House Renovations 3.1

Morning Glories! My favorite!

We are expecting guests all winter, and we wanted as many of the renovations completed, but most of it is still in the state of “work-in-progress.”  We have hired a contractor to start on our patio when the snow melts.  And our basement is slowly being designed to be the next “man cave” per Mr. RMK.  Our fence is almost done except for one size.  We’re hoping to be garden party ready by next summer…landscaping and all.  I have picked out all the beautiful things I want to plant and my dream herb garden.  Oh the joys of working on your own home

Bougainvillea. Gorgeous patches of intense color!

My favorite flower bush of all time is bougainvillea, but sadly, these will not survive Colorado winters.  I am debating if I can plant the bush and then bring it in before the first frost.  Does anyone know of a plant similar to this one that would be a perennial?  We also ordered some Plumbago, which is a hearty perennial with a long flowering season.  I promise to have pics up of the new fence after this last batch of snow melts, if it ever does!

Plumbago, beautiful blue color from May to August.

Before pic of office in progress

After pic...ignore the mess. Paint and shelving done. New desk!

Fence in progress. My dad helping out on this very LONG project. After pictures coming soon!

Those are some mighty nice melons!

Before Shot of Our Garden-Early March

Our garden has given us copious amounts of fresh vegetables this summer… cantaloupe, string beans, watermelon, bell peppers, basil, tomatoes galore!  I has been a fruitful season

Can you believe this is our garden in July?!!

Our baby watermelons!

The sweetest melons on the planet I kid you not.

Cornucopia of Colors!

Our First Bloom

My first flower…

Before the Bloom

After the Bloom

Our Blueberries are starting to fruit!

Rabid Animals Love Tomatoes

RMK Hard at Work

Our garden is blooming and fruiting like spring, though we are a season late.  But still, RMK is so proud.  He is so enthralled with his garden. (Notice it is no longer our garden.  My only input has been to almost run over our squash plant with my car.)  He ate the first snow peas as if he were experiencing his first snow.  The first thing he does after coming home in a white shirt, white coat, and khakis is to check all the plants and water them, and he comes in with a soiled white shirt, green white coat, and wet khakis.  He states that living plants, these thirsty creatures, cannot wait for him to change!

Our Lovely Tomatoes

Yes, but our first tomato, what a beauty!  He waited one day to late to pick it and some creature with what look likes claws and beaks BIT a chunk out.

RMK: It’s okay to eat.  See, just avoid this claw mark and this bite mark.

ONIONS!

Me: Gross.  Babe, what if this animal was a nasty rat with germs.

RMK: There are rat germs everywhere.  Ever heard of cheetos.  They have rat poop in them (they really do btw.).

Me: Well what if this was a rabid animal!  Rabies can be transferred through saliva!

RMK: Yes, rabid rabbits have invaded the neighborhood.  Story is: they LOVE tomatoes.

Me: *still weary* Well maybe they thought it was a fruit of blood…

RMK: Are you sure YOU don’t have rabid dementia?

Still…it could happen.

Anyways, the tomato is now part of our compost pile.   Speaking of which, RMK empties out our leftovers in the compost pile. I was cleaning up the yard when I discovered our good tupperware laying around out back, with mold on it because he forgot to bring it back in.  He knows how I feel about the tupperware… he’s lucky he’s in Bolivia.  Man.  There were the good ones too.

Don’t Kill the Fish

Our Lonely Sunflower

RMK has left me to take care of Optimus Prime, our adopted Beta fish.  He had a small fish before, which he left in my hands for approximately 1 month, of which it died by suicide according to Chow Chow.  I found it right before Christmas, smashed against the glass under a rock, which apparently had fallen on it. I did forget to feed it on occasion, and yes, it possibly got nitrogen poisoning from the aged water and became delusional.  But still, suicide, psh.  Well, Betas are suppose to survive anything…which is why RMK has warned Chow Chow to watch over my baby-sitting skills.  Ha!

Cut Worms!! Gross!!!

Anyways, our garden is dying.  This soil bag method according to Garden magazine is a bunch of baloney!  Everything sprouted alright, and then started wilting and became stunted.  SO….we had to pick up all the soil bags.  Dig a hole, and re-plant our garden.  Ever heard of cut worms?  They are these ginormous looking creatures that kill your plants by cutting them at the base and eating their roots.

Sprinkle Sprinkle Cornmeal!

Since we are gardening organically, RMK has asked me to kill them by gluttony.    Yes, you sprinkle cornmeal all over the top of the garden and wait 3 days.  They can’t help but eat it and then they die.  THEN if you really want to stop the few left, you boil pepper with water for about 10 minutes.  Wait 1 day and strain.  Then spray around the plants.  WARNING:  It makes the whole household sneeze for hours!

Let’s hope this works!