Weed Whackin' Wenches

October SAGBUTT--Lake Wilderness Arboretum

2009-10-25T19:43:00.001-07:00

A huge thanks to Gardener's Roost for organizing this outing. The October gathering of Seattle Area Garden Bloggers United To Talk, or SAGBUTT for short, was all about shapes, textures, and colors. Shapes Textures Colors For more about the October SAGBUTT outing to Lake Wilderness Arboretum visit Gardener's Roost Petunia's Garden Daniel Mount Gardens Life On

Ten More things that happened...

2009-10-24T14:52:00.001-07:00

...while we were taking a break from blogging. 1. Our pineapple sage started blooming. 2. We saw a rainbow of color in our garden! Well, actually it was all on one plant - the 'Bolivian Rainbow' pepper. 3. We grew a wall of tomatoes. They liked the warm brick wall so well that they climbed higher than the support stake. So then we tied them to the lamp post and the cable lines for

Ten things that happened while we were taking a break from blogging.

2009-10-23T14:35:00.001-07:00

1. Our pineapple lily bloomed. This is Eucomis 'Oakhurst'. 2. We learned that the pepper seeds that Curmudgeon successfully sprouted belong to capsicum pubescens--rocoto or manzano peppers. The seeds came from a pepper bought at the grocery store. Curmudgeon saved them because they were quite unusual--they were black. This variety can grow to 5 feet and can tolerate sub-freezing temps. We

Garden Bloggers' Muse Day--September 2009

2009-09-01T19:54:00.001-07:00

The aubergine libertine in his green limousine A libertine's green limousine was lately seen in Saint Vereen. The libertine wore aubergine. In Saint Vereen they're not so keen on aubergine. The party scene in Saint Vereen is all crepe-de-chine and gabardine, beauty queens and Charlie Sheen. The libertine in aubergine moves between these beauty queens: his feet careen from scene to scene,

Memory, History, Sand

2009-08-31T13:40:00.001-07:00

Sand animator Kseniya Simonova won "Ukraine's Got Talent" 2009. Her winning performance portrays life during Ukraine's Great Patriotic War against the Germans in World War II. For other sand animation performance artists check out Joe Castillo, Ferenc Cakó, David Myriam, and Ilana Yahav. Thanks to RantWoman who clued me in to the work of Simonova.

Lemon Basil Scones

2009-08-30T15:54:00.001-07:00

For the August SAGBUTT gathering the Wenches contributed lemon basil scones, made with basil picked fresh from our garden. Lemon Basil Scones 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/3 cup sugar 1 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt zest of 1 large lemon 5 Tbsp butter, cold and cut into small cubes OR 5 Tbsp vegetable oil (I used

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day -- August 2009

2009-08-17T09:14:00.001-07:00

I'm only going to share one flower. But it's a real stunner. I consider it by far the most gorgeous flower in the garden right now. Here is the plant that produced this flower. And finally, here is the fruit--considered a berry--produced by this flower. For more GBBD posts visit Carol over at May Dreams Garden.

August SAGBUTT

2009-08-16T13:54:00.001-07:00

Blissfully tranquil. That's how I describe yesterday afternoon's SAGBUTT get-together. The August gathering of the Seattle Area Garden Bloggers United to Talk was hosted by Molly of Life on Tiger Mountain. We started off with a tour of the gardens. Along the way we got to meet the chickens and ducks. This made me stop in my tracks--pumpkin envy hit hard. Keeping the pumpkins

Garden Woes

2009-07-06T15:51:00.001-07:00

We head into July with temps just over the 80 degree mark. No rain in sight. We're not complaining, mind you. It actually feels like summer. But there are a few problems in the garden. First up, the potatoes. It starts with a leaf slowly turning yellow. Then it spreads and several leaves are yellow. Death eventually takes the whole plant. I assumed it was blight. At least it's a

Garden Woes

2009-07-01T22:39:00.001-07:00

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day--June 2009

2009-06-15T22:59:00.001-07:00

It's been HOT, HOT, HOT around here lately. Okay, maybe WARM, WARM, WARM is more accurate. This is Seattle after all. We did reach 90 degrees--one day only. Mostly we've been in the 70s and even crossing over into the 80s. This is the warmest, sunniest, driest June since we moved here. Last year at this time Wing Nut was frantically trying to keep our tomatoes warm. This year our tomatoes don't

Ciscoe Morris at Sky Nursery

2009-06-12T10:24:00.001-07:00

Saturday, June 13th, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm local gardening legend, Ciscoe Morris, photo courtesy of www.ciscoe.com will be taping his radio show Gardening With Ciscoe live from Sky Nursery. photo courtesy of www.skynursery.com Check out Sky's awesome new greenhouse! Dogs (on leash) welcome!!!

Potager Update--The Good, The Scary, And The Really Ugly

2009-06-08T09:34:00.001-07:00

Let's start with the really ugly. Radiant radishes ruthlessly ravaged. Did slugs do this? How can anything so soft and squishy bore holes in something as crisp and crunchy, not to mention zippy and zesty, as a radish? Or do we have other garden thugs eating away at our crops? Next up is the scary. The pea patch that ate the Wench. It was close, but she did make it out alive, and

Sleeping in on Friday morning...

