tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46577159622569073042011-08-12T08:33:00.125-04:00Gardening at the western gateway to the Finger Lakes region of New York State, in a little village along the Erie Canal(USDA zone 5b-6a).LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.comBlogger751100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-88522743326942068042011-06-03T11:05:00.004-04:002011-06-04T15:54:01.720-04:00

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-83075238331823554622011-05-28T09:01:00.009-04:002011-05-28T09:52:02.095-04:00

...Cheesey? Yes, but aren't they pretty?PS: Hummingbirds have arrived! They showed up on Thursday!

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-87156312450876138312011-05-21T11:43:00.003-04:002011-05-21T11:46:21.194-04:00

Saw my first Tiger Swallowtail in the yard today! This is a picture from last year. I need to get a lantana or something to tide them over until more stuff starts blooming...

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-50408135716525891042011-02-27T13:37:00.004-05:002011-02-27T13:58:16.433-05:00

I started the tomato, tomatillo, ground cherry and some pepper seeds last weekend (President's Weekend). Some of the tomatoes are up! Black Cherry, Cowlick's Brandywine, Aunt Ruby's German Green, and Pruden's Purple have poked their little green heads out of the soil. I started everything in newspaper pots with seet starting soil- 9 rows of 5. I made a map of the tray and as they come up I'm

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-87347755102310492262011-02-12T13:25:00.005-05:002011-02-12T13:38:02.424-05:00

I ordered my seeds today. I feel that it's a bit late but it took me this long to get my act together. I have a lot of saved/leftover seeds but I still ordered over $50 worth-sheesh! They are getting more and more expensive! Victory Seeds has very reasonable prices and they have signed the sustainable seed pledge (which is cool). I also ordered from John Sheepers seeds (also signed the

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-31508148877984692082010-11-14T13:31:00.007-05:002010-11-14T14:44:26.141-05:00

We've had some uncharictaristically warm weather the past few days/weeks. Frost at night and in the 50's and 60's during the day. We got to 64'F yesterday. I took the opportunity to move some things around. I planted some Crocosmia Lucifer (that I had in a pot all summer) in the front garden by the lavender. I'm hoping the lavender will survive the winter- I started it from seed (wintersown) and

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-84183380492065229352010-08-28T19:23:00.004-04:002010-08-28T19:43:39.380-04:00

I have been reading up lately on Butterfly Feeders. There are tons of recipes out there on the web- concoctions of fruit, beer and yeast. I was on Garden Web (butterfly forum)yesterday and someone posted a picture of a plate with rotting fruit and a ton of butterflies. I figured I'd give it a shot. It works! 36 hours after putting out a frozen banana (the brown slug looking thing in the picture)

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-53919975699473799472010-07-29T15:53:00.003-04:002010-08-07T11:04:51.495-04:00

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100807/NEWS01/8070314/Late-blight-threatens-local-tomatoes--potatoes&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-31495297360232453602010-07-29T15:53:00.001-04:002010-07-29T16:29:20.642-04:00

I love winter sowing but I don't love mislabled seeds! What I thought was catmint...definitely not catmint...maybe annual blue salvia. An annual, not a perennial, deep green foliage not fuzzy gray-green foliage. What was supposed to be forget me nots is possibly false forget me nots (Siberian Bugloss). They bloom in the summer, not the spring. 2 ft tall not 6 inches. The creeping thyme that I

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-84475071015744969242010-07-21T07:35:00.002-04:002010-07-21T08:00:25.780-04:00

First BLT on Saturday- Stupice and home grown lettuce (on a home made plate). I had to skimp on the mayo because it was the end of the jar. It was still a really good sandwich. So far I've had production from Champagne Cherry, Coyote, Stupice, Peacevine and Matts Wild Cherry. I have picked 2 Black Cherry, and 2 Red Zebra one should be ready later today or tomorrow and the first beefsteak

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-32886252331060857012010-07-12T17:54:00.004-04:002010-07-12T20:02:21.371-04:00

The bastards got me! I dug out 2 from Golden Bush yesterday. Then I found a wilty leaf today so I cut it off and found another. Upon investigation I found the beginings of sawdust on the base so I slit the base and there were a few in there. I pulled the whole plant out. 1 Golden Bush is left. Black Beauty main stem was all chewed up so I yanked it out too, I tried to dig the buggers out but the

