And then there are my beloved trees, I love trees, but when there are tropical storm or hurricane force winds to trees that have their leaves on them still, there is always potential for branches to come down as well as entire trees, and our house is in the “line of fire” for several trees.

There isn’t much we can do about the trees except let nature take it’s course, and my gardens are going to be protected by sand bags.  It is very close to the end of the gardening season as far as many of my vegetables and flowers go, but some plants won’t be blooming until into September.  My container garden on the deck will be moved very close to the house where the plants will be more likely to be protected from the wind.

I was very impressed by a document put out by a site in the UK on preparing the garden for flooding, as well as the home.  When you visit “Flooding in the Gardens” and page down a bit you’ll find a wealth of information on protecting the garden from flooding as well as restoring the garden and the lawn after flooding.  May we all fair well during Hurricane Irene.

Click for photo Credit

A few things that I’ve learned about care:

• If the humidity in the room goes below 50% misting the tree is necessary…I’ve been doing that upon rising and when I go to bed, twice a day.
• It doesn’t need direct sunlight, but should be in a bright room.  Ours is under a skylight and seems to be happy so far.
• If the branches and leaves/fronds  and fall off, they won’t come back, so the branch will have to be trimmed off…I have trimmed one branch off so far, but it actually made it look more even as it was on a “bushier” side of the tree.
• Water well when soil is dry a couple inches down, but do not let the pot sit in standing water.  I’m planning to put some stones under the pot at some point, haven’t done that yet so try to control the amount of water that I use, and empty the dish after all water has drained into it after watering.
• I have more instructions here.

It isn’t so close to the house that it’s protected from the cold either.  In fact, last week it looked like it was fading a bit, so I thought the cold had finally gotten to it, but we had a brief warmer spell…in the 30′s…and a little rain, and it revived!  If you are visiting and can identify this for me, it would be great…I just grabbed it quickly as it looked like it would be a nice background for my long gone pink hanging petunias.  It was, and now with the Petunias gone for months, has taken over:-)

Hope you are enjoying the Christmas season!

First, these Rose Hips were all over, on another earlier blog post I shared a picture of a rose we were able to find in bloom…rare at this late time in the season. And the following is a closeup of the beautiful and LARGE rose hips from what I believe would be a Rugosa Rose bush. They grow tall and all over the Acadia National Park area of Maine, and as many know, Rose Hips are full of Vitamin C.

I thought you may enjoy this pretty little garden bed…a garden in a bed…taken at a camp we stopped by to visit on Spofford Lake in New Hampshire…a place where I worked during the summer when in high school so many years ago.  To see the picture before this one in the tour, visit this link at New Jersey Baby Boomer.  To visit the last stop on the tour, visit this link at Working Grandmothers, and thank you for “traveling” through my blog photo tour.

I was thinking about that the other day as I looked at this blog and all the posts that have accumulated over the years…and the many more that will be posted in the days to come. I thought about it more while looking out at my struggling gardens because of the unusual heat and dryness we have experienced this year.

Yes, I love gardening, but not the way some do…those who are out there all the time, tending to their plants, making artistic creations out of their gardens. Part of me envies them.

I have to be honest and say that what I love is all that has to do with the outdoors, green…I love green, plants, and all the wildlife, animals, butterflies, insects.

So yes, I like gardening, but enjoy gardens that almost take care of themselves, hence the planting of so many perennials. I like experimenting with container gardening on my deck.

There is a peacefulness that comes while weeding and working in the garden, it’s a time when I, for some reason, find myself remembering things from my childhood, things from my past.

The gardens have struggled this year, but there is much green out there. It’s time to cut back the plants that are just not going to make it, hope that the late blossoms that are coming on some of my vegetables will have time to bear fruit, and begin to think about the things of Fall.

I hope this is a super September for all of you!

Not everyone can afford Luxury Rentals, or can they? I was browsing the site at the link in this post, and found that  they usually run in the $900 – $1700 or more range for rent per month. It may be worth a look to find out at the link provided, it’s easy to search, and fun to see what’s available in your area, or a place you may be dreaming of moving.

Finances are challenging for everyone, no matter what kind of apartment you are looking for, whether it be a luxury apartment or not, you may find the link the Fair Housing Initiatives site to be helpful.

Welcome to the first day of winter…and it is wintery here in northern NJ – lots of snow fell over the weekend, as most of you have probably heard on the news, and it’s cold and windy, but the sun shines brightly today! This is Christmas week, and after Christmas come New Years and January, when many begin to see gardening catalogs show up in their mail boxes as they think ahead to Spring gardening…as for me, I like to do my shopping online, and most paper mail ends up in my recycling.

Last summer I enjoyed my medicinal and culinary herb garden, simple as it is, since we have a shortage of sunny property. I’m still eyeing a big section of sunny grass that we gained when a new septic system was put in because trees were removed.  We don’t use many pesticides, and try to make some ourselves, naturally, when we can because it’s not always easy to find chemical-free pesticides and other “green” gardening products that are good for the earth that God has given us to be stewards of.  But now I think I’ve found a source.

You lucky folks that live in warmer climates may already be able to take advantage of the wonderful green, good for the earth, good for the garden products offered by saferbrand.com. I appreciate the time they have put into helping the gardener know about many garden pests, they have a great section on insects that can threaten your garden, and an equally informative section on organic gardening. Since my “green thumb” doesn’t seem to work very well when it comes to growing plants indoors, the “houseplants” section was also very helpful.

There will be events taking place all year to promote organic gardening, and it won’t be hard to keep up with these events because Safer brand is officially on twitter, I’m going to “follow” them on Twitter and invite you to as well.

Twitter and Facebook are the primary, almost only social networking sites that I use, so I was happy to hear about Safer brand’s facebook page, and will be heading over to become a fan after posting this.

During the winter months, crafts are a nice way to fill the time that will be spent indoors instead of outdoors.  Looking at the site through any of the “live links” in this post will inspire you and give you something to dream about and do until we can work our gardens again.  Maybe you can even make some of your own planters for container gardening for indoor or outdoor plants.

My mother was a much better gardener than I will ever be.  I approach my garden with a feeling that it’s going to grow just fine, an air of confidence, and find myself challenged at times by it as the season goes on, while my mother would approach it with humility, always meekly saying “oh, I probably won’t get many tomatoes this year” or whatever the crop happened to be that was on her mind at the time, only to have more than she could handle by the end of the season.The first garden I recall from childhood was a plot in the backyard, it seemed huge at the time, but really the space was rather small.  Still, it had a nice yield at the end of the season.

I remember the pole beans Mom would grow, being so curious about how the beans climbed up those poles that my Dad put in the garden.  There were three tall sticks tied together at the top, similar to the picture below, and at the base, the seeds were planted, which grew and climbed up the stakes to the top, and provided beans throughout the season.  There were a few 3-pole groupings in a row, and since I was small, they seemed very tall!  Mom always told me that the difference between Pole Beans and Bush Beans was that that pole beans provided beans for a longer period of time.

Personally, I’ve never grown pole beans, have always opted for the bush variety as they look better in the area where I plant. My only “pet peeve” is those little cut worms that enjoy my garden so much, I have to make sure the soil is clear of them before planting my beans, they seem to especially love the thick, juicy bean seedling stems.  Sometimes I start them with a small paper cup around the seed-in-soil with the bottom cut out of the cup as those little guys usually snip the plant close to the surface.  There is nothing more delicious than vegetables from the garden.

By the way, if you have a large enough container, you can grow beans this way on your deck or wherever your container garden is on your property.

What kinds of beans have you grown in your garden?