June
---
Excerpts from The Garden Journal
At the beginning of June, I decided to start keeping a garden journal again, to note the renovations and changes to my garden.
In the Garden today:
I see that I need to mow the lawn and do more hedge trimming. The weeds are getting a bit out of hand. I have been making a few plans for under the deck. I read about the bloody rue and I might add some of it to Pees side of the deck under the cedars that they have destroyed. Although there are a few sprigs growing back on the bottom part of the cedars, so this actually might look good with the bottom 2 or 3 feet underplanted. I will let the bluebells grow. Maybe move some daylillies, and the rue, as well as try to establish some of the two toned little shrub that you see in the photo above. It will work in the shade. Then I can have ferns and lily of the valley growing in the more dense shade, I hope. Also want to make a nice little sitting area under there, so perhaps I can get a few more cement blocks to maybe make a 10 x 6 foot area.. this would require quite a few cement blocks... so maybe just a few blocks for a chair or two and the rest just the clay... and it can grow moss.
On the deck the lupines are germinating...... yeaaaa. Elvis lives in his tub and the little yellow miniature water lilly has many new little red leaves. The iris in the tub have blooms. The butterfly flowers are growing but don't look very big, and the same with the other pots. I have put a heliotrope in the blue strawberry jar and it smells heavenly. The willows from last year's rock and alpine garden show and sale are doing fine. Maybe some butterflies will like them for host plants for the larvae.. hope so. I need to find something good for the planter in the corner of the deck .. a climber of some kind, preferably evergreen and not too vigorous. I think I will get the old cedar trough from under the deck and plant 2 of the lupines in it, so that I can keep track of them. I hope I manage to get some nicely colored ones ... the ones I planted were Russel Lupines, mixed colors.
On butterflies and dragonflies: I was to the museum shop and bought a new butterfly book and a dragon fly book for the Yukon and BC and other Western Canadian areas and some USA. I have only seen one white butterfly.. I think it is a Marble, and I saw a Swallowtail passing through. No dragonflies or damsels.
The pond was cleaned out about 2 weeks ago and now has its pump running and the new fish - 7 of them. The marsh marigold, Lebanon cedar and irises look good. Water iris in bud, and water hawthorn recovering from the cleaning and is now in 2 clumps. The edging plants are beginning to spread nicely over some of the rocks. Some of the sludge from the pond was dumped over the edge and the rhodo to under the deck. The water was pumped out under the deck and it is nicely moist there now, so maybe the moss will grow. More of the sludge went on the old plum tree and some made it to the veggie patch. All good fertilizer. The mermaid now sits on top of the waterfall, which is growing moss, nicely.
In the vegetable garden some of the little flower and vegetable seeds are germinating... particularly the radishes. It seems these old seeds are viable... I just need to plant them deep enough and keep them watered. The top 3 or 5 feet under the cedar bows do not get rain, so need constant attention. I need to get up on a chair and clip back more of those branchess. The iris are in bloom and so are the chives and the lilac and the wisteria. The neighbors clothes line is very close to the propery line and is a constant irritation, as my English oak tree is right on the propery line also.
The fruit: The yellow plum tree is not doing very well. It seems to have very few plums this year. I think the blooms were too early and there were not enough bees. The purple plum at the front seems to have a few on it this year. I fed it a few fertilizer sticks. I must keep it watered now. The apple tree looks like there will be a good crop this year. The Saskatoon berries were covered in blooms and I have been keeping them watered to try and get a pie out of them this year. The strawberries have a few blooms per plant.. so maybe we will get a meal or two of them for dessert. The ones in the store are good and there are lots of them. My rhubarb is the patheticist. The black currant bush has lots of berries again. We have not finished eating last years currant jelly. hmmmm jelly roll, maybe? Or use as a condiment with lamb or pork.
Maintenance: Pat sharpened the metal long handled pruner and fixed the trowel that I had broken the point off of while trying to move an embedded brick. I got a new trowel at Cannor, but it is not stainless steel.
I seem to have injured my shoulder so will not be doing anything out in the garden today, although it is lovely out side. We have had about a half inch of rain over the last week, but I should still got out and watered the veggie patch.
Over the past few years I have been renovating the stone paths and making the new ones at the back. They look good but need to be weeded. I want the Irish moss to grow and the corsican mint but no other weeds. Also, over the past couple of years... since I have had the big green bin, I have been cleaning up some of the over grown trees. I brought the firethorn down to manageable size, and cleaned up the Japanese cedar a bit, took out a badly leaning Sumac, clipped back the cedars by the veggie patch as high as I can reach, took the long handled pruner to some of the long branches on the yew, and did a thorough clean up of the Virginia Creeper and that area of the driveway strip. Since I got my little hedge trimmer keeping the boxwood and other things trimmed is a much easier task. Now, I am thinking about bringing the cedars at the front down to a manageable 'hedge' size... especially after seeing all of the Chinese gardens that are clipped and look good actually. If I have all these hedges, heathers and other mounding plants trimmed, it will contrast nicely with the more loosely shaped shrubs and perrenials.. like roses, daisies, peony trees, etc. I like the 'bones' of my garden. It looks especially good when kept weeded and trimmed and watered.
Watering: I was out after supper and watered the back for about 3/4 of an hour. Came in to the kettle on boil... well... there was enough water left in it to fill my water jug. There have been quite a few tent catapillers crawling on the deck and house, today.
Sunday, June 03, 2012
After lunch today I got out for a couple of hours, mowed the grass, and started to clean up along the driveway on Shawna's side. It is encroaching on her driveway and I feel I should probably dig out all the thistles, blackberries and stuff that might be a hazard to the children. She does not seem too concerned, or she has no idea, I suppose. The bees love the lambs ears and I should not want a child being stung by a bee and having some kind of bad reaction. I doubt that she would know what to do... I sure would not. So, I had to get in by 4:00 as we were leaving for a dinner out at a restuarant where Pat had received a gift certificate because he had to teach the Harboard Insurance girls how to cost out the collector cars insurance. The food was ok... nice atmosphere at the place opposite the metal recycle heap. GLO it is affiliated with the Med Grill, near our Royal Oak mall.
I am working on a blog post about the things I want to accomplish under the deck and in the shade/moss garden. Here is a blog post that shows a view from under the deck... if I should ever get my sitting spot under there made, and the screening plants set up along Parmars side, where they butchered the cedars. This shows where I hope to make my hidey hole under the deck. I need to add more tall plants where you see the cedars stripped of the branches and so the loss of screening. Evergreen tall ferns, maybe?
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Yesterday, I found time to finish cleaning up along side of Shawna's driveway. I went out after lunch and was back in by 3:30 to get cleaned up, make supper (salmon steaks.. ymm) and then went to the movie (Exotic Marigold Hotel - was a very good movie - about seniors going to live in a hotel in India) I also got a bit of weeding done on the moss garden.
I had a wheel barrow full of weeds and clippings from Shawna's driveway. I put the dirt on to her yard beside the house, which is a total weed patch... thistles, bindweed, very messy.
Today, I walked home from my lab at Royal Oak. There were a few plants at the Mr. Grocer store that would look good under my deck. They would have been too heavy to carry home though. There was a gorgeous little azalea covered with white/pink blooms, a variegated leaf Polygonatum (solomons seal), fuschias, and more. All of them shade plants, of course, as I have my shade garden on my mind. It was very cold walking home, but the temperature is up to 17 now. I am doing laundry and too bagged to do much more today. I need to make an early supper as it is Pat's car club meeting and Jim is going to be talking to them about his rad ornaments.
Wednesday, June 06, 2012
A very cool, overcast day. I accomplished nothing today. The dryer needs to be fixed.. it stopped sending hot air. There was a birds nest in the vent and Pat thinks the element burned out because the air was not able to get in to cool it. The man from AA comes tomorrow sometime between 12 and 2. He will also look at the clock in the stove in the suite. They will want $65 and $45 = $110 for the repair, plus the cost of parts. Pat has the dryer apart and cleaned up and a screen on the vent. I am pretty sure that the stove works except for the clock that is stopping me from cleaning the oven which runs on a timer.
The 2 minutes I spent in the garden showed me 8 lupines germinated on the deck in their 20 pots.
In the mail flap in the door we received a letter from the Saanish Police Department, inviting us to participate in Block Watch. Saying, recently a crime occurred on your street. Well... I believe it! Pat saw a police car at Parmars the other day. We have this ugly orange plastic fencing enclosing the deer pasture ( we presume it is cause Gerald, next door ex who still comes around, drove his stupid vehicle across the deer pasture in the mud) or could it be because Mrs. Pee is constantly being reported for dumping garbage over by the fish habitat stream? GAWD ahmighty. They need 2 volunteers per block and takes one to two hours per month. Orientation Meeting: Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at 7:00 P.M., Kirby Room, Saanich Police. 960 vernon avenue. To register for orientation night or more info contact: The Block Watch Office, 250 475 4365. and blockwatch on line, of course.
Also, while I am on my GAWD Ahmighty: After a nice dinner, including some lovely old port we found moldering in the wine rack (Old Benson, fine old tawny port from Australia), the door bell rang.. Pat answered it and no one there. Across the street in the deer pasture I saw 3 kids trying to hide in the tall grass, from playing this prank on a neighbour... GAWD ahmighty. .. the grass was wet and I guess the kids were too, and muddy. . . . silly silly kids. But I never saw these kids around before, I wonder if we have new people in the neighbourhood, who do not look after their kids.., or were they visitors?
Otherwise, I am reading The Journey by Gallager (spelling) about the Overlanders going from Canada East to the Cariboo to become rich in the Gold mining, pre 1867, 1850's?
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Its raining and is coolish. There was a pair of house finches feeding at the humming bird feeder. There also was a wet looking humming bird feeding.
I have watered the house plants. Will check the deck plants actually the rain gauge to see, if they have enough water, when it stops raining.
we went to find a new stove for the suite and a new dryer. We had a guy from AA come to look at both of them and tell us that it would cost more to fix them than to get new ones. This grand advice cost us $123.00.
Friday, June 08, 2012
I was very tired and went to bed at 7:30 last nite. Was up about 8:30. Still have sore muscles, but do feel somewhat better. It is a cool day again and cloudy. The rain gauge shows about 1/4 inch of rain in the last few days.
This morning I made a curried salmon chowder for our lunch. Was quite good. After lunch we went to Sears to pay for the dryer and stove we decided to buy. $1338.42 on the visa. They are to deliver next Friday in the morning, and take away the old ones.
After getting back from Sears, I took a walk in the garden to photo more irises and have a look about. I am planning places to put the lupines. There are now 9 of them germinated. I want to weed the front rectangle area by Parmar's driveway to take out all the white daisies. There might be room for one lupine there, maybe two. There should be room for another lupine in the other rectangle on our driveway side. I thought of moving the old cedar trough beside the bench and digging it in a bit. It could act as a table and hold one lupine. The daisies need to come out of that area too. Then, on the other side of the bamboo, the daisies and the violets need to be dug out. One or two lupines can go in there. There are campanulas growing in there. I might just dig it all over, and replant campanulas.. maybe. It will be easier than trying to save the campanulas. Perhaps a covering of newspaper will be easiest and cover that with compost. .. will think about this. The daisies in front of the rectangle on our driveway side will stay there for now. There is hoards of grass in the bed behind the old garage. This needs weeding too. The moss garden needs a bit of attention and the dry stream will get more pea gravel.
Saturday, June 09, 2012
It was cool and windy with clouds for most of the day. I seem to have putzed this day away, too with no time in the garden. First there was the capiccinno then there was the looking at craigs list and kiiji for renters for the suite, and emails to suitable ones. The one I called had a grandkid to take care of so lucky it was too far from where she wanted to be. These ads are never what they seem to be. There is always that extra kicker. After spending a bit of time on Megashot (minimal), and walking to the lottery ticket store, back at 2:00, I just did not have the energy or ambition to go out in the garden.
