Just to let you know that life here on the mountain is still good.  But I am out of ideas for a blog post.

 

Just give me a little time, and I'll come up with something cheerful to write about.  But for now, I'm going to take a little break.

 

Love to you all;  check back occasionally;  I'll be back!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

Have you noticed any rhododendrons sporting their flower buds?  These are the flower buds for next spring.  So don't get all busy and prune them.  

 

We lived in a condo community in Virginia Beach, and the grounds crew invariably chose to prune our azaleas and rhododendrons in JULY!!!  The plants had already set their flower buds, so they NEVER got to bloom.  

 

Don't make the same mistake.  The blooms are so beautiful; you don't want to deprive yourself of them.  

 

Go ahead and prune blueberries and fruit trees; they will thank you for doing it now.  But leave the Rhodes alone.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

The Bradford pears are somewhere between this and naked.  They are so pretty when they change color, but it doesn't last that long.  

 

This one is just above Al's house on Stonebriar.  Better go see it before it drops all those beautiful leaves.

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

When I count my blessings, this is where I start:  with Momma and Daddy.  Then Nanny and BeeBee, then, it goes on for a while.

 

My list of blessings is quite long, but if you are reading this, YOU are probably on that list.  

 

I hope your list of blessings is long too, and you have a very

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

 

I love the Beech trees.  This one is at Meeks Park, but our neighborhood is full of them too.  

 

Right now, the leaves are a beautiful color between yellow and brown, and they shimmer in the wind.

 

In our area they hold onto their leaves all through the winter, until the new leaves push the old ones out.  That's how you can spot them in the woods in the winter:  deciduous trees with these beautiful brown leaves still attached.  

 

Be on the lookout, there are probably some in your neighborhood too.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Clifford's hill sure has changed in the last week.  This is what it looks like now.  A different kind of pretty.  

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

What you're seeing is the last of the garden for the summer, except for a little arugula, which will last up til the first frost, which may be tonight.  Everything else is about done for the summer garden.  

 

I did plant some kale for a fall crop; I hope they survive, we'll see.  I also have leeks and garlic that actually like the cold.  

 

And I love that the hickory trees have offered all their leaves for mulch.  

 

OK, that's it for the garden.  Time for all of us to rest.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

I guess you have noticed that the haybale has taken on a new identity.

 

Patty's scarecrows and pumpkins are back, and Mike and Tom transformed the flag into a turkey.

 

Jon and I returned the soldiers and eagle sculpture to their rightful owners, and thanked them for their service.  

 

See, a little teamwork, and we all get to enjoy the displays.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

 

Being a gardener in the mountains is SO easy.  Everything we need is right here.

 

We just put our kitchen scraps in the compost bin, then add some leaves on top, and in a year or so we have soil for the garden.  

 

We have several bins.  One is for kitchen scraps, green matter, which adds nitrogen.  Next to that we have several bins full of dry leaves, brown matter, which adds carbon.  So every time we add something green to the compost bin, we put in a handful of leaves.  

 

There are just a few no-nos:  no meat or dairy, but everything else from the kitchen is fair game.  We recycle chicken bones, vegetable scraps, lemon rinds, avocado pits, eggshells, coffee grounds, teabags.  The list goes on and on.  You can even compost cotton, wool, and paper.  In time, it all breaks down and becomes soil for the garden.  This year we even made compost tea to water our plants.

 

This is a great time of year to start composting.  Instead of burning or throwing away all those leaves, put them to work making new soil.

 

I love knowing this cycle of life, how soil is made.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

I am telling you, this year's garden has been amazing.  This is a single arugula plant that planted itself in the walk path.  

 

The arugula that I planted went to seed, and while I was waiting for the seeds to mature, some fell on the ground and sprouted.  The first crop is gone, but this crop has grown to be gigantic.  I definitely want to collect seeds from these plants.

 

I hope we have time before the frost.  We may just have to eat it all!!!  That's ok too.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!