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.

The end has come..........

.........for this years outdoor gardening season.  Last night it snowed a little....not enough to stick.  But the current temp outside is 29.  Coooolllllddddd.  Ok so it does get colder than that at times. Anyways I may  not like the cold a lot but I do love the pictures that it produces.

 Just look at my poor parsley.  It looks so sad when it is heavy with frost....but the outlining of the leaves looks pretty neat.

 An oldie but a goody is the water in a bucket that has frozen over.  I just love how cool it looks.

 Of all the different things I looked at today this has to be my favorite.  This is chocolate mint next to my strawberries.  Although the strawberry leaves are also outlined I just love the way the mint looks.  Almost fake it's so perfectly outlined.

 The Greenhouse has a new shade today....frost.  This is taken from inside the greenhouse but the frost is on the outside.  I thought it looked cool.

 Because it's the simple things in life that are important here is a simple picture that many would not have taken or even realized.  Grass.  Yup plain old grass frozen and looking much more like a spider plant than green grass with all the frost.

 Because I love taking frost pictures (can you tell) a Rose of Sharon seed pod covered in frost.

My poor silly marigolds that are still trying their best to grow may have finally met their end.  But what a picture they are.  The leaves look so incredibly delicate covered or outlined in frost.

What do you enjoy most about a winter garden?

Ah! Ok then

 Walking through the gardens yesterday and today I noticed that a few plants just looked way to familiar to be where they were.  I mean not that I have any say in what grows where most of the time but still.

Can you tell?

How about in this picture?  Corn.  Yup Mother Nature has struck with her humor again and decided that the end of October is a great time to start growing some corn in the middle of my yard.  Personally I just don't quite understand why they would have even sprouted let along continue to grow to the point of recognition.

Do you have anything growing in your yard that shouldn't be?  Whether it's in the wrong place or wrong season?  I wonder how many fellow gardeners have this going on?

Harvesting Edible Garden Tour October 2011

It's the 21st!  Harvesting Edible Garden Tour day.  Whats harvesting in your edible garden today?  Here is what I have that needed some harvesting today.

 Nice fresh sage anyone?

 Lots of beautiful parsley leaves.

 Basil.  The last harvest of the season but they look great.

 Not a lot but some rosemary was ready as well.

 Lemon balm oh what a smell that was when I cut these stems off.  Lots more to harvest still this season but not today.

 These darn hot and spicy peppers are still growing and ripening.  Granted the few sweet peppers I have are still growing but much slower than these guys.
A few accidental cuts here as you can see.  There are so many that sometimes getting to the red ones is hard.

I  think this herb has to be one of my favorites I add it to everything.  My garlic chives once again needed a good trimming.  I am sure I will get at least one more harvest before they die back for winter.

So what do you have that is harvesting?  Post and add your link below.  I would love to take a tour of your edible gardens.

Fall what a strange season

 Usually thought of as the season where the leaves change color and fall, pumpkins are everywhere and the world begins it's transition to dormancy.  Then you look at young flowering dogwood tree's and see what looks a lot like new growth.  Hardly a good time to start developing leaves now but yet there it is.

 The Lilac bush is also showing signs of growth.  In spring this sight was all over the bush and soon turned to branches and leaves.  Now it's showing up as the leaves are falling off.

 Then the typical colors of falling leaves escape this beauty.  White and green are not normal colors at least in fall for me they aren't usually fall colors are red, yellow, orange, and brown.  But this one wanted to be different.  Even against the green grass is stands out.

Then you have these silly snapdragons.  They have been blooming since July and now have new growth with new blooms on them.  Granted I have never grown snapdragons before so this could be normal.

This season is very different this year.  I still have herbs growing well and beans on the vine.  Then there are the flowers.

Fall really can be a strange season.  But beautiful in it's own way.

GBBD - October 2011

 Welcome one and all to another month where here at Irish Gardens there is still blooms.  I can't believe it.  I thought for sure that I wouldn't have any.

But alas I do.  So joining Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for another exciting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post my first bloom is one of my Hydrangea bushes.

 And of course the Marigolds are still in bloom.  I chose this picture because I loved the contrast.  First of the Marigold's them self with the red, yellow, and green but also because of how much they stand out against the signs of fall.

 A few Roses are still trying to make known that it isn't yet winter

 A pretty sight this morning was that my Basil is flowering.  I usually never get to see this as I harvest the basil often and it never gets to this stage.  But with all the rain lately it has been hard to get out to the garden to harvest.

 Another herb that is showing of some color is this Pineapple Sage.  Can't wait till it opens up.

And this stunning beauty is all alone on the fence.  A deer problem this year as well as wacky weather has kept my Morning Glory blooms at bay.  With barely any leaves left this guy stands out like a beacon.

So what do you have blooming this windy fall day?  Head over to Carol's and see what others around the world are blogging about.

Deer a pest at the worst time

I love deer don't get me wrong.  I love watching them run through fields so graceful.  But right now.....

Well they are just driving me batty.  See my Morning Glory vines and Rose of Sharon bushes are ripening their seed pods right now and the lovely deer are eating them.

this Hibiscus bush only had one seed pod on it and thankfully I was able to save it before the munching started.  See in the picture the pot in the upper right hand corner?  Yea that was full of beautiful impatients but now look at it...a bunch of stubs.

Marigolds are doing just fine.  Deer in fact don't like them which is why I surounded my gardens this year....apparently when they are hungery they will still enter the garden anyways...they just won't eat the marigolds.