Night Session

Wish I was sitting here right now, on a sunny day...rather than at my computer, still at work at 9:31 pm.

It's been a very long day (13 1/2 and counting). Getting tired and though we all know that they aren't going to finish their work tonight, they persist!

Praying for 10:00 pm to be "going home" time!

Memorial Day Weekend

Ah, a sunny Memorial Day weekend (save for an incredible thunderstorm overnight on Saturday).

I managed to rip up the kitchen floor (so gross, 40 year old +/- linoleum...now I have figure out how to get the blue paper off the subfloor).

Weeded, mulched and planted here: and here:

and here:

noticed that I have strawberries starting to form on the tower:

and I went to see this:
soooooo very good!!

Now we start "Hell Week" at work...or rather "Hell Weeks" - as the next few weeks will be fast paced and crazy!

Quiet Friday Joy

Sunflower picture taken by Cathy Leonard

"Some pursue happiness; you create it"

~ inside a fortune cookie

(oh, and your lucky numbers are 1, 2, 8, 17, 40, 43)

Good Morning, Morning Glory

I love how morning glories will spring up in places where you didn't plant them!

What's in Your Backyard?....again

Remember this picture from way back in April...when I started cleaning out and reclaiming my backyard?

Well, since my brother moved in, he's been cleaning up in earnest! Out came the fence and all the left over junk; the sand (we used to have a pool in this spot when I was a kid) has been dug down and raked...
and he's even building up a rock retaining wall!
It's just so clean and starting to look so pretty!
Next year, I need a better plan for the garden. I didn't utilize my space wisely, didn't plant the potatoes properly, my beans got mold towards the end, my carrots could have been thinned better and I think my tomatoes are diseased. But my cucumbers did well and I do have one little pumpkin and three zucchinis that are doing wonderfully. Ah, every year with a garden is a learning experience!

And the survey says...

I DO NOT HAVE DIABETES, NOR DO I HAVE AN INTOLERANCE OF GLUCOSE!!!

I got my test results on Friday. Guess who's doing the happy happy dance of joy right now? And in celebration, I went to Old Hallowell Day yesterday and left my camera at home. Can we say, "DUH!" I kicked myself all afternoon, especially in the morning after getting coffee at Slate's Bakery to go with the MARVELOUS "Clone of a Cinnabon" cinnamon rolls that I made using my handy dandy new bread machine (must remember to take a picture next time and share the recipe - you want to talk about heavenly! YUM!!). My friend Nicky came along and we ended up sitting outside, out back between the bakery store and the actual bakery itself. There's a little garden area (where they had the Slate's Rising Grill before the renovations were complete). It's so sweet and pretty and there is this monsterous tree out there that I really wanted to get a picture of...but being the twit that I obviously was yesterday, I didn't have my camera. So my mission this week is to take a moment out of my day, head to Slate's bakery...WITH MY CAMERA...get something yummy to enjoy it out back in the garden and TAKE SOME FLIPPIN' PICTURES!

Oh how I love my new camera...let me count the ways

Still playing with the new camera (obviously). I don't think I've put it down! Oh, the functions - I wish you could see the happy happy dance of joy I do with every new setting I learn!

Here is a smattering of the photos I took yesterday at my friend's house, in her wonderful garden - you can see the rest here.

A Break in the Clouds

Finally, we're getting some sun! It's been so bleak and dreary (yet muggy) around here, so even thinking about taking pictures was futile! Here's looking up the driveway to where the fence used to be (you can see it at the very back of the picture - it's going to a burn pile along with a few other things soon!)Ah, to be fenceless...I forgot just how spacious my backyard is when there isn't a bunch of crap cluttering it!
My poor peonies have been getting beat by the rain



And the veggie garden is flourishing (though it needs desperately to be weeded). Here are the cukes and radish.

the peas and beans climbing for all they're worth
pumpkins
Tomatoes (lets hope they do better than last year!)
and Zucchini with some morning glories growing in the corner.
I really need to get in there and clean up, maybe tonight after work...maybe. Who's to say that I'll be in the mood?

Stumble Upon

A great stumble upon book, found after it was mentioned in an article I read on organic fertilizers...so I had to get it, right? Right!

