6 AM

Since I never really see the outside (or inside) of my house at 6am, I've never really seen it in this light.
From this angle, it almost looks like things are coming together! ;) 

Blooms on my new hydrangea on the front corner. 'Limelight'

Moonflower getting ready to close back up for the day.

My succulents hanging out, looking pretty. :)
At the bottom of the picture, you can just see the little sprigs that were grown from cuttings and recently transplanted into this large metal bowl. So far, so good!

Inspiration

After coming back from California, I was just so ready to try new things here in Iowa. I've done a little research about hardy varieties of fig and am playing around a little more with my succulents.
In finishing up some of the detail paint work on the backside of my house, I came to a point about halfway through the back wall where the neighbors' peach tree was starting to grow over the fence. She and I had talked about it and she was going to trim them back. After checking with her to make sure it was OK, I snipped off a couple smaller shoots, shaved off a little bark near the cut end of the branch and coated it with rooting hormone, and potted it.

It's going to look a little sad for a while, but hopefully the cut end of this shoot will send out new roots and take hold in the pot. I amended the soil with a little organic fertilizer before planting, firming, and watering the branch. If it doesn't work, at least it hasn't cost me anything...if it DOES work, I'll have my own peaches a couple summers from now!

It's that time of year, again!

Mine all mine!
This was my first good sized tomato harvest this year with several varieties to sample:
Italian Heirloom, Amish Paste, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, Cherry Roma, and more!
I purchased the tomatoes as small plants from Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa and it's been fun to watch them grow and produce in a BIG way!

Broccoli!

You know how I love my fresh broccoli :)
I cut this one last night and ate it for dinner after finishing the sidewalk..NOMNOMNOM

Moonflower

Among the new plants in the ground at my house now is Moonflower - aptly named as they bloom at night and close back up during the day. They spread and spill out over the area where they're planted and fill an awful lot of space..which is nice for me right now because I have a good amount of space to fill! They also have great foliage, so they're pretty even when they're not blooming...as all of my plants are in the process of doing at the moment.
As you can probably tell, I took this picture when I pulled into the driveway last night...headlights and camera flash: ON!

Veg

I had big plans for my vegetable garden this year, but not enough time (and not enough rainless, sunny days to work on it, either!) So, I'm gardening with the garden I have, not the garden I want...either way, it's working out well!
Across the top of the picture, I have several broccoli plants growing nicely - after having fresh broccoli last year, I decided I needed A LOT more of it this year! At the front I have several onions, garlic, two good-sized tomato plants, a couple varieties of lettuce, and some herbs. Not as much as I'd like...but certainly as much as I can handle right now :)
Check back for updates - it's changing every day!

Bummin' around the house

From the starter I made a couple weeks ago: ciabatta bread!

With the big, beautiful holes I was looking for last time and a nice crusty crust :)

I've also been re-potting some of my new plants. My orchid bloomed again, which I was told would NOT happen.
I chalk it up to good light in the 'greenhouse'

They're everywhere..

Magnolia

Chilly outside = chili inside :)

Got to use some of the garden tomatoes from the freezer - love it when a plan comes together!

Manscaping

This weekend was a lot of fun! Friday night was Knoxville Movie Night – a free outdoor showing of a film in the public park..open to all..big screen, big sound, big fun!

Any guesses as to which movie we watched this time?
http://www.facebook.com/#!/Knoxvillemovienights

Saturday I slept in a little, woke up and started pulling weeds in the garden, clearing the yard of dead and dried flowers (the drought really took a toll on..everything) and did some laundry.

Then my parents came over, and – within about 15 minutes – we went from this..

..to this..

It's always amazing what a truck and a log chain can do..

The house looks so much bigger without the bushes, don't you think?

This should make it quite a bit easier to hang the new siding and replace the windows in this part of the house. It’s also just easier for me (mentally) to get rid of everything and start fresh. Hopefully next year the weather will cooperate a little better and I’ll be able to landscape the yard, completely. With the changes I’ve made to the house and the paint colors I’d like to use on the outside, I’m excited to have a cohesive plan in place for the plantings in the yard..I just hope it’s not 115F all summer next year so I can actually work on it!

