Red

Red theme photograph for my camera club's December meeting...

A Potting Shed

It is official.  My garden shed is now a Potting Shed.

Before it was built, I thought of it as a potting shed.  But the reality of the shed was that it was more of a garden room/garden office/play house/storage shed than a place to pot up plants, start cuttings, and whatever else you do in a potting shed.  If I needed to pot up plants or start cuttings it was usually done on the patio, near the hose.

But recently, it was cold and rainy and I needed to get a lot of plants ready to come indoors for the winter.  That would involve dirt, rooting hormone, lots of dead leaves, water, and etc.  Rather than bringing the mess into my kitchen or dealing with the cold and rain outside, I moved my work to the dry, comfortable shed.

The potting table

Normally, this cabinet holds a tray of "curiosities" that I have collected -- leaves, tree bark, sea shells, a shed snake skin, pine cones, an abandoned hornet's nest, a robin's nest that fell from a tree in my yard, a dragonfly that died in my shed and other interesting natural things.  The tray was moved somewhere else in the shed and the cabinet became my potting table.

I stayed dry and comfortable while making my mess.  I had most of the tools I needed right on hand.  After each plant was re-potted and groomed of dead leaves, I put it outside the door of the shed to get a bit of rain before the whole group of plants was carried into the house.  And the mess was contained and easy to clean up.  Success on all counts!

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) cuttings

Rosemary is not hardy in Southwestern Pennsylvania and my rosemary bush is now too large to bring in the house for winter.  This winter, it will stay outside, nestled in a pile of leaves in my composter.  If it survives, great; if not, I have cuttings that I hope will take and survive the winter inside.

Alas, poor Yorick!

Here's a very small sampling of my natural curiosities.  Pine cones, cob webs (okay, not actually collected by me), a dried up seed pod from a shrub that I have not yet identified, and a bird skull.  I am guessing that it is a robin's skull, because I found it in a garden where I saw a mortally wounded robin several months before.

Fall Foliage

Fall Foliage theme photograph for my camera club's November meeting...

Green Bean Season

Pole beans are one of the few edibles I grow in my garden.  I grow them because I love green beans -- nothing tastes like a fresh green bean -- and they are so easy to grow.  I have tried several varieties of pole beans, but I always come back to my favorite, Kentucky Wonder.  They are prolific, tasty and -- for the most part -- problem free.

I got a late start this year with my green beans, so my harvest is just beginning now.  Normally, the season would be in full swing.

This year, we had a pest problem with the beans -- rabbits.  The rabbits normally leave the beans alone once the plants are too tall for the rabbits to strip the leaves from the upper portions of the plant.  But this year, the rabbits chopped off six of my eighteen plants just above the ground, killing the plants entirely.  That's 2/3 of my planting!

Fortunately, I discovered the problem and got fencing around the plants quickly.  The remaining plants are doing well and starting to produce.  I have picked several handfuls already and used a few in meals.

Usually, I freeze several bags of green beans for winter enjoyment.  I prefer them over store-bought frozen green beans.  I'm hopeful that I will have enough to freeze this year.  Fingers crossed.

Why I am Worried

I have shown this re-blooming bearded iris before (here).  

It doesn't re-bloom every fall, but every time it has re-bloomed in the past, it has not lasted long before the weather changes and winter is upon us.  I associate the second set of blooms with the end of fall and the onset of winter.

So the reason I am worried is that it is blooming its fool head off right now.  I don't think it has ever bloomed as vigorously as it is this summer.  I hope this doesn't mean what it usually means.  I'm not ready for winter!

Blueberry Season - The Final Score for 2014

This year's blueberry season lasted from early July to about August 10th.  There were still quite a few unripe berries left on the Elliot bush when we stopped picking, but the birds picked the remaining berries as fast as they ripened.  There must be some fat, happy birds in our neighborhood.  I saw robins, cardinals, blue jays and catbirds in the garden.  And there were some small critters, such as chipmunks, enjoying the bounty too.

We picked a total of 63 cups of berries.  (Last year we picked 34 cups.)  Of those 63 cups, about 15 cups went to neighbors, a few we ate fresh, and the rest were frozen.  I gave a bunch of bags of frozen blueberries to my sister.

I have been enjoying peach/blueberry smoothies made with fresh peaches and frozen blueberries for breakfast many mornings lately.  YUM!

A successful blueberry season.