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-13536970870737864042010-07-11T10:44:00.006-04:002010-07-11T11:31:29.033-04:00

Woo Hoo! Champagne Cherry is the first to ripen of the year. It's a very small (currant?) yellow/white cherry. I got 4-DH and I ate the first 2 so fast I didn't have a chance to take a picture. I got a picture of the 2nd 2, I did weigh them all. They came in at 0.1 oz each (one was slightly less than 0.1 oz it bounced betweeon 0.1 and 0.0 on the digital scale). Tasted great! Very tomatoey,

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-25088055050055730622010-07-07T07:04:00.004-04:002010-07-12T20:04:05.843-04:00

Mmmmm...Harvested the first squash of the season this week. Cocozelle is by far the earliest of the 4 I planted. It looks like Black Beauty will have one ready in the next few days. I love the creamy-nutty flavor of Cocozelle. It's earned a permenant space in the garden. The first one was sauteed with peppers and onions, the second 2 were shredded to make squash fritters. Cocozelle is located in

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-57738771155167484292010-06-30T17:50:00.004-04:002010-06-30T21:08:51.030-04:00

Tomatoes are coming along nicely. All of the cherries are throwing out branches of fruit- nothing ripe yet but I'm hopeful. Green Grape is looking kind of straggly and appears to have some kind of funk but it's not spreading to the other tomatoes so I won't pull it out yet. Prudens Purple has a nice sized fruit on it. Others that have substantial fruit (golf ball-ish size) are Black from Tula,

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-57977476640290443872010-06-26T13:28:00.006-04:002010-06-27T15:47:33.767-04:00

I've got a tomato problem. Too many plants, not enough space. I debated whether or not to build some self watering containers this year. Water is never in short supply around here; I rarely have to water anything (even smaller containers). I never considered purchasing an eartbox at $60 a pop (I don't have that kind of cash). I did need more containers to plant tomatoes in since I can only fit

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-50433147109559160382010-06-02T06:46:00.003-04:002010-06-13T22:29:34.038-04:00

Rose race 2010:Distant Drums (pictured), Clotilde Soupert, Winchester Cathedral, Heritage, Cornelia, Fantin Latour, Russelliana. Sweet promise doesn't have any buds on it but it looks really good- the foliage is gorgeous. Ghislaine de Felagonde is out of the running due to her cushy winter indoors. Hippolyte and Charles de Mills actually have a few buds. I wasn't expecting much from them this

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-48577527850361600932010-05-10T07:03:00.007-04:002010-06-13T22:32:00.125-04:00

This is the rose that I keep in a container in the sunroom all winter so it gets a head start in the spring. Bloom color this year is a buttery white (it was more peachy pink last year). It's beautiful but not exactly what I was expecting. I'm wondering if the cool temps had an effect on the color-it's been on the deck for several weeks, I pull it in when we get a frost advisory. The outside

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-49983326886211257142010-04-26T07:21:00.008-04:002010-04-26T07:52:24.981-04:00

Started digging up the new flower bed near the mailbox. It's a lot bigger than I thought it was. I had it covered with cardboard for a few weeks (I should have done that last fall) I uncovered about 2/3 of it and dug up squares of sod and turned it over- it took about 6 hours. I didn't get to the last 1/3, it rained yesterday and was pretty cold (we had a fire in the stove). I'm still undecided

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-5566719104908179682010-04-19T07:49:00.003-04:002010-04-19T07:59:11.611-04:00

We've got a snow mold problem in the front yard. Our lawn should look great -it gets plenty of sun, good drainage- it doesn't. I raked up all the brown patches and spread new grass seed and corn meal (its anti-fungal properties are supposed to fight the mold). Then I sprayed compost tea on all but the first 3 feet of the yard (sprayer got clogged). I need to figure out how to use the sprayer

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-79070246069167682010-04-12T07:19:00.007-04:002010-04-12T20:44:25.675-04:00

