Mona's Garden

Time is our enemy…

Mona — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:48:33 +0000

I know it has been a while since I’ve written. Seems like time gets away from me so often. Not that I am so busy doing other things. Mostly I am sitting around here doing nothing.

My mom has been sick all week so we haven’t been up there. Well hadn’t, till yesterday. Of course having to listen to my brother and dad carry on makes me not want to go. But still I do. I feel my mother slipping away and it’s a desperation inside of me wanting to be able to visit with her and let her spend time with Adam. I know she enjoys it so much. Hopefully it keeps her here another day.

The gardens are doing well. Funny thing though, the vegetable garden plants are not growing very big yet are putting off produce. We’ve had a savoy cabbage, tomatoes are growing on very small plants, okra is on the vine and I’ve had to cut some off already. The pumpkin on the other hand is taking over the space and the pumpkin itself is getting huge.

Haven’t really checked into how to post pictures on here yet. I’ll need some help with that.

well this is short, but I am tired.

Hmmmm

Mona — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 17:17:58 +0000

Well today Bradley would have been returning from his trip to California. Unfortunately as I’ve posted before this trip was cancelled by the people he was to go visit. I’m still a bit peeved about this whole situation. Never mind that the plane tickets could not be refunded so my parents are out the nearly $500.00 it cost to get them, it’s more that Bradley was so looking forward to the trip itself and meeting someone he considers a good friend. I’m not really sure when I’ll be able to let this one go.

Seems like it has been a long week. Haven’t really done anything much. Nothing out of the everyday ordinary anyways.

It’s been raining the past couple of days in the evening time anyway, and that is helping the gardens out a bit. The Joseph’s Coat rose has blooms all over it. The Golden Showers is getting ready to have a couple of blooms and my Don Juan has blooms despite the fact that it got hacked by some unknown person or persons.

The Heirloom and Peace roses had some type of infestation or disease or something that I’m not sure what it is. The blooms take forever to open and when they do they have a brown dry edge to them. Not a pretty sight. Looking it up online it said that it was thrips from my description. I got some spray to spray on them and have done it twice. I’ll be respraying this weekend as it said on the bottle to do it every 5 to 7 days. I am just cutting the blooms off that look bad as soon as they even give the hint that they are dying. I’m hoping the new buds are not affected by the thrips if indeed that is what is causing them to look so bad.

The vegetables are growing by leaps and bounds. We planted most of the vegetables from seed except for the savoy cabbage. It pleases me more than anything to see them growing as I feel that we did that ourselves.

My hibiscus finally bloomed out and its gorgeous.

I’m tired today and don’t feel like doing much of anything. Brad wanted to go to JC to the book store but has since changed his mind. I wasn’t much up for going anyway.

That’s all for now

A thought

Mona — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 14:40:17 +0000

I’m trying to figure out how to post photos on here that I have of our gardens. so far I have not been successful. I’ll get there I guess.

Semi success

Mona — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:21:44 +0000

Well the moving of the climbing roses seemed to be a success so far. They were weeping the day before yesterday so I gave them a good soaking and a good watering last night as well and it seems to have helped. They are perky again. The don juan is recovering from it’s attack from unknown person or persons.

My hybrids and miniature aren’t flourishing as well as I would like. They are growing and getting buds and blooms but the blooms are not in good shape. I fear we have thrips on them and bought a spray for them to rid them of the thrips. (If indeed that is what it is). I sprayed the Heirloom (lavender) one last night and will have to see how it goes.

Adams pumpkin is growing like mad. Apparantly there are male and female flowers on a pumpkin plant and you have to help in the fertilization of the female flowers. Also you have to be quick about is as something doesn’t last long. Not exactly sure what it is. My husband did the research so I will leave that to him.

Two of the tomato plants are getting their flowers. So I am thinking I need to move one of them and start staking them.

We have Watermelon growing as well. One is vining out already.

We were at Lowes the other day purchasing the replacement plants for the roses and the lady at the cash register said that forsythias can be grown from cuttings. So I’m thinking if i can do the research and see exactly how to do it, then I may see about putting a couple of them in the front of the house on the right side of the deck. They don’t grow too big and it is bare there since I moved all the bedding plants and it may give just a bit of shade to the front yard. We’ll see though. have to speak with my husband about it.

