Well it's been a good long while since I did an update here! I can't say that there has been a whole lot that has went on overall. My youngest grandson, Greyson, is now 8 months old! Jameson is now 2, Scarlet 8 and Teagan 9. She'll be into double digits this year! So crazy how fast time flies!! I'm hoping to see them end of April, first of May. Kind of between Teagan and Greyson's birthday's but that all depends on the weather and roads.
It's now been 11 full years since Dave left. Luckily the anxiety before the special days is basically gone. Doesn't mean he isn't often in my thoughts but my subconscious is adapting. I often wonder how he's doing but figure one day along the way that will be answered.
The garden this last year did pretty good. The plants that I started from seed did awesome and better then the store bought ones. The problem is, is that the shed is unheated and I had to wait longer then ideal to start them so they were a lot smaller when they were transplanted. I debated about putting electricity to it but that meant digging through area's that are planted already no matter which way it was done. So I've settled with getting the greenhouse side insulated this winter/early Spring. The middle section will be insulated as well in the shed side. I'm hoping that will give me about an extra month of starting seeds, which would make for perfect timing to harden off and transplant. The tomatoes didn't start really ripening until the middle/end of September, just in time to have to pull due to a week of hard freezes. I'd already nursed them through a light freeze the first week of September as well as one other, if my memory serves me right. The peppers that I started had the same fate; they did awesome but were way late in ripening (if they did). Luckily tomatoes ripen after picking! See the picture below as to how many there were! It was crazy but almost all of them eventually got processed through dehydrating. I got 4 quart jars as well as a pint. There was one squash I will NOT plant again. The cucuzza squash. I really didn't like it at all. On the other hand, one I WILL plant again is the Zucchino Rampicante squash. That one is awesome!!! Both grow to be pretty big but the zucchino, for me anyway, just has a better taste and texture to it. Corn was another test for me. I planted quite a bit of it and it did really well! Soooo yummy!! Loved being able to just pick and munch on a cob of corn as I walked around the garden. I have learned that it's a heavy feeder so I'd need to find another place to plant it if I decided to plant it this year. The armenian yard long cucumber is another must to plant this year. They did awesome last year and were so good! This year I get to start picking my asparagus!! I'm so excited for that! Just a few months now. Using a year old crown, you have to wait another two years before picking so that they can get established. I planted another type last year so will have to wait on those. I planted strawberries around them because asparagus and strawberries are supposed to be good companion plants. I'm hoping that works out well! This Fall I used my own 'home grown' compost in the garlic bed I planted! And all the garlic planted was from what I'd grown this last year! I'm super curious how they'll do; especially since there's a bunch of possible volunteer carrots that are popping up in the bed. (If they survive the winter!) Garlic will be fine but I'm just not sure about the carrots. We got down to -3 a few nights ago however there was a very nice snow cover so that may save them if it continues to stay covered when it get super cold. I did find that chamomile is much hardier then I realized. It survived through many freezes. It didn't die back until it reached 20*. So it made the bees very happy when almost everything else had died back. We'll see how many plants I have to pull next year! They were already reseeding a ton last Fall. There was one area along the fence that I'd like all the fence area to look like. The plants did awesome and there was a lot of reseeding. Look below for that picture. That is also the area where the ground completely froze. It gets no sun from early November through April. If that's why it did so well then I won't be able to have all the area's look like it but I'll sure be working on making it happen! :) I got some new flower beds in the front yard started (cardboard down and dirt on top). I'd like to turn one into a rose garden but that'll have to wait until next year. I don't think it'll be ready this spring since the dirt didn't get down until the end of August. This year I'm hoping to get dirt down along the fence line in the front yard and along the house. And also hope to get the last area of along the fence in the back yard done!
Things have been going along pretty well with my aunt. She was a huge help with the yard this last summer and she loved being outside puttering around. There was a bit of a set back medically this last week but antibiotics are hopefully doing their work! She was down in Texas visiting her sister this fall and then I was able to go down and we all went to convention together. It was awesome!!!! I'm actually hoping that that can be an annual visit. I'll post a few pictures below of that visit.
Christina has finished her training in Texas and is now awaiting her orders to her next spot! It seems to be going fairly well.
We're in full on winter here. It took a long time to decide to come but come it has! This last week we've gotten lots of snow and lots of cold (-3 as the low and 15 as the high the coldest day). I'm getting my workout in shoveling!!! Today, tomorrow and Friday will be in the high 30's so there's a ton of slush on my road that makes it almost impossible for me to drive. But it'll be cold enough that I don't think it'll all disappear before the highs fall below freezing on Saturday which will make for a bumpy ride for the next couple of weeks, if the forecast holds.
Except for the top picture the pictures are from the most recent to the least recent.
