Garden Update

It’s midweek already! I’m busy planning my Mother’s Day lunch menu, and I think I’ve finally decided on a menu (which I will share later).  But I told you I’d show pictures of the garden, so I will do that in this post . . . . come see how things are growing!

First of all, remember the ‘pizza garden’ I planted while the work was still being done on the yard? I forgot how small it looked until I went looking for the picture. . . .

  What a difference huh?! I’ve had a few snips of basil and cilantro from this pot. I love that it’s just outside the back door and I can pop out and ‘snip’ whenever I like :-)

 

 

We’ve had our first harvest of the season . . .  of course it was radish. These little guys are fully grown in about 25 days! We just pick a few each day and chop them up on our salads.

 

Beets are coming along nicely, next to the radishes.

Corn is getting big too!

Squash! These ones are Acorn (the two larger ones on the right) and the one at the bottom (smallest one) is zucchini, and the one next to that is a Patty Pan Squash. I had two Patty Pan but one didn’t make it so I put a zucchini one in it’s place.

The Acorn Squash already has flowers on and tiny little ‘acorns’

 

We planted potatoes! It may have been a little late, but they’re growing well. Jason is thinking of pulling them out though as the bed is infested with ‘Morning Glory’ weeds!!!!!! I love this flower but it is evil in vegetable beds

Trees are starting to bear fruit :-) We have a ton of peaches on two trees. I hope the manage to ripen.  I hope they all ripen.

   

Plums!

Pears!

This is MY grapevine that I DIDN’T cut back last year!! It looks great but the grapes are tiny!

 

Jason is training this vine‘the right way’, and I must say the grapes are much bigger because of it!

So, there you have it! Things are growing well for the most part, although we are having some issues with the soil. Jason tested it and it was deficient in nitrogen still AND the acidity is high. Our peppers aren’t growing well at all. We’ve added fertilizer and we have some lime to add this weekend.

How is YOUR garden growing?

Garden Cleanup!

The weather is really warming up here in TX, all this week is forecast to be in the mid 80’s! That’s not warm, that’s HOT!!! I am itching to get outside and start cleaning things up, especially the front porch area, but it’s been rather windy the past few days and my allergies are playing up too (oak, grasses and other tree allergens have been pretty high) so I’m avoiding being out there for too long. That, plus the fact I’ve been busy sewing all week is what’s keeping me indoors.

But, I need to get out there soon, it’s looking pretty sad right now, no flowers in the beds and just dead plants :(

We also need to get out back and clean up too. It’s looking even sadder out there. In fact I’m almost too embarrassed to show you. . . but I’m gonna!

This picture was taken March 2010, we’d just started cleaning up the beds and here I am planting some herbs

By July it was looking like this!

Pretty impressive, but that’s when the weather starts to get brutal, I’m talking nearly 100 degrees EVERY SINGLE DAY! We just find it way too hot out there and start to go out less and less. I’ve tried going out in the mornings after taking Kristen to school, but it’s still nearly 80 by then, and we tried going out after 8pm when the sun was setting, but it’s still in the 90’s even at that time!

Sad to say we didn’t go out much after this and this is what the garden looks like today . . . .

We’ve felt really overwhelmed at the thought of trying to clean all those beds out again. This week Jason and I talked a lot about what we want to do out there. I didn’t even know if I wanted to try growing veg again, knowing that as soon as the weather heats up I won’t want to go out there!  But after lots of talk we’ve decided we DO want to still grow veg. It’s something we enjoy doing together now, we just need to be more consistent with our efforts and motivate each other to go out there.

We’ve decided to have some one come in and redo the beds, AND put crushed granite on the pathways to help prevent weeds. We found a local ‘crew’ that does a lot of work in the neighborhood and we’re hoping the will make a start sometime this weekend. Not only are we having the paths done we are taking away the wood boxes (because most of them have already started rotting) and we’re having limestone borders put in. It’s costing A LOT OF MONEY! but we think it’s worth it. If we don’t invest something in the back yard then it’s really all just a waste of space.  I am excited about it, and I will be sure to blog about the process as we get started.

In the mean time, I couldn’t resist planting a little ‘pizza garden’ in my big tub on the patio!

The large pot has a grape tomato plant in it, basil to the left, cilantro at the front and tarragon at the right.

 

The terracotta pot has a yellow cherry tomato plant in it.

So, how about you? Have you started cleaning up your garden yet. Will you be growing any veggies this year? I loved reading blogs last year that were gardening too, it always inspires me when I see other peoples spaces :-)

 

Linking up with:

An Oregon Cottage -  Spring Spruce Up.

A Southern Daydreamer – Outdoor Wednesday

It’s Raining It’s Pouring

Ahhhh rain, lovely sweet, wet, cool rain :-) We finally got some earlier this week (Monday to be exact). I didn’t know it was forecast nor did I notice the sky turn a little darker, but all of a sudden I heard it against the window. The wind had also picked up a bit too. A minute after it started Kristen and Connor came downstairs and said they were going out front to ride their bikes! “It’s raining” I said. They hadn’t even noticed. But they went out anyway, and I headed out too with my camera.

Kristen ran back inside to get her umbrella!

Boo doesn’t like the rain, he’d walk out in it and just as quickly turn around and run back.

He still wanted to do what most dogs do though . . . sniff the grass then make his mark! So Kristen assisted by holding the umbrella over him :-)

Who knows when it will rain again? We still have a lot of summer left I think. Ten minutes after this down pour the sun was out shining again! But thanks for letting me share some more outdoor (Wednesday) fun ;-)

Hop on over to Susan’s blog for Outdoor Wednesday and see who else is participating.

Denise

Another post for today....

