How to plant your fall garden

Hi everyone! You haven’t seen a post from me lately because I’ve been away on the yearly sister vacation! I had a wonderful time and there is much to write about and many pictures to share.

BUT, I’m overwhelmed with just living right now – busy at work and busy at home that I haven’t even begun to write about the sisters’ adventures.

One very pressing project right now is planning and planting the fall garden. Yep, it’s that time of the year for me and I am behind schedule!

 Brian and I had planted a fall garden our first year here and although it wasn’t super productive we learned a lot and are optimistic this year will be better.

 There’s a wide variety of crops that do well in our mild lowcountry fall and winter climate. Here’s a sampling of some of the crops we can plant: pole beans, half runner beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, lettuce, onions, red beets, turnips, rutabagas, southern peas (crowder peas/black-eye peas), collards, spinach, cucumbers, winter squash.

We won’t plant all of these things and will actually decide what to plant based on what we find at the garden center  Hopefully, there will be a bigger selection available for the fall garden since more people are trying their hands at home gardens.

I had included a statistic in “Life’s Vignettes” a few months ago that said that $70 spent in a well tended garden yields over $500 in produce. Remember that? Well, I’ve estimated that our $70 spent on the spring garden yielded us about $350 in fresh vegetables and canned tomatoes. Not bad.

I hope the fall garden does at least as well.

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Sam goes fishing

I guess I’m not surprised at the number of people that ask for an update on Sam, our rescue dog. He makes a good story. And, of course, the people that have actually met him think he’s wonderful.

I’ve read a lot about pit bulls since Sam came into our lives. And, I’ve asked questions to experts about their behavior and how to train them. A few of those sites have looked at Sam’s picture and the general consensus is that he has some Lab in him, which may explain his penchant for chewing all things large and small.

I could tell you that he is the perfect dog. But, hmmm, let’s see. Just today I came home from work to discover that he had discovered how to open the door to the sun room where he ate my favorite garden gloves. And, he pulled more stuffing out of HIS chair and scattered it across the floor for me to clean up! But, today was a good day!

Here are a few recent pictures:

This is Sam's chair. He is not allowed on any other furniture in the house, except for this chair that he has already ruined!

This is Sam's chair. He is not allowed on any other furniture in the house, except for this chair that he has already ruined!

We took Sam fishing at Lake Marion on Sunday. Here, he is navigating for us, keeping us away from dangerous stumps.

We took Sam fishing at Lake Marion on Sunday. Here, he is navigating for us, keeping us away from dangerous stumps.

 

Sam wants to be friends with Grace and the other two cats, but can you see how Grace just doesn't want to have anything to do with him?

Sam wants to be friends with Grace and the other two cats, but can you see how Grace just doesn't want to have anything to do with him?

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Gone fishing

I love Lake Marion. Brian, Carrie and I went fishing last Saturday.

 

Captain Carrie at the helm.

Captain Carrie at the helm.

 

Carrie's fishing score: Carrie 4, Dad 0!

Carrie's fishing score: Carrie 4, Dad 0!

Beached the boat in some shade for a snack. Bloody hot that day!

Beached the boat in some shade for a snack. Bloody hot that day!

 

Lake Marion is a whopping huge beautiful body of water.

With a 315 mile shoreline, covering nearly 110,000 acres (173 square miles), Lake Marion is a whopping huge beautiful body of water!

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