How Does Your Garden Grow? 072611

Today felt like a garden love story. I had about 5 minutes to take pics in the garden before the day got too bright and I headed out with a feeling of despair. What WILL I take pictures of today? At first I was a grump, the deer nipped off all of my strawberries and plants in one barrel because the netting came off and I for got to replace it AND my beloved snap peas were on their way out. Grrrrrrr.

I hope you enjoyed them Bambi.

Bye Bye Snaps

But then, the zukes, the shelling peas, oh the shelling peas and their beautifully frantic tendrils. Then my onions which are the LOVE of my garden this summer. They are gorgeous, deliciously sweet and plentiful. What more could I ask for? Then I continue on to find new pumpkins, a RED cherry tomato and more. Here is a photo tour. Enjoy and Angela, please don't lick your screen! ;)

Canoe Shelling Peas

Tendrils

More tendrils

Tendrils, do you see why I love them so?

Onion love. These babies are a gardener's dream.

Sorry broccoli, I forgot about you. But did you see the onions? and the tendrils?

Baby pumpkin  

Protecting my babies 

Do you see the RED?!?!

Vegetable Jungle Madness

Soon.

How does YOUR garden grow?? Please share I want to see yours. I showed you mine. ;)

Summer is here!

Zukes, Patty Pan and Sweet Onion medley for dinner. Oh sweet Summer, I have missed you!
Please click the title heading to leave a comment. We are working on this. THANKS!

Distracted

Each and every day starts with the best of intentions to get out and work in the garden, but then the kids wake up. I look out our picture window at the raised beds while eating our oatmeal and think, "I WILL get out there, just after breakfast." This is always followed with getting ready and heading to preschool/ baby group/ library/ park/ play date. The van starts with the kids strapped in and I think, "Ugh. I WILL get to the garden when we get home." You know this part. The play date goes late and you come home with these crazy little beings who physically resemble your kids, but have lost their minds. Every ounce of your energy is used from deep within that reserve you have just to the left of your spine (that is where the extra mama energy is stored, just in case you were wondering) to get the beings to sleep so they can return from their nap as your delightful children again. Oh yes, and now it is time for the garden. Sometimes. My littlest one has a quick recharge on her battery.

So my little lady and I head out to the garden with the camera, of course, and I grab my gloves and start checking the barrels. Lots of green strawberries. This is good. We will need to put some netting over them this week if we plan to actually eat them when they ripen. Check.

The peas are growing, but no pods yet. No surprises. Despite our initial difficulties with this veggie of choice, I find myself wishing we had more of them growing.

Time to look under the first cloche. Nice growth. Oooh it has been awhile. Look at that lettuce tree. Hmmm. I guess we are having a large salad tonight.

Second cloche. Growth is happening here. Phew! We have spinach, of course. I am taking mental notes for the upcoming week's menu.

Then I hear giggles. I get distracted. I look. The gloves are removed. Now I am giggling; she is a cute one.

Next thing I know I am on the ground looking at things from her perspective and there is drool running down my cheek. It is not my own.

We are rolling around on her baby quilt and she is "talking" to me. Then I send a rapid fire of kisses on to her squishy little cheeks and she smiles. So, I HAVE to do it again. 20 minutes passes and then 45. Sorry garden. I have a little sack of sugar to enjoy.

Yes, I love my garden and these days it isn't as marvelous as it could be. I get distracted, quite easily to be honest. I get distracted by flower trails and giggles, drool and new perspectives, and important little milestones that dart in front of me without warning.

Someday Garden, I promise to focus on you. Right now, I need to focus on my distractions.

Our First Onion

This was the first time we tried Spring Onions (Walla Wallas). Last year we tried the overwinter variety and BOMBED big time. Since we missed our window to plant last fall (big belly in the way) I decided to try the spring variety. SUCCESS!!

~Say What?!?~070511

A fun look at life from a different perspective.
One of the aspects of gardening that I truly appreciate is finding the patterns that occur in nature. Patterns are comforting and predictable; however, sometimes life is not quite what we had expected, but there is beauty to explore there as well.


Tendrils. Tendrils everywhere. Grasping to continue growing. If they don't find something to intertwine within their curls, they end up in a ball mess with no growth. Grasp and reach out to grow today.

Deer, Sprinklers and Sounds

Ok, so I sent my kid barking after deer. Whatever.

I am beginning to feel a wee bit neurotic about protecting my garden. Is this normal?

Time spent relocating motion detector sprinkler this afternoon, 10 minutes. Really?!? Really. I had to get it just right. Protect the beds and the strawberries. Protect the pumpkins and watermelons. I won't even mention how many times I got tagged in the face by the #%?! thing. Yes, I had turned it off, thank you. But then I kept forgetting, again and again. I hope my neighbor saw some of the display and was entertained. I was just getting pissy.

