Gardening

We are officially "in the squash"!  3 types this year.  It may be a bit overkill but we like squash.  Though sometimes I do feel like Bubba in Forrest Gump, trying to come up with 8 million ways to eat the same thing!

The squash above was picked over 2 days.  I won't be able to keep up with it if we pick this much every other day....  We have Black Beauty zucchini, Patty Pan (which is the little flying saucer shaped one) and a round zucchini, not sure of the name.  The round zucchini was supposed to be yellow summer squash.  At least that is what the envelope said!  When they first started growing I kept looking at them and wondering when they were going to turn yellow!  They should be a nice change up though! 

I am wondering if the round zucchini is this variety?  They look just like the ones growing in my garden! 

Some shots from the garden!

The garden is all planted and the hard work has begun! 

Lettuce

Fuschia plant hanging up

Super tall onions!

Short onion blooms!

Moon and stars watermelon leaves.  I love the spots!  And the watermelon is speckled just like the leaves!

Hosta blooms

Snap dragons

Pink snap dragons and coreopsis.  Both of these and the red snap dragons above over wintered from last year as we had one of the most mild winters in history! 

Some kind of squash.  I planted 3 varieties this year.  It looks like the marker in the back ground says patty pan.....

Squash blossom

One of my 11 tomato plants.  This is the only Dr. Wyche's Yellow that made it!

I also planted 18 pepper plants, 4 okra plants, Orange glo watermelon, canteloupe and 2 cucumber plants, but for some reason I have no pictures of them! 

Happenings

It's been awhile since I have posted about what's going on at the top of the hill!  So here goes!

I am always looking for new lunch ideas and love seeing pictures of what others pack in their kids lunch boxes!  I decided the other day to take a picture of my girls lunch!  Now, they eat cold lunch most of the time since you never know what is in those hot lunches that the school serve, especially since we don't eat high fructose corn syrup and you know those lunches are filled with that crap.  My girls prefer lunch from home anyway. 

I do have to make a few changes for each of them.  Kk doesn't eat strawberries (the seeds get stuck in her teeth and bother her ortho appliance) and Nin doesn't like grapes.  Kk loves pb and j, Nin doesn't, that kind of thing.

KK has pb and j sandwich, strawberry yogurt, grapes, carrots and celery with pb. 

Nin gets a couple spoonfuls of cheese ball (which strangely, she is in love with!), crackers, celery and pb, strawberries/grapes (she left the grapes but ate the strawberries), carrots/cherry tomatoes and cottage cheese. 

Finally got the tree in the back yard cut down.  Ahem, 4 years later.... 

Yes, that would be my Nin out there helping cut down a tree in a skirt....

These portions of the stump are going to be used as seats in the girls new play garden.  I have wanted to cut down thise tree and make the back corner a play garden with seating, tall sunflowers for shade and let the girls grow what they want.  I also imagine a metal archway into the corner that they can use to grow a vine type plant, maybe some type of pea...  We are one step closer!!

 
I meant to start the broccoli, onions and cauliflower seeds but I got carried away and pretty much started everything....  Oops! 

4 o'clocks

Broccoli and cauliflower.  The little guys on the left hand side are tiny basil plants.  I may have over done it with the basil.  I have about 40 basil plants in 2 varieties....  But we love basil so I may plant about half of them!

Tulips already!  What a winter we have had.  Barely any snow, which is highly unusual, barely any rain and barely any cold.  So my tulips thought it was spring in February this year.....  The girls and I spent hours and hours planting about 60 new bulbs and digging up all the old ones to seperate and re plant.  We have about 8 or 10 different types planted in no order, just randomly dropped.  Hopefully it's pretty!  And all of our hard work doesn't get killed by a late snow fall! 

And look who woke up and thought it was spring!

Kindergardens

Kindergardens was a bit delayed this week, which is a-okay with me. Perpetually behind is the story of my life.

Pictures of your garden at sunrise. Ha! Considering I am more of a night owl than an early bird you are never going to see pictures of my garden at sunrise. I think the last time I saw a sunrise was when I worked in the bar and was just getting home at that hour!

So I have to settle more for 730 ish. It's the best I got. :)

black petunia



basil? In the carrots.... Alright who put this here?



