I had to run out to photograph my lupine for you after all. They are so pretty!
And my daisies! Ooo, ahh, Ohh!
Alpha Male. Chubahka.
Alpha Male Wannabe. :) Lancelot.
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
6/11/11
Lupine and Daisies
Hi again...
I had to run out to photograph my lupine for you after all. They are so pretty!
And my daisies! Ooo, ahh, Ohh!
Alpha Male. Chubahka.
Alpha Male Wannabe. :) Lancelot.
Toodles!
I had to run out to photograph my lupine for you after all. They are so pretty!
And my daisies! Ooo, ahh, Ohh!
Alpha Male. Chubahka.
Alpha Male Wannabe. :) Lancelot.
Gluten-Free Experimenting and Gardening
Hello Everyone. The motivation to write hit tonight! I hope everyone has survived the heat wave that came through. Our hottest day in the cities was 103° and our conditioner is currently broken. I somehow managed to survive!
Sooo, the past 3 or 4 weeks, no matter where you see me in my home, this book is sitting close by because I either just sat down to read it or I just set it down from reading it!
I've been experimenting.
This next photo is of rice and potato flour bread machine bread. It IS HEAVY! I didn't get the recipe from the book titled above though. I got it from the AiA cookbook, which I ordered. Soooo, the bread.
Heavy.
Slightly flavorless.
Biscuit-like.
Excellent with peanut butter and honey!!
It just needed a little more salt and sweetner. Oh, and butter. Next time I'll add an egg, lighter flour and more salt with butter instead of oil. You can totally tell how heavy it turned out. Brick similarities.
This next loaf - Flax Seed - turned out much better.
Fluffy. Just look at the photo!
Light.
Flavorful.
I added pumpkin seeds and that was good, but I used Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten-free flour. I'll never use that again. They used two bean flours in their flour mix and it left and under-taste that I couldn't get over. I gave the loaf and the flour to my mom. She seemed to like it. :)
I plan to keep experimenting. I have to. I can't give up my breads and muffins.
I've been eating gluten-free for a while now and started to experiment with eating foods that contain gluten. Most recently, I ate some split pea and ham soup from Campbell's. I ate about 1/2 cup and I started getting the worst stomach cramps. I used to think this was from MILK! I will still experiment, however. I haven't had any cramps from milk, I'll mention.
I woke up at 4:15 AM this morning and couldn't get back to sleep for some reason.
So I did a little gardening bright and early - musta been before 8 am. Yup, I was shovelin' rock. Do I care about my neighbors? Ummm...no.
I added 4 new plants.
My gardens in the back yard are doing nicely. They survived the heat. I took this photo before the hot heat though. My Lupine is too cute when it is just a baby! It looks like baby corns or asparagus.
That's about all for food and gardening. Nothing too strenuous. I'll be starting a second part time job soon but I still plan to keep writing on the blog. That's what I seem to do - keep on keepin' on! The sewing bug will come around again, I just know it. It's part of my nature. :)
Until next time... happy days!
Sooo, the past 3 or 4 weeks, no matter where you see me in my home, this book is sitting close by because I either just sat down to read it or I just set it down from reading it!
I've been experimenting.
This next photo is of rice and potato flour bread machine bread. It IS HEAVY! I didn't get the recipe from the book titled above though. I got it from the AiA cookbook, which I ordered. Soooo, the bread.
Heavy.
Slightly flavorless.
Biscuit-like.
Excellent with peanut butter and honey!!
It just needed a little more salt and sweetner. Oh, and butter. Next time I'll add an egg, lighter flour and more salt with butter instead of oil. You can totally tell how heavy it turned out. Brick similarities.
This next loaf - Flax Seed - turned out much better.
Fluffy. Just look at the photo!
Light.
Flavorful.
I added pumpkin seeds and that was good, but I used Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten-free flour. I'll never use that again. They used two bean flours in their flour mix and it left and under-taste that I couldn't get over. I gave the loaf and the flour to my mom. She seemed to like it. :)
I plan to keep experimenting. I have to. I can't give up my breads and muffins.
I've been eating gluten-free for a while now and started to experiment with eating foods that contain gluten. Most recently, I ate some split pea and ham soup from Campbell's. I ate about 1/2 cup and I started getting the worst stomach cramps. I used to think this was from MILK! I will still experiment, however. I haven't had any cramps from milk, I'll mention.
I woke up at 4:15 AM this morning and couldn't get back to sleep for some reason.
So I did a little gardening bright and early - musta been before 8 am. Yup, I was shovelin' rock. Do I care about my neighbors? Ummm...no.
I added 4 new plants.
My gardens in the back yard are doing nicely. They survived the heat. I took this photo before the hot heat though. My Lupine is too cute when it is just a baby! It looks like baby corns or asparagus.
That's about all for food and gardening. Nothing too strenuous. I'll be starting a second part time job soon but I still plan to keep writing on the blog. That's what I seem to do - keep on keepin' on! The sewing bug will come around again, I just know it. It's part of my nature. :)
Until next time... happy days!