I just remembered I told my sister that I would post the picture of us 3 from Cheryl's (surprise) 40th birthday party. She doesn't use Facebook so she hasn't seen this yet! So here it is. This was taken at their friends house where the party was hosted. . . Cheryl hadn't turned up yet!

I still have all my photos 'stuck' on my camera so until I get them transferred to my puter here's a couple more that I took from Cheryl's sister's FB page ;-)

As you can see it was a Luau theme. I went over in the afternoon to help set up the decorations and set the tables. I have a lot more pictures of the tables where you can see the flowers and shells we put out, they looked so pretty.

Apparently Cheryl isn't a great fan of cake, but she loves her Mom's homemade cherry pie! So that is what they brought out for her when it was time to 'blow out the candle's :-)

More yummy desserts were set up inside.

I'm linking up to Outdoor Wednesday at a A Southern DayDreamer. Head on over to see more great outdoor posts.

Giddy-Up Horsey!

Kristen has recently been asking about taking horse riding lessons! I don't know why all of a sudden, but she is all excited at the idea of riding a horse. I must admit she's asked before in the past about possibly taking a lesson, but when I told her that it wasn't just a ride on a horse, that she needs to have an interest in the horse's welfare and how to saddle it up, muck out it's stable etc. she seemed to go off the idea, at least she never pushed me to look in to it further.

Well this time, she seems more adamant about trying it out, no matter what it involves. Earlier this week I called a local riding center and talked to the owner. Our first step was to go along and watch a lesson, so that is exactly what we did yesterday (just before we went to piano lesson). I took my camera along . . . .

I've never really liked horses, and have never wanted to go riding, although if truth be told, I like the idea of riding on a horse I'm just too scared to try it! I've been on a horse before but probably only 2 or 3 times in my whole life. Kristen has therefore never really been around horses either

I'm sure she was a little nervous here, but only because she wasn't sure if she should pet him or not. We asked permission first and were told it was ok. This horse had just been out for a lesson and was getting his saddle taken off.

After looking around the stables (and trying not to stand in poop!) we headed out to the training ring.



The lady in the green shirt is the owner I spoke to, this little girl was getting a beginner lesson (I heard the lady, Sharon tell her she wouldn't be holding the reins that day but holding on to the saddle).

We could only stay 10 minutes more, so we didn't see the young girl get on the horse, she was being shown how to hold the horse on a lunge and how to command it to walk, and then trot etc.

Our next step is to call and arrange a first private lesson for Kristen. After that if she is really interested in it, we might be able to sign up for a small group lesson each week once school starts. No groups are held during summer as no one can commit to the same time and day each week (so Sharon told me). We have the option of keeping our lessons private or semi-private. But a group lesson is only 3 or 4 girls max. We'll just have to see how it goes.

I'm joining in with 'Outdoor Wednesday' this week. Don't forget to head over to Susan's and see who else is participating. One thing I do know, as summer ends and the cooler weather starts, I think a hobby like this would be great for Kristen. Oh to be outside again and it not be so darn HOT! Roll on Fall

Pumpkins

Melanie is going on vacation so she won't be making any PW recipes for the next week or so. I said I would try a couple of recipes that I know she wouldn't want to make... but I've decided to skip this week, mainly because I am having issues with my sinuses and I can't taste or smell much! So for today I thought I would talk about 'Pumpkins'!

I was happy to see from your comments the other day that I am not the only one that is starting to wish for Fall. Stephanie said it best when she said "I don't want summer to be over, but I do want the heatwave to end". That's really how I feel too, it's not so much I want Fall to be here I just want the cooler weather that it (hopefully) brings with it.

Speaking of Fall, I knit an adorable pumpkin hat the other day and listed it at my Etsy store. I was happy to see that it sold very quickly and so I thought I would knit more, but then I got to thinking. . . what with it being a 'seasonal' item, I didn't really want to knit a lot and then be left with them all if they didn't sell. So I thought I might offer it as a 'custom order'. I wish I had a little guy (or gal) to model this for me, it is so cute :-)

To all you grandmas and Mommies out there, wouldn't you just love to see your little 'punkins' in a hat like this when you take them to the 'Pumpkin Patch this Fall? If you'd like me to knit one especially for your little one, just email me and I will get started on it straight away. Turn around time will be about 7-10 days before I can mail it out to you, but considering Autumn is quite a few weeks away yet it shouldn't cause any problems.

The hat can be knit in the following sizes: Newborn, 0-6mths, 6-12mths, 1-2yrs, 2yrs and up.
I am also hoping to knit a pair of matching booties this week for younger babies. I will list them at my Etsy store too but will also take custom orders on those if you would like them. There is one hat listed in my store right now... you can see all the details HERE. If you would like a custom order just send me an email to denise 'at' deniseschulz 'dot' com (I'm not sure how to make an email link on here - don't forget to replace the 'at' with @ and the 'dot' with .) or you can contact me through my Etsy store too.

Keeping with the pumpkin theme - do you want to see something really funny? You have my permission to laugh. . . .

This is a very pregnant me back in October 2000! My friend Julie gave me this idea when she showed me pictures of her belly when she was pregnant (she gave birth to her baby in Sept 2000), her hubby had painted a yellow smiley face on her 'bump'!

Jason painted a pumpkin on mine!!!

I thought it would be cute to buy some pumpkins and sit out in the 'pumpkin patch' with them. So yes, that is my actual tummy painted like a jack-o-lantern when I was about 8 1/2 months pregnant! I was 37!!!

The first picture is from my computer and for some reason is rather small (I may have just scanned it in because I don't think I was using a digital camera back then) so the next two larger photos I just snapped a picture of the original pictures today (using my digital camera) so they weren't as small. Ok, you can stop laughing now :-)

Linking to Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

and Spotlight Yourself at Santa's Gift Shoppe