May

After several almost cold days, it's warmed up with a vengeance.  Chicago had its first 90 degree day of the year this year.  We didn't get quite that high.

Yesterday, we got some tomatoes, broccoli  and a pepper plant.  It was too hot to plant them.  So, I planted them this morning.  For tomatoes, I looked for "short time to harvest" and found Celebrity and Parks Whopper -- both 65 days -- which may mean nothing here.  We got two of each, but a Celebrity had two plants in one pot.  So, there are now 3 Celebrities. I wasn't planning on getting any broccoli since they did so badly last year, but I couldn't resist the name Packman.  (We have a Ms PacMan in the basement and still enjoy playing it.)  With the newest pepper plant, we now have one each of Jalapeno, Habanero, and Giant Marconi.  (The last one is for me.)  The cucumbers are Boston Pickling.

I changed things around a little.  The cucumbers are where the tomatoes were last year.  The tomatoes are where the broccoli was last year.  And, the broccoli is where the Brussels sprouts were last year.




The lilac bushed are blooming (foreground).  And, the strawberry plants are in the right foreground.  I'll have to move them so they'll get water when I water the garden.  The plastic jugs have lilacs and Filbert nut trees from Arbor Day.  I'll move them from the garden when they get bigger.  That area of the garden also has some asparagus.  None of it is edible, but, at least, it came up.

We also took off about 5" of soil in the garden, put it where we're still trying to get grass to grow, and then added about 6 cu ft of peat moss to the garden.

Along with the fruit cocktail trees (which we've moved to their permanent locations -- one in front of the house, the other in back near the raspberry bush), we got some ground cherry and huckleberry seeds.  They're just in the seedling stage now.  I have no idea what they'll turn out like, buy my DH said his parents used to grow them.  They had a really big Iowa-style garden.  (It was just natural that they would.  They lived in Iowa.)

In knitting news, the last Nerd Wars tournament (Ravelry) has ended, and I didn't suffer from burn out like in the previous tournaments.  I've even started planning a couple of summer pullovers in Knit Picks CotLin.  Sign-ups for the next tournament start today.  (It's 3 months of tournament then 1 month off.)

first 80 degree day of the year

Maybe spring is finally here.  Today, I bought a jalapeno pepper plant, a giant Marconi one, and some Quinalt strawberry plants.  I planted the strawberries in a hanging basket.  Hopefully, that will keep the squirrels and chipmunks from eating them.  Of course, it does make it easier for the birds.



My fruit cocktail trees arrived in the mail a couple days ago.  They don't look like much.  Today, I replanted them, one in the front yard and the other in the back.  I have no idea how long it will be before they start producing the promised peaches, apricots, plums, and nectarines.

April

I thought I might be able to start working in the garden today. (It is spring.) But, I think I'll wait. It was snowing this morning. Spring is on its way, though. The daffodils are up (thought not ready to bloom yet).

I bought a couple multi-trees this spring -- mail order. They're part apricot, plum, nectarine, and peach -- all grafted onto the same tree trunk. It will be a while before they start bearing.  I love fresh vegetables and fruit.  They're so much tastier than store bought.  I hope my apple tree and peach tree do something this year and the tomatoes that I'm planning on planting will do better than last year.  Last year was pretty much a disaster for the garden.

After knitting mosaic stitch for the baby bonnet (in the last post - February), I've been wanting to knit something else using the same technique.

 

So, I designed this dishcloth -- Mosaic Diamonds --. Mosaic knitting is fun. One knits only one color at a time -- with a lot of slipped sts.  It gives some interesting looks.  It's stretchier than stranded knitting.

We all got new smart phones about a week and a half ago.  It was great of Sprint to have an after-hours class to teach us how to use the phones.  (One of the questions I asked in the class was how to answer the phone.  I found out what I was doing wrong.   lol   New technology makes some things easier and some harder.)

February

We had the first major snow of the season a couple of days ago. Here's a view of our back deck.



I've signed up for Nerd Wars on Ravelry again. The first month of the current tournament ends today. It's nice to knit or crochet some things that I probably wouldn't even have looked at if it weren't for the tournament. Here's a baby bonnet that I probably wouldn't have picked out if it weren't for the tournament. It's the first time I've done mosaic knitting. It took a while to figure out. But, after that it was really fun!



And, I've signed up to be the team blogger -- as if I ever was able to keep this blog up to date. lol

October

We had 213 Trick-or-Treaters come by the house Sunday afternoon -- the official time and day for Trick-or-Treating here.  That was less than the year before -- perhaps because the Bears were playing during the first hour of Trick-or-Treating??

The leaves have fallen from the trees.  And, we're waiting for the city to pick them up.



We had to move the leaves from one side of the driveway to the other yesterday.  The mailman wouldn't deliver mail with them so close to the mailbox that she couldn't put mail in the mailbox without getting out of the truck.  So, we were without mail for a couple days.  Yesterday, I spent an hour moving leaves from one side of the driveway to the another.  Then, after my DH got home from work, he spent 2 hours doing the same.  And, we got some mail today -- all junk mail.

What's almost worse is that most of the leaves weren't from our trees.  They were from our neighbors'.  We live on a circle.  So, one neighbor would move leaves from in front of his/her mailbox to the next one over and the next one would do the same.  If we had figured it out beforehand, we could have been raking leaves all along to the other side of the driveway instead of doing it all at the same time.  The city is also supposed to be picking up the leaves.  But, so far, they haven't been by yet.



And, of course, the Post Office didn't deliver something that had been overnighted to us on Monday.  We have to go to the Post Office to pick it up.

September

September is almost over, and I've been trying to post at least once per month...

The garden was a big disappointment this year.  I think the main problem was that the compost added at the beginning of the springs wasn't fully composted.  (I wasn't the one who did the composting.)  So, this fall I'm planning on adding extra leaves to the soil. Leaves tend to soften the soil. And, maybe if I add enough, I'll be able to grow some root crops.

I'm still working on dishcloths.  Here's my newest one, in Peaches & Creme Potpourri:


It's a clone of my sandbar pattern -- to make a pattern that will look better as a scarf and/or hat. Plus, the back looks almost as nice as the front -- which is good for a scarf.

August

This year has not been good for the garden.  We didn't get as many peas or pole beans as last year.  However, we are getting more tomatoes.  Homegrown tomatoes are so much better than anything one can get in the store.  The broccoli is starting to bear again.  So, maybe the fall will be better for broccoli than the spring was.  (It certainly can't be worse.)

We ended up getting only 2 peaches from our peach tree and zero apples from the apple tree.  But, as they are fond of saying here "wait till next year" -- though that applies more to baseball than crops.

I've signed up for one of Monika Eckert's mystery patterns.  This one is socks.  It's been quite a while since I've knit any socks.  I'm looking forward to it.  Plus, I've always enjoyed her patterns.  Otherwise, I've been keeping busy knitting scarf sets and also dishcloths -- among other things.