Tomato Order

I placed my tomato seed order yesterday,I'm already dreaming of the vegetable garden.It's so hard during winter to stay upbeat for me.I do not like winter,even though we haven't had much of a winter so far,it's just cold enough that nothing will grow,even the grass quit growing.

Frost on the ground

Always brings me down

Why is that I wonder

Maybe it's like thunder

And I know what's next

To be covered in white

All day and nite

For the next 60 days

It's just such a mess

And the older I get

The more I like it less

Only thing to do

For a gardener like me

Is to throw seeds in a bottle

and just let them be

And wait for Spring

As surely as I know 

That this little seed will grow

Is as surely as I know

That the Spring winds will blow



Winter Solstice

Alright the Winter Solstice is upon us,that means it's time to wintersow those seeds that need the cold stratification process.So I've done a few containers and will be doing more all winter.I've wintersowed Beautybush and tatarian maple and some shrub roses oh yeah and some Japanese Maples

Well that's a start anyways,no more till after the holiday's.I got excited and wanted to play in the dirt so this was fun and most importantly,very stress relieving...Happy Holidays to everyone and be safe...

Pepper Plants

Peppers are a plant that I like to grow.Last season I grew Hot Portugal,Early Jalapeno.and my favorite,pablanos.The pablano's,I love to stuff and prefer them to the bell peppers.The hot Portugal's I like to leave them whole and add to my bread and butter pickles when I can them..They are wonderful like this..The jalapenos,I like to freeze and then I can take out and make homemade jalapeno poppers and I also use them for spices in recipes,I crush them into powder or flakes and put them into a shaker.I also make jelly out of them,that's right jelly,I like spicy..I made my own hot sauce this year also with them..In the fall I pull the whole plants up and cover them in newspaper and hang them from my shed rafters to dry out,for the powder and the flakes..This season I'm going to add a couple more peppers to the mix,I know I am going to try habenero's and the other one I haven't decided yet.

Put to Bed

I finally tilled the vegetable garden under this year..I am so late because I took a few pines out of the front yard and I needed a place to burn the branches and trunks and it took awhile for them to dry out enough to burn..

Seeds

• I received my seeds I ordered a couple of weeks ago,I sent some to a person who had lost some of their tree's during a storm in October.Mostly this year I'm going to wintersow tree and shrub seed's.I ordered these from seeds and more in Canada,they were great to deal with and the seeds were plentiful and nicely packaged,I packaged these and sent the nicer packages to the person who lost their tree's.Here is my list of what I've gotten..

• BeautyBush(kolkwitzia amabilis)
• Golden RainTree(koelreuteria paniculata)
• Tatarian Maple(acer tataricum subsp. ginnala 'flame'
• Northern Catalpa (catalpa speciosa)
• Japanese Maple 'Emperor1'(acer palmatum'atropurpureum'cv)
• Father Hugo Rose
• Father David's Rose

I will start these on the winter solstice,using the wintersowing method..If any of you have never tried this method,it is the best for starting seed...

Rainy Day

No snow yet,tonite they are calling for it to the north and west of us,but it's just 55 degrees and rainy here..

Whats New

Alright I haven't been keeping up with my blog,I've gotten pretty busy but will try and do a much better job of it..I have been working all nite through the week and a couple of days a week I have been painting houses,trying to get a business going doing this so I wont have to work nites anymore..Here are a few pics of my work..The art is tatouage art that I've installed and put clear over...

Burning Bush

I took several cuttings from my mother's burning bush three years ago,this is a photo of one now

Autumn

What say's fall best for you?For me,these things say it best.Of course the leaves changing color,that's a beautiful sight to see.Pumpkins, they scream autumn.How about football,definetly on my list.And halloween,that's another.Sweaters could be one.Raking leaves,not my favorite but a great ingredient in compost.How about seeing squirrels gathering the acorns and seeing people dressed in camoflauge and blaze orange safety clothes.The mums blooming that would definetly be one.Apple festivals,you can't have an apple festival without apple pie,ohhh yeahhh pumpkin pie.I can see where this is heading.No more mowing grass,yayyy.. haha.Well if anyone can add to it,please do...

