Showing posts with label peonies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peonies. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Rain, Rain Go Away: A Gardening Update and a Blueberry Story
This has truly been a crazy spring. I feel like it's been way more rainy and cold than usual, and I've spent hardly any time outside. This weekend, it rained most of the day Saturday and Sunday, so we had to stay inside. Poor Nick was pretty desperate to get outside Sunday evening after being cooped up for two days straight.
We made him finish dinner before running around, which is why he's shirtless. Nick refuses to wear a bib anymore, so I just stripped him, because we were having soup. I'm not sure what the bushes on the side of my house are called (the ones with the bright pink flowers), but they're certainly blooming despite the lack of sunshine. My clematis actually survived, and the flowers are gorgeous this year. I bought it as a rather sad looking clearance item, and planted it rather hopefully next to a metal thingie to climb. It climbed. On a side note, the name of this flower always makes me giggle. More than once, I have mispronounced the name as something like "Chlamydia." Yup, I know. They're not the same thing. Still makes me giggle. : )
I have most of my herbs and random other plants on my front patio. They were all grown from seeds (Seed Savers Exchange) under my light table. In the box above, I think I see parsley (or cilantro, I can't tell the difference), sage, basil, a tomato, and a pepper plant. Last year, my herbs took over, so I have them planted in pots this year. My front porch gets enough light, I think. Hey, they haven't died yet, so that's a good sign.
Above you can see the other side of my patio. The peas are overcrowded, I think, but the peppers and tomatoes look decent.
You can see Nick checking out the tomatoes in the octagonal planter. He kept banging that plastic shovel on everything, including my bunny fence. The tomatoes are doing very well, considering. The two boxes on the left have cucumbers, squash, and zucchini, which is why there is so little green. My spinach is in the box to the far right, and it really varies in size. I cannot figure out why some of the spinach plants are so big and some so small. Maybe it has something to do with the weather, because they were planted at exactly the same time.
The broccoli and peas are surviving, though I think I may have planted the peas too closely together. Oh, well--you live, you learn. The carrots are in the upper left hand corner and are doing okay. Sigh. At least nothing is outright dead. I feel like that is an accomplishment in itself.
My strawberries seem okay, though I seem to remember more flowers last year. Nick liked the way the baby strawberries felt. He said they were bumpy. I hope we get a good harvest. . . although I may not be capable of going out and picking strawberries myself. I seem to recall that the strawberries were ready for harvest right around the beginning of June. I'll be a little busy in the next few weeks. My birthday is next Sunday, and then my wedding anniversary is on the 8th. Finally, I am going into the hospital first thing on June 9th for my c-section, and I'm not sure how long I will be in the hospital, let alone when I'll feel up to gardening. Hmm.
That brings me to the peonies. Yes, I know that they need to be tied up. We'll try to get on that right away tomorrow. I've been using the peonies as a kind of gauge for when this new baby is coming, and these peonies are getting huge and round, just like me.
A peony is an odd flower. I don't know that I would choose to plant them, but the three healthy bushes came with the house. They are gorgeous, if you can catch them on the three days of the year when they're blooming. So when the peonies bloom and then promptly get wet and fall over into a nasty pile on the sidewalk that looks like wet tissue paper, I should be giving birth. I probably won't look so hot, either, but I bet I'll be in better shape than the peonies.
The crowning glory of my garden this year is my three brand new blueberry bushes. They were a gift from my husband and son for Mother's Day, and there's a story behind them. Back in 2007, during the first summer I spent in this house, I bought myself three very expensive blueberry bushes from a nursery ($40 a pop). I did a lot of research about how to combine soil and peat, choose the ideal location, and ensure that the blueberry bushes survive.
I spent four entire days digging deep holes for my bushes. It was really hard, because I was digging through sod and grass, and I'm not terribly strong. I was very proud of those bushes. They actually did pretty well that first year, at least until my husband got to them. . .
That first fall (2007), Greg asked me one afternoon which plants he could cut down for the winter. I had him trim down the rosebushes, peonies, my autumn joy, and many of the wildflowers. I showed him exactly what to do with all of the plants in the front. But he got carried away. . . .
