Happy birthday (just a day or so late) Debbie. Sounds like a good day.

We finally saw our chipmunk the other day. Hadn't seen him all summer and thought he had deserted us for greener pastures.

We sure had lots of rain during July. The gardens are growing really well .. and of course so are the weeds!!! The tomatoes are getting ready to pick. I love home grown tomatoes or the ones you get from the roadside veggie stands.

Have a great gardening day.

Happy birthday Debbie - sounds like you had a great one.

Crafty - your tomatoes are ready - lucky you! Mine are just starting to fruit finally. I can't wait until their ready. Still eating canned ones until the local fresh ones are ready since I have long refused to by grocery store plastic toms!

The garden is doing great. Weather has been fabuluous although we could use a bit more rain. It's rained once in the last two weeks. In my perfect world there would be a good downfall every morning at dawn - then be hot and sunny all day. LOL - think I need to move to the rainforest!

The humidity has been wonderful as well. Sure helps with the smells in the garden. In the evening my yard is overpowered with the smell of evening scented stock, allysum and acidanthera. Beautiful. That stock sure looks pathetic all day long but as soon as the sun goes down it perks up and doesn't look dead at all!

The main thing i am waiting on now are the cannas. I started them indoors in April and they were fairly large when I outplanted them. I think the cool July must've set them back. Still growing but not a single flower yet! Anyone else growing cannas from bulb this yr? Next yr I am starting them in February!
The other summer bulbs calla, glads and acidanthera started blooming a few weeks back so April was a good time to start them.
Off I go,
Tina

Hi everyone
Thanks for the birthday wishes.

It starteed out a bit rough, cat got outside and I couldn't see him, it was too bright out for me and I was scared he'd run out on our very busy street. I was able to follow the bell sounds and found him under the carraghanas eating something, grass I think.

Then the owner of the B&B next door asked hubby if she could cut some roses to put in one of her guests rooms. Hubs said yes and I was a tad bit upset! The plants are only a ft tall at the most and maybe have two roses on each plant at a time. I haven't even cut any for myself. I gave her two rose bushes and she didn't bother planting them so they are toast and she has hybrid teas growing in pots on her driveway,,,,why she couldn't use some of hers was beyond me! I said to hubs no one goes in my garden never mind to cut MY flowers which we have been working our butts off to grow all season, while she sits next door and watches us do the work and doesn't offer to help.Geezeeee the nerve

More of my lilies are blooming and even a daylily started to bloom today, all of my roses except one is blooming. The one I thought was John Cabot is not John Cabot though,,,its just a regular single rose, I must have dug up an old root of that and gave the real John Cabot to my neighbour! grrrr

I have my first daylily blooming and in the pond I have two water lilies blooming. I had two blooms on the water lily in the big pot but they never opened and I'm wondering if it might be because it just doesn't have enough space. Gale, what do u think? It was in a bigger rubbermaid tote last year, but that one got a leak in it, this one is one of those garden buckets with rope like handles and I was thinking that because the water lily is a large one it just needs more space?

Here is the daylily {{gwi:2100381}}

And this is the water lily that ate the pond.... LOL {{gwi:2100382}}

these were taken later at night so I imagined the flowers were opened more during the day

{{gwi:2100383}}
Take care
Debbie :-)
PS: I have a student coming over tomorrow to help me with the garden for a bit.

Wow, Debbie! Your daylily is gorgeous! Beautiful pond lilies too!

Hi everyone *waving*

It was a nice day here today. My student came over and did a good job and worked hard! She emptied one of the composters and took the dirt to a raised bed in the veggie garden, then went to another spot where there use to be a 8 X 8 veggie bed and dug out dirt from that spot to fill up the raised bed she was working in. That took about 2 hrs, might seems like a lot of time, but everything was a distance apart so a lot of filling buckets and hauling dirt had to be done. I kept telling her to take a break and gave her drinks and a cool cloth for her head. I'm using the money mom sent for my brithday and it's the best present ever! She also carried the composter to the street, and I put a Free sign on it. *L* I hope someone takes it.
I wish I could afford to have her come for a couple of hours every week, I even gave her a tip! *L* She put the stuff away when she was finished without having to be told,,,,I hope I win the lottery so I can hire her more often! *LOL*

I have another bed I need to get filled and I will be calling her soon, plus some ground I need to put landscaping fabric on top of too.

I did a lot of lopping and pruning of our carraghanas tonight, they were so tall over 12ft. I hadn't like our previous neighbour so didn't want to see his face so I stopped trimming them about 10 years ago and they have just grown like trees. In fact they are taller than the trees. *LOL* I only did our side of the hedge as I was too tired by that time. Neighbour has been saying for months she was going to trim the hedges but nothing got done. I'm hoping they will finish the job. I mean it looks ok just that our side is shorter than theirs.

I also pulled out about 20 water lily leaves so the poor fish could get to the surface and find their food, there were pellets on the surface of the leaves from me feeding them yesterday that they couldn't get at.

Hubs helped me move some stones tonight until our baby toboggan got big holes in the bottom and was gathering up stones as I pulled it along and leaving pot holes behind it. I tried the old standby duct tape, but that didn't work of course. *L* I don't know what I'm going to do I still have all this stone to move and don't expect to find a baby toboggan in stores in August,, not even here. *L* I might see how long a box inside the toboggan lasts and try that for a while. We can actually walk over the middle part of the stones to get to the other side,,,,so we are making progress.

Thanks Sheryl, I just wish I could find the name of it. How is your spider mite problem? Did u manage to get rid of them?

Here is some more of my lilies, these are in the backyard. {{gwi:2100384}}

These are aphrodite lilies, they are doubles and I moved them into the new beds. {{gwi:2100385}}

This is my mutant red lily and his friends. {{gwi:2100386}}

Take care
Debbie :-)

Hey there! Things are pretty slow here right now and i haven't been doing much in the garden except weeding and deadheading. Yesterday, i moved some lilies out of one bed - i don't know how much they'll like that right now, but they seem to be okay. I just put them in containers for now. I needed to add soil to that one bed, and i'm going to plant hardy geraniums in there. The one i have is "Orion" - i had three, but two seemed to have not liked waiting to be planted. Oh well, now i've seen pictures of "Rosanne", and i want that!! Very pretty blue, if the picture was true. I don't even know if she's hardy here - guess i should check on that before i get all excited, eh?

