Garden's growing great

I've been excited about our little garden patch, this is the first year I dug an official one out in the yard.
So far we have tomatoes, pumpkins, sunflowers, bell peppers, jalapeno & banana peppers and watermelon.  The corn.... not doing so good due to the harsh heat and drought right after I planted it.
I have some new corn sprouting in starter pots that needs to be put in the ground soon.

The pumpkin vines are growing like crazy, taking over the whole patch. I may have to extend the sides a bit so I can plant the rest of my veggies.  Either that, or I may do more 5-gallon bucket gardens on the patio like I did last year, they were pretty successful.

Here's a baby pumpkin in the works......

.....and here is my 1st healthy pumpkin!  It's a beauty :-)

Our Mr. Stripey variety tomato plant is growing very well.  It was touch-and-go during the drought but now it is thriving.
We bought this one at the garden center, but I do have a few plants doing well that I started from seeds.


How is your garden growing??

Sunny outlook

Well geez, once again it sure has been a while since I've blogged.   I keep meaning to do it but life always gets in the way.  Let me catch you up to speed on one of my favorite things: the garden.

I ordered a packet of Giant Sunflower seeds from Burpee.  They have not grown to be tall giants (probably due to a combination of me not feeding/fertilizing them and the intensely hot drought we had at the start of the summer) but a few of the heads have gotten pretty large.

Here's a new flower forming.

Starting to open.......  I love the layers and layers of leaves and petals.
















Next year I am going to fertilize the bejeebus out of these things and see what happens!

That is pretty big, right?  Not too shabby ;-)

Happy gardening!

Been a long time

Haven't posted in a long time!  I'm still here though :-)  Busy working on my etsy shop!

Hearts All Around

Happy Valentine's Day!

Time for my annual installment of "Hearts All Around," wherein I post pics of........... [suspenseful pause].......... 'hearts' that I notice around me!
I've got two for you this year:






Radar Love!

My heart breaks whenever I have to stop hiking for the day, but it mends when I remember I'll be going again soon! ;-)

Early Spring

We were out and about in Cades Cove on Sunday - it was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, though it was a bit chilly and there was still a dusting of snow in the terminally shady spots.
This Winter has been much milder than the last couple years and going along with that, it seems that Spring is getting a jump on things.
After finishing our hike along Rich Mtn Rd and coming back down via an old roadbed, we popped out in the field next to the concrete fire ring(?) across the road from the Missionary Baptist Church and discovered a patch of daffodils almost getting ready to bloom.
This seems very early.
I imagine the large patch near the north end Hyatt Lane will be coming along as well.... didn't get to check on it.

Christmas Day in Cades Cove

Every year we try to go hiking on Christmas Day and this year's hike was in Cades Cove along Cooper Road Trail.

It was a nice day in the Cove, temps in the low 40's with cloudy morning skies that cleared in the afternoon. A little drizzle did not dampen our spirits but recent rains had water levels up and we did have minor difficulty crossing Arbutus Branch along the way.



Stopped by the pond to check out the water level.... not a lot, but for winter pretty good I guess.



I always enjoy visiting the little cemeteries in the open fields. Feels so good out under the sun when it's chilly.




There was a lot of traffic in the Cove on Christmas. Despite the fact that bear madness is done for the season we were still caught up in multiple deer-jams, especially on the notoriously clogged far end of the loop. Inevitable. Not sure what goes thru people's heads once they get on that side..... maybe they are desperate to see a bear before they leave the Cove (because you always hear "Cades Cove is THE place to see bears!!") and they are scanning the forest as they roll along at 0.2 miles per hour.


All in all, it was a very nice Christmas in Cades Cove!

Thanksgiving Hike

Hope everyone had a great holiday :-)
We woke up to a foggy, cold morning.


We took a Thanksgiving hike on Brushy Mountain Trail. We had done the summit before from the other side, and have hiked the lower/mid portions multiple times but I've been wanting to complete Brushy Mtn to Trillum Gap for a while and finally had the chance yesterday.
Started out on Porters Creek Trail at 11:30am, quite a few others were out enjoying the Smokies on a holiday morning.







Always have to stop by the old hiking cabin when passing by.....






The hike was quiet and mostly uneventful. Recent rain and a bit of horse traffic had made some muddy spots in the trail. Coupled with deep leaves and slick rocks, constant alertness was vital. We kept a rapid pace so were alternately sweaty then cold as we wove in-and-out between shady hollows and sunny ridges, pushing ever upwards.




View of Greenbrier Pinnacle through trees and tangle of grapevines. I want to get back up there again sometime this season.











1st crossing of Trillium Branch. Heavy rain a couple days before had waters running higher than usual, but had subsided enough to allow a doable rock-hop. We did see a handful of kayakers running the Little Pigeon River as we drove in, river was still flowing pretty high down there.










This tree disapproves.

I think he may be related to Plankton.






Three hikers coming down from Mt. LeConte passed by. This is the only time we've ever seen anyone on this trail.









Second crossing of Trillium Branch, a nice little cascade here and a quick leap across the water.



Almost there...... relentless pace continues.....










Trillium Gap, at last, in 2 hours 40 minutes. From the Porter's Creek parking lot to Trillium Gap the elevation gain is around 2,700ft. Arrived at 2:10pm to complete silence. The lodge is closed for the season now, so way less foot traffic. It was boisterously loud when last we were at this gap via Trillium Gap Trail, lots of hikers were passing thru then.


 





We briefly debated continuing on to the Brushy Mtn summit (which btw is 0.4mi not 0.2mi) but decided against it. Safer not to push too close to sunset, especially since it was much colder up there and we had hoodies and not jackets plus were already tired. Back down we went.




Arrived at the parking lot at 4:15pm, still quite a few cars were there.






Back in Pigeon Forge, we saw this homemade 3-wheel-madmax-motorcycle-dunebuggy-2-seater-thingy.






Happy Thanksgiving!