Tuesday, October 28, 2008

It's Freaking Snowing!

I could not believe my eyes last night when at 10:15pm I let the dog out to pee and saw that it was snowing. Snowing. It's October! Then, when I woke up this morning, I was even more amazed to find that it was STILL snowing. Still. October. Geesh.

We may have harvested our last bean from the garden this weekend, because veg does not appreciate the snow. Stupid snow.

Monday, October 27, 2008

100 Mixed Tulips

I planted 100 mixed tulips (red, orange and yellow) this weekend in the "new" perennial bed in the front yard. It was laborious work! I had to man handle the verbana to get sufficient bulbs planted beneath their sprawling arms and did my best to infiltrate the evening primrose so that huge section of the bed is not naked come Spring. I look forward to the splendor of Spring, but for now, I'm enjoying the Fall color.

Now is the time to plant your Spring bulbs. Spring bulbs like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, etc require a sufficient chilling period to produce their lovely Spring blooms. They should go into the ground before it freezes since frozen ground is difficult to work. I have had great success with bulbs purchased from Sam's Club and Bluestone Perennials. Bulbs I have purchased from Lowe's and Brecks have been disappointing though.

I admit that I become lethargic this time of year, so it was difficult for me to muster the ambition to plant the tulips. I just get "gardened-out" by September, I guess!

Ian did an excellent job picking all the grass out of the daisies while I planted bulbs! The daisies are currently grass-free, but I'm sure the pesky grass will find its way back in the fertile daisy soil. Why does the grass not grow where I want it to grow, but flourish where it's not wanted? I will never understand ...

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Monday, October 20, 2008

Squeezing Every Last Vegetable from the Garden

Although we had our first "light frost" last night (it was 30 degrees when I woke up), we are still working to squeeze every last vegetable from our garden. I just read that we had a freeze warning last night! Woops! I didn't bring anything in! I hope my huge boston fern is still alive out there... I'm kind of afraid to check.

We harvested a heap of green beans and some green peppers yesterday and still have a plethora of eggplant trying to ripen.

I love these hansel eggplants from Park's Seeds. They are just the right size for stir-frying, and contain absolutely no bitterness!

eggplant from the garden

Ian combined the eggplant with some green beans ...

green beans from the garden

... and some other ingredients not from the garden to create a scrumptious Chinese dish. He made it up, so it really has no name. It had teriyaki, soy sauce and brown sugar in it. Oh, it was so good!

chinese stir fry dinner

We're going to freeze up some green beans tonight so we can enjoy them throughout the Winter. They're not *quite* as good from the freezer, but still better than those limp things you get from the grocery store in December! We're going to miss the garden this Winter!!

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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Still Blooming!

The knockout roses are still blooming, and covered with new buds.

knockout roses and perennials

It's amazing how much these shrubs have grown over the past year. They are over five feet tall now!

August 2007:

knock out roses august 2007

knock out roses august 2007

October 2008:

knockout roses

knockout roses

The yellow casino climbers are still blooming too.

knockout roses

These climbers have a strong spicy scent that makes up for the knockout roses' lack of smell. And they're pretty too!

golden shower climber

Our first frost is just a couple weeks away, and then I'll have to say goodbye to these lovely blooms until next April.

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