Generally I am up fairly early in the morning regardless of when I go to bed. This morning I had an idea for this blog as I stood in the kitchen waiting for tea water to boil. I have been very busy keeping up this yard, and really there is about half that I haven't even touched this year. At this point, I will spend the rest of the summer tending what is planted, moving what I need to and preparing for the winter. I have taken literally hundreds of pictures of this process. I realized recently that sorting through the shots to find blog worthy photos is often overwhelming. I have a bunch sorted and ready to upload, but today I thought, no, the camera is empty, I can take exactly the shots I want, upload them after work, and tell the story of just this morning. I can post the history anytime.
I stepped outside to take this view in front of the kitchen window. This is what I was gazing at when the idea for this blog washed over me.
I am so tickled about this corn, I can barely stand it! There are a couple of places no growth happened and I curved the back rows in a semi circle around the sunflower, which has taken over the planet, so there are a few short ones under the leaves that are healthy, but small for lack of sun, we shall see. I was hoeing out the weeds last night and I giggled as I thought of John Travolta in Phenomenon frantically hoeing his garden. I wasn't hoeing that fast, believe me, but I was saying over and over as I hacked down each weed, "Not Corn!". Once I realized what I was doing, I cracked up. Oh, and next year...corn gets it's own space and lots more of it. I like the rest of the garden, I am crazy for this corn. Seriously, it makes me want to move to Iowa.
These are the English cucumber, which are one of the few things I planted from seeds that grew and thrived. I have photographic history of the growth, not pictured here, hehehe.
The blackberry bush has come back with a vengeance. I knew there would be a transition period, I kept the faith, and I believe next year we could see some fruit...
Next to the blackberry bush is the regular cucumber, also planted from seeds, but only one of two has come up. I am not complaining, the English are my favorite.
The red peppers are coming right along nicely. These were planted from purchased seedlings, which I will grow inside next year. It's too rough outside for seeds between the wind and the unpredictable last frost date.
All six are starting to flower.
I planted both basil and oregano from seeds. I had given up hope on all of them, then yesterday when I was weeding this area, I saw that one lone basil plant was finally making itself seen. The other tiny green plants along the fence are actually the beginnings of elm trees, the elm tree story is for another day.
I replanted the mint plants at various locations around the yard. Mint repels ants I've learned, and this particular mint needs alot more room than I gave it. We shall see how the mid season transplant works.
I pulled out the spinach, cut the parsley all the way back and moved most of the mint. The very cramped zucchini plants are quite happy. I did that stuff last weekend, and in just a few days the greedy little zucc spread over a third of the area recently occupied by mint. Another thing this years planting has taught me is about space. When the seed package says 12" apart, they tell you that for a reason. These plants grow big, give them space, duh. And the place for a big plant is not along a walk way. Check.
On the other side is the cabbage and the onions, all moving along great. Although next year I will allow more room for everything. The cabbage is a little cramped, but they all seem to be doing well. No danger of the cabbage encroaching much into the walkway, so that is a plus.
This is the best flavor onion ever! We pick off of this all the time. It continues to grow in ways I've never seen before on a market shelf, but who cares, it's way more fun and it tastes amazing.
I now refer to this section as the tree flowers. The first basket, bought ready made and blooming beautifully on the day of purchase, really struggled in the full hot sun. It was good at first with watering morning and evening, but I missed a day, and the thing fried to a crisp overnight, Not sure if something diabolical was underfoot or what, but, alas it's only flowers. I went to Moana Nursery, someplace I had been wanting to visit, and bought a few replacements, said to be hearty in full sun eight plus hours a day. I added a petunia since they have been doing so well in the front yard and are very cheap.
The Petunias filled in so nicely on this corner. Another lesson this year: petunias don't grow uphill. Luckily, I found my favorite ground cover and started it in the upper left corner to grow downhill and fill in the gap. It keeps heading up the brick and I have to move it down, but it is not too fussy about being repositioned, so all is well. This is not a good picture of that part, but it will show up again sometime, I am sure.
The little planter bed in the front where violas grew so happily just came to a screaming halt over a couple of weeks. I am pretty sure some dog or cat started peeing there. The plants were dying one by one in random order. I would come out and a section that had been bright, happy blooms one day, would be wilted over yellow and dead. I tried to pull the dead ones and move the barely living ones, but I am pretty sure these poor babies are done. I see a cheap six pack of petunias in my very near future.
I have a whole slew of photos of the daisies too, but here they are shown with a recent cut. The house has been filled with them since we got back from LA, but like the peonies, they needed a fresh start. I know from last summer that I will get a handful more daisies before the long winter sleep.
After I walked around the whole planted yard, picked off dead flowers, pulled out random weeds, I went back to Bill's side of the garden and picked the two largest artichokes to cook for lunch. Bill planted this last year because our landlord, Vanessa told Bill artichoke was her favorite vegetable. It grew well and produced three or four very small 'chokes. The plant came back this year in fine fashion. Bill already told me he won't eat them, so I am going to have a hard time eating them fast enough if Vanessa doesn't come take some.
Quite delicious.
After that is was nap, work, and here to blog in the wee hours. Better go to bed before the sun comes up. I am hoping your day is filled with joy.
