My Christmas gifts

I love my husband.  As I should of course.  Other wise why be married to him.  Anyways he knows how much I love gardening and got me some garden related gifts....

 This shirt for sure is very very very true.  I may just have to wear it today.

 Not sure if I should wear this one while playing in the dirt or afterwards.

 For my herbs that I love to dry.....guess he is tired of walking through a wall of drying herbs...

Although not garden related directly it certainly counts as it has parts of a garden in it.  I love my hubby.  So how was your Christmas?  Get anything garden related?

Harvesting Edible Garden Tour - December 21, 2011

A full year of Harvesting is coming to a close.  Do you have anything in your garden you can still harvest?  I still have herbs but I didn't want to harvest them....but I had

 Lots of Carrots.  Although they could have waited longer.  These are baby carrots so they don't get all that big...but they have been growing longer than expected in terms of time

See baby's.  With really long roots.  These will taste great.

So have anything  you can eat from your garden today?  I want to see who else has a garden still producing edible harvests in December, I can't be the only one.

Christmas

This year  had been hard.  Not the gardens just other things around the house and cars.  Hubby had a deer thrown into his car a week or so ago so that is extra money that we don't have to spend.  Things like that.  So the Christmas spirit has been hard for me to find but today we set up the tree and all weekend I have been watching Christmas movies so it is getting better.  So for those who also need some help getting into the mood here are pictures of the tree and Santa's village

Crazy weather means.....

.......My herbs keep growing.  Not complaining of course just worried.  I mean it's the end of November and it's 60 outside and I can spot new growth on not only my herbs but my rose bushes and some of my hydrangea's.  What is wrong with this picture.  Anyways I wanted to see how things in the Greenhouse were progressing so I took a few pictures.....so on to a tour of my still green greenhouse.

 It may not look like a lot is growing in there but there is.  Lets take if from the front left first hidden from view is some Sage and Echinacea.  Then in the back on the left that big glob of green yea that would be carrots.

The small middle row will be next.  There are two rows of herbs in there so we will start at the front left and move back.

First up would be this lovely Rosemary.  Can you see it in the big picture...don't worry it's there.

Next just behind the Rosemary would be Mint.  Not just any mint.....but Variegated mint.

See look at the colors....it smells heavenly too.

 And behind that is Apple Mint.  Yea they are a little close to each other but it forces me to prune often.

 Back at the front of the middle part again is Spearmint...not looking so good cause it is pot bound and not at all happy with me.

 That big bunch of green in the middle yea that would be my herb....lemon balm.  Growing and very very happy.

 Right behind the lemon balm is Banana Mint.  Yes there is such a thing.

 And lastly in this row comes common oregano.

 So starting at the front again but on the right side hidden out of view is Vicks plant....with some onions in the middle.  Vicks apparently doesn't like the cold...

 Just behind that and up against the side is my Greek Oregano.....man this stuff is great.

 Finally coming in view of the over all picture that green mess in the front right would be this guy Sweet Marjoram.  Oh and some more onions.

 About the middle of the right side is this to the right is Marshmallow and the left is a small pot of Echinacea.

 Along the back wall we find my favorite mint of all the ones I have.....Chocolate mint.

And to the right of Chocomint is Winter Savory.

So thats the tour of my greenhouse.  Lots still growing in there and I love it.  Hopefully Mother Nature will pick up her calendar and realize that it's late fall and drop the temp some.  Cause when she does winter can come and go and it's on to spring...time to plant again.

From the garden to Pumpkin Pie

2 of my very own pumpkins made it to the Thanksgiving table this year.  Well one did today and one will next week.

 To make this lovely pie you cut your pumpkin in 1/2.  And scoop out the seeds.  Then cover with foil and cook for 1 hour at 350.

It should look something like this when done cooking.  Simply take a spoon and scoop out the pumpkin so all you have left is the hull.  Mash up the pumpkin.

The follow the recipe below....enjoy!