I've been wanting to fertilize my yard & garden for years but wasn't really sure how to go about it. The "traditional" way, of course, is to mix up a funky blue chemical with some water and soak the plants with it. When I moved into my first house the previous owners left a big box of miracle grow in the garage. The color of the stuff freaked me out. It freaked me out so much that I still have

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-48653846182070161172010-04-05T07:23:00.007-04:002010-04-05T07:53:39.328-04:00

It's been a scorcher! I took Friday off to work in the yard. We broke a heat record 86! No shade. Brutal. I planted the favas, peas and spinach. Friday was veg garden day: I put up the pea trellis, laid out cardboard on the paths. I also cleaned the grill- a 3 hour job that I wasn't planning on. Saturday (also brutally hot) I started a new bed by the mailbox. I mapped it out with the chewed up

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-66941360250786625412010-03-30T07:54:00.004-04:002010-03-30T07:59:53.206-04:00

I potted up some of the tomatoes and tomatillos yesterday. I can't find the giant stack of pots that I put in the garage last year. I'm worried DH tossed them out (!) I'll have to hunt around to find more for the rest of the tomatoes and the peppers, eggplants and basil. I started WAY too much stuff. Must make a note to start less peppers and eggplants next year and to curb the tomato list a bit.

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-15970145410359224442010-03-28T14:10:00.006-04:002010-03-28T14:42:41.096-04:00

I started the peas and fava beans last week in newspaper pots under a deli container out in the garden (you can see it under the teepee in the previous picture). Despite the cold (it got down to 20 at night this week and daytime temps were in the 30's) the Alaska peas have started to sprout. Cascadia's aren't coming up but they are old so I don't have high hopes. Fava's haven't come up yet. I

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-21229096625823275772010-03-20T11:31:00.005-04:002010-03-28T14:10:22.893-04:00

More tomato news: Yesterday Hillbilly, Dr Carolyn's Pink and William's Striped poked through. This morning I see Aunt Ruby's German Green, Goose Creek (!), Pruden's Purple, Green Grape and Dr. Wyche's Yellow. Very exciting! I still have 5 that haven't poked through- Principe Borghese, Indian Stripe :( KBX, Black from Tula and Stupice. 2 of the 3 tomatillos are up.Yesterday I planted (in newspaper

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-87819275087506353882010-03-18T07:14:00.005-04:002010-03-28T14:02:17.782-04:00

We've had a nice string of dry, warm days. The backyard is no longer a swamp. The crocuses are up and blooming. I saw some snowdrops on my way to work the other day. Brandywine and Green Zebra are finally up. I still have quite a few that haven't emerged. If they aren't up by the weekend I may try to sprout in baggies. I went out after work yesterday and moved some of the choppedup leaves off of

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-87549639293765537752010-03-15T07:53:00.005-04:002010-03-15T08:11:43.431-04:00

This past weekend we moved the clocks forward and I saw my first robin of the season- 2 sure signs of spring. 2 more tomatoes sprouted: Black Cherry (yay!) and Kelloggs Breakfast. I plunked an addtional seed in the pots that haven't sprouted yet and took off the humidity dome so the ones that did sprout don't get too funky. I'm keeping the heat mat on for now. I turned the fan on this morning.

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-46668492669365959592010-03-13T14:41:00.004-05:002010-03-13T15:02:19.351-05:00

Tomato Update: Black Zebra, Cowlick's Brandywine, Purple Dog Creek, Reifs Red Heart, Box Car Willie, Super Sioux and the 2nd Tomatillo Verde decided to join the party. I checked my wintersown containers and the Bachelor's Buttons are coming up. I dodged the raindrops today and moved some shredded leaf mulch around the flower beds and found all sorts of exciting things going on- Columbines are

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-88321364413695318892010-03-12T07:00:00.004-05:002010-03-12T07:20:34.813-05:00

The tomatoes sprouted yesterday! First up is Green Grape followed by Peacevine. Running closely behind is Earl's Faux, one of the Tomatillos and just starting to poke through is Black Mountain Pink. I checked this morning and coming on strong are: Black Krim, Tigerella, Cherokee Purple, JD's Special C Tex, Golden Queen, Absinthe and Jaune Flamme. that's 11 out of 33- 1/3rd are up! Same ratio

