Morning Glories

I was out feeding the birds the other morning and saw this beautiful blue bloom in one of our gardens!

A beauty isn't she??

It made me wonder what the blooms looked like on the side of our house.

The plants have been beautiful but there haven't been many flowers.

Off to that side of the house I went.

Anyone else suppose this is a problem??????????

The Morning Glories pulled both trellis over and on top of themselves.

...yep...a little heart sinking here...

They have since been propped up, but no where near as pretty as they were.

We didn't fertilize or feed them anything. Just water and a southern exposure!

I do hope there was a gnome around when they fell. I hope there was someone present to yell

TIMBERRRRRRRRRRRR. :) So!! That means, in my head anyway, there was a cute little gnome nearby.

Any garden "troubles" at your place? How about blooming beauties???

Thanks for stopping in!

Don't miss the GIVEAWAY that is taking place! A belated blog birthday! You have 6 days left to enter!

Growing blackberries on a telegraph pole

What does one do with all those glass insulators they have sitting around???
Wait what??? You aren't sure what I am talking about or even more odd, you don't have BUCKETS of them sitting around your house? /sigh Oh the things we collect...for one reason or another.

If you really don't know what I'm talking about, let's have a look.

Source

Or how about another look see...

YEP! That is me. YEP AGAIN!!! We FOUND all those insulators while geocaching.

More on that here.

My fascination with these things started a long long time ago.

My Dad would always find them while he was hiking.

I would always look for them and never find them.

Now, I would find them at sales, but that isn't the same as stumbling upon while walking in the woods.

I would pick unique looking ones up at sales. My Dad would give me some.

My Grandmother would find something to use as a candle holder for them (put a votive inside them).

I would get more from my Dad. One day my Dad gave me a bucket full of them.

I already had a copier paper box full of them. Now I have an additional bucket.

THEN, there is the lot in the above picture. Jeesh!! That is an awful lot of insulators just sitting around.

We have put some in the garden.

The bottom picture has the insulators on top of the stakes for the fence for our peas.

You can read about our peas and some more photos here.

They have even worked their way into many rooms in the house, but that isn't why we're here.

You stopped by to read about the blackberries.

We dug up a bunch of blackberry plants from Jim's Mom's. We knew where we were going to put them, but that is about all the further the thought process went. We got them in the ground and put some pavers around them (the pavers were repurposed, we didn't buy new!!) and then we got to talking about what we were going to do to help contain them once they grew up. We decided on something similar to a clothesline and then Jim took it one step further and said, why don't we have our own telegraph poles and use some of those insulators??? (yes, this is one of the reasons he is my number one!!!)

The construction happened quickly and I didn't get to take any photos along the way. That means we get to look at the finished product right away!!! 

Look at how tiny those plants are!!

It is okay that you laughed at my Red Solo Cup Garden.

If you are laughing, I can only hope you are stuck with that song in your head!

We grew lots of stuff from seed this year and the solo cups were our starting pots!

Isn't the telegraph pole pretty cool??

The birds love it and surprisingly they don't bother the berries (much)!

The top left and the bottom picture were taken in May. 

You can't see it very well, but there are two lines of wire running between the poles. 

We talked about how it would be cool when the plants someday topped the wires.

Well, we didn't have to wait very long!!!

Take a look at the top right picture. That was taken just the other day.

We can't believe how fast they have grown...AND...they have even produced berries!

YUM!

Some of the plants are now taller than the top wire, which is roughly five feet!!!!

Here is a peek at the telegraph pole and the bean planter and trellis.

If you missed the post about the planter and trellis, they are way cool. They are made from pallet wood.

In this picture you can see the beans have topped the trellis!!! yay!!!!

Just in case you forgot, we live in the city.

It doesn't much look that way because I grew up in the country.

It is our little piece of the country in the city!

Thanks so much for stopping by! So do you have buckets of these things or am I really the ONLY one??

I am linking up at 

Fishtail Cottage for her Garden Party

Yellow Summer Squash recipe and some ramblings

Ah, Ma nature can't make up her mind. We had days of rain and now we have gone days without rain. The garden is looking pretty droopy and I believe we are going to have to water tonight. /sigh

I am writing this post as Jim is in the kitchen fixing the drain for the kitchen sink. Last night as I was draining the dish water from washing all the mason jars we picked up at a sale yesterday, my toes started getting wet. I initially thought I had "splashed" with the dishwater, but definitely not the case. A seal or something let loose. So...that meant the squash I picked this morning were washed in the bathroom sink. That makes me giggle for some reason.

A week ago we tried out a new recipe. Yellow squash summer relish. We grew a couple squash plants this year, but we didn't have any specific recipes in mind. I came across this recipe in a magazine I picked up. We weren't sure what it would taste like. We gave it a shot and if it was a failure, I am pretty sure I knew of some people that would have taken it off our hands. However, a failure it wasn't and the results are going to the canning cellar.

Let's take a look.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE magazines!

I don't know why, but I do!

Magazines with pretty jars on the front (even when those pretty jars require lots of work) are no different.

There are some amazing recipes in these magazines.

Recipes like Yellow Summer Squash relish and Tomato Basil Jam.

Are you grinning and maybe even drooling just thinking about it??

he he

The inside pages are just as beautiful as the covers!

So I prepped the squash -- yep fresh from our garden

Used the food processor to get it, peppers and onions to this point.

This is what it looked like when I took it out of the fridge the next morning.

The final result.

Ready to see the recipe?

Here it is:

Pretty simple really.

10 cups shredded yellow summer squash (about 4 pounds)

2 large onions, chopped

1 large green pepper, chopped 

(I used peppers from the garden of different hotnesses..roughly 1 large green pepper)

6 tablespoons canning salt

4 cups sugar

3 cups cider vinegar

1 tablespoon each celery seed, ground mustard and ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon pepper

In a large container, combine the squash, onions, green pepper and salt. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Drain; rinse and drain again.

In a Dutch oven, combine the sugar, vinegar and seasonings; bring to a boil.

Add squash mixture; return to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Carefully lade hot mixture into six hot pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 15 minutes in boiling water canner. Refrigerate remaining relish for up to 1 week.

YIELD: 6 pints

This batch didn't have any turmeric added because there wasn't any in our pantry.

The batch that I am processing this evening will have turmeric added. I can't wait to see the color difference and the taste difference too.

This batch is AWESOME!!!! on burgers. We think it would be EXCELLENT on hot dogs.

We will be trying that sometime this week.

If you give it a shot, I would love to hear what you think of it!!!

I know you really came for the ramblings and not the recipe, so here we go.

Canning season conclusions I've come too so far this season. I find it interesting how I think about things differently now that I share things from our lives with you.

1. Canning Season: the easiest and quickest way to dirty EVERY bowl and every towel in your kitchen.

2. The season for a continually dirty kitchen floor.  ** I'm not saying I don't clean it. I sweep it every day to make sure the seeds and such are gone. I swear that stuff hides somewhere though. You sweep, empty the dustpan and hang up the broom and there is MORE on the floor. :( /sigh. 

Here are some of the tools of the trade. :)

This morning's harvest. That big yellow squash weighed 2 pounds 7 7/8 ounces.

That squash was shredded and is in the fridge doing its thing until later on.

The recipe says overnight, but by the time I get to it, it will have been in the fridge for 12 hours.

With all that produce and fixed drain in the kitchen sink, I must leave you and pay attention to these veggies.

I hope your weekend is shaping up the way you would like.

Any of you processing produce this weekend?

hugs!

Linking up Here:

How do your tomatoes grow?

Ours grow big and dusty rose!

As in the form of a Cherokee Purple tomato.

This one weighed ONE pound 11 ounces.

That is Jim's hand.