Moonflower, that is eating the basil. I never got around to putting up a trellis for it, so it kind of sprawled out rather than grew up. But that's fine, because it's about to bloom!! It's supposed to bloom only at dusk. Hopefully I can save some seed since I have big plans for it next year!



me watering the watermelon



tomatoes









squash blossom, I think these are beautiful flowers!



Anyone know what this guy is? He is a moth of some sort, but completely white.

Happenings!

So many things are going on up here and I love when blogs feature picture posts, so I may just keep doing them! 

We had quite a few earth day projects between school and the local university.

Nin had to make a robot out of recycled materials.  She definately wanted a girl robot with big red lips.  So with an ice cream tub, some pop bottles, a piece of used yellow paper, and those little wiggly eyeballs (which weren't recycled) she came up with this.





Then the local university had an event in their art lab for kids to make bird houses out of orange juice jugs.  We just need to hang them up and put some food into the pop lids.



We have had various sightings of Diggy, the black squirrel who lives in the neighborhood. This may not be unusual to you, but all we have around these parts is plain old brown squirrels. The first time we saw Diggy, Nin yelled, "mom there is a skunk in the driveway!" I googled and found that there are indeed black squirrels, just not around here. So where he came from we have no idea, but we like having him around. He disappeared for a summer a couple years ago, but he has been making steady appearances the last 2 summers. He has quite the reputation in the neighborhood and everyone knows who he is!

BTW- we named him Diggy after Rev Run's son, but all the neighbors have different names for him.







Tulips



A tray of seedlings that desperately need to be planted outside. This weekend is my goal.



One pathetic carrot. Seriously, where are the rest?



Lots of basil! Yumm!



Lettuce



Lilac bushes. When we first moved in, I had no idea these were in the back fence line because it was summer and they were done blooming. The next spring though, these babies popped up and the smell was divine! The whole back fence line is planted with these in several different colors. Each of these bushes is about 7 or 8 foot tall and propably 5 foot across. I have no idea why they do so well back there, but when I open the windows in the spring and the wind carries their perfume into the house, it is nothing short of a miracle. They smell sooooo good!!

Howdy!

Been awhile huh?!  This time of year is always very busy.  Starting seeds, cleaning garden beds, transplanting young seedlings, etc.  I haven't had much time to sew lately since it has been so nice outside.  I did manage to finish up 2 aprons, 1 dress and I have a purse in the works.  I have managed to spend lots of money on fabric and patterns lately though!  But for right now, they just sit.  Since I love to look at other people's pictures so much, I thought I would share a few of the things we have been working on up on top of the hill.

I finally figured out who has been pulling all the petals of my tulips.  And I caught her red handed this time. Baby Avie!

More tulips.

My new baby.

A bunch of dresses all lined up on the for sale rack.

Tray of seedlings.

Purple bell pepper plants. They are an heirloom variety called Purple Beauty. Bell peppers in all colors are my favorite thing to grow and eat from the garden!

Seedlings that had to be transplanted to larger homes.

These tomatoes have done the best of all the seeds so far. Rosso Scilian, another heirloom variety, known for their large fruits and are perfect for canning. Which is why I am trying them!

Baby lettuce! We love homegrown lettuce! Since we kept running out last year, I planted 2 beds this year. And I use the term "bed" lightly. I just tossed some seeds in the front garden where I had some open room. These seeds came from Seed Savers and is a 7 variety pack of various heirlooms.

(with a weed right up front and center)

Onions

See the dead looking thing there? That's a strawberry crown. I have never planted strawberries (aside from the disastrous topsy turvy incident) because you don't typically get results the first year. I am impatient and want them now! But we are giving it a go because the kids keep asking.

Peas. Lots and lots of baby pea plants. I planted 45 plants this year....

And finally, my Indian who keeps watch on my front porch. My granny kept this guy in her back flower garden and I always took care of him when I was planting petunias for her. Well when she died, I asked if I could have him for my own garden. Most of my family had no idea he was even back there in the garden. So now he sits on my front porch. I really need to find a better spot for him. If he ever got stolen I would be devastated. He needs a name and a bath, or at least a good painting.