Garden Update

Oh, look upon the bounty that Justin was able to seal with the Food Saver! 

Haha just kidding!  Those beans are from a garden.  Just not OUR garden.  Justin got them from  co-worker.  They are still delicious though.  And our garden is coming along.  There have been several cucumbers, one large zucchini, and plenty of peas.  The beans are flowering so that is good, even though they are a bit behind the beans in other gardens it seems! 

Right in the middle of this photo you can see a mini zucchini starting to grow...it is so cute!  It was hard not to pick it!  There should be more because there are alot of flowers. 

Also, two lily plants I planted last year are in full bloom, also quite a bit later than they should be.  I have no idea why this is...we had two new lily plants from the greenhouse this year and they bloomed weeks ago.  I love these flowers so maybe they knew I wanted to see them in their glory and waited until I would be around to see and smell them!  They smell so good...the whole front yard is fragrant!

Speaking of the front yard, our sidewalk and the end of our driveway are getting repoured this week.  They are starting tomorrow!  The sidewalk in front of the house is very cracked and the end of the driveway is narrow and has these weird ledge things along the sides so this will be nice.   

Now a few odd notes that don't really fit in anywhere else...

Two weekends ago a storm came through and we ended up losing electricity for three hours.  We heard the transformer pop as it happened.  It was really annoying because it was only our side of the street that was in the dark.  We could see the neigbors on the other side enjoying their lights and TVs.  We have one flashlight so I lit a candle.  Candles have been mostly off limits since Allan joined the house because he fixates on the flame and when he was little he singed his eyebrow whiskers off.  I had to moniter him so it didn't happen again!

Awww...look...that is back in December of 2009 when he was still a baby...I love to burn pine tree scented candles around Christmas time.  Allan liked them a but TOO much!

Finally, my cousins just returned from visiting their parents in Illinois.  My aunt has been excited to give me my birthday present since my birthday in April but they often fly when they come to visit so she hasn't been able to give it to me until now.  I had no idea what it could be!  It was this wacky plate with a three dimensional burger on it!  Hahaha very nice!  It is categorized as an appetizer plate, and the box shows the hole in the burger being used to hold toothpicks.  Maybe I will fill it with ranch dressing!  Wait...that would never be enough ranch for me!  I think I need to learn to make sliders!



Plants!

Over the weekend I did what I said I would as soon as the weather improved on Sunday.  I planted some flowers!  Oooh I love it.  I love picking them out and arranging them in planters.  I have some favorites I always buy, including marigolds, geraniums, petunias, and of course the proportion balancing spikes.  I also like to experiment with something new every year . This year I bought those dark purple things which you can see in the right corner, which don't get flowers but instead add interest by trailing over the sides of the pots.  

I visited three greenhouses to get my full inventory and they were all busy and chaotic. I could barely push my cart around. It was like the Black Fridy of buying plants I think.  I guess I wasn't the only one who was excited by the idea of bright flowers and working in the sun. I always have to reign myself in to avoid buying more plants than I have room for.  It is hard to grasp the idea that each pack has six plants that grow and spread quite fast.  Last year I put one too many plants in some pots and some plants were overgrown. 

I set up my little work station in the back yard and got to work. The sun felt so wonderful and I could hardly remember when I last felt that kind of warmth!  It was delightful.  We are accumulating quite a large collection of planters which is great. There could never be too many in my opinion!  Our neighbor has two large discarded planters shoved out of the way by the fence in his back yard and it was very tempting for me to just grab them and plant stuff in them and set them in front of his house! 

They look so sparse but I know they will fill out in no time! 

Our front steps are perfect for displaying planters!  Once they grow and get heavier some will be displayed on the ledge.  Last year that trough shaped planter blew over many times was looking kind flat on one side!  There is a hook under the roof overhang so I intend to get a hanging basket also...perhaps in a few weeks when the plants start going on clearance.  

I love those dark purple leaves!  I also love the smell of geranium plants.  Not only the flowers, but also the leaves smell pretty good. Someone should bottle that!

I love the little labels that come with each pack of flowers!  I don't save them but I had to take a picture before discarding them. 

On a note not related to gardening, it is Constitution Day in Norway!  I was there for this day in 2006.  It was only our 2nd full day there and I was jet lagged and confused but the day was still quite an amazing experience.  That day was cold and raining but masses of people still celebrated in Oslo. I have never seen so many umbrellas.  I saw the photos of a friend who is currently living in Norway on Facebook today and they looked just like this except the sun was shining and the weather looked warm.  It made me so jealous! 

