What's Growin'

[houghchrst]

pati I'm so glad you are finally getting some decent weather. as you know has been miserable here. I am just astounded by the weather across the country.

I thought for sure all of my veggies were dead since I havent been able to get out there and water for almost three weeks and have been relying on CJ who just doesn't feel the urgency about things that I do lol. I have never seen him hurry for anything. If there were a fire he'd come sauntering out last, prolly with a box of ding dongs he'd rescued lol.

I did go out in the yard late thursday afternoon to see the three trees that had been knocked across our bit of creek during the bad storms we got. I went out the back patio on my crutches hopped out to the riding mower and managed to get my butt up on that tractor and had me a go round. When I saw I had radishes and onions and carrots I was positively giddy. I have blossoms on my melons. GIGGLE. Tomatoes, Roma's are growing like gangbusters. My poor lettuce which I moved off the table onto the ground looked a bit decimated and some of my cauliflower looked holey.

So two days ago I am at the sink and I see a bunny coming across the yard towards the house which I thought a bit odd and outta the corner of my eye I see movement near my 'garden' and the tiniest little bunny I ever saw come out and ran up to mama and started nursing. One of the cutest things I have ever seen. He was so little that he didn't hop, he boinged. Ya know, boing, boing, boing. I laughed my butt off. I tried to scare her from pushing him into the bushes that border the neighbor's yard cause their cat had gotten ahold of a baby the other day but he escaped. Don't know if it was the same one or not. Nobody could find him so we all hope he got away. I didn't even mind that the little fella ate my lettuce and cabbage.

I have black berries that are almost ripe so tomorrow or day after will ride out to see. Downed trees are slowly being cut back. Been hot and one of them is pretty large.

[tic chick]

chris!

glad you were able to get on the tractor and look around the acreage .

so on monday my son and i finally were able to move that lilac bush. i had worked on it on sunday and had made some deep cuts into it. my son stood on the rootball in the middle of the bush on an old piece of wood and put all his weight on it and it fell forward. then we each took a piece of root opposite each other and lifted it. i kind of pulled it across the yard about 25 ft. and right into the new hole. it was a tad too deep, but i think it'll be okay, cause the dirt was packed up in the middle of the bush. n ow that part is even with the ground level.

i had 3 yards of dirt delivered yesterday and i still have another 3 to be delivered. then i buy the boxwoods.

i rode my bike yesterday morning to my dentist's office for my twice yearly cleaning. i just checked out the distance and it's 3.8 miles there and the same distance back, so i rode almost 8 miles. i think i must be in darn good shape, cause i hardly broke a sweat. i have one of those old fashioned bikes too, no gears and you brake with the pedal. that gives you a better workout cause you are also pulling your own weight when you ride.

so, i am happy i got that lilac bush moved, that's half of my goal this summer. now comes planting the hedge and moving that dirt from my driveway to the yard, not far just tedious.

my pc was down since monday evening, my son said i needed a new harddrive, so we got one and i spent today downloading all the updates from windows to the new drive. now my son has to transfer my stuff from the old drive to this new one. he better do it right .

weather still nice here, this weekend it'll be more humid and back to around 90 on monday.

take it easy all!

,
jeannie

[Buttons2]

the hydrangea's are in bloom. mauve & lavender color. look really nice where the mock orange is mixed with them.

cut a bouget of Shasta daisy yesterday. and cut the one purple sweet pea bloom! figure the deer will eat them since they've already munched off some of the tops. I can no longer see the water tank planter as the sweetpea's are to the ground now.

deer ate the beautiful orange tiger lily & the greedy things also ate the new buds!

little green space guys & the Bounce sheets are not bothering these deer one bit!I blame myself for feeding them right next to my planters. now I'm paying the price fer sure!

Chris,that's wonderful you got outside! and must have been thrilling to see those veggies.

Jeannie,good for you getting the lilac moved & hope not too hot to plant the boxwoods. I know when you want something done you'll figure out a way.

Sher,hope you survived the wedding. that kinda heat would probably kill me. I have yet to wear shorts this year.

I got a new bright purple watering wand! neighbor's boys managed to break my fancy one when they visited.

got some fancy geraniums & they are on the patio. by fancy I mean PRICEY! $5-6.ea. just got 3 of them & those deer better not try to get them. coming up to the patio could be a total disaster as they could reach the hanging baskets.

[joy]

think 108 some places here in ar. they are not talking the index either! of coure i am inseid but know our electric bill will be sky high!

bunnies sound cute but kniow also that even turtles eatr veggies and stuff. they won'ty be cute when they are grown and having babies of their own, LOL. your place will be an easy target i am thinking. my mother use to love watching the bunnies in her yard.

jeannie i was wondering today if you were still dancing?beader mother had a mimosa in her yard. i am not able to throw out seeds even nor put out humminbird liquid. i am hoping i will be ab le to this winter terribly bad. auk enough complaing about foot

pati you flowrs and veggies sound wonderful makes me thing of the 40 acre farm and the amount of space we had to grow stuff, wonderful things. i love green beans and such.

