outside in the garden
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/outside.html
S E A S O N A L notes and musings, with relevant links2004-08-31T09:40:08Zen-USSummer ruined
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/2004/06/summer-ruined.html
They are finally repaving our street AND putting in new sidewalks. We are overdue for both, but there are two bad aspects to this. <br /><br />First, every day, nearly all day long, there are dozens of trucks, earth movers and diggers, plus (it appears) the pickup trucks the workers came to work in.One comes home from work not knowing if one will be able to get into the driveway, or will have to park up the street around the corner. That makes planning grocery shopping difficult since I am not prepared to carry heavy bags that distance.<br /><br />Second, They took out and carried off the nice old granite curbstones that surely date from before 1900 and are replacing them with bland concrete curbs.<br />Pamela Shorey2004-06-12T12:35:45Z First, every day, nearly all day long, there are dozens of trucks, earth movers and diggers, plus (it appears) the pickup trucks the workers came to work in.One comes home from work not knowing if one will be able to get into the driveway, or will have to park up the street around the corner. That makes planning grocery shopping difficult since I am not prepared to carry heavy bags that distance.
Second, They took out and carried off the nice old granite curbstones that surely date from before 1900 and are replacing them with bland concrete curbs. ]]>Snow .... snow ....
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/2004/03/snow-snow.html
It doesn't exactly feel like March. We have had several snow storms over the past week and the temperature has been below freezing.<br /><br />However, as snowstorms go, these have been very mild. I'm sure part of the reason is the longer day. Even on a day with a gray sky, the sun seems to peek through in the late afternoon to add just a little more melt to the mix.<br /><br />The wind is not as harsh, the temperature not as low as it would have been (in fact, <em>was</em>) in January. Not so bad! And the bulbs being delayed and well watered, may do better than average. We shall see!Pamela Shorey2004-03-20T15:39:00Z However, as snowstorms go, these have been very mild. I'm sure part of the reason is the longer day. Even on a day with a gray sky, the sun seems to peek through in the late afternoon to add just a little more melt to the mix.
The wind is not as harsh, the temperature not as low as it would have been (in fact, was) in January. Not so bad! And the bulbs being delayed and well watered, may do better than average. We shall see!]]>Smell the dirt
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/2004/02/smell-dirt.html
I was looking at a garden magazine that asked customers to submit their favorite sight of spring. <br /><br />For me, it's not a sight, it's a smell and a feel. When the weather warms up above freezing for a little while, you can smell the thawing soil. And even when the temperature is fairly low -- today we have a high of about 18 F, for instance -- it feels different. There is more light; not just longer days, but a higher sun at noon. So, even when it's cold, it somehow feels warmer, and partly that warmth is fueled by hope.<br />Pamela Shorey2004-02-15T17:01:20Z For me, it's not a sight, it's a smell and a feel. When the weather warms up above freezing for a little while, you can smell the thawing soil. And even when the temperature is fairly low -- today we have a high of about 18 F, for instance -- it feels different. There is more light; not just longer days, but a higher sun at noon. So, even when it's cold, it somehow feels warmer, and partly that warmth is fueled by hope. ]]>Tower Hill Botanical Garden
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/2004/01/tower-hill-botanical-garden.html
We drove to Worcester, Mass. today to see the relatively new botanical garden which is a project of the Worcester county Horticultural Society. It was winter of course, so nothing in bloom. And yet, as I hped they have a good winter garden, with dark and bright woods, nice tree shapes, glowing berries and so on.<br /><br />Pamela Shorey2004-01-04T04:21:40Z ]]>Ahhh! fixed at last!
