Gardens

Oops, not doing such a great job with my blogging resolution -- the last blog entry was almost two months ago! My excuse is the gardens and our frantic scramble to get as much planted as we can before the hot weather (and the need to water, water, water) arrives. We have really accomplished so much, but the "to do" list seems to never shrink. We have planted all of the new fruit trees in the back orchard -- three figs, three peaches, four plums, one pear, one apple, two grapes, and six blueberries These join one fig, five pears, two apples, one peach, nine grapes, and many blueberries that stood fast during the ground remediation. In the front orchard, we have 36 blueberries and fifteen blackberries planted. We have three figs, a persimmon, several grapes, and four new apples to plant up there yet. In the veggie garden, we have planted four of the eleven beds. One bed is devoted to strawberries, the others contain winter veggies and salad greens. The peas are finally coming up -- had some doubts about them because we planted before a cold, freezing rain arrived -- but they just sat tight and waited for warmer days and are now pushing their little green shoots up. As we plant these beds, we are clearing the pots of plants out of the paths, laying down the new landscape fabric, and putting leaves into the paths. These plants were "warehoused" in the paths of the remediated garden as the rest of the ground project proceeded. As I move them out of the paths, I am trying to place them in the beds where they will be replanted. The other big accomplishment in the veggie garden is the new arbor/arch that Michael built for the front entrance. Will post a pix with this entry soon. Outside in the yard, we have planted about a dozen new camellias and assorted azaleas. Along the fence in the new "hedge garden" we have planted forsythia, deutzia, Chinese abelia, and one star magnolia. Still have lots of potted shrubs to plant in this area. I will also start lots of cutting flowers (zinnias, coreopsis, etc.) from seed to plant here. We have gotten four flats of the daffodil/narcissus bulbs back into the ground. This will be the big push for the next few weeks as the whole front porch is covered with flats of bulbs that need to be replanted. We dug them up before the ground remediation and it is taking a long time to get them replanted.

After re-reading this post, I am amazed at how much we have accomplished during the weekends of the last few months. Have to remind myself about that when I am overwhelmed by the task before us.

Planting in the Cold

This is an update on the planting progress, which satisfies two of my resolutions -- to blog and to plant! In the last few weekends, despite temperatures in the 30s during the day, we have made big progress on the planting projects. Have planted four plum trees, three fig trees, an apple tree, a pear tree, two grape vines, seven blueberry bushes, seven camellia bushes, and one garden bed with winter veggie transplants. Yippee! Guess all of the bundling up in layers of clothing and grumbling was worth it. We have also continued our sod-wrangling, i.e., moving sod from the spots we don't want it to the paths in the front fruit orchard. Have almost lined all of the paths with a sod carpet. We are also making some progress on deciding where the other fruit plantings will go: a double row of grapes, a double row of blackberries, three miniature figs, and a persimmon in the front orchard; bunch grapes along the old fence near the barn; and more blueberry bushes in the barnyard. After the fruits, have to turn our attention to the flowering shrubs that will be planted along the long fenceline with our neighbors. It looks like our winter and spring will be filled with planting!

The Life List

While having lunch with several coworkers yesterday, we started talking about what things are on our "Life List", i.e., things we want to do or see during our lifetime. I have so many. Here goes with my often-to-be-updated list.

1. Attend the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena. I actually got to view the floats the day after the parade when I was in California a few years ago and they were spectacular. But I want to see them cruising down the Pasadena streets, see the moving parts in action, and hear the bands playing. There is a good chance that I can fulfill this goal as my daughter lives in LA and I plan on another holiday visit in the future. Just need to get tickets for a reserved seat so that I don't have to spend New Year's Eve camping out on the Pasadena sidewalks!

2. Visit Monet's garden in Giverny. Okay, this one is going to cost a few bucks and should include a trip to other spots in France to make it cost effective. I have always loved Monet's garden paintings -- maybe because it is the way I see the world without my glasses. Everything is an impressionist painting when you are extremely nearsighted and have an astigmatism! When I discovered that Monet was a serious gardener, I was hooked. I have several books about his garden and its reconstruction, a video about the garden, and a picture of his house hanging in my office.