Greg decided to trim all the plants all the way around the house, without asking me how to do it safely. He trimmed my blueberry bushes right down to the dirt, effectively killing him. I actually cried when I found out. In his defense, he had never done any gardening before. But I had put my blood, sweat, and tears into those stinking bushes, and I never even got to taste one blueberry. (It is normal to have to wait a few years for a real blueberry harvest.) Last year, he bought me a raspberry bush to make up for it, but it was not the same thing at all.
This year, when Greg asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, I immediately brought up the blueberry situation. Greg bought me three beautiful looking blueberry bushes from Costco, called JULIE to make sure he wouldn't hit any gas or power lines, and then spent several hours digging holes deep and wide enough to plant my new favorite plants. He was not pleased when he realized how much work went into planting them. I then reminded him that I had done the same thing that first summer, and I believe he now knows why I was so devastated when he destroyed those bushes.
This evening, while we were having our dinner out on the porch, one of the neighbor's children threw a ball into our yard, bumping one of the bushes. Greg, who usually is not confrontational about things like this, stood up and shouted, "Hey, cut it out!" at the kids in a rather agressive voice. He now understands my position on blueberry bushes, and both of us will protect the darned things with our lives. Let's just hope they survive.
We made him finish dinner before running around, which is why he's shirtless. Nick refuses to wear a bib anymore, so I just stripped him, because we were having soup. I'm not sure what the bushes on the side of my house are called (the ones with the bright pink flowers), but they're certainly blooming despite the lack of sunshine. My clematis actually survived, and the flowers are gorgeous this year. I bought it as a rather sad looking clearance item, and planted it rather hopefully next to a metal thingie to climb. It climbed. On a side note, the name of this flower always makes me giggle. More than once, I have mispronounced the name as something like "Chlamydia." Yup, I know. They're not the same thing. Still makes me giggle. : )
I have most of my herbs and random other plants on my front patio. They were all grown from seeds (Seed Savers Exchange) under my light table. In the box above, I think I see parsley (or cilantro, I can't tell the difference), sage, basil, a tomato, and a pepper plant. Last year, my herbs took over, so I have them planted in pots this year. My front porch gets enough light, I think. Hey, they haven't died yet, so that's a good sign.
Above you can see the other side of my patio. The peas are overcrowded, I think, but the peppers and tomatoes look decent.
You can see Nick checking out the tomatoes in the octagonal planter. He kept banging that plastic shovel on everything, including my bunny fence. The tomatoes are doing very well, considering. The two boxes on the left have cucumbers, squash, and zucchini, which is why there is so little green. My spinach is in the box to the far right, and it really varies in size. I cannot figure out why some of the spinach plants are so big and some so small. Maybe it has something to do with the weather, because they were planted at exactly the same time.
The broccoli and peas are surviving, though I think I may have planted the peas too closely together. Oh, well--you live, you learn. The carrots are in the upper left hand corner and are doing okay. Sigh. At least nothing is outright dead. I feel like that is an accomplishment in itself.
My strawberries seem okay, though I seem to remember more flowers last year. Nick liked the way the baby strawberries felt. He said they were bumpy. I hope we get a good harvest. . . although I may not be capable of going out and picking strawberries myself. I seem to recall that the strawberries were ready for harvest right around the beginning of June. I'll be a little busy in the next few weeks. My birthday is next Sunday, and then my wedding anniversary is on the 8th. Finally, I am going into the hospital first thing on June 9th for my c-section, and I'm not sure how long I will be in the hospital, let alone when I'll feel up to gardening. Hmm.
That brings me to the peonies. Yes, I know that they need to be tied up. We'll try to get on that right away tomorrow. I've been using the peonies as a kind of gauge for when this new baby is coming, and these peonies are getting huge and round, just like me.
A peony is an odd flower. I don't know that I would choose to plant them, but the three healthy bushes came with the house. They are gorgeous, if you can catch them on the three days of the year when they're blooming. So when the peonies bloom and then promptly get wet and fall over into a nasty pile on the sidewalk that looks like wet tissue paper, I should be giving birth. I probably won't look so hot, either, but I bet I'll be in better shape than the peonies.
The crowning glory of my garden this year is my three brand new blueberry bushes. They were a gift from my husband and son for Mother's Day, and there's a story behind them. Back in 2007, during the first summer I spent in this house, I bought myself three very expensive blueberry bushes from a nursery ($40 a pop). I did a lot of research about how to combine soil and peat, choose the ideal location, and ensure that the blueberry bushes survive.
