Saturday gardening

Well, well, well! It has been seriously glorious here for the past two days. Yesterday was 60 and just scrumptious. I walked the dogs, came home, changed, went on a 40 minute power walk, came back got some supplies and then did a pretty job at my husband's office. Two planters with variegated boxwood, then wove some grapevines that I had at the base of them and added some bittersweet for some fall color.

Best part is that the bittersweet was free - I knew where there was some growing in a parking lot near our house, so I went down there and clip clip clipped it!! Free is good! The planters came out beautifully...I'll take pictures next time I'm down that direction!

Today was another beauty...It got up to a glorious 64 degrees here today and I just could not be happier when the weather is like this on a November day! I broke out the flip-flops again and even had to roll up my jeans because it was so warm and beautiful. There was not a breath of wind outside, so it was just a perfect day to do some fall clean-up and plant the remaining 30 bulbs I had - grape hyacinth and the fritillaria that I bought a while back.
SO cute!

Our upstairs neighbor is moving out on Monday and, unfortunately, the only way to move out the big pieces of furniture from that apartment is to go through our back yard. So, of course, I had tons of brush along the back fence that I had to clear out since it ist the only pathway to get out to the driveway. Phooey! So, I and my bad back, very carefully bagged up a bunch of the branches and leaves and then put the biggest branches in the big compost pile in the back yard. Well...it's not really so much a compost pile as it is a large variety of dried up plants, an old Christmas tree from like 5 years ago that has disintegrated and just tons and tons of branches and brush! Some day when I'm feeling particularly gung-ho, I will clear it all out and make a proper compost pile!

Annnywho, I managed to clear out a good path, tied back all the hydrangeas and the lilac tree so they don't get murderized like the last time someone moved out. Ugh. They did some serious damage to the hydrangeas last time, and I was NOT at all pleased. It's been a little over a year now and things have finally gotten back to where they should be and I'm SOOOO paranoid that they're going to get ruined again!! Aaaaaaccccccckk!

Obsess much about your plants? Jeez!

So, I did up the back yard and then decided to sweep up a bunch of leaves that were in our driveway. Finished that. Then, of course, I decided to clean out the leaves from the front and side of the house. Done. And then, of course, it was such a nice day I had to put in the bulbs.

You know what I hate? I hate squirrels. Damn critters have already found and dug up a bunch of the tulips I put in! GRRRR. I am happy to say that the dogs equally despise the damn squirrels and delight in chasing them away in the mornings...Wish they would get the hint that they are NOT welcome! Dang!

In other world news, the grape tomato plant continues to grow amazing roots - take a look!


This was just two days ago:


Look how much bigger those roots have gotten in just two days!! I have no idea why I am so fascinated by this, but I am! So proud!!

And today as I was clearing out the leaves along the side of the house (in the nice, warm sun!) I pulled out a few nasturtium branches that had gotten all long and leggy - and I got to harvest these little beauties:
Those flowers just have the cutest, happiest faces, don't they?

Lastly, I'm so excited for Thanksgiving! We currently have 15, possibly 16 coming for dinner! The bigger the crowd, the happier I am! We order a Plainville turkey each year - they are vegetarian-fed, humanely-raised, antibiotic-free, DELICIOUS turkeys.
To go with the roasted turkey, we'll make home-made stuffing (bye, bye gluten-free diet for a day!!), roasted vegetables, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce and then tons of desserts and I'll make my famous stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer!

I am totally psyched that this woman who used to intern for me when I was the whale lady will be attending with her BRAND NEW HUSBAND!! They just got married last week, and they are both British. She has been to a Thanksgiving here before, but this well be her husband's first ever Thanksgiving! How cool is THAT???!!!! Anyway, I'm excited because I'm going to order a pretty congratulations cake for them as a surprise! Oh, how much fun!!

Ok. That's all I gots for today.

I'm off to walk the doggies and then settle in for the evening.

Hope you're having a weekend as nice as I'm having!

Ciao!

My thumb is getting greener!

Ok. Yesterday I showed you the amazing roots that have sprouted from my grape tomato plant cutting. That is something I would never have imagined in a million years - that I could successfully root a tomato plant. I thought that was the coolest thing EVER.

Well, you will never guess what else I managed to do.

NEVER!

It's cool on the same level as the tomato rooting, but in a different way entirely.

I cannot imagine how lucky I am to have had this happen and it looks like MORE of them are on their way, is the neatest thing!

Do you like these posts where I do this and talk up the thing that is the thing I'm talking about?

Was that a confusing sentence?

Anyway, is this annoying or scintillating?

Shall I just go ahead and tell you already?

Do you think I could possibly ask any more questions?

What is your favorite color?

Have you seen the movie Due Date with Zack Galifinakis and Robert Downey, Jr?

It was terrible. We walked out half way through it last night.

Ok. So let's get back to the planty thing I intended to talk about, shall we?

As you may recall if you read this bloggy (Hi, Mom!), I grew some eggplant in the back yard this summer. I harvested a few of them - they are slow to grow and I planted it pretty late in the season - July, I think.

