Hey DJ!
The new playground looks great...I know your son will enjoy it as much as my granddaughter loves hers. Glad you aren't finding it to be an "eyesore"...
Your place looks so inviting, I'd love to wander through it and take in all the neat sights you have created there.
Have a SUPER Holiday weekend!! Ours is forecast for possible rain thru Sunday, but that's ok by me!! Next weekend is our date for our first trip to the mountain...woohoo!! |
Hi, Karen, Happy Holiday!
I hope you get a nice rain (but not the all weekend long type). It'd be great if you could get one that puts out the fires, too (without causing more!). We are headed for a sunny weekend. That is so rare up here. It seems like it always has a chance of rain on the weekends.
Glad you like the pics. I wish I had all of the other areas up to snuff. I'm wondering if it's going to take me another six years. LOL!
It's so great that you're almost on your way to the mountain. WOOHOO, indeed! I bet you're going to think you're broiling alive when you come back, though. I hope you take lots of pics for us while you're there. Ooooh, I bet the view will be so lovely right now  , especially compared to crispy Florida. |
May 23, 2008 (Friday)
It is 52 degrees and sunny this morning (6:40 AM).
I put another round bowl (i.e., parrot bowl) in Roo's cage last night for his food, in place of the bread pan, so that it can hang from the side of his cage where he can't keep stepping in it. That seemed to work okay. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to get Roo's new accommodations taken care of.
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Did I mention before that the Trumpet Vine that I transplanted has actually sprouted? That's amazing. It has lots of shoots, too. I hope it flowers either this year or next year. I'm tired of waiting.
I sowed the 'Black Valentine' and 'Yin Yang' Bush Beans, 'Arikara' Sunflowers, and Utrecht Blue Wheat. I have been pulling more weeds around the old rhubarb patch since then. I'm going to try the hoe next, or the shovel, to get the last clump of weeds out as quickly as possible.
The Cucurbita family and Solanum family have been outside acclimating for part of the day. Except for those two groups, I think I will leave everything else outside overnight. |
| Valia Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 08:17 pm: |   |
Thanks, DJ, but I'm not one-tenth as busy as you are. I've got to admit, though, I'm having a hard time fitting all this in with the rest of my life.
I also had a photo story in that issue, the PTO "carnival" held to raise funds to continue the music and art programs at the elementary school. It was what we used to call a field day, mostly, though they did have a bounce house and one of those huge inflatable obstacle courses. Fun! My favorite event was the potato sack race. The organizers couldn't get the kids to give up their sacks after the race. They went on jumping all over the schoolyard for quite a while. |
LOL! You lucked out in finding a job that can make you laugh and smile! |
| Birdgarden Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 06:50 am: | |
DJ, I never comment because I always think it is "your" journal but I just have to say I love your place. I especially enjoyed the deja vu photos of the house in that thread. I have a favor with all those beautiful stone walls, etc. would you sometime give us a photo tour? Start at the road come up the driveway and look in all directions? Your place just speaks historic to me and I love everything you have been doing with it. |
| Stormdancer Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 06:50 am: | |
LOL...well from what I'm seeing the weather there is really warming during the day, they have had mid 70's and the nights are still kinda cool, but you are sooo right about broiling when we get back to Florida...ususally start feeling the heat about Atlanta...lol
Got a good soaking rain yesterday and most of last night...so far, its looking like a normal Sunny Saturday...but will be HOT later..
Taking loads of pictures is part of the plan...we haven't been up quite this early before and I'm anxious to see the Mountain Laurel (before the blooms are dying), the Dogwood and all the other Spring flowering things...I think the earliest we've ever gone up was the end of June....excitement in the air!! |
Please feel free to jump in and post comments or just gab away. As I mentioned once to Diane, my journal is more like a telephone... just give me a call whenever you like. LOL! 
Sure! But you're going to have to wait at least a week. My mower is in the shop. LOL! (And just so you know, the parts I rarely show aren't much to see. Once you get away from the house, it's pretty much just Wild Kingdom and Land of the Lost, all rolled into one. LOL!)
Thank you. 
LOL! You mean Hotlanta. LOL! I lived there, too, for longer than I'd like to recall. Whew... maybe about 5 to 6 years I think.
Ooooh! Wow, how exciting! I hope it didn't make it steamy, though. Ugh. Makes me want to faint just thinking about it. Actually, I guess that if it rained overnight, it probably actually felt sort of cool the next morning. I hope so, anyway.
