2009 Harvest

Today I decided to see what the garden had been working so hard on all season.

We only got one pumpkin, the darn squirrels (or a skunk?) got to the other 2 and ate them right off the vine a couple months ago. The carrots were a surprise- I'd forgotton how many seeds we had planted. Somehow I thought it was just a couple squares' worth.

The potatoes were so much fun to dig up! They didn't get very big, but for the first time ever growing spuds I am delighted. Can hardly wait to see how they taste. yum.

I went ahead and picked all the tomatoes since the weather folks have been threatening snow sometime soon. (gasp! snow??) Only a few greenies left, and the rest will ripen pretty quickly I'll bet.

And the beets! yeah for beets. I am planning to can these tonight (or maybe in a couple days if I run short on time...) into pickled beets. This will be a new one for me, I've never tried to can beets before. wish me luck!

July's garden update

Sorry I haven't been posting to the blog much lately, I've been outside tending to my garden nearly every day! It's so nice to have all the hard work of Springtime done, now I can enjoy being in the garden a lot without having to work so hard. Watering is still a necessary chore, and spot weeding here and there. But overall I'm so happy with how everything is just growing and growing.

I have a bunch of sunflowers along the back fence in the back yard- they are just about to bloom. I'll take a photo of them in the next week or two. The plants are already as tall (if not taller!) than I am. I think some of them will get to be 7-8 feet high.

The flowerbeds are doing well this year, they seem to like all the rainy weather we've been having. And lucky for us the hailstorms have been very mild, with no bigger than pea-sized hailstones. phew!

I am really pleased with the Russian sage we planted last year, it wintered over just fine, and is bigger and lovelier this summer.

I like the tiny purple flowers (so do the bees!) and it makes a nice contrast to the yellow/orange poppies, rudbekias and coreopsis that are all in bloom. I also planted some lavender and purple verbena to play on the contrast.

Here's a pic of the sage with some poppies:


Like I told Chuck, you can take the girl out of California, but you can't take the California out of me! I love having those bright orange poppies in the front flower beds each year. We also have some cream-colored ones which seem just as happy in the hot, sunny bed. They both re-seeded themselves this year, which was really a surprise for me this spring. Quite unexpected considering all the snow and bitter cold weather we had last winter.

The roses are about to bloom again. It seems we have a week or two with all 10 bushes in full bloom, then after we cut back the spent roses it takes a few weeks for them to re-bud and bloom again, so they look all plain and green for the time in between blooming. I wish there was a way to have some of the roses green while the others show off their blooms, then it wouldn't seem so plain in-between roses! I guess a solution might be to plant something among the rosebushes that bloomed more frequently. Hmm... I'll have to think about that for next year!

This rose is one of my favorites, I just love the shade of pink.

This weekend I am finally able to harvest some vegetables! We have 4 huge heads of broccoli, 2 crookneck squashes, and the first of the tomatoes.

I didn't get a picture of the first tomato, as I ate it within 10 minutes of it being picked! Chuck and I had scrambled eggs with toasted english muffins for breakfast, so I decided to use the first tomato, and made mine into an egg and tomato sandwich. Oh my- so delicious. Seriously, nothing beats the flavor and texture of a home-grown tomato. This one was an heirloom variety named "Cherokee Purple". Yum! I gave one to Pat later in the afternoon, and the 3rd one is pictured above. It will make a great addition to some cheese and crackers for snack at work tomorrow!

Thank goodness Chuck doesn't like tomatoes, so I don't have to share with him. :)

Have a great week everyone!

Gardening is a joy

Our vegetable and flower gardens are in full swing, and I've been meaning to share some photos. So here we go!

I was up early and decided to grab the camera to take with me as I walked around the yard. I really like the early morning sunlight on the plants, it makes the colors glow and everything is so fresh and crisp.

This is the new flower bed we made this spring. There was a triangle-shaped portion of space that was covered in mulch and then had large pots of flowers in it every year. We tore it all out, reshaped the bed and laid sod (the part on the left) so that there is more space walking from one area of the back yard to the other.

