ARE YOU READY FOR SPRING ?

3/30/2010

Hi....

Are you ready for Spring ? Me , yes ! Winter has
been too long....Yesterday I sat out on the patio
putting big pots along the portal , trying to vision
how they would look with different plants and of
course tomato plants. Then I drew the garden, it's
12 feet long by 8 feet wide , good size, the patio
itself is 12 feet long by 8 feet wide. Then at the end I
have a bamboo fence , in the middle will be a large tub
with a Niagra Grape vine, on either side will be two
potted trees. Hanging from the portal will be Hummingbird
feeders , inbetween hanging baskets , maybe six kinds of
plants. I sat down yesterday and made a list of plants I
want to buy, trying to make a Hummingbird garden. Here
are some of them: Hosta. Rose Mallow, Bee Balm, Salvia,
Russian Sage , I love this plant , it's beautiful blue color.
Crepe Myrtle, Woodland ferns, impatients, Geraniums, Ivy
Geraniums, outdoor Jasmine.

So, what are you planning for your garden this Spring ?

Cheers..Joe...

3/30/2010

What are your favorite plants ?


Cheers..Joe

Winter just returned here in Scotland. High wind snow, hail, rain, and even more snow, brrrr.

I bought an Agapanthus Africanus at the weekend, Joe. I have one in the front garden and I'm going to put this one at the back. This is the plant in full flower:

Funny you should ask, Joe, this spring is the first one in five years in which I've actually taken interest in fixing up the house and yard. I have been so bogged down with writing books that everything else has been neglected.

I've hired a guy to fix the wood rot, and once that's done, I'll order a truckload of mulch dumped on the driveway and shovel it around the yard. I'll get the garden in -that's the only thing I've steadily maintained -and some potted plants on the front porch.

I also hope to have a contract for another textbook by then, and will start working seriously on it.

I am dying to plant geraniums and petunias and watch them bloom their heads off. My rhodies and roses will be beautiful and the Japanese plum are over for this year.

We return home in three days in time to get ready for my sister-in-laws 60th birthday party.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

I'm thinking about a salad garden, probably in some big pots. I picked up a tomato plant last week, and am waiting for some loose leaf lettuce. Probably some radish seeds - they grow really fast; I just keep sowing them so there are always some tender ones. I don't have the space here for a cucumber hill, like I had in Houston, but I can put in some scallions.

Ann

My parents' front garden:

Beautiful, Shelagh. Takes lots of work to keep things like this.

How gorgeous!

Do they do this themselves?

This is the first year in my life with no winter which means no spring either. The breadfruit season has begun here. If you have not seen a breadfruit they are really something and the tree is beautiful. They were brought to St Vincent by Captain Bligh in 1793 (on his second attempt) and with the fish called Jacks form the national dish of St Vincent. At the market (three stalls selling vegetables) they cook them in an open fire and sell them for 5 East Caribbean Dollars each. I guess they weigh an average of 2kg and taste like a firm, dry, starchy marrow. One will feed the whole family.

alice wrote:

How gorgeous!

Do they do this themselves?

My brother still lives at home. In 1985, they moved to a small holding and built a large, modern bungalow. They sold their house and all three lived together in a caravan for a year while the bungalow was being built. My brother and father helped to dig out the foundation and sewage trenches ready for the builders and then helped as laborers until the bungalow was complete. I have some photos of the garden there that I'll scan and upload later.

Three years ago, they sold the bungalow and moved to their present home.

My mother has been a keen gardener all her life and my brother grew lettuce and tomatoes for a living (he's a chemistry graduate and understands about soil PH etc.). My mother buys all the plants (there is an alpine rockery at the back of their house full of every imaginable variety of alpines). My brother does all the work. In the photo, the front lawn is in the first few stages of treatment. If you saw it now, you would see the work my brother has done on it. The grass is immaculate and looks like a blanket of green velvet.

3/30/2010


Ann.

Here's a tomatoe for you, I bought it
last year at Walmart, it grows huge tomatoes
in a pot: " Super Giant Tomatoe " Try it...


Cheers.....Joe

3/30/2010

Shelagh.

Your parent's garden is beautiful !
Love the plant in the photo..


Cheers..Joe

mike bryon wrote:

This is the first year in my life with no winter which means no spring either. The breadfruit season has begun here. If you have not seen a breadfruit they are really something and the tree is beautiful. They were brought to St Vincent by Captain Bligh in 1793 (on his second attempt) and with the fish called Jacks form the national dish of St Vincent. At the market (three stalls selling vegetables) they cook them in an open fire and sell them for 5 East Caribbean Dollars each. I guess they weigh an average of 2kg and taste like a firm, dry, starchy marrow. One will feed the whole family.

I found a picture, Mike. Very tropical!

Appropos of nothing, we vacationed in St. Thomas a couple of years ago. It was great for a trip, but to live there? What do you do once you've driven around the perimeter and visited all the tourist shops?

Actually, it wasn't even that great for a trip. We were there nine days, way too long. Five would have sufficed, maybe even four.

We spent a few hours in St. Thomas on the way to St. John and Virgin Gorda. It's more of a metropolis than the other islands. They are more peaceful and idyllic, to my way of thinking. We spent six days on each of the latter two islands. I didn't want to ever leave.

Ann

Thanks for the photo Shelagh. LC what do I do once …well I write and as for tourist shops there are none on our island. As Anne says some islands including this one are peaceful and idyllic.

I am checking a manuscript this morning for a new edition and have found that the publisher have omitted three chapters worth of revisions!

I not feeling too peaceful at the moment.

We're planting tomatoes and peppers this weekend. Yippee!

Spent last Saturday plucking weeds. So many of the plants are starting to send out new growth. Love it, love it, love it.

The pollen is blocking my brain, but otherwise...

mike bryon wrote:

I am checking a manuscript this morning for a new edition and have found that the publisher have omitted three chapters worth of revisions!

Is it being done in India, lol. That's where my first text was sent for production, and that sort of thing happened daily. Then they'd tell me I didn't upload properly, or that's what I uploaded, or something.

The printing is done in India but I don’t deal with them as the editorial team is in London.

Mike -interesting. I dealt directly with the Indian comp house for the four months or so that the editing/production process took. The publisher art editor was there for problems, but actually wasn't terribly helpful; in fact, after checking over the first few chapters, he didn't seem to check over anything else.

The printing itself was done in Canada.

btw, it wasn't edited in India, thank goodness, lol, but the Indians coordinated the editing process, which appeared to me to be American employees of the comp house.

Watched more golf today. Go back home Friday. Made chocolate brownies today, apple pie
on Monday. I will make another apple pie tomorrow. It is perfect here. Here is Michigan.

LC I am fortunate with my publisher I know authors who have to deal with far more editing/production issues than I do including dealing with overseas employees. It helps that I have been published with them for 20 years almost and I know the senior management.