5/29/11
Vitamins and Garden Vegatables
Greetings everyone!
I have great news: my energy has been up for two days! My results came back at the beginning of the week on my vitamin levels and other blood tests. I'm low on vitamin D, which so many are around this time of year - especially in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Something funky is going on with the proteins in my blood also, which might point to the gluten sensitivity but I am not going to pursue that further unless something else changes. For now, I made a daily food serving chart to mark off to help insure me that I am getting my nutrients. I never want to be caught in that fatigue state again! Here's my easy-peasy chart.
We made it to Fleet Farm to pick out our veggie plants for the 2011 garden. We chose tons of peppers and tomatoes. I picked out large grape tomatoes and La Romas for bruschetta. We like planting marigolds around the garden too. Last year, our marigolds grew like crazy and they were even a miniature variety.
I love the alyssum honey scent. I had to have some of that too. They grow into a bush with tons of fertilizer.
We're going to extend our garden by 100 square feet. The shape of the garden will be like an "L".
We worked on it a little bit last night - well, Ed did. I helped a tiny bit with the posts. He actually started in on the dirt and shaking the sod while I started supper. We plan on getting compost, black dirt, and manure. Ed also got a gigantor box of Miracle-Gro fertilizer to use this summer. We're going to have crazy veggies. He told me that he's taking over the garden this year. He told me that it's too hard for him to help me when he's not in a routine. Besides, he's the one who loves the food more from the garden. I mostly think it's cool to watch plants grow. :)
It was fun watching my herb garden plants come up. My yarrow is going crazy and my lupine looks great - although I don't think it's a plant that people should eat. I just put it in the herb garden because it's such a cool shaped bloom. I'll post photos of that when they bloom.
I have 4 chive plants. This one is in the front in a pot that is sinking into the soil. It looks so neat so I left the pot sinking. I can't believe the chives are ready to bloom! It seems like the snow just melted. We're having such cold weather still. I had a sweatshirt on again yesterday even. Well, when I wasn't mowing the lawn. I took it off to get some sun. I got a little pink, but that's it.
Today we need to finish what we can in the garden. Hopefully we will be able to plant our vegetables and seeds. I know, we're late for seeds. Such is life. We'll just harvest later in the season. I suppose I should get my garden clothes on and head out. We have to take the dogs to Petco to get their rabies shots before 11 am, so we need to move! :)
Have a great weekend!
I have great news: my energy has been up for two days! My results came back at the beginning of the week on my vitamin levels and other blood tests. I'm low on vitamin D, which so many are around this time of year - especially in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Something funky is going on with the proteins in my blood also, which might point to the gluten sensitivity but I am not going to pursue that further unless something else changes. For now, I made a daily food serving chart to mark off to help insure me that I am getting my nutrients. I never want to be caught in that fatigue state again! Here's my easy-peasy chart.
We made it to Fleet Farm to pick out our veggie plants for the 2011 garden. We chose tons of peppers and tomatoes. I picked out large grape tomatoes and La Romas for bruschetta. We like planting marigolds around the garden too. Last year, our marigolds grew like crazy and they were even a miniature variety.
I love the alyssum honey scent. I had to have some of that too. They grow into a bush with tons of fertilizer.
We're going to extend our garden by 100 square feet. The shape of the garden will be like an "L".
We worked on it a little bit last night - well, Ed did. I helped a tiny bit with the posts. He actually started in on the dirt and shaking the sod while I started supper. We plan on getting compost, black dirt, and manure. Ed also got a gigantor box of Miracle-Gro fertilizer to use this summer. We're going to have crazy veggies. He told me that he's taking over the garden this year. He told me that it's too hard for him to help me when he's not in a routine. Besides, he's the one who loves the food more from the garden. I mostly think it's cool to watch plants grow. :)
It was fun watching my herb garden plants come up. My yarrow is going crazy and my lupine looks great - although I don't think it's a plant that people should eat. I just put it in the herb garden because it's such a cool shaped bloom. I'll post photos of that when they bloom.
I have 4 chive plants. This one is in the front in a pot that is sinking into the soil. It looks so neat so I left the pot sinking. I can't believe the chives are ready to bloom! It seems like the snow just melted. We're having such cold weather still. I had a sweatshirt on again yesterday even. Well, when I wasn't mowing the lawn. I took it off to get some sun. I got a little pink, but that's it.
Today we need to finish what we can in the garden. Hopefully we will be able to plant our vegetables and seeds. I know, we're late for seeds. Such is life. We'll just harvest later in the season. I suppose I should get my garden clothes on and head out. We have to take the dogs to Petco to get their rabies shots before 11 am, so we need to move! :)
Have a great weekend!
10/7/10
A 9 Day Update
Doh! The last time I wrote was 9 days ago! I've said this before. I always have intentions of writing each week, but that isn't realistic for me at times.