3. Visiting the national parks on camping trips. I have visited a few of the biggies over the years (Grand Canyon, Smoky Mountains, Niagara Falls, Shenandoah) and many of the smaller ones (Saint Gaudens studio in New Hampshire, Sandburg's home in North Carolina, Lincoln's home in Illinois, the Gateway Arch in Missouri, Stone River battlefield in Tennessee, Longfellow's home in Massachusetts, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, to name a few). However, I want to visit many others, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore. Might be able to visit Yosemite on a visit with my daughter in California, but will have to wait for retirement to really explore the others out west. Let's see how many more I can visit in the meantime.

Okay, that's enough for now. What's on your list?

Blogging resolution

I have been really lousy with my blogging! Haven't posted anything since the beginning of November. Now, the holidays have come and gone and a new decade has even begun. Well, my new decade's resolution is to post a blog at least once a week. If I spend a few minutes writing for myself each day, then I will have a record of my life in little "blogs" to look back on at the end of this year.
My other resolutions: spend less money, finish that stack of UFO knitting projects, complete one knitted gift each month (this can be combined with previous resolution for a two-fer!), and get the numerous plants, trees, and shrubs out of their pots and into the ground!

My Little Kitties

A feral tortoise shell calico cat took up residence in one of our sheds several months ago and we began to feed her. We soon discovered that she had four kittens who were a few months old. The kittens would come out to eat, but only when we were at a safe distance. In fact, I didn't realize that there were four kittens for several weeks as the shyest kitten only came out when she thought we were gone. We trapped all of these kittens -- we adopted two and a friend adopted two. But it is still a slow process of socializing them into domestic life.

Then we set our sights on the mama who was much more leery of the trap. It took some real stealth to entice her into the trap. We had to cover the trap with towels and layer the floor of it with newspaper so that she couldn't see the wire. We put another layer of newspaper in front of the trap and dropped oily tuna fish in a trail into the trap. Voila! That did the trick and we brought her to our vet to be spayed and get her shots. She will continue to live in our shed as long as she wants and we will continue to feed her.

The big surprise came when the vet asked if the first kittens were still nursing. When we responded that the kittens had been away for at least a month, the vet stated that we should go looking for more kittens because the mama was still lactating! A search of the shed revealed five little kittens! So, we have become the surrogate parents for these little kittens. We have been bottlefeeding them with replacer formula, cleaning them up, and teaching them to eat kitty gruel from a bowl. It is pretty exhausting!

They are five weeks old now and little bundles of energy! Three of the kittens must have had a Siamese daddy because they have the classic coloring of a Siamese. Their mother is a dark tortoise shell calico and they don't look a bit like her. The fourth is an orange tabby kitten with a white belly and the pinkest nose I have ever seen! The fifth, and the smallest of the litter, is a black "tuxedo" cat -- black with a white belly, bib, and feet. She also has white whiskers, a white star between her eyes, and a stripe of white hair inside each ear. We have named her Badger and she will be a permanent part of our kitty family. The three Siamese have adoptive families waiting for them. Only the little orange ginger cat is unspoken for. If we can't find a good adoptive family, he will stay with us, too.

Chemo hat

My friend Cris asked me to knit a soft hat for her sister who is just starting chemotherapy for breast cancer. Of course I said yes! Just happy to be able to do something positive for her. When I found out that her favorite color was blue, I started stash diving for the softest blue yarn I could find. Turned out to be Sublime baby cashmere silk merino dk in a soft baby blue color. Decided on the Shedir hat as it has cool cables that keep the project interesting and challenging. I have finished the main part of the hat and am beginning the decreases. My goal is to finish the hat by next weekend so that Cris can mail it off to her sister before she loses all of her hair. I am trying to knit good wishes and healing energy into each stitch. I promise to post a pix soon.

Autumnal Equinox

Seems like nature kicks it into high gear around the autumnal equinox and puts on quite a show with the wildflowers. The roadsides near my house in north Florida are positively smothered in flowers right now -- goldenrod, ageratum, asters, Spanish needles, morning glories, cypressvine morning glories, swamp sunflowers, and lots of other flowers that I don't know the names of. This fall display is every bit as impressive as the big spring bloom, but comes in a different palette. The fall palette is bright yellows, purples, and reds. And lots of butterflies add extra color as they flit from flower to flower. I have to remind myself to keep my eyes on the road as I drive the back roads on my way to work -- I am so drawn to the flowers and the insect activity. Ah, if I could only repeat a little of this design in my own gardens. Nature does it so effortlessly and it is always beautiful!