My Joseph’s Coat

Mona — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 14:01:20 +0000

just trying something here.

Thorns in my side

Mona — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 03:48:04 +0000

Well it’s been a bad couple of days.

Yesterday I was out checking my roses and debating on taking some cuttings to my mother off of the Don Juan climbing rose. I decided against it at the time as we had a couple of errands to run before we would drop by there and I didn’t want the cuttings to wilt or die. The blooms were gorgeous, big and full and deep in colour.

We went out and ran our errands and got back home around 430 or so and I stepped out to smoke a cigarette. I looked over toward the roses and noticed that all the blooms were off of the Don Juan. It was a bit windy out and I thought maybe the wind got them so I decided to walk over and check it out. Much to my surprise not only were the blooms gone, the buds were gone and about half the bulk of the rose bush itself was gone. Someone had taken the liberty to either jump the fence or just waltz into the yard and help themselves to my rose. I was devastated to say the least. Seems a silly thing to be upset over. But if you had seen the plant when we bought it and seen it yesterday you may understand. It looks worse than when we bought it. I told my husband I wanted the roses moved. We had to think about it and decide where to put them and if they could take the move. I thought maybe putting razor wire on the top of the fence or even electrifying the fence might work. Had to think about the child and the dog with the electrifying and the razor wire, my husband said it best, someone would sue us over it. they are that stupid and that sorry in this neighbourhood.

We moved the roses today but it still makes me sick to think about someone taking most of that plant. I hope they got thorned and I hope those blooms wilted the minute they got home and I hope what cuttings they took rot to the core. I worry that moving the roses will kill them but my husband took a lot of care moving them and maybe the shock won’t be so hard on them .

Also today my son called me and told me a trip he was planning got cancelled. He was to leave in two days, well on Thursday and meet someone he really seems to have a good friendship with. That was devastating as well. He was so looking forward to the trip and I know it hurt him terribly to have his plans blow up in his face. I can’t make him feel better and have no clue what to do for him. all I can say is I’m sorry and that I hate it for you and hurt for you.

Thomas the tank engine

Mona — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:12:12 +0000

For those of you who don’t know Thomas, I don’t know that I can really describe it. It’s an old show I would imagine but it was only recently since the birth of my second son that I know of Thomas. It’s a television show that I believe originated with Ringo Starr narrating, books, toys etc. I believe it is of English origin but I can’t bet my life on it. Anyhoo, the baby is a big fan of Thomas. About a week ago or so in the local paper I saw an event at Tweetsie Railroad being advertised that was for A Day Out with Thomas. Thomas the Train was going to be at Tweetsie Railroad in Boone/Blowing Rock, NC starting June 1. I showed my husband the article, we talked a bit about it. I had a question about it so I called the Tweetsie Railroad and next thing you know I am ordering tickets. I bought tickets for my husband, oldest son, and myself. The oldest opted out of going. On our way home he called and told me he was going to go, a bit late….

We went yesterday.

First of all the trip there. Started out horribly. We got our directions from mapquest and apparantly they are still using old exit numbers off the highway. Overshot our exit and had to backtrack. Headed down the road a good bit and thought maybe I was going in the wrong direction so I turned around and went back to a gas station at the exit. Come to find out we were headed in the right direction. The girl gave me landmarks (stores) to look for to make a couple of my turns and then it was what to most would be a straight shot. Curvy, 2 lane, back mountain roads. Took us nearly 3 hours to get there.

Parking was ridiculous. We had to walk for what seemed like miles from our space on the grass.

The park itself was a bit of a disappointment for me. I expected more I suppose. Had to remind myself we were there for the child and Thomas. We got to ride on the train. Well…..Thomas the train was in front with a regular engine behind him pushing it. There were I believe 5 cars attached to it and we were in the first car. They stopped the train along the track so we could watch “a cowboy, indian fight”. Turns out the chief and Thomas were of the same mind and language apparantly.

