Blimy! More Blooms!

You were probably thinking, "I bet he didn't show us all of his flowers. What an outrage! Let's pick off all of his petals!" You then picked up your gardening implements and marched toward my house.
After a couple blocks you gave up because it was too far and wore a blister on your little toe because you hadn't broken in your new shoes yet and they weren't made for walking across whatever states there are to get here.
Before you get another crazy idea into your head I guess I had better post the rest of the flower pictures and get it over with. Sorry for causing such havoc.

MBD (My Bloom Day)

I was out in the garden today gardening and all arount me there seemed to be flowers! Normally this wouldn't have made any lasting impression since it is a garden but mostly I've been reading about what plants to bring in out of the snow or how to winterize your plants. Apparently my garden hasn't gotten the message and still thinks it's September or some such thing and decided that blooming was a good idea.

So for all of you who don't have any blooms, here you are.

Tired of the same old thing?

I sure was. So I decided to do something about it!
The little I have picked up here and there by fixing all of the problems that Dreamweaver creates by making junk code and if you ever tried to look one of it's pages over after several edits and whatnot you would sympathize and nod appreciatively to removing vast seas of Dreamweaver code.

Anyhow the result is a new and wider blog! That's right, there's more room to move about and not so much scrolling down
and down
and down
and down
and down
and down
and down
and down...
You get the point, pictures wrap better too. Hope you enjoy and feel as relieved as I do that the blog isn't squished into a sausage.

Wouldn't You Like To Have A Pepper Too?

My pepper experiment this year has been an overwhelming success. I threw a bunch of pepper seeds out on a very fertile raised area of the yard and *POOF* up come pepper plants. With a little watering they survived the summer and now in the cool part of the year they are producing a hefty crop of peppers.

The first frost has been pushed back a little longer so they should get nice and big. I've already picked a few and used them in pastas, sandwiches and a gumbo. I have to admit that they aren't as big as the ones in the stores but they taste way better.

Here is a view with several different peppers in the picture. Unfortunately I don't know what some of the peppers are since I sprinlked some mixed pepper seeds in with all of it just in case they were still good. No sense in wasting seeds. It's made a very interesting grouping of peppers. They are all different sizes and hopefully soon more colors will come to the fore.

I just better not forget to pick them or my wife will probably shake her head at me and sympathetically pat me on the back to comfort me in my time of mourning.

Gardening with Style

I've heard of stylish gardens and people who have a flair for gardening. A garden can be very complex or so simple it's gorgeous. Our garden is none of the above as far as I'm concerned even if our friends say it's wonderful. I think they're biased.
One thing I don't think I can ever forget is the time my wife and I went strawberry picking and one very cute couple decided to dress up for the event. It was a bless her soul moment because she really should have known better than to wear high heels and such a short dress to pick strawberries. Sun dresses, on the other hand, work beautifully. Unless you're a guy....
Curiously, as far as I can tell, a guy can wear just about anything he would normally wear and still be modest while gardening.

Pecans

If you've ever tasted a fresh warm pecan pie you probably became an addict and need a fix occasionally to keep you sane. There's good news though! We're smack dab in the middle of pecan season and there is a good supply of pecans for everyone.




"I don't have pecans around me." you may lament. That's ok, there are these things called trucks that will bring them to your local grocer and you can get them from him. He's a nice old man who knows a lot about things like fishing and spitting and of course pecans so you should be in good hands if you don't know what to do with them once you've bought some.


In the rare instance that I met a different grocer you can also look online for some recipes like the following one.


http://www.tpga.org/cgi-bin/public.cgi?action=list_recipe&recipe_id=18



If you even try to convince me that you don't have access to the internet then shame on you.. I'm not that gullible.

The main problem I have found is that there are too many pecans where I live and the squirrels like to hide some of them in the flower beds to pop up in the spring where I then have to dig them out and scold the squirrels for their industriousness.

Hurry before the end of the month though because the prices will soon rise as the harvest season ends and the grocer treis to hoard the rest for himself.

Live Bamboo Fence

All you need is several acres for it to grow in well and there you go..... What? That doesn't sound good?
If you're like me then it sounds really good except that you probably don't have the acreage. Don't let that daunt you though, there are varieties of clumping bamboo that are much more manageable as a screen and don't end up on the other side of the yard, or worse in the middle of the yard.
If that still sounds a little too much, there are many shrubs that would do just as well for a little privacy. If your area is good for it you might consider grapevines The main problem with a live fence is the time it takes for it to grow. Even if you have the acreage, bamboo would take a few years to make a decent fence unless you planted the entire thing. Likewise bushes and shrubs are usually sold in much smaller sizes than you would need to make a good fence. In the mean time you can plant vines, which would work well on a chain link fence, or tall growing flowering plants like sunflowers to fill in where the shrubs haven't yet.
If you have a living wall I would love to see pictures of them!

Trains in the Garden

Gardening is about plants and the things that accent the plants or possibly the other way around such as in a rock garden or sculpture garden.

I have been into garden railroading for many years and have set up courses in several of the gardens I have had at different residences. Weekend before last was the monthly meeting of the North Texas Garden Railroad Club where we got to sit around and discuss garden railroading.

Below is the course.

Beginning on the north end of the long stretch of track is the garden loop. A few boulders, a tree, and assorted green plants highlight this area surrounded by the courtyard wall.

To go to and from this area the train has to pass through a tunnel under a waterfall (not shown and not very big)

It continues down the tracks along some herbs and small flowering plants on one side of a walkway and continuing under the covered porch area that enters into the living room of the house.

Finally it passes the last pillar near the control area of the train to the train yard where cars can be taken on and off. The white rocks portraying more of a railyard than a garden. The width of the area being easily seen here is the reason for the long layout and gardening areas.

Some of the plants not shown include rosemary and thyme, plants suitable for scale greenery.

Planting Rocks

I worked out at a site this last weekend planting trees, shrubs, groundcover and rocks.
I didn't know there could be so much work in putting in large rocks. digging the right shape of a hole for the rock you are putting in can be more time consuming than planting trees. If you want to put the rock in at an angle then you have to dig the angle into the ground before you set it.
At first I was told that we needed a trench so wide by so deep. This would have worked except that the rock they then selected had a nice growth on one side that they wanted to be more visible so the trench turned into what seems more like a truck loading area ramp so that it had a good viewing angle.
Then burying it took some doing while avioding ants which had been living where we wanted the rock to go.
Looking back I'm pretty sure it was well worth the changes.