There are 11 lupines germinated. I watered the veggie patch and around the back a bit. Its cold out there. It is only 12 degrees and falling.
I thought I had 2 red bricks with holes in them on the veggie garden path, but there appears to be only one. Not nailed down or locked up. I suppose I should keep them in the garage. I have 4 solid red bricks that are by the back step. I have 2 bags of compost on the garden and one on the garbage bin at the back. a bag of top soil back by the old compost bin, seems to be safe enough, but you never know.
Took a few photos today, and working on getting some of the China trip loaded to photobucket. My heart is just NOT in any of this stuff.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Very pleasant day. By noon it was at 20 degrees. Was out in the garden cleaning up the thyme circle, and finished weeding and edging it at 4:00. I see where I can have a few lupines in this area. I need to raise the bench, trim the cedars back and dig over a couple of spots by the hedge. I need to bring the old cedar trough out and fill it with dirt to plant at least one lupine in it and use the rest of the trough for a table by the bench. I turned on the water sprinkler and am getting some pretty good coverage, considering the trees, and all. I turned it on at 4:00 and hope some of this water soaks into the plum tree area. The thyme circle looks good, again. I should move those little black mondo grass to somewhere that they might be seen and appreciated. Beside the white perennial snapdragon might be just the spot. Then when I get that grass moved I will have a spot for another lupine. so... three spots near the thyme circle. There are now 13 lupines germinated. I have space for one by the fig tree, too. Four accounted for out of the 13, so far.
After supper I turned the sprinkler off (7:30) and added the hose nozzle. I set the hose to shoot under the hedge to the plum tree while I loaded the dishwasher ... about 20 minutes. The water was running down the street when I got back to it. Should have slowed the flow down a bit, I guess. I watered the veggie patch and around the back a bit. Then went back out the front and lifted the bench. I will put it further back in its nook. So, I will need 3 more round cement stones for there. I could use four small cement blocks to set the legs of the bench on. I need to kill the violets and everything that is in the benches nook with round up or something. Then cover the area with newspaper, set up the bench and its stones, then cover the newspaper with bark mulch. Use the hedge trimmer to cut back the cedars a bit. This should clean up the bench nook, nicely. The bench does not look very good off center, so the old cedar trough might not work very well. I will see....
Monday, June 11, 2012
I was out in the garden from 10:00 to 1:30. After lunch I went out from 2:30 to 4:30 or something like that. I have been resetting the bench in its nook. I liberated 4 flat cement blocks from the vegetable patch. I dug out most of the violets and the rosemary. I then set down the blocks to move the bench further back in the nook and tested it for level. It seems pretty level... and on the first try! Then I tipped the bench forward, got a big cardboard (from Andy and Tara's TV) I put this cardboard over the cement blocks and it covers most of the nook area. I watered the cardboad and tried to get it to conform to the blocks, then set the bench back up on it. It seems to be level, and much higher than it was. My feet do not touch the ground. I hope it settles in a bit, so it is lower. I moved 2 of the round cement blocks that were in front of the bench before, back to what is now in front of the bench, leaving the middle one where it was next to the thyme circle edge. Watered it all some more. I got the egg container thing with the white plastic cutting board top and set it up beside the bench for what Pat calls my tea table. I snipped back the cedars around the bench and threw the clippings on the cardboard. I need more cedar clippings to cover the cardboard. All in good time, I guess. It does not look out of place, as it is cardboard color. I think this will work very well to suppress the violets and other weeds under the bench. In the Fall I can still add the leaves to this area, if I want to. Last year I mulched a lot of the leaves with the mower and put them on the vegetable garden for over winter. I hope to do that again this year. After a short rest after lunch, I went out and started weeding the stone path. Of course I had to weed beside the path, too. I am amazed at how many wretched violets were in the little michaelmas daisies, and some kind of nasty grass, that is going to be forever there. I cleaned up around the water meter stones.... not very carefully, but it should slow them down a bit. I clipped back the heathers and the spruce, and the iberis blooms, and weeded the path up to about the David. It is slowly coming along. I must water before weeding, as this makes it much easier to get all the roots of those nasty violets. Those little orange flowered things are going to be with me forever, I guess. Since I have an appointment with Dr. C. tomorrow at 2:45, I guess I won't be getting any gardening done tomorrow. It is suppose to rain over nite and be cloudy tomorrow. Hope we get a good downpour.
The thyme circle and the bench look pretty good cleaned up. There might be room for lupines .. one on each side of the bench, just at the corner of the hedge. If they grow into big clumps, they might partially cover the bench. I am still thinking of cutting back the cedar hedge to as high as I can reach with my hedge trimmer. Or, maybe by standing on a chair. Pat has a plank that he puts between 2 ladders to stand on to wash the top of the van. This might be just the thing for me to cut the tops off the cedars... hmmmm... Well, before I do this, I must get all the garden weeded and get a start on the sitting area under the deck. So, this trimming of the cedar hedge might have to wait till next year.
There are quite a few little plums on the front tree, and just a few on the back tree. The strawberries are reacting well to the waterings, and getting bigger, and starting to ripen. Figs are growing, and we should have a nice apple crop this year. I will need a new storage bin that I hope to keep in the attached garage, away from the rats, who seem to be able to chew threw 2 inches of plastic to get into the bin.
There are more bees on the thyme, this year, but still not the multitude there has been in the past. The little European wall lizards are becoming quite prolific. Yesterday, I watched one ... what I thought ... was attacking another to eat it. So I googled that... well they were mating, actually. Sent Pat the website about the common wall lizard.
and he sent back this information on our local population of these lizards: Distribution
Wall Lizards are endemic to continental Europe and western Asia. They have been introduced to several locations in southern England and North America. In the early 1970s, a small group of Wall Lizards was released in west Saanich on Vancouver Island when a private zoo closed. Initially, the lizard population remained small, but once acclimated to our local climate and a breeding population established, the population grew enormously. They now number in the thousands. For the moment, Wall Lizards are restricted to the area of west Saanich, Triangle Mountain in Metchosin, and Victoria on southern Vancouver Island. Recent reports of individuals in the Gorge area of Victoria in 2007, and occasional reports - so far unsubstantiated - of individuals on some islands in the Strait of Georgia, suggest that the species is slowly dispersing. It probably is only a matter of time before Wall Lizards reach the British Columbia mainland or north-western United States, either intentionally or accidentally; southward dispersal is very likely on the mainland.
I have a couple of photos to do up for my blog and perhaps to add here. Too tired to do it now. 5 1/2 hours in the garden, even if some of it was trying out the new bench, is quite a bit for me, now. I should get pictures too.... tomorrow ...
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
I am currently reading a book on the Duchess of Acquitaine. This one is about her life with Louis, mostly, so I get some of the information I missed with the first book I read called Eleanor of Acquitaine.
I was out in the garden this afternoon and got a lot of clipping of hedges done with the cordless hedge trimmer. Works fine. I cleaned up the wisteria, the twisty hazel nut bush, and dead headed a bit. Using different muscles, so have new aches.
We did not get any of the promised rain, so I have been watering. The fruit is growing nicely. Lots of plums on the front garden. I hope we are here to harvest them.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Yesterday we were to Art and Marlene's for dinner.. Laura was there and a friend Marilyn. Was good, we got home at a decent hour.
First thing this morning the Sears guys were here to deliver the stove .. for the suite.. and the new dryer. Since I was up, I decided to go out and garden. I clipped some of the California lilac, a bit of the plum tree and trimmed the boxwood a bit. I clipped down the lemon balm beneath the plum tree. There are lots of green plums on the tree. The fertilizer spikes help, and the water. I started the clean up under the plum tree in what I am calling my silver garden.. it has pussy toes and the taller silver leaved plant with magenta blossoms... rose campion, lychnis coronaria, but I want it to seed about behind the pussy toes and in front of the little honeysuckle pilea hedge. I had a wheel barrow full of clippings and daisies. The green bin is full and had to be packed down with the big heavy mallet.
After lunch I had to have a nap, and then helped Pat level the washer... he had done the dryer and got it plugged in and ready to go. Hope they stay level and don't crash and bang when in use.
Later I did a video of the pond to catch the sound of the water fall which sounds pretty good to me right now.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
I have had a fairly interesting day. I did a couple of loads of washing to try out the new washer and dryer set up. They seem to be well levelled and there is no vibration noise. Much quieter. So our efforts to get them set up have been worth the time.
I moved my desk and other stand to along by the back wall. They just fit in there in front of the heater. I guess the hot air will rise up past the back of them. The orange trees are right next to them. My chair sits just in front of them and looks out the sliding glass doors to the deck. This gives the table more space. I moved my new little stepping thing to beside the cabinet on the livingroom wall where it is hidden from view, but easy to get at. I should put some cardboard between it and the cabinet so there are no scratches. I vacuumed with the little dust buster on a stick around my room and a bit around the dining table. It looks good, I think. My printer was unplugged and I managed to plug it in again. Then, I had to look at the Kaspersky renewal notice... seems its automatic. I should be able to add it to pat's computer when his comes due... I hope. I also looked at the defrag and found that my computer is set to defrag every Wednesday at about 1:40 AM. and there was nothing to defrag. I downloaded a new version of the Cleaner... takes out cache and a lot of stuff that I would really rather keep... oh well, its easy to put back... like my drop down tabs for firefox and the google sign in.
I spent some time deleting old stuff off my computer and somehow managed to give my desktop a new look. I probably deleted the desktop theme I was using or something silly. Whatever I did, I like the change. The text everywhere seems to be larger too. Everything seems to have a new look to it... new colors. I think I like it.
We were to get rain today, but had overcast, and coolish, with about 1/8 inch of rain. Pathetic. I did not go out to water though.
GARDEN - another lupine has germinate to make a total of 14 out of 20. Last nite there were mosquitoes attacking me, so today I emptied the water out of the saucers on the deck plants. There are white water iris open in the pond.. they look good against the green of the lebanon cedar. My green bin is full. I think next week is the pick up day. My compost bucket is full too. Yesterday, I made a video of the water garden just because I like the sound the waterfall is making right now. Not too bad for the video... some blown spots cause of the bright light.
I have a fancy lady slipper in bloom. I must get its picture, soon. Has 4 or 5 blooms... 2 more to open yet. I am not that fond of its sick green yellow stripped colors, but the long hanging burgundy things are nice.
Monday, June 18, 2012
I am sooooooo upset... all the red strawberries have disappeared. The green ones are still there. There is no mess like birds would leave... I think those Pees have been at it again.. stealing my stuff. I cannot imagine what is going to happen to the plums. We will probably be away quite a bit in September with car stuff, so those plums may mysteriously vanish too. GAWD Ahmighty. I will be putting the screen over the rest of the green strawberries.. so I know that it is not the birds.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
I spent some time on Megashot this morning. After lunch I was out in the garden weeding, deadheading and watering from 1:00 to 4:30. Then came in and made the roast beef dinner with puffs for the yorkshire puddings. Was all good. I got the topiary trimmed. The pinks are in bloom along the back grass spot. They look and smell good. I mowed the grass today, too. Trimmed back both jasmines and the grape. There was a swallowtail butterfly patrolling again. I did not see it stopping to feed anywhere. I watered at the front, and seem to have managed to get some on the plum tree and on the other side. At the back I put the sprinkler to water the veggie patch and so it did and the Apple tree and most of the area up to the steps got watered too. Now I need to fill the tub and water the woodland area and along by the garage. The saskatoons are not looking very lush or full of berries. I watered the house plants and the deck plants. All of the half price glads are up.. they will be bright red. I see only one sunflower plant, a few beans and lots of little weeds... am not sure how many of them are vegetables. They will have to get bigger before I can tell. The swiss chard plants from last Fall are going to seed... weedy damn things. The tomatoe plants are lookin ok.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
I spent most of the day in the garden and got some serious weeding done. I have picked out all the violets amd most of the daisies out the the flower bed by the magnolia tree. There will be more, of course, but this should slow them down a bit. I moved a black mondo grass over by the stone path, also moved another plant with dark leaves over there.. a coral bells. The spot I put them into is where the 2 gentians and a cyclamen and plieone tags were sitting. I seem to have killed a lot of plants in that spot. The hybrid lilly did not come up this year either, its orange ... gift from Grace
I saw the swallow tail butterfly, again... just patrolling, never settled on a flower. I have the hose set to drip very slowly on the plum tree. It has been on since 4 and it is now 9 and I do not see any evidence of the water ... not even in the flower bed where the nozzle sits. Those beds must be very very dry. I had the sprinkler on a couple of days ago, and that area in front of the hedge got quite a lot of water, but again, it looks very dry, now. Lots of plums on the tree, and I want to see them ripen and still be on that tree when I go to pick them.
