First Garden Update of the Year

 I'm not sure who else in the family has planted their tomatoes.  I probably won't win the tomato contest this year... unless you count the SIZE of the tomato plants.  And unless my plants get as big as they did last year.  I didn't plant Early Girls.  I'm trying some new varieties.  An heirloom, called Mortgage Lifter (hoping that one works!) and a smaller one called San Francisco Fog .  It's been cool this week, they survived the freak rain/hail/sleet/snow storm we had but they don't look any bigger than when I planted them a few weeks ago.

 The sweet alyssum, on the other hand, is growing all over the place.  It's a weed in my garden & I end up pulling it out of the beds & pots.  But it is pretty.

 My jasmine is blooming & smells VERY sweet.

 I have several types of sedum/succulents... don't even know what they're all called.  The top right corner is one of my rosemary plants that I use all the time for cooking.  And you can even see a little of my chocolate mint coming back out.

 Here's the corner with the jasmine.

 And we moved the clematis out of the corner so we could put the larger grill there.  And there's the other upright rosemary plant so Glenn can grab some & throw on the grill whenever he cooks. 

Jordy & I went on a hike yesterday and took lots of photos.  I think she put hers on Facebook.  Below is one of my favorites from the ones I took. 

Tiny Talk Tuesday & the Invader in My Tomatoes

We were just sitting around talking about Margie when I realized that today was Tuesday so I thought I would just post it here & let y'all know what's going on.

I've had a busy two weeks so haven't been posting as much -- due to vacationing coworkers I've worked on my last two days off.  Then we had a health fair Thursday night so I worked then.  Then this weekend Room With a Past was open so I worked there.  Whew.....  I'm tired now.

Our church's family camp at Lake Tahoe started Friday, too.  Mark & Lauren went up with some friends Saturday.  They camped.  Glenn & Jordann went up after church Sunday.  They stayed in a hotel.  I took Margie to the early service then we went out to eat & went shopping.  We went to the thrift store to find books.  At our favorite thrift store hardbacks are always $1.00 and paperbacks are 75c.  I told her the price then we started looking.  She found a hardback she liked and looked at the dust jacket.

Margie:  I like this author.  But this book is $18.99.  Don't spend that much on me.
Me:  No, they're all $1.00.
Margie:  Really???  Wow, that's great.
Looked around a little more.  Found several paperbacks & started a stack.
Margie:  Ann, these books all cost too much.  You don't need to spend that much on me.
Me:  No, they're all 75c.
Margie:  Really???  Wow, that's great.
I think we repeated this conversation twice more before we walked over to look at clothes.  She needs another cardigan because she's always cold & one of hers is getting very worn.  She also needed a purse -- which she found for only $2.00  Didn't find a cardigan, but did find a couple of summer shirts.  I told her all the clothes were $4.50.  I found some & needed to try them on so she sat in the chair right outside the dressing room.  When I came out she was gone.  She was at the checkout talking to one of the employees.
Margie:  Ann, these aren't on sale.  Don't buy them, they're too expensive.
Me:  Margie, the full price is only $4.50.
Margie:  Really?  Wow!
She did get a little tired by the time we were through but physically she was having a good day.

So... fast forward to this afternoon.  I went out to pick my delicious home grown tomatoes and when I reached in to grab one this HUGE black widow came running toward me!  Tonight I was telling the family about it so Glenn & Mark went out to find it for me.  It was between the boards of the fence so Glenn sprayed it & Mark smushed it with my broom.  Sons do come in handy!  I think Jordy was running around screaming with me & Lauren was inside getting ready for VBS.

The Race Is On!

Look what I found on my tomato plant today!  Every year my family has a "friendly" competition... who will have the first tomato?  I'm gonna win this year.  My sister has her plants in the ground already.  My sil has her plants but I don't know if they've been planted yet.  I planted mine several weeks ago and they already have tomatoes on them.  

Not really... but I still think I'm gonna win.  

Both plants do have blooms.  I'm also trying a new one this year -- RED pear.  I had a yellow pear last year that completely took over the whole patio!

The other plants are doing well.  We have some strawberry blooms on the plants we planted last year.  We've used some of the cilantro already.  And all the other plants are looking healthy & happy.

Happy Easter & Happy Spring!

Look What I Found In My Garden

I bet Aunt Sue doesn't have one like this... at least 'til her nieces get to her house. :-)

Saturday

The giant tomato plants are here again!  I forgot to take close ups of the little yellow pears.  I'll do that in the next update.

We started our day with a trip to the Clayton farmer's market.  Bought some cucumber, squash, beans, peaches, cilantro, & onions.  

