Gardens and quilts

Apparently, I can only manage one post a month. Sheesh!

This one will be short, but picture-heavy, as I am so behind in chores and projects.

First, the garden.

The cherry tomatoes have gone ballistic! I have harvested at least a couple of hundred and given away more than half. Some have been eaten on salads, just eaten by the handul, tossed in the freezer, and chopped up in a salsa.

The jalapenos have been prolific, too--also given away, tossed in the freezer and chopped up in said salsa. The squash got decimated by a squash borer that ate through the stalks and rotted everything. I only got one squash off of it, but my neighbor's boyfriend brought a sackful from his garden for me, so I've put some of those in the freezer as well.

These pictures are about a week old, so I've already harvested these peppers--one is red, the other yellow. I'm not getting many from these plants, so I'm not sure if they didn't get enough sun early on, or if that's all they produce and I need to plant more next year.



My one okra plant! I am so surprised! There aren't many, so I may just pickle these few and give the jar to my daughter for Christmas. She loves them, and I bought some burgundy ones at the tailgate market last Sat. Red and green pickled okra--just says Christmas, doesn't it?

See my eggplant? Another surprise! It has a couple more blossoms on it, so I may get more than I figured. Last weekend I bought some Japanese eggplant from the tailgate market, and made this eggplant casserole with them. They were so good, I think I'll have to grow this kind myself  next year. Since we aren't big eggplant eaters, I was unsure about planting any, but hubby declared the recipe a hit, so there you go.

I already harvested most of the carrots, but I think there's time to plant more. I'm headed to Home Depot this afternoon to buy 2 more raised bed kits and am going to go for some cool weather plants before winter gets here. I am by no means a farmer, but it has been so gratifying to raise some of my own vegetables. The Homeowners' Association hasn't said anything, so I'm hoping as long as I keep the beds neat, no one will complain that they are right out there in what's practially my front yard.

The new job is going great! I am working with and for a great group of folks, and that has made such a difference. I'm a bit easier to live with at home, I think, because I'm not stressed out as I was before. I've been doing all 12-hr shifts, and that's working out really well for me.  As a plus, look at what's all around me on the beds:

 

 

and on the walls:

 

and tossed over recliners.

 

(Sorry some of the photos are so dark--they were taken with my phone, at night, and the lighting is okay for bedrooms, but not for photography.)

 

We have volunteers who have made these, as well as butterfly pillows, patient gowns, and drawstring pants, and we have a washer and dryer for washing these bedquilts, so they don't have to go to the commercial laundry.  Since ours is a non-profit organization, and we try to make these rooms as home-like as possible, we have gowns and pants made from old sheets, and lots of mismatched pillowcases. (Kinda like my house.) I never knew what was the big deal about making pillowcases for gifts, but since we use so many pillows repositioning people, and making up the sofas and recliners for family members to sleep on, I think I may just have to jump on this bandwagon.

 

As you can see, most of these quilts are works of heart, not necessarilyworks of art, but they do cheer up the rooms so much. I peeked into one of my rooms the other night to find the hubby in the bed under a red, white, and blue sampler quilt, the wife on the sofa bed under a scrappy quilt, and the daughter in the recliner with a lap quilt over her legs--all of them asleep. Not a normal situation, but made more comforting by quilts instead of hospital blankets. And if a family really loves a quilt that was over their loved one, we will give it to them.

 

I don't know if there's a hospice facility near you, but if there is, I hope you'd consider donating some bedquilts or pillowcases to them.  If you don't have much spare time, but do have a pattern for gowns or pants, they would be appreciated, too.  And please, consider volunteering if you can manage it. Again, as a non-profit organization, we depend on our volunteers so much. They save us so much money and time. We have volunteers who maintain the flowerbeds, run lab specimens to the local hospital, push patients in wheelchairs through the gardens, play music or CDs in the rooms, run the washer and dryer and fold towels and linens for the closets, and so much more. They free up the CNAs and nurses to do the more technological or hands-on care and the reams of documentation that must be done to qualify for the Medicare assistance that covers most patients' expenses. Our organization figures the volunteers save us the equivalent of 15 full-time employees' salaries every year. I wish we had some volunteers at night. If I ever get to retire, I think I'll have to stick around as a volunteer. 8^)

 







Highlights

So much has happened since my last post, I hardly know where to start!