The Cherokee Purple tomato is said to have originated with the Cherokee Indians.

Jim sliced this baby up and gave it an egg bath and then coated it in bread crumbs.

He heated a pan and some oil and fried them up.

They were topped with fresh basil from the garden and fresh shredded parm.

There is no picture of the fried goodness, but I can assure you, they looked pretty and they tasted even better!!! They were super sweet and full of flavor.

Here is a peek at some squash, our first cucumber and another Cherokee Purple.

When I walk away from the computer I am going to start the process for a squash relish.

I also need to look at some recipes for green tomatoes. Some of our plants have been hit with leaf spot and possibly blight. /sigh

I am also hoping to sit in front of the computer a little later and do a couple posts that I can set to automatically post! Lots to share!!!!!

How are you? How do you like your tomatoes?

One of the reasons I love our backyard

Hazy, Hot and Humid! Is that how it is where you are? If so, I hope you are staying hydrated and cool.
I miss not posting on a regular basis. I've decided that I can share whatever, not just creations. I think I have learned I am a better crafter when the sun goes down early. Plus, with the garden, crafting time is a little less. So....let us start with one of the reasons I love our backyard...

We get cute moments like this! Having a wildlife friendly backyard is very cool!

I hope you have grinned, at least a little!!

Hugs!

Pallet planters and trellis

In one of the last posts I shared a picture of our planters and trellis. Here is a little more info and a bunch more pictures!!!!

It started with the above picture.

Jim brought home a couple of these plant pallets.

They were pretty cute as is, but have you known us to take the easy way on things?

NOPE!!!

Those plant pallets were turned into TWO pallet planters!

We filled them with bricks (about halfway) before we added the soil.

We got them positioned. Then we had another idea (imagine!)

Why not connect them and give this part of the yard a feel all its own??

Yep!!! An arbor/trellis...made from pallets!!!

(I'm pretty lucky he loves me right?)

Taking shape!

Putting the pieces on the top.

Do you like the telephone pole looking thing?

This reminds me that I don't think I have shared it with you. :(

All done!

Sitting in, looking out.

On the "outside" looking in!

It really does give the patio/fire pit area the feeling that it is its own room!!!!

Pretty neat looking and all the wood was FREE!!!!

This picture is a few weeks old.

In the planters we planted pole beans and bush beans.

The pole beans are now as tall as the first 'step'

The birds have let us know they approve!!!

I think it needs a sign hanging in the middle of the arbor. That may be a rainy day or a winter time project though. The tomatoes are starting to turn red so we will soon be busy canning away! We will have to remember to take time to sit and enjoy our 'new room.'

I wish those of you that are my bloggy friends lived closer so we could sit out back and catch up!

Hugs!!!

Jen

I'm linking up here:

A day of Greenhouse hopping with my Mom!

Hey Everyone!!! I am FINALLY going to share with you the pictures from our greenhouse hopping adventure with my Mom. The weekend before Mother's Day we met my Mom and Step-Dad in Conneaut, OH. They live in Buffalo and we live an hour-ish south of Conneaut. This was a good place to meet. We transferred some stuff from our vehicle to theirs and our journey was about to begin.

The agenda you ask? Greenhouses and plants. How many greenhouses and how many plants? To be determined!!! We had never been to any of these greenhouses before. This area in Ohio is a HUGE greenhouse area. I had no idea we were living so close to so many gems! We knew how far west we were willing to go. We were originally going to go as far west as we had intended and then work our way back to Conneaut. While that made sense, we decided to just go and stop wherever we felt like and take notes. Perhaps one of the places closer to Conneaut would have better price.

Off we went! (Yes, coffee and cappuccino were picked up before we were 10 minutes from our house.)

We did have a couple "must have" places to stop, but everything else about the day we were just taking it as it came. My Mom was funny. She was like a little kid in the candy shop and sometimes I don't think Dennis got the car in the parking lot fast enough. Poor guy. ;)

***this is a photo heavy post***

"There's one!!!!!" was a good sign that he'd better be slowing down and turning!

