Thursday, August 1, 2013

A Waning Garden

Good morning!  August 1st!  My beautiful grandmother, "Nana" is 99  years old today.  We will be celebrating her birthday together as a family on Saturday.   The photo below was taken a few months ago when we moved Nana to her new place.

Oh how we love our Nana!  Happy Birthday Nana!!!!  It is also my Aunt Claylene's birthday.  As well as my Mom's dear friend Kay.  I am thinking of them today as well.
We are sure having a cool spell here.  This morning was actually chilly!   Crazy for August 1!!
My garden is winding down.   I have removed several things that have finished producing, and will be planning my Fall garden now.  I harvested my first watermelon of the season.  I didn't get too many, but boy are they sweet and juicy!!!
One of my tomato plants is producing palm sized tomatoes.  They are so delicious!!!
I believe fresh green beans will be on the menu for tonight.
I wound up harvesting several cantaloupe too.  They were on the smallish side, but so juicy.  I got a bad case of aphids on the second planting I put out by the pumpkin patch, so I pulled them.  I didn't want them to snuff out my pumpkins.  I have another 18 to 20 pumpkins growing now.
I am still making Maybelle Flowers for my afghan.  I have bought various colors of yarn, and am making it in a DK weight.  I bought a couple worsted weights specifically for their color.  But, I was not happy with how chunky they turned out, so with those I am making something different.  I did my first two squares yesterday.  I am thinking I will do a pillow with these.
I love the color.  Sort of a pumpkin spice.
I made an ear warmer while out on the boat last weekend.  I made it with one of the DK weights, in a soft aqua.  I adore the color.  But, this would be better suited for this time of  year, and in my opinion, not substantial enough in weight for an ear warmer.  But very pretty for a hair accessory.

I put a Maybelle flower on it, just because I happened to have one in same color with me.
I am working on building my inventory for holiday sales.  I am taking orders now.
Oh...one last thing.  Have you gotten one of these green crinkle hoses?  I LOVE it!!!  They are shorter than a standard hose, but when on, it lengthens quite a bit.  I love the shut off valve on it, and the ability to set it to a fine spray.  It is one of my favorite new toys.  I come from a family of hosers!  We love to hose down!!!

Go make it a beautiful day!!!!
XO  Kris

19 comments:

Dawn said...

All your produce is wonderful. I am buying from the farmers market, the deer ate my garden this year:( I have 2 of those hoses and love them. Stop by and see my new blog design, I moved to WP yesterday:)

Linda said...

I have seen those hoses and wondered if they're worth it...you've convinced me! I got spider mites in 2 of my tomato plants so we pulled them...we just couldn't control them and didn't want them in everything else...especially the other tomatoes...what is about bugs this year...way more than ever...I wonder if its because of all the humidity. I love the ear warmers...I think I may need to order a couple for the girls. Watermelon looks delicious...I wish I had the room...too much shade in my yard...which is good and bad. Have a great day...I'm off to the Long Beach Quilt show today for preview nite with my sisters...

Deb~in~Denver said...

All of your garden goodies look SO good! That watermelon made me drool, I need to run to Sprouts and pick one up! Love the ear warmers and that aqua one is gorgeous! You are a busy bee! I have 2 of those pocket hoses (I originally saw them on Holly's blog) and I LOVE them! They make watering my flowers so much easier. A friend who works at Home Depot said that they've had a lot returned, I guess they don't hold up well in the sun, so we keep ours on the porch and haven't had a single problem. Happy birthday to your sweet Nana! Such a precious picture of her!

xo
Deb

Robyn said...

You've certainly been a busy bee. I LOVE all the fruits and veggies. How I wish I could have a garden like that.. My goodness, 99 years old. What a blessing.. A VERY blessed and happy birthday to your Nana!

~Niki~ said...

lovely summer pics!

Anonymous said...

All that produce looks so tasty! Watermelon is my favorite. But, it ALL looks wonderful. Congrats on such a great harvest.

Home Meadows said...

Your garden goodies look great. I've seen the hose advertised on tv, it seems like it would be handy. Happy birthday to your Nana. Hope you've had a great day. Heather

Astri said...

Love the Maybelle flowers! I've been wanting to be....I mean get one of those hosers and mean hoses. aha - glad for the review. :-)

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

God bless your Nana on her 99th birthday! How remarkable to live so long!

Your garden is also remarkable, Kris. I am so envious of that! :) Fresh produce is very expensive here and I can't find some of my favorite veggies like broccoli Rabe (rapini)

From the Kitchen said...

Happy birthday to your Nana! May she celebrate well.

I'm very envious of your garden!!

Best,
Bonnie

Linda said...

Happy Birthday Nana!!!
I love your watermelons...wonder what mine will look like when I finally get out to the lake today!!!
Your quote about being "hoser" cracked me up!! There was a comedy duo very popular in the '80's here in Canada..."The McKenzie Brothers",and they called themselves hosers!!!If you google them, you might get a laugh!! Whenever we all see them, we giggle ourselves silly!!
Have a great weekend Kris...
Great crocheting..I really must get busy on that soon!!!

Off to the cottage for a long weekend...Vivian still feverish this am...Erika home with her...:o(
Hope it is nothing serious...

Cheers!
Linda :o)

Mereknits said...

My goodness you have been busy, your garden has produced so much this year. My flowers are all dead and wilted away. They just can't take the heat in Florida. I will have to wait until October to plant some for the Winter. Lovely crocheting, I love the flowers and made several a while back.
Hugs to you,
Meredith

Holly said...

Happy Birthday Nana! Those tomatoes look soooo good. I keep showing Brian pictures of your produce from Instagram just to make him mad. Our garden has died out. I love the Pocket hoses. I injured my arm back in February and it hurts to carry a heavy hose so this one is perfect. There are several problems with these hoses though. I have bought and returned eight of them so far. They either burst or leak terribly after 2 - 3 weeks. I just keep taking them back to Walgreens for an exchange. I've called the manufacturer and they are aware of the problem and are working on fixing these issues. In the meantime, I go back and forth to Walgreens. I can't go back to lugging a heavy hose around the yard. Have a great weekend my friend.

Tania said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you Nana, hope you all have a very special day to celebrate her 99 years. How precious :)

I have garden envy after seeing all your lovely pickings. Cant believe the size of that tomato! I am getting ready for Spring here, working out what I will be planting etc. I don't think I will plant in the extreme heat this year as it costs so much for our water...

x

Sunny Simple Life said...

Oh wow your garden is amazing. Bet that melon was good. I looked at those hoses for the back but read not to drink or let animals drink out of them? Not sure what is in them but just wanted to share. So then I bought an expensive one you can drink from but of course it kinks. Oh well.

Nicolle said...

Happy birthday to your beautiful Nana, your aunt and your mom's friend! I love to celebrate birthdays. Your watermelon looks amazing, and I bet it was sweet. I can tell by how red it is, that it must have been delicious. Have a good weekend. xo

Petunia Pill said...

Your Nana and my father in law were born on the EXACT SAME day! He has now passed on - but he was an August 1st baby and would have been 99 on the 1st as well! Ninety-nine years...wooooo-eeee, the changes in life that have occurred over her lifetime! God Bless HER! xoxo

Pammy Sue said...

Your fruit and veggies are just gorgeous! I'd love to have those green beans with some new potatoes in them and tomatoes and onion on the side for supper. YUM!

Happy Birthday Nana! Wow, 99!

Patty Antle said...

The watermelon looks so delicious. I didn't know about the hose. I learn new things from you all the time!