Preparing (109/365)

TIME: 6:40 pm

PLACE: Yard
SUBJECT: Cat litter containers

*~*~*

Yeah...I ending up feeling like shit today.  

I got the chills last night, and when I woke up, I felt like I was hit by a truck.  It even hurt to shower.

I still had to log on to work - I was the only supervisor available today.  That sucked.  But I powered through and felt much better by late afternoon.

Which was good.  We are supposed to have a hard frost and snow tomorrow. WFT?

My hostas just popped up and are surviving the dog's running all over them.  I'll be damned if I let a freak frost kill them now.  The peonies are getting covered with a sheet as well.  

 

Tuber Tuesday (266/366)

TIME: 5:43 pm

PLACE: Back yard
SUBJECT: Sweet potatoes

*~*~*

Our gigantic harvest of sweet potatoes - bet we saved a ton of money vs. store bought.

*rolls eyes*

Blooming Onion (144/365)

TIME: 7:32 PM
PLACE: Yard
SUBJECT: Onion seed head

The husband planted onions last fall on the side of the house.

They are going to seed.

Keyhole Garden (234/365)

TIME: 12:20 PM
PLACE: Grade School
SUBJECT: Keyhole garden

This is the first Girl Scout project of the school year : a keyhole garden.
This is a raised bed garden with composting that distributes nutrients to the surrounding plants. 
The center basket is the compost bin.  This is watered and the run-off provides the plantings with water.
Our basket is wire with bamboo lashed around it.
I did the lashing – and I did a mighty fine job if I do say so myself.
Here is a closer look at my handiwork:


Nice huh?

Beans

TIME:  1:44 PM
PLACE:  Backyard
SUBJECT:  Green Beans

HH planted about 5 or 6 green bean plants. 
They yielded almost 2.5 lbs of beans today.
They just need some onions and bacon to be perfect!

Jello Mold Toadstools

TIME:  6:30 PM
PLACE: Front porch
SUBJECT:  Toadstools from Jello Molds

Oh Pinterest – you have such cute ideas.

This time?

I actually got off my duff and made what I pinned!

Peek-A-Boo (212/365)

“If you're in a war, instead of throwing a hand grenade at the enemy, throw one of those small pumpkins. Maybe it'll make everyone think how stupid war is, and while they are thinking, you can throw a real grenade at them.”

Jack Handy (American Writer and cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1991-2003. Famous for his Deep Thoughts comedy sketches.)

TIME:  7:13 PM
PLACE:  East side of the house
SUBJECT:  Baby Boo pumpkin

We planted several pumpkin seeds this spring, but the only vine that grew was the Baby Boo variety.  I found this pumpkin on my early evening wandering and examining of the growth of our landscaping and gardening in our yard.  Tomorrow is August 1st; the kids go back to school in 17 more days and fall will be here before we know it.

Tomatoes & Unwanted Visitor (207/365)

Nestled inside vines
I see ripe red tomatoes
Eaten by a worm.

Original Haiku by Sujomi

TIME:  9:06 AM
PLACE:  Backyard
SUBJECT:  Cherry tomatoes on vine

See all those cherry tomatoes?  I was excited to see some that had ripened when I was watering the plants this morning.  But as I was picking the ripe ones, I found that they all had holes in them from some sort of bug.  Maybe it was this fellow:



Yuck.  If those cutworms think that they are going to mutilate my tomatoes, they have another thing coming.  I’m bigger than they are, so I will prevail. I hope.

Corn Harvest (198/365)

“Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn.”

Garrison Keillor (American writer and broadcaster b.1942)

TIME:  2:47 PM
PLACE:  Backyard
SUBJECT:  Ears of corn

We picked our corn today.  As we picked it, we shucked it and filled up a large garden trug with the ears.  We all sampled the raw bi-color corn – the kids included. Oh. My. God.  It was sooo sweet and tender…in all my 44 years, I don’t think that I have ever had corn that tasted as good as that sample.  Then we soaked it it salt water (to kill any critters) then vacuumed sealed and froze most of our crop.   I drove some over to my dad as well…he loves corn on the cob.  Of course we kept some out to cook and eat with our supper.  It was even better with butter and salt.  I can safely say that we are definitely planting corn again next year.  That’s good stuff.  Now I’m looking forward for the tomatoes to ripen.