LOL! It gives me goosebumps! I can almost smell the fresh air from here. And hear the bugs! I heard that this is the year the Cicadas will come out. Lucky you! LOL! The last time I remember being out in the hills like that was when we camped out in northern Georgia and I could barely sleep because of the billions upon billions of bugs that twittered away almost all night long. LOL! Oh, boy, but it will be pretty and green... I bet your eyes will thank you for their one week break. |
Was very nice... the temps dropped down into the mid 60's once the sun dropped and the rain blew in from the east coast...that's one of the only saving graces of living here, we get wonderful afternoon ocean breezes that bring the rain as the hot sticky air from the gulf pushes across and they collide.
we not only get the Cicadas in the summer, we also are in an area that is really wet, so when rain is coming the various frogs and toads begin to sing their little hearts out. But sometimes, you are right, the music can be deafening...lol I've become so used to hearing the night singing in my yard that when I had to stay over in Jacksonville last summer on business, I couldn't go to sleep!! It was too quiet...sirens don't bother me or traffic noise, our old house had all that and the night music would drowned that racket out. As for the green, I see green here most of the year, even during drought conditions as my yard is mostly native plants or cactus types. Its the changing of the guard so to speak...the new leaves bursting open, fruits beginning to form as the blossoms begin to dry...new sprouts all around amongst the dry dead of years past...I haven't been home to the area in twenty one years to watch as the seasons change...guess that's why this trip feels extra special to my heart.
Hope your holiday weekend is a safe, fun and restful event. Ours is looking very pleasant...temps about 83 degrees, east wind bringing cool breezes, puffy, altho occasionally dark clouds blocking the bright blazing sun every now and then...I'm smoking a picnic shoulder ham over a nice oak fire in the smoker grill at the moment...should be done in a couple of hours....yummmmmm...but I must have spooked a couple neighbors with the smoker smoke...we had one of the scout planes fly over and a helicopter made a round a bit ago...as long as its in an enclosed grill, its ok...if it was my firepit tho, I'd be seeing the local sheriff (probably my neighbor) in my driveway with a fine in hand....couldn't help myself...this ham just begged to be cooked in the smoker and I couldn't deny the poor porker its last request... |
Oh, wow, I wouldn't have guessed that cool. Time to flip the heat back on. LOL!
LOL!
It's definitely a different sort of green. LOL! I remember palms and palmetto, scrub oaks, huge HUGE Oleander bushes, pines, and green irrigated lawns. LOL.
I hope yours is, too. So far it's been fun, but not restful. LOL! As for safe, I haven't had any accidents so far, but I still have another whole day ahead. LOL!
Oh, now you're making me hungry! Mmmm. That smells so good. I mean SOUNDS so good. LOL!
 I'm sure they were just looking for tasty bribes. HAHAHA!!! |
May 24, 2008 (Saturday)
It is 56 degrees and sunny (7:10 AM).
I meant to say just a few days ago that the Sage bushes have flower buds, along with the Ornithogalum umbellatum (Star of Bethlehem). The Ornithogalum is about the only interesting flower this place had when we bought it.
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I dug a new edge around part of the second flower bed. I have more room for more flowers and I'm not even done yet.
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I stopped at the tractor store and picked up some more seeds. I was looking for Cleome, but they didn't have any, so I bought Larkspur 'Giant Imperial Mix', Morning Glory 'Clark's Heavenly Blue', Impatiens 'Sundae Vanilla', Impatiens 'Tapestry Scarlet', and Coleus 'Rainbow Mixed Colors' instead. Haha!
May 25, 2008 (Sunday)
It was about 70 degrees at 8:48 AM. I slept in. Whee!
I fed and watered the veggie beds this morning. My husband pulled some PI out of my gardens. I hung a tractor wind chime and a sparkly, shiny spinner from the fort. I also set the orange umbrella over there for some extra shade. I have raked out an area for the table. Now I'm debating on whether to go get some landscape fabric for under the table and some mulch for the beds.
The Ornithogalum is open today. So cute. The ferns that got stomped all over last year during the painting and chimney repair are filling in pretty well. I can't really say that about the Hydrangeas, though, but they are trying very hard. I don't think they got stomped on, but they definitely didn't like something.
Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)
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I bought mulch and landscape fabric, and seeds for Cleome 'Rose Queen' and mixed Strawflowers.
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I put down the landscape fabric and covered it with the crushed rocks. I have gobs of those left, way more than I need for matching planters. UGH! After that, I hauled out the chairs and the metal frame for the top. Now I just need to find the legs and bolts, wash the chairs, and have my husband help me put the glass top on the table.
I just finished spreading five bags of cedar mulch on the areas that I've edged recently. It looks pretty good.
I took a picture of those gorgeous orange poppies that I saw in town last year and couldn't identify. They're back again, but only at the one house as far as I can tell so far.
