Garden Dish

A few years ago I found this plate at my favorite charity shop. I put it in the garden to water birds or critters who happened to find it (maybe even Petunia). I could tell how much rain was still in the garden by the water in the plate.

In the heat of this summer, though, it frequently dried out. Now I've scooted it under one of the soaker hoses. Based on how it fills up and dries out, it give me perspective on the water situation. I don't know if birds find it, but assorted insects think it is just right.

Clean and Cool

How's this for a cool way to spend a hot Friday afternoon! A shed clean out uncovered many pots needing a wash. These old washtubs were needing a bath before their next assignment. We found a shady spot and got busy (& cool).

Next step: Getting the keepers back in the shed.

Nope, the computer isn't really sorted out yet, so I uploaded the photo directly from the camera this time.

Hope everyone had a great 4th!

Hang On!

No, not my latest try at garden art. Just a request to not give up on me while I'm hands off the key board. No worries! I'll be back around the blog circuit soon enough to post sowing updates.

(that's a real Volkswagen, but the way)

The New Gateway

or How to Double Your Garden Space in One Hour or Less

Our vegetable/flower/herb garden is in one fenced (formerly Alpaca) pasture and the pumpkin patch uses about 1/3 of another small pasture. Each has gates, but not between them. I rather like the fence, the grass in the fence line and the sense of enclosure they create in the garden. However, this summer, I've been plotting out the opportunities for that second pasture. Saturday afternoon, we took the first step and opened up a passageway in the fence line between the two areas.
Above, the four pumpkin vines have really filled in now. And you can see the new passageway.
Always in favor of a shortcut, Emily found the opening and was soon investigating options for a new catnip bed (if the weather allows other things to grow next year, her 6-foot tall & wide giant catnip will need to move out). It worked out that one of the existing pathways between two of the garden beds leads to the new opening.

The slatted fence on each side? They are old fence sections from a former berry patch at our neighbor's. They are simply hung on the fence with S-hooks. Thanks, Homesteaders!

Garden Hat

I've not been a good hat or glove wearer, but that may be changing. Last year, I found some wonderful gloves that I can wear to do just about anything. I now have several pair stashed around. Really does cut down on the blisters and banged up hands. In this post, here, they are in the basket; however, I do have them on most of the time.

And due to the sunny weather today, I tried out my new garden hat. It was a find on our spring excursion to some local garden shops. I've known I should find a hat to keep the sun off my ears and neck. Never before have I found one I thought I'd actually wear.

This one has a little elastic inside that helps it fit, and a brim that isn't too floppy or too stiff. No promises yet, but we'll see how it goes this summer.

A tool to weed by...

Last Monday, I got in a little weed pulling, using one of my favorite tools: a second hand rat tail file. The metal part of the file is 12 inches long. The wooden handle is just right to hold.

As the ground was slight damp, I could slip the file down along side of the dandelion root and pivot it around a little to loosen up the soil. Then a little tug pulled up the long root.

I could spend a month tackling the dandelions in the garden area and still not keep them away. Instead, I just try to keep them from taking over the garden beds. And, I still count them for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day! See this post.

Petunia's Present

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;

they are the charming gardeners

who make our souls blossom.

~Marcel Proust

Check out this sweet present that arrived on our doorstep for Petunia! All ready to slip in photos and make a nice coffee table book of Petunia's Garden. Thanks, Red! I love it!

There are many pages ready for photos with fun garden trimmings.

Composter cans, sunflowers, vegetables,



and the little critters we so enjoy in the garden.






Pumpkins, of course, leaves, gourds, flowers.

Creative border designs for the different seasons.



Spaces for plot plans, harvest records.

And an offer to drop hints when more pages are needed!




And a nice cover with Petunia on it already! Here is Red's garden last June. We go back to first grade (not THAT many years ago) and I always enjoy catching up with her family through her scrapbooks when I visit. She knew I'd never get around to creating the garden album I talked about, so she took care of it for Petunia and me!

Now I'll have some garden in the living room all year around.

Merry Christmas!

Peace and Hope to Every Heart

Great Little One!

Whose all-embracing birth

lifts earth to heaven,

stoops heaven to earth.

-Richard Crashaw

(This is one of the trees our friends gave us and we planted in March. See this link. For a photograph of hope, I thought of trees. As seedlings, they have a determined will to live and grow. A slow pace, yet constant. As established trees, they are the whispering giants among us, solid and stable (most of the time), protective and beautiful. This is also the photograph on our Christmas cards this year.)