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-59533626445495959202010-03-11T06:55:00.007-05:002010-03-11T07:23:44.684-05:00

The forecast this week was supposed to be in the 40's, the temps have gotten up into the 50's and may hit 60 today. We still have quite a bit of snow. Our back yard is turning into a swamp. I'm hoping we don't get too much rain this weekend. I've wintersown quite a few more containers: 1 delphinium, 2 bachelor buttons, 1 nigella, 2 cleome, 1 delphinum chinensis, 1 echinacea purpurea, 1 foxglove,

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-8685527948162676192010-03-10T07:18:00.001-05:002010-03-10T07:18:31.379-05:00

RhododendronOriginally uploaded by LJ in NY

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-1144989024650127222010-03-07T13:02:00.008-05:002010-03-07T14:27:35.251-05:00

Finally! My pepper seeds sprouted...and...I accidentally tilted the baggie they were in and all the seeds got mixed up. So I have no idea what is what. I tried to sort them out by size (it was pretty tough) and I knew how many of each kind I had so I tried to find others of the same size and pair everything up. Maybe next year I'll try to get some of those little baggies that my tomato seeds come

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-57371713495224844632010-03-01T07:29:00.004-05:002010-03-01T07:47:00.077-05:00

...Containers for Wintersowing-I'm just using gallon milk jugs this year. I have a system set up: First I label them all with my Deco Art pen, then I draw the cut line, poke the drainage holes in the bottom and then make a cut almost all the way around (leaving a "hinge"). Then I fill them all up with soil and water them down. Match the seed packets to the pre-labled containers and then sow the

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-86484936989216789942010-02-28T12:12:00.005-05:002010-02-28T12:29:46.910-05:00

I'm starting broccoli from seed this year, the romanesco kind that looks more like pointy cauliflower. I started them last weekend-didn't check them on Wednesday and by Thursday they were 2" tall and looking really leggy. So here's my plan of action: 1 remove them from the heat mat (I forgot they are cold crops) 2 put aluminum foil tent over the light to reflect more light back on the plants 3

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-69078099790755806342010-02-24T07:58:00.001-05:002010-02-24T08:01:33.552-05:00

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-26258140202600267422010-02-20T09:25:00.005-05:002010-02-23T07:37:47.402-05:00

The peppers aren't doing so great. Ahaheim's are doing fine, 4 or 5 have geriminated. The Jimmy Nardello's are getting moldy (new seed this year! Not happy.) Mulato Isleno might have 1 germinating-jury is still out. I think Chervena Chushka has one germinating too. I might get new seed, I really don't have any hot hot peppers. I'll give it a little more time then maybe get some more. I got some

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-26682405809630238882010-02-17T19:26:00.005-05:002010-02-17T19:44:59.587-05:00

Since DH is in graduate school as well as working full time and digging up the entire garden on my own in a timely fashion while working full time probably isn't realistic, I decided to try the Ruth Stout method of gardening. Before I ever heard of Ms Stout I decided I was too lazy to drag the leaves to the curb last fall so I shredded them and piled them in the veggie garden and flower beds

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-65137809046263131872010-02-15T17:50:00.009-05:002010-02-20T10:17:55.214-05:00

I started Winter Sowing today! I'm making a flower garden for the south side of my mom's house. I plotted it out on graph paper then I started with the milk jugs: Sweet William, 2 kinds of Zinnia's, Bachelor Buttons, Catchfly, Coneflowers, Bee Balm, Bells of Ireland and Lupine. I still have to put together jugs for the hollyhocks, cosmos (2 kinds) foxgloves and Sunflowers. I tried to pick a

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-46677466282230622582010-02-10T19:15:00.003-05:002010-02-10T20:25:22.803-05:00

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-44818576736273551782010-02-09T07:42:00.004-05:002010-02-09T07:50:30.939-05:00

Oh Joy! It's better than Christmas!One of my Anaheim seeds sprouted yesterday! I'm so excited! I have to get a newspaper pot together to put it in. No movement on the rest of the peppers or the eggplants. I wanted to post an inspirational pepper picture from last year but realized the only picture of peppers/pepper plants I have are of the one that mysteriously died. Note to self: take more