[tic chick]

joy,

geez, i had to look for this thread. we have to bump it up every so often.

i was dancing until the end of may, then i started with all this yardwork. i usually work in the evenings when it's cooler, so if it's a wednesday and it's nice outside, i work outside. if it's too hot to work outside, it's too hot to dance! i think i'll skip dancing in august, too and go back in september. i'll have done my major projects in the yard by then.

these are the euonymus i bought and am planting as a hedge. they kind of grow close to the dirt and are called "creepers" because they are wider than they are tall. i think they'll look great next year because i got small bushes to keep the price down. i can wait for them to grow .

moonshadow.jpg

happy gardening,
jeannie

[Buttons2]

geeze I looked back on ES so no wonder I couldn't find this thread! thanks for bringing it back up Jeannie.

guess time for update on my garden & the critters eh?

have got to see 2 different fawns. one is shy,the other is curious & jumps around all over. cute! as for the older youngster's? they eat my plants so I let my dog chase them off. older does behave just fine.

we have a lame bird. yesterday it flew to the birdbath which was a relief as I cut back all the sweet peas it was hiding under. and then it came onto my watering wand last night! I could have touched it but didn't try.

more baby quails too! I cannot see them but housemate can.

dog has eaten all the peas & some of the green tomato's. put up chicken wire to hopefully keep her out.

it's been in 70's here & I'm outside enjoying the covered patio most everyday. today is gloomy & cold so time to catch up on computer.

wild rose is blooming. so is Lucifer. apple tree is loaded for the deer to eat Haha.

learned nasturiums like shade & not sun. live & learn.

already planning what not to do next year & making that very short list of what deer won't eat (lavendar,French marigolds,herbs).

hard to believe it's August since it's still so cold here.

hope everyone is enjoying their flowers & having some success with veggie gardens!

[houghchrst]

Well we have enjoyed a couple of tomatoes, some sweet baby carrots, cucumbers, blackberries, which surprised me cause i just planted it a few months ago, and everything else is still growing. Lots of failures but it was a weird hot summer and many of my veggies were not happy with it. Broccoli and cauliflower were a bust but I know now that they need a bigger pot and cooler weather. One of those I can control the other I can't.

The weather was so bad that none of my bushes bloomed except the forsythia which bloomed too early. No mushrooms, my mossy spots are in decline. Our great white egrets must be staying farther north this summer and no sign of our turkeys since spring? Just bunnies, squirrels and our blue heron. My flowerbeds are a hot mess right now cause I haven't been able to get out there. We finally mowed our lawn a couple of days ago, it is mostly brown but those tall scraggly, skinny weeds just love this weather. I was bummed about mowing down the queen Anne's lace lol

[tic chick]

hey everyone !

well, i have accomplished my 2 goals this summer, moving the french lilac bush and planting the hedge. YES! i finished the hedge on sunday and i can now see the whole outline of my garden because i had to put the fencing around the new bushes so the dogs wouldn't run over them. it'll take prolly until the end of next summer for the hedge to fully mature, so the fencing will stay up, but that's okay cause i'll still be planting more plants over the years.

i measured my garden and it is 54 feet long and 25 feet wide, so almost a perfect rectangle. of course i had a driveway to the side, now it's just dirt. maybe i will scrounge around for different sized bricks and build a kind of walkway there, it'll be fine for the dogs to run on and it won't require much maintenance. the space behind the garden where my shed is and that is bordered by the lilacs will be covered with grass. that will be the dog's space too.

i got an aluminum or steel or iron (???) 4 foot wide gate to put in the back row among the hedge so that i can have another exit out of the garden and that's where my concrete patio will be also. i don't know when i'll have that put in. i want to make that gate look a bit less new, but i don't want to paint it. any ideas? sanding it in spots maybe? i also found a darling little birdbath. it's glazed ceramic blue/green, but it looks more blue. it was marked way down because the base was cracked. they glued it well together and no one looks at the base anyway. i'll put it in the basement in winter. the top can come off, cause there are notches in the stand and basin part and if you turn the basin 1/2 way, it stays put in the stand. it makes it easier to store and empty, but it's not that big that i can't just use water pressure to clean out the old water and refill it. i have heard the sounds of chirping birds in the morning, so i know they are using it...plus the little feathers they leave behind.

so, pics are in order:
Garden 030.jpg
i leaned against the back of the house and this is the view. the hedge outlines the garden area and the back line hedge. where i have temporarily put up black decorative panels is where my gate is going. the two bushes on the right back, the front one is the lilac that was underneath the tree on the left side. i do hope to see it blooming better next year with all the sun it gets. the other bush was overgrown and i trimmed it way down last year. this year it had hundreds of little pink/white five-pointed star flowers, then it got red berries on it. i still don't know what it is! you can see my birdbath on the left by the rose bush. i don't know if that's it's permanent home, but i'll see.

