Getting Ready for Winter

THIS

BECAME THIS

 

 

 

BECAME THIS

 

 

ALMOST READY FOR WINTER

 

Winter is generally mild here.  Rain and fog are the norm and for a limited period of time we have below freezing temperatures.  Checking the forecast, it's 34 degrees tonight but on Saturday night it will be 30 and Sunday night it will be 32, ideal frost and freeze weather.  I got my little cover-ups just in time.  I still have a few others to cover so I think I'll get one more.  Cover at night.  Uncover in the morning.  Spring should find my pretty collection of succulents happy and healthy.

Time and Patience

I'm checking in a bit early from my self-imposed retreat because I really wanted to share this now.

Back in May (that seems so long ago),  I met Valerie and discovered that my brown thumb was a brilliant emerald green when it came to succulents. 

The soil filled spa (non-functional for years and non-fixable) in the backyard had gone through a variety of floral incarnations, none of which were successful. Then I discovered succulents and a love story began. Over the summer, I added to my collection. Valerie, Lowe's and cuttings from friends all conspired to come together to form my sweet green corner.

Succulents are so much fun.  You can plant them in anything; they just get better and better.  I have them in hanging baskets, hypertufa containers, old vases, colanders,  bottle crates, and peanut cans.  What's next?  Well, I have these old boots . . . . hmmmm.

So Farmer's Market season is over until next May when the cycle starts again.  It is beginning to drop into the 40's here at night now so I'm intending to put up stakes in the four corners of "the spa" and cover the area at night to guard against frost.  The 40's will drop to 30 or less soon and I want all my little lovelies to survive to spring so I can share BLOOMS with you.

The Repurposed Birdbath

I have about as must luck with attracting birds to a birdbath, as I do with growing most plants.  When I discovered that I actually had a knack for succulents it still remained a long journey to realizing that my underused birdbath and my happy succulents might be a marriage made in heaven.  So . . .

 . . . I went to the store and found two pots of varied succulents and filled the bowl with cactus soil.

I placed the pedestal in the repurposed spa

(old and useless and now filled with dirt)

One pot reset

Two pots reset

The bowl and the pedestal brought back together

And another mini-garden is added to the spa garden.

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday.

It's all about succulents this summer

In May, when the Farmer's Market opened for the season, I met Valerie, the knower of all things succulent via her little business, Hooked on Cactus.  Click on Valerie's name for the original post that introduced her.  I have been going back every week picking up something for the succulent garden I am creating.  So far so good.  My brown thumb seems to be cooperating and the succulents are thriving. 

One of the things I've learned from Valerie is that succulents self-propagate very easily.  Of course, the loose Pork & Beans had not met me yet.  Nevertheless, V gave me a handful of loose P&B babies with instructions on what to do.  Below are the babies nesting in a pot of cactus potting mix.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some of these babies will thrive.

I've had the crate below for at least 35 - 40 years.  I've taken it with me everywhere and it has suffered lots of exposure through many seasons including cold/hot exchanges in the not temperature controlled shed behind the house for many years.  Don has long since given up on trying to separate me from my junk. So - after exploring succulents on Pinterest, I was inspired to haul the old girl out and put her to work.  I have her in shade and I will baby her along with the little P&B's.  I think she looks happy so far.

I found a little pot of succulents for under $4.00 at the local grocery store and since I knew Valerie wasn't going to be at the Farmer's Market this week, I picked it up.  My $4 has netted me potentially 11 lovely little plants that will get transferred to a larger setting when they are bigger.

This last picture is the box making friends with two of the arrangements I purchased from V a few weeks ago.  They all seem to be getting along just fine.

Tonight is Adrian's birthday and Krista is throw a big party at her house.  It is the first BIG party she has ever planned and she just about had a meltdown at Costco a few days ago.  Now that this is posted, I'm heading out into the backyard (again).  This time I'm pre-grilling all the hamburger patties and hot dogs.  Fun times.  Thank you, God for a temperature of 84 degrees today and not the 98 from a couple of days ago.

Farmer's Market

Fresh Food Foodies! - Our season has started.  Last Friday was the first of our Friday Framer's Markets that will go through September.  Flowers, produce, cheese, humus, olive oils, salsa, jewelry, popcorn, and Shakespeare.  What?  Shakespeare?? 

Yes indeed. Our local university is holding their annual outdoor in the amphitheatre Shakespeare production.  This year it's an updated Comedy of Errors involving two sets of twins, mistaken identities, frustrated lovers, feuding households - all the necessary ingredients for a silly, zany evening of family fun. And the fun found its way downtown letting the community know about the upcoming fun and frolics.

Onions and strawberries shared a table

Yellow flowers teased us with their pretty brightness but . . .

. . . best for me were the charming succulents in the hypertufa bowls. 

I'm picking up another one this Friday to add to my shade garden.  Where once was dirt, will now live succulents in abundance and Holy Icon garden statues.

By the end of summer, I will have such a wondrous garden to share with you.