I've only had it a few days and I've already found it useful, especially the section on companion planting. And like most books I tend to pick up these days, it was used and budget friendly!

Budget friendly is the way I think we're all going these days: alternative modes of transportation, growing our own food, reusing/recycling/precycling. I'm even getting a roommate...well, my brother is moving in with me, but we're sharing costs, which will help the budget GREATLY! We'll see how it works out. We haven't lived together in 17 years and have both grown accustomed to living alone...it'll be interesting to say the very least. But I'm looking on the positive side - when I get a major attack of the "girlies" and can't face spider central (my cellar), I'll make him go down there! :^)

Here's to a 3 day weekend of sheet rocking and trying to get that bedroom looking less like a pit, so my brother can move into it!

In the Ground

Mt. Vernon St. is greening up, so be prepared for many posts dedicated to the green space outside my house (the backyard, the veggie garden, the flower gardens). I’ll throw in a few crafty posts too, here and there, but with the sun and warm weather we’re having, all the crafty stuff has been relegated to rainy days! I do owe you another “Week of Mondays”…as soon as I finish the mini-quilts. I have two done, but am still behind by 4. This may be on the agenda for the weekend…if it rains like the weatherman is predicting.

But I digress…last night saw me and my little helper (wish I’d grabbed my camera while she was out there rolling in the dirt, all glassy eyed and in 7th heaven…she's an indoor cat who is too fat to jump over the garden fence) planting the cucumbers…

the peas... (beans to the left)
and the pumpkins.
The rhubarb has popped. In another month it will be time for more of this, so I can make another few of these :^)
And...any day now, those lilacs will be bursting through (maybe even today!). I can't wait for that lovely lovely smell...mmmm.
Everything is so green,
I just don't want to be indoors! I want to be out, playing in the dirt and strolling amid the flowers (despite it being black fly season). Every moment I'm forced to be indoors, I feel like I'm missing what's growing!
I noticed just this morning that in one week, the clematis practically exploded! It's already a foot high!
Well, back to work - happy gardening!

The Garden that Tiff Built

It may not be as nice as the house that Jack built, but it'll keep the critters out!

I know it looks so empty...soon it will be a lush little jungle of veggies! I can't wait for cucumbers and lettuce, tomatoes and carrots, potatoes, onions, green beans and sweet little pea pods....yum!
On Saturday, I tilled and raked it twice, set the posts and wrapped the fence. The bean trellis is made from posts, a 2x4, cup hooks and bird netting (it'll be easier for the beans and peas to climb).
I even got the beans planted yesterday morning. I had to get them off the porch, they were already a foot tall and falling over! I wish I had had more time to plant the peas, as they're getting HUGE (maybe tonight)! The potatoes and pumpkins can go out anytime since they're rather hearty, but cukes and zucchini and...well...everything else, will have to wait until the ground starts to warm up and the frost potential is over (another month? I hope they can hold out on the porch that long!). As it is, the peas and beans will have to be covered any night when there is a frost warning. I'm thinking of starting the lettuce this weekend. Oh...and I need to get onions! I completely forgot!
I had to share my funky orange tulips...they look fake, I know. The funny thing is, they weren't there last year - do you think that the red and the yellow tulips cross bred? Is that even possible? I know irises can do it, but I'm not so sure about tulips.
The backyard will be an on-going project, but it's already halfway to being reclaimed, so I'm okay with not having it done - right now (which is what my immediate gratification side normally wants).

What's in Your Backyard?

backyard
Originally uploaded by faerytreecreations

I know I blogged about this last year...but tis the season and this year, I'm actually getting stuff done! The picture is tiny here, but click over to flickr and you can see it a little larger (esp. if you go into all sizes). This is the before picture. I took Tuesday and Wednesday off from work for a 5 day weekend (Monday was Patriot's Day - observed only in Maine and Massachusetts) and all I did was rake and rake and rake some more!