As some of you already know, I have had some big ideas and some really big ideas as of late. I'm getting my cute little ducks lined up in a row because I like things to operate smoothly when it comes to implementing my ideas.
First off, I met a friend at work who is a quilter, Evie. It's torture for me to not completely blab about sewing while I'm on the clock! She's been quilting for around 20 years and had accumulated a little stash of fabrics that she has tried to get rid of - she's cleanin' house! Well, I gladly took that extra stash off her hands. :) I thought a basket of fresh veggies from our garden would be a nice "thank you". I stitched this dish towel up on the Kenmore 19233 and it rode "shotgun" on our journey to Evie's. :D She liked the basket of vegetables! She'd mentioned taking a photo of them, and I told her that I did!
So with some of the fabric stash, I worked on sewing up a cosmetic bag. I started with a pattern from Sew Pretty Homestyle and decided that I didn't care for the construction of the bag. I adjusted the pattern for cleaner construction. This is what I have come up with.
The day before my birthday, my "WizardGir1" labels arrived in the mail! I will now start adding labels to my finished items. :) I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out. You can definitely tell that the last letter is a number one and not the letter "L".
For my birthday, Evie gave me this beautiful Croton plant! I'd mentioned to her that my Croton wasn't doing so well and it's a bummer because the foliage is so gorgeous with color variegation.
My husband, Ed, bought me a Nikon for my birthday! I love the grape color. This is such a great gift for me because I always say "where's my camera!" when we are out and about and I see something snapshot worthy. This little baby fits right in my pocket! Woohoo! (I took the photo of the Croton plant with it.)
We had a frost a couple nights ago, so I figured that I should get out to the garden and harvest all that I could of our vegetables. These are quite the carrots! They didn't do this well last year. Never overwater your carrots - that causes those ugly cracks!
When I was harvesting the week before, I came across this little guy. It's going to be a Swallowtail butterfly, but I'm not sure which one. I have an easy laminated guide I use to determine caterpillar varieties. :) I'm not only a shutter-bug, I'm a "bug-bug" too! What a pretty caterpillar.
Well, there's a little introduction to my big ideas, and what I've been up to since I've last posted an entry. I still have some more duckies to line up before I can unveil anything further than this. Things take time. :) Until my next post...
As some of you already know, I have had some big ideas and some really big ideas as of late. I'm getting my cute little ducks lined up in a row because I like things to operate smoothly when it comes to implementing my ideas.
First off, I met a friend at work who is a quilter, Evie. It's torture for me to not completely blab about sewing while I'm on the clock! She's been quilting for around 20 years and had accumulated a little stash of fabrics that she has tried to get rid of - she's cleanin' house! Well, I gladly took that extra stash off her hands. :) I thought a basket of fresh veggies from our garden would be a nice "thank you". I stitched this dish towel up on the Kenmore 19233 and it rode "shotgun" on our journey to Evie's. :D She liked the basket of vegetables! She'd mentioned taking a photo of them, and I told her that I did!
So with some of the fabric stash, I worked on sewing up a cosmetic bag. I started with a pattern from Sew Pretty Homestyle and decided that I didn't care for the construction of the bag. I adjusted the pattern for cleaner construction. This is what I have come up with.
The day before my birthday, my "WizardGir1" labels arrived in the mail! I will now start adding labels to my finished items. :) I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out. You can definitely tell that the last letter is a number one and not the letter "L".
For my birthday, Evie gave me this beautiful Croton plant! I'd mentioned to her that my Croton wasn't doing so well and it's a bummer because the foliage is so gorgeous with color variegation.
My husband, Ed, bought me a Nikon for my birthday! I love the grape color. This is such a great gift for me because I always say "where's my camera!" when we are out and about and I see something snapshot worthy. This little baby fits right in my pocket! Woohoo! (I took the photo of the Croton plant with it.)
We had a frost a couple nights ago, so I figured that I should get out to the garden and harvest all that I could of our vegetables. These are quite the carrots! They didn't do this well last year. Never overwater your carrots - that causes those ugly cracks!
When I was harvesting the week before, I came across this little guy. It's going to be a Swallowtail butterfly, but I'm not sure which one. I have an easy laminated guide I use to determine caterpillar varieties. :) I'm not only a shutter-bug, I'm a "bug-bug" too! What a pretty caterpillar.
Well, there's a little introduction to my big ideas, and what I've been up to since I've last posted an entry. I still have some more duckies to line up before I can unveil anything further than this. Things take time. :) Until my next post...
8/29/10
3684 Shirt Band, HOLY SQUASH!
Time to chat!
WARNING: This entry is a lot of ramble. Feel free to SKIM! :)
WARNING: This entry is a lot of ramble. Feel free to SKIM! :)
7/27/10
Veggies & Tote!
My eyes hurt – I must be at the computer too long. But I can't help it today. I have veggies to share! :) This photo is of our first “harvest”.
We've been eating lettuce and random squash but nothing has grown this plentiful – a plate full. I'm thinking about finding a squash soup recipe because one of our squash is GIGANTIC.
