Salem Massachusetts – Page 7

Wordless Wednesday- True Color

Halloween In Salem- Saturday Morning Stroll

I know this is a gardening blog but it’s hard to live here in Salem without blogging about Halloween.

Halloween takes on a life of it’s own in Salem. There’s just nothing else like it.

Here’s a few before photos from my early morning walk when I dropped off my girls at work this morning.

If you happen to be here and see a very pretty girl selling tickets for the Salem Trolley say hi for me! There’s also a beautiful little blonde girl and a handsome twenty year old boy whom I know very well working at the Witch Museum .

This is where they’ll be. I love the way the SWM provides cover for guests who are waiting for their tour.

Just down the street, this colonial home is ready for a pirate invasion.

Restrooms are available, sort of, if you can stand this sort of thing..

The food on the Common is good to go. I think that most of these vendors came straight down from the Topsfield fair, so it’s fair food if you don’t want to wait in line at one of the restaurants.

Same with the carnival… left the fair and arrived in Salem a day later.

The Hawthorne is barricaded to prevent damage..
Front Street is quiet… now…..with very cute ghosts in the windows…made from lanterns… Store windows are dressed everywhere… The hats are ready! This scene will be very different in a few hours!Here they come!

Look out!

More later,

Michele

Wordless Wednesday-9/24/14 Welcome Home Sweet Camera

I took the lens cover off of my camera at Marconi Station on Cape Cod in August to take the most beautiful beach shot in the history of the world to find my lens shattered in to a million tiny pieces. It’s back from the shop and I’m so happy! Here’s what happened in the few minutes right after UPS delivered it yesterday. (Sorry for the words, this post just needed some context so it wouldn’t be totally random!)

Love, Michele

What’s Happening in the Garden, and With Me –September 14, 2014

I’ll start with the garden.

That’s a good lead in to the “and with me” part. To be honest I don’t know what’s happening with me. Maybe some of you can help with that. The garden is okay in a kind of mediocre way. I’m accepting of my limitations and abilities but I have to admit that I expected more from the garden this year. Maybe it was the relatively dry weather, or my organizational skills, or all of the fun vacations.

When your a gardener you have to spend time in the garden!
That said we still have kale. Is it me or is this photo a bit out of focus? Sometimes I can’t tell. The tomatoes were actually pretty good. A little wilt but not too much and it came very late in the season. I think I want to grow more romas again next year, or maybe a variety called opalka that my friend Betsey shared with me yesterday. Their larger than roma and make a sweet, meaty sauce… I brought some home from a visit with Betsey yesterday and popped just one of them into a little pot of fresh sauce that I made for dinner from some of my tomatoes that needed to be eaten. I think there was a very big difference! I planted quite a bit of cauliflower but it looks like the bunnies, or maybe even deer enjoyed the flowers for us.The marketmore cucs are done and I have to say that this variety was a success. We enjoyed lots of pickles and salads and cucumbery things… Here’s some later planted swiss chard that just isn’t taking off…A few candycane zinnias came up near the chicken coop door. Their cute and happy but not too prolific. I have one, yes one, watermelon still growing. I’m fertilizing it weekly as my neighbor suggested and hoping it makes it through the next few weeks. It’s about the size of a large honeydew melon right now. We had a few cantaloupes almost grow into edible fruit. This one is imploded and slightly rotted. It will be food for another project that I have going so it’s not a total loss. One pumpkin, yes one. This is the year of one, two or three of anything that I worked on over time. Of course the horseradish is happy. I don’t like horseradish but several of our friends and family members do so it will be fun to harvest it in a few weeks. The new little herb garden got off to a decent start. Next year we’ll hit the ground running in this area of the garden. I’ve got pots of potatoes growing. They haven’t flowered and have lots of foliage so I’m kind of unsure about where we’re going here. Generally they flower and then die back and you can dig out the potatoes. So I’m waiting to see what happens. I dug around a little bit the other day and I really think there are some good sized tubers in there. Parsley and basils need to be frozen in ice cube trays for the winter. The onions kind of worked out! Remember when I was inspired by Betsey and Ed and planted them back in the spring? No need to buy onions around here this winter!Oh, and then there’s this little project. Guess what’s in the box? Here’s a hint: It thrives on the cantaloupe.

Okay… about me.

I’m tired and busy and tired and worn out. I want to do right by my family so I took a major blogging break. I don’t think I’ve ever gone so long in between posts. It really has me wondering about what motivates me and what’s that best use of my time. Should I keep blogging? I like to blog because I love connecting with people all over the world. I like to think that I might encourage or entertain someone somewhere. I definitely feel accountable about what I say here so it keeps me on a good path in the gardening sense and beyond.

Have any of you fellow bloggers gone through this? It’s kind of writer’s block, but almost more like a writer’s resistance. I know what I want to say. I have a long list of posts to write but I wonder about the value of it. Does it matter? Should I just garden for myself and call it a day? No one who I know personally has said a word about my absence. Maybe I shouldn’t expect that, but maybe I should use my energy for other things.

That was a pretty stream of conscious paragraph or two. Thank you, I feel better,

Pioneer Woman used to say “tap, tap… is anyone out there?” She doesn’t need to do that anymore but I guess I could…

Tap, tap… hello?

Leave me a comment or send me an e-mail. I’d entertain any constructive feedback you have to share.

Enjoy everything!

Love, Michele

The Great Cape Escape

Last week my family escaped to Cape Cod! It’s one of the most beautiful places on earth, and there’s so many fun things to do. We trekked from one end of the Cape to the other and a little bit beyond up to Plymouth. Michael spends time down there every year for work but we tend to head north on vacation so it was new to the kids and I hadn’t been in a long time. We saw gardens… some really amazing gardens! This is a bed at the Heritage Museums and Gardens. I didn’t know that this 100 acres of surprises existed until a few weeks ago. I’m hoping to do a post or two about this wonderful place!

We loved the beaches…lots of wild and beautiful beaches!

We encountered some very large insects…

And lived in a very untypical dwelling for seven nights.

There were gardens in unexpected places…

and unexpected seal sightings in harbors.

We saw pristine views of Cape Cod Bay at Plimoth Plantation.

And I learned all about the gardens that the pilgrims grew!

I’m planning to write a lot more about our great day there later this week.

We visited a Cape Cod windmill…

and drank camping coffee.

It’s the best coffee in the world!

We swam (actually the kids swam), ate lots of cupcakes and had ice cream for dinner one night.

It was a trip of beautiful views, new experiences, family time and some great garden visits! Truly an escape like no other.

This week we’re back in Salem preparing for the start of school next week and harvesting things in the garden.

What are you up to? Are your kids back to school? How’s your garden growing?? questions, questions..

Enjoy everything (and answer one of my questions in the comments)!

Love, Michele

What’s Eating the Petunias?

Hmmm…Do you see chewed up flowers on your petunias?

They look like this..

And in worse case scenarios, like this… Yikes!

Here’s the culprit… the green hornworm.

They can be very tiny and they’ll try to blend in with the stems and leaves. You have to look carefully to see them but their there, munching away.

Just pick them off and give them a little smoosh and your petunias will start to come back. There’s usually just one or two per plant.

This pot of lemon ice petunias has been beautiful this year. I’ve been watching closely for the “petunia worms” as I call them. I think I caught them in time. I’ll keep you posted.

Don’t be shy, pick them off and smoosh! You can do it! It’s simple!

I’ll be on the road this week but checking in from our family vacation on Cape Cod :)!

Enjoy everything!

Michele

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day- August 2014

Happy Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day! We had a lot of rain the other day. It was nowhere near the thirteen inch amounts that were reported in areas to the south but it was a continuously driving rain all day. In anticipation of that I took these pictures on Tuesday because I wasn’t sure that there would be any blooms left after. We ended up doing okay in the rain. Everything got a good drink but we didn’t have too much destruction.

Last fall we scattered knockout roses across the front and side yards and while their very common, they have added a nice bit of color. I’ve been reading about rosa rosetta virus and worrying so I pruned all red canes and branches back to the ground a few weeks ago. I’m pretty sure that mine have it and there’s not a lot you can do to stop it other than try to cut it out before the mites make their way to the roots. We’ll see what happens.
I like the way the reddish pink flowers look against the worn fence.

The scarlet runner bean is taking off. I enjoy this plant because it’s pretty while it grows and it produces beautiful purple beans at the end of the season. It’s just a great, easy vine for filling in tall, long spaces.
It’s starting to creep up the bird feeder pole. I should have provided strings or a trellis.

