The Fall Garden....

Mercy, it's been a long time since I've written. My apologies...

I love the fall garden. The harvest is in, or most of it. There's only a few green tomatoes left on vines. The herbs are still doing well, of course. Also still plenty of carrots. I'll leave them in the ground and pull them as we need them.

Yesterday and today I gathered seed from fennel and dill and also bean pods that I had left on the vines a long time ago. I'll try planting them next spring. I'll also have a small harvest of cilantro seed, aka coriander. Of course there are many little tomatoes on the ground that will produce volunteers for me next spring.

My best tasting tomatoes this year came from Cherry Sweeties which I had planted last year and they reseeded. (I allowed one or two plants to grow and produce this year.) I will allow some to grow next year also.

I also got Chocolate Cherry volunteers. I confirmed my opinion from last year, I don't care for them. So when I pulled the vines a week ago I scrupulously picked up all fallen chocolate cherry tomatoes.

I also got some interesting volunteers from seed drops of a heritage tomato which is very popular but I can't remember the name. The leaves look like potato leaves. The tomatoes on it this year were smaller than from the original plant last year. Strange for a heritage plant. I thought they were supposed to reproduce true from seed. But there were a lot of them and they ripened well. They were about twice the size of cherry tomatoes, two bite cherries. Quite tasty, but the skins were rather tough and later in the season they all started to split even before ripening.

I started some tomato plants from seed again. Yellow Pear cherry tomatoes which are a favorite of a good friend of mine where an easy choice. I won't grow them again. I thought they were rather tasteless, but they were very pretty in a salad and were huge producers. Also started seeds for Park Slicer and a couple other Park varieties. They were unremarkable and started ripening late.

I also started plants of cabbage, one yellow banana pepper (had one seed left from last year), 3-4 green peppers, brussel sprouts, Walla Walla onions, and Texas Sweet onions. I tried direct sewing scallion seed, and toy bok choi seed which I grew last year and we loved. It's better to start bok choi plants inside and transplant later.

Our favorite produce was GARLIC!!!!

Last fall (a year ago) I planted spinach, radishes and three types of garlic which I bought from The Garlic Store online. We also planted some buds from grocery store garlic. The spinach and the radishes sprouted before the ground froze. The radishes made it through the winter and grew for an early crop in the spring. The spinach did not make it. The grocery store garlic sprouted and held through the winter and we harvested mid summer.

The three special garlics were Kettle River Giants, California Late, and Inchelin Red. I planted all garlic about October 15, 2009. All sprouted and held through the winter. Then in the spring they leaped out of the ground. The tops got to be over three feet tall. The tops started dying off mid summer, as I recall, signaling the approach of harvest time. Each of the three types finished at slightly different times allowing me to harvest one type before having to get the rest out of the ground. I let them cure a bit (a week) before cleaning off all remaining soil and dead outer paper. Then I braided them. They looked wonderful.

Unfortunately, for all my care in keeping the three types separated while planting and harvesting and braiding. I did not keep track of which one we liked the best for cooking and eating.

The one we liked least was the grocery store brand. All three of the others produced more and larger bulbs.

Hubby David says he likes the one that were sort of purplish. Are these the Inchelin Red? I think so. All of them produced a variety of sizes of bulbs but the three specials were larger in general. The braiding went well but the Kettle River Giants were easiest to braid even if they were not the largest over all.

This year I have ordered two quantities of the Inchelin Red, one of Rocambole and one of Morado Gigante. I'll try to keep better records for this planting for next year.

I still have lots of herbs to gather and dry: sage (which I love), oregano, and chives.

So, there is a little bit left of the garden work/fun. And also a bit left to do in the front flower gardens, but soon everything will be resting for the winter.

Newest Victory

CH Ashwood Kenric's Cat Scratch Club, aka Christine, aka Chrissie has just had her newest victory.

She CAUGHT A BIRD!!

Chrissie was on the front porch/deck. I heard a scramble and a tiny "chirk!"

I went to the door, Chrissie was there with a bird foot sticking out of her mouth!!!

I was too appalled to tell David to grab the camera. I grabbed her mouth and pried it open and pulled out a sparrow...small...probably very young and not a good flier yet.

Poor little thing. I felt horrible. Chrissie felt proud, but I did not let her revel in her glory. I ignored the whole thing. Can't scold her for following her instincts but I felt really bad.

Aaaaccckkkkkk!

First Year They Sleep...

Many of you know the old saying about Perennials.....

First year they sleep,
Second year they creep,
Third year they leap.

...referring to planting new perennials in your flower beds.

Well, my perennials, and in fact the whole bed, are in their second year and they're leaping already. So I need to expand. (Twist my arm)

This is the north bed in June 2009.


Here it is today.



Here's the south bed June 2009.


Here it is today, 11 months later.


You can see what the problem is....

Proposed expansion solution for the north bed:


Proposed expansion solution for the south bed:


Now I just need to get my landscaper friends (they have a company, Shaffer's Lawn Care)here to lift the sod and plant the edging for me.

I'll show "after" photos when they're done and I have it all planted.

Ever Teach a Child Something, then Wish You Hadn't?

Well, that happened to us with Chrissie...

We've always hung a noise device on the inside of the back door of our houses at just the right height for a cairn. The first one we used with Murdo was a cookie sheet hung just beside the door (didn't have a bell). David taught Murdo to paw at it with his front feet. As soon as Murdo hit the cookie sheet, we'd open the door and let him out.

At about the same time we also installed a doggie door in the storm door of the back door. David also taught Murdo to use the doggie door.

