Category Archives: My Garden

Raised bed and traditional vegetable gardens; flowers.

Honeybees and a Harsh Virginia Winter

If you’re reading this from Virginia on January 6, 2014, you are joining me on the coldest day we’ve had in many, many years. We have a low predicted tonight in Southwest Virginia ranging from -1 to 4 degrees. My cats step outside, shiver and run right back inside. While they don’t normally use “indoor facilities”, they are pleased to have that option today.

What about the honeybees? This Artic blast of winter is not typical for Virginia. While my honeybees have a wind barrier from the barn and they get morning sunshine, this only gives them so much protection. Someone asked me if I could move them to the barn. Nope, the hives are a stacked arrangement and must stay in one place. However, yesterday, Gerald and I decided that we had to do something to give additional protection and insulation. So…we wrapped the hives in bubblewrap left over from holiday mail shipments. Merry Christmas honeybees! Necessity is the mother of invention.

We left the opening (it’s only about 1/2 inch opening) for their coming and going and to get air inside the hive, but the remaining exterior is wrapped in bubble wrap taped into place with duct table. It looks a little strange…

Beehive Winterized in Bubble Wrap

The white part of the hive you see in the picture is completely covered in bubble wrap. The trash bag is on top of the hive and taped across the bubble wrap. If it rains, the trashbag provides a “tent” of protection so water doesn’t get down under the bubblewrap. Genius. I know.

Bee Hive 2

And notice the top of the hive. What is that you may ask? The Artic blast is bringing wind gusts which could tear apart the whole bubble wrap/trash bag protection system, so for additional protection, there is one heavy bag of mulch on each hive — which also provides additional insultation to keep heat inside the hive. I might just become an architect!

We’ll leave this on for the next few day until temperatures return to normal winter temperatures.

Onto other things…check out the beautiful winterberries in my backyard. It’s so nice to have color in the landscape during this time of year.

Winterberry By the Fence

And a few for the table.

Red Berries in Winter

Stay warm!!

Fall Garden and Pictures of Mendota

Before I start…if you are interested in learning to quilt, please see information on our upcoming class by going here.

I’ve been off my blog for a few days. I’ve really been off kilter for the same number of days. The days are getting shorter, and I have to work on not feeling “the yucks.” Do you get them?

Mike is working to get our woodboiler in working order for the winter. If you have a woodboiler, you know a side benefit is that it provides hot water, but our hot water feature did not work last year. As of today, that is fixed. Yeh!! While he was working on this, I took the doggies for a ride. Our granddaughter’s birthday is coming up, and I wanted to make sure her gift arrives before the weekend, so the doggies and I headed out to see Patsy at the Mendota Post Office. Here’s a few things we saw along the way…

First, a favorite barn of mine. My parents hung tobacco in this barn. Do you know where it is?

Ruby's Barn

And a friend, Judith, asked for a picture of churches in Mendota. I think I know the church she’s wanting to see as it was her family’s church. The members of St. Peter Presbyterian now own this church and worship there, but at one time it was the Mendota Bible Methodist Church. I have spent many summers in Bible School at this church as well as quite a few Sunday nights. I still remember Patsy and her sister, Mary Alice, singing “He Touched Me.” I’m surprised I remember anything, because there was a lot of note passing, nudging and “looks” going on the left side, back two rows of that church at one time.

St Peter

I like this little door plaque that someone made for the church. Wayne Hays is Pastor of St. Peter. Pastor Wayne has earned the respect and affection of our community.

St. Peter Door

And what would be better than a small, rural school at the base of the mountain? That was the story once, but that was a long time ago. The building is old, but if Washington County’s leadership saw the building today, they would be shocked. It is Spic-and-Span clean thanks to Wanda Riner, Bill Porter, and the MCA. If you were one of the ones privileged to attend this little school, you’ll like this picture.