Good Morning

The sun finally breaks over the tree's

and shines her light down on me.

The insects come out to play

In the new warmth of the day

The flowers are all straight and tall

As if they were soldiers at roll call

There is a feeling of brand new

There is an aweness in a sky so blue

I see a rabbit making haste

from my vegetable garden space

There is nothing like the day at dawn

looking over a green manicured lawn

I know this morning will not last

It soon  will be the past

But when tomorrow comes to be

There will be a brand new morning

Just for me

Tommy Meade

MorningGlory

Morning Glory's,I never considered growing these myself,until someone sent me seed for some and I thought it odd that someone would send me seed for a,what I considered weed,then it occurred to me that everything is a weed somewhere and a flower somewhere else.People pay lots of money for hosta's and they collect them and some of them are quite expensive.We even have the American Hosta Society,this probably perplexes and amuses people of the Northeast Asia region.I grew Morning Glory's for the first time this year,I didn't realize there are over a 1000 species of this flower,I only thought the ones that grow wild around here were the only ones.Of all the flowers I grew this year this one gave me the greatest joy.It just amazed me,the amount of blooms and how lovely it is.Every morning the beautiful flowers are there to greet me,on my way to get the morning paper from the box and now I read my paper out in the yard so I can enjoy them.They grow as a climbing plant  and train really well.Very quick to climb.I hope anyone that reads this,goes ahead try's these wonderful plants in their garden,they sure have brought me great joy this year.

MorningGlory

As I sit at my roundtable,at my church

I read yesterday's happenings

I see the pines swaying in the morning breeze

I see the streams of light peeking through the pine tree's

I see the morning fog lifting and showing what the day is to be

I see the morning glory's open as if they all came to pray with me

Tommy Meade

Shed Update

Well I got most of it framed.I still have the shingles and all the vinyl siding yet to do and some more work with getting the back porch floor in and some more soffit work,but definetly making progress

Fall Recipe

• If you like apple pie this is one for you,very simple and takes about 5 minutes to make and you have to trust me it is very very good.,
• Ingredients
• One apple
• 15 RedHots(candy)
• One graham cracker
• dollop of whipped topping
•  
•  
•  
• Take the apple and peel it and cut into chunks
• Put into microwave safe cup for 2 minutes
• Add RedHots,microwave for 2 more minutes
• Stir then add crumbled up graham cracker on top
• Add dolop of whipped topping
• One serving
• This is so easy and it is so good..
 

Chelone

This plant has never gotten as big as I wanted it to but it is still young,a perrenial,it goes by the name turtlehead,this is it's second year.It likes lots of shade and will not tolerate the sun,I have it growing in the pines

This yellow Rose is blooming again,I don't know the name it has hints of pink in it and the blooms are large

This Red Knockout has a MorningGlory growing with it

September

September is the month that usually means to me the end of the garden season.We still have a month until we have frost,but the days are getting shorter and the leaves are changing ever so slightly.It is a time for seed collecting and cleaning up the vegetable garden area and the flower beds,it's just a time of moving on to other projects.Now it is also a time of remembering where you were on The Day.I remember it and always will till the end of my days.I owned my own company at that time and had a lot of family working for me.My brother in law and I were at my dad's home putting vinyl siding up on dad's home for him.We went inside for a drink of water and my dad had been watching T.V. and he said that we are under attack.We said from who but he didn't know.He had told us that they had invaded N.Y city and were now invading D.C. We glanced at the t.v. for a second and saw smoke and people running for their lives.I told dad that Mike and I would take for the woods with rifles and set up an ambush for when they came for the house and hold them off as long as we could,he agree'd on the plan.We went to the gun cabinet and loaded up with rifles and ammunition and set out for the wood's.Seem's funny now looking back 10 years but there was nothing funny about that day,it was a bit of misinformation that led to our perception of the events,and I'm sure we weren't the only one's with misinformation that day,it was a very chaotic day. We thought they would be paratrooping in on us at any moment and we were prepared for a fight.Hours passed,no planes,no paratroopers,no sounds of heavy artillery in the distance toward's D.C.We made our way out of the woods and back to the house,where dad was still watching T.V. He told us it was  terrorist's and they were all dead..So it wasn't another country invading us,it was a senseless cowardess act.I will never forget that day and neither will any of you.God Bless The U.S.A.