Two Saturdays ago, we sprayed Ferti.lome on our plants because of the invasive caterpillars. I thought I got all of the squash that were eatable size, but I guess I missed one and it just kept on growing. Wow! I wouldn't have been able to put this garden off alone. I was growing discouraged to the point of having no energy to take care of the issues.
I guess if a person wants to have a vegetable garden, they gotta spray for bugs. I just wash the veggies off with soap and lukewarm water to get any remaining chemicals off, if any. It's rained since we sprayed, but I wanted to be safe. :)
On the sewing front: I've been working on another creative project. A tote! This tote is nothing like my other totes though. I'm using reverse appliqué for the design. This is where I got the idea.
Here's my design.
I'll take photos of my fabric choices and how far I've come on the project later. I tried getting my colors true to form, but GIMP wasn't helping me today – or I wasn't choosing the right options. :P More to come later!!!
We've been eating lettuce and random squash but nothing has grown this plentiful – a plate full. I'm thinking about finding a squash soup recipe because one of our squash is GIGANTIC.
Two Saturdays ago, we sprayed Ferti.lome on our plants because of the invasive caterpillars. I thought I got all of the squash that were eatable size, but I guess I missed one and it just kept on growing. Wow! I wouldn't have been able to put this garden off alone. I was growing discouraged to the point of having no energy to take care of the issues.
I guess if a person wants to have a vegetable garden, they gotta spray for bugs. I just wash the veggies off with soap and lukewarm water to get any remaining chemicals off, if any. It's rained since we sprayed, but I wanted to be safe. :)
On the sewing front: I've been working on another creative project. A tote! This tote is nothing like my other totes though. I'm using reverse appliqué for the design. This is where I got the idea.
Here's my design.
I'll take photos of my fabric choices and how far I've come on the project later. I tried getting my colors true to form, but GIMP wasn't helping me today – or I wasn't choosing the right options. :P More to come later!!!
7/18/10
Tawnya Goes Bug Bonkers (and sews a little more)
Aaaaaaargh! I HATE bugs! Just look at our garden! Sigh. When I see all of those bites taken from the leaves of our food plants, I don't even want to eat food from plants that are NEXT to these in the garden. I gave up on the broccoli and cabbage a few days ago, but my sweetheart decided to “beat the bugs” and told me to go pick up some poison. I picked up some Bug B Gone by Ortho, but we wanted to try this new sprayer tool out that he picked up so we're going back today to see if we can find a liquid mix. In this photo, our broccoli plants are being destroyed. Our cabbage plants are far behind!
Here is a photo of one of the nasty villains too: Cabbage White butterfly. Yes, it's in the category of a butterfly but it looks like a moth to me. I'm not helping it out of the net. (Evil grin)
Meanwhile, I'm very pleased with how the summer squash is growing. I'm sick of the ants that crawl all over, but maybe we can dispose of them with the poison we put on the plants.
I wanted to share how large my marigolds have grown also. They are as big as our lettuce! Crazy! I didn't know that Marigolds grew so large. The package of seeds said they are miniature, and I "assumed" that meant the whole plant. LOL.
I have been very busy working more but I still keep trying to stay sane with my hobbies. When I had an itch to sew and began my new rose bra, I didn't know it would snowball. I made some ladies boxer shorts to match! Again, the pattern I used was Kwik Sew 2489. Shorts are SEW EASY! Everyone should make a pair. I plan on making flannel boxers too! Cute cute cute. They'll keep my bum super warm on cold nights. :P (Okay, I didn't need to make that stupid remark, but I'm "free associating" here. Just going with what's on my mind.)
I ordered some more supplies from Sew Sassy Fabrics to complete the bra. I paid $8.99 for ground shipping. I think the location it's coming from is Alabama, but I'll have to double check that. I'm in Minnesota (in case you're new to my blog). I'd much rather spend my $8.99 to the supplier! (just in case someone who works there reads this) but I am just as happy to pay the fee because I don't have a local supplier. WHAT!? Yeah, I live in the Twin Cities and NO BRA MAKING SUPPLIERS! Sigh. *Lightbulb* "Maybe I should open a bra/corset making supply store!" (It'll never happen; I just have great ideas.)
I impressed myself with matching my crotch seams perfectly! This practice is paying off. I can see my skills strengthening. :) It's fun!
In order to distinguish front from back, I used an iron-on tag. This is a brilliant idea. They wash well and don't scratch the skin.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed this crazy episode of "Tawnya Goes Bonkers (and sews a little more)". :) Until next time...
Here is a photo of one of the nasty villains too: Cabbage White butterfly. Yes, it's in the category of a butterfly but it looks like a moth to me. I'm not helping it out of the net. (Evil grin)
Meanwhile, I'm very pleased with how the summer squash is growing. I'm sick of the ants that crawl all over, but maybe we can dispose of them with the poison we put on the plants.
