Rebecca's Hearth and Home: home and garden

Showing posts with label home and garden. Show all posts

Friday, May 3, 2024

Peonies

The peonies in my front yard are just now starting to bloom.

My grandmother had peonies back home and so did my mother-in-law. The peonies there bloomed much later than they do here. Both Grandma and my mother-in-law cut their peonies to decorate graves on Memorial Day.

Here the peonies bloom much earlier, I picked this one this morning before the ants move in.

Peonies are so pretty and they smell so good!

Do you have peonies growing in your yard?

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Thursday, June 29, 2023

Sunflowers Blooming in My Garden

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Tuesday, June 20, 2023

From The Garden and This Week's Delayed Menu Plan

Yesterday I harvested the first gleanings from my garden.

I harvested green onions, yellow squash, a green pepper, and a sweet banana pepper.

Additionally, I harvested and dried herbs from the herb wheel...

...basil, sage, rosemary, thyme, chives, and oregano.

I also cut the first two zinnias of the summer and put them in a vase. So pretty!

That's some of what's growing in my garden right now. What's growing in yours?

*****************************

This week's delayed menu plan...

- Ground beef and vegetable stirfry over brown rice

- Oven-roasted chicken with baked potato and fresh asparagus

- One-Pan Baked Cream Cheese Pasta with Chicken Sausage (I will use turkey) and Peppers (new recipe)

- Turkey burger and oven fries

- Chicken ranch salad with French Bread

- Out

- Leftovers

Have a nice day and a great rest of the week!

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Wednesday, May 31, 2023

In the Garden

It's the last day of May and I just came in from a tour of the garden. Here are some of the things that are taking place there...

The cactus roses are blooming.

So are the white spiderworts.

Little brown mushrooms are popping

up here, there, and everywhere.

This little ladybug was visiting

the purple coneflowers.

The pie cherries are ripening.

And this pretty butterfly was fluttering

along from flower to flower.

That's some of what's going on in my garden today. What's going on in yours?

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Master To-Do List and Menu Plan Monday - May 29, 2023

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Friday, May 5, 2023

Flowerful Friday

I work most Fridays, but, due to school group arrangements, I worked Thursday this week instead of Friday. It was sure nice having a Friday off for a change!

I spent this morning cooking and baking to have meals ahead for the freezer; I spent the afternoon planting flowers and herbs.

I got most of the flowers that I got last week at the Amish greenhouse in the ground .

I still have a dozen marigolds that I need to put somewhere, but I was running out of steam and the battery in my digger needed recharging, so I'll figure that out later.

I got the empty spaces in the herb wheel worked up and planted...basil, rosemary, and thyme. I have one space left. The next time I'm out and about, I will look for one more herb to fill it. Any suggestions?

Here is the next mystery iris that is getting ready to bloom. I have a feeling that it's going to be spectacular!

Well...that's it for today. I need to take a shower. Am working Truman Days in Lamar tomorrow and need to start moving towards bed.

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Wednesday, June 29, 2022

A Failing Garden and Flowers in Bloom

It's a beautiful morning here in southwest Missouri. The sun is shining and, even though it's nice and cool right now, it's supposed to be up around 90 this afternoon.

I went out this morning and filled the bird bath with fresh water and filled all the feeders. I'm making a fresh batch of sugar water for the hummingbirds now.

As sad as it makes me to admit it, I think my gardening days are over for this year. If the plants would grow, it would help, but, try as I might, the only thing growing well is weeds. The tomatoes and peppers that have survived are not much bigger than they were when I planted them. I really thought that the heat and dryer weather would make a difference, but thus far it has not.

Even the one zucchini that I thought was going to make didn't. It grew to a length of about 4-inches, then shriveled up on one end and turned yellow. These are the only tomatoes that I've gotten. One is about an inch across and the other is slightly larger; both are full of holes where something has been eating on them. Pathetic, isn't it?

The squash and pumpkin are blooming beautifully, but there's not a sign of a single fruit on any of them. Just a few days ago I was thinking about working the garden up again and replanting, but, now I'm not sure what to do. I'm thinking that my time and efforts might be better spent doing something else.

My flowers are doing well though. Here are a few of the ones that are blooming in my yard right now...

Sunflowers

Oriental Lilies

White Spiderwort

Purple Coneflower

Miniature Sunflowers

Marigold

Zinnias

Petunia

The flowers are lovely, and I enjoy having them, but I sure was looking forward to having fresh produce right out of my own backyard garden this year. I guess we'll wait and see what happens.

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Thursday, June 23, 2022

In the Garden

A long, cool, and rainy season made it nearly impossible to get into the garden this spring. As a result, the grass was so high that I could hardly locate the vegetable plants that weren't much bigger than they were when I planted them. I had all but given up on the idea of having a garden this year.

Then, all of sudden, here we are. Summer has arrived and, with it, plenty of heat and sunshine. The garden has dried out considerably and some of the plants appear to be growing. Maybe there is hope yet!

A couple of days ago I made up my mind to get out there and take control of it. I weed-eated down to the dirt as much as I could and am plowing up dirt around the plants with my cordless garden tiller as I have time. I've only got one battery for the thing, so I work in spurts, but, little-by-little, I'm making progress.

After drowning out, there were less than a dozen corn plants left standing. They were about 15-inches tall and had already flowered out without a single ear of corn on any of them; only a handful of beans came up, and they weren't putting anything on either, so I just weed-eated them all down.

The zucchini, pumpkin, and other squashes seem to be doing a little better. They are blooming out nicely and a few have tiny fruits on them. The zucchini pictured below in only about 2-inches long.

I harvested the green onions over the weekend, but have a few sets left, so will replant using what I've got. If I can come up with seed I will try replanting corn and green beans and see if I can't do a little better with a fall garden.

I thought I only had two surviving pepper plants, but in the process of de-weeding, I discovered that there are three. There are a few healthy tomato plants, but most are tiny, weak, and scraggly. I'm hoping that, with the heat, the majority of them will snap out of it and produce enough tomatoes to can this summer.

I have zinnias planted along the north side of the garden and they're starting to bloom. Monday night Tony helped me lay landscape fabric and put up a little fence along the outside edge in the middle. I'm hoping to border the north side of the garden and all of my flower beds with a layer of mulch to help cut down on the weeds.

I weeded the herb wheel and discovered that the thyme and rosemary didn't make it, but the eucalyptus, chives, and basil are all doing very well. I thought the sage was gone, too, but it looks to have pulled through after all and I think it's going to be okay.

Well, that's what's going on in my garden at the moment. What's going on in yours?

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Thursday, February 17, 2022

Getting Ready For Gardening Season

We may be in the middle of another winter storm outdoors, but, indoors, I'm getting ready for garden season!

Yesterday I made inquiries into getting a garden spot tilled up as soon as possible; today I'm starting seed in my Jiffy Seed Starting Greenhouse.

I planted tomatoes (Roma), bell peppers (Sweet Cal Wonder), squash (Early Golden Summer Crookneck, Black Beauty Zucchini, Burpee's Butterbush Butternut, White Scallop), and pumpkin (New England Sugar Pie).