Collins Country

Show and Tell - Part One

These herbs are funny.  I don't know if anyone remembers, but I was going to use my husbands van as a green house so I planted a bunch of herb seeds and popped them in there.  I waited weeks and weeks and not one of them grew.  I then brought them in the house and still no luck.  Finally I gave up.  When I was filling the barrel to plant my tomato, I dumped them in as well (no sense in letting soil go to waste, right?).  Imagine my surprise when sage started popping up all over the place! LOL  There are also a few shoots of chives, basil and what I think is rosemary.  The large basil was a starter I bought, but all the rest just popped up on there own!

I'm the Accidental Gardener.

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This mint was given to me by a friend who grows many things!  It was small, but in good shape when I got it.  I put it in my back room, and watered it.  It became very spindly and the leaves were small and rust colored.  One day I read that most people over-water their herbs so I stuck it out on the porch and ignored it for several weeks and Voila!  A healthy little plant.  I hear they take over a garden, so I am going to bury a large pot and plant it there so it will be corralled.

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(Above:  My little chamomile)

The next few herbs were just last ditch attempts to grow SOMEthing!  I found little pots and just planted and water and waited.  And waited,  And waited.  Finally, little tiny green shoots poked their heads up.  Still, it was slow going.  I planted these in February, I think, and this is all the growth I've had.  Most of it has taken place in the last month.  I hope to transplant them to the back garden. 

QUESTION:  When should I transplant?  Fall?  Next Spring?  Does it matter?  Any tips are appreciated.

(You probably know without my telling that this is parsley)

(My Marjoram is looking a little spindly, but in a basket I can't imagine that I am over watering...I'll have to keep and eye on that)

I hope to see some of your garden pictures soon.  I am still scrolling through the sites!

Make today a great day!

STRAWberries

Today I planted three strawberry plants in the end of my hay bales.  This is experimental...I haven't heard of anyone actually growing berries this way, but thought I'd give it a shot.

My little strawberry six-pack

The end of the bale makes a perfect set up for making little pockets.

After so much weathering, the bale is pretty decomposed inside, so it's easy to build little "cups"...

One little plant fits perfectly in the space I made.  I did not add soil, just what came with the plant.

I only did three for experimental purposes.  The other three I will try in my hanging baskets.  I did that once before but they died.  I think I didn't water them enough or something.

So, in these two bales, I have planted a dozen lettuces, a dozen spinach plants, a dozen peas, and three strawberry plants. 

There's actually room for more and I am trying to think what else I could plant (on the other end).  I'll keep you posted on how it all turns out.

Try this

Every time I try to use the picture box or hyperlink, I just get routed to HSB home page.  Maybe if you copy the address below and paste it in your web browser bar, you can see my few pictures.

Let me know if that works, or not, will you?

http://s86.photobucket.com/albums/k101/Pattisea/Garden/?action=view&current=1174500178.pbw

Hay Bale Photos

They (the photos) aren't as nice as I'd hoped, but you get the basic idea.  My husband actually likes them, and last night we sat on the back porch and planned where to put more. 

I can't tell you how much that means to me; generally my "projects" (as he calls anything I try that's new) don't impress him.

The soil is about three inches deep, which is plenty for most seeds, but pushing it a bit for the peas...according to the package directions, they need three to four inches planting depth.

In the center, about 4 inches on either side of the poles, are the sugar peas.  The remainder of the left side of the bale has spinach and the right side has lettuce.  If all goes according to plan, I should see the sprouts in a few days (Lettuce is so great for beginner gardens...it germainates quickly and is pretty easy to care for).

Hay Bale Gardening Log-2

Well, we have had quite a bit of rain, so my hay bales are looking pretty shabby.  I guess that's what I want.  Yesterday I put my first "dose" of Ammonium Sulfate on...I think today I have to do more...

       Granuals sprinkled on the Hay!                            I am growing hay, and I don't want to!

Ammonium Sulfate is VERY caustic, so wear gloves & don't breathe it!