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-6739889822185333842010-02-02T21:38:00.005-05:002010-02-13T09:35:47.975-05:00

Sad news to report: We lost my sweet Desdemona in October. God rest her soul, I miss her sweet face and gentle manner every day. The place isn't the same without her. Bodie took the loss as hard as the rest of us and looked for her for weeks in all her favorite napping spots. We recently adopted a 1 1/2 year old female Malamute to keep him company. The rescuer drove her 3 hours to our house and

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-32674956951172976302009-08-29T21:41:00.007-04:002009-08-29T22:25:06.907-04:00

Disaster has struck the garden. I'm 99.9% sure I have late blight. Yesterday was the first day all summer that I didn't go out in the garden. I went out this morning and Mystery Tomato #5 (Regular leaf pink beefsteak seed saved from an unkown tomato) had some splotchy water soaked looking leaves towards the top and some stems turning black. I ripped it out immediately and disposed of it. I've

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-78691914742372425392009-08-26T20:21:00.007-04:002010-02-21T12:40:39.303-05:00

Someone on one of my tomato forums is downsizing his gardens and generously offered to send out his extra tomato seeds for the dirt cheap price of a self addressed stamped envelope (!) How excited was I? Well, they arrived today and this is what he sent me:William's Striped- a red and yellow variety with the distinction of being striped both inside and out. Seeds to this variety had been saved

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-27520143808828052842009-08-16T18:17:00.003-04:002009-08-19T18:31:19.319-04:00

Yay! The tomatoes are here!!! Stupice and Silvery Fir were neck and neck coming in earlier this week (around the 12th). I think Silvery Fir (pictured) won by a nose. It's not raining tomatoes yet but they are starting to trickle in. So far I have harvested 3 SF and 2 Stupice as well as 1 Black Cherry. My SIL came up from MD last weekend and brought me some Jaune Flamme from plants I had started

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-4108606344038892172009-07-27T18:40:00.004-04:002009-07-27T19:15:13.172-04:00

It looks like my tomatoes are ok (knock on wood). Black Krim was the subject of my ammonia experiment and that seems to be what the problem was. Brandywine looks fine. I keep checking them everyday. I retied a bunch yesterday to improve circulation and I'm debating whether or not I should prune- I'm on the fence. I've never pruned before and I doubt it will help if the blight decides to darken

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-44542929685041710822009-07-23T18:12:00.007-04:002009-07-23T19:37:05.687-04:00

Crap. I may have found late blight on my Brandywine tomato plant today. The weather has been pretty wet and cloudy this season and although I started my plants from seed there are a lot of other gardens in the neighborhood and I'm pretty sure most people buy their plants-some from the big box stores. Last week I retied all the plants to try to get more air circulation between the plants and I try

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-46064771030631559252009-06-14T20:51:00.003-04:002009-06-14T21:07:53.702-04:00

This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail has been hanging around here for about a month. My little 6 year old neighbor calls it the "Big yellow butterfly" she's tried to catch it but it's pretty elusive. I'm not sure what kind of bush it's sitting on, it was planted by the previous owners it has tiny pink flowers in the spring. Heritage bloomed yesterday, Eden will go any day now. Something keeps

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-167166033319637802009-06-11T21:32:00.010-04:002009-06-12T22:46:11.812-04:00

I've been a lame blogger but a busy gardener lately. I guess it's better to garden than to blog about it and not actually do it. I caught Winter Sowing fever and have planted a ton of containers. I have planted out most of the annuals. I am still starting new containers of perennials. Most of the veggie garden is in, I still have 1 quadrant to go-squash and cucumbers. The pea fence is totally

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-51871829837328101332009-04-15T21:46:00.004-04:002009-04-17T20:14:17.292-04:00

The new roses have arrived! I had a nice little package on the stoop when I got home today-it was like Christmas all over again! They were all neatly packed in damp newspaper and arrived in great condition. I'm going to Syracuse later this week where my friend Renee has a freezer full of fish heads and guts that she'll give me to put under the roses. My lovely husband thinks I'm nuts.I decided to

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-23071360577793032582009-04-08T20:04:00.007-04:002009-04-08T20:44:05.346-04:00