I wanted to share how large my marigolds have grown also. They are as big as our lettuce! Crazy! I didn't know that Marigolds grew so large. The package of seeds said they are miniature, and I "assumed" that meant the whole plant. LOL.
I have been very busy working more but I still keep trying to stay sane with my hobbies. When I had an itch to sew and began my new rose bra, I didn't know it would snowball. I made some ladies boxer shorts to match! Again, the pattern I used was Kwik Sew 2489. Shorts are SEW EASY! Everyone should make a pair. I plan on making flannel boxers too! Cute cute cute. They'll keep my bum super warm on cold nights. :P (Okay, I didn't need to make that stupid remark, but I'm "free associating" here. Just going with what's on my mind.)
I ordered some more supplies from Sew Sassy Fabrics to complete the bra. I paid $8.99 for ground shipping. I think the location it's coming from is Alabama, but I'll have to double check that. I'm in Minnesota (in case you're new to my blog). I'd much rather spend my $8.99 to the supplier! (just in case someone who works there reads this) but I am just as happy to pay the fee because I don't have a local supplier. WHAT!? Yeah, I live in the Twin Cities and NO BRA MAKING SUPPLIERS! Sigh. *Lightbulb* "Maybe I should open a bra/corset making supply store!" (It'll never happen; I just have great ideas.)
I impressed myself with matching my crotch seams perfectly! This practice is paying off. I can see my skills strengthening. :) It's fun!
In order to distinguish front from back, I used an iron-on tag. This is a brilliant idea. They wash well and don't scratch the skin.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed this crazy episode of "Tawnya Goes Bonkers (and sews a little more)". :) Until next time...
6/30/10
Peeping on Summer Squash
Aaah! I am so excited! I am finally able to see the beginning of our summer squash. I couldn't believe my eyes. The flowers kept falling off and I was getting so discouraged. I did some research online and learned that squash plants have male and female flowers. Male flowers do not produce fruit (go figure!) and fall off. In this photo, you might be able to see the skinny stems with nothing at the top – the flowers had already fallen off. It looks like I have two squash growing side by side. YUM!
I read to harvest when the fruit is 3 to 4 inches long for the best flavors, so that's what I plan on doing.
The last photo is the full garden. I just wanted you to be able to see the difference of now and when I just planted it. It sure is rewarding to see the difference in growth! :) Yes!
I read to harvest when the fruit is 3 to 4 inches long for the best flavors, so that's what I plan on doing.
The last photo is the full garden. I just wanted you to be able to see the difference of now and when I just planted it. It sure is rewarding to see the difference in growth! :) Yes!
6/29/10
Tomato Hornworm & the Flower Guy
Hello hello!
I have been meaning to write on this blog for about a week and just haven't made myself until this morning. Yes, today is THE DAY!
Garden talk: Our garden keeps growing and, unfortunately, so do the bugs in it! Every day I pick off these little green caterpillars that are munching away at my leaves. It's a lot of work, and a lot more work than I'd hoped for. Well yesterday I found this caterpillar munching away on a cabbage leaf.
I think it's a Tomato Hornworm Caterpillar. I haven't looked at my tomato plants closely since I planted them because I've been so worried about the cabbage getting infested. Today I will have to inspect the tomato plants thoroughly. One of my cabbage plants was so infested with caterpillars that I tore the entire plant out and threw it in the trash. I've decided to pick up some bt to spray. I'll keep picking until this weekend, and then I'll purchase some bt. I've read that people spray every 2 to 4 weeks.
Where do these little larva come from? Moths. They can lay 100 eggs at a time and if a person sees two moths flying around their leaves in the garden at night, that is 200 eggs they are laying!
Other news: I suppose this is “Art News”. I'm drawing a Flower Guy. I haven't finished yet, but this guy is also into flowers and gardening.
I thought I might try to illustrate the Flower Guy working in his garden and possibly riding his bike with a basket full of flowers and put a story to it. I haven't decided yet. I guess working with kids motivates me to a point. I also have great ideas and high drive, but the problem lies with having TOO many ideas to implement in a timely manner. :P I get around to some things, and not to others. Such is life.
Well, I plan to post the Flower Guy again when he's completed. :)
Note: The medium used to render the drawing is Prismacolor colored pencil.
I have been meaning to write on this blog for about a week and just haven't made myself until this morning. Yes, today is THE DAY!
Garden talk: Our garden keeps growing and, unfortunately, so do the bugs in it! Every day I pick off these little green caterpillars that are munching away at my leaves. It's a lot of work, and a lot more work than I'd hoped for. Well yesterday I found this caterpillar munching away on a cabbage leaf.
I think it's a Tomato Hornworm Caterpillar. I haven't looked at my tomato plants closely since I planted them because I've been so worried about the cabbage getting infested. Today I will have to inspect the tomato plants thoroughly. One of my cabbage plants was so infested with caterpillars that I tore the entire plant out and threw it in the trash. I've decided to pick up some bt to spray. I'll keep picking until this weekend, and then I'll purchase some bt. I've read that people spray every 2 to 4 weeks.