Then the girls did a little more work on the invitations.  They also bought shoes for all the girls in the wedding party.  I've been looking for ideas for the pew markers.  We thought about using photos with tulle bows.  Has anyone ever seen anything like that done before?  One more photo... here's Lauren's meatloaf from last week.  Served on our new Ikea salad plates.

Garden Update & What's Cookin'

I can't remember what started it last week, but Jordann decided she wanted meatloaf for dinner.  (Maybe something on the Food Network?)  I hadn't made meatloaf in a LONG time so I made some, along with my family's other favorite foods - mashed potatoes & green beans.  That's my plate above.  Here's Jordann's plate:

I've also had some questions about how my garden's doing.  My tomatoes are well on their way to becoming monster tomato plants again!  I think the one on the left is the yellow pear.  Mmmmmmmmm......

On the other side of the patio is my clematis.  Remember I didn't cut it back this year.  I wanted to see how different it would be.  I don't know if I like it.  Now I have lots of blooms on both ends & none in the middle.  :-(    
And one more photo to show how good Jordann is at multi-tasking.  I think the TV is also on in the background.  And often she's carrying on a conversation at the same time.  

My Garden Report

Look what I found in my "salad bowl"!  Little tiny lettuces.  This was taken a few days ago and I noticed some little spinach plants on the other side of the bowl yesterday.

The tomato plants are happy!
I'm trying something different with my clematis.  Actually, I kept putting off cutting it back in the fall, so long that it started budding on the old growth.  So, instead of trimming it all the way back like I did last year I just cut off the completely dead parts and it got a head start this year.  Wonder how much of a difference that will make?
Sorry for the really bad photo -- I did not Photoshop this one!  And here's my little bird bath corner.  Still need to tie up my jasmine vine.

Oh, those are special rocks in the center bowl.  We picked those up on the edge of the Mediterranean when we were in Turkey.  Every day when we went out with the kids we'd pick up a few rocks.  Can't believe we got back with so many!

Another Design Team Member & What Happened on my Patio today

I've been receiving more photos from my design team.  Today's member is Tam from Barker Bell Herbs & Heirlooms.  She used the same design elements as all the team members had:  vintage pages from my paper pack, Words of Love & Love in Many Languages word circles, the Loving Couple collage sheet, my butterflies from vintage papers, blank tickets, and I also threw in an envelope, lace, and other vintage paper shapes.
She even used some of the crepe paper I wrapped the items in for this cute collage!
Make sure you go by & visit Tam's Etsy shop.  Thanks, Tam!!!
On another subject, my sister's blog inspired me to work outside today.  Her garden's going to be HUGE!  We just have a patio, but we had ginormous tomato plants last year.  I told my neighbor this morning I was planting more tomatoes and she asked if we were going to have monster tomato plants again.  I don't know.  I still don't know what I did different.

We are making some changes this year.  Last year everything was in containers.  Jordi wanted to tear up all the bricks but Glenn was afraid that would be too much, so we started with an edge.  The jasmine went into the ground in the corner.  Three tomato plants went in the other elevated area - Celebrity, Sweet 100, & a Yellow Pear.  I think they're planted too close together but I'm going to try to keep them a little more in control than last year.  lol....   Jordi saw some strawberry plants so we go those.  Haven't tried them since we lived in Illinois.  Then she scattered sweet alyssum seeds around the edges.  The one that's there in the front has been there since last year.  It grew from a seed that fell from a container plant.  The pots on the right end are mint and rosemary.  I use rosemary all the time when I cook.  Love it with roasted potatoes & chicken!  I don't use the mint but really like how it smells.  We planted lettuce in the pot to the left.  
That's all we did today.  The other side of the patio is still a mess.  But I'm really sore now so that'll have to wait.  Maybe we'll have another nice day next weekend.  

Tuesday

This is how many tomatoes I picked just today.  Tomorrow I'm going to have to start freezing them.  We can't eat them as fast as we're picking them -- and giving them away.

Today was my day off.  I finished washing all my clothes, did some shopping, a little housework, and finished up some cards I was making.  Angie & I made these during some free time on ladies retreat.
Hey, Angie, does this string look familiar?

Now it's back to work tomorrow.  

My Saturday

OK, had to take a break from chores so I thought I'd catch up my blog.  Thursday night my parents caught me on Skype when my mood message said I was upstairs crafting.  They wanted to know what I was making so I thought I'd show them some pictures.

I got a little carried away making tags again!  :-)  I'm thinking about having a "tag of the month" club!  Anybody wanna sign up?  lol...  Look, I even put my leftovers together in a little tag kit -- it already sold in my Etsy shop!

