If you have been reading my posts for the past few years, you already know that one of my favorite pass times is spending time outdoors in my garden, and taking pictures of the Beauty of Nature.

I love planting veggies and herbs, but also totally adore flowers.

Today I will share some of the pictures I took of few of my currently blooming plants.

My East side flower patch, with some of the flowers already blooming, and others are just getting  ready do bloom a little later on.

Irises and Sweet Williams loving the sunny weather today.

What a natural beauty of an Iris flower.

As you can see, I am not the only one enjoying these gorgeous blooms.

A perfect place to sit down and relax.

My youngest son built this bench, in his late teens, as a Mother’s Day gift to me, so it creates a very special place for me to sit down and relax, surrounded by blooming plants.  There are also three, corner openings for flower pots, but I usually leave them open.

I was very proud of him, since he did a very nice job with his first ever woodworking project (now he is my computer specialist and financial adviser).  I am so lucky!!

Are you saying – Is this a Poinsettia? – You are correct, this is my Poinsettia…no, I am not growing it outside.

I had to share a picture of this Poinsettia with you, since it is in my care for two years now.  If you recall my previous post, I purchased it for Christmas two years ago.

I preserved it for a whole year as per the instructions I also posted, and this is how it looks like today.

As you can see, it’s still doing very well.

Now my challenge is to keep it going for as  long as I can, and  I will definitely share my progress with you.

I am very curious to find out how long this Poinsettia will last, and still keep a descent shape.

Did any of you save your Christmas Poinsettias?

How are they doing?

Please share your stories.

Happy Father’s Day

to

All Father

Step-Fathers

Father’s-to-be

Grandfathers

Great-Grandfathers

Godfathers

Foster Fathers

AND ALL THE SPECIAL MEN OUT THERE,

WHO ACT AS FATHERS, TO MANY OF YOU.

If you are wondering why I chose a picture of my English Walnut tree for this post, I have a nice story to share.

This tree is already 5 years old, so it has two more years to grow, before bearing walnuts.

I received this tree, as a small seedling,  from my uncle (my father’s brother), who was my father figure during my teen years,  as I was growing up in the US without my parents.

As a child, we had walnut trees on my parents’ property in Europe, and I remember how much fun it was to watch the green peels, covering the walnut, to dry out slowly, crack open, and release the fully ripen walnut into the grass below.

We had lots of fun creating a competitive game of finding as many walnuts as possible, in the shortest time.  At the same time,  picked up all the ripen walnuts for mom to use in her Walnut Torte.

So you see, this English Walnut tree is quite special to me, and very fitting for a Father’s Day post.

Please share your special Father’s Day related story with all of us.

I planted Yukon Gold potatoes  in my garden this year.

To encourage all my gardener friends out there to try growing potatoes in  their gardens as well, I had a post on how to grow potatoes.

Today I wanted to update you on the current status of my potato plants.  They are about 15 inches tall now, and starting to form flower buds.

I would also like to remind you to check your potato plants for Potato Beetles, because I found about 10 of these little guys on my plants, and a couple of leaves already had eggs laid on them.

Most of the time these little pests are not very visible, since they tend to hang under the leaves, to eat and to lay eggs.

They have to be removed immediately, and destroyed.

Since I keep my garden organic, I do not use any chemicals, so  I hand picked them off  (gloved of course), placed them in a plastic bag, squashed them, and discarded the whole package in the trash.  I was not going to leave even the squashed ones near my garden, in case any of the eggs were still alive.

I also, removed the couple of leaves with the eggs on them, which are orange in color, very tight together, about 1 millimeter long, and planted perpendicular to the leaf surface.

If you do not spot these early enough, they will grow very quickly into a salmon color larvae, eat your potato leaves, and mature into full grown beetles.

Remember my self-seeded tomato plants , well, with the warm, rainy weather, they are doing very well.

Since they were self-seeded from fallen down tomatoes from last year’s crop, they grew in clusters, and now I replanted them to give them more room to grow to maturity.

I have about 12 free Cherry Tomato plants in my garden this year…lots of savings… as these are always quite expensive at the grocery store.

I will keep you posted on the progress of my veggie garden, throughout the growing season.

Please share your gardening stories.

Spring is my favorite season of the year, because Mother Nature is waking up from winter’s deep sleep, bringing out the beauty of every living thing.

