to figure out a way to rotate crops.

I was less than thrilled to wake up this morning and find snow on the ground. Doesn't Mother Nature know that I want to get started with spring? Gee whiz, the nerve of some people. I guess I'll find out just how cold hardy those peas are, huh?

"That don't befront me", as George T. would say. Just as long as I get my peas before summer!

Seed order coming soon!

I finally got off my duff and placed my order with Pinetree seeds. Hopefully all my items are in stock and I get all I wanted.

I plan to sow my brassica family seeds tomorrow at the greenhouse. Ah, the perks of working for a greenhouse are without measure when it's 20 degrees F outside!

I also have some lettuce crops to start. I have some plain-Jane types, but I am looking forward to the Asian mix from PT. I am really going to try to grow a bit more of my own food than just my usual tomato/pepper lineup. My biggest experiment will be when I try some fall sowing of vegetables to try and store in my makeshift root cellar. I don't plan on having a lot of one crop, but am going to try a few of this-and-that just to see. I think it will be fun. I plan to take notes so that I can share my results with my Ohio Valley friends that might be interested.

Kentucky weather in our area can be tricky; it gets freaky-hot and humid in the summer and one never knows how the fall and winter will go. It can be mild or (like this year) really, really cold in the winter. It can be really dry or super wet. That can play havoc with trying to regulate a root cellar. I am still trying to figure out just how I can open and close the vent in the root cellar without having to go down there every night and day! I just know that some other farmer got sick and tired of hoofing down his/her set of slippery cellar steps to shut/open that blasted vent and invented an automated one. Maybe I'll invent one and make a bazillion dollars one day!

My arms are tired from scooping snow, let me tell you. I did have fun making designs in the light snowfall we got before this last seven inches. It was just enough to use a broom to scribe "I hate snow!" all along the tarmac, accentuated by stars, musical notes, and a nice scrolled border. Too bad that I did it too early in the day for anyone to see it before the sun came out and promptly melted it away. Sidewalk art is such a fleeting joy....

Amy and Fiona, on the other hand, are having a blast in this white stuff.

The above image is fuzzy, but Fi has a snowball in her mouth. As long as it doesn't disintegrate on impact, she can find her 'ball' in any pile of snow it gets pitched in. Amy can only hold her snowball for a short time before she has to spit it out and get feeling back in her tongue. Both of them have great fun at 'cold fetch' until one of them squashes the ball.

Here they are playing together while DH is shoveling a path to the gate.
(Didn't have my good camera, so the video is little rough)

Both gurls love to cuddle up when the weather is chilly. We keep the thermostat down pretty low and they figured out pretty quickly that laying on a human is like their own personal electric blanket. They don't get away with that with this human, but the other human in the house is known to be the weakest link and they haul their dog butts up there on a nightly basis.

Fiona looking smug upon attaining
LapDog status.

There is yet another batch of snow coming on Sunday (be still my beating heart). Hopefully that is the last of it for the season. I am ready for some warmer weather, even if it's just the 30s and 40s.

Hoarders

I have GOT to stop watching Hoarders on A&E.

It's like some terrible car accident and I can't stop rubbernecking as I drive past it. I am amazed that people can ignore such a mess for so long.

I think most of us have issues with keeping clutter under control and are guilty of piling up some place with junk, and then, instead of dealing with sorting through all that stuff, we just move on to some other place and start piling it up there.

A good example for me is the mail. I will let it pile up in the Mail basket, then do a meager sort into a rough grouping of to-be-filed piles, which will then sit in a heap on my desk for 3-6 months before I file it in the cabinet. My excuse for not filing is laziness; I just don't want to deal with it everyday-or every week-or every month. Then the pile becomes this huge chore that will take HOURS. I can't just file the first 10 items, as that seems like a waste of time. No, I say, it makes much better sense to just leave it until I have the time to file all the pile. However, at some point, I can't take it! I will spend the whole day sifting, sorting, filing,culling.