Ring bell/hit cookie sheet, inside door opens and doggie door becomes available. (Our back yard was fully fenced.) Doggies could come and go as they pleased. I always had my mother's internal clock running and if he was out too long I'd go check.

When Geordie came, Murdo was the teacher. It was amazing to watch and it worked very well. Although it was a great conversation starter, we replaced the cookie sheet with a string of sleigh bells.

So, now comes Chrissie. The bells are hung. The doggie door is installed. We both are acting as teachers. We'd take her front paws in our hands and hit the bells with them, then quickly open the doors. After about three days, she got the hang of the bells. All too soon, she was ringing the bell every five minutes because she wanted to be outside just for the sake of being out. She learned the trick too well. :-) So we had to come to terms.

Now that it's warm we have the inner door mostly open when we are nearby so she comes and goes. If we are working and not in the same room, we close the inner door. Chrissie is very athletic and I'm taking no chances by letting her be outside too long alone.

You may be asking why Chrissie wanted to go outside every five minutes... Surely just being outside is not THAT great. Well, I discovered the cause celebre. Chrissie loves to hunt earthworms!! She locates them slithering up out of their holes and along the ground. She stands nearby, head cocked, ears forward, and pounces just as though they were a mouse! I'm guessing that she hears them but I suppose she may see them as they move. Whatever, it surely holds her attention.

A couple nights ago, she had gone out through "her" door and immediately set up a huge ruckus! I ran out after her and saw her barking furiously at something on the other side of the back fence. It was a possum!! Boy do they have big teeth! Thank Little Doggie Gods it was on the other side of the fence. It stopped its lumbering gait, turned around to stare at my flashlight, growled and snarled and then lumbered off. Chrissie was still furious... But I called her off and she was very proud of herself.

Yesterday, I had to go run some errands, so Chrissie was at home alone with David. He said she was kind of morose and quiet. When I got home... WOW!!! I've never had such a welcome home...ever. She was thrilled that I was back home. I was as happy at her reaction as she was to see me. I finally have MY best fur friend.

Well, I've rambled on for long enough. I'll be talking to you again in not too long.

Very Special First Day of Spring...

One the first day of Spring, 2010, our family grew by one person and 4 legs. A new little cairn terrier came to live with us! She is a little girl, five years old and a retired show dog (American Champion) and retired mommy.



Here's a couple photos taken when she was being shown by her breeder and first daddy, Joe Vernuccio.





As you can see, she is much darker now. This is not unusual.

She is the dearest, sweetest, gentlest little cairn I have even known. She was immediately at home in our home and she made it her own.

Her favorite toy is anything that squeeks...especially Mr. Green Dog.

Mr. Green Dog has FIVE squeekers in it and it's great for playing tug-of-war with Daddy.

Finally, we have a fur friend who is partial to me. She follows me everywhere. I'm so happy to finally have found "my" doggy pal. Here we are going for a walk.

(That's me with the very short blonde hair.)

She takes us for 2-3 walks everyday which is great for all of us.

Welcome home, little Chrissie. We love you already.

Just So You Know....

that I haven't complete forgotten my blog, here's a
photo from last summer.



Snow is all gone from my yard except one small patch in the back where it is always in shadow from the neighbor's garage.

After my first inspection I found the following are all showing a presence: tulips, daffodils, pulmonaria, daisies, sedums, lobelia, lily.

These never died out completely: thyme, some grasses, heuchera, bubblegum plant, and pansies!

Still to show: roses, gaura, and some others.

I've kept a few piles of leaves to toss back onto the garden if it gets really cold again.

I'm so happy to have dirt under my nails again...

I Remember Mema...

Mema was my maternal grandmother. I named her that sometime way long ago before I can remember... She's always been Mema.

My first memories of Mema were when she kept a rooming house for Ohio State students in Columbus, OH. I must have been about 4 years old. We, Mother, Daddy and I, had recently moved back to Ohio from North Carolina.

Mema was great for cuddles and for telling stories. She would always start her stories, "Once upon a time when I was a little boy..." I would squeal and tell her, "You were never a little boy". We'd laugh and she'd go on with her story.

Another thing she used to do for me was to allow me to pop out her lower denture. I'd press on her chin and she'd pop out the denture. More squealing and laughter.

She had a tree right next to an upper story window where a squirrel would come and beg for treats...which she had plenty ready. That was a thrill for me.

She used a real ice box, and I can remember the ice man coming with deliveries of huge blocks of ice to put in the top of it.

She spent her later years living 6 months a year with us and 6 months with her other daughter, my aunt, in Pensylvania.

Remember back when I was writing about painting the bedroom in our house? Well, it's been completed for a while but I finally got some art hung. It's all photos that I took while living on Whidbey Island. They and others actually hung in a couple shows there.

So the bedroom has my photography, but better than that it has a lot of Mema's things in it too.



Mema made the quilt for me about 1962. Her plan had been to make one for each of use 4 grandkids, but I was the only one who got one. After that, it was beyond her. It's a Double Wedding Ring pattern. I chose the pattern, and the blue and purple centers but she cut out each of the tiny little pieces and sewed them together all by hand. Mother then took the "top" to a local church where the ladies quilted it also all by hand. I just started using it in this room. Why keep a thing of beauty "saved" and hidden?

The little rocking chair was Mema's as was the pillow on it which she also made. I have many memories of Mema in her later years sitting on that chair (it was white then) beside a square table which I also have, sewing, sewing, sewing. She sewed my quilt top while sitting on that chair.

The three pillows on the bed were embroidered by Mother. That was the only "fancy work" Mother liked to do, Crewel embroidery.

Hope you enjoy my memory room...