Get Your Pumpkin Tax Refunds

Pumpkins and tax in the same story, all over the internet - I have to make note of it here. You all have probably read this already, but you know how I feel about pumpkins. Of course they are for eating. What if they don't all get eaten. I'm sure they aren't the only fruit and vegetable that doesn't always get eaten.


Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Governor Culver Statement On Pumpkin Tax
DES MOINES – Below is a statement from Governor Chet Culver on the decision by the Iowa Department of Revenue to impose a tax on pumpkins:
STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR CHET CULVER:
“It has come to my attention that a policy change made in December of 2006 – before I took office – is resulting in this ridiculous pumpkin tax. I have directed the Department of Revenue to do the common sense thing and suspend collection of this tax and offer refunds to consumers or retailers who have been affected.”


Iowa Department of Revenue Press Release:
Iowa Tax on Pumpkins Put on Hold
October 31, 2007
Iowa sales tax law exempts sales of food and food ingredients. Food and food ingredients are defined as substances that are sold for ingestion or chewing by humans and are consumed for their taste or nutritional value. A review of the issue of pumpkin sales occurred in the fall of 2006. The Department determined the pumpkins which had previously been exempt were not being purchased as a food item and should be taxed. It was first announced in December 2006. It was announced again in September 2007.

It has become apparent that not all sellers of pumpkins have become aware of the change in position by the Department. The Department has decided to revert to its prior policy of exemption. The Department will continue to review the issue and seek to make any changes through administrative rule making with opportunity for input by the public and the Legislative Rules Committee. Taxpayers who paid sales tax on pumpkin purchases can apply for a refund with the Department.

The Secret to.... ahhh, Heck!

We've been caught! Those wonderful Mess o' Trout warming the tomatoes here and here?? Weellll... they are actually warming the NEIGHBOR'S tomatoes! Cool summer (after last year), not many ripe tomatoes, neighbors on a trip... guess a NW gardener has to resort to other fun antics. Now they suggest leaving them on to see if it really works.

Remember, these fish have been around before... click on this post to see what we found after returning from Christmas dinner. And the rest of the story in this post.

Maybe we should have just decorated our own tomatoes. Now the neighborhood has to watch to see where the trout show up again. Or maybe we'll soon have some ripe tomatoes and move on to zucchini flings. Welcome home, Neighbors! Glad you had a nice trip.

The Secret to Great Tomatoes...continued

Yes, that's right - the secret is to illuminate! Our northwest days are in the mid 70's this year and the nights barely in the mid 50's. And less hours of sunlight every day. The tomatoes need a little extra glow to get them beyond shades of green.

Shown here is the Mess o' Trout variety. (Remember when these first arrived in December? See this post.) You probably have your own favorite set. Why have them just hanging out on the patio when they could be giving your tomatoes a little boost after dark!

More to follow...

The Bench that Hubby Built

DH recently built this bench from some salvaged wood from the neighbor children's play structure tear down. The plans call it a 3-hour bench, but DH calls it a 1 year 17 hour bench. He effectively kept misplacing the plans for about a year and then since we were using salvaged wood, we had to adapted the plans to the wood we had.

The plans allow for adjusting the slant of the seat and the back before finishing it. So of course we had to have a nice evening sit to decide how we liked it. I've come up with a foot stool plan too, but for now we use the log as a foot stool/table.

I'm very pleased to have this one in the garden and have several more places around the property I'd like a nice wood bench. Those chairs up on the hill will only last so long. I can see us making more, but DH is still in denial about it. Now where did those plans go....?

Anita's Magic Seeds

Dear Anita, can you see all of the smudges on your magic seed packets from trips to the garden? You know they are being planted! Being picked in your Easter drawing has been a such a spring treat. Thank you so much for the generous prizes! I can only hope my garden will someday look even a little like your wonderful Country Cottage Garden.
Above, sunny mix cosmos and white marigolds are planted among the purple blooming lavender and anise hyssop. This is one third of the newly expanded herb/flower bed. In the middle third will be a seating area. The flowers will make it the best spot around.
Watch this space, above! The dill and calendula are both here as you suggested. This is in the vegetable bed in front of the seats, for maximum enjoyment. The cosmos and marigolds varieties are finding their places among the vegetable beds too.