Where do these little larva come from? Moths. They can lay 100 eggs at a time and if a person sees two moths flying around their leaves in the garden at night, that is 200 eggs they are laying!
Other news: I suppose this is “Art News”. I'm drawing a Flower Guy. I haven't finished yet, but this guy is also into flowers and gardening.
I thought I might try to illustrate the Flower Guy working in his garden and possibly riding his bike with a basket full of flowers and put a story to it. I haven't decided yet. I guess working with kids motivates me to a point. I also have great ideas and high drive, but the problem lies with having TOO many ideas to implement in a timely manner. :P I get around to some things, and not to others. Such is life.
Well, I plan to post the Flower Guy again when he's completed. :)
Note: The medium used to render the drawing is Prismacolor colored pencil.
6/6/10
Garden is Up & Growing!
Okay, I'm back with an update on the garden front. If you remember, I hate bugs—especially ants—so I tried to get rid of them with the Borax/granulated sugar mix. Well, that was all wrong! I needed to use POWDERED sugar. I don't know if I killed any ants or not, but I saw several crawling around yet. It wasn't quite the entire colony, but still gross! But here's the real issue. Not only are ants gross, they have eaten my seeds in the past and I wanted to get rid of them. Blah blah blah – I said all this in my last entry. So anyway, I tried the powdered sugar but I think they are just too darn smart and didn't go near it–blasted creatures!
So this next part is funny. I gave up on killing ants and planted seeds anyway. Did the seeds sprout? OF COURSE THEY DID! I was slightly worried, but that's because I tend to lean toward anxious thinking at this juncture in my life. :D (This too shall pass!) Haha. I got over the entire ant thing as soon as I laid my newspaper and straw mulch. Everything is growing nicely. I found a bug nibble on my bell pepper plants and sprayed them immediately. Since I sprayed, no more munchie-marks.
So here's the entire garden: planted, mulched, and all flowered up. I finished cutting sod for the gold stone and even planted some moss in the dirt around the edge (hopefully it will take off). Edward did a fantastic job on building the fence and Petunia shelves. I'm in awe every time I look out the window and see the garden.
Here's new garden-news. A new addition to our front corner garden is "Prickly Pear" cactus. It's a gift from a nice gardener-gal who lives just a little ways from us. I read that Prickly Pear is native to Minnesota, but I can't cite it, so …sorry. But it is all over the state. It thrives well in sandy soil and that's what we have here. The bloom is a big yellow flower – unlike other flowers I enjoy. The blooms are like a soft yellow wrapping paper tissue. I suppose ours won't bloom this year, but I'll be anticipating them next spring with camera in hand! :)
All right, tonight is “date night” at the local A&W for me and my Sweetheart. Time to go get all dolled up!
So this next part is funny. I gave up on killing ants and planted seeds anyway. Did the seeds sprout? OF COURSE THEY DID! I was slightly worried, but that's because I tend to lean toward anxious thinking at this juncture in my life. :D (This too shall pass!) Haha. I got over the entire ant thing as soon as I laid my newspaper and straw mulch. Everything is growing nicely. I found a bug nibble on my bell pepper plants and sprayed them immediately. Since I sprayed, no more munchie-marks.
So here's the entire garden: planted, mulched, and all flowered up. I finished cutting sod for the gold stone and even planted some moss in the dirt around the edge (hopefully it will take off). Edward did a fantastic job on building the fence and Petunia shelves. I'm in awe every time I look out the window and see the garden.
Here's new garden-news. A new addition to our front corner garden is "Prickly Pear" cactus. It's a gift from a nice gardener-gal who lives just a little ways from us. I read that Prickly Pear is native to Minnesota, but I can't cite it, so …sorry. But it is all over the state. It thrives well in sandy soil and that's what we have here. The bloom is a big yellow flower – unlike other flowers I enjoy. The blooms are like a soft yellow wrapping paper tissue. I suppose ours won't bloom this year, but I'll be anticipating them next spring with camera in hand! :)
All right, tonight is “date night” at the local A&W for me and my Sweetheart. Time to go get all dolled up!
5/28/10
Learning The Garden Ways
Greetings!
The garden is coming along fantastically, but I have been running into some things that I need to add, change or discard. I have a small handful of photos to share.
To begin, the day I put my first set of plants in (tomato, jalapeño, bell peppers, cabbage, lettuce, & broccoli) I noticed all of the ants. Two years ago, I planted green beans for the post, 15 seeds. Six of those sprouted. I KNOW the ants ate them because the area was infested. So when I saw the ants, I was reminded of my experience two years ago. I decided to take some action this year! That's right, I'm in charge of my garden.
