Monday was our first day in the yard.  Mark wanted to work in the back, but I prevailed and we headed to the front and the task of beginning the preparation for spring planting of Mother’s beloved hydrangea bushes.  Mark has a new week whacker and with it he purchased a blade attachment.  He is complaining of having a stiff back and I took pity and ran the machine.  It was heavier than I expected!  So, I propped the shaft on my thigh and started clearing.  I worked and then Mark took over.  We used the weed eater until the battery ran out.  I got a break as I walked it in to put the battery on the charger.

Did we stop?  No way!  Hand work is just as good and frequently better.  But it is back-breaking work.  No one in my family is able to squat and keep our balance.  Mark’s mother, even at 91 years young, can squat, flat-footed, and work and work.  I have to stoop over, hence the ache in my back this morning.  But the benefits I see in the bed are well worth the effort.  As we worked a neighbor who walks regularly told us how much better the yard was looking.  I asked her to call an ambulance if she saw us supine in the yard.  She chuckled loudly and asked the number for 9-1-1.  This brought a hardy laugh from all; she continued her walk and we our work.

Lots of the undergrowth is English ivy.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love English ivy, just not in my yard.  It is beautiful in and around trees when someone else has it.  I want my ground clear, save leaves or pine straw.  If you care, look back at the before pictures.  We are by no means finished.  We got about half the bed cleared, but we have to go back to pull ivy vines and roots.  These will sprout if left in the ground.  I have a handy bottle of Round-up ready for the spring!  I will not have this junk in my hydrangea bed.  Mark will also have to dig up some Crape Myrle stumps as well as stumps from unwanted privet hedge.  Then he will get his big tiller to chew up additional roots that will not be gotten by hand.  I am determined that, together, this bed will be a showplace.

Back-breaking work and its rewards are a pain and joy in my brand of country living.

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One of the arrangements for the funeral was from my oldest (from kindergarten) friend and her mother.  Cathy and Earline have been friends of my family and me since Cathy and I were in kindergarten.  Let me stress that I have friends who are chronologically older than Cathy, like her mother, but she is still what I consider my oldest friend!  I will admit that I will be old before she will as my birthday is 3 days short of a month before hers.  We have had this running joke for the longest time!  But I have gotten way off track.  In the arrangement they sent was a mophead hydrangea.  Cathy told Donna that she wanted that plant to go to me for my garden.  But since my spot is not yet ready, it is in the ground at the farm.

I know that I will be able to get Daddy to root several cuttings from each plant.  He is so talented at rooting.  Mother always said that he could root broom handles!  He does something with Gold Bond foot powder and cat litter.  I will have to ask him if anyone wants more information on rooting.  That job will wait until later, perhaps in the early spring.

So my task, and my husband’s task that he does not know about yet, is to get the designated bed cleaned up!  Mother would be ashamed of how this bed currently looks.  Just look at these pictures.  But when will I get it done?  I am a full-time teacher and a graduate student!  I travel to Daddy’s at least twice a month and I have a household to tend!  But where there is a will there is a way.  So why am I embarrassing myself?  So that I will finally get off my duff and get to work!  Now that you all know, you will be wanting updates.  Give me a month …please!

Doing yard work must become a part of my country living!  UGH!

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This year he grew asparagus beans. They look just like any normal, round, green beans but they are LONG. Some of these are approaching 3 feet in length. We flash fry them, then remove from the oil and sprinkle them with ginger, garlic bits, and a bit of soy sauce. This dish resembles something the green beans at a Chinese restaurant.

Asparagus Beans

He has some tomatoes and some pretty cherry tomatoes. The problem with the cherry tomatoes is that Puss loves them and all the cats think they are toys. We have to keep them contained and covered.

Fruits of Conyers Gardening

He also has beautiful bell peppers and somehow, jalapeños! We don’t eat jalapeños! What to do with them?

Jalapeno Peppers

Fresh Bell Peppers

He has never had success with watermelons and honeydews. I don’t have a picture, but they are growing.

Dream of a beautiful garden in my backyard may be a pipe dream, but gardening in Conyers is included in my brand of country living.