Hamilton School

Here’s another…

School Again

And I came home from my little drive with the doggies, I walked around the yard and went over to where some green bean vines were hanging around left from a day in August when I stuck just 16 beans in the raised beds. I never watered them and it quit raining, so I thought they’d just do nothing. A few came up…I believe these are Mountaineers.

Green Beans Climbing

I could not believe it…there were beans on these vines and two others not pictured. Perfect, tender green beans.

Green Beans

Guess what I’m eating while I type this?

More Barns and Beans

I have been looking at barns recently. I wish that every barn had a good home–just like cats and dogs. Here’s two that hit the lottery. They were in not-so-great shape a few years ago, but now they’re showing off.

Like this one…it’s even got a sign.

Mendota Farms Barn

And here’s its buddy…across the road.

Mendota Farms Other Barn

I like those barns because they are full of hay…planning for winter. That is what I’m doing, too. I’ve been trimming the shrubbery so I won’t have to do it in the spring. Here’s how messy it looked…

Before Trimming

I divided the daylillies which were like tree trunks. They have not been divided since the house was landscaped 14-15 years ago so they weren’t blooming very well. They may never bloom now, but I just had to do something so I took the shovel to them. I felt like Lizzie Borden out there axing away at the roots.

Day Lily Boulder

And after I gave everything a haircut and divided the daylillies, I took this picture. This area could use some mulch, but we’ll wait until spring. Right now, I just wanted it to look neat.

After

And Mike, who apparently has gotten in touch with his flowering side, has been out saving every zinnia seed. Who is this man and what did he do with my husband? He has the dried flowers in plastic bins like this sitting on top of our freezer so that all the moisture will be gone leaving about a gazillion seeds for next year.

Zinnia Heads

And here’s something I am definitely going to work on next spring. I stuck a few Mountaineer Half Runner beans in the raised beds late in the summer. Since I never watered them, they didn’t do very well. However, one survived and thrived. It’s got beans on it! I ate one! This will be how we plant beans next year, as all of the raised beds have had root crops in them this year. It’s not good to put your onions and potatoes (root crops) in the same spot, so the beans will be a nice change for the raised beds, and can you just imagine how pretty the tunnels will look if the beans climb like this one?

Mountaineer Half Runner

However, next year’s garden will have to wait. Something more important…like the Dear Girls waiting for their evening ride to bark at deer. We saw 32 yesterday. I do love my doggies.

Dear Girls

Fall In the Country

Hello Fall…I love you! Today I’m linking up to a party at Rhoda’s of Southern Hospitality...it’s all about fall — outside the house! Please go look at Rhoda’s site and see all of the fall pretties she and others have put together.

Fall I love you

When you live in the country, it’s easy to get foddershocks. Yep..these used to be corn and now they are showing off in the front yard! We’ve eaten corn, the animals have eaten corn, and the foddershocks are the corn’s last hurrah! I put the bow on just before it got dark.

Fodder Shock With Bow Resized

Since I live in a rural area called Mendota, Virginia, I use things that reflect our country life. Simple things…like plain field pumpkins. This pumpkin has a story. Three pumpkins per year is the payment we receive from Mr. Faust who cuts and uses our hay. Works for me!

Fall Neil's Pumpkin

The grape cart has been with me since my house was built in 1998. I ordered it from an ad in a magazine. I called the 1.800 number about 2 am one night when I could not sleep. I thought I’d get a recording or a call center. What I got was the sleepy wife of the man who made it. It’s just the right size for summer squash and gourds from our garden along with a couple of mums from Lowe’s.

Here it is from a step back…a very traditional fall look. I wanted some white pumpkins, and I grew two, but they came in early and already have started to rot. Just my luck! That’s Sammy…my cat. If you live in the country, you seldom get to pick out a kitten. People from other places drive out here and throw them away…and sometimes, if the kitty is very, very lucky, it may find a home. Sammy did and he looks pretty in the picture. He is one mean cat!

Fall Grape Cart LP With Sam

This little wooden pumpkin is too primitive for inside the house, but it is sweet looking hanging off the grape cart. I believe after the picture was taken above, however, Sam the Cat peed on it. Not only is he mean, he has bad manners. Yuck Sam!

