Winter Casualties

We had papayas in our garden last summer that even bore fruit this time. Of course, the fruit didn't have time to mature or ripen and when the first snow of the season came, they immediately succumbed.

The Fall Gardener

Just because it's fall, the leaves are turning colors and the garden is turning brown, does not mean that your garden duties are done with. There are a great many things that needs to be done when the growing season is over.

For one thing, it is always a good idea to go ahead and clean your beds of dead plants and debris before the winter sets in. It will save you a lot of grief in the spring if you go on ahead and pull up all the dead plants rather than letting them sit in the beds all winter.

One thing we do is to take advantage of all the fallen leaves and use them to mulch the vegetable beds. Another fall garden chore is to clean our gardening tools, repair broken ones and order new ones if needed.

GreenGardenTools.com is a great destination when you're shopping for garden tools. You can find great Green Garden Tools discounts and also useful tips and articles on how to do things around the yard. For instance, right now there is a great article on alternative methods of gathering up fall leaves other than raking them up.

By the way, another reason that fall is a great time to replenish your gardening tools and supplies is because a lot of the stores have great home and garden promos and sales this time of year as they make room for the holiday inventory that's coming. So don't go into hibernation mode quite yet, there's still things to do in the garden!

Ivarest Gave Away Summer Survival Kits

Ivarest gave us three Summer Survival Kits comprised of full sized Ivarest Cleansing Foam and Ivarest Poison Ivy Itch Relief to give away to three lucky winners. We posted the IVAREST SUMMER SURVIVAL KIT GIVEAWAY in our new backyard and here are the three lucky winners:
Nikki of Nik Snacks
Jo of Jo’s Blog Spot
Janet of Grammy Janet’s Place

I'm just starting to get into this giveaway game and I'm having a blast giving stuff away! Stay tuned for more fun giveaways. Also, don't forget to check the new backyard for photosg on how our garden is doing.

Garden, 2009

Warm weather finally came and our garden is back to its verdant condition that I had missed. I got so excited when plants started popping up that I hadn't had much time to update the blogs! There's just not enough time in the day to enjoy everything we want to do.

So here's a quick update of the garden:

This was taken in the early spring, around February. What was growing were plants that came back from the previous season. We hadn't planted anything yet.

This is how the garden looks now. The scuppernong grape vine has completely covered the frame we put up. The oregano had already started to flower, the cilantro had bolted and all other herbs have take hold. We've even already harvested some gree beans!

Come take a peek...

Come and take a peek at my backyard. I can't wait for it to start looking green again :)

Rake 'em Up

Is it acorn?

We had lost the original seed package for this squash and we had so many that didn’t come up that we really had no idea what variety of squash this was. We had to wait and see what came up to see if it was butter nut, spaghetti or one of the other packs we bought last spring. Their blooms look pretty much the same so it was hard to tell what it was at first. Then, the fruit started developing and started taking shape.
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Conservatories and much more

Do you know what a conservatory is? I bet you were thinking of the American usage, for a place where music or art is taught or performed. Well if you were in the UK, you would have immediately thought greenhouse or sun room.

When you are in a cold climate zone like England, you will probably want a conservatory, especially if you like to garden. But especially when you are in a cold climate zone, you want your conservatory to be built to withstand the elements. You'd like to have it built with quality materials and the workmanship to be guaranteed. That is what Anglican Home Improvements can give you. They will give you a free quote for any home improvement projects you may have, and they will give you a one-price guarantee. That means the will make a thorough and exact measurement of your project and price it accordingly. They will not give you and estimated price then go up on you later. I like their concept of Bespoke Service.

If you are interested and you are in the UK, give them a call for a free quote.