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/2004/01/ahhh-fixed-at-last.html
Can it be? somehow I have fixed this -- I have been unable to post to this blog since October.<br /><br />There was an entry (Wed. Dec. 31), a more or less random set of characters. which was not a test, but rather our ginger cat, Morris, striking out on a trek across the keyboard <span lang="fr">en route</span> to the top of my computer box, a spot he favors for napping in a sociable way.Pamela Shorey2004-01-02T15:54:57Z There was an entry (Wed. Dec. 31), a more or less random set of characters. which was not a test, but rather our ginger cat, Morris, striking out on a trek across the keyboard en route to the top of my computer box, a spot he favors for napping in a sociable way.]]>test
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/2003/11/test.html
test 2Pamela Shorey2003-11-05T00:35:45ZHibiscus: the Extrovert
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/2003/10/hibiscus-extrovert.html
My friend M. says he will share his gardening observations in this space now and then. Well, I suggested he start a garden blog, but he demurred, as follows:<blockquote>As a matter of fact, I have always enjoyed the 'agricultural' side of life. What is commonly called Gardening. I do keep an eye on the local vegetation, what is flowering, how it is doing and so forth. <br /><br />Unfortunately, my personal territory is reduced to a rather small balcony. True, it is crowded with plants on behalf of which I go to certain lengths to keep healthy and happy. I certainly do not have enough 'ammunition' to run a blog on Gardening. <br /><br />However, apart from keeping an eye on my local area vegetation - Monaco has some Very Good Town Hall Gardeners<br />who do a Marvellous job around Town in the numerous little parks and spaces in this now semi-tropical climate - I pretty much always check out the Weekend Financial Times Gardening Section. Okay, that concerns the North -<br />British climate. But it is interesting and the guy knows what he is talking about : probably, about the only person working on the Weekend FT who has ever had any experience of the Real World in any shape or form!<br /><br />To say, I would indeed be Happy to contribute occasional - even regular remarks to Your Garden Blog - when I have something to share, as it were. I really do enjoy reading about and mentioning Gardening Stuff - plants and<br />flowers, the weather and so on. Is is also such a pleasant change from my Regular Beats ! So, if You do not think it too absurd, I shall try to pop in a few observations. <br /><br />I can tell You right away, that down here along the Mediterranean Coast this year, all varieties of hibiscus have done very, very well indeed ! Possibly about the only plants - and certainly Flowering Plants - to have thrived on the 100 degree Summer. As You know, hibiscus have large, individual, highly-coloured, trumpet-shaped blooms. And Boy ! When they Bloom, they Bloom ! They are full-bodied, extrovert and proud of it ! Normally each bloom lasts only about a day. These plants of tropical origin, I surmise, really come into their own with the heat and new blossoms appear daily in abundance for months. All the colours are very luminous and saturated: reds blues purples pinks yellows. Having one or two of these shrubs around, which can grow very large, it like being on Copacabana Beach : You get Your eyeful all the time and there is no false modesty ! They are, also, very cheerful, good-natured flowers to have around. They are what they seem: generous. If Global Warming is here to stay, my advice would be to joyfully check out the hibiscus folk ! :-)<br />--Big M.</blockquote><br />Pamela Shorey2003-10-19T23:27:37ZAs a matter of fact, I have always enjoyed the 'agricultural' side of life. What is commonly called Gardening. I do keep an eye on the local vegetation, what is flowering, how it is doing and so forth.
Unfortunately, my personal territory is reduced to a rather small balcony. True, it is crowded with plants on behalf of which I go to certain lengths to keep healthy and happy. I certainly do not have enough 'ammunition' to run a blog on Gardening.
However, apart from keeping an eye on my local area vegetation - Monaco has some Very Good Town Hall Gardeners who do a Marvellous job around Town in the numerous little parks and spaces in this now semi-tropical climate - I pretty much always check out the Weekend Financial Times Gardening Section. Okay, that concerns the North - British climate. But it is interesting and the guy knows what he is talking about : probably, about the only person working on the Weekend FT who has ever had any experience of the Real World in any shape or form!
To say, I would indeed be Happy to contribute occasional - even regular remarks to Your Garden Blog - when I have something to share, as it were. I really do enjoy reading about and mentioning Gardening Stuff - plants and flowers, the weather and so on. Is is also such a pleasant change from my Regular Beats ! So, if You do not think it too absurd, I shall try to pop in a few observations.