What a wild week! I had to go to Connecticut last week for work- rumor has it we had beautiful weather here while I was gone. I came back late Thursday night: the lawns had turned green and I saw my first Daffodil on Friday (4/3). Then the winds picked up the temperature dropped and on Saturday we had rain/sleet/snow and back again. Sunday was nice: sunny and in the 50's then the wind picked up

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-10147851679762660982009-03-28T22:17:00.006-04:002009-03-28T22:58:58.854-04:00

Yay! My first flower of the season. Friday was a beautiful, sunny, warm day and the crocuses came out! Today was equally as nice, I dug up a quadrant of the garden and planted the peas. I really need to come up with a better plan for the pea fence, the one I have is chicken wire on two poles. It keeps trying to roll back up. It looks jacked up.The seeds are coming along nicely. I potted up most

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-45691247992957472082009-03-13T16:54:00.006-04:002009-03-14T08:20:25.274-04:00

I went to the garden show today. It was so nice to see color! It amazes me that they can create what they do. I took a lot of pictures, mostly of the labels for the plants I liked so I could look them up later. It's nice that we can take pictures for ideas and inspiration but some people need to realize that this is a public event not a private photo shoot! There was a guy taking picutes of

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-83476498738155401682009-03-07T08:07:00.006-05:002009-03-07T09:02:22.167-05:00

Thursday I was walking to the parking garage after work and saw some bulbs starting to emerge from the soil. They were up about an inch- I'm not sure what is emerging, maybe daffodils. I'm moving to a new office next weekend so I probably won't be able to keep track of that little garden going forward. New building is across the street from a church that has a beautiful garden-I need to get a

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-74927915059753735082009-03-04T18:26:00.002-05:002009-03-04T18:42:57.947-05:00

An update on the rose cuttings I took on July 12. Like I stated before: the class given by derRosenmeister was excellent. It was the hottest day of the year and I had a long hot car ride in front of me after class. Some of the cuttings didn't make it but the ones I did after the class using what I had learned are doing really well. 3 survived from the class: 2 "The Fairy" and one "Thor". The

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-26048767503668278792009-02-14T08:28:00.005-05:002009-02-14T08:39:49.755-05:00

The weather guy said this week that "Winter's back has been broken" it got up to nearly 60'F this week and all the snow melted we finally got to see the lawn (then it snowed again). I'm skeptical. I think God is jerking our chain. It happens every year. I'd like to think we're well on our way to spring but I don't want to get lulled into a false sense of "green". I bet we'll see a lot more sub

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-30112364604026666182009-02-02T19:03:00.005-05:002009-02-02T20:36:43.362-05:00

I ordered seeds the last week of December and they arrived on Saturday. Wooo Hoooo! We are sunk in the depths of winter right now so the thought of green growing things is like a faint ray of light in a cold sunless world! Wow- I'm sounding pretty dramatic! I love having 4 distinct seasons but honestly, it has been a really LONG, COLD, SNOWY winter....DH and I can't remember the last time we

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-2303426661379187492008-09-21T12:08:00.004-04:002009-02-02T20:03:14.148-05:00

....Well, not yet but he's gaining on me. The weather people were waffling on whether my area would get hit or not on Thursday night. I was out in the dark covering up my tomatoes. False alarm. I kept the big sheet of plastic hanging on the garden fence so it's ready to go when Jack arrives. Heritage is blooming (see photo) I forgot it doesn't have much of a vase life until after I cut it. Whoops

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-60400605416879391792008-09-14T12:37:00.007-04:002008-09-14T13:33:39.484-04:00

First regular sized tomato was harvested September 2- a Super Sioux. Since then the Garden Peach and Green Zebra have decided to join the party. I ate everything so fast I forgot to take pictures. Whoops. I have posted a pic of cherry tomatoes from the farmers market in one of my favorite bowls (by Richard Aerni a nationally known local artist). I wasn't at all scientific-I haven't weighed or

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-84780298135024840882008-08-23T10:50:00.009-04:002008-08-23T11:37:28.318-04:00

