I love mums,
but their smell isn't what you
normally think of, with beautiful flowers.
It's not a stink like some flowers,
it's more of a musky, earthy smell.
It's sad really,
because they are only lacking in that one aspect.
Our yellow "button" mums
and
our "rust buttons"
They are putting on their fall show.
Mother Aloe is blooming again.
This time there are 2 bloom stalks
with flowers about to open.
Her blooms are always a peachy
orange color.
In the past she bloomed in the spring,
but...
it's 2020
anything goes.
Right?
All of a sudden the lantana
is growing like crazy!
I've discovered that
I'm allergic to it's milky sap.
I found out after I cut back some
dead stems and noticed hives and itching
on my lower arms and hands.
Oh, well,
that'll be a designated job for the CEO
from now on.
😀
Salmon and white begonia
Wild violets that have spring blooms.
Their color ranges from deep purple to lavender.
Paperwhite lilies.
No blooms yet, but they tend
to bloom in very early spring
while it's still cool.
Kitchen succulent garden.
I've had this little turtle ornament guy
for nearly 30 years.
I usually put him in an indoor plant.
Too cute!
🐢
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The veggie garden is still growing strong
This is the broccoli
and in that same bed
are the beets.
We have some baby cabbage plants
ready for planting in about a week.
This is the time for our fall root veggies,
but
we've never had good results with carrots,
so we decided to forgo trying that again.
In their place we are going to plant our potatoes.
They are almost ready to go in the ground.
Tomatoes are still producing too.
It's only about 1 or 2 a week,
but that's enough to feed us.
🍅
The pepper plant in the early
morning light.
Looks like it's harvest time.
These will be dried to use in
recipes all year.
I cut them while they are
still whitish,
then they turn a beautiful red orange
while sitting on the sill.
Thai Basil.
Looks like this is ready for harvest too.
On most herbs, I don't allow them to flower,
but on Thai basil,
the flowers are so much more
intensely flavored than the leaves,
so that's mostly what I pick.
Flowering on all plants is the
reason they live - to propagate.
But,
with herbs, we typically eat
their leaves.
So, by clipping the blooms,
it'll allow the plant to "bush"
out so much more.
I finally figured out that these
small whitish buds aren't
a flower on my bay laurel.
They are merely new leaves.
Neat!
Found this out....
St Fiacre is the patron saint of gardeners.
Seems back in the 600's,
he became very adept at herbal remedies
and feeding pilgrims from his veggie
gardens, along with healing the infirm
by laying on his hands
to bring about miracle cures.
And.....
he is also the patron saint of hemorrhoid
sufferers. I couldn't find out the
reason for this, but
in the Middle Ages,
a case of hemorrhoids were called
Saint Fiacre's Figs.
Now, I don't care what you say,
that's funny!
*********************************
There's never a time that we are in the
garden without an escort.
This is Lucy and Ethel.
Pepper and Hazel
Pepper and Nugget
Finally they are starting to lay.
We get 1 or 2 eggs every other day.
Again,
enough to feed us.
🐔
And you can see those big beautiful,
orange yolks.
Thanks girls.
Ethel, Lucy and Hazel aren't laying yet.
Since the days are shorter,
and they are coming off a molt,
they need to get back in the groove.
Chickens lay about every 24 to 36
hours normally,
but our girls are older and they've
molted, so means that the "bounce back"
time is longer.
Chickens are diurnal, so at dusk, they
"come home to roost",
meaning literally that they go nite
nite when the sun goes down,
and they "get up with the chickens"
at the first light.
No crowing, but they cluck softly
till we let them out to roam.
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A few tips for stargazing...
Look for these in the night sky tonight.
🌟
I love looking at the stars.
They may be farther apart than this,
but you can still see
Jupiter to the lower right of the moon.
🌙
Saturn will be harder to see because of the
local light pollution.
Mars is visible to the lower left of the moon.
It always burns bright red.
This picture is from the NASA site.
That's a meteor streaking next to Mars.
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My Brother-in-Law was in the paper.
Proud of you, Robert!
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💗
