Sun, 24 Aug 2008
Walking
I just came in from a walk around the neighborhood. I took my camera with me fully intending to take some photos for your viewing pleasure. I came up to the Catholic Church around the corner from my home as I wanted to take a photo of some flowers in front of the church. The company that tends to the church's landscape does a great job and these particular flowers are tremendous. Bright reds, pinks; not fading at all from the summer heat. I pulled out my camera, turned it on and went to focus when it beeped at me to charge the batteries. What? Oh well. Maybe tomorrow. I kept walking and came upon a very unusual site. There appeared to be a gathering of young women all dressed up like the Bride of Frankenstien in front of a motorcycle repair shop. Totally bizzarre. Oh, wait. I wanted to tell you about the photo, not my walk. Anyway, I took this photo some time ago on a walk. I love how people decorate their yards and front doors. This is a lovely little plaque with sweet little birds on it. I think it is cute and hope you enjoy seeing it. Maybe it will inspire you to decorate your porch and yard with some hardscape items.
posted at: 20:12 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Fri, 22 Aug 2008
Dry Spell
Since my son set up my new rain barrell, it has rained only once and that was the day he set it up. I think it's been 2-1/2 or 3 weeks since we've had rain in my neighborhood. Anyway, the rain barrell works great! However, it is almost out of water. I've used it every time I've needed to water my outdoor flowers and plants and once for my indoor plants. Since the barrell was orginally used to ferment wine, it smells of vinegar. I haven't seen any adverse affects on my plants from watering them with the "scented" water but I'm keeping a close eye on them. I'm not sure what I should be looking for, but I'm still looking. I've discovered the tomato bandit in my garden is a totally cute chipmunk. I saw it run out of one of the holes it has dug in my vegetable garden. Many years ago, we had a wonderful cat named Chuck. He was a very good hunter and was a really funny cat. One day, we saw him in the vegetable garden sticking his entire front paw and arm, up to the shoulder, into a chipmunk hole. We imagined what the chipmunk saw; something like a cartoon; a little chipmunk in its hole with a giant looking furry paw swiping around. I think I need to get a cat. I haven't seen my visiting black cat since it left me the "present" at the bottom of my front steps. I love cats and they aren't any work or trouble, but I don't like having the fur around the house. So, I guess I'll have to put up with the tomato bandit. But, I digress. I meant to say, if you don't have a rain barrell, by all means, get one. They are wonderful; good for your pocketbook (free water) and good for the environment.
posted at: 17:30 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Sun, 17 Aug 2008
Bites
My tomatoes are being bitten by a garden critter. I'm losing my crop. Every time I go out the the garden, there are tomatoes on the ground that have bites out of them. If the critter is going to steal my tomatoes, at least it could eat the entire fruit. It's distressing to me. I love to can tomatoes, but this year, as was the case last year, I don't think I'll get enough. My plants started off tremenously this year. The first fruits are large and meaty. The next fruits are questionable at this stage. I'm hoping, but I'm starting to see signs of blossom end rot on some of them. The combination of that and the critter damage is reducing my harvest. However, the tomatoes I have are really yummy! The photo shows my backyard in the heat of summer. Lots of shade makes it a bit cooler.
posted at: 16:06 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Sun, 10 Aug 2008
My Garden
Here's a photo of part of my garden - two beds, actually. I harvested my first tomatoes of the season the other day. Seven Romas. I always have such a feeling of pride when I harvest. All the nurturing and caring pays off.
posted at: 08:43 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Fri, 08 Aug 2008
Flowering Shrubs
I love flowering shrubs, especially my rose mallow hibiscus. They self-seed around the yard and have a deep, strong tap root, so if you don't want one to grow permanently where it sprouts up, pull it right away. I love to have flowers in the heat of summer and this shrub provides and abundance of them from mid-July through August. We had a huge thunder storm last night. The Browns (football) game was delayed because of the lightening. I sat on my front porch to watch it for a while until the wind kicked up and blew rain everywhere. The yard and garden really needed the rain.
posted at: 12:43 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Mon, 04 Aug 2008
Spectacular
I adore this flower! How beautiful! Rose Mallow Hibiscus - in my yard, they seed themselves and spring up all over. The plant has a deep tap root, so transplanting can be difficult. They are tough plants producing a huge number of tremendous blooms. I just love them!
posted at: 09:16 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry
Fri, 01 Aug 2008
Yuck
The photo is of my lemon balm, partially cut. That's not what I'm yuck-ing about. The lemon balm is lovely. I cut it down just as it was about to bloom in an attempt to keep it from spreading its seeds everywhere. It is a lovely plant to grow. When you rub the leaves, they give off a nice lemon scent. The yuck happened a couple of days ago. I was in my office on the phone speaking with Garden Maven Colleen. I looked out the window and saw a giant dead locust on my picnic table. YUCK! It was huge. I hear them in the trees as I am writing this. I don't remember ever experiencing one of the 14 year or 7 year outbreaks of locust. I do remember seeing a news item about an outbreak in Cincinnati a few years ago. It looked frightening. Locust everywhere, even in the downtown area. They were falling out of trees onto the heads of people passing by. Ohhhhh. Anyway, while I'm on the phone, I'm also wondering how I'm going to clean up the giant dead bug. I'm not kidding. This thing had to be 2-1/2-3 inches long. As I was telling Garden Maven Colleen about it, a little sparrow hopped onto the picnic table. Now, the sparrow was only twice as long as this giant bug including the bird's tail feathers. It started nipping at the locust, eating the legs. Then, it picked up the bug and flew away. I think quite a few sparrows could have many meals with that one locust. I am very grateful to the sparrow for taking care of my clean-up dilemna.
posted at: 09:59 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry