Garden - 2 Months Later
Sunday, July 20, 2008

The view coming up from the driveway.
Our peppers, you can see some are coming in but still have some time before harvest.
Our herb garden, lots of delicious and flavorful herbs at your fingertips.
Our tomatos, we have 8 plants and I could not get them all in one shot.
Our beans, yes there are some green beans under the canapy of leaves. We will pick some tonight for dinner.
Our out of control raspberry bush. We have already picked a ton of berries which Erika made into Raspberry jam and the bush is ready for another harvest. I definitely need to trim back at the end of the season, there are a few shoots that are taller than me.
At this point, most of the color is gone from the yard except for a few late summer perennials and our annuals. In the back I have a section full of wild flowers and tall grass. Here is a shot of some the cone flowers, hostas and daisies.
Our phlox which is 4 years old now and standing about 4.5 ft tall. It just started blooming and will fill out over the next week. This one also blooms twice which is really cool.

Posted by mardenhill 7/20/2008 04:59:00 PM 0 comments    

Labels: Garden

Garden 1 Month Later
Sunday, June 22, 2008

Here are some photos of the garden 1 month after planting. Overall everything is doing well, we lost a jalapeno pepper that we had to replace and a few of the green beans but that is expected. The basil has taken off and the tomatos are right on track. Some of the peppers are starting and we should have a couple to pick within another week or so.

Posted by mardenhill 6/22/2008 10:56:00 AM 0 comments    

Labels: Garden

Garden 2008 2 Weeks Later
Saturday, June 07, 2008

Herbs
Herbs & Hot Peppers
Tomatos
Beans
Pathway with annuals
Annuals outside of fence.

Here are some updated photos of our garden, we put everything (sans the large herbs) 2 weeks ago and here is their progress. So far everything is doing great, a few of the annuals have died and need replacement but thats all. Its still early but the flowers should fill in the walkway and border outside the fence. This year I used Cosmos, Zinnias and Dalias outside the yard and along the path a mix of some purple and multicolor daisy like flowers. I threw away the tags so I have no idea what they are called.

Posted by mardenhill 6/07/2008 01:34:00 PM 0 comments    

Labels: Garden

Garden 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008

Yesterday we planted our garden and for now we done. We have a wide range of hot peppers, bell peppers, tomato's (8 varieties), green beans (2 kinds), edamame and herbs. We have basil, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, oregano, thyme, sage and our newest curry. Some of the herbs are perennials and are back in a full force (the sage has been pruned 3x this year so far) while others were just added yesterday. We will probably add some carrots and a few other root vegetables to the other side of the yard and that will probably be next weekend.

Hot Peppers:
banana
jalapeno
ancho
cayanne
serreno
super chili
habanero
caribbean red habanero

I usually give away most of the hot peppers, there are just too many to eat and some are beyond my ability but I have fun growing them. I decided that I will dry some this year and make my own pepper flakes in different heat levels.

I still have a bit of grass to remove at the end of the walkway but we need to remove the lightpost before we can put anything there so I am not in a big rush. Its hard to tell from this photo but I have a border on the right side of the walkway that has annuals planted. Once things start to grow I will post more photos. If my plans work out the way I am hoping, both sides of the walkway should have blooming annuals as you walk up to the house.

Posted by mardenhill 5/26/2008 02:29:00 PM 0 comments    

Labels: Garden

Some Photos Of The Garden 2007
Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Our jungle of herbs....
Peppers, peppers and even more peppers.
The tomatoes are taking over......We have 8 plants, 6 different varieties
Our green beans and corn. Some bastard critter chewed up a bunch of our corn stalks.
The radishs that need to be picked. Our carrots are doing well but I need to weed the area and didnt want to throw up any photos.
The raspberry bush which has been trying to take over the whole yard.

Tonight we grilled with some fresh green beans from the garden and made a dessert with the raspberries. I am looking forward to the peppers since we have a red savina which is 2x hotter than a habanero. I probably won't be eating them but I will pass them along to friends at work.

Posted by mardenhill 7/04/2007 07:36:00 PM 0 comments    

Labels: Garden

Why I Hate Sears
Sunday, June 17, 2007

Once the patio was finished we needed lounge chairs and the quest began. We checked Home Depot, Lowes, English Gardens, Target, Crate & Barrel and finally Sears. We found chairs that were very cool but over $300 a piece and everything below $200 was very uncomfortable and cheap. Friday nite after work I went to Sears and found the perfect lounger but they only had 1 in stock. I bought it but had to wait until Saturday to pick it up since it wouldn't fit in the back of my Ford Focus ZX3. I debated about strapping it down to my roof rack, I have done this before with a bed frame but waited since I wasn't sure I would be able to find a match. I spent over an hour that night calling 7 different stores plus the catalog number and all came up short. Either they didn't have the chair or they had no clue what I was talking about. Something about typing in an 8 digit number into a computer seemed to be too much for some of the stores. It amazed me how inept some of these people were and it blew me away that Sears does not link their stores inventories.

Finally Saturday morning I called the Novi store and they had one. I told them to put my name on it and I would be by in a few hours. I show up go to the counter and tell the guy that I have a chair on hold but I havn't paid for it. He sent me over to the customer service pickup where I told him I would need a receipt but he said don't worry they will find it for you. I went over and spoke the guy who just looked at me like I was some crazy fool and sent me back to the counter. I go back and the same guy was there. I asked him to go look in the back to see if my box is there. He did so, came back and said no. I told him there is one in stock so he looked it up and said "why yes there is, let me go see if I can find it". 5 minutes later he is back and said "would you like it". Um yeah, its why I am here, why I spent 20 minutes trying to get the box that should have had my name on it. Why he didn't see the box the 1st time, I have no clue he had the number in his hand and somehow missed it.

