Fresh white

The first Freesia bud has burst open in a lovely color of.........

White.

White looks wonderful in a garden of flowers, especially if there is a lot of the color, however, I was hoping for a more cheery color like pink or yellow.

Listen to me!......... I should be grateful that they are blooming! I am actually.{: I have more that are about to bloom. I placed these in planting containers, as I earlier explained, to experiment. After the plant goes to rest, I can label the bulb knowing what color it is and be able to design the garden, or tell anyone who might purchase the plants next year what color it is. Rain came to us yesterday, which means I did not get all of my weeding done, however, the ground will now be soft and easier to work in, so back to the grounds tomorrow to finish off the weeds. Today, I will work with my needle and thread....... maybe start appreciating the white floss I have. {:

weeds

No pictures of the garden yet, just tons of weeds. The harsh Texas wind has been blowing high gusts and with the temperature in the high 90's, it is worse than a giant blow dryer. My newly planted plants from the greenhouse are trying to hang on. The wind has already destroyed 3 healthy plants. Since it does not get cold in this part of country until late October, I think I may wait until the last of May to start planting next year. By then the winds have died down. So for now, I am replanting seed in the greenhouse to replace what has been lost. The pea garden is doing well, as well as the tomato and onion. I will spend this week catching up on reading you other blogger's wonderful posts, pulling weeds and stitching. Hopefully, I will have something to post and show next week.

Patience pays off!

First of all , thank you, thank you, all my blogging friends for your comments and helpful advice. Every time I get on and read your comments, it just touches my heart! Yes, as some of you have commented, I have a lot going on in my life. That is why I have 3 blogs to cover just a portion of some of the things I love to do. And this doesn't even cover my family life and spiritual life!{: In my very early posts, I planted Caladium tubers and Freesia bulbs in containers. One reason I was not sure where I want to place them when they sprouted and some I also want to sell. I planted them in the early part of February. I have had them in the green house and have watered them well. The Freesias, sprouted and grew well weeks ago, but no blooms. The Caladiums never showed up. Still, I kept watering.I have never worked with Caladiums or Freesias before, so this is an experiment.

My patience has paid off. I now have sprouts and beautiful speckled leaves popping up! This Caladium looks to be full of color soon!
The Freesias have started budding. I can't wait to see what colors there are waiting inside the green buds! Once again, thank you all for stopping by and leaving a comment. I just love to visit your blogs also and see your wonderful corners of the world!

It's junk, it's a satellite, it's a .......pond??

Remember those large disks that were the first satellites? We have had one sitting out on our property for the longest time. It was here when we moved in. I have always wanted my sweetie to get rid of it, as to me, it is an eye sore. However, my sweetie is a resourceful and creative man, and said it would make a great pond......I had my doubts.{:

This past week, with the help of our youngest son, he set out to show me what he had in mind. I have to say I was still doubtful.{:
After days of both of them digging, they finally got it into place. Now he plans to seal the hole in the middle and get pond liner and fill it up. As to keeping it clean and fresh, he has that all planned out as well. I will learn more as I watch. He has been eyeing my rocks that I am planning for the path around the greenhouse. He says they would be perfect around the rim of the pond. So because he is such a sweetie, I guess the little path to the door is enough for me and I will just figure out something else. There will be pond pictures I hope if his plans work out! I think I am less doubtful now!{:

In the Garden

First of all, thank you all for stopping by to visit and to offer your advice when you leave your comments. I look forward to hearing from you. You all make my day! My greenhouse is getting bare, as all of the plants that have sprouted have now been transplanted to the garden. I left two tomato plants and a planter of lettuce in the greenhouse, however, for the winter months ahead. I am now going to plant more flower seed!!

The tomatoes are growing well. As I have posted earlier, I love green tomatoes as much as red tomatoes. So a lot of these will be picked soon! I will post my recipe for fried green tomatoes on My Country Kitchen blog at a later date.


I decided to try Anaheim peppers this year. I love to make chili rellenos and these peppers are wonderful for that.Do any of you like them? I fix them a little different..... a special recipe for my Sweetie. Again, I will later post the recipe for these on My Country Kitchen blog.

My pumpkins and decorative gourds have grown well. I can't wait to see the colors I come out with on this bunch. This is the first year for me to plant decorative gourds. Have any of you had any experience with these?

Doesn't look like much, but very soon pumpkin and gourd vines will have the whole ground covered. The white residue you see is flour. I have heard it is a good "organic" way too keep bugs off. I will soon know whether it works or not. Have any of you heard of this? Do you have any organic tips to pass along? The past few days has brought us much needed rain, which means, my needle and thimble will be put aside and I will be out working in the soft ground. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Does anyone know the name of this plant?

Last year I planted a mixture of flower seed in the large flower bed on the side of our house. It rained and washed some of the seed out along the edge. This ground cover is the result and it is so pretty. It doesn't grow too high and when dug up, it has roots like that of an Ivy vine. I can't to save my life, remember the name of this. Do any of you know? It comes back by itself after winter.
To make the rock path I just made to the greenhouse door look not so bare, I planted this little plant in between the stones. Not sure if they will survive the transplant.