2009-06-05T16:12:00.001-07:00

Or not. I like to sleep in on Friday mornings. It's the one day of the week when neither of us has to get up and go off to work. This was my first full week back at work after breaking my foot. It was also a record breaking heat wave week. I really, really wanted to sleep in this morning. 5:45 AM Diva Dog noses me and whines a little. I reach out a hand and try to pat her head. "Talk to Mama

A Different Kind of Adventure

2009-05-24T17:22:00.001-07:00

Kitty yoga? White Socks NEVER lies on her back like this. I think she's trying to imitate Wing Nut. This is what Wing Nut has been looking like the last few days. Diva Dog napping? Don't let her fool you. This is one seriously stubborn GSD. Since Thursday she has been refusing to leave the house except for potty breaks. Why are the critters acting so oddly? I think Wing Nut should tell

An Adventure -- Part II

2009-05-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

After watching the gravel barge go through the locks and visiting the fish ladder, we walked around the Carl S. English, Jr. Botanical Gardens. Here are some of the lovely plants we enjoyed. I was going to do a little research to get the names of the plants I've pictured, but the Wenches have been dealing with a different kind of adventure this past week. So just enjoy the pretty pictures.

An Adventure --Part I

2009-05-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. So we loaded Diva Dog into the car and headed out in quest of an adventure. We ended up at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks--better known as the Ballard Locks. It's always great fun watching as sailboats, pleasure boats both large and small, commercial ships and the impressive NOAA research vessels move through the locks. The locks help boats move up from the

Slugs and worms and viruses, oh my!

2009-05-11T22:10:00.001-07:00

No, we did not fall off the face of the earth. No, we have not been buried under rabid rhubarb. And, no, we have not been covered by crapping camellias. Although, the camellias are still crapping all over the potager, and the rhubarb really does seem to be on steroids. The Wenches are still here, but we've been having some woes. Despite Diva Dog's best efforts at guarding the cloches, slugs

Have salmon, will travel

2009-04-13T12:30:00.001-07:00

Early last week, our dear friend RantWoman had a salmon emergency on her hands. She had been gifted with a piece of salmon too large for her to handle on her own. The problem was not all inside her head. But since she took it logically, the answer was quite easy. She got on the phone and called the Wenches. Of course, we told her, we'd be more than happy to help her in her struggle to be free--of

Happy Easter from the Wenches

2009-04-12T12:30:00.001-07:00

Narcissus 'White Lion' HAPPY EASTER FROM CURMUDGEON, WING NUT, DIVA DOG, WHITE SOCKS, AND SNUGGLE BUG. Narcissus 'Cheerfulness'

The end of a love affair. . . and a potager update

2009-04-10T22:01:00.001-07:00

During our first winter here in Seattle I noticed a large shrub with rose-like flowers that began blooming in February. I had met my first camellia, and I was head over heels. How can you not love something that brings so much color to a dreary, gloomy, rainy Seattle winter? And when I found out that there was one of these flowering shrubs right in our own yard, well, I was downright ecstatic!

April meeting of SAGBUTT

2009-04-08T13:47:00.001-07:00

The Good Shepherd Center, site of the April SAGBUTT meeting. WHO: Seattle Area Garden Bloggers United To Talk WHAT: April meeting WHEN: Saturday April 18th 1:30 to 4:00 pm WHERE: Good Shepherd Center 4649 Sunnyside Avenue N. Room 209 Seattle, WA WHY: Discuss gardening Talk about blogging Seed/plant exchange Visit the Seattle Tilth

Garden Bloggers' Muse Day -- April 2009

2009-04-01T14:06:00.001-07:00

Mother Nature is hitting us with a one-two weather punch today. They say we'll see the sun come Friday, maybe. I've mostly lost hope that we will EVER see the sun again, or that the temps will EVER get out of the 40s, or that it will EVER dry out enough for me to sow the 'Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed' lettuce seeds. IL PLEURE DANS MON CŒUR. . . II pleut doucement sur la ville. --

Thank goodness I convinced them!

2009-03-14T14:16:00.001-07:00

Greetings everyone! This is Diva Dog. I've usurped the computer while Mama Curmudgeon is teaching and Momma Wing Nut is grocery shopping. Spring, or almost spring, is a difficult time for me. You see, my mamas love to work outside in the gardens any time there is a warm and sunny day, which means fewer trips to the off-leash parks for me. They mumble something about "only so many hours in

Oh my aching...

2009-03-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

Fill in whatever body part you want here. They all hurt! You know, it's really too bad Tiger Balm only comes in tiny jars -- I'd like to dip myself in a vat of it. Yesterday afternoon, while the temps were low but the sun was warm, Curmudgeon and I worked on the garden bed for about 4 hours or so. Today we're feeling it.We had planted crimson clover and fava beans in the fall for a winter cover