One day I hope I will see this sight in person again! 

I'm Back!

Hello!  We returned from the ski trip yesterday afternoon!  Justin's parents were at our house for the state basketball tournament so it was a busy weekend to continue a busy week.  I promise I will add a more detailed post about the trip tomorrow night (because I know the most fun thing in the world is to look at other people's vacation photos! Haha).  I have to say that I am very glad that the arrival of Spring has slowly progressed while we were gone.  Bismarck is almost snow free!  I talked to my mom this afternoon and she said that my aunt told her that her early spring perennials were coming up.  I wasn't surprised because my aunt lives in Illinois.  I was quite surprised to hear that some plants were popping up at my parents' farm in ND!  I looked at our flower beds and saw that, indeed, some irises were coming through the dirt!  

Oh, little plant, you are so brave.  If I were that bulb I would pull those little leaves right back into the ground for a few more weeks.  There might be a snowstorm this week!  Ugh!  

Poor Plants!

I finally returned home to Bis after more than a month away and it was a huge relief.  I have been missing everything about the house.  I our bright colored towels and my beautiful rug in the living room and the water glasses and everything else.  Besides Allan, there are a few other living things in the house that we are responsible for and I found out that those other things have been completely neglected for the past five weeks.  The plants.  The poor plants!  

There are three of them and they had not been watered since the last time I was here!  Amazingly they don't look too bad!  The one pictured is in the worst shape but it might come back! It looks better in the photo than it did when I discovered it, hanging limp over the sides of its pot.  I have been giving it water and it had some Miracle Gro this afternoon. 

Allan seems to have forgotten me which makes me sad...he prefers Justin and doesn't approach me like he used to.  I'm sure once I am back for good we will eventually resume our old relationship. 

This morning I woke up several hours before Justin and Allan was waiting by the door for him to come out. 

I had a good weekend.  It was a good feeling to get all of the Christmas decorations put away.  In addition to the Christmas tree, nativity scene and other decor, the small selection of Thanksgiving decorations we have were still out.  What a mess it was.  Setting up Christmas decorations is SO much better than taking them down.  It is one of the more anticlimactic aspects of the year I think!  I am embarassed to say that my mom managed to disassemble her Christmas decorations before I did.  For the past few years the Christmas tree at the farm has stayed up long past what could be considered acceptable to most people...OK, all people...

Allan

There hasn't been enough Allan related content on here lately.  I don't see him enough!  I hope the poor kitten remembers me!  So...here are a few pictures of him.  I realized it had been awhile and decided to show off a few. 

Throughout the fall months I was working on a top secret sewing project with Justin's mom.  It was for Christmas.  I will feature the results in a separate post eventually but I had a few Allan pictures I hadn't been able to reveal because they would have ruined the secret. 

 

The surprise involved quilts (yes, multiple quilts!) which I finished by tying as opposed to real quilting.  One weekend I worked on it at home and Allan was a big pest the whole time.  Here he is burrowing in the quilt with one of his favorite mouse toys.

This photo is probably one of my favorites I have taken of him because he looks very bratty!  The turn of his ears and the look in his eyes betray the bad behavior that was about to come.  Right after the photo was taken he started ripping the thread out of the box (it's my old friendship bracelet kit again!  It was shown on here a few months ago when I was tying a quilt!).  I love how he look so expressive! 

Justin sends me picture messages of Al regularly to cheer me up.  Most of them are taken when he is watching TV in the basement. 

Fluffy neck!

 He's getting kind of fat and I like it! 

I miss my little buddy!

The Peony Controversy

In our backyard, right up against our neighbor's driveway, there was an old flowerbed dileneated by a border of paving stones.  It had not been maintained for years and was mostly overgrown by grass except for a few tulip plants that grew with no rhyme or reason.  The back featured a row of huge, bushy peony plants.  There were three different colors including very light pink, bright pink and fuschia.  In June they bloomed with hundreds of flowers.  I cut some to make a few bouquets but mostly enjoyed them outside.  When he started improving the yard, Justin wouldn't let a pre-existing plant live and he wanted to do away with the peonies as well.  I wanted to keep them.  He said he would plant them somewhere else.  I looked it up on the internet and learned that established peony plants don't adjust well to being transplanted. 