And here is the other third of the expanded herb/flower area. The rain stopped digging for the day, but it is almost done. Hmmm... Love-in-a-mist and hollyhocks might like this space? There will be more lavender here also.

And over in the sunflower row along the fence, the morning glories are already poking up out of the soil! The Rouge Vif d'Etampes pumpkins will be nearby, in the pumpkin patch.

Oh, how I will enjoy having you in the garden with me all summer! I treasure the plants that got their start from someone else and visits to the garden are like visiting friends. Your garden is an inspiration and your blog so fun to visit. Thank you for sharing your garden with me!

Happy gardening to you!
Paula, aka Petunia's Gardener

Shucks! Missed it again!

Ahh, sorry Becky! I missed World Naked Gardening Day! Sunday was going to be a bit too cool for a make-up day, so here I am on Pajama Gardening Day (the day after WNGD), in fleece PJs and robe. Actually, I'm weeding. After heating water for coffee or tea, I go "water" any weeds creeping up between these pavers by the patio. Today, this weed was nothing but a dry brown leaf that crumbled when I rubbed it with my foot. I have to admit, though, I don't limit PJ Gardening/Weeding to one day a year. It is a very productive way to start off the morning out in the fresh air and birdsong.

That Would Be Google Garden....

...thank you very much!

My husband had Google Earth on the computer the other night. I checked out our garden (photo from very early last spring before we'd added new beds though).

Hey, if I can see my garden, I wonder if I can find other vegetable gardens in the area. Yes! I can! I found some amazing gardens not too far away. Now how to meet these people.

Knock, knock...
Errr... Hello - I saw your garden on Google Earth. Do you want to be friends?
Slam!

But, then, we gardeners might actually not think twice about a stranger at the door wanting to talk gardening! What do you think?

I think you have to do the free download before you can Google Garden. DH had already done it some time ago so I'm not sure how it works exactly. Here is the link: Google Earth. If you have questions about it for DH, I'll get answers.

(I'm still involved in my special work event so still a little light on blog visits/comments and gardening until later next week.)

Garden Depth

All of the bunnies hopping around the blogs lately made me think of this one. She greets you by our front door and is currently in the company of bleeding hearts. This bunny was given to my parents by a neighbor when I was born. The neighbor sold garden statuary items. No, she's not an antique yet! She is one of the things I remember always being around in my childhood room. My garden is like my house. Many of the things & plants in it are more than what they might first appear to be. I'll bet your garden is like this too.

January 15th Garden

Petunia's Garden

Gate sign from barn warming guest, see other signs here and here. Please stay with me through another snow posting. This isn't our usual form of precipitation or temperature. I have to post pictures to show Petunia what she's missing.
With Wednesday's and Saturday's snow still on the ground, more may be on the way tonight. But by tomorrow night, it could actually rain again (and be above freezing, thank goodness).



Some herbs are checking their contacts and pointing out that this isn't what I promised them. I'm sure I'll pay for it later.

I shall now go cuddle up with a warm blanket and THE catalog.

Joyful Christmas

May all the joys of Christmastide

Within your happy home abide,

And may God keep you in His care

As down the path of life you fare.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
-Petunia, Petunia's Gardener, and the DH

(poem from a card sent to my Grandparents in the 1940's, photo from Petunia's Garden)

The Garden Waltz

Frosted carrot greens, gardeners dreaming inside, sunny days ahead full of glee; Spring's on her way, mail will come one day with seeds, seeds for you and for me...

It's not a Crisis, It's an Adventure!

Don't worry, You! (You know who you are.) Any mid-life crisises going on in PG's little world? Of course, not! It was just like last week we were raiding the salad bar for strawberries and pulling out the blender!

Well, surely everyone has a hair or something growing where it didn't before...

Or no hair where there had been hair...




And sometimes it is easy to get going two directions at one time...

I don't know what it is, but I just cannot resist those double decker purple hats...


There goes that hair again...

And for some reason, friends HAVE posted little signs around the place...

But if there was anything like that going on, well, it would just be nature's little funny streak. But, no, no such events going on here...no fast cars or anything... only a travel bug on the loose and blog about a snake's garden! Besides, let's just call it an adventure. Yeah, that's it... when we get there, it will be a mid-life adventure (regardless of what it looks like to anyone else)! And thanks for the book and the cute card!