The trillium I moved into the back yard last year popped up this week. A neighbor realized a vacant lot that was being cleared to be built upon had a small population of these and so dug up as many as she could and shared them throughout the neighborhood. I’ve tried to move these from the front bed before with little success, so the sight this (and a nearby companion) actually had me squealing in the back yard the other evening. Continue reading
Gardening is one of those hobbies that requires that so-called (and overrated if you ask me) virtue known as patience. It can take years to realize a vision as plants settle in, establish themselves and finally, spread out. It’s a constant work in progress, with mother nature ultimately the one in control.
My friend Anna, who is a gardener to which I dare not hold a candle to, posted a photo of her bluebells yesterday, which made me go look in the backyard for mine. I had checked last week, but there were little signs of life back there at the time. It was after all, snowing two weeks ago then warm enough for an outdoor happy hour under a blooming pink tree one week ago, so this week, there finally were signs of life all over.
The plan was to go pick up some composted manure from a friend’s goat farm for our garden plot. Said farm is out in what we city dwellers refer to as “the sticks” – south of town between Schuyler and Scottsville, a few dirt roads off the main road.
Virginia and I set out about mid-morning in our old pick-up truck. We stopped off at the garden to tidy up and drop off some tools before heading south.
My garden looks rough. There’s no way around it. Granted, it’s the middle of October and everyone’s garden looks rough. August and it’s lack of rain combined with September and early October’s deluges have just left everything looking rather unfortunate. Partially inspired by an article I recently submitted for publication on the topic of how to winterize one’s garden and partially inspired by the purchase and renewal of the house behind us that has sat vacant for well over a year (and had slipped into neglect the last few years before that), I found myself with a few free hours the other day and decided to do a little bit of a clean up in my sunny perennial bed, aka, the ‘down by the side of the road’ garden. Continue reading
It’s a grey, rainy Monday morning here. Summer is fading fast – the cherry tree in the front yard, always the first to drop her leaves, has been bare for a few weeks and the dogwoods are quickly changing color. It seems as a good as any to catch up on posting pretty summer flower pictures.
Thanks to the generosity of friends, my off-site garden is planted heavily in peppers. I bought a few plants, but then found myself being handed oodles of pepper plants from friends and neighbors and one anonymous donor* that had run out of room in their gardens for all the pepper plants they had started/bought. I seriously have about 40 pepper plants (having bought 6) down there, most of which are heirloom chile peppers, but there are a few sweet ones too.
Last week a friend asked me what we’d been having for dinner recently. “Squash” was my quick reply. Between what the garden has been putting out and what friends have shared with us, we’ve had squash in some form or another for at least one meal a day since some time in July. I keep snapping photos along the way, meaning to share recipes with you (and me, because I often use this blog as one of my many recipe storage sites), but I just haven’t gotten around to it, so here we are with one big squash post instead. Continue reading
My weekend can best be summed up as “produce dealing”. There was the bag of cucumbers Virginia dropped off that became bread & butter pickles, peppers from the garden that became pepper jelly, a round of watermelon rind pickles started thanks to Virginia trying to get to a watermelon before the little nibbling critters in our garden did, only to cut it open to discover it wasn’t quite ready for eating.
I feel like it’s been too long since I did a garden post. The spring of two jobs and two gardens morphed into the summer of two jobs and two gardens plus assorted side projects and road trips, with the occasional looking after of neighbor’s gardens for three gardens and assorted responsibilities. I have moments where I strongly suspect I may have bitten off more than I can chew, followed by moments of uber frustration with nature but then I have those little moments of zen that make it all worth while.
I sometimes wander around the neighborhood, camera in hand. Saturday afternoon, I found myself down at Sandy’s, checking out his new deck and overhauled back patio, marveling over his hydrangeas.
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 