Debbie, you said you had "mutant" red lilies. Were they orange before? I have some like that! They don't really bloom so profusely, though, for some reason. They're some of the ones i moved, so maybe they'll like their new home better.

Something interesting - the forget-me-nots i winter-sowed are blooming now, in full sun in the veg. bed! LOL I'm going to move one out to where i want to plant them and see now it does there. Other stuff hasn't survived there for some reason. It's deep, dappled shade, surrounded by trees - a willow, some tamarac, some cedar and a couple of jackpine. I really would like to get rid of those jackpine... I have some ferns and astilbe in there. The ferns are doing okay, and one astilbe is blooming, but they aren't growing very big. Maybe i can convince dh to get rid of a couple of the trees and things might do better there.

What IS happening around here is renovations. Or NOvations, maybe! :) The roof is done (new shingles), and soon dh is going to start on the siding for the front. We got a new living room window that has to be put in too. Last week, we went to Kenora and bought laminate flooring! I was all set to get going on it right away, but dh suggested that the ceiling be painted first. Grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter! :( But he's right - it should be done first. My daughter is coming on Tuesday to help with that. I only have two weeks of vacation left - gasp! - so i'd like to get as much done as possible.

Summer's just about gone, and it wasn't even here yet. Sigh...

Last week we went to the lake for a night. Picked a few blueberries, but they aren't quite ripe yet. Dh did some fishing (i forgot to get my license), and we visited with some friends out there. It was a nice couple of days. I got in the water once, but it really wasn't that warm. I wonder if that has something to do with old age, that the water feels colder to me. Sheesh!

Anyhow, here's a photo-journey to the lake. I know some of the pictures got a bit mixed up - it took me long enough to rearrange them in order! LOL

Take care!
Marcia

Here is a link that might be useful: Come to the Cabin

The lake pics are great Marcia!! I haven't been on a lake once this yr and boy am I missing it! Still time for a paddle somewhere though - just have to find the time to do it.

The forecast for tomorrow is 14C - do you believe it?? Where did summer go? I'm hoping this is a slight blip in the season and it will return right smartly. I am not ready for fall yet. Neither are the tomatos...
How's the weather where you all are?

Hi Buddies!

Well..we finally got some much needed rain last night, so the veggies should be happier now...I never use water for the veggie garden.
We've been eating baby potatoes the last 2 weeks, but the bush beans won't be ready for a few days yet...then it will be a complete meal!
The cukes & pole beans are just flowering now and the peas are very close to eating size now.....just gotta beat the dogs to them!

My lilies are finally starting to bloom now too and of course some need to be moved and some need to be given away or planted in the ditch 'cause they have turned orange! I don't allow orange plants in my beds....lol

A few annuals are way smaller than they should be, but oh well...that's what happens when you don't get heat until August! My castor beans are about 3 ft. shorter than they were the same time last year!

I finally have 3 blooms on my Peaches & Cream brug with the variegated leaves. No buds on the other 4 yet...the weather was just not warm enough for them this year. We better have an Indian Summer this year, 'cause we've been robbed!

Kelly and I went on the pond tour on Sat. The weather was perfect and we had a great time touring.

*Marcia* are you still planning on a trip here yet?

Well...just a quick post.....life is hectic with the kids home ...Mom's taxi is being called..again!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their blooming gardens!

Talk to ya'll later, Gale

Hello from Thunder Bay, fellow Ontarian! Great pictures to view..........really enjoyed looking through them. I just bought a new place this year in July, and got everything into the ground way late!
Damp and cold here this morning. This had better not be an indicator of our autumn..........that Indian summer better be a good one. I only ended up getting some small gardens in........few potatoes, tomatoes etc..........and a bunch of rosebushes.
Great to see some people from Ontario.
Cheers,
William

Welcome William - there are a few of us here from Thunder Bay.
Funny - I just saw your post on freecycle - lol! I was layed of recently as well and prior to that the internet was a research tool for me. Now - I am addicted to garden web. NOw that gardening season is nearing an end - time to get a job. I've thouroughly enjoyed my time off but not so independently wealthy that I can just garden for a living yet!
It certainly is freezing here this morn. I turned the furnace on for a bit just to get the chill off and am seriously contemplating starting up the woodstove.
There so better be an Indian summer coming on. I am looking for jobs in the wayyy south now because I am sooo disgusted with the pathetic excuse for summer we have had this yr. Geesh is it too much to ask for a climate you can grow a few tomatoes to ripeness in without resorting to heroic measures. Who's idea was it to settle in this ridiculous climate!
Okay that's my rant for the day. At least I can go harvest some more beans today. Well at least the cold/middle of the road weather crops are loving it.
Tina

Right on Tina, cool to bump into another Tbayer. Where did you get laid off from in the grand city of Thunder Bay? This place is losing what it has to offer unless you are really established. After being laid off, Im actually going back to school in September and dreading it. Trying to get out of the seasonal blues......worked in ag and forestry and am tired of contract work. Will be the old man of the class, but hey. Whaddya do.
Its nothing short of bloody chilly today. Turnips and radishes will love it.....but my tomatoes are angry as all get out. They never liked me anyway lol.

Hi everyone,

It's been cool and wet here so I haven't done much in the garden, except tonight I did cover up some of the plants because it was so cold when I went out to feed the fish. The poor fish didn't even come up to get food, that is how cold it is!
I don't know what happened to summer, but our high today was only 10C! If we do get frost I don't have many things covered up so I will be keeping a close eye on the thermometer tonight and I might even have to turn on the furnace...geezeeee

If it doesn't rain tomorrow the student that I have found is coming back to help me do some more work. I want to move the raspberries into the new bed she helped prepare last week and I want to put some landscaping fabric in the corner of the property to keep the weeds down. I just wish it would stop raining and it would warm up to around 23C again.

I really like the look of the rose garden now. It seems so much bigger. I put a plastic container out there and put some stones in it and around it and put it under the Japanese Lilac for the birds to drink out of. They can't really drink out of the pond easily.

I have worked so hard on the front gardens I have sort of wore myself out and got sick for a few days. It is taking me more effort to get outside and do work, I'm hoping when the sun comes back out I will feel like doing work again.

I did transplant a purple coneflower from the backyard into the front yard to fill one of the empty spaces the contractor left. It was growing so close to my Great Expectations hosta I thought I'd better move the coneflower rather than the hosta, seeing as this hosta is a bit fussy. Last night I started working on my rock labels for a few of my new hostas.

Today we went to Walmart and I picked up more landscaping fabric, in fact all the Pro kind they had left,,,they had it on for 1/2 price so I grabbed it all. *LOL* I should have enough for a while now. *L* I love it when gardening stuff is on sale,,,also picked up a couple of good trowels.

Marcia, no the lilies were red but their buds all grow on the top of the plant instead of up the stem. I have pink ones that do that too some years, that's why I call them mutants. The stem isn't round like normal, but flat like it got run over. That's strange that u have forget me nots blooming now. I wonder if they will keep blooming late like that from now on and their babies too? That would be kewl if they did.

Maybe if u watered the fern and astilbe more they would grow bigger? The trees might be stealing the moisture they need?

I'm glad hubby got the roof finished! That's one step in the right direction. *L* Sounds like u are going to be doing quite a few renovations now. Hubs hopefully is on a roll and won't stop on you. *G* Did u get the ceiling painted today? I have to paint the windows in the porch, something son said he'd do but didn't. I tried to find paint at Walmart but there was nothing there that was right, so I will get some at the building center. I will call and talk to the paint guy to make sure I get the right stuff.

I looked at your pics too,,,very pretty place. How long does it take u to get to your cottage by boat? And your dog is very cute! Does he like the water?

Tina, the weather here stinks!! I can't believe how crappy this summer has been and when it starts raining here it doesn't want to stop and it really cools down fast. It feel like fall here too.

Gale, u don't like orange plants in your gardens? I like orange plants every so often, brightens up the spots.

Hello William,,,,welcome! What kind of roses do u grow?

Well time to get moving here,,,,,take care everyone!

Debbie :-)

Hi all

I just got back from a trip to the Maritimes and they are the ones that are stealing all the nice weather that should be here. I can't believe how cold it is here!!! When I left southern Ontario yesterday morning, it was at least 30 Celcius with the humidity and we froze when we got to the Soo. It is even colder here or at least it sure seems that way. Hubby told me that his cousin, who is on the outskirts of Thunder Bay, lost her whole garden due to frost.

My garden looks awesome after being away for 3 weeks. Lots of things are blooming in spite of the lack of rain and the cold. Hubby did a pretty good job of weeding so things do look good. I sure hope it does warm up so I can sit outside and enjoy it.

Danni

Hi Debbie. I have a few different types of Roses growing at the moment.....just moved in a little while ago, but managed to get a few things planted. Persian Yellow, Blanc de Coubert, and Henry Hudson Explorer primarily.

Hi

Poured here all night and day and is very cool. The furnace even came on today and it's only August! Unreal!

Hi Danni, welcome back! I was wondering where u were. Just thought u were busy in the garden. Sounds like u had a great holiday! Too bad u didn't bring some of the nice weather back home with you. *S* Did hubby stay home and look after your garden while u were away or does he just weed fast? Glad your garden looks good and hope u can soon sit back outside and enjoy it!

William, I have some explorers too and others. I have Martin Frobisher, J.P. Oconnell, Alexander McKenzie, gave away my John Cabot, by mistake. I also have Morden Blush, Modern Centennial, Winnipeg Parks, Sir Thomas Lipton, Beauty of Leafland, Adelaide Hoodless and Hazeldean, which is hardy to zone 1 but only blooms once a year. They are only small this year after getting cut down to the ground so aren't giving too many blooms, but at least have given me a few which is more than I expected them to do.

Take care
Debbie

The sun is out today!!
It's been so cold and rainy I haven't even looked at the garden for 2 day. Sure got lots of stuff done in the house I've been putting off for a bit so I guess we were due for some rain.
Gearing up for canning season. Jars to wash and gotta replace caps - never seem to have enough of the the right size around. Bush beans are plentiful - still waiting on the pole beans that are all in flower and have baby pods on them.
I'm going to plant my fall spinach and greens this week. Didn't have much spinach this yr as I planted too late and it bolted fast.
HAven't had one cuke yet. Lots of babies started but none big enough to pick. I know once they get going I'll have more than we can possibly eat. Hopefully enough dills to do a few jars. Will be picking up baskets from the farmer's market as soon as they are ready. Don't have the room to grow as much as I'd like for my kid's insatiable appetite for dills.
Anyone have ripe tomatoes yet? It is painful waiting for them to ripen.
Dannie - where in the maritimes did you go? I've only been to Halifax and loved it - would like to get back there some day.
I'm contemplating starting to move some crowded plants around as the scorching weather seems to have left us. Too much other stuff to do in the fall and in the spring i never seem to remember where everything is! There's something else I should work on is a good garden map.
Lots of work going on in the country. We are clearing some land to make roads for access to the back forty, cut back the scrub brush from the living area and remove a lot of standing dead poplars and jack pines. DH has chosen to take down a little more than I would've but when it comes to the property - he's the boss. I can live with that - when it comes to our city place - I have the say.
Picked some saskatoons the other day, they were about 25% ripe. Unlikely we;ll get anymore - the bears always beat us to them.
Chokecherries are almost ready, they sure needed the rain. The bunches were falling of the trees to the touch, it was so dry previously.
Haven't gone to any blueberry spots yet - still have some in the freezer from last yr! I've seen lots at the markets however.
I am so happy the sun is out, even though it is only 8C - gotta get out there!!
Tina

Morning,

It is a beauitful morning, we were away on vacation also, went to Winnipeg, than to visit my nephew in Dryden. Marica, Dryden is a great place, it has a Walmart, so I could live there. Spend a couple a days at Blue Lk. dh so wanted to get in the water but it was cold, kids were in, but we tend to feel the cold so much more as the days go by.

Dannie, I called you a couple of times before I left but I got a machine, than a man answered once and told me I had the wrong number, of course I was doing it by memory on my cell, I have two units for rent and they are in the south ward so I will try again, I loved the pics of your yard, I wish I had the money to hire a garden planner, I do have to get back to work sure miss having the extra cash.

Gale, the wild cucumber seeds you gave me have taken off, I didn't think they would go so fast so I had them on a little 4ft trellis and they all over my cosmos, they have just started to bloom and I am waiting for the smell, the grass has seeded and the castor bean also, so I will be gathering seed. Love all of it, thanks again. I had the Myllyaho girls over before I left on vacation and we were talking about you and decided we have to have a girls night this summer, now that thinks have slowed down I will try to plan something and give you a shout.

Debbie, you are as busy as ever, glad to hear that you found some help, but remember there is always next year.

Anyways, off to take a look at how everything survived all the rain, sure hope we get some more heat.

Janet

Hi all,

Nice sunny day today, thank goodness.

Debbie, hubby stayed home and looked after the garden. He said he weeded it daily so things didn't get away on him. I still had to do some today but I can just imagine what it would have been if he hadn't kept it up.

Nanatina, we started in Halifax, did the southern shore along the Atlantic for a bit, crossed the province and then went along the Bay of Fundy. We then went to PEI for a couple of days and finished up in Moncton. It was an all girls trip. My girlfriend lives in southern Ontario and has a daughter the same age as mine. You should have seen us with all the luggage we had along. We lucked out because the rental company upgraded us to a truck with a topper. They were trying to save their cars for other clients who were down for the tall ships and it sounded like a lot of people don't like driving trucks. There is no way we could have fit all of our stuff in a midsize car. All in all, we had a great trip. Expensive but great.

Janet, my hubby didn't realize that you knew me as Danni. I have no idea why he didn't clue in as he and my friends do call me Danni or Danielle. I think that he thought you were looking for a Danny (male) and that is why he told you you had the wrong number. Give me another call as I do have one small white bleeding heart left in a pot.

Back on a gardening topic, any one have any idea why my Goat's Beard is just sitting there not growing? It was planted back in June when the rest of the perennials went in. They are in a mostly shaded position with good soil. One is in a more sunny position but it isn't doing anything either. Everything else is growing but the Goat's Beard.

Danni

Ack - just had a post partially done, and Yahoo interrupted it and now it's gone. Sheesh.

Anyway, first thing i wanted to say is - - - JANET! You were three miles away from me and you didn't call????????? Oh boy, now i'm upset! LOL I love Blue Lake - just haven't been there yet this summer, and i guess i'm not likely to go now.

It was pretty cold here for a couple of days too, and we had fires on at night. One day it only struggled up to +10 for a high. Doesn't seem like we've had much of a summer at all.

We've been doing some stuff around the house too. I must have mentioned that dh reshingled the roof and that i took out the living room carpet (scary!). I've also taken the tiles off the dining room floor, and my daughter came and helped me paint the ceilings in the living room, dining room and hallway. Not a lot of fun! This weekend, the living room window is going to be replaced. The new window is a bit narrower and a bit longer, so it probably won't be a really easy job. After that's done, the siding can go on the front of the house and the porch. I'll probably be able to get started on the laminate floors next week. So, things are a bit of a mess around here!

I did a bit of garden work yesterday. I've taken several plants out of the garden i call the "Slingshot", where dh put that big Y-shaped log years ago. The lilies are now in containers waiting to be relocated - not sure where yet! - and the trollius (and a baby one!) and some lamium are now in another bed. I added more soil to that garden and planted the one surviving hardy geranium "Orion" and some annuals that i had leftover. Then after all that, the cat and i sat beside one bed and contemplated life (and gardening!) together!

Gale, i was hoping to get to Thunder Bay this summer, but it doesn't look too promising now. Only a week left before i start back to work. Maybe i'll be able to make a weekend in September. Sorry! :(

Debbie, it takes us about half an hour by boat to reach the cabin. First we have to drive to where our boat is kept, about 15 - 20 minutes away from here (going right past Blue Lake...!). Yes, Red likes the water. He's a real stick-fetcher! When he was younger, he liked to try to climb some of the rocks in the beach area and even swam out to the pointed rock and tried to climb that. Of course, he was on the steep side, so it didn't work too well!

Today, our friends from the lake came into town and we ended up going blueberry picking. The berries were great and we all filled our buckets almost to the top! Now i have to clean the suckers! LOL

Tina, we barely have GREEN tomatoes, let alone any ripe ones! This just isn't the year for them, i guess. The plants were great - the best i've ever grown - but the weather just didn't cooperate. No cucumbers so far either, but we have been eating broccoli, swiss chard, kohlrabi and zucchini. The lettuce has all bolted, but i can probably plant some more now. We'll have beans in a week or so too. Gee, i hope we have a long fall!

Well, i should get going here. Still have some other forums to peruse before bedtime. Talk to you all later. Happy gardening!

Marcia

Here is a link that might be useful: August gardens

Hi everyone *waving*

The sun came out today for a few hours, I couldn't believe it, I thought I was seeing things, but then the clouds rolled back in and everything went back to normal. *LOL* No rain yet, but they are saying we will get some tonight. I don't know what happened to our week without rain, but I guess they changed their minds.

