A Quiet Sunday Morning ... You Know Where

After 10 days of blistering mid-90's with high humidity (good weather to stay inside and curl up with a book), it was in the 60's this morning and the garden was the perfect place to be. 

I love to get out there before the first direct rays of the sun hit the garden.

I'm lucky that a line of very tall trees two yards over give me an extra 20 minutes of shade before the sun crests them. 

In the shady parts of the garden, there was still lots of dew on leaves and flowers. 

Blueberries were ready for harvesting.  This is actually my second harvest, and I think I will get a third.  It was enough to put on my cereal. They are tiny but quite flavorful.  Hope that future crops will be both greater in quantity and larger berries.

Some of the clematis are reblooming.  My favorite is this one that climbs the mailbox post.

Tomatoes are growing like Topsy.  We are almost at the point of breaking into neighbors' homes and leaving them on the counters ... but not quite.   Soon the Romas will be ripening enough to start the roasting process for winter sauce. 

Apparently the critters - we think this was the ground hog - are liking them, too.   I'm leaving it out there for a couple of days in the hope that he will continue to dine on this one and not help himself to others.   It's starting to get dry, so he may be looking for water. 

The first dahlias bloomed this week ... not the colors I remember planting, but lovely none the less. 

And, I painted my nails. 

Hope you have a great week!

Consider the Lilies ....

Sometimes I think that lilies are really my favorite flower... before tulips?  no.  not really.  But they probably are my favorite summer flower, especially with so many blooming right now. 

The most spectacular one, tho, is a "tree lily" that i planted five (or more) years ago.  It was a huge bulb - like 6-7 inches tall and 3-4 inches "wide".  Since i didn't want to have to dig a hole to China, i put it in the raised bed at the corner of the garden ... and promptly forgot it.  [The truth is that i thought it was a gimmick.]

For the first couple of years, it was nothing special - a pretty clear yellow, with a gorgeous fragrance, but there are several more in the garden that are similar.

But two years ago it took off and got taller and taller.  This year it is about 6 feet tall and had six separate stalks - each topped with 15 - 25 buds.   A heavy rain on Tuesday night knocked two stalks down, so i cut them and brought them into the house. 

This is 20 blooms and more than 40 more buds.  I know they won't all open, but perhaps half will.  The entire house smells wonderful!

The Pond is Gone - part 2

When I put in the pond, I also created a seating area so that one could actually sit and look at the fish.  With the pond gone and a new sitting area to replace it, the "old" sitting area needed to go, too. 

The crabapple tree was behind the glider in the summer of 2009, but died a couple of years later. 

This was actually very easy and took minimal effort.   With the tree gone, the glider was sitting in full sun all day and we never used it.  While its view of the pond was wonderful, it just wasn't a pleasant place to be. 

Granted, this was taken in early March before anything started coming up, but you can see that it was a pretty barren place to be!

The barrel held oregano - like the area's largest single clump - that i have used extensively in cooking, so I wanted to maintain that, but not necessarily in such a huge clump.  And, the barrel was rotting away.  

Another blue pot to the rescue. 

This one contains a new rosemary, along with new oregano and just for fun two stevia plants.

All done and planted with Romas and Brandywine tomatoes. 

So a little soil clean up, and an afternoon of Mitchell's time making a raised bed, and voila!  A new bed for Roma tomatoes for this summer's red sauce.  I can hardly wait.

Almost Heaven!

And, finally I promised you the view if you are sitting on the glider now.  Breakfast out here is becoming a habit!

Wednesday Workday

I burned my last day of vacation today to have lunch with a friend, but since she did not want to eat at 7 a.m., i sneaked in a couple of hours in the garden. 

[Is anyone surprised by that?  No.  I thought not.]

Last summer we grew three tomatoes - Cherokee Purple (an early bearing heirloom), Brandywine (a late heirloom) and Roma - one plant each.   While both the Cherokee and the Brandywine produced fairly well from mid-May thru October, we would have used more "eating" tomatoes - especially since both had excellent flavor.  

The Romas were all either made into Tomato Jam, or roasted for Rachel Ray's roasted tomato sauce.* 

Mitchell loved the tomato sauce, but we were out of it by January and i committed to grow lots of Romas this year for sauce. 

Today was the day to plant.  But, not before I added a new raised bed, just for the Romas.

The bench used to sit on this "pad".
I took up the pavers a couple of weeks ago.

Mitchell built the new box for me yesterday and helped me move it into place.  

See how much the whole garden has greened up in two weeks.