Sigh...last week I gave up and he dug them up.  Two were transplanted and the rest were given away to Justin's co-workers.  Sorry I don't have any photos but they are not much to see right now anyway!  I guess I will have a surprise next spring because we don't know which colors remain!  Spring seems like a lifetime away right now!

This is a picture of one of my bouquets.  It looks pretty sparse!  The reason it is that way is because you are supposed to cut peonies before the blooms have opened.  I was imagining something more like this...

Yeah...Nice try!

Potpourri

No, this post is not about real potpourri.  I don't even like potpourri.  I think it is usually unattractive and just another thing to collect dust that is hard to clean!  I am referrring to a random assortment of things, or in this sitation, topics!  I used to watch Jeopardy on TV after school sometimes (prior to 8th grade, when we got a satellite dish on the farm and I had access to MTV, VH1, and reruns of Saved by the Bell on TBS) and I thought it was funny that they called the random category "potpourri". 

First of all, I have been at home in Bis for the last few days due to continuing uncertainty and delays at my job.  Don't worry, I am being paid for my availability so it's not so bad!  I take every opportunity I can to come back here and spend time at home and with Justin and Allan. 

We gave up on most the garden and pulled the last of the potatoes and carrots (which were short and mishappen.  Apparently what I thought was adequate "thinning" wasn't nearly thin enough so they ended up gross looking just like everything else).  All that's left out there are the pepper plants which, I believe, didn't get enough sunlight and never produced peppers (they didn't even flower!) and the tomato plants.  To my delight, I went to check them and found quite a few tomatoes.  Well, quite a few by the standards of this garden anyway. 

They are sweet and delicious. 

On another topic, I got some free address labels in the mail from a charity wanting donations yesterady!  I like having them around for use on bills and other mail.  I use the computer so much I have almost forgotten how to write (haha not really!) and writing our address on the envelope to the Wells Fargo Education Financial Services Dept. is really a pain.  I had some nice ones with whimsical, child-like images of bugs and flowers back at the apartment and Justin had some of his own as well.  I have been waiting to get some free labels since we moved in and it finally happened!  I'm surprised it took so long, since I have several magazine subscriptions so out address is out there for charities to access. 

They are Christmas themed, which is kind of annoying because a normal person wouldn't want to use them after Christmas.  I'm not a normal person though, so I will probably use them until they are gone! 

The gift tags are a nice bonus!

Potatoes!

I was going to show off another quilt I made today, but I had to show this instead! Something decent actually came from our garden! Justin was mowing and doing yard work last night and decided to try to dig up some of the potato plants. What is in the bucket was the produce of four plants. We grilled some of them last night and they were delicious! We also ate a few carrots. They are not very good though. Well, they taste good but they don't look good. They are thick and short. I think they didn't get thinned enough. I felt like I pulled out so many earlier this summer but I guess it wasn't enough.


Also, the tomato plants have been producing. They came from a greenhouse though, so I can't take all the credit!

Here's an Allan picture...that brown thing is a cheap scratching toy that is made of cardboard. The cardboard refills are really cheap so you can replace the ones in the frame if they get scratched to pieces. It came with a bag of catnip and, as you can see, Allan is attracted to it!

uhhhh. . .What the H3LL?

Yesterday I thought I would pick some peas from the garden so I could make some stir fried rice (a new dish I learned from Allrecipes.com for the purpose of using the peas from the garden) for lunch. I gathered the peas out in the warm sun, and it was a very idyllic nice moment. Out of curiousity, I thought I would look closer at the green bean plants to see if there was any beans to pick. The bean plants have been a disappointment this summer, as I have already mentioned. Well, I found some beans on the plants. . .everyone knows what green beans look like, right? (I found that photo on the Internet. . .I might be bored, but not bored enough to take photos of produce. Well, unless it is on a plant in my garden. . .I guess I did take photos of tomatos I picked last fall right after I started this blog. . .Ughh never mind.)


Well, check these out!

What? What happened to those? I think we need on extension agent on the scene because there is a problem in the garden! These came from the same plant, and the other plants did not have beans like this (they didn't have beans at all), so that is good news. . .I guess. . .Don't worry, I didn't eat them. I thought that if the bunny rabbits didn't feel comfortable eating them like they are eating everything else then I shouldn't either. First the potatoes, now this!

