We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year as our table was filled with a 22 lb turkey that was only $.49 a lb, home grown mashed potatoes (red bliss and yukon gold) that I just didn't do right and some parsely, scallion (1), and chives from the garden. We had a total of 11 relatives and friends over, including a former athlete of mine from Poland and another from Arizona. The sun room, with our new pellet stove, was noisy with good conversation and lots of warmth.

I have been busy building a new compost bin, using the wood from my raised beds from this past summer. I decided that I would go back to using my Pony tiller and doing long rows 4 feet wide. I moved one of my raised bed for strawberries over to an area that had weed-grass last summer and prepared that for transplanting early next spring. Another raised bed was put next to the strawberry bed and will be my dedicated herb garden. The final raised bed left over will be used for early 4th of July tomatoes, as I will attach hoops inside the frame and then put plastic over top.

I did not plant any winter rye this year, feeling that I had plenty of nutrients from the compost and horse manure. We have been having problems with deer as well, so the extra green was something I thought would just attract more of the deer. We have lots of woods very near us where the deer could live contently, but they seem to like my parsley and carrot tops. I fixed the parsley problem putting some small hoops up and using some netting over the hoops.

To hold the netting down, I use some bricks left over from when we did our walkways and the swimming pool area. The bricks work very nicely, as they are easy to remove, but hold down the netting quite well. I am planning on using bricks for the plastic covering over the other hoop frames in the spring when I plant peas, broccoli, and tomatoes. The photo below is of my cold frame that has some parsley and a few of the carrots (minus most of the tops) that managed to grow during our cold, wet summer months.

The next week or so will be busy as I continue tearing out a "playroom" (as the previous owner called it) down in the cellar. The cellar has no windows and with our large home we just don't need something like that. I am renting a dumpster and my daughter and I will be bringing stuff out of the basement for quite some time. It will be good to get rid of a lot of things that have been sitting down there (there are at least three different households of "stuff" down there that hasn't seen the light of day in at least seven years. If there is enough room in the dumpster, I will try and get some of my attic stuff out as well. Mostly, it will be lots of sheetrock, wood trim and a wall to wall rug for a room that is 12 x 20, so it will be quite extensive. Once the basement is cleaned out, I will move my workbench over to an area that has less traffic and try and keep the place as clean as possible.

Indoor track starts tomorrow (Monday) and I have 86 girls signed up for the high school track team. We will be quite young this year, as our top 6 athletes who were all state champions last year have graduated and are now running in college. I will still also coach the boys sprint group, so it will be lots of fun and probably lots of confusion as well.

Snowdrops in bloom

Snapdragons growing nicely

I do need to make sure that when putting items into the cold frame that I watch the temps, as it got over 80's very quickly this morning.  I also have to watch putting seedlings out without protection as, even with the warm temps, the wind does quickly cause problems.

I decided today was a good day to take some photos of the garden to show the progress the veggies and seedling are making, so here goes.

These are tulips my Dad planted just before going back to Germany.  We have had problems with tulips over the years, as deer seem to appreciate them.  This group was planted on the strip near the sunroom, where the deer aren't too interested in coming.

These are the last of the daffodils, a late variety that have multiplied greatly over the years.  We started with 3 in each group.

This is the 4 year old Stark peach tree in bloom.  It has been producing excellent peaches for 3 years already.  It is a dwarf variety, but seems closer to standard size.  I had to do a lot of trimming back in February.

These are Nancy's snap dragons.  They have been in the ground for two weeks now, covered at night and during cold days.  Not much growth, but look very healthy and ready to go.

The white and yellow onions are finally starting to grow.  That is netting over them, to protect them from our neighbor's cat, who loves to come over and then is chased back by Forrest, our 13 year old pup.... In the background is a raised bed of Yukon Gold potatoes, planted on Patriots Day.

This is the back row of the garden, tilled yesterday to get ready to put in some of my tomatoes.  You can see some of the tomatoes on the right side.

In the foreground are broccoli plants that have been covered daily and overnights.  In the background are two broccoli plants that have been left out without cover.  You can see what a difference the portable greenhouse has on the growth of the plants.

This is a bed with chives, broccoli (in the wall of water), garlic and strawberries.  A nice mix for sure.  In the foreground are dianthanus plants transplanted from last year.  All are growing nicely.

This is my cold frame that has been used exclusively for greens.  Not sure why they haven't grown larger, but I am thinking it might be the soil.  I added some fertilizer yesterday to augment the compost and horse manure that are the main ingredients of this area.  Spinach leaves will be part of tonight's dinner.

The first partially red tomato to make it's appearance.  I was surprised by this, as I am counting on the tomatoes not turning red until the middle to late May.

These are all of my early tomatoes at different stages of growth.  In the background are mainly 4th of July plants I started in February.  In the foreground are beefsteak tomatoes I started in mid March.  All are doing well.

Some of my seedlings that are patiently waiting to be transplanted.  In the front are onions, snapdragons and a few tomatoes (cherry and plump).  In the back are a variety of flower seedlings.

