Kindergardens

I am not even sure what week we are on?!  Last night we had a huge storm come through our area.  I woke to the house and windows shaking from fierce wind.  I immediately thought we were in a tornado, living in tornado alley and all.  I ran to the girls' bedroom and was about to wake them when I stopped to figure out why the tornado sirens weren't blowing.  So I flipped on the TV and found the news channel.  The first thing I heard the weather man say was "this is not a tornado.  There is no need to take cover, just make sure you stay indoors". 

I sat and watched the news for a bit longer and determined that we were just in a severe storm and it was straight line winds that were responsible for shaking the house!  They reported this morning that the wind was blowing between 60 and 75 mph!  Enough to cause havoc in my yard!  So this week's Kindergarden post is dedicated to the plants I lost...

Tree in the front yard.





debris in the street



Anyone want to play a game of pick up sticks?





Somehow this piece of lattice blew around and landed perfectly on the wrought iron fence!



Poor pepper plants. I think some can be righted again with support but some are snapped at the base.



Zucchini plant has seen better days..



Look at the poor tomatoes! 4 plants fells over, cages and all. In fact, one of the cages was uprooted completely from the ground.



The pool, after I spent 20 minutes skimming the top for leaves. All the spots on the bottom are leaves also.



In other news though, I did manage to capture a cool picture this morning too! Look at these ants! Diligently working this morning on the okra flowers!

Kindergardens

I know I just did a Kindergardens post, but I am trying to get caught up!  Running behind.  Story of my life!

This week is just a tour around the garden.  Not even that great of a tour.  We have had much needed rain the last couple days so not a lot of picture taking going on.  Our July precipitation total was a couple inches below normal.  Thankfully it has cooled down from 112 degree days, back down to a more reasonable 95!  The rain is like a bonus!!!

I'm not lying about that 112 degrees either.  About 10 days ago, we made it up to 112 degrees which almost broke the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in our city.  I think 114 is the highest, but trust me, I doubt you can tell the difference between 112 and 114 anyway.  Both are stupid- melt your skin- kill the plants hot.  Luckily, I managed to keep my garden alive through 2 weeks of over 100 degree temps by giving it a good water every. single. day.  I hate to see my water bill next month. 

Isn't this the cutest little heart shaped tomato you have ever seen??!! It's a rosso scillian, an heirloom variety that is supposed to be good for canning. We shall see! Now that I have buckets full of tomatoes I plan on making salsa in the next couple days!



A german pink tomato. Also an heirloom variety. I was so proud of the guy. Big tomato and last year my plant didn't produce any tomatoes! But alas, it was not meant to be. This guy got a bug and it rotted out a few days later.



Banana pepper




Bell pepper that has a weird bottom!



Another bell pepper variety. Last year I bought a surprise bell pepper plant from a local grower and it produced these pale pale yellow bells that were delicious. Got one from him again this year, and look at my luck! Same kind! I just need to find out what kind it is..



A day's tomato harvest



How I kept these alive in the hanging basket, I will never know.



Love these red zebra tomatoes!



Ants on the okra flower



After all the work is done in the yard, we sometimes just jump in here to cool off! Kind of ironic that all my grass is dead and my plants are wilting under the heat of the sun and no rain, when I have 17,000 gallons of water 25 feet from the garden.

Kindergardens

Last weeks Kindergarden challenge was to look at the colors that are growing in your garden.  So I put together a few collages of the most prominent colors in my garden! 

Let's start off with green.



Those are red zebra tomato, watermelon, zucchini and peas.

Yellow



squash blossom, grated fels naptha soap, flowers in the fairy garden and cucumber flowers (back when my cucumber plant was alive!)

White



flowers in the fairy garden, bell pepper blossom, onion flower and pea blossom.

Purple



onions, mexican heather, salvia (both from the fairy garden) and hosta flowers. Although these are kinda pinky white, but also purple. And since I needed another purple picture, I declare them purple!

Orange and red



Snapdragons, early girl tomato, coreopsis (I believe) and cherry tomatoes.

Pink



All flowers from the fairy garden plus a fairy house.

Brown, perhaps these photos most accurately describe the garden right now. With all the rain we have had lately though, I suspect things will perk right back up!



Grass, shrew, dead cucumber plant and some bug.

Happenings from the top of the hill

Some recent photos from the top of the hill.

An onion that's taller than Theo!



Same onion compared to KK



The making of watermelon rind pickles











And then I forgot to take a picture of the final pickles!!

chopped up chocolate for homemade brownies!



Rainbow cupcakes that KK made.



all frosted!



The makings of chicken parm, all from my garden!



The birds are attacking!! Not really. My mom bought the girls a bag of birdseed for the bird houses they made. Well the kids liked playing in it and they threw it all over the yard. So now we have birds gathering for a free meal.





Good thing the cherry tomato plant produces so many tomatoes! Nin is always sneaking them!



Some hairbows that Nin made and photographed herself!



Some sewing tags I bought for little boy clothes!

Whats that? A sewing related post...

I have been sewing, I promise.  Just not a lot.  Here are some recent items.

Hairbows.  Lots and lots of hairbows.  I made a bunch, the girls made a bunch and then we invited Trisha over and she started a bunch and then made me finish them!









4th of July



These are some of KK's









A tunic for Nin.

Ottobre 04/2011 #28



I also made 5 matching July 4th outfits, appliqued with their initials.

Girls are in Farbenmix Roxy's and the boys are in an Ottobre shirt from 03/2006. All appliques are from Planet Applique. These are the best pictures I was able to get!!







Finally, a set of 4 burp cloths for a custom order.