There was a fast moving thunderstorm, complete with hail and a torrential downpour this evening. I was out riding my bicycle and saw the black clouds approaching. I know this isn't exciting or worth mentioning in any way. The only reason I am mentioning it is to point out a difference between Bis and the cities I am familiar with back in the flat valley.

When it rains, especially when it rains alot, it is kind of like a flash flood every time because of the hills! The water surges down the streets and the gutters turn to little fast moving streams. Then, within 20 or so minutes, the water is gone! No puddles, no soggy lawns or gardens. It's kind of cool. It is probably why the mosquito population seems lower as well. The photograph above was supposed to capture the phenomenon but it really doesn't.

Weekend Fun

We had a very full weekend and were occupied from Friday afternoon through Sunday night! This was fine with me. I've never been a fan of low key, "relaxing" weekends. This might have something to do with the weekly boredom of being unemployed. Even when I am employed, though, I still feel that way. But, anyway, this weekend was fun! On Friday, we had four friends, Aaron, Andy, Chris and Jason, stay with us. They were on their way to Western ND for a hunting trip. We grilled steak, and made corn and potatoes. We had plans to prepare fresh potatos from our garden and the thought of it was mouth watering! Justin went out to harvest some and I imagined him coming into the kitchen with an armload of fresh, earth-smelling potatos.

There used to be a burger restaurant in Grand Forks that was owned by a local farmer. It specialized in wood fired burgers and french fries and I thought it was delicious. It was fast, but the food was a step up from normal fast food. The decor had an agricultural theme, with murals on the wall of lush wheat and potato fields. There was a scripture verse on one wall, 1 Corinthians 3:7, which says,

"It is neither he that plants anything, nor he that waters, but God who gives the increase."

I admit, I had to look up the book and chapter. I haven't studied scripture since my days of confirmation and Sunday School. I have always liked the poetic language of some Bible verses. The kind of irritating thing is that the verse I am referring to is not specifically about agriculture but is actually about a divided church in the ancient city of Corinth, and the language about planting and watering refers to the two ministers that founded the church. They disagreed about who was responsible and who should have credit for the growth of the church. The Bible is full of metaphors and other literary devices, and not suprisingly, people on the Internet have interpreted this verse many different ways. It is used in lessons about evangalism, to encourage those who can't get through to someone they are trying to save. I even found another blogspot site where the blogger named his blog after the verse! (I would link to it but I read it and it wasn't very good. The writer took a trip and only wrote one paragraph about it! ONE!? About a whole trip? Why even bother? Also, it hadn't been updated since 2007). The verse is also commonly used in agriculture related lessons so I am going to interpret it that way, just like the restaurant owner.

Anyway, that might have been boring for anyone reading this. The reason I brought up the scripture verse is that our potato harvest kind of reminded me of the verse. Justin came in from the garden with one small potato the size of a golf ball! He had dug up two plants and that's all that came of it! I expected more of an "increase" than that, especially since the plants are huge! Fortunately, our guest Andy's family has a large potato farm so he was able to diagnose the roots and suggested that they weren't getting enough water. The good news is that he said its not too late to start watering them more so we can increase our "increase"! What a relief.

Allan loves when guests come and he was really friendly.


There he is, lounging in Andy's arms like a cute little baby! You can see he is relaxed by the way his paws are positioned.

Allan's fun went downhill when our friend Chris arrived. He has a 6 month old puppy named Mercury (Merc for short.) Merc is very friendly and playful and wanted to make friends with Al. Al was not crazy about making friends with him!

It is hard to see in the picture, but Allan's tail is puffed up and his is on guard! He didn't know how to react to his guest. He even hissed a few times. Merc was oblivious to Al's discomfort and made himself at home. Poor Allan! Whenever Merc was in the room Allan stared him down with his back arched and his fur puffed. When Chris brought Merc downstairs to put him in his kennel I saw Allan slinking down the stairs behind them. So, although he was scared he was also curious and had to investigate! He is funny.

After we ate, we went to a bar by the river to enjoy the lovely summer evening. Justin and Andy stayed home with Mr. Puffy Tail and Merc. We were only there for about 1.5 hours due to Bismarck's lame 1 am bar closing time and when we returned Allan was back to his old self, lounging in the window on the back of the couch, with his tail twitching and whackin Andy in the face occasionally.

I'm going to pause now and write the rest of the post later because it is getting too long and I need to do some productive things like go the the Y to compensate for my weekend sloth and gluttony and buy some food because there is nothing here to eat except frozen hamburgers and grapes. . .come back later for part II, which involves a weekend trip.

