What's happening in your neck of the woods/Summer 2011

oops, all the slate rock wasn't around the pond on the previous photo...still much to do but the hard work is done..

No rototiller - and Bob's not assisting. I'm just using the pitchfork. Need the exercise.
I could ask him but he's "busy" around the house.
We switch roles now and then lol

Waving back from Victoria ! Our weather has been much the same as the rest of Canada - very changeable. A few lovely warm sunny days and then back to clouds and cooler. But the garden sure likes the cooler weather and my spring flowerers lasted much longer. Now that I am retired, I am a lot further along this year in the garden as far as maintenance etc. and I am considering a few new projects, (yes, Alberta Ann, we did finish the sitting area and added a few more !)
Despite the weather, all my houseplants and tropicals (including the plumeria) are outside, as well as my little zebra finches which are in their aviary. So this morning, which is beautiful, everything is right with the world !!
Heather

Heather you can't get much better than perfect! Your gardens sound spectacular, sure hope you've a few photo's you can share...we lovvvvve photo's don't we girls.



Susan, don't work too hard!!!

moi? work hard? lol surely you jest! I am taking a breather and doing gardening!
Betty - I seem to recall you asking if we were replacing a flower garden with a veggie one.
Nope - this is a bit of land our friends have, that's behind their garage, and hasn't been a garden of any type for about 15 years. Bot spared me any more pitchfork use, and while he dug up and I cleaned of the roots (to keep SOME of the soil). Then I threw the weeds, etc, into a large pile to get rid of.
Then he used a rototiller, and put 2 large bags of steer manure down. Next thing is to put a bale of peat moss down, THEN I can plant!!
Can hardly wait!!

Enjoy your planting Susan .. if Calgary keeps wet and cool, CABBAGES would have been the veggie of choice to plant !!

Cryminee Betty!! Was that slate HEAVY ? Good gravy I do believe I would have dropped the bigger pieces .. the red mulch offsets the pond nicely, you've again done a wonderful job ^_^

Bought a new vacuum .. LAWSIE .. vacuumed the living room and was HORRIFIED at what the old vacuum had been missing .. this new one is bagless.. has the clear cup that allows you to SEE what you didn't know was in your carpeting . Here I thought our animals were LOW shedders .. NOT !!!!

Looks as though we will be hosting 2-3 days of rain .. keep saying it's good for grass and garden .. but I miss not going outside ..

Take care .. first day of summer tomorrow !!

~M~

Susan, sounds as though you are going about it the right way, whatever nourishment you give the soil you will get back in veggies..not sure why I thought it was your gardens you were redoing..will be anxious to see what kind of crop you get with having to plant so late..think of you and carol often during the day, you have no idea how often they advertise the Calgary stampede !!

"M" lol I have one of those vacuums as well and it's amazing how much hair I pick up regardless of how many times I vacuum! Yes, they were heavy, wonder why my back and knees are aching..but I was smart, need bigger rock for waterfall but knew enough NOT to try and do it myself..

Just watering the gardens, we won't get rain until Wednesday but then will rain for 3 or 4 days so glad I got much of my outside work done..

I just realized this is the 99th Stampede here, so next year will be 100th!! That's the one you should plan on attending, Betty! What's the date of your round-up?

Did I mention that I am planting zucchini and cucumbers, too? Garden is approximately 7' x 14'..... loads of room to plant what I'm going to! We have loads of rain, and a rain barrel nearby, so the water prices going up shouldn't affect us.

WHOA Nellie !! Hang on to yer Stetson!! We have WIND here and are being told this is just the beginning ..
Tried to get out to do some gardening, but ended up salvaging things that were blowing away ..

Took some pics though ^_^

~M~

First one is our Westie Banner as you come up the driveway ..

This is how far behind we are, these are the Oriental Poppies !!! Usually open by now and done !!!
Smokey was my body guard on my yard trek .. poor cat almost got blown away in the wind !!

~M~

Just some 'bloomin things' on the east side of the house. Anyone have a name for the Blue flower .. I THINK it's a Bachelor Button ?
Getting rid of the 'Pig Squeak' next year, hasn't bloomed since I got it !!

~M~

Last one is the Nasturtium (top) and Morning Glory seeds I planted .. plan is to have the Morning Glories creep around the ladder .. fingers crossed on that !!!

Course Lilly has to be in the photo as well LoL

~M~

Almost evening, summer is here..aren't we excited?

Got off at 2:30 for dr's appointment and just got home and lucky I did, storm is a brewing, winds a blowing and rain shortly arriving..nice to be inside..

"M" my morning glories and sweat peas have done exactly nothing..I put them in good earth so not sure what's happening. I would say my gardens are about 1 month behind..going by photo's taken last year.

T.v. Bingo tonight 8 pm, Ann will be coming over so from nownuntil then I will relax..got a few painting books out to go through, must be a pattern somewhere that will temp me into a painting project!

Susan, our town's 100th. Birthday celebration is this year..being celebrated on the weekend..it will be something special next year then for the stampede...