Shed

My neighbor is in his 60's and he doesn't get around too well.I till his garden for him in the Spring and he asked me if I would help him build an addition on his shed,which means would you build an addition onto my shed,lol.No problem,I love building things,anything to do with carpentry,I truly love.His shed is 10x10 and he wanted to add a 10x 16 giving him a 10x26.The Amish in Pennsylvania built the first part and delivered it,so I'm to match their framing.No problem,I say,on one condition.What's that,he reply's.I get to add a back porch on it for you,he laughs and say's it's a deal.I got started last week removing the vinyl siding from the back area and have the floor in and the wall's up, now on to the roof..

Shake and Blow

Well we have had some interesting weather to say the least,here in Virginia.First about 25 miles from here was the epicenter of an earthquake,that's right an earthquake,I was at home at the time and just had lay'd down for a nap.My dogs started squirming around then the house started shaking,I know this is common in some states but not here.I thought as many did living this close to D.C.,terrorist attack.then realized earthquake and thought it would stop in a couple of seconds but it got bigger and bigger and panic set in,lol,yeah I got scared it shook a little too much for my liking and I bolted,me and the dogs ran for the back door and hit the back yard running,lol,what a sight that must have been..5.8 I think is what they said it was.It was scary.We suffered absolutely no damage as far as my eye can see where the underground rivers are now remains to be seen.The second weather event was a hurricane,Irene,we do get hurricanes from time to time so we are more prepared for these events although they are rather rare here and are usually downgraded to a tropical storm..We all took the usual precautions of emptying the local grocery stores of all bread and water,lol,generators were not available because of the earthquake they were all sold out of.I gathered up all the lawn furniture and filled the tub full of water.Then a couple of hours before it hit,I went to work that's right,crazy huh,I agree but wasn't my choice,see I haul mail in a tractor-trailer and it takes an act of congress,literally to stop the mail.I started out in central Virginia,Richmond to be exact and picked up my load and headed for Maryland,long story short saw many accidents and trees downed and when I made it back to Richmond,I couldn't get my pickup to go home because of downed tree's and power lines so I took the road tractor home..What will come next?I don't know,it's been an interesting couple of weeks.Hope everyone that went through these events came out like me,safe and sound with just tree branches to clean up...

Fruit Time

I had a friend give me a pile of fruit today from his orchard.I've got plums,apples and pears.With the plums,I'm making plum preserves and plum jam.Pears,pear butter of course.I don't know what I'm gonna do with the apples.I'm about out of jars,yes the 120 jars I had are now full.I will probably just freeze the apples.I've got a 5 gallon bucket of plums sitting in my shed,fermenting,I will make some wine out of them.Beans and Toms are flowering again,hopefully I will get one last picking before frost,If not it's been a great season all the around..

A Few Pics

Just for fun,a few summertime pics



Back In The Day

I don't know how many of you use facebook but there seems to be a unilateral event taking place that goes something like this Your from Such and such if you remember,(fill in the blank)or You went to such and such school in the year if you remember(fill in the blank),This event has put so many people in touch with other's who were friends of year's gone by.Or has taken us down memory lane and made us all smile a bit.I wonder if it would be better to remember these memories on our own or have the experience of other's inputs on our memories.And I wonder if it is better to remember those friends as our mind still recalls them or to find out the true hard facts of  how they turned out.In my humble opinion I think it makes us all realize that we are all pretty much the same just longing for a little touch of the past.Life was a much simpler time back in the day when we were all so full of dreams and promise and beautiful..

    

Thank you Ricky for use of the pictures..

SummerTime

When you walk up my sidewalk to the porch,There are plants  that come up to your shoulders and are hanging over that you almost have to push out of your way to get through,but I like it like that.When you push them out of the way,you can smell them better.It makes you feel as though your in a different place,somewhere tropical.I get alot of comments on it from people that see it for the first time.They can't believe that I grow all these flowers and grow them from seed.It's something I enjoy doing.I get kidded alot by my friends but it's all in good fun,and I have thick skin so I can take it.Always remember that our time here is very short and do what you enjoy and what makes you smile,then you will be someone other's want to be around because happiness is contagious..

