With a knife in my hand, I wandered out to the front yard...........

(don't be alarmed..........it's not a horror blog post)

which now has been taken over by pumpkin vines and brightly blooming zinnias.

 If you look to your right, you can barely see Sophie as she romps around in the thick growth.

I had only meant to have a small patch of pumpkins in the front yard so that I could look out in between my writing and enjoy the view. I did not think that they would take off and grow this well. Of course I really enjoy the view now.........

A few posts back I showed you this pumpkin, which at that time was 49 inches around. I have watched it grow and have been so delighted with it, that I have had a hard time deciding about cutting it..........however, more pumpkins are wanting to grow, so with the knife, I cut it from the vine.

 

It was so large and heavy that I struggled getting it to the front porch. It reached 56 1/2 inches around and weighed 62 pounds!

Most of all it is just a really pretty pumpkin.................

don't you think??

It is so big that it makes my regular size pumpkins look like miniatures.

I've been asked by friends and family about what I plan to do with it.

I am not going to carve it. I am just going to enjoy looking at it on the porch.  I am sure there is a lot of good pumpkin inside of it  that could be cooked down for pies ............but I will do that with my other pumpkins.

When the large pumpkin finally gets wilted down towards late fall, I will take out the seeds and keep them for next year's planting.

In fact, I think I won't have grass in the yard any longer.................

I think I will have a pumpkin patch instead.

 



This year, I have let my main large zinnia/flower garden

rest.

Although, my loyal scarecrow, Gertrude, watches over it all.

For years, this garden has produced the most beautiful zinnia and other flowers. But the last couple of growing seasons has not had good results. Along with letting it rest, I have been adding compost,  tilling in the weeds that grow, and trying to remove all of the thorned grass burs that love a vacant field.  All of this, in hopes that the ground will start "living" again and hopefully next year will produce well.

I am also wanting to design a specific look to this garden. Adding unusual paths and "garden art" that I create along the way. These stones are nothing more than plain and boring chunks of concrete that were broken up from a field next to our property. The farmer was more than happy for me to carry these off .

Since I have learned how to be creative with cement, I embellished a few of the stones with cement, using my pumpkin and gourd leaves to leave a decorative impression on them.

I also used pine tree cuttings and pine cones.

Now the path will have an interesting look to it along in the garden.

Since I have a large amount of beautiful leaves in the pumpkin patch, I decided to preserve some of those in cement as well.

These will be beautiful in my garden design..........

and to work with the cement pumpkins I am making.

I have also created bird baths as well as shallow watering dishes for the birds and  small reptiles to enjoy a drink from. Now that the weather is cooling, I will be spending much of my days out in this area...............hoping for beautiful results by planting season next year.

How about you?

Do you have any problematic garden spaces that you want to work in?

I would love to hear!



Storm clouds are forming across the prairie

and a cool breeze, as well as a big drop in the temperature, lures me to put my needle down and to step away from my studio

 to come out and enjoy the gardens. Looks like I am going to have a good "small" bunch of pumpkins this year. I can now see them poking out above the large leaves, as I look out over the grounds.

I planted fairy tale pumpkins as well and they are starting to grow.

I am delighted................This is a very large pumpkin still growing in the patch......

It measures 49 around! Think of the pumpkin pies this fella will give!

My Zinnia gardens are producing their own symphony. They are growing in just about every corner

there is along the grounds and under the trees as well as in the gourd and pumpkin patch.

I have a new visitor to the garden this year. I have not seen bumble bees in all the years that we have been out here until this year. I had been told that the poison sprayed on the surrounding cotton fields have killed most of the bees off. Here at Pleasant Prairie.............the main reason I have name this place as such..............I have started to see many creatures come to visit and stay.

 

Here is the little Pomegranate tree that I planted last year. I call it my
"one hit wonder" because last year and now, this year I have only gotten 1 pomegranate from it. It is full of blooms in the early spring, but either the high winds blow them off or the birds play havoc.

But I am content to at least get one. I love the way they look in form and color.............

don't you?

The patch of decorative gourds has stated producing and each day their is some

new and unique character waiting to be plucked and brought in to be placed into the fall basket.

 

I am eagerly looking forward to fall's arrival. Caramel apples, the fairs with the smell of funnel cakes and grilled corn, and of course pumpkin pie are what I always look forward to.

How about you?

Is fall your favorite time of year?

What do you like best about it?

I would love to hear!

The days have been very hot...............yet I can feel the change in the air as the breeze blows across the prairie............

I can feel fall is on it's way. I cant explain this feeling, no matter how many words I try to write down about it..............

it's like trying to describe the colors in the morning sunrise to someone who cannot see and has never seen color before.............but I know that many of you probably know what I am talking about and have felt this same "feel in the air".........haven't you?

