New England, November 2014

quiltbea wrote:
Well, I just tried to upload the picture but it didn't work.  After I choose the picture, and its only 640 pixels, another window opened with 3 lines; thumbnail with a line of letters and numbers, image with a line and image URL with a line.  No matter which I  hilited and clicked 'upload', it just brought me back to the earlier window asking me to 'Browse' for my picture.  
My Win8.1 makes me crazy.  It does it differently from my XP I used to have.
Sorry, can't upload it.  I'm just not techy enuf to understand how to post a pic.

You are almost there.
After you get to the screen with the three lines. 
Put your curser on the middle line "Image" and left click.  That will highlight the line.
DO NOT CLICK ON UPLOAD !!!!!
Then right click on the line.
Click on copy.
Click on preview.
Scroll down to the place where you want to insert your picture.
Right click.
Click on paste.
Hit enter to go to the next line.

I love your pictures so you gotta try one more time.  There is probably a better way to do this, but it is the only way I can remember.

Thanks Yolos.  I'm trying it.


Yippee!  Thank you yolos.  I wrote that all down.
This is the snowman quilt top I made for an ailing quilt buddy.  Its off to the pro quilter in our bunch of buddies right now because with my bad thumbs and wrists, I can no longer manhandle a bed-size quilt under the arm of my sewing machine.  The blocks are from many of our quilt buddies who wanted to participate.  I just added to them, sashed the blocks and added the borders.

This is what I do all winter long now.

Very nice!!!QB!

The only growing I'm doing right now is my house plants and my African Violets are in full bloom and have been for months now.  I've got to get myself more of these so it can brighten my home during the long, cold, white, winter months.

I'm practicing a bit but I wanted you to see my violets as well.

Lovely African violets. I need to get one of those.

Beautiful QB!!!!! I absolutely love that quilt.

And the African violets! What a great way to keep connection with the outdoors during the winter. I have on my list to get under-cabinet fluorescent lights (I heard about these at a gardening workshop, I believe they're the stick-on type) and grow some spices. Eventually. First, I got seaweed yesterday and spread it around (always need more) and today I need to focus on mowing leaves.

NHGardener wrote:... today I need to focus on mowing leaves.

Yup, snow's a coming!

NHGardener.....I have an under-cabinet light over my sink.  They can stick up or you can use the screws to screw them in.  Mine is screwed in since its permanent.

I have a 2-ft grow light on legs on my antique sewing machine in the entry way so I can keep a few indoor plants.  The African violets love it.

Love your African Violets.

I was finally able to plant the garlic today.

Your soil looks beautiful, camprn.

I drove 30 miles to the beach for seaweed the other day and spread it on beds. Mowed leaves and spread it on beds. [OOPS - already said that - sorry] I'm putting brush from the brush pile (rescuing it before it gets burned) in between the beds, and putting lots of leaves on the brush/sticks, next best thing to woodchips to help with weed control between beds...

Made 2 pumpkin pies with the pumpkins, but I mashed it by hand, not having a food processor, and it was lumpy. So I'll have to find a food processor. It was still good tho!

In a race against time to get all the leaves around here into the garden before it gets too cold. By the time all is done, you'll probably need a ladder to get into the garden. LOL.

Fortunately, looks like the snow forecast has dwindled away.

QB LOVE your quilt!

hugs
Rose

QB, I already told you that I like your quilting, but love your violets as well! 

I used to have a 5-shelf stand with grow-lights on it in our bedroom.  I had over 100 violets on it of all different colors & mixes.

Unfortunately, I developed a major case of long-term vertigo and wasn't able to take care of them the way they needed.  Thankfully, several folks at church were able to take them off my hands.

I still look at them when I go by at the big box stores...

I ran out of time yesterday, but I too still have some leaves to mow up and put in the bin. I have about 150 spring flower bulbs I need to plant. I also need to move some of my boxes out of the driveway so that snow removal is easier for the next 5 months....

quiltbea wrote:Camprn.......Aren't you afraid your garlic will freeze before it 'takes' at this late stage? 

