Cold and Rainy

Dear Friends,

It's been cold and rainy all day. I woke up this morning and had to layer in clothes in the house and close windows. I don't think it got above the 50's today. Today's chill reminded me that I really need to get the shed prepared for housing animals during our long cold winter. I need to clean it out and organize it so that they have space and are easy to tend to and I need to set up a light on a timer for them and heat lamps and heated waterers. I also need to buy some hay, maybe two bales should do it? And not only all this but I need to make nest boxes for the hens as they should be laying well in another month or two.

The cold also reminds me its time to stop fooling around in the garden and get it cleaned up. Pick green tomatoes to ripen inside, the remaining peppers and to cook up all the pumpkins for the freezer and either dry the seeds and pumpkin skins for rabbit feed or roast the seeds for ourselves to enjoy. Then I need to pull all the tomato plants, weeds and whatever else needs to be pulled, composted or disposed of, mulch beds that still need new mulch, and give the compost pile one last turn over for the season. Also, annuals I wish to keep need to be cut and brought inside for rooting and growing over, and perennials in pots have to be either sunk in the ground or planted then mulched, and my potted amaryllis bulbs have to be debugged and brought inside.

Of course, all this stuff is pretty miserable if it's cold and wet out...Time to start dressing for the cold I guess. Good buy summer clothes!

Good night my friends,

Nickie :)

And things return to normal...

Dear Friends,

Things are high and dry now here at my place and almost all the roads are open once again. For a while there I was quite frazzled with it all. I was worried about the animals who were constantly wet despite changing bedding every day and trying to keep the wet out. I was worried about my father-in-law who lives in Munster, IN. which is still under mandatory evacuation. He's OK by the way. I was worried about my neighbors, and worried about how I was getting to work everyday as the traffic situation was very bad taking 2 hours to get around instead of the normal 45 minutes.

But now, things are getting back to normal. I cancelled my mini-vacation plans because of this storm, and as upsetting as that is, I have the opportunity to help out my not as fortunate friends, neighbors and family that were affected by this storm by helping them dry out and clean up. Considering I could of gone fishing from my steps the other day, I count myself lucky just to have suffered problems in the garden only.

In the garden I lost my Brussels sprouts, most of my pepper plants, a conifer shrub which I replaced today with something much more interesting (Burgundy Star Ninebark), and my parsley.

Today as I was feeding and cleaning and brushing the rabbits (who are shedding like I've never seen them shed ever before) I noticed that the buckwheat was already blooming (See the picture if you don't know what buckwheat looks like). I'm tempted to let it go to seed and maybe have yet another crop pop up from that since it seems to grow so fast and green. I'm still debating as I feel like I should be planting greens and such right now even though I KNOW there won't be time before the first frost. I forked up a good wide row of the buckwheat turning the soil so that I can at least get my garlic planted.

I need to get the trellis for my raspberries in this weekend while the ground is soft. I had no idea they would grow so fast and they are starting to get long and floppy. Luckily Mike won a home depot gift card that should cover the costs of the project easily!

To cheer up, I've decided to do some fall things. I'm roasting pumpkin in the oven for pumpkin pie right now and afterwards the seeds which I'm soaking in oil and spices will go in next. Those little sugar pie pumpkins have a LOT of seeds for their size. I'm saving a few seeds for next year's garden. Tomorrow I think I will go apple picking at the orchard down the road (providing that road is open tomorrow) as my favorite apples are ripe right now. MMMMM. Nothing cheers me up like a fresh picked apple! :)

Have a great Friday all!

Nickie

The State Of The Garden Address

Dear Friends,

I've had a great little harvest from my vegetable garden today! The Great White tomatoes are producing the best this year and I'm finally starting to get a few cucumbers from my late planting. Unfortunately, it looks as if one of my cherry type tomatoes has some kind of blight, as all the leaves are turning yellow and sickly. I may have to pull that one up early and send it to the landfill instead of the compost pile. I've never had blight before in all they years I've grown tomatoes. One thing I loved seeing on my tomato plants this morning was a shriveled blackened tomato horn worm with the remains of predatory wasp eggs on it's back. Nature can be gruesome, but I love it. That being said, I'm going to enjoy today's harvest!

Today's Harvest:

• 3 dozen cherry tomatoes
• 3 drying tomatoes
• 6 Great White tomatoes
• 7 Gypsy peppers
• 13 ears of corn
• 3 pickling cucumbers

But not all is peaches and cream in the garden this year. It seems that some folks have nothing better to do with their time then to harass the non-conformers. Who would of thought that a trailer park housing committee would be so uptight? Apparently they don't know the difference between California Poppies, Larkspur, and Yellow Scabiosa from weeds.

I know who it is who keeps complaining too-- If it isn't one thing it's another. He rides a lawn mower up every street in here, even if he isn't mowing. he's a cranky looking guy that never smiles. he looks rather unhappy with his job or life in general. He works for the trailer park and he HATES anything that isn't lawn. But I didn't want to sit in a sea of useless lawn and when we moved in here, we chose our lot more on the size for gardening then anything. The office told us strait up that they welcome gardening and in fact have a garden contest every year. It turns out, their idea of gardening is to have 1) a few scraggly annuals from walmart in hanging baskets or a couple of pots, or 2) sprigs of fake flowers stuck in pots. I am seriously not kidding about this. The don't appreciate carefully tended garden beds, mulched and weed free filled with unusual flowers and plants I have either collected from cuttings or mail order, and from seeds I've planted.

Last spring, before the ground even had a chance to thaw we got a notice that they didn't like our empty garden beds and to correct the problem by so and so date. I ignored that one. It was BS. How could I 'correct' the problem before it was warm enough to plant anything? And then they complained about our patio being messy. I had left my shovel out that morning leaning against my step railing.....and about the skirting on our trailer even though its fine and completely intact unlike several folks in the neighborhood. One gets the feeling they are being targeted after a while.... And the one thing I would of thought they would complain on they haven't; the chickens and rabbits which I keep meticulously clean so that none complains about barnyard smells.

So I was told to rip out my 'weeds' by the 20th. I got the notice Saturday. This morning I got up bright and early to pull my lovely flowers that have given me so much joy, fed butterflies, bees and the yellow birds. Right now I just can't afford the fine. If i didn't take care of the problem, Mr. lawn mower would be over here mowing it all down then fining us with a hefty price to cover his hard work. I can't afford to protest that one right now.

Such is life here...see why I would love to get out of here?

Someday I can have free rein over my own garden, I can have as much corn, sprawling pumpkins, and yes, even yellow scabiosa and larkspur as i want to my heart's content. i just have to grit my teeth a while and try to have patience.

Have a good day,

Nickie