My helper came over today and we got quite a bit done in two hours. Dug out 3 roses, moved one, moved the other to the front using a tarp and I will put it in the box to go to the garbage, the other one she took home to her mom. *S*

Also levelled out, as best we could the spot where the 8 X 8 bed was in the back corner, laid down newspapers, landscape fabric and threw the old siding on top of it. It is uneven, but I don't go back there very often so it should be ok and will keep down the weeds, it looks like wood panelling. Next year I will throw some stones on it if I have to. It is nice to not have to squeeze thru two rose bushes to get into the backyard now and now I have a few feet to plant some hostas. *L* Those i can just jump over to get by and they don't bite ya either. *L* I won't move the hostas until next year so they have all summer to get their roots established.

I did some weeding and then mulched 3 gardens so that was a step forward too. I used up the orange garbage bag I had full of shredded paper, it sure didn't go very far. I also gave all my petunias hair cuts as the rain spoilt all the blooms and they looked terrible. I sure hope they flower again cause the pots look very bare. The coneflower I moved didn't look too happy so I gave it a hair cut too, hoping that will take some stress off the roots.

Tina, I haven't gotten one cuke this year, I don't even think they have flowered! I had 3 ripe tomatoes off my Sun Gold plant, that was last week, nothing this week.

Sounds like you've been quite busy with your country property. I don't know how u handle two properties I have a hard time with just one!

Janet, yes I've been a bit busier this year than last year. *S* And I already have plans for next year, like moving more hostas. *L* Sounds like u had a nice vacation too! What is a wild cucumber, does it get real cucumbers on it?

Danni, sounds like your trip was great! I have always wanted to see the Bay of Fundy, did u see the tide come in? From what I remember it is suppose to come in very fast!

Marcia, sounds like u really have been and are going to be busy, but it will look great when it is all finished! I got some paint today and will have to start doing the porch windows. I hate painting and am not very good at it, but I'll give it a try, like I have a choice *L*

Marcia, love the pics! I love the lily pics the best, of course, *S* lost my Cancun lily this year, I think they got buried under all the dirt in the new beds. Oops. *L*

Well have to get to bed,,,,taking cat to vet tomorrow.....ekk!

Take care
Debbie :-)

Ok, who decided that summer was over???? It is presently 13C out there and it went down to 5C last night. My daughter was so cold yesterday that she hauled out her down vest and was wearing it. On top of that, we had winds of up to 80k/h and it knocked over one of my arbours. Some of the wild cucumber vines roots got ripped out so part of the arbour looks pretty sad with wilted leaves. I will wait and see if it recovers (I reburied the roots), otherwise, I am going to have fun trying to remove the dead vines from the live ones. Someone needs to tell Mother Nature that summer isn't over until the end of September. Sheeshhh!!

Danni

Sure does seem like summer is gone. It's +11 here now and the wind is just howling. This morning the radio said the low tonight would be only +1, but now it's revised to +4. I'd like to cover things anyway, just in case, but the wind is so strong it would blow the tarps away! If the wind would keep up, there probably wouldn't be a frost but they say it will die down. It would be awful to lose everything at this stage of the game. Sigh...

Someone give Mother Nature some Prozac!

Hi everyone

It has been cool, wet and yucky the past 4 or 5 days and I have been sick too so not much has gotten done in the garden, just run out to feed the fish and back into the house.

I have lost my garden helper so that has bummed me out and the weather hasn't been helping either. She had a job interview the last day she was suppose to show up so she cancelled *sigh* and then is away until the 24th, so I don't know if she got the job or not. I'm very disappointed as she was a good worker, glad for her if she gets a good job, but sad for me.

Danni, isn't it awful? I'm sorry u lost your vine. It went down to 7C last night I don't even think it got up to 11C today and with the cold wind it feels colder, rain rain rain!

Looks like we all are getting the same crappy weather and wind! I had to stake my sunflowers today as they were all bent over from the wind and some of the pots in the rose garden had gotten blown over too.

I was able to pick my only broccoli today and yellow squash about 3 inches long. figured I had better pick them as most of them are going bad as fast as they develop. *ugh* My tomatoes?.. well I picked one cracked ripe one yesterday off the balcony, it wasn't even that large. It has just not been a good growing year. Maybe we will get August weather in September?

I had painted the porch windows about 5 or 6 days ago and it has been raining ever since and I haven't been able to close one window. Have been working on it for 2 days and finally tonight I got it closed. Geezee what a pain.

Marcia, how are the renovations coming along? I sure hope u don't get frost tonight!

Take care
Debbie

Dannie - wasn't that wind horrible?!? I brought all my houseplants in as they were getting knocked around being in their smaller pots. Lawn chairs all over the place, knocked down plants. My backyard veggie garden is a mess now! No real damage though - just looks terrible.
I pruned all my tomatos back hard the other day on the chance we get enough warm weather left for the fruit to ripen before frost.
Right now it is 4C. We had the same forcast for frost as you Marcia and then it changed to 4C - whew!
Debbie - sorry to hear you haven't been well. Hope you are on the mend now.

WAAAAAA - I want summer back.
Tina

The wind kept up last night, so no frost. Tonight they're saying +4 on the radio, +6 on the Weather Newtork site. +6, please! It's still a little windy out there. I had to prop up one of the pole bean towers - the bamboo stakes had broken off at the base.

Tina, what do you do to prune your tomatoes? Just cut back the non-fruit-bearing branches? Maybe i should do that. Our forecast for the next week is nothing stellar, but not too bad either. Maybe we can get some ripe ones, but i'm not holding my breath. I'm going to pick what beans i can because they probably won't last now. Last year my broccoli was going to seed as fast as it headed, and i blamed that on the heat. What do i blame it on this year?! :)

I took my houseplants back in too, but had to leave them in the porch because we're still working on the house. The new living room window is in and i love it! The only thing is that it's a little narrower than the old one, so i need to paint along the edge of the frame on one side. I even found the leftover paint from the living room wall - and it had solidified in the can! Darn stuff - only seven years old, too! LOL I guess i'll have to buy a quart and hope it matches okay. We still need to replace a basement window and then do the siding outside. The laminate floors still have to be done inside. I was hoping to do that today, but dh decided to go to Kenora with his nephew. Maybe tomorrow.