This is the first of my tomato cages.  Instead of using reinforced concrete wiring, which is heavy, gets rusty and is expensive, I used some five foot high wire fencing.  The problem with this is that it is fairly light and the openings are small.  So I figured out that by keeping the front open (about one foot) and supporting the ends with some electric piping, I will be able to get into the cage when tomatoes become ripe.  The next few photos show closeups and finally how I protect the tomatoes with plastic.

Two 2-Pound Wonders....These were Beefeater seeds that were on sale for 10 cents a pack.  The seeds were started in early April, transplanted twice into larger containers and finally planted the third week of May into the garden.

Over 8 lbs and more than 12 inches at birth


Jackson at 6 months


Update: That boy is now 13 years old, 6' and 220 lb.


His mom took the photo.

He started right off with being a happy baby, smiling as he looked around at all the relatives. Congratulations to the very happy parents, Tabitha and Derek!

Our first load of cow manure for Tabitha's garden

Siberian tomato in the big pot (determinate) and Matthew's sweet cherry in the small pot.                                                                                    

It was a beautiful day, with hardly a cloud in the sun and no wind.   The temperature got up to 79º, but no humidity to speak of.

We walked all the way down past that uprooted tree, which we were thinking maybe made it's way from Bermuda from their storm a few weeks ago.  There was a little chihuahua off the leach that came over to Shorty to make friends.  It was very cute...

Most of the homes along the beach were similar to these.  Quite nice and not overbearing.

The water was great, even Shorty got  a little wet.  However, he scooted away as soon as his paws felt the water.    There were quite a few people in the water, both young ones and older, retired types.

I am not sure Shorty really cared to be so close to the water or appreciated the dead tree....

We finished off our very nice day with a nice dinner of salad, hot dogs for Nancy and Shorty and Knockwurst for me, along with some home made pickels (senfgürken).


Tomorrow we visit Savannah again and then hope to also see Skidaway State Park, just south of Savannah.  It is supposed to be a very nice place.

We come to the end of another year, this one moving more quickly than almost any before.  Our year ended with a trip out to Seattle, Washington for Dave and Merrill's wedding. The ceremony took place on an old ferry boat that was built in 1927 and ran across the bay from Tacoma to Gig Island until 1968 when a larger ferry took its place.

The ceremony and reception was quite relaxing and comfortable.  Both bride and groom had a fun time socializing with all of their friends and family members.  It was very enjoyable.

Our Christmas was also low key as Jackson was very calm and patient waiting to open his presents under our Christmas tree.  He got lots of nice toys, including action figures and storefronts for Batman, Captain America, etc.  The storefronts included a firehouse and a Joker fun house.  Jackson also received a Polar Express train set that managed to get broken within two days of play.  Hopefully Bubba will be able to fix it, as a spring holding the trains together seems to have disappeared.  After opening presents the neighbors went to Jackson's other grandparents and we took off for Seattle.

I don't eat dessert very much, but I do like pies.  I usually get day old pies from Market Basket, but this time I decided to make my own.  I followed a very nice recipe from You Tube and put together a very tasty pie crust.  Having 8 ounces of butter will do that for sure.  I cooked up some apples we had left over, used one can of cherry pie filling and bingo, the result was one very, very tasty pie that will not last very long. Unfortunately (ha, ha), I will be the only one who will eat it, since the house has become gluten free, sugar free among other taboos.  I will take my chances and continue with my normal diet that has gotten me this far.

Happy New Year to All!

Today is April 19, taxes are done, snow is gone and sometimes we are even getting a bit of warm weather.  I thought I would include some things that I have learned (as if I can ever learn everything) and write down so I don't forget.

1. There is no real rush to start warm weather vegetables early.  As you can tell from the photo, my different variety of tomatoes are doing just fine and since I can't get them out until around May 10th or later (depending on the timing of the full moon), it makes little sense to start the seedlings in February.  I started these after we got back from our southern trip (March 17) and most of the seedlings have taken.  I did have issues with lettuce this year and don't really know what that was about.

Tomato seedlings with some Artic lettuce seedlings included (in the large planters).  The tray has a variety of different seedlings and are only about 2 weeks old.  The planter idea came about as our old window planters are just about rotted out.  So, I thought, why not buy new ones, use them for seedlings first and then put them up as window planters once it got warmer out.

2. One or two tomato plants in pots is fine and dandy to kind of get the season going.  These are called Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes and they are actually cutting from self grown plants from out in the front yard. I took a few cuttings in October and nursed them through the winter.  I lost one plant by being careless as I brought them back out to the greenhouse.  The other two are doing fine, flowering and looking healthy.

 3. Don't grow warm weather vegetables in the greenhouse early in March or even April.  The greenhouse, unless you heat it or insulate it with two layers of plastic and air, will have almost the same temperature at night as outside.  Yes, the wind will be blocked, but if the temperature drops to 30º outside, it will be close to 30º inside.  So, this year, I only planted lettuce, radishes, kale, broccoli, carrots, spinach and onions in the greenhouse.  As I mentioned, the lettuce struggled, but you can see two head growing slowly.  The kale and broccoli did the best in terms of coming up and getting larger.  Carrots have been very slow to germinate.  Spinach not at all, similar to the lettuce. Radishes took about a week to come up.


