Extending my Season

After reading a beautiful post on Three Dogs in a Garden, I am determined to have a cold frame. I have loads of space for one and I know the perfect place. If you're anything like me, you need clear directions, in laymen's terms, to really grasp something.
The best instructions I have found for this project came from the Dummies.com. Great. Well, I might as well own it.
The raised beds I currently have are 5x5, untreated redwood. They were really expensive to build because I didn't want the arsenic from the wood leaching into our food! Finding untreated redwood wasn't the only expense. Filling 4 of the 18" high, 5'x5' raised beds with black dirt was no bargain, either!
With all that behind me, I add layers of compost and good ol' chicken manure (THANK you, Mike, Lyn, Wyatt and Megan!!!) to the raised beds every spring, they are low maintenance.
The cold frame would be something I need to add. I don't want to use my raised beds. I also wonder about the practicality of finding a cover that is 5'x5'.
So, I will build one from scratch. I may not be able to get a nice glass top, but I can find fiberglass to fit. This will be a good winter project for me.
I found the instructions here:
Cold Frame For Dummies


I am interested in growing some cole crop and extending the growing season on both ends. Anyone use one of these?

Finally!

Tomatoes!! I didn't rip out the plants, although they still aren't as healthy as the TomatoBerry!
I really just grow the large ones because my Mom in law wants me to, I don't care what size my tomatoes are, but she really likes them, so I think I should be bringing her some, today!! It looks like they cross-pollinated with my TomatoBerry tomatoes!

Can you see the pointy ends?? So cute!

Here's another one! I will pick them today and run them to her. She'll be so surprised.
Until she reads my blog, that is! I think she's my biggest fan...! I was not blessed with a loving mother, so God saw to it that Cherie came to my life!
We have spent 20 years in the kitchen, on the computer, shopping and enjoying what each other contributes. She did not have a daughter and I did not have a mom. How perfect!
The other day she suggested to me that I print and frame some of my pics. I don't think I'd ever taken one I would consider framing, really.
But, I love Love lOve this one!!!
I don't know what it is about this, but when I finished running the editor, I loved it. I love the color green, so maybe that is the reason I am so thrilled, but the glorious pepper plants, how different from the finicky tomatoes!

Healthy foliage, abundant peppers, what a rewarding thing, growing peppers is!!
Peppers and cherry tomatoes for me, friends!!

I will finish the Deer Resistant bed, today. I really must. The plants are not doing well, sitting near my deck. They want to be in the ground!!
So much has happened, I would like to get a few hours to sort it all out and get a plan together, maybe after church tonite?
Right now, I am going to spend time with my son, who is home from college for a few days.

He looks ready to get up and dig holes, doesn't he!!??

Can You I.D. these plants?

This is forming a mat under a tree. It has yellow buds and seems to me to be a coreopsis...??

edit: thank you! This is coreopsis!!

This, I think, is a crabapple. It has red stems and MOST of the leaves are crabapples, but some are palmate. I have been asked to help out with a huge project and my first step is identifying some of these problems! They cannot find the original landscape plan and I need to know what I am dealing with!

Transformation

This is the before shot of the house. That sickly yellow lawn full of tall fescue was keeping me up nights, it bothered me so much. Jeff and I have always put a high priority on having, not just a good lawn-the best lawn on the block.

This lawn was only a year old, but it was a juvenile delinquent! It not only wasn't a good lawn, it wasn't fit for pasture! This black topsoil was supposed to top dress the whole project.
It didn't come close.

The excavater found more topsoil and had five of these semi-trucks brought in!

I wish I could get me one of these. This little Bobcat is wonderful and I need it around. I know Kerri's hubby has one, but we paid this guy $100/hour to spread this stuff....

This man was so nice, Jeff had to work that morning, so he helped me carry my brand new beautiful raised beds out to their spots. Then, (can you see the fancy equipment??)
He used his lazar level to get them just right! It took a long time for us to get this far. Right after we got them in place, Jeff came home with burgers and fries!! I am very spoiled by him!

We had a long way to go, after that.
That was Saturday. I spent every hour out there until church on Saturday night. Then, I started the new job on Sunday. On Monday, I did the research and decided which seed I wanted. I knew I wanted bluegrass, but it takes sooo long to germinate. Since we had invested a lot in the soil, I wanted to give it justice, you know? Make it worth it!
So....
I went to the professional turf guys in the little farm town down the road. They install for the major leagues and the parks. I talked at length with them, learned a lot and brought home $600 worth of premium grass seed and fertilizer.
My husband was freaking out when I told him how much I spent.....

But, he recovered and took the next day off of work and rented a power seeder, sometimes called a slit seeder.
***not my husband, not my yard***

Well, the thing broke within an hour. So, he took it back, waited for them to fix it. An hour later, they told him they couldn't fix it. All the while, three days of slow steady rain is coming in from the west. He has to finish before the rain starts!! That seed would really be given a great start if it would rain after it was down!
He ran out to the next biggest town, DeKalb, and rented one there. It took two hours to get it back, and he worked like a crazy man!! To power seed correctly, you go east to west, then diagonally across the whole thing. This machine is a beast to handle, but Jeff made it look like he was mowing the lawn!!

***not my husband, not my lawn***

Just as the first drops began to fall, Jeff finished. It has rained slowly and politely, ever since that evening. All those expensive little seeds are tucked into their expensive blanket now!
We are expecting sunshine and 70's for the next week.
That grass will be so good, it will make me jump for joy!!
***enlarged for texture***