Stop and Smell the Flowers

Stop and smell the flowers, how true of a statement is that. Seems we are so busy with trading seeds, starting seeds, getting soil ready, babying seedlings, planting, weeding sometimes we forget lest we be reminded to just slow down it will get done in the lord's time so enjoy each and every day and slow down and smell the flowers :)

 

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What's Going On Outside

I saw a couple of Grape Hyacinths popping up today, now that puts a smile on my face because I know Spring is just around the corner and that's a good thing for sure. I'm not prepared for it but I'm ready for it :) Now to get prepared for it, I still need to cut back the rose bushes and I have a pile of cuttings from tree's and plants in the vegetable garden space that needs to be burnt so I can till that area for my cool weather veggies, It's getting mighty close to time to put them in and I still need to start my tomato plants and peppers. Hmmm doesn't sound like there is any way in the world to get all this done in such a short time but I'm ready. I need to get it done because once May arrives I have the additions on the shed to start and warm season veggies and I have a fence that needs staining, grape vine trellis that needs to be built and a stone landscaping border around the flower beds and maybe a stone walkway to the house, see where I'm going here, Cottagy :)

 

 

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Day Dreaming

Today it's a very chilly day but the sun is out which makes this wintry day seem not as cold which is a good thing. I haven't even began to wintersow this winter and I haven't made plans to do so, but for tomato's and peppers and maybe a few flowers but very few. I have made plans or am contstantly changing plans in my mind to expand my outbuilding or shed as we Virginian's would refer to it, It's such a cluttered mess but it's because it is way too small for the amount that I have tried to put into it, a major renevation is on top of the list of "Things To Do" and come May it will be started along with the vegetable garden. It is currently 12x12 and in much need of parking for a riding lawnmower and a place for the tiller, wheelbarrow, pushmower, pressurewasher and fuel and oil cans, I have it layed out in my head I just have to finalize it on paper with a drawing and measurements, also would like to add a tool room in which I could place all the hand tools in an orderly way this would free up the main section of the room for woodworking, gourd burning, wood finishing, as it is now I spend way too much time looking for what is needed to do a project. I hope to start it at the beginning of Spring in hopes that come fall I can have the room for winter to do some work. I also desperately need to add 2 new windows and would like to do vinyl siding but the siding might have to wait till the following year, we shall see what is in the budget :)

 

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Pyrography with Gourds

What have I been up to? You ask. Well I know I haven't  had an update in quite a while so here we go. I have been doing my seed trading and planning the vegetable garden, I dont need to grow for food this year because I still have at least another years worth of jarred up good's. This year I get to grow for fun so I'm growing lots of melons :) and new to me Tomato varietys and I will get more into specifics later on of exactly what it is I'm planning on growing and I do believe I've reached a decision of going back to my traditional planting in row's, which I am really looking forward to walking.. Now here is something I tried on a lark and I seem to have a bit of talent for it, needs much work but I've noticed vast improvements in my skill very quickly and I think if I had the material to work with I could really produce something decent but I will have to wait to grow the gourds for you see the two I had to work with were given to me by a farmer down the street that grows them for bird houses that he makes and hang's all over his farm to attract birds thus keeping his insect population down, he explains to me, my reply brilliant and thank you for the two gourds..Here is my first two attemps at pyrography or simply put woodburning on a gourd :)

Hummingbird gourd I put a satin finish on it

 

Woodburned a Buck on this one, I did the entire gourd all the way around

 

 

And here is a photo of the opposite side of it

 

I will do Monday updates on the blog and if your on Facebook and want to trade seeds with me and the gang Join us at SeedTraders

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Free Seeds

Did you know you can get seeds easily in a fun way. Like seeds for these

 

Or maybe you would like seeds for flowers, like these

 



 

If you want seeds all you need is a facebook account

 

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The Story of Yvonne's Red Salvia

 If I could choose one gardener to meet and have them show me their gardens, Yvonne would be my choice. I want to tell you a story about a remarkable gardener by the name of Yvonne and her red salvia.