A horrible thing - i go back to work on Monday! Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! The summer has been so short as it is. Well, one good thing is that the weather will probably improve just because i'm stuck at work all day! The government should really pay us to stay home. Oh yeah - that's called retirement, eh? :)

I may make it to Thunder Bay one of these weekends soon. My son is going to take the Heavy Equipment Training Course there but we don't know when he'll start yet. Thank goodness, thank goodness, thank goodness. He's been a bit of a late bloomer in some ways all his life, and at almost 20 is acting like a teenaged JERK. Of course, that gets dh going, so then Adam is mad because his dad is mad... You know how it goes? I'd like to kick the pair of them SO hard!

Anyway, on that pleasant note, i should get going and do some straightening up around here. Tonight i have a meeting and tomorrow have to help at a garage sale (i hate those things!).

Try to stay warm!
Marcia

Hi everyone

See u are all having the same weather as we are. I was wearing my winter coat today when I ran outside to feed the fish. The water lily was still blooming nicely and the sunflowers have really started to bloom. Don't know how when it is so cold outside, but they are doing it! We are suppose to have more rain this weekend too, surprise surprise. *ugh*

There is still stones to be moved, still about 1 1/2 cubic feet of it. I went to pull the raspberries and hostas I sprayed with roundup the other day but they weren't dead yet. So the stones are still in the driveway. We have to get them moved before the snow comes, by the way temps are lately that might be tomorrow. Grrr

We will be calling the guy to come and take our a/cs out on Monday, so we should be getting a heat wave after that! *LOL* But I don't care, I'm tired of freezing at night sleeping beside a a/c we don't need and we have fans so I'll use those if it gets hot again. *crossing fingers that it does*

Tina, I want summer back too, though it sure didn't feel like we really had it this year. I'm thinking that winter will be a bad one this year. As it seems like when we get a crappy summer we then get a very cold and snowy winter. I'm hoping I'm wrong.

I'm glad you brought in your houseplants as sounds like they would of been really damaged if u didn't. I have a Christmas cactus in the porch and hope it can take the cold temps, because with me painting the windows with oil it sure does smell out there so I've had to open the windows.

Marcia, could u use bricks and those spring clamps to hold down the tarps? I got some spring clamps from Canadian Tire and I use them in the garden to hold down blankets and tarps, also clothespins, but they won't hold in a strong wind.

Marcia, have u tried the epson salts on the tomatoes yet to hurry the ripening along? I'm going to give mine some more tomorrow.

I picked my only broccoli the other day and the tiny head on it was starting to spread open a bit. The day before it was as tight as anything. I had the same trouble with broccoli last year, one day it would be ok, so I'd leave it so the head would get a bit bigger and the next day, it would be in flower. this year I planted two plants but only one has done anything. I'm beginning to think it is the variety I'm using. I had good broccoli for a few years, but can't remember the name of the variety I grew.

Glad to hear u have one of your windows in and that things are moving along nicely. *S* And I'm sorry your going back to work already! Poor you! that is going to be some shock to your system!

My son is not acting nicely lately either. Didn't call me on my birthday and doesn't come around to help me after promising he would, so we haven't talked for the past few weeks. I'm very disappointed in him and how he is treating us. He only lives a block and a half away, I could see his apartment from our backyard if a building wasn't in the way. I think he is living with a very bad influence! Anyways, I hope the garage sale goes well, is it for the horticultural society? Our show is on this weekend, I had forgotten about it. I will have to try and go tomorrow to see it, well unless it's pouring of course. It's our 75th anniversary.

Gale, Janet, Jak, crafty I hope u are all ok and your gardens are doing well.

Take care
Debbie :-)

Interesting the difference between boys and girls.
At 20 my oldest daughter is a delight to be around and calls me 2 or 3 times a day now. Of course this was entirely different from 15-18 when she could barely stand talking to me. Now I am contending with the 16 yr old evil twins - UGH. PMS, potty mouths and treating our home as if it is a flophouse with as little interaction with me as possible. Most conversations we have is can I have some money or me saying do the dishes or a load of towels or SOMETHING!! I keep telling myself a few more yrs and they'll start acting like real people LOL!!

Debbie is it a solution of Epson salts you water the toms with? Maybe I'll try it as well.
I prune most of the branches off so as much energy as possible is going to the fruit. All of my toms are indeterminate so they will just keep growing and growing and flowering if I don't prune them now. I also take off all the toms that are too small and don't stand a chance of being any size that I will want to eat or fiddle with for processing. Pruning also allows for good air circulation and decreases chance of disease - before I pruned I could barely walk between the plants as I always plant them too close together - need to cram in as much as possible ya know I LOVE tomatos.
Well happy harvesting y'all
Tina

Well I can't believe I actually accomplished something today. I was able to get the family room garden weeded and mulched before it started to rain again. YEAH!!! I also picked the blueberries too, so another job done. My poor raspberries that I transplanted last week are not doing so well. Half of them looks like they are dying, I only transplanted 8 of them, but at least some look like they will live and I'll just have to wait for to multiply.

Tina, I can't imagine having two girls PMsing at the same time! EEK! Kids sure can rip your heart out and stomp on it... *sigh*

I put 1 tbsp of epson salts in a gallon of water then water the tomatoes.

Take care
Debbie :-)

Hi

We actually got a bit of sun today! I went out and pulled out the reaspberries, got sick of waiting for them to die from the round up. I was going to dig them up, but the ground is so wet I could just pull them out, a lot easier than digging.

There seems to be a terrible smell at the side of the house. I don't know if the ground has turned sour or something has died under the dwarf cranberry bush, but around the old raspberry garden smells too. Either that it is coming from the workman working on one of the buildings behind us. *LOL*
Does anyone know if tons of rain can sour the soil? I'm going to get some limestone and sprinkle it around to see if that helps.