1cup Sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cup mashed pumpkin
1 2/3 cup sweet condensed milk
2 eggs

Mix all together till smooth. Pour into a unbaked 9" pie crust.  Bake for 15 min At 450 and 45 min at 325

Pumpkin pie made like this tends to look a lot lighter and less orange than store bought either mix or prebaked.  It will also look uncooked in the center but if you place a paper towel on it and the towel does not soak anything up it is done. (learned that last night from my sister Melanie)  Cool completely, cover and place in the frig till ready to eat.  Be sure to add lots of whipped cream....

Harvesting Edible Garden Tour - November 2011

Its that day again.  Surprisingly I still have things I can harvest in my garden.  Sorry that this is late but I have been busy lately.  Anyways today is a day I like to post about what I have harvested from my garden this month.  Feel free to join me just add your link below.  So on to the pics.

 It may not be a lot but the Lemon Balm in the Greenhouse is still doing quite well and I have been able to harvest some.

Some how this annual herb is still thriving in the gardens and was also able to be harvested.  Parsley and there is more where this bunch came from.

It's not much like I said but I can at least say that I was able to harvest something edible this month.  So did you harvest anything this month?  Well join the tour and tell us about it.

GBBD - November 2011

Holy cow I almost missed it.  How could I do that.?  Granted outside the house nothing is blooming today.  So sad.  But that time has come to a close here in NY.  But I do have 1 plant that is blooming today...one lonely but beautiful plant.

A Cactus.  I am no longer going to call these guys Christmas cactus as they never seem to bloom around Christmas so instead I dub these Seasonal Cactus.  They will bloom when the season is right for each one of them.  I now have 4 different ones and none have bloomed together.  Granted this one is pretty new and I bought it with all these buds on it but they were white.  I don't have a white one and I wanted one.  Course I am glad I did as it's the only think in the house and outside of my house that is blooming right now.

Well sorry that it wasn't a better show here today but please head over to Carol's place and see what others have blooming.  Carol hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day every month on her blog May Dreams Gardens so be sure to check in over there.

What snow can do

Do you know what snow can do?
Last weekend we had a crazy early snow storm hit our area.  During this storm I learned a few things about snow.
So here is what I learned about snow.

It can take your breath away.  Sunday morning we woke to over 7 inches of snow and the sun rising to give us this breathtaking view.

It can make the Buddy dog go crazy.  Jumping in the snow like he is a kid.

It can inspire a truce between siblings especially in candle light.  It's amazing what kids will do to entertain themselves when the power is out.

It can force you to take a second look.  Go ahead take a second look it's not very often you will see this many colorful leaves on top of snow.

But snow can do so much more as well.

 It can cover your tree's to the point that you don't even recognize what they are.  Can you see my pink dogwood?

Oh there it is finally standing back up.  But look what else snow did to my tree.  It brought down a branch.

Snow sure can do a lot of things.  Some things we may  not think about some we do.
Did you know that snow can insulate plants?
Did you know that snow can give you a workout?

What do you like about snow?  Do you know anything else that snow can do?

Snow in the garden

Hello there everyone it's Melody Bluebell here with an important announcement - It's snowing at Irish Gardens.   Yup thats right folks it's snowing in October. The Garden Lady was outside today getting ready for this snow to hit.

Garden Lady and Aiden Guy were out saving the peppers as the plants were hit with frost but the peppers were still good.  Look how cute that little guy looks trying to concentrate on cutting the peppers and only the peppers.

Rosa Rusty was seen at the local feeding spot eating just as the snow started.

Then a half hour later she is seen with friends but look at the tree's behind them. Just over 30 min after the snow started the tree's are covered.

Soon after I saw Rosa I saw Garden Lady headed outside to get the mail and saw that now even the roads were covered.

So then as I was enjoying the view of snow while trying hard not to fall off my branch....it was getting heavy with snow the Garden Lady came out and measured the snow.  Although I don't have a watch I am pretty good at telling time and the snow started around 12:30 and when she went out to measure it was 3:00 and it looks like she measured nearly 2.5inches of snow.    Well I am sure that there is a lot more going on around the Gardens so I am going to go and find out what.  I will be sure to post again with more pictures of my fellow friends.