First, you know I was doing a lot of work in my yard this spring, trying to enlarge flower beds, planting more perennials, and ta-dah: my first raised bed garden!

I stacked together two kits bought from Home Depot and laid cardboard in the bottom to prevent weeds and grass from coming through, then just layered peat moss and compost and garden soil, as described in the book on lasagna gardening.

Those little plants in the back are squash (no more slugs for me!), and the two little plants to the right side are cherry tomatoes.  I also planted carrots, peppers, radishes, eggplant and one lone okra plant. Later, after I harvested the radishes, I transplanted a jalapeno plant from the large container it shared with a second plant.

In another large planter, I planted two heirloom tomato plants.

Well, here they are today:

The heirloom tomatoes aren't doing very well. This is the second time I've planted heirlooms in this planter, and I don't know what the problem is, but this combination doesn't work well.

The jalapenos:

They're doing MUCH better than the tomatoes. I've already harvested 4 and you can see there are at least a dozen more, and more blossoms besides.

But look at the squash and the cherry tomatoes!

I came home from vacation to find some branches broken off from the weight! I had to drag an old swing frame from under the deck, string some bungee cords and use fabric strips to support the branches! Note to self: tomatoes and squash LOVE fish emulsion!

Between the two veggies, the other plants are struggling for sunlight, but I do have some peppers and carrots hanging in there.

I'm so thrilled! My first successful garden! I think I may get another kit or two for the fall, and grow some greens, or at least have them for next spring. I believe the tomatoes and squash need beds of their own. Fortunately, my neighbor diligently watered my garden and flowerbeds while we were gone to visit my daughter last week, because we had temps in the upper 90s and NO RAIN for 3 weeks. My water bill was double the usual amount. However, it has rained for the last 3 days straight, and things are getting waterlogged, so I'm ready for a little sunshine so the tomatoes will ripen.

We went to Virginia to see our daughter, and visited Monticello while there. Knowing the crowds would be astronomical on the Fourth, with the nationalization ceremonies, we went on July 3. Holy cow, it was SOOO hot and humid there. Just miserable. I did spend a bit of time looking at the Jefferson vegetable garden, but decided not to try the flower gardens. Even with a big hat on and bottled water, it was almost unbearable out there, and then add pushing Jack around in his wheelchair, and I was wilted in minutes. The house tour was interesting, though still uncomfortably warm, but the cellar was pretty cool.  Thought you might like to see one of the sewing displays there:

You can click on the picture to enlarge. I lifted some of those irons--I'm thinking the house staff had arm muscles as bulky as those of the farm slaves!

In other news, I changed jobs. I have been increasingly unhappy at the hospital, and just couldn't support the direction they were taking us, so began looking around in April. This is not a large area, and opportunities are limited, but I was fortunate to find a job in an area I've been contemplating for years: hospice. I didn't realize how long I've been thinking about it until my daughter mentioned I was talking about it 10-12 years ago. Monday was my first day, though it was filled with paperwork, etc., and I didn't get to the floor til Tues. night. And yes, I'm still on nights, only it's a combination of 12- and 8-hour shifts, which will be nicer. Sometimes the 12-hour shifts kick my butt. My schedule could change later, but it's what I want right now. In another month or so, I will start cross-training to do home hospice visits as well, because I did take a sizable cut in pay. On the plus side, I'm already way less stressed, and only have to drive 3.5 miles to work as opposed to the 15 miles I was driving. With gas as high as it is, that's going to be helpful. 

I took 2 weeks off between jobs, and had a long list of things I planned to do. Well, you know what they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men, don't you? I did manage a few things, but that list doesn't look a whole lot shorter. One of the things I wanted to do was paint the kitchen, but it didn't happen. Yet.

All was going well with Tandi, and we had finally achieved full freedom last weekend. We put her wireless fence collar back on, allowing her to go out the pet door to potty, and she has been so happy. Then, Thurs. night, the pizza delivery guy came 15 min. earlier than they had predicted and I didn't have time to put Tandi in her crate. (The doorbell always initiates loud, mad barking--as if we don't know someone is at the door!)

