Category : Outdoors

117 posts

Domesticity

Since we were “blessed” with MORE snow today…heavy wet snow..over the top of rain and sleet…I was homebound. Not worth getting stuck, going in the ditch or getting in a wreck for basically nothing.

I decided I’d do my best to play happy homemaker.

I baked a double batch of spritz… happy spring colors of course.

And put a yummy roast in the oven.

I also had to try and save all the seeds J and I planted over the weekend.
We haven’t had a sunny or warm day since.

They were and should be here on the cart but it’s been so cold that I feared they’d rot instead of germinate.  So….

I cleared space on the mantel and turned on the fireplace to warm them. Sad but true.

I’m going to move them back to that cart tomorrow morning since it’s supposed to be sunny….not particularly warm but at least sunny.

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Garden update

We’ve gotten tons of small yellow tomatoes. Also some Big Boy’s and the heirloom striped variety I traded with my friend for in the spring. We’ve also harvested  a few green onions as well as some green bell and jalapeno peppers.

This is today’s sampling….

I’m pretty sure the striped variety are Tigerella tomatoes aka: “Mr. Stripey” from what I’ve seen online.
Anyone want to confirm that for me?

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Fish and tomatoes

No, it’s not a recipe. It’s what’s been happening around here.

As requested (and because I’ve got nothing better to show you), here is our new aquarium. There are 9 current residents…6 platy’s, 2 corydora’s and a purple cichlid. We plan to get a few more in about a month.

And then there’s Bob, our Crowntail Betta. Our daughter named him “Prince (something or other)” but Bob just seemed to roll off the tongue better. He enjoys looking at art and my girl swears that he gets excited when she changes his scenery.

And finally…my tomatoes are starting to ripen, so the harvest has begun. They are so yummy!

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Mid-summer garden update

So I’ve had great success with growth of our plants….but we’ve also had some pest issues. Such as DEER!!!
Whitetail deer are beautiful creatures and can be quite yummy when prepared properly. :)
All that aside…they are eating my plants!!! My hostas are down to nubs in the front and the buggers ate over a dozen green tomatoes right off the plants.

The garden is right outside the backdoor…like 2 steps from the backdoor…with a motion sensor light. Seriously…they are not scared!

The herbs and lettuce are above their reach with the rock landscaping below…thank goodness. The flat leaf parley is going crazy!!

Check out my spider plant appendage. It’s different from anything I’ve ever seen a spider plant send out before. The only thing I can figure is that I’ve never had one outside before.

The plants I’m going to over-winter in the house are going to be in for a bit of a shock!

I was thinking today that I’m going to have to make quite a bit of room. I have 2 miniature roses, a hydrangea,  3 pots of herbs, a gerbera daisy and the crazy spider plant to bring in.  That would be in addition to the other 7 plants that already reside in our house.

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Pesky deer

Not too long ago I snapped a picture of a deer that had just wandered out of our backyard.
I had commented on how skinny I thought she was.
Well, she seems to be working on fattening herself up a bit by eating my flowers!!!

She ate the top and one whole side of my strawberry jar of petunias as well as half the leaves off my hostas. I saw her bed in the grass yesterday just outside the landscape rocks. She could just lay there and munch away on a hosta.

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Garden beauty

Before my garage sale I made some flags from scraps to put up by the street so people would know the sale was here. As it turned out, we had so much stuff the flags weren’t needed. They’ve sat on my sewing machine case until today. I decided to pretty up the garden a bit.

Incidentally…the garden is doing very well. I have green tomatoes on all the plants and a couple yellow pepper on one plant. I’ve been harvesting herbs nearly daily. The lettuce is looking pretty poor but I’m going to try and let it dry out a little more. I think it’s not well enough drained.

I picked up a small stoneware pitcher from a garage sale last week. The lady didn’t want to bargain much with me because she said it was made by a famous MN potter named Robert Briscoe. I’d never heard of him but looked it up when I got home. I paid $5 for it…she said she paid over $30.
Last evening, I went around the yard and picked a pretty bouquet for my new pitcher.

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Flowers all around
On the deck, we have lots of pots of flowers. I love the splashes of color.The tiny potted rose that graces our table was given by our next door neighbor when my dad passed away.

The pink hydrangea was given by some of our other neighbors at that same time.  I potted it this year so I can over-winter it in the house and then plant it in the ground next year. **fingers crossed**

I couldn’t help myself at the greenhouse and had to buy the Gerbera Daisy.  I have it in a little galvanized bucket.  Love it!

See the white petunias in the pot next to it. They are some of the ones I started from saved seeds.


This grouping has herbs and flowers. The super full pot I bought at Trader Joe’s. It has rosemary, thyme and some very dead sage. Oops. Forgot to water it for a couple days. It didn’t like that.
See the goofy plant in the yellow pot. It’s rosemary as well. I’ve had it for a few years now. It is the oddest looking thing but it keeps on going. So many people I’ve talked to can’t keep their rosemary growing over winter. For some wonderfully crazy reason…mine does fine. Not pretty but still fine.

Then, of course, we have the volunteer flowers that come up here and there.  My girl pulled this one out from under the edge of the deck. She planted it in our garden box at my urging. We’ll have to see if it lives.

Going around to the front of the house we have a beautiful azalea bush. I can’t take credit for planting it but I’ll certainly take the kudos for nurturing it over the years.  I had lots of comments on it at the garage sale.

I didn’t buy an petunias this year. Every single one I have out is a saved seed from last year. I ended up with white, 3 shades of purple and a purple-n-white edged variety. The funny thing is that I never had any purple last year. They were all hybrid colors last year but no multi-color ones.

Lastly we have the large pots along the front walk. Last year I had giant geraniums that my folks had over-wintered for several years. I just don’t have that kind of space.
Hope you enjoyed the walk through my yard!

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