 

I met a girl by the name of Emily some years back on GardenWeb seed trading site and she would always offer Yvonne's Red Salvia seed for postage, me being new would always go after the postage seeds. I asked her about the seeds and she told me of a neighbor by the name of Yvonne who grew the most beautiful and tallest red salvia, nearly 6ft tall  and she would save the seed and give them to all the neighbors and everyone she met  in her town.  It was her fondest wish to give them to everyone in the country that grew flowers. Emily told Yvonne she could help her spread these seed  to a lot of people through using the Internet and gardenweb. I was so excited to receive these and I loved the story of Yvonne wanting to spread the seeds and how Emily would never trade them and by me accepting them I would agree to never trade them. Although mine never were as huge as Yvonne's, it did not matter to me, I was very happy to help Yvonne spread the love. Although Yvonne has long since passed and now gardens in heaven, her red salvia is now everywhere 

 

 

 

"If you receive these seeds from me or others

\Pass them along to your sister's and brother's

I have a dream no matter where I stay

I will see them in gardens on a sunny day

From sea to sea no matter where I'll be

To see them in gardens would bring Joy to me

Grown and collected from my hand and above

And passed on to you with nothing but love"

 

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How To Collect Butterfly Bush Seed

Butterfly Bush Buddleja is a large arching perrenial shrub which blooms fragrant flowers from midsummer to fall.

 

 

To collect seed to grow your own butterfly bushes, you have to wait till September then you will see green seed pods beginning to form

 

 

A couple of weeks later they will start getting a red tip as they begin to ripen

 

 

A couple more weeks and the red will turn to brown throughout the seed pod and start to become woody

 

 

A couple more weeks after that the seed pods will be totally woody and begin to pop open, this is when the seed is ready to be harvested.

 

 

Now the seed are very small and really hard to separate from the chaff but I have found a great way of doing this with a hand held strainer like this one

 

 

All you do is break the seed pods apart add into this quarter of a cup strainer and gently tap on the side while positioning the strainer over a paper plate and out falls the butterfly bush seed 90 % chaff free

 

 

Now here is a close up of what a butterfly bush seed looks like (courtesy of Brenda Reynolds)

 

 

 You can actually see the orangish brown seed in this magnified photo :)

 

 

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Seasons Change

The leaves are reds and golds and you can almost hear them in the tree's almost like laughter or more like giggles, yeah more like giggles, maybe they are giggling about the cool temperatures and how clean the air feels and smells. I think they are giggling because we are slowing down a bit to notice them and this pleases them very much. To me never is there a month that when you go outside that you do not want to go back inside. Never is there a month when you go outside that you want to say Thank you Lord.Never is there a month that when you walk outside that you want to stop and start giggling with the leaves. This is one of my favorite times of the year, the squirrels are scurrying about even the birds seem to be in a more fast pace, all creatures are really hustling now, but those leaves they seem to just be playing in the breezes and giggling amongst each other, It must be there favorite time of year also, I bet they are looking around at each other and seeing how beautiful and colorful they are that they just burst out in giggles.. Go ahead and  giggle and play my little friends because I sure enjoy watching and listening to you this time of year...

 

 

 

 





Big Tomato's

It is always fun growing big tomato's and this years winner is "Big Rainbow" I've been impressed with this tomato, the plant was the biggest plant and it was loaded with really large tomato's also" Kellogg's Breakfast" was a good grower of really large fruit.. It is easy to can when you have Big Tomato's like this :) If you want seed's from this tomato come and Join us at Seed Traders on FaceBook, a fun seed trading group of people..





Vegetable Garden Update

So far here is what the new designed vegetable garden is looking like :)



 Join us at Seed Traders on FaceBook If you like to trade seed's for heirloom veggies, flowers, shrubs and tree's

Well I got around to planting my Wintersown Tomato's and I have a few left that I have to find a good home to, more than likely they will probably go to the compost, such a waste but with the new design of the garden that I promised myself I would stick to :( for one season, I've no room left. I planted 24 tomato plants this year and I am trying a few new things.. Eggplant, I have never eaten an eggplant, have no Idea what to expect and I doubt anyone else in Virginia has ever eaten one :) I guess I will be the test dumby, Next I am growing Ground Cherrys, I am looking forward to these unlike the eggplant:) and finally garden huckleberrys, have no Idea what to expect.. Everybody have a fantastic weekend..

Seed Traders

Join us at Seed Traders for our very 1st Round Robin Seed swap, It will be fun :)

Iris's on a Rainy Day

Did my usual walkabout on the property to see what was going on and we finally received rain, thank you lord, we needed it. We are not in a drought yet but sliding towards it. The next few days though it looks like we can get some measurable precip, that makes me happy :) found these beautys at the back of the property along the fence....