That is a fair size garden Susan ..will certainly be enough veggies to keep you and Bob fed this summer/fall!

Woo-hoo!

I got a bit of green in one of the PVC tubes. I started a thread for the topic since a couple ladies wanted to know how it went, what worked and so on.

I posted a pic and it's here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1190156/

Some of you are so ambitious (Betty - A POND!!??) I feel like a real sluggard, but somehow can't get excited enough about it to do more than I am.

Someone said they'd post a link to the Cubits for me so I can take a look at the place - could you do it please? Or D-mail me if that's more what's acceptable - and thanks.

Supper is calling, so ttyl,
~marilyn

http://cubits.org/

There ya go Marilyn ..

So, has anyone a name for 'that Blue FLower" I posted a pic of? It's a perennial ...

~M~

Yes Marilyn, perennial Cornflower or Centaurea (montana I think). Is it dry there, looks a little short.

I was not sure as I could not see the flowers clearly but my vote is Centaurea montana

A lovely sunny day here- no sign of the late afternoon thundershowers yet. Seeded the pee spots in the grass this morning and other than that just lazed around all day, nice to be able to sit in the swing and do nothing!

This message was edited Jun 21, 2011 4:21 PM

Thanks for the name .. I Googled it and find that the Latin name is interchangeable with 'Bachelor Button'
Echoes, it has been moderately dry here .. I have 3 of these Bachelor Button Bushes .. and I'll be darned if one morning when I was watering, didn't it look like someone/thing had punched a BIG hole right in the middle of the bush .. I think they may need staking so that they'd grow taller ..
Expecting rain for the next 3 days .. veggie garden will LOVE it ^_^

~M~

ah - we were supposed to get rain today, but my car registered 28c!
No rain, but got my garden in (yes, Echo - it's late, for Winnipeg, but right on time for my knee recovery, and the Calgary weather LOL)

Storm is a brewing, just got home and realized the kitchen/ living room windows were open all day, drats now I must turn the furnace on, imagine doing something like that in late June!!

Yikes, army vehicle in an accident near Barrie as I was leaving, sure hope no lives lost..

I see there was a police office in Lindsay who was shot .. should be OK though ..
What a world !!

Thunder Bay has had about 45mm (1.75inches) of rain over the last about 18 hours .. the gardens are loving it, but, as I had to be out and about today, I sure wasn't ... and, as odd as this sounds, there are evacuations taking place north west of here by about 200km .. all because of the smoke associated with forest fires ..

Hoping to get out car shopping (SUV shopping tomorrow), not really wanting to test drive anything on rainy days though ..

Betty .. hope your home warms up ...


TTFN

~M~

I got a new computer CPU! My old one was so "crankingly slow" that I was having trouble getting on the 'net! 1/3 of the time it took re-booting the modem AND the PC before I could get online......
And my old keyboard wouldn't fit with the new CPU so I had to get a new keyboard ($13), and I may as well get a mic ($10) so I could go on Skype! The CPU only cost $75, as it's a friend of my DH and he only charged for an hour of his time. He didn't even take the old one so we now have TWO of my old ones here. Dunno what I'm going to do with them
So, for $98 I got a new system, keyboard and mic! How about that for a deal?!?!?! Oh, and it's "loaded" with everything I use - ALL of MS Office, etc. I'm very happy!!

Great news Susan, and good luck and happy surfing :-)
I also have 2 PC towers hanging out in the rafters in the garage .. have always been told it's not good to toss'em as there is/could be .. sensitive personal info on them, and, as well, the electronics inside aren't really meant for dumping ..looked into having the hard drives 'vacuumed' (all info removed) then donating the PCUs..well .. a small fortune to have that done .. right now they are outta sight, outta mind LoL

Furnace came on at 5am this morning .. cool dreary day out there ..
Hopefully heading out to test drive some SUVs ..

Have a good day

~M~

Susan there are several sites in Calgary where you can drop off electronic equipment for recycling. Just remove the hard drive.

yes, I know, Carol - we've helped friends get rid of their stuff at Staples. Bob just doesn't like getting rid of computers - one can be used for movie night at our church without disconnecting our current systems. Plus the fact that we know people without systems, and want to clean out one of these for a friend who is computer-less lol

Morning,

Slept like a baby last night..brrr it was cool even though I had the furnace on but didn't want to put it up high, just enough to take the chill off..

Was awfully tired last night, bet I was in bed not much later than 8pm.. brought my e-reader along with me and doubt a read a few pages.

It did rain again last night, we did have a few drops of rain during the day here in Barrie and Cathy telephone me and said that they had so much rain in my neck of the woods that they thought we'd all be flooded...

Rain for past 3 days but it rains during the night so that's wonderful..don't see any blue in the sky this morning but it's to appear tomorrow..let's see if that changes.



Lucky you Susan, what a bargain..these computers are now so disposable that I hate to keep any..my last one I gave to the school as they do repairs and give to younger children..nothing much important goes on in my life so I don't worry about sensative info..lol

With weekend ahead of us I'm trying to make my 'to do' list..you know me, like to know what I'm up to even if it's to no good..