I can tell You right away, that down here along the Mediterranean Coast this year, all varieties of hibiscus have done very, very well indeed ! Possibly about the only plants - and certainly Flowering Plants - to have thrived on the 100 degree Summer. As You know, hibiscus have large, individual, highly-coloured, trumpet-shaped blooms. And Boy ! When they Bloom, they Bloom ! They are full-bodied, extrovert and proud of it ! Normally each bloom lasts only about a day. These plants of tropical origin, I surmise, really come into their own with the heat and new blossoms appear daily in abundance for months. All the colours are very luminous and saturated: reds blues purples pinks yellows. Having one or two of these shrubs around, which can grow very large, it like being on Copacabana Beach : You get Your eyeful all the time and there is no false modesty ! They are, also, very cheerful, good-natured flowers to have around. They are what they seem: generous. If Global Warming is here to stay, my advice would be to joyfully check out the hibiscus folk ! :-) --Big M. ]]>Bird-feeding tip
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/2003/10/bird-feeding-tip.html
To foil the squirrel who eats a weeks worth of bird seed in an hour or so, <a href="http://www.gardeners.com/gardening/content.asp?copy_id=5524&SC=DNA70086">Gardener's Supply </a>suggests mixing the seed with hot pepper powder. The birds don't taste it at all, but the squirrels will avoid it like the plague.<br /><br />Alternatively you could spend $60 on a squirrel-proof <a href="http://www.gardeners.com/department.asp?CMP=IL8892&DeptPGID=17706">feeder </a>;-)<br /><br />And if you happen to have a swimming pool on your property, as nearly everyone in Texas and California seems to, you can avoid having little animals fall into it while seeking water by providing for them elsewhere on the property. Check out the animal water jug <a href="http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?ProdGroupID=17900&CMP=IL8895&IMG=34%2D117%5Fa%2Ejpg&DeptPGID=&lstCategory="><img src="http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/chip.jpg" alt="earthenware water jug for small animals from Gardener's Supply"></a><br /><br />p.s. I am moving this blogPamela Shorey2003-10-18T19:26:44ZGardener's Supply suggests mixing the seed with hot pepper powder. The birds don't taste it at all, but the squirrels will avoid it like the plague.
Alternatively you could spend $60 on a squirrel-proof feeder ;-)
And if you happen to have a swimming pool on your property, as nearly everyone in Texas and California seems to, you can avoid having little animals fall into it while seeking water by providing for them elsewhere on the property. Check out the animal water jug
p.s. I am moving this blog]]>Post heat wave: the Euro weather report
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/2003/10/post-heat-wave-euro-weather-report.html
A <a href="http://sillyremarks.blogspot.com/" title ="Michael O'Dwyer">friend </a>living in the second smallest independent state in the world writes:<br /><blockquote> After Europe's Heat wave which, from a gardening point of view only, destroyed baclony plants, window boxes and gardens and their shrubs, some of those poor plants are struggling to come back to greenery and flower. <br /><br />Now - in the middle of October. Plants which should have currently been becoming leafless are now sprouting new greenery and also bursting into flower. The Season is crazy: anemones and daffodils are also already putting forth their preliminary greenery. They should be sprouting only After Christmas. Something very peculiar is going on.<br />:-)<br />Big M.</blockquote>Pamela Shorey2003-10-16T10:13:07Zfriend living in the second smallest independent state in the world writes:
After Europe's Heat wave which, from a gardening point of view only, destroyed baclony plants, window boxes and gardens and their shrubs, some of those poor plants are struggling to come back to greenery and flower.
Now - in the middle of October. Plants which should have currently been becoming leafless are now sprouting new greenery and also bursting into flower. The Season is crazy: anemones and daffodils are also already putting forth their preliminary greenery. They should be sprouting only After Christmas. Something very peculiar is going on. :-) Big M.
]]>OctoBrr
http://bronzefrogs.com/blogs/2003/10/octobrr.html
October is full upon us and the leaf fall is going on in earnest. we've ahd some very crisp cool nights. Two of our cats, the adult ones, prefer to stay out overnight now.<br /><br />Surprisingly (to me) my tomato plants, which I staked up better and added dirt to about 5 weeks ago when it first began to cool off, have been doing quite well. Honestly, they could use restaking adn the new fruits are small and slow, being as how they arenot getting hot sun any more. But lined up out there with a vivid pink geranium, some chartreuse sweet potoato vine and an attractive yellow-orange chrysanthemum, they look rather nice! All the plants are green and quite lush looking. <br /><br />Pamela Shorey2003-10-09T20:02:50Z Surprisingly (to me) my tomato plants, which I staked up better and added dirt to about 5 weeks ago when it first began to cool off, have been doing quite well. Honestly, they could use restaking adn the new fruits are small and slow, being as how they arenot getting hot sun any more. But lined up out there with a vivid pink geranium, some chartreuse sweet potoato vine and an attractive yellow-orange chrysanthemum, they look rather nice! All the plants are green and quite lush looking.
