Bonsai project

So, today (or the past two months, rather) is another day of heatwave overkill, so to keep chill, I spent some of the day doing a bit of indoor gardening. I took pity on three very sad trees and decided they would be best suited for bonsai.

Acer ginnala (Amur Maple)

I pulled this one out of a pot while weeding at work, so I decided, since I adore the fall foliage on this particular tree, I would make it into bonsai. Since it's been probably 3-4 months since its birth, I have planned no rigorous training yet, but the root and stem was unusual enough that I would try to plant it over a rock. 

Buxus sp.  (Boxwood)

A freebie at work, a very pot-bound little boxwood that needed some serious cleanup, pruning and shaping. Wires are fun! I'm not sure what shape I'm going for just yet, I'll just watch it grow and decide what to keep and what to clip. I'm not sure how hold this one is, it's been in stock at a nursery so long. I hope the moss comes back.

 

Ginkgo biloba (Maidenhair Tree)

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to render my favorite tree into a bonsai. I wrapped the entire trunk with wire, and wrapped the trunk around my finger. I'll probably never live to see the day, but I want my ginkgo to be as twisted and crotchety as possible. 

A hundred more garden projects on the go. Waiting for the summer heat to die down a little bit before I start shoveling. Next year I'm going to get started a lot earlier, relax July/August, and work hard in September as well. Two border gardens and a rose bush are all I have to do this summer/fall, and I think then I will call it a growing season. 

-D

No pics today...

Weather: Chance of showers, mainly cloudy
Notable blooms: Tulips just about to open, daffodils, still a hurtin forsythia.

Yesterday I decided to jump into three new things that I have never tried: Potatoes, onions, and roses. I bought my first rose today, a 'Sunsprite' Floribunda variety. Almost as a way to keep the aphids off my vegetables.. I will also have a small nasturtium culture to keep them off, and perhaps get some beneficial insects when it warms up.

Square foot garden is coming along, but since I haven't said anything about it yet, I have already got the carrots (purple, orange), beets, and peas in the ground. Now I'm checking frequently for updates out there, but nothing as of yet. I might be late in this, but the seed potatoes are left out to pre-sprout before I plant those too. Some kind of purple skin/flesh variety.

Also have a Chester blackberry, and I'm considering a Triple Crown cane too..

That's all though, I have a load of seeds and seedlings waiting for it to get past frost time. Lot of renovations coming up for spring and summer, notably the front yard. And there has been some overseeding for the lawn.. what lawn! Lol, our lawn is mostly weeds and clover.. I'm going to try and fix that. I don't want people to see us as the negligent neighbor that gives everyone dandelions.  This is a very garden-competitive neighborhood, after all.

If I remember, pics tomorrow.

Breakin the buds!

Spring is coming, finally, and I can tell you why: We have ants! As of two weeks ago, I've been finding the odd ant here and there in the house. Large ants. Bitey ants!

But that's not the only Bitey thing I've brought into the home. We also took home our Valley Bulldog puppy, Penny on the 22nd! She is the bringer of breakdowns and gnasher of unarmed feet, and has come a long way since the day we picked her up. She is now capable of "sit" and often, "come", can walk well on a leash, is partially housetrained, if we clue in when she is asking to go out. She is now starting to understand the notion of fetch, which will make the boyfriend very pleased, as this is what he wanted, as criteria, for our dog. She is by no means a perfect puppy, but we have taken no break in training her to do exactly what we want right away.

This morning I woke to see two pheasants strolling through the overgrown thicket in the back of the yard. It's a little disappointing that I'll be clearing a large portion of it and taking away a safe space for them to pass through, but I've got to have my vegetables, and a garden. I started some seeds yesterday for tomatoes, and as we go through the month, I'll start more annuals and vegetables. I'm just antsy to get out there and start pulling the weeds and marking off where we want the garden tilled.

The front yard is going to be the biggest candidate for a makeover this year. And both yards desperately need grass seeding, since mud collects everywhere. I also need to start getting some bat houses built, to keep the mosquitoes at a more acceptable level. It's pretty bad here.

So now, my eye is on the tree buds. I'm waiting. I'm excited to see all at once, the properties, yard after yard after yard, explode in a yellow fury of Forsythia. Bring it on!