I do need to work on the new pond, the water feature..have about 3 more extra large slate pieces to pick up at the quarry, then to Atlas Block for about 20 small building cement blocks to make a staircase look... so will have to go in search of a helper, take some of the water out and maybe Saturday between rain drops I can finish that project..

Girls want me to plant hosta's around it..well if my hosta's are the norm for size, yikes, they'd be much too big..know what I did with the other pond, planted flowers, shrubs etc. and now unless it April/early May you can't even see a pond so don't want to do that again, want to be able to sit near the edge and hear the water fall..

Behind this growth is a pond..lol

So what are you all up to, hopefully no one is expecting snow???

oh gosh no - no snow! It's 15c now, at 8:30 am - it's supposed to get to 23, with intermittent thundershowers.
Love the rain for our veggie garden. Checked it out yesterday, and to water it, and everything is looking so refreshed and sturdy. Only things like the lettuce and potatoes aren't "up" yet. Everything else is grown from plants and they're looking "perky" ^_^

Hm-m-m-m. I just picked my first lettuce - and it's all floppy, not crisp at all. Anyone know what can cause that?

Too much water, usually.

Hmmm not sure, I would have thought the heat! Maybe set the leafs in cold water with ice cubes in..

Did Toronto get the storm we got this afternoon? Shouldn't have to water for a few days..

you're likely right, Betty - we've had a "bit" of heat the past couple of days, too.

'Floppy lettuce' .. guess it could be either of the two suggestions from Echoes and Betty .. my problem is usually 'bitter lettuce' .. stopped buy one brand of 'leafing' stuff .. Red Sails seems to be okee dokee

Rain has stopped here for a bit, supposedly a lovely weekend on the horizon .. maybe the Oriental Poppies will make their push to POP !!

Doc put me on 'percocet' for my shoulder pain .. am being very cautious with it ..am up now as ONE tablet allowed my to sleep 4 hours, more sleep than I have had in a row in weeks .. but .. I don't want to repeat the dose at 2am as I need a clear mind today .. lots on the go..

Back to bed I go ..

TGIF

~M~

Marilynne - I hope the Percocet is successful in allowing you to sleep more. I guess I missed, it, but what did you do to the shoulder?

Floppy lettuce might also be related to the time of day. I think it's best to pick in the morning if you can. sometime plants get pretty flaccid in mid-day.

We had lots of rain overnight. definitely won't have to water most place here except maybe under the deepest shade of a few of my trees.

ViAnn ... I was diagnosed with 'psoriatic arthritis' in January, at that time I just had an uncomfortable hand which is where it was seated for a bit. In May it moved to BOTH my shoulders and I have been in agony .. not able to sleep lying down as my rotator cuffs are affected .. have tried different modalities and analgesics, but, after a good discussion with my doc, it was decided to stop using 'synthetic opiods' and go with the 'real deal' ie Percocet ..
As I am a very poor medication taker (2 tylenol extra strength knocks me out) I am approaching this drug with caution and taking it in half tabs .. and .. happy to say, it worked !!!!

Had thought the rain here was to have disappeared overnight, but, nope .. it's gently falling once again, the gardens look so nice .. they love the rain ^_^

Off to shower .. onwards to a busy day !

~M~

Yikes "M" mom was on percocet, not sure how much she took of it but it's the cause of her being skin and bones right now and our thinking she was from another planet..she's now off of it thank goodness! Do be extremely cautious.. not sure if some of these meds that help create more of a problem in the long run...

As for rain, we've been getting downpours..my poor gardens..everything because of sun/rain in May is tripple the size, especially in how high they are so last night and again this morning the flowers that have bloomed are all laying on the ground..doubtful that they will stand up again considering another few days of rain...


Isn't gardening fun...

I'm being pretty darned careful with the percs Betty .. I am allowed 2 a day, but have decided to take a half a tab 4 times a day (if I need it) .. looking back I can remember dispensing this drug and not thinking twice about it .. mind you I did have some patients who after a couple of doses of it said 'NO MORE' as it made them feel 'odd'.
This past week there was a drug bust in the city .. millions of dollars of illicit drugs were seized .. there were percocets selling for $60. per TABLET!!!!

Humid here, sun is just starting to shine .. gonna be pretty warm soon .. when I do 'tag days' it seems I am either caught up in extreme wind and cold/or/ hot humid weather .. guess today the latter will happen .. best go see If I have to press a sundress.

Toodles

~M~

Lol, can you imagine someone paying that ? What would a regular prescription cost?

100 year town anniversary party has already started..between me and the community centre is a tree'd concession..a friend who has a band and has been playing since 3pm and a tribute band starts at 8pm,,have the windows and doors closed as not to hear how loud it is...at 8pm Greg and friends will use my yard for parking, wanted to know if I wanted to join them, said nope, I'm enjoying the couch..too damp for me even in a tent!

I think you Should have charged for parking. It's going to be pretty noisy, eh?!

Yes, but I've turned up tv, closed windows/doors and when I sleep I sleep, no worry there.