The new flower bed is smaller, but this way the plants are in the ground, and we used a lot of perennials, with some annual color as well. I'm really happy with how the flower bed turned out!



This is a campanula that just started blooming, one of my favorite flowers. It's right next to my lavender plant that is blooming as well, making a nice blue contrast to all the pink and red going on in front of the bed with the dianthus, nicotiana, and petunias.



We also planted 3 lilac bushes, 2 hydrangeas, and there are about 4 rose bushes that were transplanted from the front yard over the last few years. We jokingly call it the rose-graveyard, because if a rose plant isn't performing well out front Pat wants to move it to the back yard and get something new and pretty for the rose planters out front. But then eventually the roses settle in out back and do very well, none of them have died as we had expected, in fact the two that have been in the "graveyard" the longest are blooming like crazy right now!

Here's a planter Pat has over on her side of the backyard, I just love the hot pink and dark purple colors together. The geranium has nicely variegated leaves which shows well with all the bright colors of the flowers.



Ahhh... the veggie garden. My pride and joy! :)

Everything is growing very well so far this year. There's also another planter along the back fence that Chuck has several rows of corn growing, next to it are a bunch of sunflowers and hollyhocks. They were still in shadow so I didn't snap a photo... I'll post something once they've grown up a bit more. The sunflowers are the really tall 6 to 7 foot variety, so they'll peek their flowers over the top of the fence, should be really pretty by late summer.



We use the square-foot gardening method and I've been really happy with it. I like the tidy look of the garden, and it's kind of amazing how many plants you can get into the boxes, since we don't need a whole row of pumpkins or beets, just a few sections of the garden is plenty.

Below is the box that holds two pumpkin plants, a mini one, and a regular jack-o-lantern one. In the middle are Leeks growing from seed, but they're still too tiny to see well in the photo. I noticed the big pumpkin plant already has some buds on it, so we should see little baby pumpkins in another few weeks. yeah!



Next is the tomato box, 4 heirloom tomatoes, two red, a yellow and a Cherokee purple. yum yum yum. Last fall Pat and I were able to can the last of the harvest, and I'm hoping to have enough this year again.

I plant marigolds in the garden because they have a scent that the bad insects don't care for, so they stay away from the veggies. I also think the blossoms are good for attracting bees, which I need to get everything pollinated. My garden would be nothing without the precious bees in the area.



There are several green 'matoes on the vine, I'll have to keep a close watch on them. I am so excited for homegrown tomatoes, they taste so much better than the ones in the grocery store!



This box holds some cucumber plants and celery plants. I also have a jalapeno and anaheim chili plant in the middle. They are doing well, I noticed some peppers looking nearly ready to harvest!





And there are little itty-bitty- cucumbers too- right behind the little yellow flower is the baby cucumber. so cute!



We are growing broccoli this year, a new plant for me. I only got four seedlings, because I didn't know if they would grow well, but they seem to be doing fine. In this box there are more marigolds, cilantro (that's already going to seed) and lettuce.

In the right lower corner is a zucchini plant... hello chocolate-zucchini cake!



This planter is my herb-garden. Anise, fennel, sage, lavender, basil, mint, cilantro, oregano... you get the idea. There is also a yellow crook-neck squash plant in the lower left corner, because I had nowhere else to put it. You have to be careful not to plant your squashes and cucumbers too close together, or they will get cross-pollinated while the bees are buzzing about from plant to plant, and you'll end up with weird veggies!!



Chukani decided to plant Potatoes this year too. (it was an adventure at the garden center for sure!) The back of this planter is the dozen or so potato plants, and then the rest is filled with beets, carrots, and radishes.



In fact, the radishes are ready! So I harvested those this morning. I also made a discovery- our dog Keena loves to eat radishes. I gave her one, and she happily crunched away, so I gave her another just to be sure. Yep, she thinks they taste delicious.



Well, thanks for touring the garden with me. I have some pics from the flower beds in the front yard, but I'll share them next time.

