Category Archives: my garden
favorite garden pictures
Preparing for the vegetable garden
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Our blueberry bushes didn’t make it through this past winter. I dug them out today. The catbirds will miss them. They raided them and almost cleared them off before I could harvest them last year. After the conference, I’ll put tomato, eggplant, and pepper plants where they were.
Two pots are ready for me to plant plum tomatoes alongside the house. Another pot will hold lettuce. I may try to squeeze a few more vegetables in among the flowers in the side garden.
The rhubarb is ready for the first picking. Oh boy, I can smell the rhubarb custard pie now. The cherry tree up in the cemetery must be loaded with cherries again. I keep finding cherry pits in my garden and the waterfall. Thanks to the birds.
If you feed squirrels, I am mad at you. The danged squirrels are digging holes in my garden to hide peanuts someone is giving to them. I can’t tell you how many I’ve tossed into the garbage. If you are going to feed the tree rats, at least give them shelled peanuts. That way they’ll eat them and not bury them.
Posted in My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Conference countdown and happenings in the garden
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Six days to go. We picked up the last few items for the baskets we’re donating to the Chinese auction. Two of the baskets are on my kitchen table. My conference roommate has the others at her house. I almost pity the person who wins the one basket. They’ll need someone with a strong back and a weak mind to carry it to their car. Um, Dave? Did I just hear you volunteer?
DH has his cart charged and claims he is ready to handle the dogs. I bet that by the end of the first day, the dogs will be handling him. BTs are like that. Give them an inch they’ll take a mile.
For a change of subject, there’s a very noisy wren building a nest in a little birdhouse in the yard next door. It’s hard to believe that such a loud song can come from such a tiny bird. A pair of cardinals are busy constructing a nest in the chocolate vines and ivy on my shed. It’s a good thing they waited until the frogs left. We had one attempt to climb up the vines one night. After the frog fell from about three feet up DH dubbed him George of the jungle.
Posted in My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Writer, Writing
We don’t need rain right now…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We sure did get a load of rain the night before last. From what I heard, it totaled over 3 inches worth. I’m glad I thought to tie up some of my plants that would’ve flattened under a heavy downpour. I didn’t tie up the crane’s bill and it was pretty well flattened by the time the sun came out today. It’s a good thing that once it dries out it tends to rise again.
I have some candleholders that stick in the ground. I hadn’t put any candles in the cups and they were full of water when I went outside today. The ground in the back garden was downright saturated by the runoff we get from the apartment building behind us.
When I came down in the morning, the sky still threatened more rain. However, some time around four the sun came out and drove the clouds away.
Unfortunately, with all that heavy rain Goliath and two other frogs went walkabout and none of them have returned. We are now down to one bullfrog. Maybe that’s a good thing since those bullfrogs were starting go for any bird that happened to land close to them.
Posted in Misc, My blog, my garden, Weather related, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
The frogs let me down
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We had a lovely day here yesterday. We hit a new high temperature record for the date. DH didn’t do so well by afternoon when it hit 87 degrees, but we expect it to be so, and make adjustments. He dresses cooler, tries not to over do it, and stays inside where, with a brick home, it’s cooler until late at night.
DH takes a daily afternoon nap. It helps him function better. This unfortunately is where he was when I was outside and almost fell off my chair with excitement. I watched a great blue heron fly over, and although glad that he didn’t stop by for a snack of Koi, I was bursting at having no one around to share my exhilaration. Even G was away and she would’ve been as thrilled as I was.
Around 7 p.m., it had cooled down to a nice 76 and DH came outside to sit by the pond for a little while. We watched robins bathe in the waterfall, goldfinches serenaded us, and a gentle breeze kept us comfortable.
However, the frogs let me down. They made a liar out of me. No one sang.
Posted in Misc, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
The pups are after the compost bin again
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I have a compost bin. We do the coffee grounds, tea bags, any kitchen waste that’s not meat—all of it goes in the compost heap. There’s one teensy problem though. We put banana peels in there because they are great for the garden. The problem is with the banana peels I have to keep the bin blocked off so the dogs can’t get near it.
You see my dogs adore bananas. You could say they are bananas for bananas. We can’t open a peel without having the two dogs plaster themselves to our side until they each get some. Therefore, they would scavenge the peels from the compost pile if they could.
Last year Gavin tried his darnedest to climb into the bin because he smelled his favorite treat in there. In an instant he was stuck. I then had to climb over obstacles to pry him out of there. I need a better way to block the bin.
Yesterday Patty attempted a raid on the bin. With her long legs, she might have made it. It’s a good thing she was on the retractable leash at the time.
Posted in Dog related, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
A message from beyond?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Once when my sister visited me she brought some Texas bluebonnet seeds. We planted them near the pond, our favorite place to sit and shoot the breeze, when she was here. The seeds didn’t grow and I forgot about them.
A few weeks after she died, I noticed a familiar plant growing. There, where we’d planted the seeds a few years before was a Texas bluebonnet. I watched it grow and when it bloomed, I smiled remembering a time that we’d played in a field of them. We acted like children and for a little while delayed our trip to the hospital in Ft. Sam.
Every year since then one has grown in the same spot. I’ve planted seeds from it in other places but they don’t come up. The only one that grows is where we planted the seeds together. I think of it as her way of letting me know she’s around.
Today the first sprout broke ground. I smiled.