I really feel stiff today. Well, there will be more tomorrow to keep me limbre.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Mrs. Pee was stinking up the neighborhood with chlorine. She is dumping gallons of bleach on her cement and then splashing water on it. I see that my plants along her sidewalk might be getting the treatment. I sure hope this stuff dissipates or breaks down before it hits the storm drains and the fish habitat. The drain is downhill from her driveway. The ignorant cow. GAWD AHMIGHTY.
This morning I watered at the back and filled the tub.
In the afternoon I did more weeding in the front. I have finished weeding the 'silver garden'.. under the plum tree, and up to the little spirea bush. I have room for a couple of lupines ... one in the rectangle and one or maybe two in the silver garden. I have started weeding the other end of this strip. I have about 3 feet cleaned up. I am taking out the daisies, as I am tired of them. Their roots seem to be only about 3 inches deep, as this is clay and dry. I let the water run with a fast spray and have watered the two triangles. The water runs down into the silver garden and what I am going to call the blue garden. It has a nice blue lavender, and the little blue grass. I am undecided about letting the achillea (yarrow) continue growning... maybe at the back half. I might let the michealmas daisies grow... not sure though. The verbena will stay. I see I have one growing in the rectangle that has the good peonies in it.
Plant of the day: Also known as Blue Cornflower, or Mountain Bluet. This species is low to medium in height and well suited to growing in the sunny border. Plants form a bushy clump of grey-green leaves, setting off a display of clear-blue shaggy flowers in early summer. Removing faded flower heads will encourage repeat blooming. Ruggedly hardy, this plant will grow in most types of soils and climate regions. May self-seed prolifically, so keep an eye out for seedlings appearing where not wanted. Plants may be pruned back hard in mid-summer to maintain a compact habit. Nice for cutting. The bees seem to like it.
Friday, June 22, 2012
It IS raining. We have about a half an inch, so far. Since I am in the house, I am doing the laundry, today.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
It was quite cool and a bit rainy today. We have .7 inches of rain in the gauge over the last 2 days, so this is all good for the garden. Took a few photos of the garden... nothing memorable.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
I did some photos this morning and after lunch was out in the garden from about 1 to 4. I moved another couple of little plants to the inner garden. Did some weeding on the stone path and clipping back of a few of the plants. Have more of the path to clean up yet. Clipped back the California lilac and the smoke bush, trimmed up a heather a bit, and the corsican hellebores. The roses are loaded with blooms. The little orange flowered things are everywhere. I pulled out a few more daisies and have plans to move the blue grasses to the front of the bed. Then, I should have room for 3 lupines on that side of the strip... probably 2 more on the other side, plus one in each of the triangles. And there will be room for more by the bench and the thyme circle. So, all 15 of them will be placed before I know it.
I saw the swallowtail butterfly in the garden... it stopped for a few seconds on the thyme circle. I must check to see if they like Rumex. When I was moving plants around... I dug out the Rumex by the big rock. Later I found this thing that looked like it was a swallowtail butterfly just hatching out of its cocoon. I may have destroyed it... not sure. I lost the spot where I had put it and could not find it again. ah well.
Monday, June 25, 2012
a coolish day. I have done nothing in the garden or anywhere much. Just made meals and read my book, slept a lot. Finished the Duchess of Aquitaine. A interesting read.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Well, it is just after 12:00 am and so the new day. On Tuesday, I spent the time from 1:00 to 5:00 in the garden. I have cleaned up the daisies at the front dead headed the roses, watered the rectangles and at the back. I don't know how all the hours slipped by, but it was enjoyable. I moved more cedar duff to under the bench. I see there are more violets trying to grow in the thyme circle. Pat took off a branch of the tree in front that was touching the house. He was on the roof, just over the entry with his saw that extends on a pole. I did not see this operation. I would have been having fits, no doubt.
walked from the mall... am terribly tired. No gardening today. Just that long walk in the hot sun.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Am much better today. Took a few photos. We had a couple of radishes in our salad. Much to my distress there was a dead fish in the pond. I bought 8 fish on June 2nd. One in the tub and the rest in the pond. Of course, I blame it on mrs. Pee and her bleach everywhere. After lunch I took a few photos of Pat's BMW bike for him to email to a guy. The guy might be here Saturaday to see the bike. Pat has put the word out, that this bike is for sale. Later, I did a bit of work on my pages of my web page.... every little bit helps.
the first of the gorgous purple water iris to open. This one is in the deck tub and it seems to be very pale. I tried to fix it in photoshop but it is still pale. That is just the way this one is!
Friday, June 29, 2012
We got deli lunches from Thriftys and went out to William Head Lagoon Regional Park for lunch. Took my cameras and Pat took some reading. Was a lovely day. We got back home just before 3:00 and I gardened ... digging weeds out of the stone path and finished just beyond the roses. So, I still have more of this path weeding to do. I also weed the beds on both sides too. I felt like I had sun stroke and had to come in by 4:30. Was in the high 20s with intermittent clouds. I had the sprinkler going at the back while I did this weeding. I see it has been more than a week since I watered house and deck plants. I must get this done tomorrow.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
It has been an overcast but warm day.. 20 degrees. After lunch I was out in the garden till about 4:00. I transplanted 10 of the 15 lupines into the front beds, mostly in the strip where the daisies were dug out. I did a bit more weeding and clipping back things on the stone path. I have to do the little rockery area, the sundial area, and the bit of the path between the stone path and the thyme circle. It all is looking ok. I am thinking about removing some of the solomons seal to under the deak as it is getting to be a big bunch at the front. I cut back some of the clematis that was growing over it too. The Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ is in buds and the hummers are going to love this.
It is suppose to be raining, but it is merely spitting. I do hope we get a good soaking overnite. Otherwise I will be out watering at the front again, so that the lupines get watered in. I added a bag of composte to the area where I planted them and moved a couple of the clippings of thyme I took out of the stone path, to the front of this bed. The blue grass I moved to the front seems to be doing ok.
July
---
Excerpts from The Garden Journal
July 2012
Monthly Garden Journal
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Watered the house and deck plants. I threw out the gangley cactus and cleaned up under the box it was sitting on. I have a lady slipper in bloom: Philippenense Grace ARN and Nancy. I have a couple of phals in bloom also. There are African violets in bloom. On the deck the royal blue delphinium is looking very good with many shoots in bud. The water tub purple iris has 2 more buds about to open.
Its a warm day..about 25. At about 3:00 I went out to the garden and watered and weeded a bit. I watered in the lupines, since we did not get the promised rain. While out watering a Lorquins Admiral butterfly was trying to puddle in the wet stuff on the upper side of the stone path. I got quite close to it but did not try to get too close. It was very intent on what it was doing.
For supper I used some orgegano leaves, a couple of sage leaves and some fennel leaves in the spaghetti sauce. Not a big taste hit.
Monday, July 02, 2012
I was up till about 4:00 last nite trying to learn some layers stuff and doing copies of the butterfly... nothing worked very well... but I guess it takes experience to know what to do.
I just uninstalled the newest up date of adobe flash that was doing bad things to my Firefox browser... and then re installed the old version that worked just fine. We shall see if I have any more problems that Windows tells me they will look for a solution... yeh sure.
Bev, Carol and Tara dropped in about 4:30 and stayed to visit till about 6. I then, made our pork chop dinner with twice baked potatoes and it was all very good.. only an hour late for our dinner. We are to go to lunch with them somewhere up Shawnigan Lake area... Pat has it sussed out and Tara sent a map in email.
It has been a coolish, overcast and spits of rain.. just now 10-ish, it has started to rain a bit. So, I was not out in the garden. But, this morning I moved the player machine out of the library and on to my new desk that I have moved back along the wall in front of the heat register. Now I have to learn how to make all of its things work... geesshhh new technology! It has am, fm, tape deck, cd player and some pretty good speakers. I think we got it a few years ago with visa points or some such thing. I have all my old music burned to disk... I wonder if they play. When I get time, I will have to try them.
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
We went to lunch with Tara, Carol, Bev at the Merridale orchard and bistro up in the Shawigan Lake area. Great food .. neat place. Pat picked up the tab and tip. Then we went to walk to see the Kinsol Tressel - http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/blog/posting.asp?ID=351 It must have been a bit more than a mile hike and then back to the parking lot again. Was a cool day, thank heavens and the wind did not get past the high trees.
There was .5 inch of rain in the gauge.
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
nice day, but I am having a day off. . I started the rum pot with 500 g of strawberries halved, 1 cup of sugar (let stand for half hour) then pour over 1 cup of brandy. Shall stir it in a few days, and then in 2 weeks add the next bunch of fruit and sugar, and any brandy needed.
Thursday, July 05, 2012
Mowed the grass. Was too warm out to do more. Have spent quite a bit of time on Megashot and reading the Andromedea Strain book.
Friday, July 06, 2012
Was a lovely day. Was out weeding and watering at the front from 10:30 to 2:45. Finished the little stepping stones area between the stone path and the thyme circle. Cleaned most of the bamboo leaves off the thyme circle and picked out a few columbines and violets. Put a lupine in the center of the front garden, just in front of the smoke bush. I have 4 lupines left to transplant. I watered the front rectangles and watered the other newly transplanted lupines at the front strip. There is grass growing in the golden oregano and I need to keep after it. There are still violets by the bamboo that I have to keep after also. Dead headed the white rose. The purple water iris is in full bloom in the water garden and the water hawthron is spreading and blooming. The campanulas and pinks are blooming. I took my camera out with me, but did not see a butterfly landed. But they were interested in the water.
watered in the back ... the garden looks terrific in the evening light.
Saturday, July 07, 2012
Was out and did more weeding in the front from about 11 to 2. Was too hot and had to come in. I have finished the sun dial area and the inner garden. Put down a couple of stones for stepping to the bench from the sun dial. I have yet to finish the top part and along by the pees side by the little cedars.
the pixie orchid is in bloom with 2 blossoms, and the lady slipper with the hanging petals on the side of it has 4 blooms. There are a couple of the phals. in bloom and some of the African violets.
Was up way too late last nite so am probably going to call it a day early tonite. My left knee feels sensitive from all the kneeling on rock the last few days. Did 2 blog posts yesterday.
Sunday, July 08, 2012
I have been busy all day it seems. I got the laundry done, watered the house plants and deck plants.