Fall Wood Pumpkin

The mums in the grape cart will be transferred to the ground when they start looking bad. I’ll put compost over them and next year, with a little luck, they’ll be back. Here’s former years’ “mums in a pot” enjoying their annual return…they are much bigger and better!

Mums

Here’s more pumpkins…including my homemade fabric pumpkins. I made the fabric pumpkins last year, and they are right back at work this year. They are stuffed with Walmart bags and pinto beans. I was so excited when I made them that I was jumping up and down. Gleeful! I thought I’d discovered something totally unique and felt brilliant. I then found that making fabric pumpkins is something everyone does! Oh well!

Cute Four Pumpkins

I don’t go over the top on the door but I do like a wreath, and this one works just fine. It’s not new, but it still has some life. Honestly, when you’ve reached a certain age (I’m 57), new and shiny is not always better. There is a comfort seeing an old friend again — even an old wreath friend!

Fall Door Wreath 2

Thank you for stopping by RiverCliff Cottage! Please come back! If you are visiting from the Linky Party, I would love it if you would leave a comment…you have to sort of “hunt it” like an Easter Egg. My comment section is going to be reworked…it seems like it disappears… but if you scroll just a little further down, you can find it.

Decorating the Porch for Fall

We have a busy week ahead. Both my nephew and his fiance and our son and daughter-in-law are visiting. Different days but in the same week. Following that, I have a friend coming for a week. This is all good as I’ll be working hard to get things done. Motivation. This weekend for instance…my front porch went from this…

To this…my little grapecart is looking very fallish, and look who’s in this picture…

Fall Grape Cart and Sam

And what do you think he’s doing in this picture?

Fall Grape Cart Sam Peeing

I wish he’d just have told me how he felt about my fall porch project instead of peeing on it. Thank goodness he didn’t hit the pumpkin I artfully hung from the cart. I’m not even sure he pees..he just sort of “twinkles” his tail like he’s peeing but most of the time, nothing happens. He’s pretend peeing.

Fall Wood Pumpkin

And I decided not to use the wreath I made last year which has breasts…I call this my “Dolly wreath” after Dolly Parton.

Autumn Wreath

Since Dolly is not coming out, I used an old wreath that I had ten years ago. It’s not what I would buy today, because it’s a little busy. Still…I like it fine for this door. It’s a little faded so I put a ribbon on it which, of course, makes it even more busy. If you’re going to be busy, you might as well go for really busy.

Fall Door Wreath 2

Here’s another view…

Fall Door Wreath

Fall is my favorite time of year.

And We Keep Changing

I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that I was reading “Flight Behavior” by Barbara Kingsolver. The author enjoys pulling readers into the relationships in the book…to allow us (the readers) to see things from other folks’ perspectives. However, the final pages are the ones that have lingered with me. In this book, which I hope I don’t spoil for anyone, the monarch butterflies…the King Billies...are wintering in East Tennessee vs. Mexico. There are many factors as to why…the changing climate, availability of milkweed, etc., but it’s not a good thing. It seems to be an impossible situation.

However, there is an inkling of hope as a few of the monarchs survive the winter in spite of all of the perils. We don’t know their final outcome, but we are given hope that they may be evolving and adapting to the new “now.”

And even though it’s not “time” to put out fall decor if you’re a person who follows that type of thing (I am), these guys are tired of lying around on the ground. They are “done” and I’m adapting.

Not just one…but a bunch! A “gang” or a “gaggle”!

If you follow Pinterest, Southern Living and all the other places that feature pretty autumn pictures NEXT month, you know that I’m early in placing these pretty gourds in my foyer. What else is there to do???

This continues to be a year of change for us…our family is changing, my transition to not working is occurring, and our “dear girls” Gracie and Luckie are getting so old that they will not be with us much longer. Not all these changes are welcome or wanted, but we’re like the King Billies, we’ll adapt.