A person could search all day long on remedies to rid the ants, but I tried one that I found in one of my perennial books and adjusted the recipe of destruction. :) The book suggested 3 cups of water, 1 cup of white sugar and 4 tsp of liquid boric acid. Bring these to a boil and pour into small containers. The other suggestion was Borax and icing sugar – equal parts. I used the latter, however, I chose white sugar instead of icing. I totally messed that part up, but ants ate like mad. Hopefully some of the Borax was ingested (and administered to the QUEEN!). I didn't seen ants in the garden yesterday when I looked, but I'll be planting seeds today and I will get a closer look.
I hate bugs. I hate them with a passion, but I love flowers and food so I must come to a truce so I'm able to work the garden. Several plants bring beneficial bugs to the garden (and some eat the bad bugs!) so I am trying to plant those. Since I'm broke, I'm starting everything from seed. Plus, it's more fun to watch the growth from the beginning stages of a plant. At any rate, what I just learned is that Chrysanthemum (Daisy) deters ALL bad bugs! I planted two of them in front of my broccoli and cabbage.
A list of other plants that attract beneficial bugs are:
Ajuga, Aster, Black-eye-susan, Butterfly weed, Coneflower (Echinacea), Feverfew, Goldenrod, Marguerite, Monarda (which is somewhat invasive), Speedwell, Thyme, Yarrow, Clover, Dandelion, Dill, Fennel, Lavender, LEMON BALM (which I have seeds for), Lovage and Queen Anne's Lace.
Hummingbirds are also beneficial for the garden because they eat insects! I have a Hummingbird feeder hanging near the garden post and I am setting up some pots on the high posts full of “Dreams Burgundy” Petunia. Apparently the birds are drawn to this plant for nectar. (I plan to dig in the gold stone for the garden entrance in the next couple of days.)
I also planted “Red Star” Petunia in 10 pots along the front of the house. This is somewhat of a problem area because it's shade most of the day and then from about 2:30 pm on the sun creeps along the front of the house and boils up the area! HOT. I tried shade plants there, but it's just too sunny at the end of the day. I love terracotta color so those are the pots I chose, matching the mocha house or not, I wanted it. :)
For the deciduous shade garden, I planted Vincas, Mimulus and Impatients. The mimulus is a guess because the label in the plant said it needed different light from the sign on the table they were sold on. They were in the greenhouse so I am inclined to think they would do better in the shade. I'll just keep fertilizing them and see what comes of it.
And finally, the mystery plant bloom REVEALED! California Orange Poppy! I hated the foliage at the beginning of the year, but thought twice before I weeded this creepy looking stuff. I have been weeding this poppy flower out of the garden for two years. I am uncertain whether it calls to beneficial insects or not. I did brush off a squash bug though. I think it was a squash bug at any rate. I will keep a close watch out, of course, to see what insects it brings in. But it is BEAUTIFUL! Ed loves the orange color too. :)
The garden is coming along fantastically, but I have been running into some things that I need to add, change or discard. I have a small handful of photos to share.
To begin, the day I put my first set of plants in (tomato, jalapeño, bell peppers, cabbage, lettuce, & broccoli) I noticed all of the ants. Two years ago, I planted green beans for the post, 15 seeds. Six of those sprouted. I KNOW the ants ate them because the area was infested. So when I saw the ants, I was reminded of my experience two years ago. I decided to take some action this year! That's right, I'm in charge of my garden.
A person could search all day long on remedies to rid the ants, but I tried one that I found in one of my perennial books and adjusted the recipe of destruction. :) The book suggested 3 cups of water, 1 cup of white sugar and 4 tsp of liquid boric acid. Bring these to a boil and pour into small containers. The other suggestion was Borax and icing sugar – equal parts. I used the latter, however, I chose white sugar instead of icing. I totally messed that part up, but ants ate like mad. Hopefully some of the Borax was ingested (and administered to the QUEEN!). I didn't seen ants in the garden yesterday when I looked, but I'll be planting seeds today and I will get a closer look.
I hate bugs. I hate them with a passion, but I love flowers and food so I must come to a truce so I'm able to work the garden. Several plants bring beneficial bugs to the garden (and some eat the bad bugs!) so I am trying to plant those. Since I'm broke, I'm starting everything from seed. Plus, it's more fun to watch the growth from the beginning stages of a plant. At any rate, what I just learned is that Chrysanthemum (Daisy) deters ALL bad bugs! I planted two of them in front of my broccoli and cabbage.
A list of other plants that attract beneficial bugs are:
Ajuga, Aster, Black-eye-susan, Butterfly weed, Coneflower (Echinacea), Feverfew, Goldenrod, Marguerite, Monarda (which is somewhat invasive), Speedwell, Thyme, Yarrow, Clover, Dandelion, Dill, Fennel, Lavender, LEMON BALM (which I have seeds for), Lovage and Queen Anne's Lace.
Hummingbirds are also beneficial for the garden because they eat insects! I have a Hummingbird feeder hanging near the garden post and I am setting up some pots on the high posts full of “Dreams Burgundy” Petunia. Apparently the birds are drawn to this plant for nectar. (I plan to dig in the gold stone for the garden entrance in the next couple of days.)