2010 KICKOFF!

Birthday, Ribbit, posing in front of my painting...

Well, it's another new year, and I've already declared my new Year's Resolutions. It's not as cliche as most years, by the way, it's more about getting the most out of my year... How, exactly?

BY FINISHING WHAT I START!

This might sound like quite a trivial feat, but to me, this is a major thing, because I absolutely love jumping into fresh things, and I really feel it for a while, but eventually, I lose steam, veer off, and just abandon it altogether. Let's see... when has that ever happened for me...?

- Most knitting projects

- Things I offered to make for people out of sculpey.. (coughcough the leaf..)

- I have like 5  needlepoint projects on the go, and like 20 kits that haven't even be touched. And proly about 4 or 5 that I have opened, and started to sort the floss for and never jumped into yet.. heh heh..

- Paintings.. I have about 3 incomplete, one is just an orange background.

- Hey, I see a change occurring in my muscle tone and weight loss, I should follow that to the end shouldn't i? Don't fall off the fitness wagon this year.

- All these hoarded recipes I've printed off but never cooked. I'm gonna make these things now! I'll alternate between meals, and sweets/desserts.

- Digital art.. man, don't even get me started on my works in progress..

I'll have to make a queue or something so I can keep myself focused! Arrgh! I can do this.

So, onto the accomplishments. As shown above, I DID finish a knitting project this month, and in under a month! Geez! Above is fwouggie for my mom's birthday, I made him, hoping my mom still loves frogs and isn't terribly sick of everything frog related I've made for her at this point.

 Frog in its natural habitat

On top of knitting, I also finished another really cute project for the home: A tile matchbox/trinket drawer:

 

I had this old decrepit ginkgo leaf sandwiched in my tablet, so I decided to put it somewhere that it could be appreciated. I collected this leaf from the bowels of my hometown, more and more people are using Ginkgos as street trees, Good for you guys! Keep em coming! This project took 2 4x4 tiles, 6 boxes of matches, lots of glue, and a little bit of lacquer. I got this idea from a book I purchased with one of my christmas gift cards, called "The Big-Ass Book of Crafts" by Mark Montano. All of the crafts are really awesome (my copy is dense with post-its!) and they're all home-decorative crafts. I'm excited to start some more, perhaps gather some more components for another project today, since it's my birthday and I can't seem to decide what I want, besides seeds, hort related goodies, insects...well that's all I've been into for the last lil bit.

Want to knit your own frog? - Ribbit

Interested in the Craft Book? - craftytown

Til next time!

- Dee

It's the most wonderful...

Christmas time is finally here in our home. After humming hawing for about two weeks, we decided (also because we have 2 weeks off and won't be home) to go artificial. It is my first deliberate choice to go artificial, but at least this way, we never need to worry about mold buildup, dogs or cats drinking from the water stand, vacuuming, and so on. Immediately after bringing it home I strung er up in lights and started decorating. It's hard to believe now I have several decorations from my childhood, still fully intact, as I often had a tendency as a kid to enjoy playing with "glass" toys, or taking them apart. One of which, a little plastic mailbox, is missing the "santa cat" waiting below. I loved cats as a kid, and I loved taking toys apart, even if they weren't meant to be.

I remember these other little ceramic cats, i think there were 8 of them in the set, And I'm not surprised they didn't make it to my tree, I think I broke or hid all of them. I just wasn't having them be put back after the holidays.

 View of modest tiny angel...

Having a sunroom with windows all around it and no shades to cover them, we chose that to be the place to show off a tree. This year we won't be decorating the house with lights, so the tree will have to suffice the drive-by gawkers.  Unfortunately, this year will be another year with the tiny inadequate angel, no more than 3 inches tall, with a teeny little light in her hand. I had my eye on one at work; but missed out. Hopefully she'll find her way in the returns bin this evening, or I migiht find one at the Dartmouth location. Oh please oh please!