Orange Poppies in Town
Closeup of Orange Poppies |
May 26, 2008 (Monday) Memorial Day
It is 58 degrees and sunny this morning (6:15 AM).
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We went out for breakfast, then caught part of the Memorial Day parade. After that, my husband dropped me off by the orange poppies for another photo shoot.
Next on my list of things to do is to set Roo free. Now where is my Sawzall?
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Now Roo has his own pophole and a pen inside the girls' pen. For now, I have his cage up against the pophole so that he can go in and out without me having to build a pen inside the coop. Until I get around to making a door for the pophole (don't think I have any hinges), I will just use a big piece of plywood to seal his pophole at night. Everyone seems happy with the new way. I should put some deer net over his pen in case he tries to climb it. I also need to make some sort of lean-to for him.
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Maybe the poppy is P. orientale 'Harvest Moon'. Only the ones at
http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/perennials/other-perennials/papaver-orient ale-harvest-moon/classid.7280/
have the right shading, though. But P. lateritum 'Flore Pleno' is cool:
http://www.gardenpics.net/images/Flowers/large/gp160lg.jpg
Huh. Maybe they are P. orientale 'May Queen'?
http://www.drought-tolerantplants.co.uk/papavermayqueen-pi-199.html?osCsid= 9d848870e8b869e6c459ed757421c9d9
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I watered the rest of the iris patch, the Kazanlik patch, and the Stargazer Lilies. I watered the plants around the porch and was about to water the Dutchman's Pipe (one of which is getting leaves, maybe even both of them) when the well went on the fritz. Joy. That topped off having squashed two lily beetles and their eggs. Still, things could be worse. I've flipped the pump off, so now we'll wait and see what happens next.
Wow, 60 degrees tonight for the overnight low? That's a huge switch from the low to mid-40s. Figures that it's only for one night, then right back to where we were.
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So I get to the end of the day and what happens? The girls escaped and trashed the veggie beds. *sigh* I'll give the plants a couple days before I decide what stays and what goes. |
May 27, 2008 (Tuesday)
It is 62 degrees and grey this morning (7:00 AM). It rained a bit last night.
My heirloom dahlias seem to have shot up overnight. Interestingly, it is now Hockley's Maroon that seems to have not survived. I guess it didn't like being snacked down to the ground repeatedly, but Winsome bounced back from the dead, oddly enough, and Union Jack and Little Beeswings are happy so far, too.
Ugh, we might get rain and hail today. I could use the rain, but not the hail. Please don't let it hail on my chicken-scratched veggies.
It is always something around here. I was outside and noticed that the kiddie pool rain catcher did not stay under the downspout last night, so it barely caught any rain at all. *sigh* On a bright note, it's a tie! My first two irises of the season, Witch of Endor and Harvest of Memories, are open today. Right on time for WoE and one day early for HoM. I love, love, love the way iris smells. Please don't let it hail on my irises. They have so many buds waiting to open. This could be their best year yet.
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I am running a bit behind schedule. I just started seeds of giant pumpkins, watermelons, muskmelons, hardshell gourds, and lettuce. ........ Just finished sowing Ipomopsis, unknown Nasturtium, H. appendiculum, sedum, and Aquilegia, too. I don't have much hope for those sedum seeds. I sowed a whole mess of them before and nothing happened. I thought I got some to sprout inside, but then something went wrong, and the ones sown directly outside never even came up. That is getting old. Oh, well, that was the last of the batch, so whatever happens will be over and done with soon enough.
Next, I shall start Morning Glory 'Clark's Heavenly Blue', Coleus, Strawflower, Spider Flower, Larkspur, and both Impatiens... right after I input it all into my spreadsheet. Ugh. One day, all of this stuff is going to have to be transplanted and I am just going to die. LOL.
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The good news is that I sowed that last batch of seeds and managed to move all of my seeds into one crisper drawer in the main fridge. The farm fridge has been unplugged. WOOHOO!! The bad news is that I have leftover seeds of five of the new things that I had recently bought. That wasn't what I wanted to do. I was trying to not accumulate seeds, so no more seed purchases this year.
On a different note, it is hot and muggy today, more like a real summer day. Ugh. Guess I won't be digging up grass today after all. 86 degrees? I don't know if that's right. It feels yucky, but not that yucky. The other thermometer is in direct sun and says 90. I know that's not right, but maybe the 86 is right after all.