Hardy Hibiscus's Return

My Hardy Hibiscus's are returning early this year due to our warm weather we had in March, I will have to keep an eye on the weather for several more weeks to make sure we don't get a freeze and kill them off.. I divided some this Spring, now all in total I have 15 hardy hibiscus's. I can't wait to see them bloom, I have one side of my driveway lined with them

New Garden Design

I'm very excited about this new design I'm doing in the vegetable garden, first you enter through a tunnel to get into the garden, it will be covered in beans, this is gonna make them easy to pick and I took extra time to make sure it will last throughout the season, then when you reach the end of the tunnel, there will be two paths, one to the right the other to the left, the left side of the right hand path will be lined with tomatoes and will ark up towards the front of the garden then curve back down towards the rear of the garden. To the right of this path will be lined with peppers, and in the center of the right curve will be a watermelon patch, and the other space will be cukes.Now take the left path out of the tunnel and you come on another path with the identical layout, shaped like a sideway's S, tomatoes again line oneside and on the other side will be ground cherries and garden huckleberries and eggplant. In  one space of the s will be a triangular structure for pinto snaps in the other will be squash.. The front and two sides will be marigolds and the back will be sunflowers,this is gonna be beautiful...The tomato stakes are in the tunnel is built each stake will have 2 tomato plants,Its layed out for 24 tomato plants.

lilac

I took 6 cuttings of lilac,all various colors,4 years ago and I have been very patient, well one is ready to finally bloom this year and the others have lots of new growth coming up from the main plant. The one about to bloom is white and it is very lush, maybe the others will take off this year if not maybe next year, I will wait them out :)

Forsythia

This is the bush that ushers in Spring for many of us and brings on the world of plants returning and for us vegetable gardeners,it let's us know it is time to plow or till and for me it also reminds me it is time to sow my tomato and pepper seed

Japanese Maple "Emperor 1"

I was peeking in the jugs today and spotted this one, It was wintersown on Dec. 21st. No true leaves yet on it but it came out with that red look already, I wintersowed several different types and am very excited for these. I would like to have around 5 different types of them in the yard hopefully it all works out. The rest of them I will give away to people :)  Join us at Seed Traders A fun place to trade seeds for Heirloom Veggies,Flowers,Shrubs and Tree's on Facebook and trade Seeds with us and you to can wintersow you some Japanese Maples 



Spring has Sprung

Spring has Sprung that's what I say

I can feel it in the brilliance of the day

I can see it in the colors of yellow green and purple in the morning light

I can hear it in the birds song before they take flight

I can smell it after a morning shower

And in winter's ninth hour

Spring strikes a mighty blow and pushes winter into the past

And I jump for joy and yell finally at last :)

                                   

                                                                   Tommy Meade

Thump Your Pepper Plants

A couple of years back,early on in the season my pepper plants would flower but no peppers. They would just drop their flowers and I wondered why. I met an old farmer and I asked him about it and he said to go out early in the morning and give them a thump.I asked what do you mean by giving them a thump? He replied to just take your finger and flick it on the main trunk. So I did this and what do you know it worked. I didn't know why it worked, just that it did. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Pam at Thyme Square Gardens said tomato and peppers don't usually cross, well that puzzled me, I just assumed they did. So I did a bit of research and found out
Tomatos and peppers are self pollinating that means  Tomato and Pepper blossoms are perfect, meaning they have both male and female reproductive structures. They are capable of pollenization without the aid of pollinating insects and without pollen from other blossoms.There is only 2 to 5 percent chance of cross pollination then the odds of you saving seed from that one flower that was crossed, that bears fruit, are again likely 2%,  though it could happen that you saved cross pollinated seed the odds totaled would be 1% meaning out of 100 times you collected seed 1 would be a cross.

Now back to my theory on why thumping works.The plants produce the flowers in the morning hours and during the months of June and early July the nite temps are still low compared to the day time temps which causes dew . Now dew causes the pollen to clump up and not easily fall out and when you thump the plant it aids the flower in releasing the pollen and thus self pollinating itself..
So remember now if you want to be eating that homemade salsa in late July, go out in June and give those tomato's and peppers a good thump early in the morning.