Fall

I was finally able to get outside and get something done today. I took some pictures but haven't gotten around to downloading them. It was a beautiful fall day - the sky was clear blue and the sun was shining. It was cool outside, especially in the shade. I took the Gnomeslayer outside with me, so that she could get some sunshine and exercise. We started with a wheelbarrow ride to the backyard. I finished digging up all of the plants that were going to be moved to the front yard. I was able to get them all up, with only a few minor interruptions. Mainly when I had to do a highspeed chase across the backyard when I realized I hadn't closed the gate and GS found it open. Running in steel-toed gardening boots isn't that easy. ;)

All of the plants moved to the front got planted, the beds cleaned and the mulch laid down. I still need to go sweep the sidewalk, but ran out of daylight and energy today. The backyard garden is mostly empty now. I need to move the plants that are staying and rearrange the beds. I also need to drain and clean the pond. I was going to move the unwanted plants to the back fenceline, but when I got there to plant everything I decided that I was going to get rid of them and plan out what I want to plant back there when I'm ready. Also, the fence was built right in front of the treeline, and there are roots everywhere. I think I'm going to have to do raised beds along through there. So everything is getting tossed into the compost pile. I've seen the results of putting together plants haphazardly and not planning, and I intend to do better next time. :)

So I hope that everyone else had a productive gardening weekend. I baked some gingersnaps yesterday and think that I need to go sample a few!

Heavy Lifting

After the false hope of an extended forecast that showed sun for all of this weekend, the sun finally came out today. Friday and Saturday were both overcast and chilly, with heavy showers on Friday. To say the least it was depressing, although we did get some work done in the house. Having to wait until Sunday to get outside work done usually means that it won't. Friday and Saturday are our errand and shopping days, and Sundays we usually relax and laundry is about as productive as we get. After taking a long nap this afternoon I finally headed outside to get some work done. This time of year it's almost like a scavenger hunt in the garden, trying to see what is left blooming. Today I found blooms on the honeysuckle (above) and the Veteran's Honor rose (below). Veteran's Honor has been such a workhorse, and the blooms are do dramatic and fragrant. It has a place of honor (no pun intended) in the front flower bed.

My main objective today was to get the boxwood bushes moved from the front flower beds so that I can finish moving the plants from the back garden that I need to move. At least the ground was pretty moist, so it made it easier to pull them up. The soil here is very heavy clay, and digging up the bushes is hard because the root balls are so heavy. I'll be lucky if I'm able to move tomorrow - wrangling big prickly bushes with heavy rootballs can suck the energy out of you. I took the bushes and placed them along the back fenceline. So now that the bed was cleared of the bushes I moved the camellia and azalea in. I moved the Gingersnap rose in front of the garage, and moved Welcome Home to the middle of our bedroom window. I'd wanted two roses there, but Gingersnap ended up being a very short rose so the display was lopsided. I've come up with a tentative plan on what to do with the pond in the back, but I have to get everything moved out of the beds there first. So here's hoping for a sunny weekend next weekend!

Cleaning Up

We had some more rain for the last few days. It ruined my plans for getting a lot more garden rearranging done. We even had the tornado sirens go off and had to visit the closet in our bedroom. :) Today started out overcast and didn't look too promising, but ended up being a beautiful afternoon. So I took out the Gnomeslayer so that she could ride her tricycle and get some sunshine, and then we went for a walk. When we got back in, I left her with Q and then went outside to get some work done. I am trying to get everything done, slowly but surely. Joseph's Coat is putting on a beautiful display to end the year with, and I got a couple of good shots. I had to stand on tip-toe and hold up the camera to get them, so I'm surprised that they turned out at all.

Today my mission was to evict Lady Banks from the garden. I really didn't want to, I love the flowers on it. Unfortunately it only has flowers for a week or so, and then nothing for the rest of the year. It started going crazy and hanging over the fence into our neighbors yard. Aiyana mentioned that the plant gets heavy and needs lots of support, and I agree with her - too much work for me to put up with. So I waded into the corner it was growing in and scalped it. I have a huge pile of vines to get rid of. ;) I did make an interesting discovery. We knew earlier in the year that a bird had made a nest in the corner of the fence. We were never able to see it, but we saw mama flying in with worms in her mouth. Here is the nest.

The butterscotch jessamine is covered with buds that have started to open.

Elle has a couple of saved rounds left.

