Strep Throat, Thanksgiving, and Everything In Between

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, but I have good excuses. First, I got strep throat and was out of the office for a week. And, then Thanksgiving kinda snuck up on me and I was on vacation for a week. But, I have been gardening in those few moments here and there.

Here's a picture of the garden growing nicely. The lttuce have taken off. This is really an experiment year for me - trying to figure out what I can grow and what I like to grow. Lettuce and greens do well, I'll have to stick with them.


I've expanded my garden into some old containers we had. This is a mineral block container for cattle that we've repurposed. My husband drilled wholes in the bottom of it for drainage and filled it with composted horse manure. I planted the grape tomatoes that I started from seed in it. I think the manure maybe too dense and doesn't allow drainage. The plants don't seem to be growing. We'll see. I may paint the container next summer to give it a little color for the garden.


I added some bare root strawberry plants. I lost a few in the first cold snap of the season, but since they come 25 in a bundle for $5, it wasn't too big a deal.


Here is the squash. I love growing squash. They do great and it's one of my favorite vegetables. I was hand pollinating for awhile, but the bees have discovered my squash patch and so I no longer need to hand pollinate. I picked my first crop out of there this weekend and made a squash casserole. It was yummy.


Also in my squash patch was the giant pumpkin that my dad brought me. The key word here being was. I killed it with the first freeze. I didn't cover it. Totally my fault. Unfortunately, my dad came up the day after the freeze and all he got to see were the mushy remains of the pumpkin plant.

Remembering My Grandma

My grandma always had a large 4 o'clock at her front door. When I was little, I thought it was the coolest plant because the flower blooms opened after 4 and closed again in the morning. It was also one of the most fragrant plants. I remember it would grow like a weed and we would always be cutting it back.

Recently, a co-worker dug up some of their 4 o'clocks and shared them with the office. I put four by my back porch. They're amazingly hardy and have taken to their spot. And, they've already started blooming! I'm really excited to have these plants. They remind me so much of my grandma.

Veggie Garden Update

I thought it was time to give a few picture updates of my veggie garden. It's looking great. Most everything has sprouted and we're trying to keep the bugs away. We made tomato stakes this weekend - they kept falling over.

Tomatoes in the Earth box - they always do great in this.


Bed #1 - mostly root vegetables - radishes, carrots, rutabagas


Bed #2 - mostly greens - lettuce, collards, turnips


Squash rows - they've exploded in growth this last week

Scarecrows

Scarecrows are a symbol of fall. Since this weekend was the first one that felt like fall, we thought we'd build a scarecrow. The kids loved this project, plus it was really easy to do. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any extension documents on how to build a scarecrow, so we got directions from somewhere else.

John's cutting the wood for the frame here. The saw is a little too loud for the kids.

Screwing the frame together. Kaity's helping with her blankie. It goes everywhere with her - even wood working projects.


Finished frame

Dressing the scarecrow - I bought the shirt from Goodwill for $2.50 and used some of John's old jeans.


Stuffing the scarecrow



Almost finished - just headless!


Making the face - we used an old pillowcase and Will drew the face. He did a pretty good job. The first time he did it the smile wasn't big enough. Here he's making it smile bigger.


We love the scarecrow!


Crime Scene!

Made it to the garden. "Uncle" looks great (Will named him). The only problem is I keep thinking someone is standing outside my kitchen window. It's a little freaky to see him there all the time!

Feeding the Butteflies

The kids loved this! They got to feed the butterflies with a q-tip dipped in gatorade. The butterflies were from Greathouse Butterfly Farm in Melrose. I see a field trip for the 4-H club in the near future!

Butterfly Festival - Batman and LadyBug

We went to the Butterfly Festival this weekend. It was beautiful and they had great kids activities. Here are Batman and the Ladybug having a great time in their homemade costumes.

Passion Flower Vine

I got a small free passion flower vine last spring. It's a Florida native and has done great in my yard. It's almost finished blooming for the year, but it still has a few really pretty flowers. I've been told it will freeze back for the year and then come back next year. The flowers come in many varieities and colors, but mine is white with blue center.