If it survives, hopefully in a few weeks, there will be green among the red and white stones.

As you can see, my supervisor is making sure I get the job done right. Salem has been my constant companion ever since I brought him home last May.

One path done!

The weekend flew by quickly and I did not get every thing accomplished that I had hoped to. However, I did manage to get the small path to my greenhouse door finished!

There is a favorite lake that my sweetie and I used to take our children to for camping trips when they were very young. The rocks there are a mixture of clay and I am not sure what else.{: However, I have always loved these colorful rocks. As you can see, they have a red and white pattern that reminds me of the western cowhide. While we still lived in town, we gathered some of these rocks to take home. I had an idea for a patio spot and flower bed. They worked wonderful. I still had a few left over and brought them out here when we moved.

Here is the path to the doorway. It will look more settled in as time and wear goes over it. I love the texture and the colors. Some of the rocks have little "potholes" where water has dripped on them over the years. The colors will be more vibrant as the dirt gets replaced with the color of green. I still need to get the path that leads around the greenhouse done. I am hoping to work the rest of this week on that!

Another plot of dirt... another plan!

Now that the greenhouse is up and seeds are sprouting, there is not a lot to do but wait for the time to transplant them. The greenhouse has been built inside of a small garden that has a small fence running around it. Not much has grown there over the past years except for a few tomatoes and tulip bulbs. The grass has overtaken much of the ground( if you look at earlier posts). There is a large flower bed that runs along in front of the garden area. So I have decided to try to make the grounds look pretty with flowers such as zinnia and cosmos. But I also want a stone walk leading up to the door of the greenhouse and going along side in the garden.

The first step was to break up the ground with the tiller. As you can see, I still have that stubborn grass along the edges that I will have to pull.

Here is the door of the greenhouse. That icky mat is there until I place the stones I want for a walk. As you can see, I have much to do. I think laying the stones will be easier than pulling the grass and getting the flower bed cleared. I hope by next week, I can post a picture of a beautiful stone walk way. Any suggestions on getting rid of the persistent grass without killing the flowers?

Life in the Greenhouse

As you can see, things are really springing into life in the greenhouse. I have pumpkins, decorative gourds, cucumber, cantaloupe, zucchini, and assorted flowers. I will soon transplant these to the outside. It has been so fun to have these sprout for me!

The greenhouse lettuce is producing well and I had enough to add to our salad for supper!
The greenhouse tomatoes are blooming. I have been shaking them to loosen the pollen, but I may have to capture a couple of bees to let them pollinate for me. These tomatoes as well as the lettuce, will remain in the greenhouse. My outside garden tomatoes are blooming as well!

Lovely weather

The weather for the past two days has been overcast and promising to rain any minute.... but as of yet no rain. However, my garden has not dried out, giving me time to do my embroidery in my favorite retreat... the front porch. I have posted pictures looking out from here before, but at that time, every thing was brown, dry and bare. Now the house, the grounds..... every thing is surrounded in green.

It has been so cool, and I could sit here forever, just stitching the hours away.
The Azalea's blooms by the way, have doubled in size since being transplanted and placed here. As you can see, I am never without company. Abby is just one of the many felines that stay by my side. It is very hard for me to put my needle down and get other things done on days like this.

Azalea

The weekend was full of making rows, weeding and planting new plants out of the greenhouse into the garden. I would post pictures, but all it looks like now is a few tiny weeds in a big plot of dirt.{: On my sewing blog, Yesteryear Embroideries, I posted about needing information on growing an Azalea that Sweetie brought home to me. How wonderful you all are and how helpful! Thank you all for your advice. I am going to try what you told me probably next year after the new wears off and I don't doubt the grounds I want to plant this in.

So for now, I planted it into a large container and placed it on the front porch where I do a lot of my stitching and dreaming.{: It is so cheery and will give me a lot of inspiration. It gets good morning sun but is in the shade the rest of the day. Hopefully it will be cool enough for it. Also when winter comes , I can easily move it into the greenhouse.
And I finally decided what to use my little tin container for. Either for holding sewing patterns while I am sewing, or possibly move to the greenhouse for seed packages and planting information. I hope this finds that all of you had a wonderful weekend!

Eggs Sales

Remember when I told you all about selling my eggs to a neighbor down the road? Well, she has been such a blessing. She takes any extra dozens I have and sells them at her workplace. She also now drops by the house to pick them up. Such a great help! However, I only have 7 hens and not enough eggs!{: I need to get some more layers. I did not expect people to want them this much. But it's great to know there is a need for them.

One of my dear friends is "eggcited" {: for me and found this little sign in a shop and mailed it to me. I love it. I am going to hang it on the front porch wall by our front door.

She also sent me this cute little container. It's tin and looks to be hand painted. I love the colors. I am trying to decide what to use it for. Any ideas?
As you can see, it is envelope shaped. Maybe I could hang in on the wall for coupons? Maybe out on the porch by the door for messages or letters? What do you think? Well, the weekend is here and as you probably already know, I am off to play in the greenhouse and do a few stitches. So I hope you all have a blessed weekend!