The Shed - At Work and At Play

I knew from the beginning that there would be a certain element of "play house" to my garden shed.  Up until the time it was delivered, I insisted to myself and to Eric that element would be small and temporary.  I warned Eric that the stinky, dirty lawn mower and gas cans would have to stay in the garage for a while longer.

But when I started filling the shed with stuff, it became obvious that the "play house" element was here to stay.  One of the first things in the shed (after the curtains and candle lamps in the windows) was a small wool rug that had been languishing in our garage.  And then a collection of children's tea sets...

And a spare picnic table, dressed for a tea party.  

The shed will always be a working garden shed -- storing rakes, shovels, grass seed, a wheel barrow, hand tools, outdoor furniture cushions, umbrellas, and etc.

It also serves as storage for my gardening books and a place for me to do garden planning and garden day dreaming.

That's my "grab and go" bucket of gardening hand tools by the door.

And this storage cabinet can easily be turned into a potting table by removing my tray of "curiosities" and adding the potting tray stored on the loft shelf.

But, to me, nothing says "Garden Shed" louder or more emphatically than this Waterford crystal table lamp that I bought at an estate sale.

Or the antique cherry drop leaf table that replaced the old picnic table.

It is Blueberry Season!

We have 11 blueberry bushes -- four different varieties.  I know that 5 of the bushes are Elliot, but I cannot recall what the others are.  Four of the Elliots are not even close to producing -- they are under 2 feet tall.  Our goal for them this year is to help them survive the rabbits.  We have them caged to protect them.  

Last year, 2013, I covered several branches on each of the 7 bushes that were producing with floating row cover to protect the berries from the birds.  I only picked from what was covered.  What was not covered got picked clean by the birds.  Between June 29 and August 11 of 2013, I picked 34 cups of blueberries. Wow!

This year, after pruning the bushes for the first time ever, I was worried about the bushes being less productive.  My fears were totally unfounded.  Actually, quite the opposite is true.  The bushes are more productive than they have ever been.  One of the bushes is so full of berries that the branches are bent over and touching the ground.  

For at least the last two weeks, the robins, blue jays and chipmunks have been feasting!  And I have been picking!  Last year at this time, I had picked 7 cups of berries.  This year's total, as of today is 12 cups.  And we haven't covered a single branch with floating row cover.  

A Gift for Lois

In the event that you are looking for that special gift to buy for me, I have discovered the one thing that will make my life complete:

The auto in the picture is a 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Convertible Sedan.  I am not too particular about the year -- I'll take any model from the 1920's thorough the 1930's.  But the color is rather important -- only green will do.  And, of course, it must be a convertible.  

If only every gift giving dilemma could be solved so easily...  

Nib Creep and a New Lens

After over a month of waiting, I finally received my new camera lens.  It is a Sigma 105mm 1:28 macro lens.  I was anxious to play with it, of course, so I pulled out a few fountain pens and gave the lens a spin.

Here's a photo of my Parker IM fountain pen, inked up with Diamine Red Dragon.  The crystals/junk on the nib and feed are what is called nib creep.  Not sure why it happens, but it was neat to get such a close up picture of it.  

By contrast, here is my Cross Solo, inked up with Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses.  You can see that the nib has a slight amount of ink on it and the feed is clean. (Well, if you don't count the cat/dog hair that is dangling from it!)  That's how a fountain pen should look.

These four pictures were taken outside (natural light) and using a tripod.  I tend to be very over-confident of my ability to hold a camera still.  I really hate to stop what I am doing and drag out my tripod, so I'll hand-hold for shots way more often than I should.  That's a lot of blurry, messed-up shots.  Good thing film isn't involved anymore, or I would be wasting A LOT of film!  One of the first lessons I learned with this new lens is that hand-holding just will not work.  Get out the dang tripod as soon as you get out the lens, Lois!

More Doodle-igraphy

I have these cool watercolor pencils that I bought this past winter...

...and a watercolor pan set that I have no idea when I bought it or how many hundreds of years I have had it. 

I have fun playing with them occasionally.  But like many of the art/craft supplies I have bought over the years, I don't have a real talent or knowledge of how to use them.  They're just toys for me.  

This week, I was playing around, making some more doodle-igraphy.  This time, I tried making a playful version of Times New Roman font on the back of an envelope.  It came out kinda cool and was fun to do.  This was my first attempt, so please ignore the goof I made on the sarif of the R.

Then I got to thinking, what if I doodled it on watercolor paper, using a Sharpie to outline the letters and watercolors to fill the letters and wash the background?

And, violà!

I'm pretty pleased with it.  It is so playful and fun.