Nope. It will make roots now, or when it thaws. Either way, it's in the ground and I will have garlic to harvest in July.

Nice and busy in here!   Beautiful quilt, QB.  What a talent!

I got my garlic finally planted, too, and this is the first year I didn't have to buy some to plant!
Only 12 sqs though, but I did that last year and so far so good.

I'm also building & layering my compost pile.  Matter of fact I was out there this morning, barefoot!, mowing.  Lots of leaves to go still, but it's coming along nicely:
At the far right end is my 'greens' pile that has been breaking down for a months now while waiting for the leaves to fall.
Every fork full looks like this:
It's all good!   


I need to get more seaweed maybe today or after the next rain.  Besides putting it in the compost pile, I've layered it atop my old school SFG's and around the fruit trees (per Paul Parent):  
That's the strawberry bed at the bottom.  It gets covered naturally with falling leaves and pine needles, then only the healthy plants come up through it in spring.  Lazy gardening!

This is the last of the tomatoes that will be boxed for ripening and then frozen:


Four boxes of greens & carrots are still going: 




The kitchen garden is planted and ready for winter with chard, onions, kale & collards:



And the inside bay window garden is ready also with parsley, stevia, ginger, basil, collards, kale & 2 types of lettuce:


Lots of flowers still going:  

And last but not least, my favorite mum, RHUMBA!

What a stellar day!   Enjoy, everyone!

CC

camprn, thanks for your wisdom on garlic.   I thought they needed to get some growing at top first.
CapeC.....as usual, I love seeing your gardens. They are always looking so good and healthy.  Good going to you getting a nice fall crop in the ground.

CC - Too funny, I've never seen an avatar quite like that before! LOL. You better get some socks on tho, it's getting chilly....

When did you start growing stevia? I've been mulling that one over, after having read about it in Mother Earth News. Looks like a great sweetener.

Your gardens are beautiful! Neither you nor camprn want to see how I planted my garlic. The bed was already covered in mowed leaves about 3" thick, and I just kind of guessed where the garlic was going, rooted the cloves around in the dirt and plunk. We'll see how blind garlic planting shows up in the spring. LOL.

It's almost like I refuse to be organized. Must be a birth defect.

BUT - today I got the strawberries covered in leaves, so yay, turns out most of them were oak, but I think that'll be okay. Now all my beds are leaf covered, and I mainly want to cover in between the beds with leaves too. It's good exercise.

I find gardening is kind of like housework - there is no "done". It's just either better, or worse.

just BEAUTIFUL!!!

CC -- love your flowers ... and the werewolf feet!

That free seaweed is a nice asset for you.

Marc Iverson wrote:CC -- love your flowers ... and the werewolf feet!  

Aw gee, Marc...you sure know how to make a girl feel....like howling.
That's not hair on those feet, but sweet clean pure compost. Probably the last time I'll see that view for a while so thought I'd better grab a photo to get me through the winter.

NHG, that stevia plant is about 5 yrs old now.  It normally stays indoors.  It's not growing as large as it used to anymore so the end may be nigh.  I'll collect some seeds from it next time it flowers and send them along.  It's VERY difficult to grow from seed though, even store bought seed, so we'll need a lot.  It's a great sweetener for smoothies and baked goods and the like, but for coffee, tea & such I buy the packets from Traders.

Top dress the stevia with compost? ?

Wow CC, you are *such* a garden sophisticate! So when you use the stevia, do you just pluck leaves and throw them in, or do you have to do something to it first?

Sounds exciting, I can't wait to try it.

This morning I looked outside and the yard I mowed leaves from yesterday was covered again! haha. All oak leaves, so not prime, but that's okay. I mowed again today. The spouse is thrilled. He said from now one he's going to scatter leaves on the lawn, so I'll mow. I never touched a lawn mower till this year. Now I tell him to get his mitts off the lawn mower, he doesn't save the clippings.

Plus I went into the tree growth area and scooped 3 garbage cans of downed leaves for between the beds. I'm going to try to do that frequently.

I'm afraid I might be losing control.

CC, Beautiful.