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He always grows a stalk or two of cayenne pepper. He likes to have a fresh pod for eating and everyone in our family enjoys a pod cut in the peas while they cook. Yum!

He also has corn growing, but there were so many 4 o’clocks twirling up the stalks, I could not bear a picture!

He also has a lone stalk of bell peppers. I think there were more, but while we all did hospital vigil with Mother, the grass got ahead of him. He has been fairly good at keeping the weeds in the garden beaten back, until this year. To combat the grass he got out the lawn mower and went to work. I know he cut down some stalks of pepper, but they may have been cayenne instead of bell.

Remembering gardens and surveying the current edition are all in my life of country living.

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When I am at Daddy’s I always take at least one walk. This past weekend was no exception. Of course as the months roll along, new flowers or bloomers appear. Here are a few of the latest that I found.

This is a hydrangea of some sort. I must purchase a book that will help me identify these beauties! If you click the picture to create an enlargement, notice the deep crinkles in the leaves. This is a spectacular plant.

Also, there are reseeding marigolds. These have been blooming for a while and will continue until the frost bites them back. They are fairly large now …so I decided to include them too.

Along the driveway Mother had Daddy build a trellis of sorts for a potato vine. Well, Daddy and I pruned it back some. Donna said to wait that there was a “special” potato vine there some where. I hope this white one is the special. The other is still there and blooms big, yellow blossoms. Here is the white one.

This plant is a favorite of the hummingbirds..I counted six hummers this trip! These plants have been blooming all summer and are really tall now. They surround a new feeder that was put up by Russ Austin (Thanks Russ!)

I always enjoy the lantana confetti. This plant seems to winter over at Mother’s, but I have little success with it wintering in Conyers. I find this strange since I am not on a mountain top (actually a plateau) and am a good bit south of the Windy Knoll.

I hope you are a flower lover and will try to grow some bloomers in your yard. Enjoying the colors of the season, a joy of my country living!

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We’ve shared tomatoes, put tomatoes in the freezer, made tomato juice, enjoyed tomato sandwiches and vegetable soup – now it’s time for tomato pie.  If you haven’t tried it – it’s delicious.  For some unknown reason I never make the pie until the tomatoes are getting small – and that’s now.

Somebody gave us tommy-toe plants, but we seldom use the tiny ones.  We did send a bucket full to Georgia last week.  Now the ground in the garden where they are is covered with tiny, red tommy-toes.

One variety I planted was German Pink and they have not produced good smooth tomatoes for some reason so I’ll ditch that one for next year – even though I like that variety for a tomato sandwich.  However, the climbing tomato plants have done really well.  Some bad wind we had here last week did one of them in and now it’s all crumpled up on the ground – but still has blooms on it.  We’ll see what happens from here on.  I have no idea what the variety is, but they are nice, large tomatoes.  We’ll save seed. 

An older person (can you believe there is one older than I?)  told me that if we’d prune the tomatoes back, put some fertilizer around them and keep then watered they would produce again.  I’m not sure we believe that; however, John has pruned two plants and we’ll give it a try.

Wish you could see the beautiful pot of basil I’ve grown it rests right beside a pot of rosemary.  As I write this, July 30, it’s my birthday and the plan is to have tomato pie.  It’s the best of country living.

Tomato Pie

10 Butter-Me-Not biscuits                         ¾ cp. Hellman’s mayonnaise (no substitute)

1 onion                                                                1 cup Mozzarella cheese

1 bell pepper                                                      tomatoes

Spray 10 inch pie plate and line it with biscuits.  Press down and together.  Fill plate (almost) with tomatoes cut into bite size pieces.  Sauté onion and pepper and sprinkle over tomatoes.  Spread with mayonnaise, then top with cheese.  Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

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As I walked to find a picture or two suitable for the blog, I saw the beautiful Black-eyed Susans which grow at the side of the garden.

During Mother’s illness the grass and weeds got way ahead of the hoer, but Daddy has beaten some of them back, along with the help of some beloved friends.  Now there are some paths along side the plants.

