Gardening - End of August

Last weekend the temperature dropped a bit, and I realized summer is coming to a close. That also means the end of the growing season. My favorite item at the farmers marker, sugar snap peas, were no longer available Thursday.
I have a few more garden pictures. My dahlia's are creating buds, so those will start to bloom soon, and then the season will be over.
I'm already preparing for next year. I bought 100 tulips and 100 irises and Sam's Club last weekend, for the house (assuming we do get it). I spend time surfing the internet, switching between hgtv.com and seed sites, planning out my garden for next summer, and imagining how we are going to decorate the house. I have to keep telling myself that we'll need to hold off on decorating and major landscaping projects. I have a lot of time to plan.
But until then, here are pictures from my container garden, highlighting a few new plants, and developments in older ones. Enjoy!

Snapdragons.

I'm thinking about adding these to my permanent flower list.
They are overshadowed in this pot though.

My impatiens.
They hadn't been watered in a few days and are looking a bit droopy.
But I did grow them from seed and am very happy with them.


My largest dahlia bloom.
The dahlias were seed dahlia's grown in a greenhouse.
This is a tuber dahlia I planted myself.

Delphinium, grown from seed.

My violas again, grown from seed.

My sweet peppers, grown from seed.
I ate one so far, but they aren't getting very big.



I have no idea what this is, so if you know, please share.
I didn't even notice it growing in the pot until recently. Is it freesia?
I had freesia plants in this pot, but nothing ever happened with them.


Nick's firey hot peppers.


Nick

House Hunting

After making my container garden and enjoying it, I've decided I want more garden. Nick and I have been talking about getting a house for a couple years now, so a couple weeks ago we went house hunting.
We found a place our first day, and put in an offer. Then we had to put in a higher offer because a second offer was presented the next day. Yesterday was our inspection, and now we are moving forward with buying a house.
Its 1800 sf, made in the late 1920s, full basement, almost an acre and in the country. We're pretty excited and are looking at a closing date in October.
Wish us luck and enjoy the pictures.

The side of the house.

This area will be my garden. The property line is along the bean field, and I think the back is where the brownish grass stripe is.

Same spot, but turned around to face the road.

Standing at the end of the driveway, looking across the front yard. I want to keep the privacy bushes; Nick wants to take them out.

Looking at the house from the end of the drive way.


Nick looking at the site of my future garden.

Another view of my future garden.
There's already an asparagus patch and raspberries in there.

Standing at the end of the driveway on the other side of the house.
We'll get rid of the satellite dish and that big tree. The tree is mostly dead, and there's still 3 good ones left in the front.

Same spot looking across the front yard.
Some of the plant life in the front yard. These smaller bushes will go.

Looking at the left side of the front yard, from in front of the porch.

Same spot, looking straight.

Back of the house. This is our septic mound.
My vegetable garden will be on the other side of it.

Looking at the back of the house. The siding is at the top of our to do list.

Look! It's my car.
This is some of stuff behind the house.
Our land stops at the other side of the burn pile, a
nd the green plants on the right of the picture.
I think you can see the property stake above and to the right of my trunk.

Slightly down the driveway.
You can see the canvas shed that I plan to turn into a greenhouse,
peek out from behind the addition, next to the car.

Same spot turned towards the house.
You can see the bottom half of the two story sun room.
As much as I love the concept, that part is sinking, so we may end up taking it out.

The patio, looking across the front yard.

I don't have inside pictures since the people we're buying it from still live there, and were home during the inspection.

Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Running

I decided it is time to start running again. Its only been 6 years and 50 pounds, I can handle it. Right?
So, I spoke to a couple co-workers (who run marathons) about running shoes and feet, and then went out and bought some workout clothes. A week later, today, I was ready to go.

Wow. I can't even run a quarter of a mile anymore.

But I took the first step, and now I need to keep it up.

At least I enjoyed myself and didn't have a heart attack.

Considering myself tagged

I think: way too much.

I know: that I need another vacation.

I want: a house and a huge garden.

I have: cool projects at work.

I wish: I knew what I know now 10 years ago.

I hate: dealing with politics at work.

I miss: my family.

I fear: I won't be able to have kids when I'm finally ready to.

I smell: nothing. Stupid allergies.

I crave: food.

I search: tutorials to learn programming languages, like html for Leslie's blog, and Microsoft Visual basic to make macros in Excel at work.

I wonder: if I'm going to get a promotion.

I regret: my major.

I love: my husband and my family.

I care: about way too many people and things and it depresses me.

I always: take the bus to work.

I am not: tough.

I believe: the US needs to reduce its dependence on oil and ethanol is not the answer.

I dance: very poorly, and when I play DDR.

I sing: in the car to U2.

I don't always: watch what I say or how I say it.

I write: not as much as I used to.

I lose: too much sleep over nothing.

I win: the award for most patient husband.

I never: smoked.

I listen: poorly. I spend too much time focusing on my response than on what the other person is saying.

I can usually be found: on a computer.

I am scared: of turning 35.

I need: to lose weight.

I am happy about: Nick getting his mohawk back.

Gardening - Some Results

I have tomatoes and strawberries that are ready to eat, and Nick's peppers are on a roll.
I'm a bit disappointed with the amount of food I'm getting. I have quite a few green cherry tomatoes, but at the rate they are ripening, its going to be difficult to have enough for a salad. I don't think I'll do cherry tomatoes again, unless I have about 5 plants going, instead of the 2/3 I have now. (I have 2 in one pot, so neither of them are reaching their full potential. Both pots are producing about the same amount of tomatoes.)

Here's a picture of one bunch. I'm having a hard time with the auto focus on my camera, but I really do like the way the stem reflected the flash.

My strawberries are producing even less fruit. But the one berry I enjoyed so far was delicious. One of the best strawberries I've ever had. I'm sure I'm biased.

I'll probably eat this one tomorrow or Sunday.

The flowers I grew from seed and started late are starting to bloom. I'm not a fan of petunias, but Nick and I decided we'll be growing the violas again next year.

Petunia

Viola

I'll show off Nick's peppers once they are ripe.