So this morning I decided that I really should trim my monster tomato plants a little bit.  I hauled off 2 black garbage bags of branches I cut off my tomatoes, herbs, and flowers.  And if you hadn't seen it before you probably wouldn't be able to tell right now!  I tied up a lot of the branches -- they're kind of running horizontally across the fence right now, kind of like grape vines.  I also brought in 4 POUNDS of tomatoes!!!  And remember, I've been eating a handful of grape tomatoes and an Early Girl every day for the past few weeks.  I've had whole gardens that didn't produce as many tomatoes as I'm getting from these two plants.  My patio smells really good right now -- a combination of tomato plant, chocolate mint, lemon balm, rosemary, sage, and chives!  

Since we're going to a semi-formal wedding tonight I'm going upstairs now to see if I can get the green stains and ink off my fingernails.  I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

Attack of the Killer Tomato Plant & Other Things We've Been Doing

Another busy week!  My Etsy shop has been busy.  Lots of people are already buying Christmas & Halloween things.  I went to Michael's yesterday and couldn't believe how many Halloween decorations were out!  Martha Stewart has some fun kits.  Anyway, back to our week.  Saturday night we went with some friends to the Giants/Dodgers game.

Yes, we are wearing coats, sweatshirts, and scarves!!!  It's hard for this Texas girl to remember to bring a coat & scarf to a ball game here in Northern California.  :-)  We enjoyed hot coffee and garlic fries that night.

And the complete opposite on Sunday -- we had a going away picnic for Lauren at the park.  It was HOT.  (Back on our side of the hill.)  We enjoyed pizza, cake, and she even got a few gifts.  I gave her her book but I think Sarah & Becca's reaction to it was even better than L's.

See, I needed a picture of Sarah for the book and Lauren's latest pictures included Sarah's "special friend".  

And, why does this always happen?  Do you notice anything about the photos below?

I think they were sitting over by themselves solving the gas crisis and the situations in Georgia and China while we're over in our group listing to stories about how Sarah met Ben.

Tuesday -- Went grocery shopping with Jo.  She picked out dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets.  So I made them along with mashed potatoes & green beans, all her faves for dinner.  Here's what happened at the dinner table:

And, just in case you don't know us, my kids really ARE 14 and 17.

And now for the photo you've all been waiting for....  here's what my tomato plants look like now:

This is TWO plants grown in pots the size of the one you can see on the right.  I fertilized them once when I planted them and water them about every other day.  I've been eating a handful of grape tomatoes every day for the last month and an Early Girl about every other day.  BTW, the chair is there to help hold up the plants!

My sister recently asked me about gardening. We used to have huge gardens when we lived in Illinois and Texas. She & her dh are building a home out in the country and will have room now for a garden, chickens, goats, sheep, peacocks, ducks... anything else, SE? lol... Anyway, I made an Amazon widget with a few of my favorite gardening books.

Even now, in a CA townhouse, I'm eating homegrown tomatoes everyday from the plants on my patio!

Catching Up

Finally have an evening at home. We're sitting around waiting for American Idol to see who got voted off this week. Our current favorite is David Archuleta. I forgot to tell you what we did the last two Saturdays. Week before last Glenn had to take his bike down to Pleasanton to get the brakes worked on. Last summer when I went with him down there I walked around downtown while he was talking bike-talk with the guys in the shop. That's when I found the antique mall with a booth full of the neatest vintage aprons I've ever seen. Unfortunately, the mall didn't open 'til 11. So I kept walking around and found a shop called American Harvest. While I was walking around I thought some of the things looked familiar. When I checked out (bought some old photos) they gave me a card with a website on it and it was the same blog that I had looked at earlier in the week! I didn't realize the shop was in Pleasanton.

Then we went over to the farmer's market and bought fresh strawberries, bread, and broccolini. I'd never tried broccolini and it was delicious! The strawberries & bread didn't make it home. We ate broccolini & roasted rosemary potatoes for dinner.

This Saturday morning we were cleaning house when Jordann asked if we could go to an estate sale we'd seen advertised. Of course. It turned out not to be a very good sale but we kept following other garage sale signs. Lauren won the shopping award for the day. If you haven't already go read her blog for Saturday.

I also didn't show you my clematis vine last week. I added another pole for it to grow on. It has lots of buds on it now.

Here's a close up of Lauren's plant that I just repotted. I knocked it over when I was cleaning & broke the pot.


And a couple of things I made last week -- a thank you card and a bird with some paper flowers around it's neck!