Dipper Gourd seed have sprouted

 The heirloom dipper gourd seeds are up and have sprouted. We hope to grow these for educational purposes and have some extra gourds for fundraising purposes. The seed pack predicts 120 day to maturity, which will be mid November - perfect timing for us here as freezes rarely come before that.

Dipper Gourd Tee Pees

 Turk grass was removed,

 leaf mold was forked in,

 compost and soil conditioner added,

 cane pole tripod was added for support. Above is the left side, below is the right side.

Left side is in brighter light all day, right side is a little shadier, and near the fig tree.

Kitchen Clean Up

Here is a quick before shot as we begin to update the "new" kitchen - added to the house in early 1900. 

Once the shutters were removed the window damage was clear. Mullions had to be repaired and the glazing on the outside of the windows was patched in several places, hopefully that will keep the water from damaging the windows any more. 

Glued and clamped, worth saving though ... look at the wavy glass window panes. Precious to us. 

Get to the root of the problem

If you have a briar that keeps popping its evil head up through your boxwood shrubs, you have to get to the root of the problem, literally! This briar had been pruned back several times, but having done battle with briars in my own yard and I know that underneath the ground there is a root mass about the size of four or five large sweet potatoes for each plant. You have to get every piece of it out or it will come come right back up. One down - a least three more to go as the restoration of the grounds continues.