Spring 2013

Well here it is after a long winter and the "green" is here. I expect a great and productive year in the garden and my flowers.
Last month or so has been moving Hostas and "Susans". Also focusing on the front curb patch near the road with ornamental grass and more "Susans". Basically this area hides the sewer main and old property marker and has been just a bunch of green junk mixed together. So I am clearing it down to the soil and planting from there. I left one small Lilac and Forsythia bush and the trees.
Also finishing up the front porch lattice enclosure and gate. Herb garden has been moved into pots and placed inside new lattice area entrance. NO dogs escaping now!
Most all of the veggies are in and a lot more sun now getting into the garden after downing the two trees that were blocking it on the northwest side. Planted "Susans" on each side of elevated beds to keep attracting the bees and butterflies.
Good news and bad news on the "kids". All three of the dogs are healthy and got good vet visit results. However, my best buddy of 15 years, Max Pie the Carpet Cat passed onto the Rainbow Bridge over the winter. Just old age and he was ready to go. But he was my upstairs office "assistant" and always there so he is missed VERY much.
I will load some more recent photos next post of the garden and enjoy your weekend!

 

Fall Chores

So today is the last of the fall chores to get done. All the porch items and furniture was put away last weekend and the garden closed the week before.
Today is the gutters and hopefully the remainder of the mulch in the front garden. Any other minor stuff will be done during the remaing week or so . The firewood has been brought up and we are ready for the snow.........if it comes this year.
The kitchen project continues on and there is now light at the end of the tunnel of this three year nightmare.....so much for old house restoration. But at least almost all of the paint is done except for the inside cabinets and trim. All drywall and ceilng has been done, the brick is up and the new light for over the sink is bought and ready for install. Ceiling is going to be a cool thing Lisa saw for a craft project, but we've decided to do it for the ceiling in the kitchen adding to the Adirondack theme of our place. I'll surprise you later with the idea once we've got photos to share.
Everything is okay. We had a little scare with Max Pie the Carpet Cat who stopped eating and losing weight bad. After our bought with Peaches, we got him in to the vet and were relieved to find out it was just an infection and he is know improving, eating, and on anti bios.

Hope all is well and have a great week!

YAY!! THE 4TH IS OVER!!

NOT TO SOUND UNPATRIOTIC, BUT THE 4TH OF JULY IS A NIGHTMARE FOR US AND OUR DOGS. THEY ARE IN "PANIC" MODE FOR THE WHOLE WEEK THAT THE RENTERS AND BAR HOPPERS ARE SHOOTING STUFF OFF ALL DAY UNTIL AFTER MIDNITE HERE IN OUR LITTLE RESORT COMMUNITY. iF YOU EVER WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE TERM "PEOPLE SUCK!" BEGAN, IT IS PROBABLY OUR BEACHES AND BARS DURING THE SUMMER.
BUT THE GARDEN AND YARD IS SHOWING IT'S "WARES" NICELY. GOT A LOT OF FLOWERS AND PERENNS IN THE VEGETABLES TO ATTRACT THE BEES AND BUTTERFLIES. WENT A LITTLE OVERBOARD WITH THE CHERRY TOMATOES RESULTING IN 26 INDIVIDUAL PLANTS IN THE GROUND. I HOPE OUR FREINDS AND FAMILY LIKE CHERRY TOMATOES!!!! DOGS ARE THROUGH THE HEAT OKAY AND ARE ENJOYING THE RELIEF. NEXT WEEK IN THE 70'S AND NO HUMIDITY AND COOL NIGHTS SO IT'S LOOKING GOOD WITH THE FORECAST.

FRONT SHRUBS WILL BE COMING OUT AND REPLACED BY SOIL BURMS AND VERY COLORFUL "VOLCANO" CONE PERENNIALS ON EACH SIDE. lATTICE WORK THEN WILL GO ACROSS THE FRONT OF THE PORCH. HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS GREAT WEEK OF WEATHER. ENJOY THE PHOTOS.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! I HOPE EVERYONE IS ENJOYING THIS GREAT WEATHER. MOST OF THE SOUTH GARDEN IS IN AND I HAVE PLANTED PRENNIALS IN EACH BED TO CONTINUE TO ATTRACT THOSE THAT POLLENATE THE PLANTS. THE NORTH SIDE WILL BE DONE TODAY AND I WILL HOPEFULLY FINISH THE FRONT TRIMMING ALSO. I AM DOING IT BY HAND TO AVOID ANY RUN INS WITH BUNNYS OR THE "CECIL" FAMILY. LOTS OF STUFF IS UP NOW UNDER THE CEDAR TREE AND THE HOSTAS UNDER THE DRIVEWAY ENTRANCE SURVUVED THE WINTER AND LOOK GREAT. ONCE THE FRONT IS DONE, THEN THE BACK HOUSE IS BEING CLEARED FOR OUR NEW PRIVACY PATIO WE ARE BUILDING. CHECK OUT SOME OF THE PICTURES AND HAVE A SAFE WEEKEND!