Early this morning I was a Big Blue Box to get compost and peat moss.  For raised beds i use a combo of peat moss, vermiculite and two or three different types of composts.  Today I used "webb dirt" from my compost pile, plus Leafgro and a mushroom compost for a rich blend that will help feed the tomatoes all season.

Rolling the "ingredients" together.

It only took a couple of hours once I had everything.  Did I mention that we ended up with 12 plants this year?  Probably a bit of overkill.

All of the Romas and two Brandywine.

We have three Cherokee Purple, one red cherry, four Brandywine and four Roma - enough for a great summer of tomato eating and a winter of good sauce!

*Rachel Ray's Roasted Tomato Sauce 

Cut tomatoes in half, add desired seasonings (garlic, fresh herbs, salt and pepper), drizzle olive oil over all and roast cut side down 1.5 to 2 hours until tomatoes are soft and well roasted.

To serve immediately, put in blender (or use immersion blender) to puree, heat and serve with your favorite pasta.  

Freeze in quart or gallon bags to use later.

A Non-Project Project

It started off simply enough.

Things are coming up nicely now.  

The plum bloomed last week and is already gone. 

Lilacs and wisteria are blooming next door.  The dogwoods are open and the azaleas right behind them.  The viburnum coming out.  All in all, things are looking good and the weather has finally moved into spring-mode. 

So, one small assignment for Saturday:  just rake out a few leaves and then maybe spread a bit of mulch.  Nothing difficult - 45 minutes max. 

Can you see where some critter has eaten the blooms, but left the leaves and stems?  Nice clean teeth marks!

I raked.  I carried leaves to the compost pile.  And, that uncovered the pachysandra had grown into the path, so ....

I pulled out the errant pachysandra, and made a quick trip to the Big Blue Box store to get rock, and then ....

I spread rocks.  

Now it was clear that some of the azaleas were dead,  and the hosta was gone.  I made a second quick trip to the Big Blue Box store for pink [what else?] azaleas and a hosta. 

I planted them, and then finally spread the mulch.  Forty-five minutes?  More like five hours!

Ah, the life of a gardener!

At Last!

No need to tell you it's been a weird winter and spring seems reluctant to appear - you've had your own issues wherever you are.  It just is what it is this year ... just like last year and the one before.

Today, I finally took trowel in hand and actually planted something!  The ground is just the right temperature for the leafy greens and early herbs - specifically Romaine lettuce, flat-leaf parsley and basil.  And, they seem to thrive in this raised bed.

There is also this lovely little trio of arugula plants that wintered over.  I was able to pick leaves even in the snow, and after a little clean up of old and dry looking stems, they are ready to keep on going.  I suspect they will not survive our hot and humid summer, but is a certainty that I will plant more this summer.

And, of course, no veggie (or herb) garden would be complete without its own little anti-rabbit fence.

Otherwise, a few things are already up and perky.  This is the bed I renovated last fall - removing years' worth of creeping euonymus and ivy.  I planted Creeping Jenny  ( Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea') and Tete a Tete daffodils, and the plan seems to be working.

The daffs are in full bloom and the Jenny is coming up.  This area will take irrigation, since the elm tree sucks up all the moisture, but I have found a system that I think will work and is not too expensive, so will be ordering it in the next week or two.

[Have you noticed that DIY irrigation has become much more available, with many more choices, and at reasonable prices?  While I would love to just call someone in to do the entire yard, it now seems like a silly waste of money give all the alternatives.]

This front bed is full of little bulbs - mostly crocus and the Tete a Tete daffodils right now, but I just planted snow drops last weekend - three varieties - and have been putting all my hyacinths out there after I've finished with them inside.  Several came up early this year and, except for some cold damage to their scapes, they have done well.  I have several more to plant this weekend.

The blueberry bush is simply covered with buds!  Like 100 times more than ever before.  I've had trouble with the birds getting all the berries in past year, but have a plan for a much larger netting cover this year, so maybe ...

This morning I just happened to pass a Big Orange Box Store and a few small perennials fell into my basket.  It's supposed to be cold tomorrow, but Saturday looks good for digging a few more holes. 

Although I am finally in the mood to blog, I am finding that my job is interfering this spring.  Am already training my replacement, so it's more difficult to pop outside to check on progress in the garden and to take photos.  And, most of the real digging will have to take place on weekends and be more weather-dependent. 

A small price to pay for the retirement date that is looming not-very-far over the horizon!  Am sure you will forgive me.