I enjoy spending my free time outdoor, working in my vegetable garden, my flower patches, and capturing the beauty of nature in my photos.

The weather was very cooperative for the past few days, so my garden was ready for some TLC (all the gardeners out there know that weeds are the first thing that grows), so today was gardening time for me, and of course a picture session to share with you.

Hardy Viola -  these colorful flowers keep on reseeding themselves from year to year.  They bloom throughout May and into June.  Later on these plants become to leggy, and begin to dry out, thus need to be removed, and replaced with some pretty summer annuals.

Creeping Phlox in full bloom.  This is a perennial plant, which blooms in late April and early May.  The foliage stays green whole summer, and turns brownish during the winter season.

Sweetly fragrant Lilly of the Valley, is my favorite flower from childhood.  It reminds me of the walks through the woods with my mom, and the excitement of creating a nice bouquet for my grandma.

Lilly of the Valley grows nicely in partial shade, or full sun.  Their very dainty paper white bells-like flowers tend to hide between the very full foliage, but you can smell their sweetness from a distance.

Last fall I replanted my strawberry plants out of my main garden patch (due to overcrowding), to an outside area next to the garden, and to my surprise they will be producing fruits this year, as you can see from the abundant flowers they are covered with.  My granddaughter loved picking off her own strawberries last year, and will be delighted to do the same this year.

Pictured above is Flat Leaf Italian Parsley, which remained in ground over  winter.  It really had grown considerably in the past few days, due to the favorable weather conditions we had lately.

I prefer the Flat Leaf Italian Parsley over the Curly Leaf Parsley, due to it’s much stronger flavor enhancer properties.  How about you?

The Sorrel plants also survived the winter, and are ready to be picked off and used in soup, or salad.  The leaves resemble spinach, but have a quite tart flavor.

This  is my Yukon Gold potato plant, which I planted 3 weeks ago.   If you wanted to plant some potatoes in your garden, and did not have a chance yet, no worries, you still can to it now. Check out my previous post to find out how.

Here you see my FREE plants, once again.  To the left are self seeded tomatoes from last year’s crop, and to the right are  potatoes sprouting from my kitchen scrap potato peels.   Since potato plants can not replanted, and these are growing too closely together, I will just have to pull some of them out, to provide adequate room for the remaining ones.

Tomato plants, on the other hand, can be replanted, as soon as they get to be about 4-5 inches tall.  I will select the strongest ones, and plant them into their permanent location.

Please share your gardening stories with all of us.

If you love potatoes, but never tasted home grown potatoes, fresh from the garden, you will enjoy the taste and texture of these, and will try to plant some in your garden patch.

Potatoes are planted in spring, as soon as the ground is warm enough to work in.  You do not want to plant potatoes too early, when the soil is still pretty cold from winter, and the weather is cold and rainy, because your potato chunks might just sit there too long before sprouting, and start rotting.

It is very easy to grow potatoes, since all you need is a chunk of a potato, which contains at least 1-2 buds, called eyes, like this one:

1. Select a place to plant them, and have some patience, since it takes 3-6 months before they are ready to harvest, but during all this time they require very little additional care.
2. One potato has enough eyes to easily be cut into 2 or 3 chunks, which means you can get at least 2-3 plants from one potato. It is best to use potatoes which start growing sprouts from their eyes, before you plant them, but that is not necessary.
3. Potatoes are normally planted in the spring, and most of them are ready to harvest in early fall, but some become ready even  sooner.
4. Once you have your potato chunks ready for planting, you dig up a small hole in your garden soil, a little larger than the potato, and deep enough to cover the potato with at least 1 inch of soil.
5. Place your potato in the hole, cover with soil, and pat it down to firm up the soil.
6. Since the spring weather is not that hot, you do not need to water it, or do anything special.
7. After 1o-14 days, your potato chunks will start poking out of the ground, and few dark green leaves will start forming on a short stalk.
8. Once the plant is about 8 inches tall, you need to form a dirt mound around it, to support it and to provide a good home for the growing potatoes, as new potatoes form under ground, soon after the plant stops blooming.
9. You also need to watch for potato beetles, nesting on the leaves, and pick them off, to prevent larvae from devel0ping, which will eat up your potato leaves and stalks, and weaken, or destroy the potato.  If you are not having an organic garden you can use Sevin pesticide and follow manufacturer’s suggested application directions.
10. You can check for new potatoes  in about a month after blooming, since you might be able to feel some big enough to be picked off for immediate use, and leave untouched the small ones, to give them a chance to grown.
11. Very new potatoes do not need to be peeled.  You can just wash them, and boil with the very think skin on, and eat them that way as well, or you can easily scrape the paper thin potato skin before boiling.
12. Once the potatoes reach their full term, the skin gets firmer and will not be able to be scraped off, but will need to be peeled.
13. You will know when to harvest your full grown potatoes, since the leaves and stalks will start drying out, or even totally dry off.
14. To harvest potatoes, you need to gently use a hoe and dig around the main bush, in at least a 10 inch diameter, and as deep as 6 inches.  Larger potatoes settle themselves deeper than the smaller ones.
15. If the potato plant still has  firm enough branches, you can gather them all together and pull out the plant from the ground, which will also pull out some of the potatoes, but you need to look for more in the 10 inch diameter area, as you will most definitely find more potatoes.
16. Once you dug up all your potatoes, you can bury the potato branches in your garden patch, to turn them into compost.
17. If you plan to plant potatoes next year again, you should fertilize the soil with cow manure,  or other organic fertilizers.
18. Here is my potato crop from one chunk of a potato, with 2 eyes:

This means that your crop from one whole potato (cut into 2-3 chunks), will double or triple in quantity of this one.  And just think of the money you will save by planting your own potatoes, plus enjoy the wonderful, fresh taste of home grown potatoes.

This year I have planted 6 Yukon Gold potato chunks (seen above), which I cut up from one whole potato, and am looking forward to a nice crop of potatoes, sometimes in late August, or early September.

I would like to hear from you, if you are growing  potatoes in your garden, and which variety is your favorite.

I know many of you still have lots of snow, and feel like Spring is not even on the horizon yet, but have hope…it’s closer than you think.

We had our share of snow, ice, and frigid weather, but we also were blessed with few lovely, warm and sunny days, giving me a chance to take a peak at my garden.

To my surprise, I found some wonderful signs of Spring (No, my Daffodils are NOT blooming yet this year…this picture is just a tease…)

You know how I love to share all my excitement with all of you, so here are some pictures I took today, to prove to you that Spring is “springing”!

These Daffodils are about 2 inches tall now….how exciting

Tulips are poking through as well, but I am sure many of them did not survive  the Winter Season, and I will need to plant new ones in the Fall.  For some reason, this is the case with my tulips every year.

Please share any suggestions you might have, why my tulips are not coming back in the Spring.  I think something is eating up the bulbs….

Here are Hyacinths poking through.  My favorite Spring flower, since their blooms are so beautiful, and very fragrant.

This should definitely give you hope that Spring is just around the corner in your neck of the woods as well.

It has been a while since I shared some useful tips with you, from ecomii website, which I find very informative.

This one is about eating whole foods, rather than processed foods.

Please enjoy this tip.

Today’s tip: Eat Whole Foods Instead of Half Foods

What?
Boost your nutrition – and reduce food industry pollution – by eating whole foods whenever possible.

How?
Is it processed?  Labeled as “low-fat” or “enriched”?  If so, skip it, and look for pure food in its natural state.  Good examples are fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Why?
The food industry emits over 24 million tons of CO2, and a large part of that comes from processing and packaging food.  Plus,  whole foods are indisputably healthier.

Did You Know?

Whole grains can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 30%.

The holiday rush seems to be over, but for the Ukrainians, Greeks, and others, it still is going on, as they are getting ready to celebrate Christmas Eve on January 6th, and New Year on January 14th.

My family gets together for Christmas on December 24th, however, we also honor the January 5th date as well, in order to unite ourselves with our families abroad.

If you have been following my posts about my Poinsettia from last year, and how I tried to preserve it until this Christmas, you are probably anxious to witness my failure, or success.

Well, I have a mixed bag here, since I have been traveling extensively during the most important Poinsettia nurture time, between October and December, so I was not able to follow the recommended TLC process.

This is how it looked on December 24th.

Here is a close up picture of the flower.

The plant continues to grow, and the flowers are getting fuller, and more vibrant.