Yardwork!

Well today the yardwork has begun in earnest. Lots of things going on due to the early "spring", which by the way seems to have stalled briefly the last week. Hostas and Tigers are coming up, and Bishops is up in the cedar tree space. Also had to clear a bunch of brush to complete the west side of the fench and dragged that up for the town boys to take. Garden level braces took a beating with all the erosion and wind. I began repairing and resetting that last weekend. The cedar tree behind the kitchen is coming out and we are building a small private patio over the next month or so. After all these years we will finally be able to sit in our back yard with our dogs without worry or having to run after them into the woods. Hope every one has a good Easter. Enjoy the photos!

New Projects

Hope you are enjoying the weather. Just don't get over zealous with the seeds, there is still a slim chance of an overnight frost "attack". We all know about the weather here don't we?
Projects upcoming are the front fence gate and the rear gate entry, and the lattace we are putting up on the front porch which will add huge privacy value and nice back drop for the perennial garden. Both front shrubs are being pulled out and some nice "anchor" color will replace them, making the entire front garden perennials. Photos to follow in my next post.
Also I will post my newly completed gravel road around the perimeter of our soon to be rear patio. Look for the pics in my next post.

A New Year

Hey all, is everyone glad to be rid of 2011? I will be much more active on the blogs this year and look forward to your comments. As the spring begins to approach, I have big plans for the rest of the front porch and the rear garden. I will be using a lot of the space for cutting flowers and perennials and adding some rasberry bushes as well. In themeanwhile , my honey is a baking maniac during these weeks and it's all for me!!!! Homemade from scratch Granny apple cupcakes infused with caramel and real cream cheese frosting, and canoli cupcakes. Of course, Ava helped a lot cleaning up!

Back to Business

Sorry for the lack or recent posts. We had some tough times in the last couple months and the garden and yard have been low on the priority list. Hopefully things will continue to lighten up and I can resume what I like most, gardening and cooking the stuff that comes out of it.

All of the peppers and tomatoes are now starting to ripen and be ready for harveting. The squash was not polinated very well this year so it was minimal at best. The lettuce lasted up until late July and we got a bunch of great salads and meals from it. All the herbs are ready for drying and the old Sage plant has come back nicely.

Dan Slotman of Slotman Nursery gave me some ornamental grass plants that I will put under the front cedar tree behind the Bishops weed. Nice and bushy like Spider plants with tall wispy fronds when it blooms so it should be perfect there.

The photos show some of the harvest and stuff we made from it. Lisa also contributed a scratch made homemade cherry pie for the dinner. One of her best!

Thanks for looking and I'll be more frequent on the blog as time frees up.

HOT!

WOW! THE HEAT IS ON FOLKS. GOING ON THE THIRD WEEK WITH NO RAIN. EXCEPT FOR SOME CALLED FOR SHOWERS TOMORROW, NO MORE IN SIGHT EITHER. i HAVE ELECTED NOT TO WATER THE ENTIRE LAWN AS I DID LAST YEAR WHICH RESULTED IN A RATHER LARGE WATER BILL. I AM WATERING THE FRONT AND STREET VIEW AND THE GARDENS AND THAT WILL BE IT. WATERING THE LAWN EVERY TWO DAYS AND THE FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES TWICE DAILY. I HAVE ALREADY HARVESTED NUMEROUS SALADS FOR OUR TABLE FROM THE ROMAINE AND A BUNCH OF BANANA PEPPERS WHICH I PLACED IN BRINE. PEAS HAVE ALREADY COME OUT AND LIBERTY AND LISA WERE EATING THEM RIGHT OFF THE VINES AND THEY ARE EXCELLENT!

THE PHOTOS OF THE BABIES WILL ATTEST TO THE "DOG DAYS" OF SUMMER WHICH ARE UPON US. WE FILLED THE POOL FOR THEM, BUT IT HAS BECOME THE LOCAL WATERING HOLE FOR ALL THE WILDLIFE SO IT IS WHAT IT IS. ENJOY THE HEAT, BUT STAY COOL!

Garden is in and Tigers are blooming!

