Tuesday Tidbits: GARDEN UPDATE

Were my various gardens successes or not?

The outcomes are mixed.

I’ll start with the veggies and fruits.

Beans: I harvested six or seven, but considering that is the most beans I’ve ever grown, I’m counting it a success.

Peas: Not a one, so they were a fail. But I will try again next year.

Zucchini: Harvested four or five. WhooHoo! Success!

Yellow summer squash: Two harvested. Calling that a success.

Tomatoes: I got a dozen or more of tasty red gems. Success!

Strawberries: One. =0( The one a picked was good, but this has to go in the fail column.

Also in the fail column are the herbs, green onions, and chives that never grew.

Can you tell my bar for success was quite low? I’m just tickled that this black-thumb gardener-wanna-be harvested any edibles at all.

On to the flowers.

My flower garden patch did well. I’m very pleased with it. I was even happier when I weeded a final time (like the fifth time) and put down landscape fabric and mulch. That kept the weed at bay so I could enjoy the flowers. What I planted lived and the handful of things I didn’t pull up as weeds grew into some pretty flowers.

This bright reddish-orange one that the butterflies like, the daisy-ish one in the middle, the columbine (which bloomed early spring and then again in late summer. Yippee!), and some none blooming plants. Conclusion: Flower bed was a huge success!

Bushes: They survived, but I wouldn’t say they thrived. So, only a success in the fact they didn’t die.

However, the lavender I thought I killed early on but kept watering just in case, LIVES! When I weeded for the last time before putting down fabric and mulch, I discovered it was regrowing from the roots. I did break off half of it in the application of the fabric placement, but it has done well since.

We have planted three trees (three more to go). I’ll need to wait and see how they fair during the winter and if they are still alive in the spring.

Overall, I am happy with my gardens I planted by the seat of my pants in this new environment (new state that is dry and arid), so this was a success. I look forward to planting gardens again and to see how much I get to actually grow.

I’m going to plant things in different areas next year. Hopefully, we will have our fence up and won’t have to worry about the deer who roam through our yard. Where I planted the beans, peas, zucchini, and yellow squash, I want to plant raspberry and blueberry bushes next year. On the other side of the house, we want to build raised vegetable beds so we don’t have to bend over so far or sit on the ground to weed or harvest.

I also hope to acquire some rhubarb plants. I tried and tried to get some but was never successful. So, I had to settle for buying some stalks at the grocery store so I could make rhubarb pie. That’s when I discovered that one of the sensors in my oven doesn’t work. It took nearly an hour to “preheat”. Even then, it wasn’t really heated enough. It took over two hours to cook a pie that should have taken forty-five minutes or so. But the pie was mmm-mmm good! Hubby got a sensor and is going to replace it when he has time.

This year, I had no real plan and planted things haphazardly. I will make some sketches this winter so I can implement them come spring.

If you garden, I hope what you planted was fruitful and made you happy!

HAPPY GARDENING!

Oh, one more update. This is our foster cat, Tootsie. She is 15 years old, has kidney disease, and is mostly blind. Why, pray tell are we fostering a kitty with so many problems? She is a sweetie, and her issues don’t manifest in any way. She has special food for her kidneys, runs around the house as though she can see perfectly well, and doesn’t act old. We, also, didn’t want her to live out her golden years in a shelter.

Isn't she pretty!

Now, I’m off to sand the deck so we can get it protected before the snow flies next week. I tried power washing the flaking paint, but it didn’t get enough of the old stuff off. So, now we sand so we can repaint. Ugh. Then I can get back to refinishing a few small pieces of furniture.

MRS. WITHERSPOON GOES TO WAR (Heroines of WWII series)
2023 SELAH Award 3rd Place in Historical Romance

A WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) flies a secret mission to rescue three soldiers held captive in Cuba.

Margaret “Peggy” Witherspoon is a thirty-four-year-old widow, mother of two daughters, an excellent pilot, and very patriotic. She joins the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). As she performs various tasks like ferry aircraft, transporting cargo, and being an airplane mechanic, she meets and develops feelings for her supervisor Army Air Corp Major Howie Berg. When Peggy learns of U.S. soldiers being held captive in Cuba, she, Major Berg, and two fellow WASPs devise an unsanctioned mission to rescue them. With Cuba being an ally in the war, they must be careful not to ignite an international incident. Order HERE!

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET

(Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a Selah Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; The Widow’s Plight, The Daughter's Predicament, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection , Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.
Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of thirty-seven years and one cat. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:


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