Tomatoes are ready for freezing now.  These are a few of the ones which Daddy and I will work today.  He also cut a small mess of okra.  The corn has tassels and the silks are turning on the corn.  I always knew there would be fresh corn on Sand Mountain around Mother’s birthday.  There are even a few peas filling out their pods.  Daddy says he did not plant any so they must have come up from the old hulls with a few peas still in them which were tossed last year.  Enjoy the pictures and think of the work that a productive garden makes for the owners of the garden.  Then in your mind’s eye see the beautiful vegetable soup on a cold January day and smell the hot corn bread, fresh from the oven.

Gardening time is the summer’s variety of country living.

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Every week when I come there are new flowers in the yard.  There are so many; lots of them I cannot name.  Yesterday, Mother named some for me.  I hope we got them right as she did not have on her glasses.

Near the ramp there is a tiny vine which Mother was afraid had been frozen out during the winter.

Henrii Columbine

As Daddy and I walked to snap these pictures he told me to be sure to snap this one and to show Mother.  She was so proud that this columbine has returned.  She immediately told Donna and myself just how she wanted it gently twirled around the structure so that it will be off the ground.  She inquired as to where the bloom was but Daddy said the bud was there but no bloom as yet.

Rooguchi Clematis

This lovely is a Rooguchi Clematis.  It is growing on a trellis near the bird feeders.  This is just one of the showy blossoms that are adorning the
plant.  Mother said she got this plant from a greenhouse out of state.  The petals of this delicate flower are different shades of purple and lavender.  It is exquisite!

I continue to be amazed at the readership of this blog.  Mother enjoys hearing the hit count and is anxious to be able to take up the keyboard and blog.

Bloomers in spring—a favorite time of country living.

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This morning when I went out the door I was greeted to a fragrance the only those who live in the country can appreciate – fresh chicken dung!  An aunt used to say that was the smell of money – her son raised chickens and pigs!

The most unusual rose

I saw many new bloomers that I will name those I can and let you appreciate, albeit without names, the others. This may take two days.

This is a purple cone flower -the first of the season.  It will produce many lovely blossoms during the summer.  It is perennial and reseeds itself every year.  Mother’s are always so showy!

I am still amazed with this rose bush.  I have show pictures of its flowers before.  This picture shows the different colors that each flower will show during its time of beauty.  This is one stem! Notice the younger flowers are brilliant yellow and as they age the petals will begin to add a pink cast them be very pink as they near the end of their time.

I believe that this is am amaryllis.  It is just beyond the end of the sun porch.  It is not a true red, but had some hint of orange.  Daddy made sure that I saw it yesterday.  It is lovely and growing in a large pot. There are other lilies blooming, but I will share them later.

Thanks again for your continued prayers and visits and cards.  I don’t know where we would be without  the wonderful support of friends and relatives during this time of sickness.

I have a small favor to ask.  The 1 year anniversary of this blog is approaching – June 1!  Readership started out very small but has grown to around 1500 per day.  I would love to be able to report that there have been 367,000 hits on this page on May 31.  I know you can do it faithful reader.  Please share with friends and neighbors.  We are very close.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the current hit count.

Friends, family, health, sickness, fragrances of the farm — country living for me today!

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While I was staying at the Windy Knoll earlier this week I took time to see what was blooming in the front of the house and ohhhhh my, was I in “hog heaven”!

The first thing I spotted was the cinammon fern.  This fern blooms a rusty stalk in the center and it was in the full bloom.

Cinnamon Fern

I also found Mother’s prized Lady Slipper.  These are delicate plants which are extremely difficult to cultivate.  They like things just so.  Again, the blooms were luscious!

Lady Slipper

I also saw the false Solomon’s seal.  This beauty looks so much like Solomon’s seal, the exception that is most easily seen is the location of the bloom.  False Solomon’s seal blooms under the stem.  Maybe you can see the drying blossoms.  Solomon’s seal blooms on the end of the stem.  Wow!  I hope I did not confuse them.

A beautiful ornamental grass, purple fountain grass, is growing but is still in its early stages.  This grass will be just about 3-4 feet tall and have a lovely fluffy bloom.  It will bloom in late summer.

Spring bloomers…some of the best of country living!

Purple Fountain Grass

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