I spent four entire days digging deep holes for my bushes. It was really hard, because I was digging through sod and grass, and I'm not terribly strong. I was very proud of those bushes. They actually did pretty well that first year, at least until my husband got to them. . .
That first fall (2007), Greg asked me one afternoon which plants he could cut down for the winter. I had him trim down the rosebushes, peonies, my autumn joy, and many of the wildflowers. I showed him exactly what to do with all of the plants in the front. But he got carried away. . . .
Greg decided to trim all the plants all the way around the house, without asking me how to do it safely. He trimmed my blueberry bushes right down to the dirt, effectively killing him. I actually cried when I found out. In his defense, he had never done any gardening before. But I had put my blood, sweat, and tears into those stinking bushes, and I never even got to taste one blueberry. (It is normal to have to wait a few years for a real blueberry harvest.) Last year, he bought me a raspberry bush to make up for it, but it was not the same thing at all.
This year, when Greg asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, I immediately brought up the blueberry situation. Greg bought me three beautiful looking blueberry bushes from Costco, called JULIE to make sure he wouldn't hit any gas or power lines, and then spent several hours digging holes deep and wide enough to plant my new favorite plants. He was not pleased when he realized how much work went into planting them. I then reminded him that I had done the same thing that first summer, and I believe he now knows why I was so devastated when he destroyed those bushes.
This evening, while we were having our dinner out on the porch, one of the neighbor's children threw a ball into our yard, bumping one of the bushes. Greg, who usually is not confrontational about things like this, stood up and shouted, "Hey, cut it out!" at the kids in a rather agressive voice. He now understands my position on blueberry bushes, and both of us will protect the darned things with our lives. Let's just hope they survive.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Things I Love About Spring
1. Tulips and Irises. They're so cheerful. I especially love the color of the irises. In fact, I love all spring flowers. I like the daffodils as well, and the hyacinths. I'm kind of using the peonies (you can see them sprouting in the front of this picture) as a timeline for when the baby is coming. They usually bloom around the end of May or beginning of June, and I'm scheduled for my c-section June 9th. So as those peonies pop up, it reminds me of all the things I need to do before the baby is born.
*Above photo courtesy of Amanda Wiatr.
2. That first pedicure of the year. Sandal season has officially begun! Just in time, too, because my feet have been swelling a bit, and flip-flops always fit, no matter what. I love the way my feet feel after a nice spa pedicure.
3. The first frappucino of the year. I know I could order them in the winter but they just don't feel right until a warm spring day. I always order a tall, light caramel frappucino, but I make them add the whipped cream anyway. It's all about the trade-offs.
4. Little boys with worms. Aww. Enough said.
5. The gorgeous trees in my neighborhood that flower with lovely white flowers this time of year. They look just beautiful--see the one in the background of this picture?
6. The smell of spring. I don't have a picture for that, so here's a hyacinth. Oh, maybe I do have a picture for the smell of spring.
7. The fact that Panera has spinach again. They only have it in the spring and summertime, and it's back! I've been really, really craving spinach salads lately, and the BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad is awesome when you substitute spinach for the lettuce.
It must be my anemia, but I have even been having dreams about this salad. I very suddenly got extremely anemic. Apparently the cute little parasite inside of me has sucked my entire store of available iron, leaving me exhausted and paler than death. I went today for my first IV infusion of iron, and had to stop on the way for this salad. I only ever eat the half-size portion, though. I guess desperately craving salad is far better than those red velvet whoopie pies I was craving last month.
8. Speaking of spinach, I love the way my spinach is actually growing this year. Thanks to the chicken wire, the bunnies haven't been able to touch it. I can't wait to taste my own garden grown spinach.
*Above photo courtesy of Amanda Wiatr.
2. That first pedicure of the year. Sandal season has officially begun! Just in time, too, because my feet have been swelling a bit, and flip-flops always fit, no matter what. I love the way my feet feel after a nice spa pedicure.
3. The first frappucino of the year. I know I could order them in the winter but they just don't feel right until a warm spring day. I always order a tall, light caramel frappucino, but I make them add the whipped cream anyway. It's all about the trade-offs.