The first "There's one!!" was Kelly's Gardens and Landscape in Saybrook, OH.

Wouldn't this crane make a great addition to the garden?

I thought so, but to bring him home meant I wasn't coming home with any flowers.

Can't blow the budget on the first stop!

HUH! Didn't know Ohio had gators!

He is pretty believable looking though.

Those are the highlights from Kelly's.

We did buy a packet of Marigold seeds from here.

The plants have grown, just waiting for flowers. They should look something like this:

source

The lady working the retail part of the business was not very friendly toward us.

There were a few things we were interested in, but their plants weren't priced

and the fact the lady was rude with us, well....many more greenhouses to see. ONWARD!

*It is important to note that this place DID have a potty!!!!! :)

Next stop...Girard Nurseries.

They had some pretty things to look at.

Nothing jumped off the table and into the car though.

This was on the list as a place to stop because they advertised a particular kind of blueberry plant.

We asked for help to find it and we sent on our way. We got to the greenhouse the plants were in and were pretty sure we weren't buying the plant, but on we trekked. We found the blueberry plants, but they were in pretty sad shape. The staff watering and attempting to maintain the plants were much more helpful than the lady in the retail area. Here's to hoping this isn't a trend.

I did take a couple photos!

This one made me laugh! It just goes to show you truly can turn ANYTHING into a planter!

The marigolds were pretty.

Mom was wishing she had used the restroom back at Kelly's. 

Silly girl, at least this one time, the daughter was right!

Onward!

Next Stop

 Sabo's Woodside Nursery

This place = A M A Z I N G!!!!!!

This is when the trip got fun.

The layout, set up, design, etc. was BEAUTIFUL!!!!

The people....well they were QUITE friendly, helpful and knowledgeable!!

We got the tri-fecta on this one!!!!

Everyone said no to a cart, but it wasn't long and we had a cart.

**important to note, potty available!!! woo hoo!!!! Mom is happy again!

  

After walking through the entrance this is one of the first things we saw.

First impressions are everything right??

They made a design out of the moss!

AWESOME!!!

We knew everyone's wallets were going to be a little lighter upon leaving here.

It didn't come home with us, but this rose is gorgeous!!!

I could have taken many a butterfly picture!

This was catching some mid-morning sun!

HELLOOOOO!!!!

A look inside the greenhouse!! Beautiful!

This picture was taken for our friend Lauren!

She is a huge Pittsburgh sports fan.

These made us think of her since they almost black and yellow.

They are really purple and yellow. Pretty though!

I guess I am a little out of order here.

This is a look back toward the patterned Moss and the entrance.

The picture two pics back was taken inside the greenhouse you can see here.

The roses! So little room at home and so many pretty things to be had!

  

 This is the inside of the "inventory" greenhouses.

I don't know what they call it, but they would pull from here to fill up the main greenhouse.

We couldn't get over how tall they are!

Well, the back of the vehicle was no longer empty!!!!

Mom bought some Martha Washington Geraniums and I don't remember what else.

We bought a Primadonna White Echinacea.

Here it is in our garden...

More pics of it to come when I do our garden tour post.

This was a suggestion by one of the employees.

I wish I could remember her name because she was most helpful!

We are definitely glad we bought this plant! It is one of the first plants to see when  you walk out our back door! We did some damage here. We asked the nice lady where we could find a good bite to eat.

She gave us some options. Turns out the majority wasn't quite ready for food. So onward we go.

We would now be turning off of North Ridge Road and heading to Middle Ridge Road.

Next stop...

 Bluestone Perennials

While Mom, Jim and I were picking out some annuals, Dennis was busy looking through the catalog.

By the time we had picked out our flowers, Dennis knew what he wanted from the perennial section.

He was now the man with the plan.