I have an idea to take this method a step further to make a gift.  I can't guarantee it will ever materialize, but if it does, you can bet I'll be bragging about it here.
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And now, for a Wren Report!

I don't think we have seen the wrens under the gazebo since January, but I know they're nesting nearby.  They are so vocal, it is hard to miss them.  I figured we wouldn't see them again under the gazebo until after nesting season was over.

Last night, when I was out with the dogs for their final potty break of the evening, I noticed one of the wrens in a teacup.  It was cool last night—about 60° Fahrenheit—and he (or she) was snuggled in pretty tight and his (her) feathers were fluffed up.

This morning, when the dogs were out for the first potty break of the day (5:20 am), the wren was still there.  The rest of the birds in the neighborhood were already up and chirping their heads off, but our wren was still fast asleep.  Five minutes later, he (she) was gone.

Flowers for the House

I picked these peonies and lupines for the house two days ago.  I wish I had taken a photo then, as they were tighter and more gorgeous then.  They smell heavenly!

Bluets

Flower photography for my camera club's May homework...

These gorgeous little ladies are Houstonia (unknown species).  They are a wild flower, native to the US, commonly known as Bluets or Quaker Ladies.  

Every spring, they appear in our lawn, and without fail, my husband is the first to notice them.  Finding them in a lawn is not easy, as they are only about 3 inches tall and the flowers are about a half inch across.  He usually notices them when he is scooping the dog poo or cutting the grass, and when he does find a cluster of them, he puts a stick in the ground next to them.  The stick makes it easier to find them again and, until they are done blooming, he avoids them with the lawnmower.  We hope that they will eventually form colonies in the lawn.  

A Shed-iversary

A year ago yesterday, I got my dream shed!

 

For a long, long time, I wanted a garden shed for our yard.  As a child (probably like most little girls), I longed for a playhouse -- an enchanted cottage.  But this would be different.  Now that I am an adult and an avid gardener, I wanted a working potting shed.  A place where I could start seedlings, repot plants, and store rakes, shovels and hand tools.  A chance to get the dirty lawn mower and stinky gas cans out of the crowded garage.  We spend a lot of our time working in our back yard.  Having a garden/tool shed there would make it easier to access our tools. 

 

After saving our pennies, we started planning what the shed would look like and where it would go.  I spent the entire winter of 2012 - 2013, obsessing about every detail of the shed.  Where the doors, windows, and skylights would go, where the shelves would go, even where our individual tools would be stored.  I agonized over paint colors.  And, let's be honest, there was a fair amount of Enchanted Cottage dreaming going on!

 

After years of dreaming and months of planning, the shed was ordered from the manufacturer.  It was built in panelized sections at the manufacturer's warehouse in Ohio and trucked to our site on a flat bed.  The guys arrived at 6:55 AM. 

 

There's my shed!

I knew the build would go quickly, but it still amazed me how quickly and efficiently the guys worked, and how fast the shed went up.  By 11:41 AM, they were done with the building, had cleaned up the site, and were gone! 

 

Done!



 

Pinch me!  I must be dreaming!

 

The pictures of the empty interior make it look gigantic.  In reality, it is 10 feet deep by 16 feet wide.  The double doors didn't open fully because we had not excavated enough soil on the left side of the shed. 

 

In these two shots, above and below, you can see the skylights.  A wise friend advised me that if we were not planning to run electricity to the shed, we would need windows and/or skylights to make the shed usable.  Otherwise, it would be too dark inside, even in broad daylight, to be useful. 

   

 

There is a one foot deep loft shelf above the double doors. 

 

 

On the right side of the shed, a two foot deep loft shelf and one foot deep shelving below the loft. 

 

A warmer, dryer day.

Because it was so cold and damp the day the shed was built, we had to wait about 6 weeks for the shed to be painted.

 

Autumn outside the shed.

And now, a year later, am I happy with the results?  Absolutely. 

Are there any details of the shed that I would do differently?  Not at all.  I think reading books about building a shed, spending so much time planning it, and talking to so many people about our plans, we were able to make wise choices the first time.  If we ever move and have to build another one, I will probably build exactly the same shed. 

How's the storage working for me?  I love having our tools right there at our fingertips.  I have not had the nerve to actually hang the tools up yet.  I am agonizing about the best way to hang them and the best ordering system.  I have hesitated because I want to do it right the first time.  So, for now, the tools are leaning up against the walls.