4. Little boys with worms. Aww. Enough said.
5. The gorgeous trees in my neighborhood that flower with lovely white flowers this time of year. They look just beautiful--see the one in the background of this picture?
6. The smell of spring. I don't have a picture for that, so here's a hyacinth. Oh, maybe I do have a picture for the smell of spring.
7. The fact that Panera has spinach again. They only have it in the spring and summertime, and it's back! I've been really, really craving spinach salads lately, and the BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad is awesome when you substitute spinach for the lettuce.
It must be my anemia, but I have even been having dreams about this salad. I very suddenly got extremely anemic. Apparently the cute little parasite inside of me has sucked my entire store of available iron, leaving me exhausted and paler than death. I went today for my first IV infusion of iron, and had to stop on the way for this salad. I only ever eat the half-size portion, though. I guess desperately craving salad is far better than those red velvet whoopie pies I was craving last month.
8. Speaking of spinach, I love the way my spinach is actually growing this year. Thanks to the chicken wire, the bunnies haven't been able to touch it. I can't wait to taste my own garden grown spinach.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Under the Weather During Beautiful Weather
It's me who has been under the weather--Nick is just fine. I've been sick the last couple of days--since Monday, really, although I made it at work until Tuesday afternoon. It was some sort of horrible stomach or flu bug that finally ran its course. I suppose I picked really good days to be sick, though. The weather was amazing, and I was able to spend a few hours outside with Nick enjoying it. I do believe the fresh air helped me to feel better, although I needed to lie down again after only about 30 minutes outdoors. Check out the tree in the background--I love all of the white blooms.
It's funny, but I think he somehow knew I was sick. Nicholas was really well behaved (for a toddler). When I was lying on the couch Tuesday afternoon, wracked with chills and trying to watch him play, he didn't throw a tantrum. Instead, he played with his toys and brought me books to read to him. Then he snuggled with me on the couch. Nick was pretty good all week, actually, and he didn't wreak too much havoc while I was recuperating. It's funny how that happens--I noticed it with my students at school, too, on Tuesday. I told them I wasn't feeling well, and they didn't give me any trouble and were extra nice. That's one of the reasons I like children.
I just love perennials. They're nearly impossible to kill, come back no matter what, require very little work, and they can make my house look amazing even if I have no idea what I'm doing. The year I was pregnant with Nick I literally did not touch one thing outside, and I still got compliments on my "gardening" skills. Not too bad.
It's funny, but I think he somehow knew I was sick. Nicholas was really well behaved (for a toddler). When I was lying on the couch Tuesday afternoon, wracked with chills and trying to watch him play, he didn't throw a tantrum. Instead, he played with his toys and brought me books to read to him. Then he snuggled with me on the couch. Nick was pretty good all week, actually, and he didn't wreak too much havoc while I was recuperating. It's funny how that happens--I noticed it with my students at school, too, on Tuesday. I told them I wasn't feeling well, and they didn't give me any trouble and were extra nice. That's one of the reasons I like children.
With the weather here in the 80s, Nick kept announcing "outside!" and pointing towards the door. He wanted to play outside, and I could only stall him for so long. Not that I really wanted to; I was perfectly comfortable sitting in the grass watching him poke things with sticks and run around. My spring flowers are looking really good so far. The tulips and irises (I think they're irises) are blooming, with more buds still to come, and the peonies are just starting to come up. Below you can see Nick giving you the tour. He's learned to say "Pretty," and he keeps pointing at trees and flowers and announcing just that.
I just love perennials. They're nearly impossible to kill, come back no matter what, require very little work, and they can make my house look amazing even if I have no idea what I'm doing. The year I was pregnant with Nick I literally did not touch one thing outside, and I still got compliments on my "gardening" skills. Not too bad.
I love that Nick was able to wear shorts today. I'm also rather proud of the outfits I found him this year. I think I've learned my lessons about buying children's clothing. Now I buy everything online, and most of it is lightly used. I really like the clothes from Gymboree, but I sure can't afford to shop there. So instead I buy the outfits from other people's kids who have grown out of them. This little outfit consists of an ant motif with "work, work, work" on the front. The hat matches, as do the socks and the cargo shorts. I have another onesie that goes with the ensemble, which is called "Botanical Babies," and cost me less than $15, with shipping. I believe that's a wood chip in one hand and half of a plastic Easter egg in the other.
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