Actually, I am very pleased with the results, considering the fact that I have not been home several days at a time to care of it properly, so Mother Nature was taking over for me, regulating the daylight, and darkness, requirements.

I will try to keep up with it again for next year, to experiment for how long it will last, and still look presentable.

This year I did not even buy a new Poinsettia, since I knew I was losing my job at the end of December, so this was a pleasant surprise for me to have my last year Poinsettia bloom for Christmas.

If any of you also were caring for your previous years Poinsettia, please share your stories.

Happy New Year!!

photo credit: Iain Farrell

Thanksgiving time is for families and friends to get together and be thankful for all their blessings bestowed upon them during the last year, and throughout their life.

I am very grateful for having a wonderful, loving family, and for all the blessings we all are enjoying.  Being a grandmother is the most rewarding experience in the world, and right now, my husband and I are blessed with two beautiful grandchildren, and more to come in the future.

I am also very thankful for all my friends whom I personally know, and all of my blog readers.

THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH for visiting my site, leaving comments, and being part of my everyday life, connected via Internet.

This December I will celebrate my 2nd Blogging Anniversary, and am very pleased to inform you that my readership started with 600 visits per month, and currently it stands at 4500, and growing.

ALL THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!

Besides  this blog, suburbangrandma.com is also actively connected through Facebook and Twitter.

I am equally thankful to all my followers from Facebook (95 as of this post), and Twitter (69 and growing).

If you enjoy reading my posts, please keep the list growing by becoming my follower, and spread the word to your family and friends.

My readers come from 89 countries, all over the globe, so today I would like to list the top ten, as per the Analytics Report, and thank everyone for their time and loyalty:

1. United States of America
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
   
4. Australia
5. India
6. Philippines
   
7. Brazil
8. Ukraine
9. Germany
10. Netherlands

Seeing these results fuels me with additional energy, perseverance, and a definite continued dedication of my time and effort, to keep my blog going that much stronger.

H A P P Y   T H A N K S G I V I N G!!!

Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays/celebrations.  I like pumpkins and  scarecrows, even witches and bats, but do not care for the RIP signs, the skeletons, sculls, and all the other grotesque decor.

I love watching children all dressed up in their favorite character’s costumes, getting all excited about checking out the candy supply I have ready to hand out.  I even like dressing up in a costume myself, to be festive for giving out the candy.

So, instead of more Halloween decorations, I decided to share a display of the beauty of nature at this time of the year.

Last year there was a mysterious tomato plant, that sprouted on its own, in my daughter’s flower patch.  It turned out to be an endless tomato producing plant.  Honestly, that one plant must have produced about 40 regular size tomatoes.  It was amazing!

This year she has another surprise plant in her flower patch.  At first we were not sure ourselves what it was, and almost pulled it during weeding, but now it turned out to be an asparagus plant.

You see, I am not the only one who gets freebies in her garden.  Are you this lucky as well?  We all would be delighted to hear about it, please.

For those of you who are familiar with asparagus, only from seeing it at your grocer, you will be quite surprised how it actually starts it cycle, and what better way than seeing it in pictures.

You see how beautiful and dainty are the fern like branches of the asparagus plant?  In Europe these branches have been used in flower arrangements, instead of Baby Breaths.

Here is a close up of the actual asparagus stalk , which as you can see,  grows separately from the fern leaves, yet from the same plant root system.

Here is a close up look of the top of the asparagus stalk, which you are so accustomed to seeing at the grocery store.

Very soon my daughter’s family will have at least three, very fresh, and free, asparagus pieces for dinner.

Nature is not only beautiful, but also bountiful.

Now I will also show you a picture of a Hardy Mum plant I bought for my daughter and son-in-law, when my granddaughter was born.  It was just a regular potted plant, about a foot tall, but look at it now.

Two years later, this potted average plant, turned into a huge mound of blooms.  It is at least three feet in diameter.

Here is a close up of the flowers, and a closer yet view the flower’s details.  Absolutely gorgeous!!

These Hardy Mums are perennial plants, and if you want to control their growth, you can keep them in the pot from year to year (see first picture above), or plant them in freedom, and expect them to really take off and give you a unbelievable display of beautiful color.

Here is my last flower display picture  of the season, and I will call it “Goodbye Summer” flower display.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!