What's growing? Mid June, 2014

The first eatable strawberries from the deck. Not what I was expecting. Tasted like fruit, but weren't the vibrant sweet strawberries I was expecting.

Zucchini blossoms!

Acorn squash buds.

The green beans are WONDERFUL! I've been snacking on them raw as I check them out in the mornings, then I noticed there was enough to pick for a full serving for supper the other night. There are still tons of flowers, so more crops will be coming soon.

Beets!

Corrots. I hope gees aren't too close together. I had to pull up and toss all the radishes. I planted them too close together and they all just turned into rotten looking carrots that smelled like radishes.

Cherry tomatoes.

Lemon Boy tomatoes.

Mr. Stripy heirloom. Yes, bought for the name.

Wisteria! When you're near! 🎵🎶🎤 (I can't say Wisteria with out signing Def Leppard)

Pretty purple ground cover at the base of the Wisteria. 

Looks like the clematis will be blooming again.

I bought this at the same time as the other clematis and it had the same leaves. Then, it changed a little, looked like it died, and then this plant came back in it's place. 

It's blooming for our neighbors, so I have to hang my arm over the fense to take pictures of it's little white blooms.

She shoots out LONG TALL arms, though.

Good morning, sweet wild honey suckle.

Time to give the compost a quarter turn.

Stella enjoying the shade while still keeping an eye on her man-cubs.

I love this cedar at the edge of the tree house.

What is this little guy? Reminds me of a bamboo, but if don't know. Cute little thing, though. I'll keep him.

The deck and garden in the morning shade.

The patio in the morning shade.

Hosta Corner. Yes... I need a truckload of mulch to treat this side of the yard. It's kinda hopelessly forgotten and ignored.

Kevin returned from an obviously exhausting visit to see neighbor Rick for a belly scratch and morning check-in

The herb garden. From left to right we have oregano, basil, sage, rosemary, and parsley. Cilantro is on the deck railing in a smaller pot and the lavender is down in the garden.

The strawberries. I've laid a layer of newspaper on the soil to separate the berries from touching it. I'm hoping that will keep e berries from rotting. I'm not doing well with my strawberries this year.

The morning glory, moon vine, and a new red flower vine that will grow up to cover (hopefully) the pergola. 

The same seed mixture in a large pot on the deck. I'm helping the vines climb with string.

One of my many jade plants. The shamrock growing with it was a house warming gift from our realtors. The shamrock died, so I used the potting soil from the pot to add to this one when I replanted the jade. Then, the shamrock came back to life, and LOVES living with the jade.

One of my 2 favorite growing things!

SWING!  Weeeeeeeee!

Ok, last one, but I loved the shots of her hair with the sun behind her.

My other favorite growing thing.

And, can't leave out my Homer! He's never far from me.

I hope you enjoyed the morning in pictures. 

Play with your food, grow something beautiful, get dirty.

Projects, Projects, Projects

There are so many things going on here! 

The garden is coming along nicely, however, my attempt at growing lettuce from seeds is proving less than successful. The second purchase of cucumbers, zucchini, and squash is doing better than the first. I ground up egg shells to put around the plants to keep the slugs away, and it seems to be working wonderfully. Since I had tomatoes growing last year, and I recycled the rotten ones into the soil, I'm getting tomato sproutletts coming up in several spots. For now, I'm letting them come on up. If/when they become a problem I'll pull them.  The carrots, beets and radishes are looking great, and the tomato plants already have baby green tomatoes starting to form. Our first attempt at fruit is working well too. We have strawberries in a pot on the porch.

FunnyGrandDaddy is giving us several very large flower pots that he had on his deck, and I'll transplant this years crop of morning glory, moon flower, and a new climber into one of those so they can grow up the pergola and create a beautiful flowery canopy over the deck.  I've seen the wild morning glory starting to come up along the basement stairs railing. It always makes such a beautiful wall of foliage and purple flowers all summer.

I planted a wisteria at the corner of the deck that will grow up and onto the pergola for next year. The surprise roses out front are blooming, and are very pretty! I've never had roses before, and since I didn't plant it, I don't know if it's supposed to be a climber or a bush. I have it coming up a trellis right now, but that's just because I'm not really sure what to do with it, and it's coming up in the corner right by my front door. In order to not snag every piece of clothing we own, I'm attempting to get it to cooperate and go up the trellis. But it's not twisting it's leaves around the trellis like I'm use to seeing other climbing plants do. My clematis twirls her leaves around things to climb, and the morning glory always does this too, and I'm seeing the wisteria do this as well. Time to do some research into what type of roses I have so I can nurture them a little better.

The shop/garage is full of exciting new projects, kid stuff, and tools. Hopefully Mr. Saucy will rig a hoisting devise to the ceiling for the bikes, because they are the only things right now without a permanent *home* out there.  

We keep the kids outside toys there, and my shop is there with my glass working tools, and Mr. Saucy's tools are in there, and my home gym is there. And... It's only a 1-car garage! AND... The reason we don't use it as a garage is because it's too small to get a family car into it. So... Needless to say, we're using every inch of the space available to us to fit an entire family's world into that space. 

You may be asking, "Why are you cramming so much into such a tiny space?", and the answer is because it's the only good space we have with ventilation. Since we have the wood-working/household tools out there, and with me working on glass, these are things I really don't want in the household air circulation. 

Ok, fine, but why the gym too?

Because I know myself. I have had a basement gym. I have had an upstairs gym. I have an exercise bike NEXT TO MY SIDE OF THE BED, and I don't use them. If I don't SEE it daily, and know that it's immediatly accessible, useable, and ready to go, I will find an excuse. By having my TV, DVD player, weights, etc in the garage, where I'm working anyway, I know that I'll use them. And, so far, I have. In fact, I'm even tempted to bring down the other exercise equipment to put in there too, but I know there's no room, and I'll end up not being able to get to ANYTHING out there, and I won't do it. I'll be right back in the same situation I've been in every other time.

Other projects, which I will report on later are:

The Kitchen Reno

The Etsy Shop, Bottle Projects, and Blow Torch

I'm also trying to think of a logo and key words that matter to me and my work. If you think of things that remind you of me, let me know. 

So for now, I wish you a happy day of creating, dreaming, and doing.

And always, stay hungry.