All through early spring and summer, I have flowers sprouting and blooming, but they all seem to be doing their best during this time of year and all the way up to November. The rose moss is bursting in all colors.

And overflowing in all containers.

I love using old kitchen ware, such as this rusted old roasting pan to plant rose moss in.

The morning glory is growing and climbing on everything that stands still long enough. From the old vintage fencing.............

to the gnarled and crooked mesquite trees..........

and up against walls.............blooming in all wonderful colors of soft blue

striking white............

and alluring pinks.

On the front porch sits my poinsettia that I have had since this past Christmas. It had begun to look tired and tattered right after February , so I placed it into a larger pot with fertilized soil and place it out on the front porch..................and left it alone. Only watering it when it started to look droopy. The porch is shaded in this spot.............although the temperature can reach up to the 100's. So I am surprised that this plant has held on. I am hoping that by Christmas it will once again turn to it's "Christmas" color. This is a pink poinsettia, so I guess it won't really be a Christmas color and I wonder how much longer it will live.

Out by the chicken yard, grows a long line of sunflowers.

One flower that always amazes me is the sunflower. It can take the harshest wind, the thickest dirt and the hottest sun ............

and still look vibrant.

And before you ask.............yes, I planted my Zinnia gardens this year. They are starting to get tall

and to show off their heady blossoms. There are still quite a few more extreme hot days left for this area in Texas................but I am excited to feel the change in the air because fall is my favorite time of year.

How about you?

Are you feeling the change in the seasons?

Are you getting cooler days and nights?

What is blossoming in your garden?

I would love to hear!



This morning, I pulled the very first pumpkin from my patch

I really had not wanted to do this so early in the season, but I did so, hoping that all of the small pumpkins will now get large. I have heard that one pumpkin can get all of the nutrients away from the other pumpkins and usually folks pull off all of the little ones to let the one big one keep growing. I, however, want more than one big one. Hopefully, by October, there will be more.

 

With all of the rain that we have been constantly getting, the vines are stretching out of the yard and into the woods.

I also have a small patch of decorative gourds and I now wish I had planted more of these.

There are so many colorful............

long............

round and odd looking ones. I can't wait to decorate my fall table with them!

So I have black cat (Salem) and a pumpkin on my porch..........

a little earlier than for Halloween.

How about you?

Any pumpkins in your patch this year?

I would love to hear!

Last week, we got 4 days and nights of rain!!

Not the hard ground beating rain, but soft and steady, soak in the ground kind.

Some people get frustrated with me when they ask me how many inches of rain did I get.................I don't bother to measure..............except for my own way................so here goes

SPIT BATH:  If the vehicles have brown spots all over them and the ground looks like it has freckles, but is still hard and dry.............

A NICE SHOWER:  If the patio is wet and the temperature has dropped down a few degrees...........the ground is wet on the surface, but dry when you dig down.

A GOOD RAIN: If there is a mud puddle in the drive way, the flowers are bent over from the heaviness of the moisture, ........... the rain buckets are full..............and the ground is wet all the way down and I don't have to water the next day

A SOAKER:  when the rain falls softly and steady and lasts for a length of time............ toads appear from nowhere and croak all night............... the rain buckets are over flowing and the ground is so soggy that your shoes makes weird noises and scares off the chickens

Those days of rain were wonderful. The temperature was almost like fall. Yet, when the rain ended, I did not see a rainbow...............but I did find this colorful fellow enjoying my flower gardens........even though he's a pest............he is very pretty!

 

 

One thing has always amazed me............although I know it is the most common thing...........the ground here can be hard packed and dry for months...........even years...............with nothing growing on it. The creek beds can be all dry as well as the ponds...........both natural and man made..............

yet when the rain comes and rains well, toads of every shape , size , and sound, appear.............filling the night with their loud croaking.

 

 

Along with the toads................come the toad stools..........

which are always whimsical to me.

Even moss on the gnarled, hard, mesquite trees come to life with brilliant color.

I call this old tree in my front yard.............The Sleepy Hollow Tree.........it is twisted and bent...........

it has even survived a lighten bolt. I planted pumpkins underneath it so that I can enjoy looking at them from the porch............. the rain has encouraged them to spread farther and farther across the yard.

They are getting larger. I cannot wait until fall and hopefully these will be orange and gigantic!

How about you?

How is the weather in your area?

I know some of you are getting really tired of the rain..........

What are you growing in your gardens?

I would love to hear!

 *** Don't forget.............I have a cooking blog.............

My Country Kitchen

just click onto the link

I have just posted a wonderful hearty soup recipe there!