(Our short-lived snow day)

I wrapped everything we had so far (except my Parents' giant gift, we're not sure how to do that one yet). We plan to finish up the shopping today, wrap it up, and call it a season. This year, because there is outdoor access to the basement, I can do all my wreathmaking in the basement, and just sweep the mess out. Last year everything was too sappy afterwards working in the kitchen. I think (and hope) it'll be a little less lonely this christmas eve, having more friends to visit here in our new town. We visit family christmas morning, it'll be a little bit of old and new. I like that!

In the new year, after our bills are tackled, we face the trials of finding a puppy. A valley bulldog; or any mutt, so long as it is young!

I also had to add that we had decided a month ago that this year, my bf and I would give ourselves a gift together, a nintendo Wii, but we were beat to the punch when we won it instead at our staff christmas party. I believe this may have been a Law of Attraction phenomenon, but I won't get into the details. Now we realize we have to get eachother something, and the pressure's on!

I've had a full year of knitting now. I'm currently working on a scarf as a gift, but I think it's just too bland, and I can't make the pattern I created look attractive enough to give, so I'm forfeiting this as a cursed ball of $10 yarn. Bah! Humbug. I think in the new year, I'm going to begin crocheting as well as learning to knit socks (or DPN knitting). It's gonna be a cold year. This spring I think we'll be doing a lot of insulation-related renovation.

That's all... if you have heard nothing by new year, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Grinchmas, New Year, and all that jazz!

Insect husbandry

And so begins my hobby in insect husbandry! Received my much anticipated insect ova in the mail yesterday, and boy have I been excited ever since! If the labeling isn't clear, they are Extatosoma tiaratum (giant prickly stick) and Phyllium Spp. (Philippines) (leaf insect).

And so begins a conflicted point in my life where I am contemplating a career change from retail to sciences, where this hobby conflicts. I can't say much more than that. I'm also giving a little bit of thought, after some discussion with the SO, into my aspirations of teaching people about this subject matter.

But I contemplate a lot currently, having gotten over my strange emotional divot. I am now ascending again to greatness realization. The right things pouring sloppily into the right places.

I'm expecting a few more great things in the mail, namely, the seeds for Eucalyptus.

Not much else to report. Just spending time with some friends while they still remain nearby. Soon I'll be grateful for these mountains of pastimes which will occupy my solitude! As long as I don't start drowning in winter depression. This time, between mid november and christmas, I love, but the stretch that follows is by far too brutal.

that stretch between halloween and remembrance day..

 KaleidoscOak 1

So it's been a little while, I suppose it's time for a minor update. Halloweeen has come and gone quickly, and my hort friends get together was a giant flop, but I came out with some things that really made my week, in a good way! I got inspired to paint, and I am getting some goodies in the mail!

I went on a little quickie nature hike with a friend the other day, and when I realized I brought home two very beautiful oak leaves, I decided, instead of just keeping them for whatever, might as well emulate them for canvas. The one pictured above is by far the favorite, because it just has a slightly more realistic vibe to it. Feel a bit silly to say when I got up the other morning, I left it to sit in front of the tv and mistook it for something on television. Haha, oh Dee you're such a silly kid.

KaleidoscOak 2

Now I want my own oak tree in hopes to get something as special as these every season, but I know I just don't have the room for one here. But I wonder, because I am jealous of those raking up their oak leaves, are they, too, jealous of me, as I rake up my maple leaves? 

So, after my plans to purchase a few exotics at a local small business pet shop fizzled, I felt disappointed and advertised my desire to acquire anything that could get  related to this dream. It was answered, so I wait. In the mail I'm expecting some eggs, which I hope won't freeze, but we've had favorable weather lately. I also ordered a food source, but also, because I do like a nice Eucalyptus plant and I am always up for a good challenge to test my green thumb. So this paragraph here is all I have been thinking and dreaming about. So I wait. And check the mailbox every afternoon at precicely noon-thirty. I imagine the eucalyptus will arrive first.

as for knitting, I am slowly working on a slouchy hat. Soon it won't be necessary though, because my hair is just about ready to be donated, and I won't be able to wear a ponytail anymore.

Very grateful for my paint muse to return, grateful for generous strangers, and endless gratitude for warm autumn wind. Now it's time to make some brunch.. I'm thinking french toast.

(Jack-o-lantern action shots will come shortly)