WELL, A LOT IS GOING ON NOW THAT THE TEMPS ARE UP AND SOIL IS WARM COULD USE SOME MORE SUN, BUT THNGS ARE DOING WELL DESPITE THE LACK OF IT. tHE FRONT HALF OF THE GARDEN IS IN AND FERTILIZED WITH 5-10-5 AND EGG SHELLS POTTIING SOIL MIX. THE TIGERS ARE BLOOMING AROUND THE PORCH AND THE sNOW ON THE mOUNTAIN IS DOING GREAT UNDER THE CEDAR TREE. THE PHOTOS WILL GIVE A BETTER IDEA OF WHAT'S GOING ON AROUND THE YARD. i AM GETTING READY TO START THE FALL VEG PATCH AND SOME MORE PERENNIALS. THANKS FOR LOOKING!

Garden prep and planting

Looks like it's going to be a great summer. Once the rain stopped, all kinds of things are happening. The veg garden is coming along and this year I spent some bucks redoing the soil base and added all new 5-10-5 and plenty of eggshells. Also, this year I am planting everything in the garden with potting soil as the plant base. This was suggested on other blogs to give the plants a good root base. Two kind of tomatos, acorn and butternut squash, yellow banana peppers, green Bell peppers, peas, Romaine and spinach. The herb garden has lemon oregano, sage, chives and curled parsley. I also cut down a few over hanging limbs to get more afternoon light and in the fall will get more out.

Having a whole weekend with my beautiful Lisa, my garden, my pets and our snug little place is the best blessing I could have. Check out the photos of the progress and surrounding perennials.

New Yard Activity

Well spring is definetely here. The tigers, Hostas, Lambs Ear, and a whole bunch of stuff planted last year are showing up. The cedar tree area had been cleared and raked and the "Snows" and wildflowers are also coming out.

I have also done a lot of the fence work and have reached the scrub on Murphy's side. Posts are not in, but the wire is temporarily hung to keep the "kids" in. The back part is green staked and partially hung up to the deer trail. I will buy the rest of the 4x4 posts and finish it off within a week or 10 days. Then the gate has to be built and hung and that will do it.

After that, I have the topsoil ordered for the flower burm in front of the fench on the lakeside. Still undecided what to place there, but Jimmy Eichberg and Dan Slotman have a ton of ideas, so I expect it to turn out great.

Check out the pics and enjoy the weekend!

Cleaning up with Ava

Today begins the yard spring clean up. Focus for me today is raking the gravel from the lawn and street back into the driveway. This happens when you have a gravel driveway as a result from the winter plowing that scatters the gravel everywhere. Time consuming, but best to get it done when the ground is soft. Also the front porch garden is getting some cleaning and raking to make way for the new stuff. If time allows, then yard pick up and twigs for the fire pit. Ava likes to help as you can see during any season.

All the green stakes are in the back for the rear section of the fence and only needs to have the wire hung in order to enclose the back woods. Four additional 4x4 posts will be going in on Murphy's side to add another 30 feet or so into the scrub. Originally that was to be green staked, but it looked terrible and did not hold the fence taut. For the woods it's fine, but for the front we want it to be asthetically correct and secure and the green stakes were'nt making it.

It's warming up!!

Greetings! It's April 2nd and things are starting to happen outside. Lots of water this year due to the rains and melting. My remaining post holes are filled with 2 ft of water still as a result of our high aquafier being so close to the lake. Things are begining to show up around the porch area. The Tigers are up about 2 inches or so and the Lambs Ear just began to peek up yesterday. I'll be walking the whole yard later and seeing what else is "waking" up.

I will be continuing the fence work the next week or so to ensure it is up before the scrub grows in. I am adding 5 more wooden posts to Murphy's side and green staking the back "40". The green staking is going to be helpful when Lisa begins her dog agility area because they can be moved and repositioned to make an obstacle course or a maze or a run. The topsoil for the flower burm has been ordered for the bottom of the fence on the street side. Then we'll decide what kind of climbers we can put in. We've decided against painting the fence and posts and hope the climbers produce some good cover and hide any fencing that may rust over the years.

Here is Jada the cat, our newest addition who showed up in our basement in February during the really bad weather. I went down to do some laundry and heard a little meow and she came out from beneath the work table, skinny wet and cold. So now she is getting her weight and coat back and has decided that she now lives here. She is SUPER affectionate and is always waiting for me in the basement. We have no idea where she came from or why, but anyone who knows us will attest that no animal is ever turned away at our house.

Enjoy the warming trend and have a great week!