Storm Recovery

We had nice weather today to do some bad weather clean up.  The snow and ice in January did a lot of damage to the trees at our house and along our little road.  

It will take years for the ornamental cherry trees to recover, but we don't think we'll have to remove any of them.  We do have a number of other trees that didn't survive.

To see what they look like in the spring, go to this Link to cherry trees in bloom.

 Meanwhile, the seed catalogs have arrived and Petunia can expect to find a garden and gardener waiting for her summer arrival.

Fall Treats

You know you are missing your fall garden, when your special treat (for doing stuff you don't like) is stopping at the fresh veggie market for a pumpkin to cook.  And a few other fall friends.  It took a lot of effort to resist many other items, at least for this trip.

I did pick the largest tomato ever from the garden this week.  But that's partly because I had been traveling for 2 weeks and I'm only now catching up with what has changed (besides the decreased temperatures).  

By advertising these types of fall treats, I guess I won't have to prepare for many trick-or-treaters.

London Garden Meet-Up

 Here we are with a feet meet-up shot in Matron's own London garden!   How could it be four years ago that we did this shot in my Washington state garden?   Thanks to Matron, her Mom and Leo the lab for hosting us.  We had a garden tour and tomato tastings, then fish and chips with mushy peas, followed by seed bin tour.   See her shot and more about Leo's gardening here.  Thanks for an enjoyable last night in London!

Matron, you motivated me.  After my flight landed in Seattle, I fit in a couple hours in the garden (and beautiful sunshine).  I cannot wait to plant Matron's seed selection next year, and get back on the vegetable garden track. 

We had a visit to a nearby allotment.   I could have spent a week exploring them.

Another shot from Matron's garden. We would have put this potato between in the feet shot, except we thought Leo would think it was for him to eat.  Nice soil, below, don't you think? 

SAGBUTTees - Matron asked about our Guerrilla Gardening plans she remembered from back in 2009.  See the group picture including Matron at this link.   We may need to add that to our SAGBUTT schedule drawn up last month.

Not the usual garden tour...

I visited my friends in Kansas and enjoyed cantaloupe, watermelon and tomatoes from their garden. 

Went to the Keith Urban and Jake Owen concert, Wichita, KS  August 16, 2011.  Front row seats we didn't know about until we got there (not that we did any sitting)!  Way to go on getting these tickets, you Keith fan.

And met little kitties, Misty and Bandit.  Plus a sunny day at the water park with the kids.  Many thanks to the hosts for a memorable trip!

Critter Garden

I had a brave moment and visited my neglected garden.  Happily, I found it was a buzz of activity.  The bees are enjoying the borage (above) and anise hyssop (below).  I assume Petunia (the snake) and cousins are appreciating that I'm not disturbing them too much (see Petunia's Condo link here).  I haven't seen any snakes around the place this year, though. 

I'm really looking forward to our SAGBUTT reunited garden visit in a few weeks! 
Bees and SAGBUTT are an August theme, apparently - see this link
More posts from SAGBUTT events here.

Grandma's Roses

I unboxed and washed my Grandma's tea set.   Washing the last piece, the teapot, I realized I was washing them in her old dish pan, too.  This immediately took me back to many hot Kansas summer days standing at her kitchen sink using the same dish pan.  And sitting out under the big shade tree for the afternoon.  She's been gone for 23 years.    

Here is the rest of the tea set.  It has moved on to the hands of a family I hope will have many tea parties to remember.

Sunglasses Keeper

DH thinks I won't see his new place in the kitchen to keep his sunglasses.   At least he'll be able to find in them when we head out soon to enjoy this sunny 4th.  Wishing you a sunny day where ever you are too.  

Welcome Summer

I found so many volunteer foxglove-like seedlings around the yard and garden, I was starting to wonder if they were really a weed.  I'm glad I didn't pull them all. 

Let's Try Again

OK - Others have done it.  I can too - it's time to share the ugly truth.  Here is the state of two of the vegetable beds. They haven't had attention since last summer.   I had delayed doing anything as I didn't know where to start recovery, or when.   Finally, I thought about how we started our garden  - weed blocking/mulching.  
 

1st - Shorten the weeds/grass.  I asked (bribed) DH to weed-eat it (leaving the flower bunches standing cost extra).

2nd - Mulch what's left with coffee bags to block out light and smother the weeds/grass.

3rd - Let the worms and coffee bags work while I go visit family in the midwest

4th - Plant stuff and hope for sunshine. 

Here, you can see the two mulched rows.  The row closest to the chairs is full of flowers, chamomile, lambs ear, hyssop and other herbs.  The bees will love this row as is, so we'll call it intentional.   The next row has tomatoes and beans planted last Tuesday, along with the chives and fennel already in place.  

It was from under a sheet of weed blocking plywood we first saw Petunia, the snake.  Along with the earth worms that love living under the coffee bags, maybe Petunia will have moved in by the time I return.

Now, the other flower and herb rows need care, but that can be the summer project.

Critter Update

It was warm enough for the first of the actual gardening tonight.  Thanks for the tomatoes, Jeanne!

Instead of a garden update, though, we have a critter update.  Not Petunia, but these little spiders. 



And where are they living?  In the critter hotel that sits along the fence line by the garden.  The recycled planter boxes are my solution to a "green roof." Two other boxes form one of the layers in the structure.  

I started this years a few years ago after seeing one on another blog.  Here is an information sheet on them, too.