My brother helped on Sunday - we got rid of all that rotting wood behind the shed and two truck loads of leaves. Then I borrowed my parents' truck and got rid of another 6 loads of leaves! My nephew will be over tonight to help me move all the crap and cinder blocks from behind the rotting fence to behind the shed (out of sight, out of mind). Then the plan is to take down the fence and when the transfer station starts giving away it's free compost, I'll dump it in that soon to be crap free area and seed it, thus reclaiming a portion of the yard that hasn't been used as actual "yard" space in YEARS!

I'm hoping that I can get the garden tilled tomorrow and the fence up (to fend off any future veggie munching visitors) and possibly get my peas and beans in, as they are getting a bit big for their britches...er...pots on the porch!

As soon as I get the "After" pictures taken, I'll be sure to post!

Oh, I'm hoping to make next week a "Week of Mondays" - miniquilt Mondays, that is. I have a bunch done and photographed...just waiting to be posted!

Have a fantastic weekend!

What I Learned From My Garden This Year (sans photos)

:: the name “Early Girl” is deceptive ::

:: mildew spreads quickly...very quickly ::

:: a good plan of action is key...as is researching what you're planting...oh, and knowing what the hell you're doing, too ::

:: all cucurbits should be planted at the TOP of the hill rather than the bottom to give them a full range of growth options and give the other plants a reprieve from trailing tendrils that will choke the life from them if not watched carefully ::

:: tomatoes really need their own space - far away from the gourds! ::

:: carrots need deeper soil or they grow screwy and sideways ::

:: two words - groundhog fence ::

:: peas and beans, like puppies, need a lot of training ::

:: herbs seem to grow anywhere you put them ::

:: just because you have a TON of pumpkin flowers does not necessarily mean you will have a TON of pumpkins…or even ONE pumpkin, for that matter ::

:: never just plunge your hand into a tangle of garden vines and leaves; you never know what may lay amidst those vines and leaves...like spiders...huge, nasty, ugly, scare the crap out of you spiders ::

:: two more words – drip hose ::

A Long Overdue Post

Hello! I'm back from a lovely and wonderful 10 days off! 10 days of hanging around my house, relaxing and avoiding the computer at all cost. It has been wonderful! I must say that I have missed reading all of my fav blogs, but the past 10 days were just so beautiful, I couldn't bring myself to stay inside and sit at the computer!

This is going to be a very picture filled post. I promised a garden update and I have to show off my new kitchen cabinet doors! I spent many of those beautiful days outside painting these puppies and after a year of living with this (but imagine the lower cabinets painted all white):

I now get to look at this whenever I enter my kitchen:

I love them so much! They make the room so bright and cheery. The yellow is the same paint that is on the walls. Of course, the moment I had all the upper doors back on, I immediately got the urge to take off all the lower doors and paint them in the same manner and paint the drawers all yellow....then I kicked myself for not just enjoying the moment and taking in those splendid doors.
I've tried to keep the kitchen redo as inexpensive as possible, trying to reuse what I have or what my parents started with. I already have the tiles for the floor, but need to buy underlayment and staple that down (I just haven't done it yet) and though I really wanted to buy new door handles for the cabinets, I knew that wasn't going to happen - so I revamped the ones I already had! I used colored clay, baked them and sprayed them with clear sealer. Each handle is different and funky; they really add some life to the cabinets! Aren't they pretty?

***GARDEN UPDATE***

My cukes are tiny...but tasty!
And the major cucurbit section of the garden (my pumpkins, summer squash, zucchini and gourds) has exploded! Remember these picts from back in June?
Crazy explosion of twisty tangly cucurbit vines, I tell you!

Creeping pumpkin vine twining itself through the raspberry patch and is now doubling back
And my Jack-Be-Littles are everywhere! They're just so cute.
Summer squash
Zucchini

And a gourd! It's just been the last 2 weeks that these guys have popped.
You can just see the orange tops on my carrots. I pulled one out yesterday and though it was only as long as my thumb, it tasted sweet!
My Early Girl Tomatoes didn't really live up to their name...this is the first one and it's still green!
Oh, and my driveway now looks like a lumber mill puked in it! But I will be warm come winter...well me and my parents, as ¾’s of this will go to their house. Once the weather gets really cool and autumny (is that even a word? I think my brain is still on vacation), I will be a stackin'! Enjoy the day!