Why I Oughta...

Our screened porch is where we spend a lot of time watching screens. Football season, evening 'shows', etc.  It is not a four-season porch, though.  Might call it 3.5 seasons.  That's because we added Eze-Breeze four-panel windows to the frames and swapped out the screened door for a storm door with a screen.  Eze-Breeze windows are really great.  They keep the dust out.  They also - according to their product page - block UV rays which protects furniture.   And, in the cold time of the year, they keep out the wind and what I'll call 'extreme' temperatures.  They create an envelope that we can heat and be in the porch when the temps are low.  But, not too low.   I'd say that we typically get to use the porch all the way through Christmas.  Then, when Winter actually arrives in January, we're forced out of there.   That's because the 'envelope' that the Eze-Breeze windows creates is 'leaky'.  The windows ar...

The pair of Sugar Tyme Crabapple trees are currently loaded with green leaves.  But, that won't last long as they drop their leaves and reveal their structure and (hopefully) some berries that have appeared this Fall. Below are two photos showing both of them.  First, the one closer to the front of the house followed by the one located further back.   Of note, late Winter pruning and support with stakes is something I should put on my list of tasks.  The tips of the limbs are arching down due to the weight of the crabapples and foliage.  Still...these look really good and are providing a great view against the large expanse of white Hardieboard siding.

One of the current-season 'gardening wins' that I'm going to take are the three Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs that I planted in mid-August down at the corner of the driveway and sidewalk .  These are in the 'island bed' and right against those hard surfaces. I watered them *a little bit*, but they mostly seemed to handle themselves.  I planted them mid-Summer, so I'm hoping they'll overwinter better than others have in the past - when I planted Ajuga as part of a "fall planting" cycle.   See below for the three little plugs and how much they've grown in 2.5 months: 

While it doesn't top the Festivus House that I posted about all the way back in 2011 , but thanks to Nat (one of the biggest BTTF fans that I know...she even rivals my friend Steve), we piled into the family truckster and drove up to Park Ridge to go see the Back to the Future Halloween Decoration house.  And, it was worth it.  Here's a look at the set-up below: Here is a quick video showing the full set-up:

A few days ago, I posted a couple of photos showing how I was using some frost covers to try to extend the dahlia-growing season just a little bit after the first 'hard frost' had arrived in our Zone.   I only have a couple of frost covers, so I wasn't covering *everything* in the garden, which lead to some things suffering from the cold.  The most-prominent plants that took the biggest hit from the frost is the coleus that I've planted as bedding plants.  In front and back.  Below are a few photos showing the 'morning after' - where the frost worked FAST to kill the Sun King coleus in the front yard island bed.   And, the large colony of Inferno Coleus in the backyard, near the patio died back, too: I'll leave this stand for a while and I assume the next time the frost arrives will be permanent for the Winter.  And, this will decline even more without the need to cut-back.  Most of the rest of the perennials weren't affected as significantl...

The last time that I checked in on the backyard pizza oven build, I showed off the full enclosure and roof and talked about how I had some success with a lower-temperature bake .  This was in late September and the oven - at that time - looked like this below.   From the front, you can see the block base and how I had made a temporary hearth landing out of a 2x6 that is supported by some firebrick cut-offs.   That was (obviously) temporary, but it has taken me a while to figure out what I wanted to do there. We seem to have landed on installing a hearth/landing ledge of Soapstone that will stick out from the front of the oven about 10-12 inches.  That will give me a little ledge/counter to work on before/after sliding the pies in/out of the oven.   But, in order to install that ledge, some permanent support needed to be installed.  Based on how I poured the hearth and placed the oven, I left myself four-or-five inches of space to build on top...

The last few nights, we were getting freeze and frost warnings from the National Weather Service.  That means that the gardening season is coming to a hard close.  All of our dahlias, however, still have flowers and tons of buds on them.  Before the frost arrived, I cut everything that I could (more on that later), but for most of them, I opted to leave on some of the smaller buds and took action:  covered most of them with frost blankets.  And...crossed my fingers.   Here, below, is one of the Wizard of Oz Dahlias that I wrapped in a frost blanket.  Will the plant make it?  We'll know tomorrow.   The forecast calls for temperature moderation over the next week or more.  So, all I'm looking to do is to simply try to 'extend' part of the growing season with some of the dahlias for another few days.