Made cranberries., and added 4 cups of pitted cherries and apx 3/4 cup of sugar to the rum pot. It is a bit early but we will soon have to be getting ready for our Sask trip.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Actually, it is still Tuesday for me. Monday I took the day off. Today I managed to get a lot of stuff done in the garden. Went out before lunch thinking I would get the front cleaned up and ended up in the woodland garden. I pulled out a lot of stuff and cut down the voracious herb ... looks nice, like a fern, actually, smells nice too. Took all the thistles, morning glory, perennial bachelor buttons and weeds out of the back corner. They will grow again, as i was just pulling off the stems of the plants. I transplanted the Dougie tree in the corner in front of the bamboo. The compost bin is full and tamped down, and now needs more tamping. I then put some styrofoam in the dougie pot then added topsoil and some compost. Put in the Osteospermum (half hardy perennials - do not survive the winter here - in the sunflower family) Watered in this pot and the clay pot where I added a lupine to the achillea that Tara had growing in it. In the other square pot there was a borage coming into bloom... added a lupine. Used up all the lupines.. one died in the pot, too close to the side and dried out. Watered all the pots. Moved the clay pot to the front. On square one by the suite door and the other is by the garage. Weeded some in the veggie patch. Came in for lunch and spent some time on the PC. Went out for an hour or two, and did some of the stuff... clipped the bishops weed down on the Pee's side of the house. Watered the back from about 5 to 7 on the veggie garden and then after supper changed to the spray nozzle and watered the woodland till about 8 -9. The black tub is full of water, anyway. Tomorrow I will have to finish weeding the front and water it all. We have had some hot weather. I was out in shorts and sleeveless top today.. garden clogs instead of running shoes... it worked good in the heat. clipped back a bamboo in the front triangle. geezzzz.
Saw hummers and butterflies but did not get any photos. The back looked and felt really good after the watering. It is 1:30 and I am not very tired, but better get to sleep, anyway.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Was a sunny warm day. I did nothing in the garden. Spent a couple of hours watching you tube videos on layers. So much to learn, and this stuff is interesting. More time spent trying to help Pat get the new little tv going in the Van... not much progress. We have to read the manual, I guess, although it didn't seem to do us much good today. Made a shrimp, avocado, mushroom salad (appy) and pork tenderloin schnitzle... feast night. I have frozen most of the left over schnitzle for camping. We now have spaghetti sauce, schnitzle, spam for meats. I will take along a couple chicken stock too. sidekicks beans coffee... must make up a list, i guess... canned salmon... the good stuff, mayonaise, salad dressing or two...
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Another beautiful day. Was out in the garden from about 10 to 12 weeding at the front. I moved the little blue hosta next to the bench... had one for each side. a japanese anomone went with one of them. So the front is finished, more or less. I watered by hand all around. I see daisies and violets popping up, and grass in the oregano. Have to keep after these weedy things. The lilies are coming into bloom. The lupines at the front have grown a couple of inches. Looking good. I must keep watering as long as we have this very warm weather. The themometer in the shade sits at 28 at 8 o'clcok when it is in the shade. I think it was at least that hot when I was watering at the front before supper, in the sun. I must try get up and out early in the morning... maybe tomorrow. I know it is marvelous at that time of day, now.
I saw the admiral butterfly, and another little one that is unidentified so far. Just tiny, like a blue, or a skipper, but different markings in mostly black and white.
Watered at the back with the sprinkler for about an hour. The veggie patch is weedy... those little orange blooming things.
We had thunder and lightning and a tiny bit of rain.
Friday, July 13, 2012
This evening playing in photoshop to try make a black background. Did a blog post about the Kinsol Trestle and working on another garden post for the blog. I should really get stuff done for my web page
More thunder lightning and bits of rain. I should really get out and garden tomorrow though.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Watered the deck plants and was out starting the weeding in the back area by the rhodos/steps. Its too hot out and came in after about an hour and half. There are some huge green figs on the tree... guess it pays to water. The front plum tree has lots of plums and the apple tree is looking pretty good. I used fruit tree spikes on the apple and plum and have been watering fairly faithfully. I lost my green handled little hand weeding tool yesterday and cannot locate it. It is either in the green bin or somewhere in the leaves at the front garden area. I should check under the california lilac, yet. We were suppose to have rain today, but the skies cleared and the sun was shining. Did up another blog post with the water irises.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Was very cool today. I was going to go out but it was lightly, very lightly raining. So, played on internet. Did manage to get a bit of stuff done on the old web page. tiny bit. watered the house plants. we planned a bit for our trip to Sask.
Added 2 cups of blueberries to the Rum Pot. It has saran wrap on it and is in the fridge. It did not need any more brandy, and I did not add sugar as it seems sweet enough, to me.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Made a curried tuna soup from scratch. It turned out pretty good. Have 2 jars frozen. The day looked cloudy in the morning. After lunch I was out in the garden till about 4. I chopped down the stump of the old red dogwood a bit. Weeding and clipping around the rhodos. Added stepping stones so I can walk across the moss garden to under the deck. I want to get the ferns to grow on Pees side of the deck. It got very hot to be working like this, even in the shade. The round cement stepping stones have lots of corsican mint growing between them. I seem to be getting grass growing through the mint and have to keep after this stuff to pull it out. I found my lost garden tool, in the front garden, where I had left it by the hedge and hebe. This hebe is really nice in bloom. I should try to propagate it by cuttings. Both tomatoe plants have blooms.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Weeded in the veggie patch in the am and then did some rock adjustments to the pond, and weeded beside the plum tree. There is corisican mint growing in the moss... horrors. Watered the back for about 2 hours. Sunny nice day.
I was up till 4:30 last nite reading my Crighton book...Disclosure, based on a true story, about the IT companies and primarily about harrassment; in this case, to a guy. Very interesting.
Found another dead fish in the pond, just after skimming off the duck week. That old baggage was slopping chemical around again. I hope it affects her like it has been affecting my fish.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Was the perfect gardening day. Cloudy and just about 17 or so degrees. I weeded the little rockery and moved a plant and a rock. clipped the pinks back a bit and the green hebe. Spread a bit more pea gravel. It looks pretty good. One little rock plant is in bloom. Two of them are growing... I may have to move one of them. Then I weeded the stepping stones from the rhodos out to the vegetable garden. It is covered in corsican mint with tiny grasses growing in it. Clipped a few blooms off the lilac bush and cleaned up a bit by the waterfall... mainly stepping on the dried plants along behind the waterfall next to the pees stone wall. Then finished weeding the moss garden and the dry stream. The corisican mint is getting into the moss. Pulled all of it out that I could. The violets are getting under control, along in this area, that is, the Japanese garden area. The moss is coming along, and looks good when I get it cleaned up. Put more pea gravel down on the cleaned up dry stream. Cleaned up the hellebores. The stepping stones through the moss to under the deck look ok. I must keep these hellebores and the white azalea clipped back, so that the moss shows more. The moss is starting to grow under the deck, now too. The ferns and other plants are advancing further under the deck also. I am watering more under there now. Also, water drips down through the deck floor when it rains. Still more work to do under the deck, but have no set plan, as yet. I filled the pond and watered some under the deck after I had finished the weeding and clipping. What took the most time in cleaning up this area has been the moving of the cement blocks lower and just a bit more over the edge of the pond. The pond appears a bit smaller in length, but its a good proportion, I think. I have a cedar trough half full of dirt that I am using as a retaining wall to hold the dirt along beside the pond by the deck up to the level of the pond edges, so that the cement block walkway is at the level of the top of the pond. The plants that were in the planter were not getting enough sun and have died. They are behind a clematis, and a delphinium. I am thinking of taking out the clematis, as it takes up a lot of room and is quite messy. Then I will fill the cedar planter up with dirt and plant boxwood clippings in it. I have another planter that could go along that side from the deck post to the cedars and be similarily planted with boxwood clippings. Then this boxwood hedge will match the one across the pond from it. There is saxifragia growing in front of the clematis, and some primulas. There is a tall yellow flowering plant in front of the cedars along that side. There are some old tree stumps acting as a retaining wall to keep the dirt in on that side. I can get the dirt to fill these two cedar boxes from the area next to the house, under the deck. I need to flatten this area out with a step up about 2 feet from where it is now. Going to be sorry to see the clematis go. it has climbed up the deck and been in bloom around the tub on the deck, looking quite nice. .. probably won't do this till next year. ... Will see. It will give me a better view of the pond from under the deck.
Friday, July 20, 2012
We had about a quarter inch of rain last night, a few spits today, and I hope we get much more tonite. I walked to the lottery ticket store, finished the laundry, spent time on the computer and got nothing of mine done. . . the will is just not there. Finished reading the Disclosure book by Michael Crighton and have started reading Hannibal. We are slowly getting the van and ourselves ready to go to Sask. Food planned, etc. Oil changes for van today. The kids messed up and Pat was a bit upset, had to go right back and get them to fix it properly.. left a trail of oil around the block... GAWD AHMIGHTY!
our beef stew was good for supper... we need salad greens..carrots... we have a week's worth of eating yet to do before we go... so whatever we don't eat, I guess we can take along. I have stew, schnitzels, spam and the canned stuff, 2 frozen soups, must take bratwursts and sauerkraut for at wadena... I guess I should make a list, the way my mind has been working lately.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Lazy day. Reading. Megashot and reading on the internet. Would have been a good day to garden as the temps were cool and cloudy. Have no ambition to do anything today.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Did nothing yesterday... cooking.. rice casserole with one for camping.
Today I mowed the grass, clipped more perennials back along the driveway.. Shawna's side. Watered the plum tree and the lupines. There was one lupine pulled out of the ground... I doubt it will grow again. Good thing I had so many. The little blue hostas that I moved down by the bench seem to be surviving. It is quite sunny there. I might have to move them again. Saw several admiral butterflies and lots of whites. There was a garden SNAKE... yeaaaaaa. I hope it decides to stay. Lots of wall lizards. I had a thought... that maybe mrs. Pee is slopping bleach around cause she doesn't like our wall lizards. The YUCCA plant has 3 tall spikes and is in bloom now. I must get pictures. The campanula along the side of the garage by the apple tree look really good, with a few pink malva flowers in it. Watered out back with the sprinkler for about 2 hrs.
Have started packing the van. We will leave early in the morning on Thursday, 26th.
Checked through my China photos last nite.. deleted a few.. will probably remove more, as time goes by. I have 103 tweaked and added to photobucket.com brendagreen1962 and china2012,
I am reading Hannibal by Ben Kane. Quite interesting to go back to this old history. I shall have to peruse the books on the ferry, of course. I am taking my butterfly books, and the stone work book, and the camera books, of course.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Did the ironing, watered the house and deck plants. Went to the mall to get calcium and lottery tickets. All this happened after lunch. Made a pork chop casserole from the potato book for supper... just ok.
Pat has the trailer home and loaded. All the brass is polished and has its mittens on. I am actually looking forward to this trip. I need to set my mind to the fact that I will get up at 4:30 on thursday morning.
After supper I took a few photos of the garden. Amazing how nice it is out there. The lily of the nile is in bloom and the jasmine perfumes the air. The lace cap hydrange's blooms have opened and are lovely. The campanulas all over the garden are in bloom along with the pink malvas. The Yucca plant has 3 shoots this year and is covered in creamy blooms. AND the yucca at the back garden has a bloom spike this year. The germander beneath it is just coming into bloom... the bees can hardly wait! AND there is a bud on the little miniature yellow water lily in the deck tub. I probably won't get to see it open. I think I could divide this lily... I see it has some tiny leaves. It might live in the pond, where I put the extra water iris ... I could put it in the pot just beneath the irises and cut back more of the plum tree. The lupine I bought and put in a pot on the garden is blooming in pink.. Lovely long lasting flowers. The montebretias are nearly finished. I really like the monarda in the deck pot, too. I think one of these would go well with the white veronica in the front rectangle. The delphinium on the deck is a spectacular blue double. The willows are doing fine and the Japanese quince is getting new leaves... hope it blooms outside, this year! I might just wrap it for the winter next year. It did not do well overwintering in the house... its pathetic.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
watered a bit at the back. unplugged the waterfall. I am mostly packed and ready to go. We have to get up at 4:00 tomorrow morning so as to catch the first ferry... leave the house no later than 5:30.
I did a post on my blog about the plants, with a few photos. Have more in the folder.
August
---
Excerpts from The Garden Journal
Monday, August 13, 2012
We got back from Sask. on Friday. Yesterday I watered all around the back and watered the lupines I could find with green buckets full of water. Its been quite warm out. I have been reading on my ipad, which we got at Lloydminster Future shop for $788.. pretty good sale and no provincial tax. We were away for 15 days. Cliff and Darlene took good care of the place while we were away.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
We had 30 degree temperatures today. I was not outside. It stayed quite cool in the house, considering.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
30 degrees again. Very hot. We went to Genoa Bay for lunch. Was delicious crab cakes for me. Few photos nothing memorable.. a very far away kingfisher.
The buddleia bush is blooming, the lily of the Nile, the rose of Sharon. I have about 9 lupines left... I really must water them soon.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Walked home from Royal Oak mall in the heat. We had 30 degree temps again today.
I watered out in the front for about 2 hours. There are lots of purple plums dropped off the tree. Its a bit late for June drop, I would say Hope the watering helps. Made sure the lupines got water too. Clipped back the montebretias and a few other perennials. I need to get a couple more bamboo shoots to cure to stake the orange trees.
Monday, August 20, 2012
The weather has cooled somewhat. There were pictures of some of the yard stuff, including the rat that seemed to be dying under the apple tree. I told Pat about it, but this was after I could no longer see it. Anyway, it seems to be gone now. Don't know where. Maybe the crows got it.
Yesterday, I actually saw 3 fish in the pond, so some of them seem to be surviving. I made pesto.
We had our first 3 yellow plums for desert last nite. They were delicious. I left the skins on them. There are quite a few figs that might ripen this year, too. The garden needs watering and weeding. The house and deck plants need watering and feeding.
I had a good rest and my muscle aches seem to be mostly gone.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
I have a yellow water lily bloom in the tub, and we are eating yellow plums. Lots of figs coming on. Most of the flowers are finished... waiting for Michaelmas daisies and fall crocuses... guess that will be the end of the blooms, except for annuals.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Eating plums. Walked back from Royal Oak mall and my appointment with the Dr. Just sleeping after my walk and lunch.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Fairly lazy day, with lunch out to Jacks for chinese
Lovely day, should have been out gardening, but doing banking and doctoring stuff, megshot stuff, reading on ipad stuff.
We are eating yellow plums, and the figs are ready.. we will be sure to have two tomorrow.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Was a lovely day. Mowed the back grass, did a wheel barrow full of cutting back fig, grape and the perennials along the garage. Took the neck and head off the topiary goose. It looks better as is and will be easier to keep it up. It just hangs over the stone wall now. Filled the tub in the back and watered the hydrangea a bit. Then watered around the back area, but not the woodland. Watered in the front also, moving the little blue sprinkler about. There are lots of blue plums still on the tree. I took off a limb of that tree, and part of a branch of the liquid amber tree. Cleaning things up a bit. I must get the little weeds out of the front areas again... not many, but it would be good to get them before they spread more. Sheared the pinks along the back grass, and did a bit of the thorn bush. The gerrmander is still in bloom, so the bees are on it. I did not finish that thorn bush.. have to do it when the bees are gone. I clipped out the spent blooms of the campanula leaving the stocks as support for the michaelmas daisies that are coming into bloom. Was out from apx 11 to 3:30. Came in had lunch and a nap. Pat went to the Mall for the old car meet. Calvin Carter, his wife Mary, and her brother John Lennon had phoned just before he got back at 7:00. Pat called them back and we took the Bently and met them down in front of the Legislature Bldg. Drove them around a bit, and got home at 10:30. Pat had a left over lamb burger for supper, a fig. Yeah we have 3 figs in the house. I see at least 4 more on the tree. I thought there was a lot more on there! One fell on the ground... but I think it was close to the ground to start. so ... that makes only 8 of them that I could find today. There are still quite a few yellow plums. Lots of them are dropping to the ground. I do not see any grapes yet.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Brought in two more figs. I think we had about 8 figs to eat. The rest are still green. The yellow plums are all ready, but kinda high up. Must get more of them down. The purple plums are ripening and there is lots of them, left after the heavy drop of about a month ago. I have a boquet in the house of various flowers... cone flower, roses, that baby's breath like stuff, germander. It has been cool overnight and up to 20 during the day. Very nice weather. The glads are not in bud yet. I guess they needed more water. The michaelmas daisies are starting their blooming all over the garden. The hollyhock is in bloom.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
2 Figs for supper. Lovely day but on the computer all day.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Yesterday I picked about a dozen plums and made up 2 jars of buttered brandied yellow plums for a desert.. frozen. We are eating the plums with ice cream. 4 per day, and there are lots that have become too ripe and fallen off the tree. We had the last of the figs after our greek dinner the other nite. There are only small figs left now.
We were suppose to have rain today, but its a lovely sunny day again and is said to continue on through until Tuesday. My garden needs weeding again.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Its a lovely day, but I have only been out to get the plums for supper.
AUGUST SYNOPSIS:
8 Figs, lots of Yellow Plums harvested.(2 jars frozen) Removed part of the topiary. New Butterfly bush is looking good. Blooms on the miniature water lily in the deck tub.
September
---
Excerpts from The Garden Journal
Saturday, September 01, 2012
It was a fine day, except for the wind when I was trying to take photos. There is another fig ready to eat.. this should bring the total to 9 and there are more small green ones yet. There were a lot of little skippers everywhere in the garden and a couple of white butterflies. I actually saw the fish in the tub in the woodland, so that one lives. Elvis lives in the deck tub. I have seen at least 3 at once in the pond, so all is not lost, as far as gold fish go. The heron has not been around and I have not seen evidence of maurading racoons or otters. We did not get the promised rain and I have not watered. The yellow plums are getting very ripe, the purple ones are ripening .. will soon be ready to eat. They appear to be scarred for some strange reason. We didn't have hail, that I know of. We did have a little earthquake...3.4 I think... and at the top of the Island. I heard it, as it was at 3:20 pm, but I did not see anything moving. This is good... we need to keep having the little ones, and hope that will be all we get.
I have been creating yet another page for my web page.. It is The Changing Garden. I will have these journal entries, edited for garden stuff, and maybe reviews of the blog posts. Blog goes back to 2005, but I have pictures back to 2000 when I started using my first little digital. So, I may combine the first years into one album. Like each year is going to have its album and page as I have it planned. The major changes will be noted at the end of this long long text page with the albums highlighting the changes... maybe. Anyway, I have started on the 2012 page, and have August text done. Have the image ready for the banner, the menu is same as ever, and have added a new music... must remember to upload it on the FTP.. Will finish it at the end of December, of course.
I have been doing meet and greet on Megashot. and a few critiques. Our Bandwidth use has doubled over the past month... incredible, and our Alexa is at 273,562 and we have our graph back... we are just at the bottom but climbing like crazy in August. Spent some time reading about PaintShop Pro X4 Ultimate... hope it loads and works for me, without taking over everything. My blog is not getting much attention. I have stopped loading China photos to photobucket.. no one goes there and gives me views.. same thing with the link to my Sask 2012 on my mmmee account that I sent links for... blah. Pat sent my link to our Malta trip to Dave Duncan as they are going to Malta soon . Its a helluva good travel logue, we are both proud of it.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Another lovely day... according to the weathermen we are now going to have summer. I spent about 3 hours in the garden. Watering a bit at the back and some at the front. I dug out some black bamboo for Derek Hamlet who will call tomorrow morning to arrange time to get it. We can always dig the bit out of the back by old weird's fence if he really needs an established bamboo. He needs to keep this sprouts moist and I would suggest he containizze it, as It DOES run.... well it walks anyway. I dug out the crosmia - montbretia, from by the roses as I am getting tired of it flopping over the path. I packaged these up into 4 bags and put them out for FREE. By 8:00 two of the bags were gone. Hope they all go. I have some in the pots for Derek too. He can use or discard as he sees fit. I weeded at the front, next to the Street. It is not too bad for weeds, and the soil is actually pretty good too. I think I will have lupines for next year. They look so good with foxgloves. I must see if I can move some of the foxglove seedings to the front too. Trying to keep the daisies out of it, but leave the malvas. The verbena bonarienis have gone to seed and I am letting them grow with the yarrow. The little skipper butterflies were all over the garden, lots of them. The violets need to be watched, but are not too bad. I still need to get the grass out of the yellow oregano and the iris patch. I plan to move the Japanese quince off the deck and in front of the roses where the crosmia was growing and then I can let the tree add leaves to mulch as before, and keep the weeds down. Last year I mulched most of leaves with the lawn mower and put them on the veggie patch. The left over mulching stuff on the grass path is suppose to be good for the grass. This Fall I should move this mulching area to the front strip, over the crocus field.... maybe.
I spent some time working on the new page for my web site.. I have it planned out and have the August added to the page. It is going to be a long text page for each year, and the text will link to an album with some text and photos of THE CHANGING GARDEN. I think I can go back to at least 2000 ... maybe combine a few of the earlier years when I do not have good photos and just do text for them. For 2012 I have added a Dead Can Dance tune for the music... See the Sun... It is going to be nice.... Too much reading though. I do a synopsis at the end of each month, though. I am using my newly established Garden Journal for the text, and it gets wordy.
I also got a few more photos of the JUNE page tweaked and must keep at this to get June done before the end of this year. The Malta page that we sent to Dave and Jennifer Duncan is soooo good, that this has encouraged me to get more done.
I have one more fig in the house which we will have tomorrow after our Greek Festival dinner. Eating yellow plums with ice cream for supper. Have a few purple plums in the house to see if they will finish ripening inside. That tree is loaded. I hope the green little figs grow and ripen with this SUMMER we are now having. My vegetalbe garden is pathetic. I really think it is going to be the cutting garden, such as it might be. No promise of blooms on the gladiolas yet. I have 2 or 3 cosmos that are about a foot high and no where near blooming. .. grown from seed. I will try again next year. The is pathetic. 8 inches high and going to seed. ... I will add more compost and bone meal, etc to that garden. And try to get a new rhubarb and maybe even plant it in a bottomless raised pot so that the tree roots stay out of it.
Monday, September 03, 2012
Was a lovely day. Tara and Jim and Grace came to visit us at about 2:00 to 4:30. Then we went to the Greek Festival for more Greek food for supper. Derek Hamlet arroved about 3:00 to pick up his black bamboo, and gave him some of the montbretia, also. He says he has bamboo, but not a black one and would love to have these crososmia.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
A beautiful day out again. I got the laundry done. Made a jar and a half of brandied buttered yellow plums and have them frozen, using about a dozen plums. Watered at the back. I have the Japanese quince moved off the deck and ready to take and plant in the front of the roses where I removed the montebretias that I gave away for free and some to Derek Hamlet with his pieces of black bamboo. We had plums for supper again too.
I received my Paintshop Pro X4 Ultimate today. Am afraid to load it to my computer, as it will take over my other photo editors.... well, I guess I could get Trevor to fix it if that happens, for a huge fee, of course.
Thursday, September 06, 2012
I think the yellow plums are finished. They are just too ripe to enjoy now. The purple ones should be good to go. I have a few in the house. I believe they ripen more while off the tree, too. The Hydro guys had some Tree company cutting the trees back off the power lines today. Big fancy equipment with a bucket on an arm that they dropped between the lines and the guy was up in the bucket with a long handled chain saw cutting things back. Its a wonder he didn't electrocute himself. They were finished in no time, too. They had a chipper attached to this truck.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
We got back from the Island Challenge at Campbell River on Sunday evening. Spent Monday doing my stuff, watered house and deck plants, did Megashot meet and greet. Tuesday, I watered a bit outside. I pulled the grass out of the yellow oregano. We have been having lovely weather.
I have tweaked and loaded 41 photos to the Island Challenge gallery on my mmmee account... more to go yet. Pat gave the link to some motorcycle guy, to Bruce and that bunch of his lunch meeting buddies, including Len and Jan, Ron. I sent the link to Rosalie, so far. I have a list of the emails of the people on an email in my shaw mail, from Pat about the meet.
Tomorrow at 8:00 we leave the house to catch the Coho ferry to Port Angeles and go to the Can Am at Bremerton. for the 13, 14, 15, and should be home on Sunday 16th.
I got the App for 99 cents for the Motion X drive gps thing for the ipad tonite. This should work without the wifi and without the 3G cellular hook up. We will see.. This means that I have to take my ipad on the old car... well... I am not too happy about that! Maybe it can ride in the 'boot' until we need it. I will have the navigating maps and directions to read, as well as trying to get some photos with my S3 IS Canon. Well the weather should be good.
I walked home from my doctors appointment this AM. It was a lovely day. The Autumn Crocuses are up and looking really good. The Back looks nice with all the purples and blues in bloom. The crocuses, the michaelmas daisies, the heather, the germander. The purple plums are just about ready... they should be good for picking next week when we are home from the Can Am.
Monday, September 17, 2012
We got back home yesterday and were dead tired as we had traffic noise all night, and early morning starts. The Baymont Motel qualified for the GAWD AHMIGHTY rant for all the days I missed, more than qualified in all ways.
Today I am doing laundry and watering the garden. It has been very warm with none of our usual September rains. The tours have gone superbly in our open car. Car ran fairly well too. We are starting to eat the purple plums. I think they need a bit more time. There are 3 tomatoes from my 3 tomatoe plants. .. 2 of them on the deck.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
T'was another marvelous day outside. I got out to take out the compost and pick a few plums. This a.m. I made squash, quinoa, tomatoes with pesto soup. I have the 5 blue boxes saved and frozen. I also made a pint of Purple Plum Preserves... sugar and a bit of water added to plums, boiled until the plums soften, and pour into jar, label and freeze it. Roasted the squash seeds with celery seed for seasoning and salt.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
did up a few of the June gardening album photos.
We had the squash soup for lunch and it was really good. On the way home from the lottery ticket store, I picked enough black berries for our dessert for 2 dinners.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
another beautiful day. sunny and 20 degrees. I weeded in the veggie patch a bit. Watered the house and deck plants. Filled the pond. The humming bird is coming to its recently filled feeder. I have 36 purple plums in the house. I put 8 of them, quartered, into the rum put. First letting them stand in about 3 tablespoons of sugar. The rest we will eat or I will preserve them. We have another fig to eat! and 2 more ripening, plus lots of little ones, that might just ripen.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Have 6 more plums in the house. Pat was up on the ladder and cut off some of the virginia creeper so that it does not go onto the lines into the house. We were to Gary Karr and Harmon Lewis's incredible place with the RROC for wine and cheese and a wonderful recital.. The guy is a world famous bass player, and Harmon plays just about any instrument piano and harpsicord. Their home is fantastic, they seem to be doing their own gardens and they are lovely too. The yellow roses that were in full bloom were named for Gary Karr... I must look this stuff up.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Pat and I picked most of the purple plums off the tree. I have used 7 1/2 dozen to make 7 - 500 ml of preserves. I add about .5 cup of water, a splash of brandy and about 3 tablespoons of sugar to a dozen plums. Bring it to a boil for about a minute or 1.5 minutes... just until the plums start to get soft. I put this into the sterlized jars and seal them, label them. We have picked 25 lbs. of plums. I might have 1/3 of them done. Its a lovely day out, again. and no rain yet.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Another fine day, some cloud and cooler. I have done up 6 more jars of plums. I have started up the fridge downstairs and have most of them in the freezer along with most of the Squash soup, also. We got more plastic tubs for freezing stuff. I am going to be making minestrone soup, mulligatawny, curried tuna soup and ratatouile, so we brought home the vegetables and meats for these soups. I shall finish the plums first though. I still have quite a lot of them to do.
There were 2 humming birds at their feeder today.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
I also did one photo for the mmmee account for the cover of the Can-Am gallery and loaded it up.
I watered under the roses where I am going to put the Japanese quince that is in a pot on the deck. I am getting too many pots on the deck. I picked a small very red tomatoe from the garden. There is one tiny green one left there and 3 of them on the deck tomatoe. Pathetic.
I am reading "Wheat Belly" and having good success with staying off wheat. I have lost about 1.5 lbs in about a week, so hope this is real and I can keep it up.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Was a very nice day, but it is getting cooler with shorter days. And NO RAIN, yet! I filled the tub in the woodland today and watered around the patio and steps area. Mowed the lawn. There was a surprising amount of clippings, I did not think the grass was that long. I transplanted the Japanese quince into the spot in front of the Roses where I removed the montebretieas. Hopefully I will get red blossoms next year. There have been humming birds at the feeder today, and every day, actually. I must keep the feeder filled up.
I finished the plums with the addition of 4 more glasss jars full, for a total of 22. I made 7 quarts of minestrone, no spaghetti in it. Its very thick, lots of beans and vegetables. I have 9 plastic tubs - about 550ml each to freeze, and one big jar in the fridge to eat. I am getting a good supply of soups and fruit frozen. I want to make ratatouille, mullagatawny, and a couple of other soups yet, too.
I finished reading the Wheat Belly book and am still off the wheat. Am very tempted today, as I put out crackers for Pat and his soup, made him a chopped liver sandwich... ah well... I will keep at this for as long as I can stand it. Apparently, if I go back to eating wheat after 4 weeks or so, it might make me very sick. The stuff is addictive...; it actually produces some kind of stuff in our bodies that makes us crave it... like herion. I am very grumpy today, but that might just be cause I am tired . I have been on my feet all day.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Made a large batch of ratatouille with 7 of the ziplock 591 containers for freezing and a very large one to have with our sable fish for supper with quinoa, and the strawberry, pecan halves, spinach and feta cheese with balsamic vinigretta salad. fresh plums and mango swirl frozen yogurt for dessert. Yummm.
I was up last nite reading an old western book on my ipad until 1 a.m. So I slept in till 11 this morning. Its another lovely day out there and no rain yet. Pat brought more plastic containers so I should be okay for freezing the Mulligatawny soup I shall make tomorrow.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Made the beef short ribs in the a.m. In the afternoon I made up 11 containers of Mulligatawny soup. I froze 10 and have one for testing. The freezer in the downstairs is getting full!. I saved 6 of the chicken breast strips and made cordon blue with them, a bit of ham, a bit of brie and mozzerella, whole wheat flower, and then I made the 'crumbs' with a few whole wheat crackers, rolled oats and pecan halves. This will be for tomorrows dinner. I want to make up some borscht yet also.
We have a fig for desert tonight and another one ripening, as well as small ones ripening too.
I walked to the lottery tickent store. I have got nothing done on my computer, or with my photos as I have been busy.. and I read a bit on my ipad at night. I have been sleeping soundly lately and sleeping in too.
The big blue heron was on the deck railing then on the garage roof, then it came down to the pond. I was not fast enough to get a shot of it at the pond. Its really tall. A big one. I did get a shot of it on the garage roof.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Another nice sunny day. Pat took us out on the T and tested the speedometer against the Gizmo and found that we were going quite a bit faster than the speedometer said we were going. Especially after the 30 mph mark. We got up to 50.1 for the fastest speed which, it seems to me, is pretty darn fast for that old car.
I made supper and we took it out in the van over looking the water by the Airport. Not much of a sunset, after all that. Got home and dishes done by 8:30. I made cranberries this am and we tried the Mulligatawny... very good. I boiled the beef bones some more and will use the stock tomorrow for making borscht. Am really rather tired. I have 10 pictures ready for upload to the mmmee account.
SEPTEMBER SYNOPSIS:
Have a total of 22 jars of plums and lots of home made soups. The montebrias are taken out of the rose bed and added the Japanese quince. The vegetable garden is pathetic and will be turned into a cutting garden. This idea is not working either. Too much shade and tree roots.
October, November and December
---
Excerpts from The Garden Journal
Monday, October 01, 2012
I made 6 containers of Borscht and one left over for us. Pat shook the plum tree and got 6 more lbs. of plums. They are delicious. I made some black berry Jam with the old blackberries in the fridge. We should be able to eat this with meats or as a syrup for pancakes. The recipe was on the Knox Gelatine package.
It is another lovely day... no rain yet. The michaelmas daisies, and the heathers look good. There are cyclamen. I think the autumn crocuses are finished.
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Another lovely day with no rain. It is cooler and smells like Autumn out there. I brought in the last big ripe fig and the tomatoe from on the deck. Both of which we will have for supper. The black berry jam is delicious. Today I made classic pea soup with ham with the 'stock' from the smoked turkey that I cooked in the pressure cooker with lots of water. This stock was slightly jellied. I added another cup of water to it, and the 2 cups of water that the reciepe called for. Tastes pretty good. I have one pkg for our lunch tomorrow, 1 for the upstairs freezer and 2 went downstairs. The freezer down there is getting pretty full. I have started the rice garlic meat mix for the cabbage rolls. I have the cabbage frozen so that its leaves come off ... I will take it out of the freezer after supper, so that it will have had about 3 hours in the freezer. I made potatoe puff cake and salmon loaf and a baked onion for supper. We will have some pickled peppers also. Should be a fine meal. Our salad has the avocado in it. After I finish the cabbage rolls I have promised Pat that we would get the ingredients for the Lois Whippingstal lasgne and make it up. So, I should have that done before the end of the week. I want to make clam chowder, too. There is a fine recipe for BC clam chowder in the potatoe book.
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Another sunny day, no rain. I made 2 1/2 pans of cabbage rolls. I have one to freeze. We will eat the others this week. I walked to the lottery ticket store.
Friday, October 05, 2012
Yesterday I took the day off. We got groceries, paid visa bills, took the mail to Tara and took her out to lunch at the borscht soup deli. Alls good at their house.
Today I filled the water garden and skimmed a bit of debris off. I made the pork bourgone (spelling) lots of pearl onions and mushrooms. was good, but did not thicken up at all. We have enough left over to make soup. I also made two big pans of Louis Whittingstahl lazagne.
Another beautiful day with no rain.
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Yesterday was a lovely day again. I did the ironing, finished putting the shelf lining in the suite downstairs, and vacuumed with the old in house vacuum. Grotty old thing, but it still works. We had lasgne for dinner. I now have a small pan of it frozen, and another meal in the casserole dish. I also have the big pan in the fridge downstairs. I did a few critiques on Megashot, loaded the rest of the Island Challenge photos and sent out an email link to the people. I have heard back from Ian and Nash... great photos... same says my Patrick. :-) He has sent me Haugens email and Jocelyns, so I shall do a forward to them soon as I can.
Today is thanksgiving day duck dinner. This morning I filled the humming bird feeders, got Pat to help me make the feeder that Tara left, a longer hanging thread so I can reach it. That is an excellent feeder. Now both of them are filled for the little piggins. I ran the little dust buster around the kitchen and the dining area and cleaned up my counter tops a bit.
I watered the deck plants.
Oh yeah, filled the pond, watered the deck plants, filled the humming bird feeders. Had a big duck dinner. Life is good on the Left Coast.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
yesterday I walked home from the mall carrying 3 plants. I now have a mum in the front garden, a kale on the deck and a little pansy thing on the patio pot. Was a good sunny Autumn day.
There was a great fog this morning. The trees are turning glorious colors. I have vacuumed and have the meal ready for tomorrow when Art and Marlene will be over for squash soup, lasgna and plum -- hopefully right off the tree. Pat is going to go out there and shake the tree to see if enough come down to eat. Would be nice to have 12 of them. .. with mango swirl frozen yogurt.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
We have had rain while we were gone. the new little plants I bought seem to be doing ok. It was quite dry when I transplanted them. The humming birds have been eating ... there are at least 2 of them. The trees are turning spectacular colors this year. The heliotrope is very fragrant. I should bring it in for the winter. We have had sun and rain off and on. The big winds did not seem to be around our house, but some people in Sidney or Sooke lost power. . I have got the laundry done and watered the house plants today. Pat got himself a new TV so spent part of the day hanging out with him. Life is good ! Pictures on my blog as soon as I get them tweaked.
Made the West Coast clam chowder after our supper of sole with grated veggies all done in the oven. Salad had the avocado. We ate up the last of the fresh purple plums with wine and cheese.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Have been busy. We have been getting rain, at last.
I got a few more CanAm photos loaded to the gallery on Thursday, and got some meet and greet done on Megashot.
On Wednesday I made 6 packs of Old fashioned vegetable soup that has beans in it. It is a lot like my minestrone.
So, I struggled with the sync on my IPAD and finally managed to move my 2012 movie to the ipad. It seems you click the itunes thing on the computer when the Ipad is tethered, then select what you want to transfer or sync and choose what photo folder or movie and click apply... hopefully it works. Need to have home sharing turned on, on the ipad, or the cloud, where ever it was I turned mine on...
Monday, October 22, 2012
It has been rainy and coolish. I took the week end off. We had KFC last nite for supper and a lovely omelette with salmon bits for lunch on Sunday. I stayed up way late making Megashot crits and trying to register with PNW photos.com
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Yesterday I made the album for June in the gardening page. I have 2 pages fixed in notepad... 14 to go. A few of the photos moved around on the pages... have no idea why, but hope it works.. It works in the browser now.
Today it is rainy again. I made 4 packages of creamy squash soup. I have some left for supper in lieu of salad. I shall keep one in the fridge to eat and see if I can cram the other three into the freezer, downstairs. Its pretty full!
Friday, October 26, 2012
The power was off for about 3 hours today, so I decided this was the time to pick the apples. I have about 2/3 of them picked.. 7 plastic LB store bags full. Have started the laundry. The pin oak at the back is changing colors very nicely.
I am slowly getting the June album finished. I have 22 of the 160 pages fixed, and all the index pages done. Its looking ok.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Yesterday, I washed and sorted the apples. I have them layered into the bin and in another tub for the culls which may end up being deer apples. While walking in the garden in the rain, of course, I found that the pond level was way down... almost to only half full. The leaves had blocked the water fall. So I cleaned that up, refilled the pond, and skimmed some of the leaves out of the pond. There are crocus leaves in the crocus field... we are going to have crocuses at christmas time at this rate. The other crocuses do not seem to be sending up leaves. I must get over to canor and get some bone meal and other supplements for the garden. I still have enough fruit tree spikes. The cosmos look like they want to set buds now too. At eight o'clock, while I was making a blog post, there was a 7.7 earthquake south of the Haida Gwaii and 11 miles deep in the ocean. Tofino was on tsunami watch. We did not notice it. I got a lot of critis and meet and greet done on Megashot, but nothing on my page.
Today has been cloudy but really rather warm ... up to 15 degrees. We went to London Drugs in the afternoon and got the new Igloo 5.2 cu ft. deep freeze. We brought it home and managed to get it up the slippery back stairs and into my room without any mishaps. I really didn't want to do it, but Pat made us do it... rather than pay someone $60 to do it for us. I moved my light garden around and have space for the deep freeze next to the cupboard along that wall. I moved the orange trees into the living room. It is going to be great! I have the freezer compartments of both fridges stuffed. Pat had to try to get the frozen yogurt into the upstairs freezer and I guess he realized why I wanted a deep freeze. He wanted to get the smaller one that was on sale at a good price, but I really think this bigger one will be better. Especially, if we get people in the suite and I cannot use that fridge; which may happen... you never know. I wonder if I could downsize to that space in preparation for going to ... oh Berwick house or some such place in a few years. Our pin oak is gorgeous colors. Pat has noticed its branches sweeping the garage roof and needs to get out there and cut them off. He says there are 4 branches that have to come off. Not too bad. It will grow taller and the branches really spread out too. The thorn bush needs pruning back again too. And the yellow plum and apple will need a bit of pruning too, in the Spring. Since this is my choice for the travel, I say stay home! So, I should be able to enjoy Springtime in my garden this year, and get the pruning and everything done in a more timely manner.
Monday, October 29, 2012
I watered and fed the house plants and orange trees which are all in the living room now...and will be referred to as the orange grove. The african violets are mostly in bloom. There are crocus leaves showing in the crocus field. I have the deep freeze plugged in and its making some strange noises... rather soothing, actually. It sounds like it is breathing. I got the ironing done and have spent quite a lot of time watching the news about the huge storm called Sandy that is causing millions of dollars damage along the eastern US and even into Canada. It is dubbed Frankenstorm.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Was another rainy day, quite warm. I got serveral little chores done. I managed to get my radio set to CBC on FM... not all that difficult. Anyway... I know, or can review, how to change channels easily too. I got the apples that Pat picked washed and sorted... took a bagful out to the deer pasture. Made a delicious soup for lunch. Made up 5 little jars of raisin and pineapple sauce. Its yum..
I am liking how my room looks. Just have to get a cover for the glaring white deep freeze. Pat wants his green towel, so can't use it. :))
Thursday, November 01, 2012
we had 29 kids for the halloween goodies. Its was a bit rainy and some sun.. warmish today. Shopping in the morning. did up a few of the Can Am photos in the afternoon.
Yesterday I used up one bag of apples to make 4 jars of apple sauce. Tomorrow, I plan to make baked beans.
Friday, November 02, 2012
Made 2 packages of apple sauce with a bit left over to eat. These apples are good raw. Am making baked beans with a new reciepe. Have put kidney beans in with the little navy beans. Am working on the June album of gardening for my old web page.
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Got up to page 5 done on the June Album.
Today I spent a couple of hours raking leaves and running the lawn mower over some of them. There is still more than half of the leaves on the trees. Skimmed the pond and cleaned out the waterfall that was getting blocked again. Got a bit wet from the light rain.
Monday, November 05, 2012
More leaves fell, so I was out cleaning them off the rock plants, the moss garden and skimming them out of the pond. Was sunny out. I have stiff muscles though. I am up to page 8 in fixing the June album. I didn't do any preserving or soup making but had mulligatawny for lunch and lasgne for supper. Was a rather lazy day. Read more news on CBC and listened to some on the radio. There are sink holes happening ... a really bad one in Louisiana above an old salt mine, where they have stored some nasty by products, that may break out to the surface and poison everyone. New York still has millions of people out of home and electricity and water. Horrible devastation. Here, I have roses in bloom, camillia has buds and the crocuses have put up leaves in the front crocus field. I am going to have to weed in what used to be the daisy strip.. Looks like that compost stuff brings a lot of weed seeds with it...oh well they should be easy to pull out. There are still lots of leaves on the tree, especially at the front.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
talked to Ralph last nite, and to John and Isabel tonite.
November 7 --
The quake occurred along a fault off the coast of Vancouver Island. ... A magnitude 6.3 earthquake has struck off the west coast of Vancouver Island, the U.S. Geological Survey....The quake hit at 6:01 p.m. PT, the agency says, 182 kilometres southwest of Port Hardy, B.C. ... so it was out in the ocean... not sure how deep it was
the quake was recorded at a depth of about 43.5 kilometres, and no subsequent tsunami was expected.
Hotsprings on Haida Gwaii dried up after the earlier 7.7 quake.
Have been reading Darius the Great, started vacuum cleaning and dusting. Have page 9 finished of the June album. Very little on Megashot in the last couple of days.. Was out shopping and for a drive and photos of the pumpkin jack o'lanterns along by Mount Doug park. Cute stuff.
Friday, November 09, 2012
Skimmed leaves out of the pond and brushed them off the moss garden. There are still leaves on the plum tree and some on the apple tree, so I will be doing this again in a few days. I ran the lawn mower over the grass and leaves at the front and the back. I brushed off of rock plants and raked the thyme circle. The thyme circle has a lot of weeds in it. I put a lawn mower bag full of this leaf mulch on the veggie garden. Was sunny but only about 8 Degrees.
Finished another page on the June album.. am up to page 11 so 6 more to go. Did a few critiques on Megashot. Cleaned the oven, loaded a black ink to the printer. Read some on the Ipad.. Darius the great.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
A cool sunny day. The ice stayed on the water table all day. The humming birds were out there complaining about it. Their food was unfrozen. I got nothing significant done today. Read on the ipad. Found that I have the Paths and garden art album finished on my old web page.. I have 8 of these albums done and 16 to go for the Gardening page. December will be short perhaps. The moss garden should come under the Mushrooms and Moss album perhaps. So, did a bit of reviewing my old page and enjoying it. Found a Michael Moore movie.. Fahrenheit 9/11 which I need to watch... full documentary is available on youtube. Tomorrow I MUST get the plants watered, and cleaned up perhaps. Maybe get laundry done too.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Its actually still Sunday for me.. at 12:40 AM.
I had a very busy day today and got a lot of stuff done. I got the guest room and our bedroom dusted. I did the laundry, brought the frozen stuff up from the downstairs fridge and put it into my deepfreezer.. there is still more room in there. I cleaned up most of the african violets and then watered all the plants. Took the compost out... it was raining and cool. There are still lots of leaves up on the trees. I was up late last nite watching the Michael Moore movie and looking at some stats for the flooding of the Mississippi River... Ages ago I read some prediction of these coastal areas disappearing into the ocean, and the missouri and mississippi rivers creating a waterway from the Great Lakes to the Gulf or where ever it is the Mississippi feeds into. Didn't find that old prediction. wish I could remember... Seth? Nostradamus? Hal Lindsay? Its eerie to see the storm damage on the Eastern Coast from the Sandy storm, and read about those rivers flooding higher and more often in recent years. I did a bit of stuff on Megashot. AND I actually got 2 pages done on my June album... 4 more to go and I can upload it... yeaaa EDGAR CAYCE
MONDAY... I finally finished the vacuuming.. Ange will be here in a week if all goes per schedule. Made a nice lunch and supper.. liver, onions, quinoa in soya, garlic, ginger root, chicken stock..plums for dessert with mango swirl yogurt.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Made mousaka... had minestrone soup for lunch. After making the mousaka I was outside and raked leaves, ran over them with the lawn mower and left the leaf mulch on the veggie garden. I was out for an hour.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
I looked out the window this morning and saw the grass and front steps covered with leaves, again. Sure.. and there's still more on the tree yet, too. Pat has been telling me that the light is wonderful in the living room when the sun is shining when he gets up to have his breakfast. Its reflected off the tree colored leaves. He tells me that the tree looks spectacular in the sun, when driving home coming up Loenholm. Hope all the neighbours are enjoying it, too.
We went out to the Fernwood Inn for a pub style dinner, and then to the Belfry to sit in our favourite seats up at the top, and watch the Dickens Christmas story... Scrooge and Crachet, and the ghosts. It was fun and serious at the same time. Sound effects were pretty good and the fog. Costumes were good. I had to sweep the leaves off the front step when we got home; as I worry about the paper boy slipping on them. The wooden deck is treacherous by its self when it gets wet.
i have finished page 13 of the June album and some more of page 16 where some of the photos seem to have migrated... oh well... So, I have 14, 15 and half of 16 to go... then check them all again, then load the pages.. Cars.. antiques, model t, and RROC, the progress page, travel ... actually, probably all of them cause the Travel menue is on them all; as well as the June album, of course.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
I was up way too late last nite watching youtube videos of UFO and animals and birds falling from the sky, weird noises coming from the sky, etc in 2012. One guy commented on one of these videos that he was holding an end of the world sale on aluminum foil hats.
I went out to get fennel leaves and seeds that I put into the meatloaf and discovered that I had leaves all over the yard, even up on the deck. So, we must have had some crazy winds last nite. Now, at 5:30 the wind has been blowing and gusting like crazy.
This morning I found that Rhinegold Garden Center was using my rose photo from off my blog on their website. I put the info up on my face book page and on Rhinegold's Facebook page. Kept copies of it all. I sent them a form from on their web site demanding $250 Canadian Dollars to be paid into my paypal at mmmee@shaw.ca. The copies of the screen prints are in the my pictures.. copyright infringement folder.
9:30 and the winds have quietened down. I have finished more of the June album and have 10 'pages' to tweak, and then the album will be ready to load to my page.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Rhinegold have deleted my stuff off of their FaceBook page. I got a phishing email re paypal in my shaw email.. and no money, of course. They deleted my photo off of their website. and it looks shitty without a photo. Ha.
Today I made 6 pints of pepper pickles and a fine carrot salad. We had another good dinner.
Pat was up on the roof taking leaves out of the gutter, when it stopped raining. The tree still has half of its leaves, despite the wind and rain we have had. There are leaves blown all around the house, including up on the deck
I have 10 pages of the June album to do.. I think I will finish it tonite.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
I was up till 5 am last nite trying to get the June album loaded. Then spent hours today deleting it all from the FTP.. then finally got it loaded by 9: pm. Had to get up early cause Angela's brother and wife Theresa, were going to bring over the mothers suitcase... Well.. they phoned and will be bringing the suitcase at suppertime tomorrow. Geeezzz... guess I will make a roast beef.
We have had lots and lots of rain and mild temps outside. I made 6 pints of pickled peppers yesterday. That should keep him in pickled peppers for a while. Watered the plants this morning.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Rain earlier today, but it has stopped now. I made cornmeal muffins and they are delicious. Best hot out of the oven, of course.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Went to the Doctors clinic and saw AuToit.. I have a rash and sore muslces nasty business. I think I started getting this rash 3 days ago.. anyway 4 days is the tops for getting on to the medication for shingles the chicken pox virus. It lives in your spine in little pockets in the vertabrea, and when you are over stressed and run down the immune system it springs out and makes life miserable. I have the meds today and started taking them at 2:00 and having them again at 10:00 pm. That is 8 hours. Should be taking them 3 times a day, with food. So, my next one should be at 6:00 am... I will try and move this back an hour... to 3:00 and maybe 11:00 then 7:00... will see how it goes. The pharmacist said its not strictly every 8 hours... like take them with meals .. anyway.. will see how it goes.
Yesterday Angela and I walked to Jack's for soup... but they are closed at noon on Saturday.. so we went to the Crooked Goose.. it was good. Ange's mom has been in the hospital for a heart operation.. she got here late on the 22 and leaves tomorrow morning early with her mom on the west jet. We were going to walk up the trail to Roy road but met a young girl who was babysitting 2 little kids... said she saw a cougar cross the path... so we decided we did not have to go that way, but went back and up Wilkenson Rd. Just started to rain as we got back from lunch.. then we went out to Lee Valley and she got some shopping done.
There are leaves all over the grass and still lots on the tree. I should probably get out and rake again, soon. It froze lightly last nite, as there was ice on the water table. We saw the most beautiful rainbow on our way back from Lee Valley, yesterday. No stops for photos, but didn't have the camera any way.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Was a nice day, but cooler. On Sunday I saw Dr. DuToit and got medication for my shingles. Have been sleeping a lot. This rash is itchy today and still have sore spots... mostly on my left side, where the rash is also.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Yesterday I went to see Dr. Sparanese. He is retiring and going into some other medicine line... he quickly scanned the blood tests from Dr. Sihgn and there were no indications that I needed the colonoscopy.. no low iron, high white cells, no kidding .. I have shingles.. Had to ask him for a lotion and got a perscription for the cordisone (spelling). Dr. Andre Du Toit has a clinic in central saanich and is at Royal Oak on Mondays... I should like to have him for my doctor... Pat would not be thrilled about driving to Central Saanich... and thinks there are still others at the royal oak clinic who would see us... Cruz? We have to work this out... next time we need a perscription I suppose...
Made some delicious chicken soup today.
Yesterday, Pat took his big vacuum thing and sucked up leaves from the front step and the grass. He says it mulches them all up. He put them in the compost green bin. Could have gone on the garden.
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Finished the pills on Monday and am now just using the cortesone stuff on the rash. Still getting stomach aches on the left side. They seem to be like a bubble of gas. So I eat tums for some relief. I need to drink lots of water, still. Still having tylenol, but not as much. I seemed to sleep through the night last night, even after a long nap in the afternoon. Pat thinks the rash is going away, and yes, I think so too, but it is very slow about it.
Pat picked up a hard copy of the book, Let the eastern bastards freeze in the dark. I am reading it. I finished the free bee, Alexander the Great, a day ago ... Ipad. On Sunday we were to the embassy for the vintage car xmas party. Good food. Have a yellow/white poinesetta .. the usual from this party.
We have been having lots of rain and some winds. There have been some people lose their power. We were okay.
Sunday, December 09, 2012
It is heavy misty rain. My digestive system is getting better, but still have a bit of the prickly rash.
Monday, December 10, 2012
I seem to have lost the Sony photos I took of the gingerbread houses and the teddy bears when we were down to the Embassy for the VCCC dinner. I have to get this photo upload stuff sorted out. It has become a nightmare.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Another rainy cool day. We went out to Howard Johnson's dining room for a nice dinner. I still have some problems with my digestion and still have some of the rash. Pat helps me put this cortezone stuff on it once a day.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Windy cold day. Reading Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark. Finally getting through this shingles stuff... still have some of the digestive problems and a bit of the rash. weighed 142.0 this a.m.
Spent about half hour deleting crap out of the spam folder of my blog. There were about 1100 pages with 50 on each page, I believe, going back to March or April. I should keep this spam folder emptied each month, maybe.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
We had mulligatawny for lunch after which I took the compost out, put out some apples for the deer, cleaned the leaves out of the waterfall and pond. The pond is down quite a bit from the loss of water that runs out the sides of the waterfall when it is blocked. The moss is growing over the water run too. I will probably have to keep that moss cut back.
It is Bird Count days in Victoria, yesteday, actually
Post count gathering is at St.Luke's chuch so I suppose someone is looking in our area.
We are in the Blinkensop / Panama flats area map Its called Victoria.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
There are high winds and the ferries are not running. It has been cool with temperatures just above freezing and some light frost over night.
I want to record this URL to show the reason for the coming exodus from FaceBook. Instagram, facebook's photo upload company, is going to be able to use any FB members private information or photos anywhere they want to for advertising etc and the owner gets nothing. As it is we need to find some obscure place on FaceBook privacy settings to 'opt out' of letting them use our stuff. GAWD AHMIGHTY! Cyrus tells me some people like this sharing with no returns to them.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Well, here it is The End of the World and everything is the same as usual. Ha!
It is bright and sunny but cool, about 5 degrees. There were big wind storms and snow the other day. The ferries were not running and there were many people without power, up island and the lower mainland. We were okay, just black ice, yesterday.
I took a bag full of apples out to the deer and had a quick look around the back, while dumping the compost bin. There are bluebells and daffodils sending up shoots. A cyclamen in bloom. Lots of holly berries and firethorn berries. The back grass up to the stepping stone path is pretty sodden ... now I remember why I made that area into stepping stone path. The moss is looking pretty good.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
a damp, cool day again. Want to shoot with my 50 mm lens with shallow DOF. Must find time to do this. Watered house plants yesterday. Have one orchid in bloom, another one starting a bloom stem.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
coolish bits of rain. There was a big storm and the Malahat was closed... at least that is what the paper showed today. We have no snow and no frost... just cool temps. The deer have eaten all the apples. Waterfall is running good. the back garden is very soggy. Am reading Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost world on my Ipad... was free... its quite an adventure. I have not ordered Garnet Schulhauser's Dancing on a Stamp book yet.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
We were to the Blue Crab for dinner. Jim and Sheila came too. Then we went back to their kitchen for tea and to see Jim's new book on tire treds... all black and white.. from the patent offices. Was a fine evening.
Yesterday I made 12 cups plus a big jar.. maybe 3 cups, of duck stock.
Monday, December 31, 2012
rainy coolish day. Andy and Tara here to pick up their mail.
Put out a bag of apples for the deer.
Happy New Year!
sad.. Dale Roberts passed away on Friday... he was just turned 65.
Continue on to Journal Entries for 2013
Welcome to the bottom of the page
Annual Gardening pages
January - we occasionally get snow.
February - more rain, and some
bulbs up
March - first spring bulbs
blooming
April - rock plants blooming,
grass needs mowing, fruit trees blooming
May - the garden is in full
swing
June - lovely warm days of
medium temperatures and roses in bloom
July - we need to water a lot
in the summer as we do not often get rain.
August - the Fall perennials
starting to bloom and fruit is ripening
September - harvest time in the
vegetable garden and time to plant the winter garden
October - glorious fall colors
and sunsets, fruit ripening and rains begin again
November - sometimes a lovely
month with the Fall colors and warm rains
December - more rain, the garden
is mostly greens and browns, very peaceful.
Water and Japanese Gardening
- I built my pond with its 8 - 9 foot diameter
Fruit and Vegetables -
grapes, figs, pears, apples, plums, and vegtables
Garden paths and Garden art - I have
converted most of the lawn to gardens and paths
Rock and Alpines - I have a few small
alpines in various spots around the garden
Woodland garden - I am trying to
establish a few indigenous plants in this area.
Indoor gardening - orchids,
cacti, African violets
Bugs - butterflies, birds,
animals
From the Market - photos of bought
produce or flowers
At the Show - there are a number of
gardeing shows I attend annually
Mushrooms, lichens
Boquets - Creating flower arrangements for the house and for show is an
added benefit for creatativity as well as visual satisfaction.
Miscellaneous - in case I cannot
decide where something belongs
Annual Journal Notes - This is the first page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2012 when I began to keep my garden notes on my computer. See the bottom of this first page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2013 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2013 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2014 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2014 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2015 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2015 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2016 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2016 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2017 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2017 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2018 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2018 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2019 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2019 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2020 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2020 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2021 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2021 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2022 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2022 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2023 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2023 from my garden journal. See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2024 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2024 from my garden journal. See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2025 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2025 from my garden journal. See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2026 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2026 from my garden journal. See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2027 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2027 from my garden journal. See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Outline of the garden changes - This is the first page of a series of three giving a tour of the my garden.
A description of the garden rooms - This is the second page of a series of three giving a tour of the my garden, and showing the creation of the garden rooms as well as some of the renovations over the years.
Annual Garden changes photo albums The third page of the series will be annual photo albums of the changes in the garden for the year, beginning in 2009.
Annual Photo Albums
Links:
(VHS)
Victoria Horticultural Society: http://www.islandnet.com/~vhsweb/
(HCP)
Horticultural Center of the Pacific: http://www.hcp.ca
(VIRAGS) -
Vancouver Island Rock & Alpine: http://www.virags.ca/
Victoria
Orchid Society: http://www.victoriaorchidsociety.ca
Native plants: - http://russellnursery.com/natives/
Plant photos by common name: - http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/browse_imgs/plant_com_1.html