Well, on October 31, the day after our big par-taaay, I decided it was getting sufficiently cold at night and that I should bring in the herbs and, on a whim, I brought in the eggplant. It was still producing flowers and had many, happy green leaves, but there was no sign of an eggplant on its way. Basically, I cannot let a plant just die. It kills me to watch them suffer. As it is, it's hard enough for me to see all the perennials and annuals I've planted outside go to pot as the temps plummet at night! I wish I could bring them all inside, but - obviously, that is not possible!

ANNNNNYYway, I was flitting about this morning as I am wont to do when I first arise. I don't like to hurry about and get dressed and zippy zoom out the door right away. First, I love the dogs when I come downstairs, then let them out, then open the curtains, and then I often check several plants and see how they're doing - if they need water, if they need a trim, if they are unhappy...It's the closest thing I have to gardening in the off-months, so that's what I do. I'm nuts. I know!!

So, as I was going about my plant-checking, I saw that the eggplant (which had been in the bar with the herbs), had some dried up leaves that needed removing. So, as I was in the process of removing them, what did I see?

This:


An eggplant! It's about 2 inches long right now, but looking very good! Very healthy!

So, for the last two weeks, unbeknownst to me, there has been a baby eggplant growing there! What a surprise! What a thrill!

I had brought this plant in thinking I'd just let it live out its last days there in the bar until it just couldn't live anymore!

Well, well, well! Guess I was wrong!

The thing is, it has tons and tons of blooms coming! New growth everywhere! So, apparently, I brought it in at just the right time and I think it's going to survive the winter! So, I've moved it to a sunny spot in the living room (who'da ever thunk that I'd have an EGGPLANT growing in our living room????!!!) and here it will live for the winter!


Tomatoes and eggplant, anyone?!!

You just never know, do you?

Happy indoor gardening, everyone!

Have a great weekend!

Times they are a-changing

I apologize in adavance for not posting much this week. I've been quite busy with this that and the other and frankly? There is not much to report, as my doctor is forbidding me from doing any sort of work for the time being, so I'm stuck with doing bills, housework (as much as I can), office work and other rather boring pursuits. It's been a big YAWN over here!

Also? Something has happened since the time change last weekend. I have NOT been able to get a good night's sleep to SAVE MY LIFE! What is going on? My husband is having the same problem - but insomnia is not unusual for him. It IS unusual for me, however. I toss and I turn and then fidget around and then toss and turn.

I know that we recently had a new moon and with the new moon and the full moon, the tides tend to be a bit more extreme. Last weekend, we had some HUGE tidal action - over 12 feet here in Salem, plus a storm surge that made it even bigger on some days. Tides are caused by the centrifugal force as the Earth spins on its axis added to the gravitational pulls of the sun and moon. Those are just facts. Now, this next part might sound crazy, but bear with me...

I propose that because the human body is 70 percent water, just like the Earth is, that we are similarly affected by those forces that cause the tides! I think living near the ocean, you are more aware of the "pull" that goes on - I know when it's dead-low tide I can feel an energy that makes me feel sort of buzzy and restless. And, NO, I don't do drugs!! I've been thinking about this for many years and I ask around when I've felt this restlessness at night (when the tides are particularly strong) and it's really a pretty common experience!!

So, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it!

In plant news, I'm SO excited!! On October 28th, I made the bold move of cutting a nice big, healthy stem off my grape tomato plant with the intention of rooting it in a glass on my window sill in the kitchen: HERE!

Well, I've been faithfully checking the stem probably 5 times a week to see if I'd made any progress in the root department.

This is what I found yesterday:
ROOTS! Really good ones, too! Oh, I'm just so excited! It took about two weeks and BAM, perfect roots! I'll let them develop a bit more before I plant this guy and then try to find a good, sunny location for him to live this winter. I'm excited just to have successfully rooted a tomato plant! I've never done that before!

I know - I get pretty riled up over sort of lame stuff! Such is the life of a gardener in the off-season!

The tomato plant itself is looking really healthy
the blooms are drying up and not making fruit, but that doesn't really surprise me - there just is not enough sunlight to stimulate that growth. We get about 2 hours of sun a day now. JUST kidding! It's not that bad, but suffice it to say, it gets dark EARLY. Really early.

Koty and Sadie have been quite happy with this transition to VERY chilly temperatures. Since they are both 1/2 mountain dog breeds, they are well-equipped for this chilly weather. Here they are outside this morning. It was in the high 30s!
I took this photo through the double-paned window in the back door - that's why it looks all weird!

And here they are side-by-side in the bar:


As much as Sadie feigns that she doesn't really dig Koty, I've caught them sleeping literally back to back I cannot tell you how many times. Last night I caught her snuggling up to him on the same dog bed! And she follows him around on our walks and "helps" him when he finds a squirrel or cat or rat to chase!

Ok. That's it for today. Off to walk the dogs, finish laundry and then I get to reconcile our checking account and then write out a bunch of bills! Jealous??? heee!!

Hope you're all having a fab Thursday!

Later!