Does anyone know of something that will stick bricks to railway ties? My contractor was "suppose" to build me a bed 4 X 8' last fall. Well he did, but he made the front, one timber lower than the other 3 sides. I don't know why, he thought it would be easier for me to get at the bed. Wrong! I will have to bend over and reach to do anything in that bed now. I have a pile of old bricks that I thought I could glue onto the ties to bring the front of the bed up to at least close to the height of the other sides. The way it is now I can't fill the bed up to the top as the dirt would just fall out the front. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

My water lily in the small tub has finally bloomed! The one in the pond has been blooming for weeks now so I guess it likes having more space to spread it leaves out.

I went and sat in the rose garden and had some coffee with my garden buddy, my little dog. *S* I figured I had better do it now when it wasn't raining. I was wearing my winter coat, but at least it wasn't raining. *L*

Take care
Debbie :-)

Hi everyone!

It was a beautiful day here today! yeah! I got up and went out and sprayed some round up then went to walmart and picked up a few things. Then came back home and started on the garden.

I moved all the logs from around the old raspberry bed to behind the clubhouse, tried to pull out a heavy plastic edger thingy around the bed, but that was no go, so I had to leave it in the bed and just try to cover it with cardboard and landscape fabric and stones. It was windy too so I had to run around and find things to hold the fabric down. *L* I tell ya the neighbours must laugh when they see me in the gardens. *L* I also put down some limestone around the places that had that odor and I hope it helps.

Hubs was working digging dirt up from an old strawberry bed and putting it in the railway tie bed. We got as much dirt in it as we could and I will have to glue bricks to the front so we can fill it right to the top. Next spring I plan on putting hostas in that bed because my hostas are growing so fast they are mugging each other. *LOL* he went and bought some adhesive for subfloors to try and use to stick the bricks onto the ties and I hope it works.

I picked quite a few ripe or almost fully ripe tomatoes tonight. I hadn't been checking the ones on the balcony and I found one on the balcony, I guess the rain knocked it off. I must have picked about 10 ripe tomatoes today, so I'm going to be giving them some more epson salts. *L* I also found some ripe raspberries in another part of the yard that I will have to pick tomorrow.

I also got around to defrosting the chest freezer which I have been putting off for about 2 years now. *LOL* I threw a lot of old rhubarb out that I never used and now have lots of room in there. No veggies this year to freeze though. *sigh* Next is the big upright in the basement. *ugh* That job I'm definately not looking forward too.

I hope your gardens are doing well. Marcia, how are u making out being back at work and how are the renovations coming along?

Take care
Debbie :-)

Debbie, you sound like you've been busy! Feels good to get a whole bunch done in the garden, doesn't it?

We had FROST Monday morning! The water pump wasn't hooked up because we haven't had to water the gardens all summer - it always rained just in time. So there i was at 6 a.m. with my watering can... The flowers are all fine, but the beans, tomatoes and zucchini got singed. I think they'll be okay, though. The peppers were fine, but we won't get much out of them anyway, and i doubt if there would have been any cucumbers anyway.

Monday afternoon, after work, i transplanted three of the winter-sown forget-me-nots that are blooming so nicely. I put two near the blue poppy in the hopes that they'll bloom at the same time next summer. And i transplanted some Japanese columbines that i had winter-sowed and were still sitting in a container.

I've ordered a bunch of plants from Dominion Seed House, but i think i might leave them in their pots and bury them in the veg. garden for the winter. I did make a new bed, but i haven't finished it yet, so maybe this will be better for them. Also need to order some more bulbs - never enough of those! :)

Renovations have ground to a halt. Dh has been going through a crabby phase (every other day! LOL) so he's ignoring the house. That's okay - our nephew has been helping and i'm sure he'll come over one of these days soon and crack the whip. Part of the problem is that we ordered facsia (sp?) and the wrong colour was sent. I guess white is the most common colour but we ordered brown and they can't believe it! LOL Twice it happened! I'm thinking i might try to start the laminate flooring myself in a couple of easy areas where nothing needs to be cut. That should get dh going, eh? He thought he was going to have to take out the front step that i had waited so long for because it had heaved a bit, but he was able to move it forward a few inches and the starter strip for the siding will fit now. Sigh with relief!

Anyway, i should get back to work. I really haven't accomplished a whole lot since coming back - just bits and pieces of things and i had planned on buckling down today - obviously didn't happen!

Oh btw, Thunder Bay peoples, i will be there on the weekend of the 11th and 12th. Adam is starting his course on Monday the 13th, so i'll be bringing him up that weekend. Get-together? :) Nursery run? I'm sure there'll be sales on!

Ttyl!
Marcia

Hi
It was a rainy day here today, 20C but very humid and I don't mean the rain. *L* I had to turn the a/c on just to get some of the water out of the air so I could breath easier, thank goodness we still have them.

I was able to get a bit of work done in the yard. Hubs and i moved stone, this time he did most of the work as I wasn't feeling that great. Because the baby tobaggon has holes in it and acts like a grader now, *L* we had to try the big garden totes with rope handles and they worked out quite well. If they had longer handles it would be easier to pull them, but not too bad. Hubs filled them this time and dragged them thru the rose garden to dead man's corner by the pond, then I dragged them around the pond and into the backyard. We did about 6 and then I had to stop and rest. I was so winded I just sat on a chair outside in the rain....*LOL*,
but at least I got something accomplished.

Marcia, yes it feels good to get things done in the garden. *S* We still have 1 1/2 cubic ft of stones to move but we're getting there.

The dwarf cranberry that I sprayed round up on up against the house is dying now, so in the spring I will have to dig that out and throw it out. It is so huge I just had to kill it. I really loved the fall colour too,,,,a nice beautfiul red colour. And hardly anything here turns red in the fall. But I plan on putting hostas there after the bush is pulled out.

I'm sorry u had frost the other night, but am glad u didn't lose anything. What plants did u order from Dominion House? I'm tempted to buy some tulip bulbs to put in the new beds seeing as I killed all the ones in there, but I don't think I'm going to. I'm worried about weeds popping up in the spaces I would have to make in the landscape fabric.

