Merry Christmas!!

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Frost Is Here

Last month as the weather was cooling down and fall was slowly settling in Atlanta, I wondered how long would my bell pepper, tomato and watermelon plants continue to bloom. 

The answer is always-Frost. Frost will surely kill plants, my test/question was when will the frost get here?

Atlanta weather is very inconsistent when it comes to fall, winter and sometimes spring weather. Prime example, Wednesday morning it was 27 degrees and windy with a wind chill factor of 18. Yes, 18 degrees. Now get this...the temperature is expected to be in the low 70's by the weekend. 

So, my wondering is over...frost came to Atlanta this week--now back to my seed catalogs. 

Just Chillin

It is another very rainy day and that means another day of housework, binge watching Netflix, Bravo shows and the second season of Floridabama Shore. 

Rainy days also make me feel so sleepy, my body just wants to rest and relax. So, I'm not going to fight the feeling and I'm going to chill. 

Adventures in the Garden

Earlier in the week, I spoke about planting cloves of garlic--23 to be specific, and today
I want to show more pictures of my time in the garden last weekend.
This is the area where I’ve decided to grow my garlic along with tulips--I want to
purchase tulips in the next two weeks to be able to plant the tulip bulbs in December.

This is in my front yard and is home to some lovely Canna Lilies. The canna lilies
were planted by the former occupants of the home and brought a nice pop of
color to the yard, however, my husband didn’t care for them, and thought it was a bit
much,and not to mention some of them didn’t bloom very well.

Personally, they needed to be fed and nourished with compost and compost tea, but at
that time I couldn’t focus on yard work---I had to focus on finding work and helping my
family out--well, that’s another story, but it does play a big role in me not being able to
focus on gardening, too.

Well, three weeks ago, my son and I dug up many of the calla lilies to make room for tulips
and a bit of garlic--I know….what a weird combination---I wanted to make it a majority tulip area,
but I have limited space to garden since we moved into the new house, and I just didn’t feel
complete as a gardener, last year-after harvesting garlic for eight straight years.

After clearing out the area, I filled the area with compost. Wish I had some pictures of the
compost and how different the area looked when it was added.

After compost is added to any garden many great creepy crawlies will be moving around in the
garden, and this is one shot of the many bugs seen in my garden.

Here’s another picture of the garden area---see that beautiful compost and that whole peanut shell
that didn’t breakdown.

This is a week after clearing out the garden area, and there’s tons of tomato seedlings that have
sprouted. Really wish I could make the distinction between all of the seedlings because
I would like to grow some to sell, too.

  

Gardening last weekend was a big success and I was able to get my garlic planted, Yay!!

Yay, It's Election Day!

First a big salute to all my early voters! Y'all did that and have set records in many states by voting early. I know in the state of Georgia a record number of 2.1 million early votes were cast. 

Now, to all the others who haven't cast their vote yet, what are you waiting on...go vote!

23 Cloves

 Over the weekend, I finally put a few garlic gloves in the ground---precisely 23 cloves. For me planting garlic in the first week of November is very rare, I usually have several cloves planted before Halloween---but, I think I might be okay weather wise since the weather hasn't been too cold.

The weather this past weekend was truly delightful and because I had some free time---I went to my garden.

Later in the week, I'll write a post about my adventures in the garden over the weekend, and I hope to hear about your weekend gardening adventures, too.

Did you do any gardening over the weekend, why or why not?

I Did My Part

Have you? Please get out an vote. I early voted last Thursday, tomorrow is election day---please do your part and participate.

Today Was a Good Day

Had another blog post for today, but I decided to do some yard work in my front yard....

Its looking pretty good, and I've worked up an appetite. Checkout this Kale salad that I made.

Today was a good productive day, hope yours was,too! 

Cooler Temperatures

Last week, I wondered how long the cold weather would last,and I found out later in the week--not long. One week, we have high temperatures in the upper 80's and so quickly we wake up to morning lows in the mid 30's.

There won't be any complaints from me about how cold the weather is just yet. Personally, I look forward to the seasons changing. It always gives me something to look forward to, and Fall is no different.

When Fall comes around, I look forward to cooler weather, soup season, Apple, pumpkin, and sweet potato pies, hot chocolate, and hot apple cider.

Roasted pumpkin and butternut squash seeds are common weekend snacks that can be enjoyed while wrapping up in a blanket, and enjoying a bevy of movies. You know, a Netflix and chill type of day.
Another enjoyment of mine during fall is, building my soil, and being able to enjoy the other outdoors without bugs and extreme heat. Last week, I was able to start working in the yard a bit and, I can't wait to start planting some garlic.

What are you most excited about fall, and why?

