Friday, July 10, 2015

Catching up.....



I have been neglectful of my blog and when I finally sit down to organize my thoughts , I am having huge techie issues . I'm posting on my iPad and I have no idea if this is going to work or not! Please bear with me....

 

June was a busy month. When our kids were little I often though June was as busy as December. Lots of wind up activities, end of school  stuff, summer activities, visitors...etc. This past June we did a lot of yard work  and we were lucky to go on a few garden tours. Lots of beautiful gardens and lovely properties. I thought I'd share a few of the few hundred pictures I took. I don't think I can caption them on my iPad but you will get the idea!












I can see this is going to take a long time to upload several pictures. I'm running short of patience! It's been super hot  ( 40/103) dry (13% RH) and extremely smoky. Our province is tinder dry and there are serious fires everywhere. I'm on the recovery side of some icky oral/dental surgery  that left me speechless temporarily  ( some of you will prob find that quite hilarious) and a bit down in the mouth. I must be getting better as I'm getting a bit cranky with blogger and my pc. They refuse to talk to each other!!  I can get Blogger on Firefox but not my recent iPhone pictures. My cameras software is apparently too old for the new Microsoft and I can't even get memory cards for it anymore. Grrrrrr. I can feel the points of my teeth getting sharper and soon the hair will start growing out of the back of my hands!! On to more interesting things

Straw Bales!!!

The bales are growing like crazy. I don't have recent pictures of them and it's too hot to go outside right now. The tomatoes are just going bonkers, they have been trimmed back twice now for their suckers and it's like they come back stronger . Eggplants are blooming, peppers are growing, tons of beans, kale, and chard. Amazingly the  lettuce has held on well. It's lasted far longer in the bales than in ground. By now lettuce would have bolted weeks back. We have carrots and beets and more beans from our beds. 





Here's some chard and kale I planted in a repurposed flower bed. There's rhubarb and beans behind. It's been so hot and dry and we are under water restrictions so some/most parts of the yard look pretty dead. But that's just the way it is.  It looks more like August here as many gardens and trees look pretty beat up. I'm happy I took most of these pictures a few weeks ago. 


This is one of the bunkers, it's a planter but it got named as a bunker! I'm growing herbs, some pollinators and a few lilies and a couple of sunflowers. This used to be strictly flowers.

I've done some knitting during my incarceration here. Hopefully I can use my PC soon, it's awkward typing with one finger on an iPad! 

I'm enjoying reading everyone's posts lately, they have kept me great company and I always find out and learn about the most interesting people, places and things. Thank you all!!

Keep smiling friends!!

Chris

16 comments:

  1. HI Chris, I hope you can resolve your computer issues soon and feel less stressed about posting. My computer too has been acting up but am not sure why. After doing some things to "rectify" I found that what I thought was the problem, wasn't the problem at all. So the mystery continues, lol. I just wanted to say that I think your garden looks fantastic and has a lot of harvest considering the heat and water restrictions. we have just moved into phase 2 water restrictions here in Metro Vancouver with watering allowed once per week rather than 3, among other things. Take care and keep cool.

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  2. Thanks Penny! I am so frustrated with the whole blogger thing I'm ready to ... I don't know what but I'm not happy with the new pc. I can't believe how dry the Ciast is, we both grew up there and I have never seen anything like it. We saw film of Cleveland Dam on the news and it so alarming, it's so low and it's just early July. Yikes! Looks like we could both be on for cooler weather next week, let's hope we get some rain. Take care and stay cool too! Chris

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  3. I hope that both you and your computer are feeling much better very soon! It is so annoying for you on both counts I am sure. Hope you are feeling up in the mouth again soon! The veggies and plants look as though they are all doing fantastically well so I hope that you are able to munch on them all and enjoy them! Hugs! xx

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    1. Oh Amy, I am not talking to my computer right now, we are having a cool off time. Hopefully it will come to its senses and start behaving properly. I have my doubts! I'm looking forward to be able to eat some veggies soon!!

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  4. Despite the heat your garden beds look really healthy! Enjoy your homegrown produce, nothing tastes better. Doing a rain dance here, and praying for an El Nino year :)

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    1. I can't imagine how dry it is in California, it must be awful. Homegrown veggies are so good, I'm looking forward to some tomato sandwiches! We all need to do a rain dance and get those ocean currents moving in a different direction!!

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  5. Nothing fills me with dread more than the thought of going to the dentist. And that's just when I need my teeth cleaned. I hope you make a speedy recovery. I am more than a little jealous of your garden, and how productive it is. Your straw bale experiment has been quite the success!

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    1. Thanks Kristie, it's been two weeks and I'm really getting tired of semi solid bland food. I'm dying to have a salad or some fresh berries or anything really!! Too bad you weren't closer and I'd been dropping veggies off to you, we have a lot. The bales are awesome, it's been a game changer here.

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  6. I thought British Columbia was a moist, rainy place full of rain and other moistness. Where the heck did these brutal temps and fires come from? Rain and moistness, please! Order up! I think your garden looks fab. It sounds like those magical straw bales are just the ticket to a great garden. I love those sunflowers. :)

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  7. well BC is supposed to be moist and lush for the most part. We are in a dry are as we are in the tip of a semi arid sub stepped(?) that comes up from the states below us. It does get hot and dry here but this is just nuts. Our snow pack was gone by May as winter was a no show here. What is alarming is how tinder dry the province is but essential the west coast- known as the wet coast. Our fire crews have run out of manpower and resources and now it is triage in the fire fighting. A lot of our forests were hit hard by the mountain pine beetle and I'm sure it has created the perfect fire load conditions. The bales are incredible. We could never have grown so many nice veggies in ground. It's been a great solution to a problem area! Those are my rogue sunflowers ! Have a great week.

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  8. Drought and the high temperatures out west have been in the daily news here. I do hope B.C. and Saskatchewan get some relief soon. The news about the forest fires and all the destruction they cause is very distressing.
    I love your sunflowers! I had lots of sunflowers last year, but this year not so much. Your garden is also producing quite the harvest.
    Computers are a pain at times. I have a keyboard/protective cover that I got at Walmart for my iPad. I wonder if something like that might help you get past the one finger typing.

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    1. Thanks for the key board tip! I will have to get one. My computer issues are slowly being resolved, fingers crossed! It is still dry here, the forecast rain failed to materialize but at least it is a bit cooler for a few days. I love sunflowers too! They are so bright and cheerful and the bees and birds love them too.

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  9. Hey buddy! I have not been blogging lately so I am late to visiting. Your photos here today are amazing! Love seeing all of the amazing growth in your garden! It is bursting! As are all of the gardens you have visited! I hope you are feeling better soon Chris....nothing worse than not feeling well.....I will be thinking about you and I hope that the computer stuff gets worked out. HA...we have so much in common. I am horrible in the tech department! Praying that you all get some rain soon. Take care my friend! Nicoel xoxo

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    1. Hey Nicole, nice to see you back ! We sure would like some rain here but it is not in the cards. The bales are growing like mad and lots of produce is on its way. Feeling better and not looking so chipmunkish , lol! That computer drives me bugs but I think I've got it working again on Firefox. Sometimes new programs and systems aren't that great! Hope you are doing ok.

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  10. Your garden is amazing!!!! Oh my goodness especially considering the heat. Really it look so lush and wonderful. Love the yarn in your last post, I can smell the new yarn fumes from here so they are very strong.
    Hugs and hope you are feeling better,
    Meredith

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    1. Thanks Mere! Oh those crazy yarn fumes, they get us every time!

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