Birthday Cookies

One of the ladies that I work with makes cakes for everyone's birthday. So when it comes time for her birthday I make her cookies - I am not much of a cake baker. She had surgery not too long ago, and wanted cookies that were soft and chewy, without much sugar or nuts, oats and dried fruit. I originally planned on doing some snickerdoodles, but since they didn't turn out too good last time I made them, I thought about looking for something else. One of the problems is that since she couldn't have a lot of sugar I planned on using baking Splenda. I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners at all and haven't ever used it, but I didn't think that it would be as good in a cookie that depended on the sugar for so much of its flavor. So I was looking through the Baking Bites blog and found this recipe for Pumpkin Spice Fudge Cookies. I thought that having some more complex flavors would help hide the Splenda. Instead of pumpkin I had some babyfood jars of pureed sweet potato that I have been using for making cornbread with. I also had to mix my own Pumpkin Pie Spice since I don't own any.

I ran into a complication as I started baking the cookies. As I mentioned before, I hadn't ever baked with Splenda and thought that it could be treated as sugar. The recipe calls for you to melt the butter and add it in with the sugars and cocoa. When I poured the melted butter on top of the Splenda it caused it to clump together. I used a whisk to help break it apart as much as I could, but there were still some lumps in it. I figured I'd go ahead and bake them and see how they turned out, and if it was a disaster I could bring her some cookies in next week. When I pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven, the Splenda clumps had melted and dripped a bit, but it didn't look too bad. I bit the bullet and tried one of them, and it wasn't too bad (although Splenda lingers around in my mouth for a long time). I want to try to make it again using real sugar to see how it turns out. :) Definately a bit different cookie, more of a grown-up cookie since it isn't too sweet and some kids might not like the spicy flavor.

A Day of Rest

Yesterday we had a very productive day. We headed over to Lowe's early in the morning to pick up some mulch and landscape fabric. While we were there I found some Tiny Asiatic Ghost Lilies in the seasonal clearance area and had to pick one up. It's a really beautiful color, which doesn't really show true here. I haven't had much luck with lilies in my gardening career, so maybe I can change that. I thought that I was very restrained for only buying one plant, since I haven't done much nursery shopping this year. I think it was only the fact that DH was along that kept me from getting more. ;) That and the fact that we are dismantling my back garden and I'm already going to be trying to find room for everything. It was a perfect fall day, cool and sunny with no rain in sight.

Joseph's Coat had a stray bloom on it.

The mums are still blooming.

Today on the other hand has been an inside day. It has been overcast and raining since we woke up this morning. I'm glad that we didn't put off doing the garden work until today or it would have gone undone again. So we were working on getting some housework done and I spent a large part of the day reading If You Give A Pig a Party to the Gnomeslayer. It as a good day to not have anything to *have* to do outside. :) I also made a big pot of chili, so we'll be eating good for the next few days.

Deconstruction

We have been enjoying beautiful fall weather over the last few days. Yesterday I finally got to go out and do some gardening. When we first moved here I missed my old garden so much that I hurried up and made up a garden in the back and planted plants in the front flower beds. Since then I decided that I wanted to have a kitchen garden in the back where the scree garden is. I have to find homes for all of the plants back there in the front beds. Some of the plants aren't very mannerly, so I'm going to plant them along the back fenceline.

Yesterday I started deconstructing the garden in the back yard. I dug out the boxwood bushes in one of the front beds that came with the house. The bed has been a neglected spot since we got here because the things that I planted there never took off, and I didn't ever get around to tweaking it. So yesterday I dug up everything in that bed, and moved these plants in from the back garden: Angel Face rose, iris fulva, louisiana water iris, pentestemon, coerepsis and bee balm. Today I'm going to bring over the hen and chicks and the Nile Crane daylilies. My goal was to get one bed finished this weekend and work on the others next weekend. I'm going to move some of the other plants to the back fenceline too, the ones that are less mannerly and wouldn't do so well in a front yard flower bed. I was happy to finally get working on this because it was raining for the last month or so. :)

Drying Out

We finally had a day without rain!! I could hardly believe it. When I went outside, it was really steamy and buggy. Lots of mosquitoes flying around, I assume from all of the standing water that's been around. I had lots of plans for what I wanted to do today, but the ground was really too wet so I had to put them off yet again. We went for a drive today and it was a perfect pre-fall day. The sky was sapphire blue with white puffy clouds. Thistle down floated through the air, and stray yellow leaves blew down off of the trees. Little yellow butterflies fluttered around on the plants. The Mum that Ate Alabama started blooming over the weekend. It is currently about the size of four or five regular mums. It was a really nice day. I made a new recipe for dinner tonight, Brat, Beer and Cheese Soup. Talk about a perfect fall soup, though not the healthiest. :)