Tag: growing every season

We’re back!

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn growing every season1 Comment

We ran into a little difficulty on our return flights from London on Tuesday morning 4:00am, when our 12:15pm flight was cancelled, but it turned out to be for the best. We had booked our Covid tests, required for re-entry to the US which is stupid, for 8:30am at the airport and though we would have had the results in time for the flight, we would not have made it through security, baggage drop, etc. without a lot of stress. As it was, we caught a 3:15pm flight and had some lunch, bought some souvenirs at Heathrow. We arrived at DFW about 7:30 to find that our Eville-bound flight was delayed, giving us more time to navigate our way to the gate, but we didn’t make it home until 11:30am — about 25 hours after I woke up in London.

I was pretty pooped yesterday, but managed to get my tomatoes in the ground. I’m waiting to put out the bell peppers and basil until the predicted storms pass. No hurry, as we are supposed to have beautiful weather by Mothers’ Day and all of next week. I’m stocked with seeds, ready to dig…

Saturday is the 148th running of the Kentucky Derby, so it’s time to do some stretegery and calculate the winner. We can’t just bet the Baffert horse this year, so it’s a little more challenging. Historically I’ve made more winning wagers on the Fillies, so I’ve got to focus first on tomorrow’s Oaks, also in its 148th year. I have been spending the same $$ for years now, managing to eek out a profit for quite a while, but last year nearly wiped me out. This is my year, though…

On our last evening in London, we took a quick walk around Kensington Gardens, through Queens Gate past the Prince Albert Memorial to the Peter Pan Statue near the Serpentine, then back to Round Pond and Kensington Palace, finishing up exiting at Queens Gate. It was a lovely way to end our trip. The video only takes a minute…

Peace

Midweek Missive

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn The Gardens of Sonnystone...1 Comment

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Erin go bragh!

I ran into a little problem over at the Garden Blog: I’m out of storage for uploads (pictures and what-not). I have to either upgrade ($$) that site or go through ten years of posts and start deleting. As we prepare to leave town on Saturday, I don’t have time for either of those fixes, so I’ll decide later. For now, I present to you, the first Garden Journal entry of 2021.

The Edible Garden in Winter…

The garden is still covered with its winter mantle of leaf mulch, but we cleared enough over in the corner to plant some peas. I planted our tried-and-true Oregon Sugar Snap and added Little Marvel this year, just for fun.

I didn’t want to take up the space for potatoes, so we are trying out these 10-gallon growing bags with cool viewing window and sturdy handles.

They came in a pack of four, so we planted three red in one, three gold in another; now we’ll wait a month and plant the other two bags. It seems a lot easier than digging trenches and hilling, so I hope they produce! Keep on Growing!

We’ll celebrate the Arrival of Spring while driving south for our vacation at Walt Disney World. After our return, we’ll begin our seed starting and get serious…Plus I’ll figure out what to do about the other blog.

Wishing you All the Blessings you can handle, from the bottom of my Scots-Irish Heart…

Peace

Growing Every Season

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn The Gardens of Sonnystone...4 Comments

On the Equinox, we said a sad Farewell to Summer, 2020…one for the Memory Books now…and spoke a hopeful Welcome to Autumn…Batter Up!  As we move through the Seasons, we always stop to take stock of what we’ve accomplished, where we learned, what ideas we have to improve…

We’re going to expand the Edible Garden to make room to grow watermelons and pumpkins and sprawl-y vine-y such fruits.  With a little bit of tree-pruning, we’ll have an new 24 x 8 plenty-o’sun area for growing.  The bed will be 16 x 4 and we’ll rock the rest for containers and so carts can still get through.  It will, of course have to be fenced so the critters don’t trash it, but we happen to have Just Enough fencing to re-use and the same gate will be moved to the south end.  That sounds a bit confusing, but here’s the first of the “Vision” and I’ll keep you informed as it comes together.

We brought in two of the four remaining tomatoes, netting about a dozen small nearly-ripe fruits.  Otherwise, the Edible Garden hasn’t changed much in the past week.

It was perfect weather yesterday to divide the Rudbeckia in the Peace/Bird Garden.  We moved out all of the remaining daisies and shuffled the coneflowers around, too.  Remember how my original plan was to have all natives in this garden?  Well, as soon as the mums bloom and fade, we’ll remove them, leaving all Natives with space for more next spring…almost like I planned it that way, but we know better…

Before
After

Fall is in the air, all right, with Super weather for just Being Outside…I’m really digging it…

Keep on Growing…

 

Growing Every Season

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn The Gardens of Sonnystone...3 Comments

Six Months Ago, we started planting and I began to post a weekly log of how our gardens have grown.   You can read all of the posts Here .  As the season comes to an end, I’m wrapping up that blog and folding it into my Main Blog — the one you’re reading now!  It’s great to compare the beginnings and the ends, so in case you don’t feel up to reading through two dozen blog entries, here’s a couple of Before and After photos.

Before
Before

Before
After

Journal Entry #24

The Edible garden is winding down and I’m ready to remove the zucchinis, the cucumbers, and a couple of the peppers.  It has sure been a rainy growing season and my allergies have been severe.

The broccoli and green beans will soon have the run of the garden and they’re rising to the occasion.

Garlic Chive and marigolds are competing with the sunflowers for prettiest blooms…

Out in the Peace/Bird Garden, the daisies that I want to move look lousy and I’m ready to move them as soon as possible.  The birds have spent a fair amount of time gnawing on the coneflowers and rudbeckia, so they’re getting pretty scraggly.  Soon enough, though, the mums will be blooming…I hope.

 

I’ve got a full two days of work that needs to be done in all of the gardens, but it just keeps Raining… The weatherman says it’s going to dry up and cool down and I hope he’s right.  Of course, when I get that done, there will undoubtedly be another couple of days of work and on and on until Jack Frost arrives and this season moves over to make way for the next…

Keep on Growing…

 

 

Autumn Garden Journal #3

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2019, Autumn at Sonnystone AcresLeave a comment

Though today is sunny and the high temps will reach to nearly 60 degrees, we’re going to be slammed with Frigid Air and possible Snow tonight and tomorrow morning.  The leaves are falling quickly and Casey has been mulching them up as well as using them to cover the roots of our vulnerable roses.  I’ll bring in the mums from the porch today and I’m done for the growing season; time to watch the Birds, just as I dreamed back in the Spring.

I’m working on re-potting my African Violets and Spider Plants, searching around for the correct containers and such.  Whilst researching proper replanting techniques, I discovered that I’ve actually been doing everything wrong with the violets. Since they have grown and bloomed 2-3 times a year for the last 6 or so years, I never suspected.  Now I’m worried that if I do what the experts say they’ll up and die, so I’m dragging my feet. My spider plants just need to be divided, so I’ll start there.

It’s Zoo Member Appreciation Day and we’re going to pick up Olivia and Samantha and go out and be Appreciated.  We’ve been members for Years, but have never attended this event.  They’re pretty vague about what to expect, but there’s supposed to be Animal Encounters and Snacks, so I’m up for it.

Fire up the Woodstoves!  Wintry Air Blasts Expected!

Peace