What about the lawn mower and gas cans?  Well, they're still in the garage.  If you could smell how awesome the fresh wood smelled and how nice the interior looked when it was brand-new, you'd understand why I don't want the smelly, dirty mower and gas in there.  I keep saying that maybe later it will be allowed in my shed, but I don't think that is likely.

I also don't ever see myself repotting plants and starting seeds in the shed.  That's not how I roll.  I leave the seed starting to more determined folks, and I prefer to pot up plants on the patio, near a water source. 

And what about my dreams of an Enchanted Cottage?  Okay, so it is a bit of a playhouse, I'll admit.  I wanted the outside to look charming because it is such a prominent feature in our small backyard.  That's the reason for the symmetrical layout of the front door and windows, the custom roof pitch, and the curtains in the windows.  And parts of the interior are pure playhouse.  I have a round table and chairs in the shed that I usually have set up for a "tea party" and there are some purely decorative things on display.  But make no mistake, the shed is a serious garden shed when it comes right down to it. 

Hooray for Dirty Fingernails!

Don't worry, I didn't take any photos of my dirty fingernails.  But I was happy to have them!  We spent a few hours pruning the blueberry bushes and doing a spring groom of the hellebores.  It is still rather cold outside -- upper 30's today -- but it felt so good to get out and work in the garden. 

 

Four of our blueberry bushes are about seven years old.  We have never pruned them.  I now realize that we should have been shaping them from the very start. 

 

The goal of pruning is to create an open, vase shape to the plant.  An open, vase shape will allow good air-flow and make harvesting easier.  Damaged branches, crossed or rubbing branches, and any branches older than 5 - 7 years old should be removed.  As the canes on the blueberry bush age, fruit production will decline.  Pruning the bushes will encourage the production of new canes. 

 

Some of the worst looking branches (bent, crossed, rubbing) on our bushes were the oldest ones.  Because we have had so much fruit on the bushes the last several years, I was very anxious about pruning them.  I cut off viable branches today, so the plants may be less productive this year, but I know the bushes will be healthier and more productive in the long run.  

 

Unripe fruit in late June.

 

Ripe for the picking! Mid-July

  

Blueberries in various stages of ripening.  Mid-July

 

Blueberry bushes add fall color to the early November garden.

 

Hellebores are some of the first flowers to bloom in my garden.  They start putting up flower stalks as early as the beginning of January. 

Hellebore flower stalk - early January

During late winter, the leaves of the hellebores turn brown and ugly, and stray leaves from the deciduous trees collect around the crowns of the plants.  Our job today was to clear away the leaf litter from the fall and remove any messy Hellebore foliage.  Under all that mess, the flower stalks are already about 4 - 6 inches tall today, but the hellebores won't be in full flower until mid-April. 

An un-named white variety.

Having cleaned up some of the mess, we will now be better able to enjoy the upcoming show from the warmth of the indoors.  I can't wait!
 

An un-named mauve variety.  The nodding head of a more mature flower in the lower middle of the photo shows the developing seed pods.

Happy First Day of Spring!

Outside my window right now...

Still Life

Still Life photography for my camera club's March homework...

Winter

Winter theme photograph for my camera club's February homework...

Holiday

Holiday theme photograph for my camera club's January homework...

Blueberry Hand Pies and Blizzards

I have been dying to try making hand pies -- single-serving pies that can be eaten by hand.  Since it is just Eric and I at home, hand pies would give me the opportunity to make a tasty treat, without all the excess baggage that comes with a full-sized pie (several days worth of fat, calories and guilt; or throwing the extra servings away and suffering a different kind of guilt).  With hand pies, I could make a batch and freeze them in two-serving packets.  

Yesterday, I made these blueberry hand pies to take to a pot luck party.

Are they not the cutest?

Unfortunately, the party was canceled due to blizzard conditions. Now, instead of being stuck with an entire pie that we must eat or put to waste, I can easily freeze the extras.  I had one last night, Eric had one today, and the rest went into the freezer for later.  Yum. 

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Blizzard photos from my front window...

And my back window...

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Wren Report - January Update

It has been months since we have seen the wrens.  While I was watching the snow from the latest Alberta Clipper fall outside my kitchen window this morning, guess who showed up under the gazebo.  Yep, our friend the wren.  He flew up into the rafters and hopped around for a while.  It looked as if he was searching for a cozy place to roost during the next storm.  He examined several roosting spots and even checked out the evergreen garland we have hanging in the front of the gazebo. But he didn't stick around for long.  I last saw him fly into the cozy looking arborvitae in the middle of our yard.