This is why Spring is my favorite season

Pat and I spent several hours last fall picking out bulbs for this Spring, and then of course there was the labor of actually planting them in the 2 front planters. Phew- a lot of work!

We weren't even sure how well the daffodils and tulips would do in the harsh cold. Also, it's pretty much squirrel territory on our block, and I know they will sometimes dig and take off with the bulbs. It seemed a little foolish to spend money on what might not even turn out to be worth it.

But we hoped for the best, and planted several dozen varieties of tulips and 50 or so king alfred daffodils in the two front planters that are closest to the street.

And now, several months later, yeah- they are all doing beautifully! I am so happy each day when I drive down the driveway heading to work, and see all the pretty colors greeting me at the street. The colorful flowers really brighten the yard, and they weathered all the late snowstorms nicely.

These sunny yellow daffodils are so sweet. Maybe this fall I'll add in some bi-colored yellow and white daffodils too. The flowers are spaced pretty far apart right now, because I know that as the years go by and they naturalize, they will be larger clumps of bulbs where now only one sits. So, while there's still room, I'm thinking I should take advantage and fill in with some contrasting colors. I'm also thinking of planting a bunch of blue grape muscari in with the yellow daffodils.

This orange and green tulip is quite striking, there are a few over in Pat's planter. I love how tulips first bloom looking one way, and then as the colors mature and develop, they sometimes turn out looking like an entirely different tulip! I'll have to check on this one again and see what it's turned out to be.

So, now that the Spring-ish weather has finally arrived, and we have hit the traditional last frost date (usually around Mother's Day weekend here) Pat and I are both getting antsy to get our hands in the dirt and start planting the garden!

This afternoon Chuck emailed me at work and said that Mom wanted to go to the nursery after I got home from work. Strangely enough, I was already planning to ask her if she was interested in going either this afternoon or tomorrow, so I readily agreed. :)

Chuck came along for the heavy lifting (cart pushing duties too). Here is our cart of flowers about half way through the shopping trip...


We went to O'Tooles garden center - they are our favorite nursery. They are family owned, have great selection of healthy plants, and very knowledgeable and friendly staff.

Maybe not the least expensive place to get plants (there's always wal-mart's garden center for cheap plants,) but I know that the quality is a LOT better here. We have been really happy with their veggies, perennials and annuals over the last several years that we've been shopping here. And best of all, this evening O'Tooles was having their Spring Open House, with special sales (the clematis was 25% off!) guest speakers, lots of sweets and drinks, and even door prizes. It was a like a big garden party, the place was packed.

We are all set to spruce-up the front planters with snapdragons, daisies, pansies, violets, cosmos and even some pretty pink and purple petunias. (And as much alliteration as I can handle, apparently!)

Check back soon, I'll post some photos of the front planters all decked out with their Spring colors.

Hope you're all having a great week- and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's this weekend! Thanks for visiting and we'll talk again soon.
:)

News Update

March is supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb, right?! Well... I think someone needs to give a 'ol March a talking to. It was so warm and mild here for the first few weeks of the month, and now it's snowed and blowed like a mighty Ice Lion for the last week or so. We had the "Blizzard" last week, snow again Monday, Pooh's blustery day today, snow tomorrow, and I hear another big storm headed to Denver just in time for the weekend. Yikes.

I'm just glad our tulips and daffodils were shy this spring and are barely poking their green shoulders above ground, so I think they'll weather the freeze ok. Unfortunately, I heard that the West Slope of Colorado (where they have fertile valleys to grow all the yummy cherries, apricots, peaches, melons, apples, pears... oh so good!) was hit hard by the freeze, and they lost the majority of the apricot and peach crops already. The trees are just flowering, but won't set fruit now. I'm bummed about that because that means the fruit will be more expensive at the farmer's markets this summer, and I won't be able to can as much jam and jellies.