Saturday afternoon, I drove to Cedar Rapids and hung out with a group of old friends, and made some new friends while I was at it. The cool part was, we hung out in a $2,000,000 house on an acreage, complete with horses, dogs, four wheelers, and a whole lot of crown molding.

I didn’t take any pictures this time because my phone was dying all weekend..but I have these pictures from a previous visit. Pretty sweet digs J

The front door, complete with gas lamps on either side of the entry.

Foyer, complete with James Bond style secret closet for coats and shoes.

Immediately inside the front door.

Massive crown molding throughout the house. All the ceilings were at least 10-12 feet tall.

Kitchen, living room, breakfast area with a wet bar to the right. Yes, that's a freaking harp.

Bar area..with two mini fridges. You know..just in case.

From the living room: kitchen with bar to the left.

Sunday afternoon was the drive home with a brief stop at the Iowa State Fair to meet a friend. Within 10 minutes, I was being thrown through the air and spun upside down on a giant death-trap ride. Good fun! J

These were our seats. There were two other riders on at the top, and we spun like a GD windmill possessed by the devil for a couple minutes. They were even kind enough to take video of your screaming and yelling. "You shouldn't have..really"
http://www.iowastatefair.org/

There we are...flying! :)

This weekend

This weekend saw lots of changes around the house – most noticeably, paint!
As I mentioned in my previous post, my friend Anna came down for a couple days last week to start the painting project. She was excited for it and I was not..so it was a good match.

I have no idea why, but for the last several months I've just felt like part of the dining room needed to be blue.

The other two walls are the tan color from the living room and kitchen.

Moody blue..

Well, once she started, I got the fever and have been picking at it ever since. I stopped to attend the Iowa Craft Beer Festival Saturday afternoon in Des Moines (work-related…I promise) and to putter around in the yard a bit on Sunday.

My painter: I know how to pay my debts..

Painting around the kitchen.

My bedroom door. Even with this lighter color, the trim paint really pops!

Living room: painted, sans TV.

The other big change is that I’m flying solo again. No more roommate, no more cat..no more rent money. It’s really for the best – this was always meant to be a temporary thing, and it was. Roommate found a place of her own, and I get my house back. Free of cat hair and other people’s laundry. J

The other (random) project I created for myself was sort of…just more work? I moved the large pile of foundation stone out of the side yard and into the driveway. This way, I’ll be able to see what I’ve got when I’m using it to edge around the landscaping. I’ll also be able to kill off the weeds in that area and start fresh with new grass once I’ve got everything the way I want it. It will also be nice to have that out of the way when we start up the siding project in the front of the house.

I still have that little bit of siding to replace on this side..and, of course, the lawn is overgrown and weedy here now, so it will be easier to deal with all of that with these stones moved. Did I mention these stones before? They came from the foundation of the house next door. $30!!

You have no idea what this did for my OCD. Soo goood.

Speaking of which, I’m getting ready to refinance my construction note so that I can actually AFFORD to start the siding project in the front of the house. When I bought the house, my banker and I decided that it would actually be better for me to go the way of the construction note – this way, I didn’t have to put money down (my sweat equity and the improvements made counted as a down payment) and it afforded me a lot more flexibility. I pay a higher interest rate for it, and it expired after a year (had to get a small extension to finish up the kitchen), but now I’ll be able to refinance (at 2.86%, thankyouverymuch), get a little more money for this last big push, and then – one day – just come home and ENJOY being here rather than feel like I have to work at it all the time! J

If you've never had fresh broccoli...

OOH, I’ve also got broccoli popping in the garden! Several green tomatoes on the vine, lots of carrots, a few herbs..peppers..a cucumber..Brussels sprouts, and a lot of weeds. Pretty exciting stuff!

Let the hippie gardening begin!

Spring has sprung in Iowa! Actually, from what I’m reading, spring has sprung a little early everywhere this year. Temperatures have already been in the 90s, which – for us – is pretty unusual. But, combined with the mild winter, we’ve had it pretty easy so far in 2012.

That said, the farmers are worried about the lack of moisture we’ve had (no snow is not always a good thing) and people are waiting to see what the rest of the spring and summer hold. All I know is: if a warmer winter means a warmer summer, I’m toast. Humidity and I don’t get along.