Basil (193/365)

"A man taking basil from a woman will love her always."

Sir Thomas Moore (English, lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. 1478–1535)

TIME:  7:47 PM
PLACE:  Backyard
SUBJECT:  Basil in the raised garden bed

I watered the corn, tomatoes, onions, potatoes and herbs this morning around 9am.  It. was. freakin. hot.  Around 5pm, thunder started to rumble and a little bit of rain fell.  More importantly, the temperature dropped to a balmy 90 degrees.  I went outside around 7ish to pull weeds.  I have a huge fight with a certain vine that invades every area of my yard each summer and chokes things in my garden – HATE the vine!  The temperature dropped even more.  Right now, I’m sitting on my front porch and it’s 77 degrees with a slight breeze.  It’s lovely.

Tassels (182/365)

“I know my corn plants intimately, and I find it a great pleasure to know them.”

Barbara McClintock (American Scientist. Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1983. 1902-1992)

TIME:  8:26 PM
PLACE:  Backyard
SUBJECT:  Corn tassels

Our corn is waaaay past “knee high by the Fourth of July.”  The stalks are taller than HH and have developed tassels.  The stalks are also developing ears with silks.  If all goes according to plan, the pollen from the tassels will fall onto the silk and pollinate the ears.  When the silk is brown and dry then the pollination process is finished and the corn will continue to grow.  We only planted one variety of corn so there is no need to de-tassel and cross-pollinate our tiny corn crop this year.  Maybe next year we will go crazy and plant a couple of varieties.  Or not.

Always Optimistic In The Spring (075/365)

“An optimist is the human personification of spring.“

~Susan J. Bissonette

TIME:  4:38 PM
PLACE:  Backyard
SUBJECT:  Plant markers

I think I mentioned before that the HandsomeHusband purchased several types of seeds and planned to start them for a vegetable garden.  This afternoon he planted some tomato, pepper and cucumber seeds.  We always begin the growing season with the best of intentions; making sure the garden plot is well watered, fertilized and weeded…then, around the 4th of July when it seems the weeds seem to grow faster than we can pull them and it grows so stifling hot and humid that being outside is like being in a wet oven, we tend to slack off and everything ends up going to hell.  Nevertheless, every year we begin anew with high hopes of a massive harvest - I have faith that we will prevail at some point.  This will be the year we need to do it too - I’m afraid the market price of fresh produce is going to get ugly along with higher costs of all the other groceries we consume as well.

Lantana (150/365)

“It pleases me to take amateur photographs of my garden, and it pleases my garden to make my photographs look professional.” 

Robert Brault (American, free-lance writer)

TIME:  8:05 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Landmark Sunrise Rose Lantana

I finally filled my concrete planters with flowers this weekend.  I put these Lantana flowers, along with some pink geraniums and pink petunias in them.  They are all bright and candy-colored and make me happy.  I filled some hanging baskets with more petunias (they were only 98 cents for a 4” pot at the Home Depot); pinks in one and purples in another.  Then I splurged at my local gardening center and bought a 14” pre-made patriotic planter with red geraniums, red and white striped petunias, white verbena and blue salvia.  U.S.A! U.S.A!  I still have to fill a large cauldron that sits in my side flower bed and another hanging planter, then I should be done with annuals – If I don’t kill them all.  Maybe this will be the year where I consistently water my container plants and don’t let them die of thirst…just maybe. *crosses fingers*

Mountain Of Mulch (255/365)

“A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely.” 

Pam Brown (Australian poet, b1948)

TIME:  11:50 AM
PLACE:  The front yard
SUBJECT:  Mulch

HH picked up 3 cubic yards of mulch this morning for our flower beds.  We last mulched about 4 years ago.  That was when I first edged the areas around the front and side of the house.  It is definitely time to add some more.  Things always look so much nicer with a fresh layer of tree bark.

This evening I went to a trivia night with some girlfriends.  These are friends I made while hanging out at the bar where I met HH.  We didn’t do so well; we came in second to last place.  We did win the honorary title of “Most Fun Table”...so that was something.  It was the pesky sports category that did us in.  I did surprise myself with my knowledge of the “Presidents” category, coming up with the answers from lord only knows where.  Afterwards, we went out for a couple of beers, some girl talk, and reminiscing about the old bar days.