Porch Update 092111

I hear the scaffolding is coming down later today, so I'll be able to start taking the railings off of the porch and work on them, and clean then paint the column bottoms.

Column Update 091911

Now taped off and getting all striped up!

Now with the tape removed!!! 

Getting closer.

Ghost Garden

John says it looks like I'm getting ready for Halloween, NOT, I'm just trying to keep my cukes from freezing.

Tomato garden, under cover to protect my maters of course.

Under the fabric, gobs of green maters!!!

Column Update 091611

Getting closer to completion with the columns, the cold weather has slowed us down and big time.  John has this coming week off from work so we're hoping to finish the entire soffit and also finish painting the west side of the house.  Looks like winter is coming early this year.

One more color, the sorjourner blue, needs to be applied and then second coats, touch ups, and we're done.

Everyone keeps asking me if we're going to paint the trims at the bottoms of the columns. Of course, the color patterning will be the inverse of the top, with everything sitting atop a ruby red base.

Porch Redux Update 091111

Detail of the column trim. The larger beaded band closest to the ruby red will be painted the medium green color you see on the soffit next to the column. The little bit of trim under the larger beaded band will be light blue. The smaller beaded trim, beneath the copper band will be a light sage green with a light blue band just underneath it. Should be done by next weekend.  The blue I mentioned will be the same blue as the porch ceiling.

All five columns have paint on them now, the trims need to be finished.

Now to scrape the porch ceiling and get it painted!  The color I have is called Sorjourn Blue, it's kind of a robins egg blue.

Porch Update - 091011

Closer and yet so far away, the new section of soffit is painted, the first coats have been applied to it and three of the porch columns.

The porch rail is my next project, well after I finish painting the south wall of the porch and the window trims.

I have the trims to paint on the tops and the bottoms of the columns, and then it'll be time for paint coat number two.  The roundish trims are a pain to paint around, two shades of the sagey greens and a copperpot stripe in between the rounded trims.

Sheltie Heaven

The master bed is way better than a patch of polar fleece any day of the week!

yes she really does sleep like this, she's rather rigid looking isn't she!

Sheltie Gate

Temporary sheltie gate, otherwise known as a skirting table, but it works!

Finally!!!

Finally we have tomatoes, just in time to NOT ripen due to a temperature drop.

Cucumbers!!!

I now have enough cucumbers, about four gallons worth, to make a batch of Lisa's Garlicky Dill Relish!

Cucumbers

We have cucumbers, finally!

Porch Redux

John is on vacation this week, the weather is absolutely gorgeous making the ordeal of taking the porch soffit apart for repair. 

Will post photos of the gardens tomorrow.  A long time friend and gardener proclaimed my potatoes to be perfect, so hopefully we will have a sizable yeild this year?

Angel

Event though I have the Central Air set to 74F Angel has decided that it's way too hot in the house, here she sits, at the base of the stairs where John was sitting, in front of a fan panting.  She's fine now and thoroughly enjoyed  her fan time.

Update No. 061211

Ever notice my updates are the date???

Anyway.

We had 4.58 inches of rain on Friday so to say that gardening has ground to a complete halt would be an understatement.  We spent the day working on the inside of the house instead.  I'm moving my studio supplies etc into the living and dining rooms, with John's blessings, and turning my design studio into a dedicated office/library for myself and my wet studio well it'll be a wet studio once again. 

Rumor has it I ""may"" be able to get into the garden again come Thursday, it's supposed to rain again tomorrow and again on Tuesday.  Rain Rain Go Away... Go to Texas and Arizona where it's really needed, please.

Burgandy Peony

They have finally opened!!! The color is much deeper than what's in this photo it is almost a wine color.

John and the Peonies

John on the other side of the Peony garden, the strip of peonies and hosta's are is approximately 40 feet long.

Tomatoes, etc

Woke up in horrible pain this morning, my right rotar cuff decided it to let me know that it wasn't happy with me, apparently spending the entire day in a car driving across the state and back is not a nice thing to do to one's bum shoulder.

So to work the knots out I mowed the yard, transplanted some perinneal's and planted them under the cherry tree, planted 33 tomato plants, cleaned off the driveway in anticipation of having a yard sale, pruned a whole bunch of trees out of the yard, and pulled gobs of weeds.

It worked I know longer feel my shoulder because my knees are hurting worse than my shoulder was.

If it doesn't rain here tonight then tomorrow I will run a couple of natural dye baths, madder root, out of doors, and plant the rest of my garden goodies which is mainly cucumers and cabbages at this point in the game.

Cherry Tree Planter

Transplanted some perrinals from my one garden, that is in serious need of a redux, and placed them under the dwarf cherry tree.  So far I have planted coral belles, lambs ear, and a yellow tinged leaf petite hosta.  I'm hoping to still find a copper colored leaf coral belle at Lowes tomorrow :-)

Hosta's 053011

This hosta is my favorite, love the white edges on the leaves.

Peonies 053011

Opening up, can't wait to see the burgandy ones open up.

The white peony blossoms are all open, and will most probably be done tomorrow.

Lambs Ear

A member of the mint family, it is setting on blossoms, I have four huge stands of the lambs ear now I think my favorite part about this herb are the fuzzy leavs.

Hosta

I suspect that I'm the only one here that likes Hosta's this much.

Peonies

I admit the white blossoms with the red edges are my favorite but just had to share this near perfectly white blossom.

Peonies in Bloom

The white ones opened up about two hours ago and I suspect that they are going to bolt overnight so am trying to get as many pictures before the sun goes down as a possible.

I have one pink blossom that is fully opened the others are only half opened.

Unfortunately none of the burgandy blossoms are open yet and are looking a little ratty around the edges.

Front Porch

All I have to do now is wash the porch and the furniture later this evening, sometime this summer the ceiling will be scraped, sanded, and then painted sky blue.  Then I'll paint the south facing wall, the wall with the oval window, Copper Pot (Sherwin Williams) and then finally the porch floor. I'll paint the columns a ruby red color and the porch rails, after they are repaired, will be various shades of sage green.

It all sounds weird I know but when all is said and done the house will be about 16 different colors, it already has 12 colors on it, and will look like classic Painted Lady.

Porch Clean Up

We spent some time cleaning the front porch this afternoon and now it looks pretty nice, well as nice as a 105 year old porch can look.  John hung my cupboard out there, an old primitive I've had hanging out, and then we put a table under it so now I have a potting table and a place to put pots.  I planted some smaller pots with marigolds, will have to purchase more marigold seeds, and will plant some petunia's tomorrow.  Pictures coming soon.

Neglected Herb Garden

My poor neglected herb garden will be recieving a make over tomorrow.  Will be doing lots of cleaning and pruning and then a few new plants, first up is some sweet mint.

Garden Update 0515

Some new hens and chicks, something killed off the ones we had before, not sure what it was but hopefully these will survive.  I also planted some sedum, it was a trio mix that for some reason I wasn't able to seperate, maybe next year when they are larger.

Sedum, coreopsis, petite goldenrod, and a mum.

Clematis with a tomato plant on each side, one isa cherry tomato the other a Black Krim. Will plant nastursium seeds in front of the clematis tomorrow.

My poor salad garden is over run with lambs quarter, which is going bye bye tomorrow!

Black Gold - Horse Manure

This batch was a little hotter but will be usable come fall, it's heavy with hay and straw which makes me very happy because I don't have to mix leaves into the manure.

Dutchman's Breeches

For some reason it's a blood red color this year, not sure why either.