Posted in In memory of..., My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Gardening as a blood sport
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I swear not one day out in the garden goes by where I don’t end up bleeding from something. Today I slashed the inside of my left arm (in the tender skin) with my little pruners. Queen Klutz strikes again. Last week I cut my fingers to ribbons pulling weeds with my old holey leather gloves on. I need new gloves. However, gloves wouldn’t have helped when I tried to amputate my arm today.
I’m still trying to figure out how I did that one. All I was doing was trying to cut down all the daffodil plants before the coming rain flattened them. They’d reached the stage where they’d flop over with the slightest provocation. I was blithely hacking away at them, tossing the trimmings into the wheelbarrow, when it happened. I stared at the laceration and wondered how I managed to do it. No clue.
On several occasions, I’ve managed to trip over a rake or shovel resulting in foot gashes or skinned knees but I’ve never slashed my arm before. DH had no sympathy for me, no; instead, he was hard pressed to keep from laughing. Is it any wonder that he won’t let me drive the mower?
Posted in My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, comedy, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Short work on the pond
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I went to backwash the pond filter today. I turned it off, set the filter to backwash, turned it on and nothing happened. I mean nothing, zilch, zip, nada. Crap. I fiddled with the plug, turned the switch off and on, still nothing. Double crap.
I went inside to the basement and checked the circuit breakers. They were fine. Triple crap. Now, I had to drag DH outside. He’d just gone up for a nap. DH wasn’t happy. He fiddled with the plug, had me turn the switch on and off, and then was going to send me to check the breakers. I told him I’d done that already.
He knows electrical work but for him to do it, it isn’t easy. He checked the wire going to the plug and found a short he fixed that. However, we had to run an extension cord because there is also a short between the outlet by the waterfall and the switch on the side of the shed.
I love our pond but I have a feeling that if anything happens to the Koi again we will fill it in and turn it into garden.
Posted in hobbies, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Bullfrog flattened!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
No, it wasn’t Goliath. No, it wasn’t Bad Froggy either. It was one of the other three. How do I know? Goliath sat on the bench rock begging for worms after I found the dead frog in the alley. Bad Froggy is our only singer and I heard him later too.
The hadn’t-as-yet-been-named bullfrog was probably heading to the cemetery to hunt. After all, it was raining and the nightcrawlers were plentiful. I’d gone out there to pick up a few to feed the fish and Goliath.
I found his almost Goliath sized body in the alley near the cemetery fence. It was frogicide. It wasn’t an accidental killing. From the position of the body, you could tell that the only way someone would’ve hit him was if they’d aimed their car for it. A hit and run driver took him out. The poor frog never did anyone any harm. All he wanted was to fill his belly with worms on a rainy night.
Posted in My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
A weakness for plants
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Saturday I received one of my favorite spring treats—the flyer from a local farm and greenhouse operation. ‘They offer thousands of healthy bedding plants, annuals, and perennials. Vegetables including over 75 tomato varieties and 68 pepper varieties and large selection of herbs and scented geraniums. They have blueberry and raspberry bushes along with 52 hosta cultivars and 48 different hemerocallis.’ In other words, they are a gardener’s paradise.
G and I will pay a call there after the Pennwriters conference next month. By then, we can safely plant tomatoes, peppers, watermelons, and the many other floras we’ll buy that day. We will load the rear of her hubby’s SUV to overflowing.
Last year I spent more than she did. We’ll see who gets off cheapest this year and I’m betting it won’t be me. I have a weakness for plants, an addiction if you will and not unlike my addiction for books.
I’ve perused their lists and marked what I want. This year the gardens will have, vegetable plants intermixed with flowers. The tomatoes I tried that way last year grew well. I’d sure like a nice variety of vegetables this year.
Posted in hobbies, Misc, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Bullfrogs can draw blood.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Yes, I do think that most of the people around here are convinced I’m crazy. You should have seen the looks I got from a few cars that passed me tonight when I was picking up night crawlers in the alley. Hey, I’m a gardener. I also have fish and bullfrogs that love worms. Who am I to pass by the hordes of huge night crawlers that were wandering out onto the street because we had rain?
One person understood. A woman about my age pulled her car up even with me and rolled down her window. “For your gardens right?”
“Well, yes. And for the frogs and fish—free food you know. Commercial Koi food costs plenty.”
She pointed back down the street from the direction she’d come. “I saw a bunch of huge ones back there.”
“Thanks.”
She waved and headed on her way. I went looking for more night crawlers.
Goliath the bullfrog was pleased with my midnight snack offerings. Although, at one point, he thought my index finger was more food. Ouch! I actually bled. Ungrateful sod.
The Koi were happy too. I only gave them a few worms and then the rest went into the garden.
Posted in hobbies, Misc, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, bullfrogs, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, frogs, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
The magnolia tree is lovely but…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
If you don’t want a lot of work, don’t put one in your yard. I spent a few hours today raking up flower petals from the tree and it’s not finished yet. I filled the wheelbarrow so many times I lost count. There are still tons of blossoms on the tree…yikes. I spent another half hour skimming petals off the pond. Is all the work worth it? Yes, I think it is. Deadheading all the daffodils gave me another wheelbarrow load.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that my knee suffered no ill effects from contact with Gavin’s hard head. It’s my guess that all the icing I did to it yesterday made the difference. I truly expected to wake up with it swollen to football size and then having to make a run to our doctor’s ER.
If I wake to another sunny day I’ll cut down the dried out zebra grass. Then I bet I’ll rake more petals up from under the magnolia. I wonder how many times I’ll empty the wheelbarrow into the compost bin this time.
The tulips are blooming. The splashes of bright red and yellow around the pond and the tulip poplar are lovely.
Doggonedmysteries 