Saturday, September 18, 2021

In the Garden


 Hi everyone. Happy weekend! 

I thought I'd start the  weekend with a page for Wendy's vintage challenge at Art Journal Journey and some photos from my garden also. 

I  quite like today's page from my garden journal.  Everything on it has been cleaned off my work table except for the crow, that I stamped on white paper before fussy cutting it out, and the big paper  sunflower, that I had in my stash.  And I should add the quote is also out of an Art by Marlene sticker quote set. Everything else was a left over from some other project.

On my work table I had a scrap of book paper, a piece of white cloth tape that I inked up, a scrap of wavy cardboard that came in some package at some time, and some clear acetate clouds that I had traced and cut out to use as stencils on a journal page back in August. Plus a reproduction ticket that I took out for another project and never used. 

I thought this page  would work nicely with my garden photos, since after a great summer, there aren't a lot of flowers left blooming. That and I have seen a lot of crows around lately too. (Of course the fact that I had a pair nesting this summer along my driveway might be why.)

My visiting black bear has been through several nights lately, hoping the bird feeder is still out. (My fault, I forgot the suet feeder one night and now it is gone, and it must have been a nice treat for the bear.) The dogs have been keeping us up as they start to bark aggressively when he/she arrives. Maddie is spooked though, and she even freaked out when a squirrel was out by the bird feeder the other day. Poor Mad.

I've  also seen bobcats twice lately too. I'm grateful for them ( if they were 2 different ones but perhaps they were just one seen twice) as they've definitely done a number on the chipmunk and squirrel population. 

The big project going on at my house is my husband is replacing our back deck railing and floor boards. You can see he had only started when I took these photos last weekend.


Railings down.


The  biggest issue is that this  deck is one of main egresses out of the house, and the one we use the most.  It's either that or go through the basement and the garage to get into and out of the house. We still (after 32 years) don't have steps to our front door, and truthfully, we have never missed them.

My husband, being the engineer, is trying to work on the deck in stages so that we don't totally lose that egress. I image this weekend things will look  more worked on, as deck work is his plan. 


Pete has been out on the bear look out, and he would miss the deck if it was just ripped apart.

There's not too much blooming any more either, except in my deck pots and my roses, which after summer dead headings, are giving me a nice second bloom.



One of my 2 hydrangeas is blooming nicely also.



I've been working on cleaning out a space between my veggie garden and the bees. 


I put a few perennials in here  (above photo) when I separated plants in my garden back in early summer, and I'm going to add to it with some spring bulbs I picked up and with some more blooms next spring. I want to keep it more wildflower field looking, if that is possible. That way there the bees will have some very close food sources. Right now, it doesn't look like much more than a mess, does it? This photo was taken after 9 crammed full bins were removed to the compost pile.

I have more to do but I am waiting for some of wild plants to have their fall die back so I can dig them out easier. I probably should just use the rototiller on the whole space.


I've started feeding the bees sugar water and  also pollen patties. I'm a little concerned with their late arrival (the first of June due to a cold spring down south where they came from) they haven't built up enough honey for the possibly long winter. They say the bees need 80-90 pounds of honey stored up to make it through a New Hampshire winter, which I don't have. My number of bees look good though, so hopefully with some fall feeding  they can be in better shape for winter. Before closing up the hive and wrapping it come late October or early November, I will give them some pollen patties and some bee fondant so they will have some food for the winter.




This milk weed with pods is growing in my veggie garden, and I would love to use its seeds in my new flower area. What I don't know is if I should remove pods now or wait until the break open. Anyone know about seeding milkweeds?


My big flower garden is looking tired.  I definitely have a couple of ideas for my husband's workshop wall behind it for next year, There are just a  few last blooms until my late blooming perennial chrysanthemums open. Those usually bloom in October.

Anyone know what this plant is? My friend Deb gave me a piece last fall when she separated some in her garden. 



This year I  also left some self seeded goldenrod growing for the bees. I do plan on pulling that out once all flowers are gone.


And lastly, my veggie garden is about done. I did plant some lettuce, spinach and kale, hoping for one more crop now that it is cooler. I am excited about this beautiful eggplant I pulled out of my garden. It's the best one all summer.


 And although the deer ate the most of the leaves off my brussel sprouts recently (grumble grumble), I was thrilled to see the sprouts  actually  starting. 


That's all for me. During this week coming up,  I'm hoping to have more garden cleaning time, as well as a few other projects.  This weekend my daughter is coming home, and she wants to go on a shopping trip, as she's been talking about this for a few weeks now. Not sure that's what I'd chose to do, but I'm a good mom. Smile. 

Have a great start to the new week!

And thanks for visiting. 















15 comments:

Iris Flavia said...

Wow, you do have space, and such a beautiful one, but... bears?! Huiii.
Great page for this post.
Great how you feed the bees, fingers crossed they have a good, calm winter later. Ingo had honey on his bun today, say thanks next time to them :-)

Valerie-Jael said...

Fabulous post today. Love the gorgeous journal page, lots of lovely texture. And the garden is looking good. Nice to see the bees, too. I'm not sure with the plant, it could be hemp agrimony. And your eggplant is SUPER! The deck looks like a lot of work....And I can't imagine having black bears and bobcats strolling around, I can understand the dogs barking! Have a great weekend, hugs, Valerie

CJ Kennedy said...

Really nice end of Summer page and perfect as this morning is foggy. I keep hoping to see a bear, but nothing. There is a bobcat in town, too, but not in my area. How good that your husband is so handy. Your garden looks beautiful especially the hydrangea and the eggplant. I have milkweed and they self seed. I don't know much about them, but I'd wait until the pods break open then you can try moving pods/seeds to the area you would like them to grow in. Get through today, tomorrow is supposed to be the pick of the weekend. Have fun shopping with your daughter!

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I love your journal page, Erika, I have so few rubber stamps and I actually HAVE that one of the crow/raven. I use it a lot, especially this time of year. That made it even more special to see how you used yours. Very inspiring art for Wendy's theme at AJJ.

Wow! Your bees look healthy, but I hope they survive the winter. I was in awe of your eggplant. LOVE your landscaping.

I didn't realize you had a chiminea until I saw your deck. Sorry you are stuck helping with the deck removal, but be glad your daughter is coming because shopping will be more fun than driving nails (grin)!!

ashok said...

Impressive journal Erika. Fabulous post

craftytrog said...

I love your page Erika, it's beautiful! And your garden is looking spectacular!
Happy Sunday,
Alison

Divers and Sundry said...

Bobcats and bears! It'd be interesting to live in a place with more different kinds of wildlife.

Your roses are a treat to see. I grew up with roses in the back yard along the fence, but I don't have any here. And that hydrangea bloom is gorgeous! It looks like you are providing Heaven on Earth for the bees. I'm sure they'll love your growing flower offerings. I've never heard of pollen patties. I've tried growing milkweed here without success. I can't coax them through the summer, much less to the point of seed pods. Just not enough sun, I think.

Jeanie said...

What a terrific, newsy post. Oh, my! You are in home-care craziness, aren't you, with the porch and all. Those big projects can feel so overwhelming. But everything is looking great. A little scary about the bear -- I'd be barking with the dogs! And I love your page -- it's really charming and full of fall!

LA Paylor said...

one year I had a glorious crop of white eggplant, and never since. So good and delicate skin. Another artist married to an engineer! a good balance, right?

sirkkis said...

Nice journal page with great texture. I think you refer the day 13 with the quote ;)
Oooh, summer is much more near there than our here. We have had several could days just now, and summer is not near at all... Thank you for sharing the great photos from your awesome garden... although I got some shivering when looked at the bees... I've got once a very bad shot from one...
Have a very lovely, inspirational week ahead xx

one irrational bean said...

I love the sculpture park. I will have to check how far it is from me. I think the pink plant may be joe pye weed.

Neet said...

Such a great page, love seeing what people do on hessian - I might have a go one day. I love that sunflower and the crow against that memorabilia, love the curvy card - it looks good for your garden book.
Oh heck, a black bear and bobcats. Sounds a bit scary for me as all I have to look out for is the odd fox and its rare I see one of them. Do have squirrels.
I had no idea you had to wrap up the bees for winter - never thought ot it or anything at all - must look this up as it is interesting. Hope you can get them enough food for winter.
Hope you had a lovely weekend shopping with DD.
Hugs, Neet xx

WendyK said...

Lovely textured page Erika, love it. Your garden looks interesting, but a lot of work I would imagine. have a great week, hugs Wendy

Meggymay said...

A fabulous journal page and its good inspiration to see how you are using the fabric base pages in that journal.
The photos from your garden are great, not sure I would like the idea of the bears being so close by, but the dogs seem to have it covered and bark out a warning for you.
Have a good week.
Yvonne xx

DVArtist said...

This is an amazing post today. So much going on at your place. The bees are thriving. I am not sure about retrieving the seeds. I do know that they need to be stratified for better germination.