Last Day of May 2014

Going back to FL in the morning for a little while, so today was a busy day to get things done. Dining room is finally back in order and floor clean and most of the furniture as well. In this room, there is always something else to do.  Biggest job here and in den was to clean and change out dead light-bulbs in the fans.  Takes two strong hands and only have 1 1/2 right now so was quite a job. Have left the other fans for my return.



Before
 

After cleanup

The walk-way from garage is looking good.  Lots of cleanup required but makes it much safer when you can actually see the  steps.  And looks a lot better!









Roses by the road have started to bloom and some of the peonies are in their top form. So beautiful.   Also tied up all the tomatoes, took off the suckers and weeded! There is one tomato forming and many of the plants have flowers. The dragon beans, limas, radishes, various lettuces, spinach, carrots, squash, cucumbers, and green beans are all breaking through the earth - promising a great harvest.  Let's hope so!

Peonies

roses by the road

Goodbye Va and May!

It's Wed May 28th

Two days of hand/wrist therapy in a row. For some reason I don't feel like doing much today. Wonder if those two things are connected. I did clean up one half of the front porch since my brother-on-law was so nice to help up get rid of the old rugs. We couldn't lift them to go to the dump by ourselves. Now waiting for it to dry so I can put the outdoor rug down on front porch and put the furniture in place. Weather is beautiful and would have sat on the front porch to day if it was ready.

Tomatoes stacked

Yesterday was a busy day outside. Stacked all the tomatoes.  Nelson says it looks like I am growing sticks and it sure looks that way. I realized I usually would pound those things in using my left hand, but didn't have the strength to do it, so held with left hand and pounded them in with right hand this year. It's weird I never can think until I go to do something which hand I normally use to accomplish it. Guess I am weird in that regard. Just one of my many loveable quirks I guess.

Cabbage Patch

I also realized I had no green peppers planted, just hot ones and some banana peppers, so bought some plants and found a few places to put them. One is in the top left corner of the cabbage patch (which are growing very well this year, so far)!

We've also got some lettuce in various places. This I put in when I was here in April and it'll be ready to start using soon. Fortunately for us my sister-in-law has a salad garden on her deck and has been supplying me thus far with lettuces and radishes.



Little peaches forming

The grapes seem to be forming nicely, but it's a long time until harvest so let's hope they will still be on the plant by then this year. Peaches and apples are also visible on the trees though quite small as is normal this time of year.



Flag Iris

 We also have lots of iris and peonies now - flag iris by the steps to the garage and large iris right outside on our little porch are so beautiful.

Another day in paradise :)

Iris by side porch

pink peonies

Yellow Iris by garage

Memorial Day weekend -2

Today concentrated on cleaning up gardens on side of house. Lots of weeds to remove and a fair amount of dead wood or uncontrolled growth removed from bushes. Planted some annuals to give this area some color as well as two pots of geraniums.

Plants near the side porch -
one closest has many thorns
- Wow they hurt!

I didn't do anything with the weigelia, but it sure is pretty.

Weigelia

The radishes and lettuces I planted early this week are already starting to come through the dirt! lt's ways nice to see things germinate. Some plants can take three weeks to show at all and so if they don't you lose all that time! Love the short germination plants and better yet those with a short time to maturity!

Happy Memorial Day to all!

Memorial Day Weekend - Friday

Yeah! the garden was planted yesterday!  Took a long time and rows are not very straight, but hopefully the seeds will germinate! Digging, hoeing, and raking with a wrist recovering from being broken is quite a job! Certainly got it  stretched out and sore.  Therapist helped with that today.

Beets and lettuce

spinach and carrots

 Hill Garden planted - eggplant, banana peppers, lettuce, zucchini,
yellow squash, limas, dragon beans, green beans, cucumber, and some herbs



Today, started on flower beds, or at least planned to - all the grass etc. from the upper roses (really looking for asparagus, but weren't any there- found two elsewhere) got cleaned out. 

 

Have never seen this bloom before; 
flower sort looks like a white lilac but leaves don't

  Noticed flowers in  a tree behind upper shed that I never saw before.  Wonder what kind of tree this is? There are pretty blooming weigela's in several spots. Cleaned out around upper rhubarb and the peonies up there as well as the first blooming peony in front yard. Grass cutters arrived and I decided I'd done enough work for today.



Weigelia





Weeds have taken over my world

Well second trip to Rural Retreat and the weeds were of course just starting when I was here in April, but for them 3 weeks is like a lifetime and they have grown and grown taking over my little world here. The side yard garden went from picture on left to the picture on right. At least these weeds are pretty and have flowers!

April 26th



May 18

And the same weeds with beautiful flowers have taken over my garden on the hill!


April 28

Peony

May 19

First peony has bloomed and others will be right behind it shortly. Oh yeah - it's surrounded by weeds.. Get the idea.. Lots of work to do here.  As you can see Nelson's part of the garden has changed some. He's got it all tilled and planted - cabbage, peppers, some tomatoes, limas, and corn. The blue cover is one of several he's been using to cover the corn at night since it's still getting cold (31 degrees on Sunday morning) and he's trying hard to keep it alive! So far so good. Obviously the hill still needs lots of work.





New tomato patch

But on the good side, Nelson created a new tomato patch across the road behind the "orchard."  He had to get a 100 yard hose so he can water it, but that makes lots of other watering easy too so was a good investment!  

The peach tree actually has little tiny peaches growing - they've got lots of time to get big - it'll be end of July or early August before they are ready to pick.


Onions doing well

The onions my neighbor Kathy planted for me last fall take over last year's garlic patch and are looking good. My brother-on-law planted enough garlic for both of us this year, so have none on my property but will have plenty for the fall and winter.

Monday and yesterday cleaned out much of the herb garden and found that the sage, thyme (regular and lemon), chives (regular and garlic), tarragon, oregano, and one of my three lavenders survived the winter. Planted  new rosemary.

In other garden areas I got in multiple kinds of lettuce, radishes, beets, an eggplant, and potatoes (though don't have much hope for them) - should have been in when I was here last time.  Still have lots of weeding and seed planting to do this week!