Veggie garden is being assaulted on 2 fronts: squash vine borers and powdery mildew! That coupled with the green tomatoes has left me very discouraged. So far we have had 3 ripe (peacevine) cherry tomatoes 4 more are ready to come in. I harvested 1 black beauty zucchini and another cucumer and a green serrano- the serrano wasn't hot at all. We had a couple of cool nights (down in the low 50's)

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-86190547430028711572008-08-14T20:59:00.004-04:002010-02-20T10:16:10.066-05:00

I think I may hav 2 potential zucchini's-it looks like 2 zucchini plants each have a female flower, fingers are crossed! It also looks like I may finally get some tomatoes to ripen-one of the cherry tomato clusters seems to be changing from green to an orangey color. I believe it is the peacevine tomato. Most of the seeds I have planted are sprouting. On the flower front-Sweet Promise and

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-72844192443747191752008-08-07T18:18:00.005-04:002010-02-20T10:16:59.383-05:00

1 more crookneck yellow squash (total:3) 2 Amira hybrid cucumbers (total:3), 2 really small, red Serrano chiles (total: 12) and enough lettuce for 2 1/2 side salads (total: about 4 side salads). Everything tastes so good! The squash have been really tender, the cukes were AMAZING-refreshing and crisp. I haven't had the chiles yet. I'm thinking of putting them in an omlette tonight. The salad

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-32013944596859542432008-08-05T21:17:00.004-04:002008-08-05T22:00:19.873-04:00

I found this ugly little guy hanging out amongst the rose cuttings in the shade of the maple tree. It's a cicada, it's pretty big -a little bigger than my thumb. Everytime my husband hears one he says "sounds like summer!". They emit a kind of raspy sound when it's hot and humid. You can listen to cicada songs on wikipedia from all over the world but they don't really sound like the ones around

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-32683153122192260722008-07-27T22:24:00.006-04:002008-12-09T11:52:38.152-05:00

Look what I found in my FIL's butterfly garden today- not only a butterfly but a Giant Swallowtail butterfly. The largest butterfly in N.America (I looked it up). His butterfly garden is great, it's not very big but it's a nice jumble of butterfly loving plants, we watched the bees and butterflies coming and going all day. I aspire to that kind of garden. Picture was taken with my new camera-

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-75379153591692874622008-07-26T09:32:00.002-04:002008-12-09T11:52:39.597-05:00

Look who I found passed out in the squash blossom this morning! They were in there for at least an hour, barely moving and then another bumble bee came in and woke them up. It looks like they had a good Friday night! On another happy note: My Meyer Lemon tree (see July 1 post) has 2 blossoms on it. A tiny bee (? hover fly) was hanging around it this morning and I see telltale signs of pollen on

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-68524830270956505752008-07-20T16:26:00.000-04:002008-12-09T11:52:39.714-05:00

...Actually, I prefer to think of myself as a specialized assassin. I only have a few victims: aphids, japanese beetles and garden slugs. I haven't seen aphids in weeks, I think I got them all. Japanese beetles started to show up a week or two ago. I haven't seen a lot of them and what I have seen has pretty much ended up in my soapy water dish. I'm a big chicken and won't work without my green

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-46604076216717540262008-07-19T09:46:00.000-04:002008-12-09T11:52:40.014-05:00

I had a visitor in the garden this morning. I was sitting in the sunroom drinking my coffee when I saw it swoop down. I wish my old camera (kodak easyshare) was working, it took great pictures. This is taken as a still from my Canon video camera.I think it's a Monarch, I looked it up in the image gallery of "Butterflies of North America". He seemed to really like my marigolds in pots on the deck.