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It rained a bit and I managed to catch the water this time. It feels pretty nice outside now, only around 71 degrees. The first Shasta Daisy 'Alaska' flowers opened. I guess they enjoyed the rain. I didn't want my cell plugs damaged by hail, so I moved some under the eaves of the dog room and others all the way into the dog room right before the storm. In the process, I dropped the tray of eggplant and peppers on the floor. Naturally it was the tray with the one Filipendula sprout, too. Luckily, everything looks to be more or less okay. *sigh* At least it didn't hail. |
| Growit Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - 03:43 pm: | |
It never rains but it pours for you DJ. Every time something goes right it seems something goes wrong lol!
Just think how boring life would be if everything went right?...hmmm? What not impressed with that? Think life would not be boring in the least if everything went right?...Yep guess thats true. Hope the hail doesn't damage anything, hope your irises are blooming soon, hope your Filipendula survived its fall and hope your veges fight back! |
| Growit Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - 03:46 pm: | |
Oh forgot....Why not buy all the poppies you mentioned. One of them would have to be right.
BTW Crocus is the company I order most of my plants from. Bit pricey but the plants are always fantastically healthy and full so worth the money.
I will leave you in peace now...bye |
LOL. I do think it would be boring if everything went right. I also think it would be even more boring if I lived in a brand new house in town where I didn't have all of these headaches to contend with. I always wonder what I would do with myself if I had nothing to do. I can't stand boredom. I'd probably get a real job. LOL!
LOL! Don't think for a minute that I didn't think exactly that same thought last year when I first saw those poppies and couldn't figure out for sure which orange poppies they were! I am toying with that same idea again now. LOL! I am almost certain that I could never have too many orange poppies. I'm tempted to get those May Queen poppies. I don't know if they ship to the US. Guess I'll have to check out their web site more closely, but that could be a dangerous expedition... who knows what else they might have that I'd like... since I'd be ordering from way over there, might as well get it all, right? LOL! |
May 28, 2008 (Wednesday)
It is 52 degrees and sunny this morning (8 AM). I think it feels chilly, especially compared to the last couple of days.
Today's agenda: start those pumpkins! Eek. And maybe dig up the lawn. Ack!
Eternal Bliss Iris is open this morning.
Eternal Bliss Iris
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The pumpkins have been started. I guess I should move the other sprouted items outside and see if I can get them acclimated without dumping them everywhere.
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So far, so good. The sprouts are all outside on the metal stand now. The label had fallen off of the Calendula batch. I saw a seed stuck to one of the leaves and figured out what they were based on that. I am going to take a nap. Hopefully the sprouts will all stay shaded enough that they won't fry while I am asleep.
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Despite being so tired that I can barely function, I was unable to sleep. So, I dug a hole for the rose and then started digging up the lawn along the allium bed. About halfway along, the rose showed up. That's the first time I've ever received a rose coated in wax. Looks weird. It has a couple of buds, though, so we shall see how it does. I soaked it for a couple of hours and now it's planted. I finished digging up the lawn while the rose soaked, then mulched the new bed area, so that's all done. Now I just have to edge all the way around the iris patch. Ugh. That will wait for another day. I guess I ought to find some rocks to edge the mulched area, too. *sigh* Can't wait to put some flowers in there, though.
Newly Edged Allium Bed
Bulbs and Rhizomes
Alliums
Oh, I almost forgot... I weeded a bit over by the chicken coop path and found what I think is three Papaver atlanticum. Oh, so exciting! I guess they won't bloom until next year, though.
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I took my husband for a tour of the new edging and noticed that some of the Bouncing Bet is opening up. Hooray! Too bad the original plant is either smaller or died and was replaced by another. Oh, well, at least there are others as well. It could quite possibly be my most favorite weed around here. |
| Valia Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - 07:53 pm: | |
She is well named. |
| Nibbs Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - 09:18 pm: | |
DJ, I read your journal every day and am always amazed with the amount of energy you have!! I returned today to have another look at Eternal Bliss. Oh my, she's a beauty! |
Hi, Anne and Diane! That is a nice name for Eternal Bliss, isn't it? I like the shiny flecks she has, like ice crystals, giving me one last look at winter before the heat of summer rolls on in. Poor thing, all dolled up and can't even get off the farm. LOL! Well, she and the others did have a gentleman admirer yesterday. The Fedex truck came with my bareroot rose and the driver took a look around the yard and said, "The gardens are looking great! It's been a while since I've been up here." He was very appreciative. I'm sure the flowers were very pleased with themselves.
Ugh, Diane, I don't think I have any energy. I am so tired! My eyeballs feel like sandpaper against my eyelids. I just do things because I have to. I realized that I have to dig up my rose and plant it deeper today... ugh... but once I get the iris bed edged all I want to do is slack off from here on out. Haha! (But my planting schedule has me planting veggies all the way through August. Aaaaagggghhhh!!!) |
