This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
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Sudden Death

September 28th, 2018

Many of you know that I work from home, which has many benefits. One of the biggest annoyances is dealing with computers. My trusty computer died suddenly this week. Since it’s my main work computer, all my photos were on it. There’s a backup, so I didn’t lose any data, but it’s a big inconvenience for a week until my new computer arrives.

Until then, perhaps you’ll be seeing photos from my phone in my blog posts.

Have you had any big appliance fails this season?

New Decorative Feature

September 20th, 2018

I purchased this armillary years ago, but never had a stand to put it on. Earlier this summer, we had some pieces of cedar left from making raised beds, so I whipped up this stand to put it on. I’m happy to finally have it in the garden, getting rusty and looking great. It’s probably been sitting in my garage for 15 years.

It’s covering up our well head, which it nice because now it’s a feature and not an eyesore in the middle of the yard.

It’s not super tall, about two feet. I surrounded it with marjoram, next spring I plan on digging it up and replacing it with calamint so it’s a bit shorter.

Have you added any decorative features to the garden this summer?

Fall Planting

September 19th, 2018

I was at Sam’s Club last week and spotted some bulbs and peonies for $16. I’ve purchased bulbs and bare rooted plants at Sam’s before, they’ve always grown well. Since they were such a great price, I decided to get them. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to purchase smaller amounts of things to give them a try. Typically, I order my bulbs wholesale from Van Engelen because it’s so much cheaper, but you get a lot of each variety.

I’ll be interested to see what some of these unusual bulbs look like, particularly the nectaroscordum, stay tuned, I’ll definitely be sharing photos.

What new plants are you trying out this fall?

Compost Pile Harvest

September 18th, 2018

I haven’t planted any potatoes for the past couple years, but I’ve still been harvesting them from the compost pile. This year, I’ve harvested about 30 pounds so far of all colors, shapes, sizes from the compost pile.

Next year I hope to buy seed potatoes once again and have a spot in the garden dedicated to my favorite varieties. Potatoes are so inexpensive to buy at the farmers market that I quit growing them for a few years. It’s difficult to find fingerlings and ‘Purple Viking’ potatoes (which are my favorites) so I think I’ll start growing a few once again. Not many, just enough to eat new potatoes and fresh in the fall/early winter, as I can fill in with the ones from the market during the winter and spring.

Do you grow potatoes? What’s your favorite variety?

Fall Beauties

September 17th, 2018

Even though the nights are getting crips (it was 39 one morning last week), there are still things blooming in the garden. ‘The Fairy’ rose is a favorite of mine, it blooms all summer long. I had a few of these in my Ohio garden as well.

The snapdragons are still blooming like crazy, it’s so nice to have a few annuals for cutting and color in the garden.


The hibiscus are blooming beautifully, as is this lovely anemone I added this spring. I’ll share photos of those tomorrow, as I got a new camera and am still figuring out all the settings for downloading the images.

What are you enjoying in the garden right now? Have you had a frost yet?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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