Guess What's Back?

Aaawwww no. . .look what's back! There are a few ferns infiltrating the new flower bed and the newly planted grass! They better enjoy growing while they can because I'm sure when Justin returns they will be GONE. Haha. Those plants sure are determined!

Do you see the fern in the middle of the picture, sort of to the left? Allan is really worried about them. He likes a neat flower bed.

By the way, I have had people tell me that they have tried to make comments and the website wouldn't allow it. I was looking at the blogger.com features and settings and realized that I had a certain setting set so only other blogger members could comment. Now anyone can! So if you feel compelled. . .I would be surprised! Haha.

Landscaping

Justin mentioned recently that I wasn't giving enough attention to the work he's done on the yard when I write this thing. Yeah, I guess I really haven't. . .

It really does look much different. There were big shrubs around the deck before and the rock was dingy and becoming overgrown with weeds due to a lack of maintenance from the elderly owner. Now it is all fresh and new!


The daylillies are from Justin's co-worker Holly. She has also shared irises with us and her family took our old rock which they plan to re-use. Thanks! I had to look up how to spell "daylily" on the Internet and the top google search was a university extension sight and the link said that daylillies are "rugged, adaptable, vigorous perrenials that endure in a garden for many years with little or no care." I think I'm going to like these plants!

So pretty!

The garden is still growing but I wish I could keep bunnies out! I remember a controversy at NDSU a few years ago that started when people found out the grounds crew was shooting rabbits after hours. People got really mad about it but I can relate. They can really destroy things and they are everywhere! Ugh. Oh well. Next year we will have to build a fence around the garden I guess.

Those tomato plants look like trees! No flowers yet though. . .I hope nothing is wrong with them! If I remember correctly, those plants grow huge, juicy variety of tomato so maybe they are just storing up their energy for production.

The zucchini plants are flowering!

Since Justin is gone for three weeks I had to mow the lawn today. I posted last fall about my history with mowing and it is extensive, but I haven't done much mowing since I moved away from the farm. I took a spin with the push-mower and it was alot of work, even though it only took about 40 minutes. There is a small hill in the back yard with really wore me out! Haha. . .

Born to Rock

Justin is nearing the end of the landscaping project. Last night he finished securing the fabric over the soil. This afternoon he brought home two loads of rock, borrowed the neighbor's wheelbarrow, and spread the rock! It looks so pristine and clean. I appologize for the photo being sideways. . .tilt your head to the left!

The flowers we planted over Memorial Day weekend one month ago are flourishing in the planters. I love this one! It is perfect for 4th of July!

I love bright geraniums!

These lillies are so beautiful! More blooms open every day and they smell very good! I sit on the front step at night just to smell them. You can even smell them when coming out the side door! The scent reminds me of our wedding because there were similar lillies in the bouquets.

I love the orange-y tones of this pot.

When I planted these Impatiens they were spindly little things. They have filled out quite a bit.

Marigolds never disappoint! They are huge in this pot! Well, I shouldn't say they never disappoint. . .I put some in the ground to fill in the flower bed in front of the house and they are not doing very well at all. They are not dead, but they aren't growing or blooming. Maybe the soil isn't the same as the "valley" soil I am accustomed to.

Once again, tilt your head to the left!

OK, last one, I promise!

The vegetable garden is doing OK. The potatoes, peas and carrots are flourishing. The onions look horrible and the leaves are flopped over. I pulled one out and it was soft and squishy. Hmmmm...at least we tried. The string beans that actually grew are doing well, but only about half of them grew! I thought beans would grow no matter what! The zucchini and cucumbers look small, but I've been told they really start to grow later in the summer. The tomatoes and peppers look fine, but of course they came from a greenhouse, already growing! I really don't enjoy weeding. I didn't mind weeding when I was growing up because the weeds were "field" weeds like mustard and marsh elders that were large and easily discernible. It is a huge pain to pull countless little blades of grass, dandelions, and this very annoying weed that grows out and not up and spreads over the ground. After being around farming for so long, it is hard for me to accept that there is not a chemical solution to this problem. I wish we could just spray it and be done with weeding! Unfortunately, there is no herbicide that won't kill all the vegetables. Come on, Monsanto, when will you invent a round-up ready garden assortment? An organic garden was never my goal...