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage. I hope all your changes are good ones!!

Mendota Daily June 29 2013

Our house has a front porch, and people often comment about the view when they visit. Words like “I’ll bet you sit out here and really enjoy the view, don’t you? ” We do. Sort of. Actually, we are usually working so hard that when we do take notice, it’s a brief moment of appreciation while we’re outside doing something.

Just one week ago, we had raised beds full of potatoes and onions. This week, all that remains is cucumbers, some peppers and my volunteer pumpkin plant. We’ve got all the potatoes out and all of the onions out. I’m going to plant something else in those five empty beds next week.

The potatoes are all safely housed in the garage refrigerator or our neighbor’s root celler. Part of the onions(the white ones) are in the frig and the others (the yellow ones) are lying on the steps and picnic table drying a bit. I’ll tie them and hang them on the back porch.

We’ve also had lots of weeds! Fortunately, young Oth helped me with the weeding on Saturday.

His brother, Neth, has been working one day per week helping this year, and Oth likes to tag along. Neth and EJ, the other brother who is younger than Neth but older than Oth, delegated the weeding job to Oth because “he’s lower to the ground.” He doesn’t mind. He earns extra money and then he and Mike go down to the river to fish.

Looks nice after Oth weeded, doesn’t it? I really like the mandevilla. By June, the perennials are not putting on quite as good of show, and the annuals have to work harder. This mandevilla does the trick, and the cats haven’t been able to kill it. Speaking of cats…did you know that the Elk Knob employees who are working on the Barnrock Road project in Mendota saw two black mountain lions? A friend of mine, Dreama Dean, saw a large mountain lion across the river from us but that was 20 years ago. I feel fortunate to live in a ecosystem that is supporting not only our bald eagles but a diverse animal population. In my yard, however, we mostly support a LARGE and HAPPY skunk population with an occasional possum. If you try to break in a house in our area, there are all the normal dogs, guns, security systems etc….but the real deterrent is that you will probably get skunked! We don’t step outside at night. Too risky!

Back to the garden and my mandevilla….

And speaking of working…I have been working so hard on dragging stuff out for my future yard sale. I’ve postponed my yard sale twice. It’s going to happen in mid-July now. I’ve been removing things from the attic above the garage, the guesthouse, and the attic above the house. Too many hiding spots. Gerald, my brother-in-law, was shocked at the amount of stuff. “Where did all that stuff come from?” …that was his question. Here’s a couple of pictures just to give you an idea of the magnitude of junk.

And another…

My garage sale is household items, so I’m grouping them by use such as kitchen, linens, fabric, living room, etc. I’ve spent most of this weekend going through boxes looking to see what was in them, washing what was in the box and determining if it goes in the garage sale, goes in the trash, or is something I want to keep.

I am pooped!

Planting Tomatoes In Five-Gallon Buckets

Hello! If you are coming over from Hometalk, thank you for visiting me! I’m a nobody blogger so your presence is appreciated so much!! I’d love for you to leave a comment and tell me something about yourself — like where you live! And now…back to the post on Five-Gallon-Bucket Tomatoes!!

We’ve never had great luck with tomatoes. We usually plant lots…like 40 plants…get the first group of tomatoes which we use like crazy–a sea of red in the kitchen while they’re being canned– and then we have blight. Blight means no more tomatoes.

This year, with Mike’s knee still having challenges, we decided not to plant tomatoes. Then, we reversed our thoughts and decided we could not imagine a summer in Mendota, Virginia without tomatoes. Just look at them…they are calling to me!!

This is where our Five-Gallon Bucket Tomatoes come in. We have a lot of five-gallon buckets. We get them to haul and store sugar when it’s donated to the Highlands Beekeepers. Mike had a brilliant idea (I hate it when it’s not mine, but oh well). We took about six five-gallon buckets to the City of Bristol to get some of their amazing compost. (Remember fellow citizens of Bristol…your garbage…my garden!!). This stuff is brown gold. It reminds me of Gilligan’s Island when the Professor grew radioactive carrots that were the size of Gilligan’s arm. Do you remember Gilligan’s Island? Every man I’ve known always liked Maryanne better than Ginger but never mind that. Back to buckets — and not the ones on Ginger’s chest!!