So, I get it. The only thing that separates me from these clinically diagnosed hoarders is my ability to NOT be able to ignore it as long as they can, and that's a very thin distinction.

I save things for three primary reasons:

1. fear of loss of information
2. crafts (Hey, I can use this [insert item name] to make something, one day!)
3. thrift (Wow, I should keep this to save money!)

Hoarding for fear of loss of information really took a backseat once I understood the value of the Internet. I figured out it was way easier to look it up on the web than sort through that mess of articles/newspapers, etc. My other reason for letting go of print media was that most of my stuff was out of date. Why in the world would I waste time brushing up on a topic only to be 5, 10, 20+ years out of the loop?

Reasons two and three are tougher for me to resolve. My parents were babes of the depression, and their generation (and those before them) did not grow up in a disposable, "Made in China" culture. They practiced reuse, recycle because they HAD to. So, the very thing that keeps me from ringing up my charge cards is also the reason for a bit of hoarding tendency.

I have started to cull a lot of the junk I had saved to 'do something with later'. The time frame varies, but after a while it gets on my nerves and I own up to myself that I am never going to get around to this task anytime soon, so why keep it! I can always start saving it again if I feel the need. It seems easier to part with items that have value only to me, versus parting with stuff that I assume others might covet as well.

I guess that last sentence is the dividing line between me and the true hoarder; I know the difference between trash and treasure.

If I can just keep up with letting go both the trash and the treasures, I will keep off the TV show!

my favorite float of the 2010 rose parade

It's not a very good image, but I loved this float best. It was just pretty to behold

Pasadena was great!

Somehow I managed to get DH to agree to go with me to the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. I think he believes going on this trip will exonerate him for taking as many motorcycle trips in 2010 as he wants. I have to agree. I have gone on three big vacations in 2009, and we still have a cruise to look forward to in May.

The floats were gorgeous and we got to walk up close to them the day after the parade. Even on close scrutiny they still looked artificial due to their perfection. They use a lot of ground up strawflower, statice, onion seeds and rice, I can tell you that much.

It was hard to leave 70 degree weather and come back to the teens and 20's, that's for sure. At least it's better here than in Chicago, where we exited the aircraft onto the tarmac at a very chilly 17 degrees.

They are forecasting snow tomorrow. Not much, only a few inches (supposedly). Amy and Fi have only seen a dusting so far, so it will be interesting to watch their reaction to a blanket of snow. I predict they will have a grand old time in it.

I have been feeding the birds and have quite a few diners in the early morning. Of course, Fiona just HATES squirrels at the feeder, but I won't let her out to chase them until they have had a chance to fill up on seeds and corn. Then, once they have a full belly to keep them warm, I let her out to take a run at them. Poor Fi, she will never figure out that those furry intruders can hear the 'snick' of the door latch and are off and running before she can even clear the dog door.

Grandmummy called today to say that she wants her furry grandchildren back, as she can't get used to the quiet house now that they are back home with us. I told her to lay off taking so much cough medicine. They tore up the usual amount of stuffed animals and tracked in the maximum amount of mud onto the kitchen floor, but the worst stunt they pulled was sneaking a full can of soda from a carton to 'play' with. One of them (I know it was Fiona, she's the only one with enough jaw strength) then proceeded to puncture it and spray sticky cola all over the floor.

Only my mother would miss the chaos that those two 1-year olds' create.

Took a stroll in the garden today while I played ball with the girls and noticed that all the beds are in a deep sleep. Funny, just a week ago, the foliage was still hanging on, obscuring the ground in most places. Now, I can see the contour of the beds and, I hate to admit, all the little winter weeds that germinated since I last weeded in the fall.

Oooh, the best part of January just appeared-say it with me-Seed Catalogs! Now I can curl up on the couch with my books and dream of all the stuff I want, even though I haven't the room to put out 1/3 of what I am salivating over growing.

Guess I should get off here and work on my knitting project for an hour or so, then it's off to bed to dream of onions, and leeks and turnips, Oh My!

Happy 2010, world wide web