We have lots of lilies. These were all planted in the years before I would have saved the packaging and made note of varieties. I like this pretty pale pink..
Deep orange…I don’t think it’s a ditch lily? Betsey, what do you say?
And a beautiful deep red…
I planted a few varieties of zinnia this year. The only ones blooming as of today are “peppermint stick mix.” I’m a little disappointed in them. I expected big beautiful bunches but so far the few seeds that germinated have produced single, scattered flowers. That does resemble a peppermint stick. It was pretty on the package but I’m not so sure now.

Volunteer sunflowers are scattered around.

And I’ve been enjoying these deep shaded coleus this year.

This is my favorite deck planter. It’s about three feet high.

The rose of sharon that my sister sent me in a manila envelope a few years ago is in bloom. I love these plants.

Here’s the big picture… lots of blooms from last month are still raging out there!

Does your garden “rage” too?

I think I need to get back outside, lol.

Be sure to visit May Dreams Gardens by clicking here to see the other GBBD posts. They are going to be amazing!!!

Love to you all,

Michele

Wordless Wednesday-The Ropes Mansion Garden-August 2014

Ask the Experts: What Is This Plant?

A few days ago my friend Cindy sent me this photo of a mystery plant that’s been popping up around her plot in her community garden in New Jersey and we speculated about what it could be. I’ve never seen it before. It looks a little like basil but doesn’t smell or taste like it. Cindy was told by her gardening neighbors that it can be used in salad. Maybe it’s some type of lettuce?

Anyone have any ideas? Curious minds want to know!

Thanks for your expertise!

Michele and Cindy

What’s Happening in the Garden, July 30, 2014

I truly can’t believe that it’s been almost a month since I posted a garden update. Where does the time go? We’ve been doing everything… camping, hiking, visiting, working, gardening… you name it! It’s a crazy busy summer! While we’ve been so busy lots has happened in the garden.

We have tomatoes!! These are super sweet 100s… I haven’t grown this variety before so I’m looking forward to tasting them.

There are tomato plants tucked in all over the place. One of the great things about growing from seed is the sheer abundance of plants when it’s time to plant. I’d better get that canning thing down because I’m going to need to do something with these tomatoes.

Yes, their a little bit too close together but I think they’ll be okay. I keep watching for blight so I can remove the yellow branches right away, and believe it or not, hardly anything is touching the ground.

We’ve picked several zucchini and more are on the way. I like to get them when their on the small side so their not too seedy. There is evidence of squash borer. I haven’t figured out how to organically prevent it from hitting my plants, but I have figured out how to deal with it to limit the damage….

I bury the base of the plant where the borers work their evil and the plant reroots almost immediately and keeps right on growing and producing. If you cut open the stalk you will clearly see the wormy little borers eating away. Not everyone handles that well. I think it’s kind of interesting.

There’s basil everywhere too. The flowers on this plant should have been cut back at the beginning of the bud stage. The photo that I took after I cut it was blurry, but you get the idea. You’ll have beautiful basil for a long time this summer if you cut it back!

The red onions look just about ready. I planted them close to the surface as I think I was supposed to and now their very high in the soil? Should I have covered them with soil as they grew or is this okay? It seems like they would have gotten bigger if they had stayed submerged a little bit longer.
The asparagus is gone for the year. It needs to be weeded and fertilized to shore it up for next spring.

The cucumbers are incredible this year! I guess the rain helped, along with researching the variety. I’ve harvested many and there’s lots more coming!

Okay, so, this is kind of a problem. I clearly wasn’t thinking when I put watermelon, cantaloupe and pumpkin in the same row.

The good news is that we have some fruit.

The bad news is that there appears to be some cross pollination happening. This is a very watermelon like cantaloupe.

Just across from the melon patch is a huge horseradish patch. I still have some in the freezer from last year.

The blueberries, covered with bird netting, are happily producing.

However, these brown dying branches on one of the two plants is a concern. Anyone know what’s happening here?

We have potatoes in the cat pot again… I mixed tons of compost in so I’m hoping for great tuber development.

My favorite border is hanging on. Maybe some good deadheading will bring back another bloom?

We made a little goldfish pond on the deck this year. It’s just a plastic barrel filled with water, pond plants and fish. It’s so easy and a nice addition to our sitting area where we enjoy our view.

Life is so good here…

Enjoy your blessings today!

Love, Michele