Here’s one happy tomato plant…we already had the wire cages and they fit perfectly.

Tomatoes like to grow deep, and they like to be dry. They are a berry. I can control how much water they get in these buckets, plus the amazing compost is very loamy and drains. I’m expecting great things from these Five-Gallon Bucket Tomatoes. I hope I’m not disappointed. Another thing about buckets is that they are cheaper than pots. At Lowe’s (my True Love), you can buy a bucket for $2.50.

Oh we’re lookin’ good. Here’s three in a row. There’s a fourth one but she’s camera shy. If this works out well, and I don’t see why it shouldn’t, I’m going to repeat this again next year and paint the buckets tomato red. I know…impressive!!

And just for your enjoyment…we had a little parade on Swinging Bridge Road. Got rained on but holding up pretty well! Lined up sweetly…”single file girls.” Do you recall hearing statements like that from elementary school? I do.

And the very best one…

Honeybees Are Really Back!

I’m taking you with me to feed the bees. Shhh…it’s early in the morning. The world seems new and clean. Does it seem that way everywhere or only here?

I added Honey B Healthy to the 1:1 sugar water I’m feeding my two bee hives. Beekeeping is not cheap. This little bottle of Honey B Healthy is $24.95, and I am lucky enough to live near Poor Valley Bees so I don’t have to pay shipping.

Just takes a teaspoon per quart jar of sugar water…they love it. Lemon oil, spearmint oil…all things bees like and need.

At the hive, which is blissfully near the house, I look in and see an empty jar. They are drinking one quart every 24-36 hours. This means they are alive so this is a good thing for me.

So I swapped them out. It was so easy since the bees were in the hive due to the early hour. This afternoon I visited the hive again…it was reassuring as I could see the bees coming in and taking off. The ones that were coming in had their little hind leg baskets filled with pollen. Not much of the sugar water is gone — maybe they are all foraging and just using it as a “bar” where they go for a drink at night???

They are working hard. I’m going to work hard, too — I’m going to go outside and work on my garage organization and plant some tomatoes!! But before I go, I was a little concerned that my super duper potatoes might be all potato vine and no potato…so while walking back from my little apiary, I reached down in the raised bed and felt around and pulled out this! Taterhead rules!!

It’s So Green In Mendota

I was in South Carolina over the weekend, and when I returned home, I kept thinking “it’s so green in Virginia!” Mendota really shows off in the spring. Just look at my yard and garden!

Here’s the meadow behind the house where my enthusiastic husband has planted 11 rows of beans.

That’s ELEVEN…as in TEN PLUS ONE…or TWENTY MINUS 9! And there’s many more beans to be planted. What in the world am I going to do with all these beans? And…just let me say, he does not pick or can green beans and barely eats them, but oh how he loves to plant them.

And may I show you my potatoes yet again? I’m excited about how well they are doing in the raised beds. These are planted with the no planning, no worries, no hills…no problems method of just sticking potatoes in the dirt with your hand. And….if you live in Bristol, Virginia… thank you for your garbage…now my compost…although I could do without the occasional plastic lid.

Here they were a week ago…I am kind of bragging at this point.

And if you want a few chives with your potato…thanks to the Schanzenbach ladies for giving me chives many years ago. They are still performing. Everywhere.

Chives in Mendota

Or if you prefer onions…I bought my onion sets from my friend Dewanna at Enterprise Nursery in Gate City.

And here’s some other performers. Lupine is so pretty, and it’s a perennial. Notice the pink flower starting to peek out? There are two planted near the guesthouse….hope to add more this year. Yay to Phil McCroskey’s Horticulture Class at John Battle High School!

It’s raining, and I’m anxious to be outside working in the yard planting more flowers and veggies.

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage.