I seemed to accomplish many things on my long list of chores. I was able to get a couple tomato plants yanked up and buckets of chicken manure compost dumped in those beds. I am wanting to plant my delphiniums I started from seed this past spring in that spot soon.
The yanked up plants were loaded with tomatoes still, mostly green, I did retrieve the ones turning red and have them on my kitchen counter to continue ripening, this variety is a sauce tomato. The ones to the right are Brandywines and I am going to leave those for another week in high hopes of getting some more to ripen. I have a lone deer coming around at night taking a bite out of any he can access so I left some on the ground for him to nibble.
We have had our first frost, a light one but still a frost. It did not prove fatal for my geraniums or even my Angels Trumpet.
I need to move that one to my mom’s sunroom to overwinter, I just do not have anywhere that gets enough light to keep it healthy.
I still have a few Casablanca lilies trying to bloom. What a lovely way to end my growing season, one last hurrah, a beautifully scented one. I may have to cut it and bring it in the house.
I whipped out my D40 for dummies book again, I learned some new things on the information panel, like how to get the battery life info and how many photos the SD card will hold. The one I have now says 2000 photos, not bad at all. I also learned how to manipulate settings with one button instead of having to go into the menu area. The more I am learning the more I get the feeling I should’ve done this long ago!
I took some photos of my Japanese Maples.
The one above I do not know the name of, but the one below is Cherokee Red.
Then Spring Delight. This one stays this delightful bright green all season long.
I started working on the shawl I mentioned in my last post. Here is the first half of a motif. It is an intermediate in difficulty pattern but not bad, you just have to pay attention, once I get the pattern down it will move faster but I am already liking it.
I did get stuck on one unfamiliar stitch. I Googled it and up pops a great site called “Learn A Stitch A Day” and it had a step by step video that was perfect. I never would’ve figured it out on my own.
I love the internet!
Unfortunately the color of the yarn is not coming thru true in the photo but you get the drift.
I think I will go work on it now. A nice way to unwind after a busy day!
Enjoy your evening!
My how the summer weeks fly by! I noticed that I have only posted 3 times this month and it is already the 15th.
Though much of the country is baking in sweltering heat we barely make it to 70 degrees this past week and even the San Joaquin Valley is at least 10 degrees below average for this time of year. I was in Stockton today and it was perfect for running about. I made a fast trip as I had things I needed to do here and only ran down for a big Costco stock up trip.
I have caught up on all the custom orders for signs and I have been focusing on listing on eBay all of the saleable clutter I have been going through and trying to eliminate from this house. Much has been cleared out but I still have quite the pile on one end of our living room and I have some major reorganizing to do in the studio. I need to build myself a ladder that attaches to one wall so I can access the loft easier to store things. And along with getting that all accomplished I need to paint up signs to restock my website, I have sold quite a few the past couple of weeks so pickens are getting slim. Here is the last special order sign I had to get out this past week, it is double sided..
I wanted to also share some more of my garden flowers. My Petal Pusher roses are a favorite, the luscious pink is drool worthy and they are loaded with blooms.
This next rose was my very first David Austin English rose, Graham Thomas, I had spotted it at Home Depot in the bare root bin for $2 about 5 years ago, before that I did not know how the English Roses would fare in our mountain climate but it thrived. I was sold on English Roses from then on.
This is another English Rose. This is Tess D’Ubervilles. This particular one is a start from a cane. I inadvertently covered a cane that had fallen over with compost as I was amending the soil, and a new rose sprouted from it. This one has not gotten very big yet but it sure wants to bloom.
I had a rose also start from a cane I had cut off my Sharifa Asma English rose, tossed on the ground and covered with some compost in the Fall. I have to say that is what comes from soil that has been composted yearly, it is so rich that things just root on their own!
My Crazy Daisys are beginning to open, one is super frilly.
Day before yesterday..
Today
My regular Daisies are beginning to show their happy faces as well.
One of my Clematis is blooming, this one is called Warsaw Nike. It bloomed the very first year I had planted it. Then it was accidentally yanked from the ground by a “helpful” husband who did not distinguish it from the weeds he was pulling. I quickly replanted it and hoped for the best, and sure enough here it is blooming away again!
The moral of the story is, if you want to get a clematis that performs well above the call of duty invest in Warsaw Nike. I got mine online on eBay. The gal is great and usually has a great selection, her eBay handle is birdsongfarm*wi
My Asiatic Lilies are just starting to pop adding a touch of orange to the beds.
The gaillardia are another tough one that comes back thicker every year.
I will do a full flower bed shot so you can see all these beauties together. Maybe in the morning, right now I am too lazy to peel my body from this mattress to do it now though it looks like the perfect light outside for great photographs…hmmm, I might get motivated enough to do it.
Until next time…
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