Tomato's

My grandson went out and picked me some tomato's,while it was cool in the morning,this year has been a good tomato year,we have made salsa,homemade hotsauce,tomato jelly,and put up stewed tomato's.There are still plenty of them on the vines and they are flowering again.Great year for the garden,The squash and zucchinni are done,we shredded and froze 4 gal's for this winter.The peppers are still going strong,we made jalapeno jelly and are drying some now for seasoning.Beans I have 14 gallons froze and we are still picking plenty of them.I started collecting tomato seed for next year.

Salsa Time

Well it's time to put up a few jars of salsa,and since I'm being overrun with toms and peppers.It's a good salsa situation,almost like the perfect salsa storm,lol..The peppers are early jalapeno's and the tom's are Paul Robeson,RedBrandywine,Blackbrandywine,Rutgers,and Cherokee Purple.I use Annie's Salsa recipe,anyone familiar with Gardenweb will have heard of it.It is very very good..

Hardy Hibiscus Collection

 My Hardy Hibiscus Collection

I try and grow a few new ones each year,I have 3 new ones this year that wont bloom till next year.

Most of these were grown from seeds,the wonderful thing about them is they come back year after year and they require very little care,you have to watch for whiteflys early on and the Japanese beatles like them but other than that they are quite easy to tend to and they are very showy when blooming and have a long bloom season,the only drawbacks I see with them are the whiteflys and beatles and the flower only lasts a day but they have so many blooms that you never realize the flower only lasts a day
If you click on the pic's,you can get a better view

 Yellow that really isnt hardy but reseeds everywhere

 This is a Rose of Sharon that I grew from seed very pretty purple with red throat

 White one that bloomed first time this year,grew from seed last year

 White one with red throat,bought it this year

Fire ball Hibiscus,bought, this one was my first hibiscus

A red one grown from my Mother's seed from her hibiscus

A lite pink with red throat,bloomed 1st year from seed

Sunflowers

I planted these for birdseed this winter and for my grandson,he likes these flowers,they grew pretty tall this year..

UPDATE

I haven't been on here in awhile.I have been very busy canning and playing.The garden is been the best this year that it has in the last couple of years.We have lots of hot weather and it rains every other day,it's like a tropical rain forest around here.I've canned 20 pints of bread and butter pickles and 6 pints of jalapeno jelly.Froze 10 quarts of greenbeans and 6 quarts of shredded squash and zucchini.I've been camping 3 times and still have 2 more trips to go on.One of the trips,my brother and sister and I went to the mountains and canoed 21 miles down the Shenandoah River and fished for 2 days,was one of the funnest days of my life.I'm heading back there the end of the month to do some more fishing

Today's Harvest

This is definetly been a good year so far,we needed it after the last 3 yrs of droughts.I've been canning bread and butter pickles and shredding and bagging and freezing squash.Today I got some big zucc's and a few squash and more pickling cuc's and a head of cabbage.I'm sure I will be out there picking more tomorrow.Now its an everyday thing trying to find them while they hide.

The head of cabbage looks small compared to these monster vegetables,The zuccs are bigger than my dog..



Flowers

I'm not just a vegetable gardener,I love to grow flowers,I get that from my mother,I usually grow all my plants from seed or take cuttings or divisions from someone else's.I have even been known to drive through a fast food place with my snips hanging out the window taking cuttings of their crape myrtles while waiting for my sweet tea order ;o)..So some flower picks  for today,It's raining and I'm inside canning pickles..

Here is a new zinnia,I couldn't resist the packet this spring and I have to say it looks like the cover of the seed packet,zinnia's never dissappoint you

 Purple cone flowers 1st year blooming

Anise hyssop- a 5ft bushy, smells like black licorice,bee magnet

Bee balm another big plant that the bee's love

I love to take pictures with a peek over or through a plant view