4. Don't rush outdoor plants, even peas, potatoes and onions.  In the photo below, I have two rows of peas, not yet coming up and then a row of Yukon gold potatoes and a row of Pontiac Red potatoes. The cow panel on the right, used last year for tomatoes, will be used for cantaloupes this year. 


The beginning of the outdoor row plantings.  I am using string lines for staighter plantings and to know where I planted.  From left to right I have two rows of potatoes and two rows of peas.  I will probably add another row of potatoes and a few more rows of peas.

The buttercrunch lettuce

Spanish onions

The 162 cell seedling tray with broccoli, bok choy, peppers (not up yet) variety of lettuces, zinnia, walla walla onions, multiple tomato varieties and even some peaches and cream corn at the far right.

These are some bunching onions and Spanish sweet onions. I will take them out , trim them and keep them and package them for the trip north.

We are also hoping to get in line to get our vaccine, waiting to see which will be available to us.  We both will be under physicians care when we get it, in hopes that no unusual reaction to the vaccine will take place. 

It has been over a year now since we last saw our family, other than my brother, sister in law, sister and brother in law.  We miss them all and hope this summer we can see them up closer than video chats.

 It is June 7, 2022 and I wanted to provide an update on how things are growing in the garden.  The lettuce is doing terrific as can be seen by the photo posted below.  The peas are maturing, the potatoes are up to my waist and flowering, the tomatoes are making great strides.  The cucumbers are now bearing fruit, small, but doubling in size almost daily.  The blackberries have also transformed from flowers to fruit and will bear beautiful blackberries by July.  

I have one big rabbit that seems to think she/he owns the back garden, as the broccoli leaves continue to be snacked on all times of the day.  Last night I threw a pretty big stone at the bunny and boy did it take off into the runoff pond area (which is dry).
I have also had 3 sightings of deer (I think it might be the same one) on my walks back in the woodsy area of my walking trail, a young deer with a rather longer tail that ends up with a white pom-pom at the end.  She is not afraid of me, but when I start moving closer to her, she takes about 4-5 quick bounds and into the woods she goes.
Here are a few photos showing the progress in the garden:

Tonight the temperature has dropped below 60ºF for the first time since May. It feels quite nice and I am happy to put on my LL Bean warmup jacket for my early morning walk, for certain. It will get up into the 80's again this weekend, but at least the evenings are so very comfortable. This drop in temperature has signaled the need for me to get busy in the garden and around the house, as we get ready for your trip back down to Florida for the winter. I have mixed feelings about heading south, as I like the warmer weather in the winter and Nancy likes to friends and activities she has down there, but I also really like Delaware and our home here. 

I did get the new railing put in, after Nancy took her fall into the flowerpot while taking the dogs out.  The project took a while, with lots of thinking after deciding trying to get a finished product was not going to happen.  So, I looked at a lot of railings, decided to make it out of pressure treated wood and paint it white, as all the railings in our neighborhood are white.  The railing came out ok, sturdy, two feet down in cement, so no jiggles.  

 I will have lots to do at the "cottage" in Florida. Our friends just bought a similar unit 4 doors away and they have been doing lots of "updating", so I will be looking for input as I do the same. I did get a new vinyl planking floor in to the livingroom, but I still need to do the trim along the walls and around the entry doors. I had put that off in the spring as wood prices were out of sight, so I am hoping those prices continue to drop as demand has dropped quite a bit. I will need to do two more floors in the two bedrooms, but I may end up getting carpeting, if Maggie and Ella behave themselves and not pee in those rooms. I also need to replace the sink in the guest bathroom and the kitchen needs a new look for certain. So, I am anticipating some busy work during our winter season at Golden Ponds, one I hope to enjoy. Back home I am in the process of cleaning up the garden. I am not going to till, rather follow the "no till gardening" plan that has become quite popular. Certainly the worms won't mind if I don't come in with the tiller, as they won't get chopped up. No tilling will also do less spreading of weed seeds, and I certainly have plenty of those. I bought a T-post remover from Tractor Supply that makes taking out the T-posts I use for trellises for cucumbers and tomatoes. Those posts go down at least a foot and with the clay soil we have, it is pretty difficult to pull out the T-posts by hand. At my age, I can use all the help I can and the post remover works quite well. I have started some seedling for Nevada lettuce, which I hope will do well down in Florida. I also have a few tomato suckers and cut up tomatoes planted in some good soil, hoping they will take root and I will get a quick start on the growing season down in Florida. Finally, I have to clean out the sump pumps and make certain they will function during the winter months. I installed a fancy switch for the main pump, so that instead of a float going up and down operating a cheap switch, this unit turns on and off as a result of the water level. It worked quite well last winter, cutting down the number of pump starts by 50% as the unit allows almost all the water out of the container before shutting off. With the float, the pump would go off every 2 minutes and run for less than 10 seconds, keeping about 1/4 of the water in the container. We have had some ups and downs this summer, but we did have some nice visits up north to see family and also taking some side trips. I was able to visit with my college roommate and track and field teammate, a friendship that has lasted almost 60 years.