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-64834384630963812472008-07-16T21:35:00.001-04:002010-02-25T07:52:29.643-05:00

As promised-Sweet Promise. She must be pretty sweet because something has nibbled tiny little holes in her petals. This is her first bloom ever. She was planted bare root about 13 months ago. The color doesn't really show in the picture but she's got more of an orangey apricot tone. She's supposed to look like this:http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pl.php?n=50578&tab=10She looks more like this:

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-4650735676800287762008-07-15T21:33:00.001-04:002010-02-25T07:54:15.651-05:00

I've been away the past 2 weekends. We went up to Uncle's place up on a lake near the 1,000 Islands for July 4. Different Uncle (and different lake) than Memorial Day Uncle. It's beautiful and quiet up there, we usually go up for the whole week but schedules didn't work out for that this year. Then we were at my moms in Syracuse for the rest of the weekend. My husband took on gutter cleaning duty

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-39229289040745068612008-07-01T21:06:00.002-04:002010-02-25T07:55:44.335-05:00

Fab news to report on the rose front: Winchester Cathedral is in bloom! Wooo Hooo! I planted it bare root from White Flower Farm on or about 4/23 (pre-blog). My SIL gave me a Gift Certificate from WFF for my birthday (and a Meyer Lemon tree!) I was laid up with a bad flu in early March and spent a whole week perusing their catalogue -Winchester Cathedral is the result. I planted it along the

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-1780034679929266692008-06-29T12:57:00.001-04:002010-02-25T07:57:15.584-05:00

Where to start? Sister's blue bird family had a second go around and so far so good (picture courtesy of said Sister)- Ma, Pa and 5 babies are doing well-Yeah!!! My Gruss an Aachen rose has a bud!!! Yeah!!! My mystery-Sweet Promise rose has a tiny bud too- Stay tuned to find out if it is acutually a Sweet Promise or if they mystery continues. Mystery plant (came with the house) has buds on it. I

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-86499770334631480632008-06-14T16:19:00.001-04:002010-02-25T07:57:58.959-05:00

I hate helicopters!!! Not the kind that fly around in the sky monitoring traffic congestion and video taping police chases in Los Angeles (although, really, is that necessary?) I'm talking about the seedpods for maple trees. I have shovel fulls of these things all over the yard, the patio, the veggie garden, the flower garden...and with all the sun and rain we've had, mini maple trees are popping

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-84041397778371926692008-06-08T14:33:00.000-04:002008-12-09T11:52:43.620-05:00

Ugh! Heat wave in WNY...it's been in the 90's for the past few days with oppressive humidity. All I'm going to say is that I hate it and I'll leave it at that. The people in the Mid-West are having flooding and tornadoes so I feel really lucky that natural disasters are few and far between around here.I went to the nursery today (festival in town= 250,000 visitors the village this weekend=no

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-11069642303065160682008-05-29T19:55:00.000-04:002008-12-09T11:52:43.914-05:00

I'm sad to say the bunnies aren't doing so well. They left the garden yesterday, unfortunately their timing was really bad. Bodie was out in the yard and caught one. I was yelling. Lovely husband got him to drop the bunny and I took Bodie inside. Husband took bunny out of the yard and put him on the other side of the fence in the shelter of a woodpile. He said the bunny looked ok, we're not sure

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-17770752948214437702008-05-21T20:54:00.001-04:002010-04-07T07:37:23.149-04:00

My sister emailed me this week- she came home one evening and a fox family was playing in the yard. The parents ran into the brush when her car pulled up but the 2 kits kept playing. They romped around for about 10 minutes before disappearing in the bushes. They've come back once since then around dusk to play in her yard. My sister is a bird lover, she has feeders and birdhouses all over. She

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-18316954400074834072008-05-11T11:50:00.000-04:002008-12-09T11:52:44.248-05:00

Aphids! I was reading Adrian Higgins' Garden Plot in the Washington Post the other day and someone wrote in about their rose bush being taken over by blackspot. DC is a few weeks ahead of us weather-wise so I thought if I started looking for it now I may be able to keep ahead of it. I went out and looked around the roses , I didn't find any black spot but I found a ton of aphids on my Heritage

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4657715962256907304.post-42473531370949270082008-05-10T16:57:00.000-04:002008-12-09T11:52:44.421-05:00

I bought lilacs last weekend from Doc Lilac- 2 Miss Kim to replace the nasty Barberry bushes from the front. 1 each: Margaret Fenicchia, Beauty of Moscow, Paul Thirion, Silver King, and Adelaide Dunbar (left to right across the back fence). I got a great deal: All for $136 most are pretty healthy sizes. I think Doc took pity on me-I have caviar taste on a burger king budget. He knows I'll be back

LJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870598205223330744noreply@blogger.com2