Floats in the Water Garden

One of the reasons I love the Internet and garden bloggers is because of the great inspirations I find for my gardens.

Frances at a Faire Garden posted about the development of her water garden.

I shamelessly stole the idea of using fishing floats in my water garden. They are beautiful, they float, they don't clog up the surface of the water with plant material and I can still see the fish.

First effort with three floats one larger than the others. I think it is too much.

Here it is with just the largest float. I think this is the look I am after. Now I need to get the Curly Whirly Juncus out of that bright orange pot and learn to take better pictures.

Anybody know of any good photography for idiots type books?

Happy Birthday Teenage Monkey

Happy Birthday to my first boy.

You can look me in the eye now.

You help your brothers with math when I can't.

Your voice cracks.

You seem both grown up and very young.

You are loving and funny.

You changed my life.

You make me very proud.

Fun with My Site Meter

Every once in a while I like to check on my site meter and see what brought people here. Mostly it is fellow garden bloggers and family members. Occasionally, someone gets here through a google search looking for some weird stuff for example.

Angel's trumpet looking sad - Don't be sad angels trumpet.

Going to the poor farm - No we aren't. Not yet anyway.

Laws of gardening - You are at the wrong site. I have been known to attract the attention of law enforcement in this garden.

The truth about oregano - Wow, I didn't know that oregano had a dark side and family secretes.

The Winner Is.....

What oak tree has hollow balls?

hahahahaha.

GBBD September 2008 Fall Flowers

I have fall blooms. The Autumn Joy Clematis is in full bloom.

My passion vine is blooming like crazy again.

Here is my favorite fall combo. Turks cap blooming with ox blood lilies.

Thanks to at Carol May Dreams Garden for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Basil Harvest

Wow that is some bad picture. The lemon basil harvest is in full swing. The dehydrator is totally full and I still have a lot left. There is even more in the garden. I smell like lemon basil, nice. I need to find a way to use all of this basil. Manly Man's favorite meal is Italian fried chicken and spaghetti with pesto. I put basil in our regular spaghetti sauce. Other than that, I don't have any other ideas about what to do with all this basil. I tried making a pesto based salad dressing adding more lemon juice and olive oil to make it more runny. That was good, but it needed salt. Any suggestions on what else to do with all this basil?

Squash Soup for Silence

Silence over at Poor Richard's Almanac asked for recipes using butternut squash that do not use sweeteners. I picked up a butternut squash at the store earlier today and decided to make soup out of it. I am planning the same thing for Mr. Carver up there come Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday).

So here goes

1 Butternut squash

2 Carrots

2 Celery stalks

1 Clove of garlic

2 1/2 Cups chicken broth

1/2 Teaspoon onion powder

1/2 Teaspoon cumin

1/2 Teaspoon curry powder

1/2 Teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 Teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 Teaspoon ground thyme (I will use fresh next time)

1/2 Teaspoon paprika

Black pepper to taste

Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds, brush with olive oil and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the squash can be easily scraped away from the skin. Saute garlic, carrots, and celery until tender. Put everything together in a blender and puree.

Make sure the lid of the blender is on tight. Trust me, I learned the hard way. Soup on the ceiling, not good.

Mine had a few carrot chunks, but I liked it that way. Milk or vegetable broth can be substituted for the chicken broth to make this a more vegetarian friendly dish. The soup was a little to spicy for the Monkeys. That's okay, more for me. I did a little research, and this soup is loaded with Vitamin A and beta carotene.

Is it wrong to tease a pumpkin?

Thanks a Lot Ike

We are all okay. We lost a tree limb or two and the Monkeys had to miss the last day of Cotton Festival, but it could have been a lot worse.

The rain barrel is full, so that is something.

Middle Monkey came in from outside to let us know the wind had picked up speed. How did he know? It almost knocked him out of the pecan tree. Anybody knows you don't climb a tree in a hurricane. Sometimes I think these boys have the common sense of plankton.

Here is the first of Mr. Carver's costumes. How do you like that paper cat mask?