My van nursery!  My DH told me they have to go, but I will wait until the van is actually running! LOL

In a few days, I will add the soil, make a support of some type and plant my peas.  Pictures to follow! 

My Newest Family Member

At last I have a few pictures to share of my niece, Klara (she was born in December).  I babysat her today, so these are current-est.

She's a pretty easy baby and the youngest of my 18 neices & nephews. 

Hay Bale Gardening Log - 1

Ah HAH!

I was WONDERING why my herbs would not grow! LOL

Recent Photos

My next-door neighbor, Dusty (we are looking into claiming him as a tax deduction since he lives here half the time LOL)

My peculiar children.  The eldest is showing off the chocolate truffle he was eating, my daughter is showing off her chullo hat and I have no idea why my middle boy has his thumb in his mouth)

One result of our big winds is my poor fence is flat on the ground!

Another result, and this is weird (Yes, even weirder than the fact that we have a palm tree in our front yard) - the wind blew the bark off the tree!  Isn't that crazy?  I've never heard of such a thing before.

Checking my list twice

Well, I managed to finish up some projects today, so I feel pretty good about that.  In addition to baking bread, making more cookie dough and a tray of fudge, I finished my neice's gift:

It's supposed to ba an overnight bag (I think I mentioned my plan to make several this past summer...one was my limit! LOL

My middle boy's guitar strap: I knit it, then sewed some wool fabric on back to keep it from stretching too much.

The gingerboy ornaments just need hangers and they are done!  I don't know why they are taking me so long to finish!

My Eldest son.  I was trying to get a good candid shot, but he kept making scary faces.  I give up.

My middle son:  This picture was in color but the red eyes were so scary.  I tried to fix them and it looked even worse, so I made it black and white and it helped a bit (his eyes still look a bit...unnatural.

So, that's what I've been up to today.  Hope you all had fun and accomplished much!

Blurry Pictures

Good Morning everyone!

I think my son's camera is on a slow setting or something...I am sure my hands are not that unsteady.  I guess it might just be the lights...they blur easily.  Anyhoo, here are the pictures I mentioned...even unclear, you get the idea of how liberal our neighbor is with his lights.  It's beautiful, but I sure wouldn't want his power bill.

Here's my house (blurry, too)...not as elaborate, but we like it.

And our Christmas tree (again, blurry).

I am not very satisfied with these pictures, but I took so many and these were the best, if you can believe that!  Maybe next time things will turn out nicer!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Tree Day

Our family tradition is to drive to the snow every year on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving; today was no exception.  We threw together some Curry Turkey Salad on rolls, hot cocoa, and off we went.  We live on the coast so a drive from 30 ft to 5400 ft elevation is no small feat (no pun intended).

Here is our favorite "Tree Hunting Ground" on South Fork Mountain.

My b-i-l, Loren, who is very excited about finding the perfect tree.

My husband, David, with our pre-cut tree.

David and our girl (Becasue I know him, this is a funny picture of my DH, but I can't explain why exactly...I think it's the hat).

Justin's trying to get a break from the cold (gloves won't fit over that cast)

My s-i-l and her family getting ready to find their tree.

Just a couple shots of frozen sticks that we thought were so beautiful. 

Hope you all had a great Saturday!

Nintendo Wii

The new Nintendo system came out this morning at 8:00 am.  Last night, by 9:00 pm, there were 42 people camping outside Target to get one! LOL

Target handled the whole thing very well.  They had a sign up sheet (Justin of the broken wrist was number 39).  Then, this morning, they handed out tickets with the numbers and a list of what they could buy.

There was no pushing, shoving (shooting!), or outbursts of any kind.  My son said it was pretty strange, though, because there is a sub-community of gamers.  He was sort of embarrassed to be included in their group because they are so hooked into this false world (As evidenced by the young men who brought their light sabers and dueled in front of the building for hours, speaking in poorly-done English accents-see below), but he really wanted the game.  Apparently the group got so bored that at one point they were building pyramids from shopping carts (Justin wisely stayed away).

By 8:00 am he was sick of being there.  He said he'd never do it again.  He was only allowed to because there was a trusted adult that we knew with him and he earned the money himself; I'm glad we let him because he told me this morning it was not worth it for a stupid game (music to my ears).

He's supposed to sleep while we are at church, so he can show us the new purchase later, but we shall see.  All in all, an unusual chapter in our lives.

Hope everyone has a great day!

PS:  Justin is not in any of the pictures; he refused to be captured for posterity with such a group LOL

Candle Project

Finished the candles, but they had terrible wells in the centers.  Had to fill with clear wax (ran out of Crayola Brand Crayons, which are the only crayons that seem to melt properly)

I didn't like the clear/white layer, so I used a whisk and beat the wax until it was foamy.  Then I topped them to make it look like snow; not entirely sucessful, but not horrid, either.

This is my favorite!

A Few Fall Fotos

My front door

My dd loves to get her picture taken (See my lettuce in the bottom left corner?  It's growing!)

My front room

My dining table center-piece (Pumpkins feature a lot in my decor).

My favorite piece of furniture in our entryway.

Sunflowers

Here are few more pictures from my garden:

The dwarf sunflowers that bloomed at long last!

Of all the green beans, this is the only one that has shown any beans (the biggest one is about the length of my pinky finger - the smallest are about 3/4 inches long and the width of a pencil lead; too cute!).  Some of my plants that aren't bearing beans are a few feet tall...this plant is only about 6" high...I seemed destined to produce a diminutive crop!

A few more pictures

I know, I know – it never ends with the pictures.  I couldn’t stand it.  I have to share pictures of my miniscule produce…it was cracking me up.  After all these months of fretting, and checking and watering – this is what I get LOL

My first two tomatoes - aren't they cute?  LOL

My first ripened pumpkin (that's the quarter, from the above picture, next to it)

They are all so tiny - so much for my dreams of canning pints and pints of home-grown pumpkin! LOL (The top, center pumpkin is the one featured in the picture with the quarter)

I am armed with knowledge, so next year will be better.  I am growing two types of pumpkin (sugar or pie pumpkins and probably the lumina).  They will have their own special area.  I won't plant as many.  I will not over water.  It will be great!!

Pumpkin Patch

It was a beautiful day at the pumpkin Patch, and I learned something new!  Some of you might remember that I was whining about moldy pumpkins?  Apparently, at this patch and others, they never water them after the first day they plant!  Who Knew?  Next year, I am going to try dry farming my pumpkins way off from everything else (they really take over a garden) and see what I get!

 I love how they plant, leaving meandering paths among the pumpkins.  There are many varieties to choose from.

Produce Pictures

I had to show off my treasure, as my DH says LOL.

Corn, Bell Peppers, Yellow & Red Tomatoes, Lemon Cucumbers, Slicing Cucumbers, REd Potaotes, Zucchini, Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Watermelon, Basil...What a haul!

A little wilted, but isn't the Purple Basil gorgeous?

And what about those purple beans?  I just picked a few of those because they were so pretty; they've were on the vine a bit longer than is tasty, I think (The beans in the pod are as big as lima beans).

Garden Photos

It's not pretty, but it's getting weeded!

This is the fence my husband built for my birthday; I wish this part of the yard got sun.  It's in shade the entire day (You can see my tiny garden behind the).

Technically, this is not a garden, but there are my barrels on the front porch, with the crate of tomatoes on the far right (And my cat, Shasta, lazing in the sun).  I had strawberries in the hanging planters a few years ago, but they didn't survive the first year.  I might try lettuce in those as well!

NON-GARDENING NOTE: our front door was so weathered and it looked horrid; we just couldn't justify the money for a new one.  Again, porch paint, in this case dark brown, saved the day...about $14.00 for a quart, which is enough for 10 doors!

graphics courtesy of http://www.countryheartdesigns.com/