Anyway, she slipped out of the collar and the leash that was loosely attached, and went barreling out the door, down the steps and into the yard, barking at the delivery man and his truck the entire time. I managed to scoop her up and bring her back into the house, but when I set her down, she was limping. Somewhere along the way, she must have slipped on the wet grass, because she has now torn the ligament in her other knee. 

So my vet will be contacting the surgeon on Monday, and we will start this whole process all over again. I can't believe it. Her little leg was so swollen and she was so miserable right after the surgery. 

We'll have to watch to make sure she doesn't eat her bandage again. Her last surgery was mid-Feb. and she just now completed all the restrictions. We're talking January before we reach this point again. Bless her heart, she's not having a good year at all.

I'm sure more has happened, but those are the highlights. I haven't even started thinking about Hallowe'en yet, and that's unbelievable! 

The Light's Right but the Temps are All Wrong

So I heard yesterday was the first full day of autumn.  Really? You'd be hard pressed to know it from walking around outside. Though the nights might dip into the upper 50s, daytime highs are still in the mid 80s.  Thankfully, the humidity remains pretty low, and next week the highs should be in the mid 70s, but it just doesn't feel like fall yet.

My roses are still blooming.

The celosia finally took hold.

The phlox has renewed blooms.

My coleus plants just went nuts towards the end of the summer.

I've pinched the blossoms and tiny tomatoes off the tomato plants so all the energy will go to enlarging and ripening those hard green blobs, but I don't know if that'll be enough. 

Here are the latest photos of the tipsy pots:

One of the pots below suffered greatly when we went to Birmingham for 4 days over Labor Day weekend and just never did recover.  

The vinca in the top pot stayed pretty sparse, too, though the blossoms were lovely.

That's the problem with clay pots--they dry out so quickly.  I've already talked with one of the little neighbor girls about paying her to water my plants if  I'm going to be gone for a while, but it'll be next year before that happens again.

The moss rose in the second pot from the top was supposed to trail, but it didn't really.  In the 4th pot I planted something with the moss rose (can't remember the name) and it looked much better than the moss roses. 

I might plant vinca and moss rose again next year, but not in the tipsy pots.

The chilly mornings have made some of the insects rather sluggish. 

This little wasp was just sitting there, not moving at all.  Even when I disturbed the plant a little, he only twitched an antenna.

But there are some signs the season is changing. The jalapeno plant yielded up its last pepper yesterday, so it's been pulled up and tossed in the trash.  The petunias are giving up the ghost, too, so most of them have been uprooted and I'm thinking of putting pansies in the pots instead. My neighbor planted 75 spring bulbs yesterday.  Ron the Mower Man comes by only every 3 weeks now.

It's time to pick a permanent home for the Japanese maple and decide on which trees will replace the Bradford Pears I lost last winter. But the other Japanese maple is showing those lovely burgundy tips.

 A lot of my herbs have been trimmed back or gone to flower.  It wasn't a good year for the mint or
 basil, but the lavender, parsley and chives have been outstanding. 

The afternoons are shorter and showing that golden cast that signifies the changing of the seasons. The State Fair is over for another year.

My Halloween counter says it's only 37 days til October 31, and I should be getting a little sense of urgency here.  I've ordered several items from Fright Catalog, Spirit Halloween and Grandin Road, and spent a few hours dismantling the red dresses as well as putting the first coat of paint on a display box for the glowing heart, and on the small coffin MightyMom gave me.

Last year, the party I'd planned was cancelled after Jack's hospitalization, and I hadn't given it another thought since then.  But at least 3 people have asked if we were having it this year, and one gal arranged her schedule to be off the weekend in order to come.  So it looks as if the party's on for this year. The decorations are going up anyway, so why not?  But nothing elaborate--just going to throw a couple pots of chili on the stove and maybe make some grilled cheese sandwiches,  and everyone can just bring something to share. 

A friend asked if we had a fireplace or outdoor firepit to toast marshmallows, and we don't, but I'm thinking the place in the center of the yard where the old oak tree was taken down will serve as a good place to make a firepit.  There are no trees close by, and the hose will reach as a water source, and it's right in the center of the action for this year's yard haunt, so I just need to dig out the leftover mulch and encircle it with the scalloped cement borders.  What a great place to tell ghost stories, huh? Guess I need to head back to the thrift stores to find wire coat hangers. Gee, another trip to the thrift shops. What a hardship.