Still Standing

This pepper plant in my garden is actually leaning now, but is still producing and flowering--thank you, unusually warm fall temperatures. 

I wonder how much longer the warm streak will last, I really would like to continue picking my peppers, but I'm also ready for cooler  weather. 

What's still growing and flowering in your garden? 

P.S. I forgot to take pictures of the watermelons, too.

Happy October!

Here's to a great month and new gardening adventures!

A Sweet Delight

Finally cut up the watermelon the other night and it was delicious. Sweet and seed filled to the max, I can’t wait to replant these seeds for next year’s garden!

Labor Day Was Awesome

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! It was a great time to catch up on some much needed rest for me(I’m finally getting settled after back to back road trips) and I was also able to enjoy listening/watching my husband in his element, DJing at Moods Music for the Recovery Party--the close to the Atlanta Weekender.

It was great being able to get out and enjoy the great weather and the energy of all the house music heads. The sights and sounds of Little Five Points, but I don’t think anything made me more giddy than harvesting my second sugar baby watermelon of the season.

I got started pretty late with planting these and I had a few that never fully developed on the vine. But all in all it has been a good growing season. I can’t wait to crack this one open and have a little taste of summer.

Labor Day was awesome! How was your holiday and what did you do? Did you get anything from the garden?

And as always, keep growing :)

-Shelly

Untitled

Had to take a picture of the second cucumber from the garden for the season before I forget. The first one for the season was bigger, however, I picked it, cleaned it,peeled it, sliced it up and added it to our dinner salad---sorry. 

In turn to be a better gardener that blogs, I present to you: my second cucumber.

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Hello Sunshine

Last week my one and only sunflower finally showcased all of her beauty--simply lovely.

 Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

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Quote of the Week

My Garden, My Story

Earlier this week, I posted the quote, "Gardens are a form of autobiography,"and it got me thinking about what story am I sharing through my garden.

Cucumber plant 

And here are my thoughts....My garden is small, like me(I'm 5'5), and it consist of a few plant survivors of an unusually cold spring. After 10 years of being a backyard gardener, I now garden in my front yard and driveway. Two pots hold cucumbers and peppers and one sunflower rather than the earth, but that's okay--because this is a real learning experience,and another life skill to add to my resume of life.

Gardening brings out a lot of creativity and even though my garden is small, I've become more resourceful and it brings me a lot of satisfaction.
 

The lone sunflower

What my garden says about me: Small, resourceful and tenacious. I'm okay with the descriptive words that I've chosen, however, next year, I hope to expand the garden and the adjectives.

Watermelon (sugar baby)

What does your garden say about you? Do you plan to keep your current aesthetic/design or will you change it, and why?

Quote of the Week

Gardens are a form of autobiography.

                                  ---Sydney Eddison

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A Doughy Situation

I got pizza on my mind. This dough looks marvelous!! Got my toppings together, ready to roll,lol.

Happy Monday,Y'all!

Happy Earth Day!

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What do you think? https://pin.it/qwm4u6gsmxz32h

Happy April

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, I know I did!! I enjoyed some Peeps, tried to finish up some prom shopping, but didn't get any of that accomplished. However, it was a beautiful day and I noticed that the Azaleas are coming in!

Untitled

Happy Monday and second week of Spring!

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Living on the Edge

Here's where I'm keeping the first group of my starts/seedlings--my kitchen window. The window is only a temporary place until I can setup a grow box(hey, that's a future blog post). 

Natural sunlight isn't as abundant in the new house,and space is very limited, but I'm going to make it work and my plant babies will soak up every ray of sunshine possible. 

As you can see, many of the containers are covered with plastic wrap, or, is covered with a clear plastic lid. This is done to help speed up germination---look at that beautiful yellow pear tomato seedling(in the tall container), it has its third leaf! 

So far, everything is looking fairly well and seeing the first sprout really makes the gardening season feel real, and the countdown to spring begins!

Have you started your seedlings,yet, and, if so, what have you planted?

Take care and keep growing!

Shelly :)

Let the Gardening Season Begin

I got a few bottles, a few seed packets, and the potting soil ready for the start of gardening season. Has anyone else started, and if not, when will you start?

Also, I'll like to give a quick shout- out to my little sister for all the plastic bottles she's donated to me.

Until next time,

Keep growing :)

Something Random

Hey everyone, just wanted to check in and say, hi. It's a rainy day here in Atlanta, and for me that usually means a documentary filled day, which it almost was, but my darling husband talked me into hanging out with him.

He has a job interview today and even though the movies, our couch and that box of Quacker's apple and cinnamon oatmeal is really calling me, I decide to go and hangout on a rainy day....with....my boo.

I hope he gets the job and our day is filled with lots of fun.

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