This years cards turned out absolutely gorgeous!
I didn't include seeds this year because I don't think anyone is planting them and with D losing his job money is squeaky tight for seed purchases. I'll be down to having only what I've saved in flower seed and not buying much for veg :( But, I think they look pretty awesome with the other additives in the paper.
Now, if I could just remember to start pressing the flowers in the spring . . .
I've gotten two batches of sauce so far this year.
Tried a new way of cooking the mess - roasting in the oven.
Much, much easier than stove top and a lot tastier!
Chopped and ready for the oven:
All roasted (425 for 1 hour, then 400 for another 3 to 4):
After being run through the food mill (You can just stick it in the blender, but the pickies at my house hate any skin or seed at ALL in their sauce):
Is really yummy. Or so the family says - I hate tomato sauce, so I wouldn't know! lol.
There isn't much left in the garden to harvest or get in the freezer.
I froze 6 cabbages and some more beans, including pole.
Blue Moon pumpkins are still going along well. I'll have a few of those to freeze for pies and bread.
Still waiting on the Ruby Queen sweet corn, brussel sprouts and popcorn.
Oh! The potatoes are fantastic this year. Woohoo!
The flowers have pretty much exhausted themselves, but there are still a few going strong. And i definitely have to save some seed from our "Christmas Tree Sunflower". How weirdly beautiful is this:
Random last of the flowers pics:
Happy growing! (what's left of the season, anyway)
Nothing special going on in the garden, except that we still haven't gotten late blight. Fingers crossed!
It has now hit every county in NY, spread across almost all of the north east and wiped out a lot of fields in the south.
Hopefully I'll get to make lots of sauce to freeze again this year. Tomatoes and potatoes are going to be like gold in the US this year.
This is what came directly over our house and scared the crap out of me! lol. I couldn't figure out what the sound was, and by the time my brain caught up that I KNEW what that noise was, it had already passed over the roof. I still got some pretty good pictures as it landed in the field across the road though:
They had to pull it away from the trees it ran in to before they could deflate it (ouch).
The one in the back tried landing three times in the same field before they gave up and made an emergency landing farther down the hill. They had it on the nightly news - apparently, around here, we don't have anything more important to report on. lol.
A friend in the city had a bat invasion the other night. Since he managed to catch one, he brought it up to us to be released. City bat became a country bat! :)
We didn't get very good pictures since we didn't want to stress him out any more than he already was. The girls were oooing and awwwwing that he was so cute . . . until he showed his teeth.
So, that's what has been going on around here.
Hope everyone's gardens are doing well.
Happy growing!
Sometimes, the tiniest things in the garden, the small stuff that is easily overlooked, are the coolest of all.
The peppers are really starting to come in! I can't wait until the purples and reds bulk up. Definitely growing the whites (Diamond) again - that plant is absolutely loaded with little peppers yet to come. It seems to have put up with this year's wacky weather the best of all 144 plants.
What is the deal with my Lipstick plant?! This is suppose to be one of the easiest to grow, and I can't seem to make it happy. Tried high humidity, low humidity, more water, less water, more sun, less sun . . . UGH! This thing is making me crazy. I've had it for three years. The first two years it was wonderful - loaded with blooms and leaves. There weren't any sudden changes. So, why all of a sudden does it look as if it's at death's door? Poor thing. I just can't figure out how to make it happy when I was doing so well with it!
Wow! The carrots did fab this year.
Everyone loved the flavor of Purple Haze. I will definitely be growing these again next year. They had nice size and color. With a mix of those and Contender, we ended up with 5 gallons, all processed and in the freezer for winter use. :) I think I'll plant some more for a early winter harvest.
This is the most interesting coreopsis I've ever had from crossed seed! The colors in these are awesome. I'll really have to remember to save seed from these this year and see what happens with them next year.
I'm excited I finally got nicotiana to do something. (ok, maybe I should chalk this one up to doing well because of/in spite of the weather) This is one of those flowers that is suppose to be so easy to grow, and one that I seem to have the most trouble with.
The flowers are huge. (and I just love this pic. lol)
The old standby alien nigella. I really adore these planted in masses. Although they're not showy, I would really miss these if I ever forgot to plant them.
I decided to try growing some birdhouse gourds this year so I could do something with them for Christmas gifts for next year, but with the crazy weather, I don't think I'll end up with any fruit. The flowers are really pretty though. I guess I'll just have to give them another try next year and hope for some better weather.
This is one of the spirea cuttings I started over the winter of 2008. It's on its second bloom this year.
And, finally, the poinsettias. This is just one pot of many. They're the ones I got on sale back in 2007 for 50 cents a pot (3 in a pot). They still flower faithfully every year for me. This spring I got braver when I repotted and cut them back much more (I was scared to go chopping at them). I think it made a big difference for the better. I wonder how many years I can keep these going? It seems so sad that people throw them out every year when they really aren't all that hard to keep going and make a nice bushy houseplant when they aren't flowering.
Our maples started turning back in the beginning of July! Will someone please tell them it's not time yet . . .
Yup, it seems I'm posting about the same things constantly, but I really need to start keeping track of what's going on in the yard like I'd promised myself way back in this post. But, after this, unless it's something exceptional, I'll start keeping the posts to every other week or so.
What with the horrible weather we've had all growing season in the New England states, it seems a little mean to be posting about everything doing so well now that the heat has turned itself up here and the rain has dwindled to every other day instead of daily. Sorry.
The flowerbeds aren't looking half bad now that the plants are getting some sun. I had to prune out a lot of the flopping gloriosa daisies, but it looks a little neater now.
The Hosta have exploded into bloom.
The area around the lower pond isn't as full and lush as last year, but considering the weather it doesn't look half bad.
I've never had cucumber plants this loaded with blooms. The cucumbers are delicious!
Even though we haven't had a ripe tom yet, I'm considering the 'hay bale' experiment a smashing success.
Finally, a couple shots of the veg garden (so I'll remember what was where).
Happy growing!