I also planted “Red Star” Petunia in 10 pots along the front of the house. This is somewhat of a problem area because it's shade most of the day and then from about 2:30 pm on the sun creeps along the front of the house and boils up the area! HOT. I tried shade plants there, but it's just too sunny at the end of the day. I love terracotta color so those are the pots I chose, matching the mocha house or not, I wanted it. :)
For the deciduous shade garden, I planted Vincas, Mimulus and Impatients. The mimulus is a guess because the label in the plant said it needed different light from the sign on the table they were sold on. They were in the greenhouse so I am inclined to think they would do better in the shade. I'll just keep fertilizing them and see what comes of it.
And finally, the mystery plant bloom REVEALED! California Orange Poppy! I hated the foliage at the beginning of the year, but thought twice before I weeded this creepy looking stuff. I have been weeding this poppy flower out of the garden for two years. I am uncertain whether it calls to beneficial insects or not. I did brush off a squash bug though. I think it was a squash bug at any rate. I will keep a close watch out, of course, to see what insects it brings in. But it is BEAUTIFUL! Ed loves the orange color too. :)
5/16/10
Took the Compost Down!
Oh my gosh, do I ever feel like putting a heating pad on my back! I've been doing garden work all day and I would use the heating pad if it wasn't for my sunburn! Today was so beautiful (after many days of rain) that I wore my swimsuit in the yard. I couldn't reach some spots of my back too well with the sunblock and since my Love is on his fishing trip, I had no help. :P
All right, this is what I did out in the yard today! I have been keeping a compost for the past two years in the back yard by our shed. Today was the day that I de-fenced it and used the rest of the dirt in the new flower bed. I smoothed the area out. I can either put more plants there, or we can just use that space for storage. It doesn't get many hours of sun, but it's the hottest sun of the day that it does get.
Our rhubarb seems to be doing fine in that space. I'm going to see if the chives do well in next to the rhubarb. This is why: Our doggy, Chubahka, has discovered that he loves chives and couldn't stay away from them. He ate most of them down to the dirt. When I saw him, I hollered at him to get away and he ran over to me, wagging his tail and panting. It was the first time that I actually loved smelling his breath. Haha! So, I moved the chives on his account. They now need to be fenced.
So now the flower bed! This garden has all of the little seedlings I started indoors now. I've been bringing them outside for a week or so, before the rains, so I know they've had some time to get acclimated. But they aren't ready for the cool nights yet. They need that added protection. That's why the milk cartons are over them. I plan to run outside as soon as I wake up to check on them. It's not good if they get too hot, either, so I'll take those off when I check on them – if the weather is dandy.
Off topic – sort of. When I went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, I fell deeply in love with Lemon Bee Balm. I want some! During my trip to Walmart today, I saw the seeds and freaked out (inside though). I might have jumped a little. Maybe a small pant or two. LOL! They were a buck! Into the cart they went. I'll put some of this Lemon Bee Balm in the flower bed because the foliage is just gorgeous and it SMELLS SO PRETTY!! Get some and grow it in your kitchen at the very least! :)
All right. I still need to locate the photos to post here and I'm really sleepy. I think it took me an hour to write this entry tonight. LOL! I gotta get to bed. :) Nighty night!
All right, this is what I did out in the yard today! I have been keeping a compost for the past two years in the back yard by our shed. Today was the day that I de-fenced it and used the rest of the dirt in the new flower bed. I smoothed the area out. I can either put more plants there, or we can just use that space for storage. It doesn't get many hours of sun, but it's the hottest sun of the day that it does get.
Our rhubarb seems to be doing fine in that space. I'm going to see if the chives do well in next to the rhubarb. This is why: Our doggy, Chubahka, has discovered that he loves chives and couldn't stay away from them. He ate most of them down to the dirt. When I saw him, I hollered at him to get away and he ran over to me, wagging his tail and panting. It was the first time that I actually loved smelling his breath. Haha! So, I moved the chives on his account. They now need to be fenced.
So now the flower bed! This garden has all of the little seedlings I started indoors now. I've been bringing them outside for a week or so, before the rains, so I know they've had some time to get acclimated. But they aren't ready for the cool nights yet. They need that added protection. That's why the milk cartons are over them. I plan to run outside as soon as I wake up to check on them. It's not good if they get too hot, either, so I'll take those off when I check on them – if the weather is dandy.
Off topic – sort of. When I went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, I fell deeply in love with Lemon Bee Balm. I want some! During my trip to Walmart today, I saw the seeds and freaked out (inside though). I might have jumped a little. Maybe a small pant or two. LOL! They were a buck! Into the cart they went. I'll put some of this Lemon Bee Balm in the flower bed because the foliage is just gorgeous and it SMELLS SO PRETTY!! Get some and grow it in your kitchen at the very least! :)
All right. I still need to locate the photos to post here and I'm really sleepy. I think it took me an hour to write this entry tonight. LOL! I gotta get to bed. :) Nighty night!