A look at the perennial area.

There was lots of damage done here.

You can see one of Mom's Martha Geraniums from the last stop.

The plants at Bluestone are smaller because they are a big mail order business.

It doesn't look like they are taking up much room, but there were quite a few plants. 

TRUST ME!!

Next stop...FOOOOOOD!!!

We asked the cashier where we should go to eat.

She suggested a place and gave us directions!

Cornerstone Brewing the Madison, OH location.

It was YUM-MEE!!!

They have their own homemade rootbeer.

Homemade rootbeer has a different flavor than what we are used to, but still good.

the ceiling

an outside wall

There are two storefronts.

You actually enter the restaurant in between the two.

Look close and you can see Jim and my Step-Dad.

The left store front points to the right and the right store front points to the left.

I wonder how many people miss the sign that says "Main Entrance"

We all had sandwiches. They were very very good.
If we are ever back in this area, we will definitely eat here again.

...and since...it isn't all that far from home, the odds are good!

Coming into Madison meant we got off Middle Ridge Road.

Back to Middle Ridge Road we go!!

Hi ho...hi ho...it is off to more greenhouses we go!

A view of the Perry Nuclear Generating Station in Perry, OH.

and now we wait

It was kinda cool. We saw the train from the left first.

While we were waiting for it pass, a train also came from the right.

The ends of both trains.

A better view of Perry!

Entire roads were nothing but nurseries.

Mom wanted in them.

Geesh! Some people can't take their Mom's anywhere!!!

(just messing with you Mom)

This area is also a very big wholesale area. There were many we drove past that weren't open to the public!

Last greenhouse of the day!

Middle Ridge Gardens

They have little red wagons! How awesome is that??

Nobody would pull me in one. :(

They truly were ginormous! They were the size of a small plate!

The main greenhouse! 

Again, amazed at how tall these greenhouses are.

Some of the "inventory" greenhouses.

You have to smile at that.
It is so pretty!!

This is inside the main greenhouse.

It looks like a miniature field.

This place also had GREAT prices on statuary!

This cat looking through binoculars cracked me up!

It now sits in our garden! :)

 Now we must make our way back to Conneaut, OH and our vehicle.

We weaved our way toward the lake.

Drove through Geneva On The Lake and Ashtabula.

Before going to our vehicle, we went to the beach.

Yep, the very beach I have posted about before.

Look at the heart shaped rock.

The last time we were there it was a shell in the shape of a heart.

{heart} the beach

A beautiful day at Lake Erie.

It was actually pretty chilly.

Beach glass and a "J" shaped rock we brought home!

We thought this was the end of our trip.

Spur of the moment plan for overnight house guests!

We all came back to our house. We built a fire out back and roasted some weenies.

A drive-in between the beach and home.

We got up Sunday morning and hit a couple greenhouses local to us!

Gilmore's Greenhouse

Jim and I discovered this place when we were looking for yucca's right after we bought the house!

An air plant.

Now that is cool!

After Gilmore's we stopped back by our house.

Loaded up all of Mom's and Dennis' goodies.

We had one more place to stop and then we would part ways.

We had to go to the place we go to all the time!!!

 Cottage Gardens

This place left such a lasting impression on me after we bought the house.

They remembered us AND what we bought.

For that matter, this spring they asked us how some of our plants were doing and they asked by plant name.

That is amazing and personal!!!

LOVE this place!!!

Have you hugged a sasquatch lately?

A little reminder to stop and smell the flowers.

We bought this dahlia at Cottage.

It is quite happy in the garden!!!

  

A look at some of what we bought.

Mom was definitely the big buyer, especially since she bought most of ours too!!!

She told us to consider it "happy birthday!"

That works for us!

Thanks Mom!!!

We had fun. Saw some neat places.

We were tired. We came home and took a nap before going out to plant some of our new treasures!

Thanks for stopping by!

If you read the whole way to the end you ROCK!!!!!