Last Saturday night I spent some time with Chuck's cousins Mandy and Melissa. Mandy had some free tickets to a musical show downtown that her boyfriend Robin was playing in the band for (bass guitar) so we all met up and went to see it. It was a cozy theater, with a really fun one-woman show starring "Patsy DeCline"! It was kind of a musical spoof on the old-time country stars, and we all loved it. Melissa saw some tiaras for sale at the coat check station and decided we needed to be "princesses" for the evening, and so we were. It was a blast, and afterwards we hung around until we got a picture with Miss Patsy DeCline herself.

Here's a pic of Princess Mandy and Robin after the show.


Chuck's Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Orson were in town last night and stayed with Pat. They are on their way to Kansas to visit our cousins Paul and Diana, so we were thrilled to get a chance to see them for the evening on their journey. And somehow they managed to plan the trip just right to catch the lull between the storms from Utah all the way to Kansas. We all went to Chili's for dinner and then sat around swapping stories and memories for the rest of the evening. Orson really liked playing with our puppy Keena, even though she shed all over him each time she got near him!

This week Chuck has a drafting project to work on with the guy up in Evergreen he's been working with, so he'll be keeping busy most of the week. It's month-end billing at work for me, so I'll be swamped until next Tuesday or so. It's good to be busy at work though, I'd much prefer that than sitting around bored at my desk all day. And having the 2 days off last week was an unexpected bonus!

Later in April I am planning a long weekend down in Albuquerque to see my friend Jen. (she moved down there to work for the Forest Service last fall) I got a flight on Frontier for a great deal, and it was too good a price to pass up. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with her, I've been missing her a lot since she moved down there.

That's pretty much all that's news right now. I hope you all are having a great week... and I've got some pictures to share tomorrow or the next day- so check back soon! :)

Well, well, well...

Okay Dear Reader, let's go back in time a bit, and I'll tell you a story. This past summer was not a good time to be a well on our property. Home or cabin in this case.

After several decades of hard work, the well in our back yard decided to call it quits. Now, we've been on city water for the 3 main uses of water in the house for a long time. (3 uses, you ask? why, drinking, cooking, and well... you know!) but the well water was very useful for keeping the plants, lawn and gardens alive in the long hot summer without increasing the water bill to astronomical levels. The well water was also very handy for things such as filling the wading pool, washing cars, power-washing the siding... you name it! We love our well.

So in the heat of the summer, we had a local well guy out to see what was going on. His name is Joe, we call him Joe the well guy. (No, not Joe the Plumber)

First he replaced the pump in the well...

Discussing the problem

But that didn't seem to fix the problem.

It was frustrating to say the least.

For a while, we just gave up on the well, and connected a hose to the spigot for the washing machine in the basement, ran that hose through the basement, up and out the window. Chuck split the water with a connecter so that some could be used in the back yard... and ran another hose all the way around to the front of the house so we could at least keep the front lawn alive.

Needless to say, we skipped the wading pool last summer! And I got stronger arm muscles carrying a 5 gallong watering can around to all my vegetables in the garden. Heck, we even started collecting rain water, run-off from the water going to our swamp cooler... any water would do.

Then, a few weeks later, Joe came back. He and Chuck decided that Joe would install a pump saver (a contraption designed to sense the well overheating/working too hard, and stop it before it burned itself out.) This might have been the very thing that caused the problem in the first place. And maybe the pump saver would save the day.

Now, you might be thinking- hey Nicole, how'd you get that big truck into your BACK YARD?! oh- that's a mighty good question reader... glad you're paying attention.

Turns out- Chuck removed a large section of the fence in the back yard each time, and Joe drove his truck into the back field from beside a neighbor's yard around the corner. yep. Crazy times.

The building you see in the background of the pic below is the garage. I took this pic standing just outside the back door on our side of the house.

Now we're getting somewhere!

Unfortunately... installing the pump saver didn't seem to fix the problem. After a day or so, the water would work for a minute or two at full pressure, but then slow to a trickle and eventually stop. I think I tried to water my rose bushes about 17 times that night, and only got it half-way done.

grr.

parched roses

So, Joe the well guy came back yet again, with more solutions up his sleeve. Testing the pumpsaver proved it was working fine, and not the issue. However, in testing the new parts, he was able to determine that the old wiring from the house to the well pump had aged and probably cracked, and there was a short causing the problems. So- this time he brought over a crew and more big machines, and dug a nice deep ditch from the well-head to the basement and ran some purty new wiring.