So the moral of the story is: If you put something on hold at Sears pretend you are a new customer and just go buy it, your name will not be on the box even if they told you it would.

Posted by mardenhill 6/17/2007 09:26:00 AM 0 comments    

Labels: Garden, Misc

Garden 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007

We started our garden for the year and it will be our most adventurous yet.

Herbs:
Basil, Sage, Tarragon, Thyme, Rosemary, Cilantro, Oregano and Mint.

Peppers:
Serrano, Jalapeno, Cayenne, Bell and the world's hottest pepper 2x hotter than Habenaro.

Tomatoes:
6 different varieties

Green Beans, Edamame and Sweet Corn

Posted by mardenhill 5/20/2007 07:15:00 PM 0 comments    

Labels: Garden

How We Spent Our Weekend
Monday, April 23, 2007

It was the best weekend of the year so far and although we were outside we were digging up grass. This is part of the area of the new patio we are building this summer. To the left of the cutoff it will stretch 6 more feet which I still need to tear up. We are going to have the patio wrap around the side of the house as well. We have some paver stones that need to be taken up but that shouldn't be a problem. We have decided that stamped concrete may be the answer but are waiting on the price. I have a feeling we will go this route but will save money since we are doing most of the labor when it comes to the prep work. Instead of buying more dirt for our garden we will use the stuff here and save money as well as doing the digging needed for the patio. We are going to leave the section with the vine and plants, it will be a built in planter which will look very cool in full bloom. Its been a lot of work but in the end we will have an area for lounge chairs, our grill, outdoor table and misc potted plants.

I am a bit worried about the plants already growing, they came up early and were hit by the cold spell a couple weeks ago. The tops of the leaves are dead but I think the rest of them are ok. I will have to wait and see what happens.

Posted by mardenhill 4/23/2007 12:34:00 PM 0 comments    

Labels: Garden, House

Time To Rake The Leaves
Sunday, October 29, 2006

We have 3 trees in our yard, 2 in the back and 1 in the front. One of our trees has dropped all its leaves but the other 2 are still holding on. Our red maple holds them well into November and I am stuck out there raking when its 30 degrees. The last 2 weeks have been riddled with rain which has cut my yardwork down to zero. Today the sun is out and some of the leaves that have fallen are dried out. I am heading out in a few to start raking what I can and hope the wind keeps blowing to knock the rest down.

I also need to plant the rest of my bulbs today, I just received the remaining coneflowers from Michigan Bulb. I have planted about 100 bulbs so far this fall, lets hope they produce next year. I am at the point where I can't really dig anywhere in the back without tripping over a bulb. This is good news and also means I need to tear up more of the yard if I want more flowers.

I am not a fan of boring grass and a couple shrubs for landscaping, I would rather have things blooming from spring thru fall and deal with the weeding.

Posted by mardenhill 10/29/2006 11:20:00 AM 1 comments    

Labels: Garden

Summer Is Officially Over
Sunday, October 08, 2006

Today was a great day to be outside, it was in the mid 60s and sunny. It was also that day that summer died, well for this year. We tore up the garden and all the flowers along side the fence. We also started raking the leaves and rototilled the beds. We still have a few things left in the garden, 1 tomato plant, 1 habanero, 2 chili pepper, some leeks and our herbs. We will give them another week to finish and then they are gone.

I also planted some new bulbs in the back for next year. We have some blue super asters, white dragonflower, a ton of different alliums and some lollipop lilies. I am still waiting on some asiatic and indian lilies that should be arriving soon. I ordered some really cool bulbs from Michigan Bulb and can't wait to see them grow next season.

One of the great things about Berkley is that we can rake all our leaves and old plants into the street for pickup.

Posted by mardenhill 10/08/2006 04:58:00 PM 1 comments    

Labels: Garden

Updated Garden Pictures
Monday, July 31, 2006

Chili Peppers & Habenero Peppers

Green Beans & Cucumbers

Tomatoes & Herb Garden

Here are some pictures of our garden, its been taking off and we have picked a bunch of stuff so far. We pulled up some carrots, cucumbers and radishes the other day. We have a ton of different herbs going so if anyone needs some just let us know. Click on any picture for a better look.

Posted by mardenhill 7/31/2006 07:52:00 PM 1 comments    

Labels: Garden

Latest Bloomings
Friday, July 28, 2006

Here are the last 2 things blooming in my yard, the stargazer lilies and the black eyed susans. I have a few daisies still open but those should be gone soon. This spring was a very warm one and a ton of our stuff bloomed early leaving us with the month of august being mostly green. At least we have the garden and we will also be gone for the 2nd half of the month. Overall I was happy with this years landscaping and already have plans for next year......

Posted by mardenhill 7/28/2006 03:55:00 PM 1 comments    

Labels: Garden

Garden 2006
Sunday, July 09, 2006

Here are some pictures of our garden, the 1st one shows our herbs. We have cilantro, basil, tarragon, sage, rosemary, thyme and oregano. The 2nd picture you can see the tomatoes, cucumbers, peas and peppers (on the other side of the tomatoes). The 3rd has our carrots, beets, radishs and onions. We have our own little Nino Savagios in our own backyard.

Posted by mardenhill 7/09/2006 02:12:00 PM 2 comments    

Labels: Garden