Garden 029.jpg
this is the view from the back. you can see how much i can and have to do here. the concrete patio will be right in front of that back hedge line and the gate. it's partially shaded by the maple there, so it will be nice in the evening. don't know how big to make the patio, but i am drawing in the dirt with a stick...lol...to see what size and shape is right...square or half-circle? oh, my hosta's have some pretty big white tinged with purple flowers. very pretty.

Garden 026.jpg
my rose bush is about 5'4" tall! i have been dead-heading spent flowers even though you do not have to. i think it keeps the rose blooming and growing. i'm going to have to move the bronze-leafed coral bells forward a bit. my neighbor gave me 4 orange daylilies from her yard. i wanted to just get them in the ground so i planted them in front ot the rose bush. i know they multiply rapidly and i think i will put them between the hedge plants as i get more dayliles.

today, i moved one of the big irises back so i could plant the 2 deep purple salvia's i bought for 3 bucks apiece. i read if you keep dead-heading those, they will bloom 3 times a year, so that purple will look nice by the orange echinacea. i found a bright white echinacea also, called "pow wow white", but there was only one . i also got two russian sage plants, i love how airy they look with their long stems and lavender-like blooms on the ends. i've seen them paired with echinacea's and they make a nice tall display. i have an idea of where i will plant those, prolly tomorrow.

well, it is late, but i wanted to post. this garden project of 2 years already and more years to come, has been great therapy for me. it gave me peace and kept me busy when i knew my marriage was tanking and my mom forgot who i was. i like to think when i am finished with it, i will be done grieving. i will plant or put something in my garden to honor my mom when she dies...i have to think what though.

i hope you are all enjoying this last month of summer!

, jeannie

[becky50]

Wow, that is such a good idea, I never thought of that.. I have been going the route of Perennials instead of seasonal flowers..The seasonal ones I do buy go into Pots and I always have them up high where I don't have to bend over..I have Arachnoiditis, it is very painful and very challenging. I just love flowers and cannot go without planting every year..:
It is the end of August now, but the season is still thriving..In fact my spring perennials are confused. They are coming up..I guess it was a long summer this year in Indiana..
Reba

[lor]

Hi, Can I ask a plant question? I have a poinsetta from last Xmas.. I read that to make it regrow nice for next year, put in out of sun in Sept. (I did so in August/Sept.) In the corner in basement then recently to a closet. But my son just took it out cuz it 'looks like it needs light" ( it's kinda yellow). He put it on the porch & will get ilght/sun, but is it wrong to take it out of the closet or at least outa' the basement corner? It was quite lovely, but my DH bumped it & broke a branch. What should I do?

[Buttons2]

Lor,it should have stayed in the closet! now having said that,might I make a suggestion? I'd toss it & buy a new one when they are on the market. they are picky plants when grown outside their natural environment. it's the leaves that actually turn color-not some type of bloom. since they are messy & fussy I went to a good quality silk plant several years ago.

well the garden here is down to a planter of green tomato's & a zuchinni (sp) I don't want. my dog has been dragging corn stalks all over the yard from the refuse pile. she's trying her best to get under the wire around tomato's but so far I've outsmarted her.

I'm anxious to get mums,purple kale & new pansies to replace the veggies. and keep trimming the hanging baskets-yes,I am bored!

I agree plants are confused this year. don't recall ever having the wisteria blooming this time of year (2nd bloom). birds seem to also be confused. swallows have had another batch of babies-ugh.

[houghchrst]

By golly Jeannie that's awesome. I am totally jealous. We are going to spend this fall getting everything ready so that hopefully gardening will be easier for me. Garden tables, raised beds and a few other things. Now that it is cooling here I have a fall crop of carrots, onions, radishes, cabbages doing pretty good. I have talked to quite a few people who said their crops were horrible this year due to the lousy weather. Farmer's Market stall owners not real happy.

Pati I am with you on the poinsettia thing. I thought about trying to save it but then I read online how to do it and threw it in the compost bin lol. Too much work and for me to try to remember. We did finally get our white egrets back but only within that last month. Only seen the turkeys once or twice this year. I imagine as it cools we will see them again.

Lor there are just far too many steps for me but it might be fun to see how it would turn out. You can find instructions online for how to do it.

[Buttons2]

glad you brought this thread back up (I can never recall where it is). I'm down to one hanging basket,it's still pretty with begonia's & impatients.

have a huge tank filled with mums,ornamental kale,cabbage & purple grasses. deer pulled out some of the cabbage-so got a white picket fence to keep them out.

don't need to water everyday now. alot of fog here. love our autumn weather as the 70's are perfect.cannot think when we last had rain!

[tic chick]

bump for sly :)

[Buttons2]

[B]good idea Jeannie! now of course I cannot think when we have had a day without rain! and guess what? two of the mums are blooming after being cut back. crazy weather.