Can we keep it?
And here's the well-head in the middle of our back yard... don't mind the tree roots they had to cut through to get down deep enough. We wanted to make sure the wiring was significantly below the frost line each winter, so it wouldnt get damaged by the cold weather.


After a couple months of "roughing it" in the garden... Yeah, success at last!

Water, AND a pot of gold!

We love Joe the Well Guy!!!

And every time we watered the lawn for the rest of the hot season we marveled at how much we'd taken it for granted for so long. The electricity bill to run the well is so much easier on our monthly budget than paying the water rates. phew!

Hmm... But lest you think my story is finished... there is still more to share.

The cabin well must have been jealous of all the attention we were paying to the well at the house. So it decided to act out too.

Now, well water at home may be a nice convenience, but well water at the cabin is all that stands between you and this situation:

Mm-hmm. It really happened.

Did you know you can rent a "honey - hut" for a weekend? They even deliver and pick up. It's just like being at your very own state fair, or concert... without the crowds!

All I can say is, thank heaven it happened in the summer and not winter. I would NOT have wanted to trudge through 6 feet of snow in the middle of the night, just to "powder my nose"!

I think Chuck must have paid a lot of attention in his times with Joe the well guy, because he chose to pretty much live in the well house at the cabin over several weekend (and weekday) visits.

The well house, a nice spot in the summer!

Turns out the heavy clay soil up there had really clogged everything so that nothing but a trickle was passing through. The pump couldn't get enough water to recover between uses, so the storage tank didn't fill, and the water pressure was lacking. The pump would then need to be re-primed anytime you needed to use water. And the situation was only getting worse.

So, Chuck-the-well-guy pulled all the piping out of the well by hand, replaced it, and installed a new pump.

And here's my favorite pic of all... Chuck was in the well house for an ENTIRE DAY over Labor Day Weekend. (Notice the sack lunch, he didnt take a break the whole day.)

My hero!

I know everyone in the cabin was THRILLED when we had running water again. It was the best part of the long holiday weekend for me, that's for sure.

Well, my story is nearly finished.

If there's anything else I would ask of you, dear reader, it would be this: When you next flush, remember this little tale of woe and hope, and be grateful that your flusher is there when you need it!

The flower beds and veggie gardens are doing great this year. Chuck and Pat and I have really worked hard in the last couple years to build up the flower beds in the front yard. We re-did the planter between the two front doors last summer, and that led to many other projects in sprucing up the front yard. It looks so nice now, with everything in bloom. I love being out there in the early evening as the day cools off, just watering the flowers, or dead-headding the spent blossoms, mostly just enjoying the beauty of each plant.

I just did that very thing, except I had the camera with me, so I could share the flowers and plants with you! Here are some of our roses blooming this afternoon:



And the coreopsis and verbena in the big planter outside Pat's front door. I love the contrast of the purple and yellow flowers. The other plant is vinca that's spilling over the edge, it has a nice grayish tone to the leaves which looks good with the dark foilage of the moonbeam coreopsis.
In the back yard, Pat has several big pots full of brightly colored petunias and geraniums, they are in their full summer glory right now, and attract lots of butterflies into the yard.

My herb garden is growing well this year. Basil, peppermint, catnip, parsley, and some marigolds because they keep the bad insects away, while attracting the beneficial ones. I had radishes in the empty squares, but they were harvested last week. And the lettuce in the lower right corner is looking like it's next to go. yum!
The big zucchini plants are starting to produce. We've had zucchini for dinner, and I've given a few away, and I think I'll be making zucchini bread this weekend. Anyone interested in some delicious zucchini? Just let me know- I've got plenty!!

I took a bunch more photos, but Chuck and Pat want to go to dinner now, so this will have to do. I'll post again soon! :)