I looked over the fence today and next door's parking lot is a weed fest! I was sooo ticked off. About 15ft long and 4 ft deep of little yellow flowered weeds. I'm going to call and ask if I can go over there with my round up and kill them, cause when they go to seed they are just going to end up in my yard, they already are in my yard.

Sorry to hear about hubby's crabby stage, buy him some chocolate or something he likes,,,it might snap him out of it. *L* That is so maddening about the fascia I would be a bit ticked off too especially if it happened twice! That is like what happened to our windows,,,,two of them were the wrong size and two shutters were the wrong size. so things sort of stopped progressing for a while. Some times I wonder how these people get their job. I hope they get it straightened out fast for you and u get the right stuff soon! I'm also glad hubs didn't have to take out your steps.

Time to go here,,,,try not to work too hard,, ok? *G*

Hope everyone else is doing ok and comes in and posts to let us know what's going on in their gardens.

Take care
Debbie :-)

Morning

What a horrid summer, no heat, lots of rain and cold. I was trying to get another garden up and running but with the weather I didn't get around to it. Now all the petunia planters are full of aphids, there are little black speckles everywhere on the plants, so I guess that is what it is. Anyone having this problem, I have never had them on petunia's. My pond has a severe algae out break also, so I am doing a water change now, I could not clear it with the skippy filter. I don't know if it is worth all the hassle right now with the weather or just let everything go and start packing up for fall "S" I have a lot of squash that are just about ready, they need a few more days of heat, the potatoes were okay, and we have been eating alot of green beans.

Anyways, enough whinning just thought I'd check in

Janet

Janet, a lot of times, the black speckles on petunias are nothing more than seeds! The little pods burst if they're left on the plant and the seeds stick to the leaves. I don't know how much decent weather we'll have left, but if you prune back some of your petunias, you might get another flush of bloom. It has worked for me some years - not always, though. Good luck!

Hi

It was hot today 24C and very humid! It poured on and off all day. Humidex of 30, so I had to stay in the house close to the a/cs except for going out to feed the fish and pick some lettuc. Thank goodness we still have the a/cs in the windows! I hate it when it is this humid so thick u can cut it with a knife, it affects my breathing. I got my hot weather but not so I could do anything. *sigh* I wanted to go move some stones but hubs didn't want to have to pick me up off the ground, so I behaved myself. I tell ya he has no sense of adventure. *LOL*

Janet, I cut back my petunias but we haven't had enough sun to make them flower again, but I am still hoping.

Do u have water hyacynths in your pond? They really help filter the gunk from the pond. I have some in my front pond and some in my little pool on the patio and my water is fine. I also think the water lily sucks up some of the nutrients from my pond too. I have always heard that changing the water doesn't help with algae problems. I hope it works for yours.

What is a skippy filiter? I made a filter out of a small rubbermaid tote that Gale told me how to make and I haven't had to clean it out all summer *touch wood*

It is a rubbermaid tote that I drilled 1/2" to 3/4" holes all over it, except the bottom so the gunk from the bottom wouldn't get sucked into the filter. Then I put quilt batting along the bottom, sides and put the pump in the middle of the tote. Closed the lid and lowered it into the pond, it keeps it really clean for much much longer. I use to have to clean my filter ever week or two until I started using this method.

Marcia, u think the black things are seeds? If I were to save seeds, not that I know where on my petunias to look, but if I were to save the seeds would I get the same petunia as the plant they came off?

Hope everyone has a good day tomorrow!

Take care
Debbie :-)

HI all - wow 30 C with humidex. Nothing like that here. It is humid but not very warm..

My petunias have had black -winged aphids for the last few weeks as well. It doesn't seeme to be affecting them though.I plant petunias with nasturiums in the veggie garden as another aphid trap. I have saved seeds for the last 4 yrs and sometimes you get the same colors but its a crap shoot. This yr I got some of the loveliest colors I've had in a while. I like the surprises! I'll have to get around to posting some pics one of these days.

I believe I am going to prepare the spot for a pond in the fall for next yr. Have to move my irises first.I will definitely be consulting you guys next yr when I am ready to put it together. The tote filter sounds interesting.

I start a new job next week. After being off for a yr its going to be a challenge. I am happy everything worked as planned here. Even after having all winter off I still wanted the summer off as well!! Great to be severenced and have a bit of freedom! Anyhow I'm going to manage the LCBO supply warehouse here. Just temp contract to start - they have to check me out first, but I am hopeful it will end up permanent. Should be interesting.
I started selling Avon as well - with my kids help. I figured it was a good way to supplement their makeup and skincare needs (wants)and it gets me out and sociable! So anyone needs an Avon lady - just send me an email!
We're in our last push to finish the basement. My deadline was for at least one week before school starts so Jasmine can have her room back and settle in. Looks like we'll be just a little later than that but still a few days before school starts.

The garden has pretty much been taking care of itself lately. this tends to be the time of yr I ignore it just waiting for harvest and seed heads to mature. Been planning what I will do different next yr. Plants to move in the next few weeks, its getting cool enough now that I can get a start on the ones are done flowering for the yr.
My cannas are finally preparing to bloom! I didn't think I would see any with the horrible weather we've had. Hopefully it will hold out a bit longer so I can enjoy the blooms for more than a day! The elephant ears have gotten quite huge, have to start thinking where I am going to store all these bulbs and tubers.
I watered the toms with epsom salts the other day - hopefully this will help ripen them up!
Happy day!
Tina

Good Morning,

Marcia, it is definitely not seeds as I have been dead heading daily, has to be aphids. I went out this morning and with all the rain the plants are going kinda moldy too. I will let them go to seed now and start collecting, it seems like a shame as I feel like there was no summer "S" maybe when you get to TBay it will be Indian Summer.

Tina, what a great job, do you get a discount LOL, your gardens sound healthy send some pics.

Well, off to town pay bills and get groceries.

Janet

Hi
I'm going to start a September thread....ekkkkk September

Debbie