Juniper removal part II

Ever since we removed the juniper bushes from around the maple tree last year, I've been itching to remove the one under our weeping cherry tree.   As you can see it has overgrown and was crowding the plants near it and spilling over into the driveway.

 So yesterday, my dh and Nathan and Stephen went to work on it.   Two bushes came out pretty fast using the tractor.   The third bush was a hard one.   They had to work hard to find the main root AND to not rip up the existing plants as they drug it out of the flower bed.

 I plan to mulch under the weeping cherry and plant a couple flowers around the big rock in the picture.   But even without the mulch, it looks so much better.

It was like a pre-Mother's Day gift!

Apples and more Apples

We had a lot of apples this year.   I estimate that we harvested about 20 bushels of apples from our 9 trees.  This was our biggest harvest ever.

They were beautiful and we hardly had any bugs in them.

We had so many Red Delicious apples that we decided to make cider with them.   We took 8 bushels up to a friends' house.

 She had picked some other types so the cider tasted delicious.   We used an old fashioned press and the children had a great time.

 I've also made a lot of applesauce.   Good thing we love it so much!

Out with the Juniper bushes

Under the maple in the front, we have some juniper bushes which no one really liked but that were here when we moved in.

We wanted to take them out since they seemed impossible to weed once the grasses moved in.

It was harder than we thought. My dh finally had to come in with the tractor and drag out the main roots with a chain.

All clean now.

Newly planted with flowers and spread with mulch. Much better!

Garden Update

With the very useful help of the children, we got most of the garden in. Only thing left to plant are some pickling cukes and the second planting of corn in a couple of weeks. We added a triangular section of new garden this year. The children dubbed it The Salsa Arrowhead. The outside rows are tomatoes. There are peppers, hot peppers, and onions behind the tomatoes. And to top it off way in the back, my dh planted some corn/pole beans/pumpkins all in hills like the Indians did. But at Deb pointed out, he forgot to put the fish in the hole with the seeds.

My dh needed all the children's help to put in the pea fences.

An act of service done for me. Aren't they looking nice?

Now for some of my flowers in the front.

My bleeding heart did so well over the winter. Look how huge it is!

Mike, this picture is for you! I think it may be my first bee picture.

The columbine is looking very good also.

The kids did so well that they got ice cream after the garden was finished.

Gardening Season 2011 is open!

We have a new shiny tiller (well, relatively shiny).

It really does a great job. Note the coveralls. It is still cold here but we're planting anyway.

Now, isn't that pretty?

Official End of the Garden season

Yesterday was the official end of the gardening season. Last Saturday, we moved the giant pumpkin from the front porch before it could rot and put it in the garden. We're watching to see how long it takes for the animals to eat it.

Yesterday I finished up the dehydrating (the last of the hot peppers) and the canning (blackberry jelly, cherry jelly and the jelly below). Can you guess what it is?

It is rosemary jelly. Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs. Rosemary jelly is supposed to be wonderful on lamb. We'll let you know. By the way, the color is due to a couple of drops of green food coloring. The rosemary water was kind of a sickly looking pale yellow. This definitely looks much nicer.

With all the work of the garden finished up, the children have a lot more time to play. So while I was canning, they were getting out the board games and having a great day.

Fun Garden pics

Nathan picked this a little while ago. He calls it the 'snake' carrot. I have to agree with him.

My mother was photographing birds on the pumpkin underneath the bird feeder. After she left, another critter took interest in the pumpkin.

What a greedy pig!

Pumpkins

We carved some pumpkins early in October while Mom and Dad were visiting. Only two children wanted to carve pumpkins. I'm afraid it is a sign that the children are getting older!

Since I'm not getting older, I carved one of our white pumpkins with a spider web pattern.

Deb carved the shape of our state.

Aaron made an owl based on a pumpkin we saw in a magazine.

Ta - Da! The pumpkins in all their glory.

Fall Garden pics

Welcome Fall! This is our best jack o lantern pumpkin. We really didn't do anything to make it so big. It just sorta rose out from under the vines and surprised us.

Deb's Indian corn turned out nice. It is pale green, pink, and blue.

The tomatoes this year have been great. I made my first bread salad this summer and really enjoyed it.

I cooked up some white pumpkins on Saturday and made a pie. It looked like pale applesauce before all the spices went in. So overall, the pie looked rather brown due to the spices. I did find that I should have put less spices in. I don't think the white pumpkin was as strong tasting as the regular pumpkin.

Garden pictures

Well, the garden is just about finished. We still have some potatoes and carrots in the ground and a couple of peppers hanging in there. Most everything else is finished. We had such a beautiful day that we spent most of it cleaning up all the posts, hoses, spray aways, and fences. It looks very bare out there now.

About a couple of weeks ago, Aaron came inside from feeding the chickens and told me that there were lots of blogerrific pictures out there. So enjoy!

Dew on the cherry tree

Dew on the asparagus ferns

Morning Glory in the corn

Nathan's purple cauliflower

Two cool spider webs