After the train ride we went into the Thomas gift shop which charged outrageous prices for the toys and accessories but we got suckered in anyways.
The baby always likes to play with the wooden train set whenever we come upon it. He has the plastic set and extender pack and many trains for it, but seems to like the wooden set better. So as I say we got suckered in and bought him a beginner set. He enjoys it and that is what matters.
We did ride the chair lift down the mountain. That was a bit unnerving for me, but I was holding the child so I had to stay steady.

My son says this blog is hard to read so I am doing paragraphs. Hope it helps. Not that anyone reads this blog but me.
Made the trip home safely and a bit more easier than the trip going in. It was a long day.

Not much to say

Mona — Wed, 23 May 2007 23:29:13 +0000

Well it’s been a while since I’ve written a post. I think we finally got the garden looking the way we wanted it to. We’ve mulched and put up edging along the forsythias, burning bushes and climbing roses. Also the butterfly bush is included in the landscaping. One day I may be able to post photos of our work. I’ve got the two hybrid teas and miniature rose planted all together in one spot and believe it or not they all have blooms. The vegetable garden is doing well and so are the bedding plants.
Decided to get a grill today. I like cooking out. I like the taste of the food and I think it’s fun.
I have a lot on my mind right now but don’t feel like posting about it at this time. I need to sort my thoughts.

Happy Mothers Day

Mona — Mon, 14 May 2007 04:44:25 +0000

It’s late and I’m tired. Today was mothers day. I just tried to get some of the house clean and do some laundry. Finally got to go see my Mom this evening for a little while. Didn’t have a present for her but I don’t think she cares one way or another. Tried to call my sister and talk to her a few minutes but that didn’t pan out, though I did get to talk to my niece and that was nice. Watched Survivor finale this evening and wound up doing my dishes from dinner at midnight but oh well.
Didn’t do anything in the garden today. Well I didn’t. Yesterday we mulched all around the shrubs and climbing roses running along the back fence. My husband put down weed block and then put edging all along the way and we laid on the mulch. We had some bags already and wound up going to Lowes and buying a total of 24 more bags. Two trips but we did it. We need a truck. One of these days maybe. It looks pretty good out there now. I alwo mulched around my bedding plants and the three roses at the end of our deck. One day i will get around to uploading and posting pictures of all of this hard work. Still need to straighten up the edges on the front flower bed and maybe putting back up the fencing around it and maybe putting a small fence around the three roses.
Can’t really think all that well right now.

One day till Mother’s Day

Mona — Sat, 12 May 2007 12:40:27 +0000

Even though tomorrow is Mother’s Day, I’d like to take this entry to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day. My husband bought me some curtains for our bedroom and also a quilt that I mentioned I liked. I was quite surprised to be quite honest. I bought my mom some daisy’s a week or so ago and took them to her and put them in pots and I suppose that is my present to her. I’d like to cook dinner for her and my dad but I’m not the best cook in the world and I’d rather make it a cook out but then that would require my dad to do the cooking of the meat since he has the grill. I may still do it though. I could do the rest of the stuff to go with it and take it up there.
It’s kind of gloomy outside today but I’m hoping we get a good hard rain for a bit and then the sun comes out. We haven’t done anything in the garden for the past couple of days except just water and check on the plants. I’m having a dilemma with my yellow rose. It’s droopy and I don’t know why. We water it and take care of it. Brad said it may just need time to adjust. I hope so. That one is the most expensive one we have and it looks the worse. The 6.97 rose is growing wonderfully. Doesn’t bloom a lot but it’s getting buds on it as I speak. I don’t know if we’ll be working out there today or not.
I need to get up to my parents house and help my mom go through some of my Granny’s stuff. She is giving it to the salvation army. I will try on some of the tops and see if I can wear them but it’s highly doubtful. I did try on a coat the other day and it was very snug and tight across the shoulders so I feel the tops may be the same. I did bring home a doll and an old old handbag. Don’t really know who it belonged to but I’m thinking it was Geneva’s as it was in the foot locker and that contained a lot of her stuff. I will take care of it no matter who it belonged to though.