Anyway, I’ve talked for quite a while about turning the enclosed front porch into my greenhouse and I’ve finally done it. For real. I ordered my seeds through a company called Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (www.rareseeds.com), bought some trays so I at least look like I know what I’m doing, and raked up some soil from the backyard to get everything started. I sprinkled a little bone meal into the soil mixture to assist the plants in establishing strong roots and I check for proper moisture every morning before work. The soil should be moist but not water logged.. check it with your finger to see. If it feels dry, water it; if not, no worries. It’s also important that your trays/pots have proper drainage because the plants will rot if allowed to sit in sopping wet soil.

My greenhouse :)

So I’ve been watching these seeds like I’m going to see something. Standing there waiting for something to pop up out of the dirt. Obviously I haven’t seen anything. However, over the weekend while we were building and painting kitchen cabinets..BOOM!



I borrowed a pair of grow lights from a friend at work who isn't starting her garden from seed this year.

Nearly all of my tomato seeds have sprouted! I’m still waiting on a couple herbs to show signs of progress, but so far I’ve got all kinds of tomatoes (about 6 different varieties, actually. Would you like any tomato plants? J) carrots, basil, thyme, oregano, and a bunch of different medicinal type herbs that I’m going to play around with. I bought a book quite a while ago that talks a lot about holistic remedies for stomach aches, sore throats, acne, you name it and I’m going to give it a shot. Of course, the backyard might be so thick with tomatoes that it chokes everything else out.

A Grappoli D'Inverno - an Italian varietal cherry tomato. I chose to grow mostly cherry tomatoes in the garden because - in my experience - larger tomatoes are more prone to rot, disease, pests, etc.

I was in Des Moines yesterday for an appointment when I remembered I had a Lowe’s gift card saved back from Christmas (it’s been so long, it was like getting a new gift!) After my appointment ended, I had lunch at a little French place and stopped off at Lowe’s to see what I needed to spend free money on. I couldn’t think of anything hardware-wise that I needed immediately, so I wandered around the landscaping side for a while. I ended up with a giganto bag of mulch, a blueberry bush, and a stick that promises to one day be a Concord grape vine.

A little mulch cleaned up this corner by the side door. I pulled out some of the old daylillies and planted them elsewhere. Otherwise, I've got a couple hostas, some oregano and pineapple mint for ground cover (and kitchen use) a mystery plant, and a peony that has yet to decide if it wants to live. With the exception of the daylilly, all of these were gifts from a friend - thanks!

So while dad finished up spraying panels for the kitchen cabinets, I mulched, dug in some new plants, and used up a pile of bricks left over from the old west chimney.

There's no reason my composter can't look good on the back of the garage!

This is my backyard - all staked out and ready for planting once the seeds have gotten a little bigger. I plan to mulch the middle row and every other plot with straw so I've got room to move around in here once the tomatoes have taken over. :)

This just in: ONIONS

Earlier this spring, I stopped by a little greenhouse not far from home and picked up a few bunches of onion sets. I’m pretty sure you could grow them from seed if you had A) any time, B) any space, or C) the equipment..benches, grow lights, etc. Since I don’t have any of those things, I buy sets.

These sets are tiny little onions waiting to be unleashed. By the time you buy them at the nursery, they can be anywhere up to the diameter of a pencil. Once the soil is warm enough, plant your mini-pencil-onions about 6 inches apart from one another and cover with dirt. We’ve learned that the spacing really is important, and for a very simple reason: if your onions are planted too close together they won’t grow to be very large. Which is fine – that way you can use an entire onion all at once rather than have half of a giganto onion floating around in the fridge.

Anyway, our old neighbor (the one I wrote about a while back) always said that your onions should never see the August sun – otherwise they start to get hot. Which means – in light of all the work we’ve been doing on the house – July 31^st was harvest day!

We had white, red, yellow, Texas sweets, and a variety called candy. Because I am a master gardener, I completely neglected to label the different varieties. Red and white I’ve got; otherwise, as far as I’m concerned, there are three different sizes of yellow onions. J

Because we planted so many, we had so many to give away. My grandparents got a batch; my bosses took several; the couple helping with my house got a bag full.. And we’ve still got onions. Lots, actually. Which is awesome because they’ll keep in the basement through the winter. Leave them dirty in a cool, dark place and they’ll keep as long as we need them to – usually they’re gone before any have the chance to spoil.

Happy Tuesday!