Now I am sitting in my favorite chair, watching "Master Chef" and listening. The sprinkler has gone off a couple of times. Pressing my face against the window to the dark outdoors doesn't provide me with much of a view. Maybe if I press it a l i t t l e bit harder, it will make a difference. No. I can't see squat. Fingers crossed. Cursing under my breath (everyone is asleep). Ugh.

What extent would you go to to protect your harvest?

Please share.

Need / Want / Like / Love [ bowl ]

In 2004, the year after I was married, I asked for a salad bowl for Christmas. When I opened the box from San Diego, my jaw dropped. This wasn't just a salad bowl. This bowl was smooth. It had irregular contours that led your hand around it's edges. The grain of the wood was so rich and deep. I flipped it over and saw "Handcrafted in Haiti by Einstein Albert" on a little paper sticker. After I giggled, my mind traveled to a man I regularly watched carve during an extended stay in Mexico. I remembered the commitment, labor and love that went into each of his creations. Immediately, respect. Respect for the tree. Respect for the man who made it. Respect for my mother-in-law who chose it.

This is the bowl we use to gather our meals from our garden. This is the bowl that brings salads to our friends' homes. This is the bowl that reminds me to respect the source. This is the bowl I love.

Share your thoughts with me.

~Say What?!?~ peas

This is entry #1 for the Gardening Hall of Shame. Note: Remove bird netting before the peas go wild otherwise you will end up with:

Ok, snicker away at my expense. Every year has to have it's failures so we can LEARN, right? We have learned from our mistakes, fixed the problem, updated our gardening journal and now, publicly humiliated ourselves. Now that we have that out of our systems, CHECK THIS OUT!

Peas! Can you believe it? All of the drama and now we have sweet peas. If I see a certain Towhee, I might even offer him one as a peace offering.


We are up to our elbows in spinach, lettuce, peas and strawberries right now and we should have some zucchini by the end of the week. I had to prep my better half about the beginning of zucchini season at dinner tonight. His response was very neutral.


If you are a neighbor and you are reading this, come grab a head of heirloom salad greens or some spinach! (Keep your fingers off the strawberries. A certain 4 year old doesn't believe in sharing these.)

All photos are taken by Val Curtis and can be used with permission only.

Need / Want / Like / Love 062311

I was searching through those items you just HAVE to have and I ran across this at Gardener's Supply Company.

Orchard Rack

It is a perfect little produce rack (orchard rack). I can just envision our summer and fall bounty of potatoes, onions and garlic resting here and looking beautiful to boot. They have a much larger version, but I would need to add a room on the house if I went any larger. So there it is.

What items do you dream of having for your garden?

~Say What?!?~ 062111

Somebody is busy chomping my radishes. Any ideas on who it could be? Any suggestions about how to conquer them? Interestingly enough, they aren't bothering the radishes themselves and we haven't jumped into the world of eating radish greens. As a result, these little pests are leaving us unscathed for the most part, but I am worried about the damage they might do elsewhere in the garden. Thanks for your suggestions!

All photos are taken by Val Curtis and can be used with permission only.

~Say What?!?~ 061411

Give me your ideas in the comment box below. Humorous and factual entries appreciated.

SAY WHAT #1: Once upon a time this was a perfectly happy Thompson's Broccoli plant living under a cloche. One day I lifted the cloche and **GASP** this is what I found. Ideas?

SAY WHAT #2: I found this at the base of another Thompson's Broccoli plant. Huh???

All photos are taken by Val Curtis and can be used with permission only.

Keep Your Eyes Open

Gardening and I are relatively new friends. I would consider us to be in the courting phase. We both surprise each other with new revelations upon each encounter. We are learning about ourselves through our interactions. And there are those frequent "Say what?!?" moments when you have to call your best girlfriends to see if the latest manifestation is "normal" or if you should run for the hills.

Every Tuesday, I will be sharing my "Say What?!?" moment of the week with you in hopes of finding some answers.

See you tomorrow!

A time for Purpose. A time for Fancy.

My children remind me that there are times to be purposeful (parading the crew out the door to pick up the one forgotten item at the store) and times to be fanciful (looking under forest debris for signs of fairies). Just when I am immersed in the throws of purpose, I will be reminded of the importance of fancy.


This week we experienced our first real summeresque day after a long winter of cold, wet days spent indoors taking care of our newest addition. My calendar was chock full of events and tasks to complete, but I opted to ignore the list for a couple of sun-drenched hours at our local beach with a friend and her son. Somehow this "spontaneity" turned me into a taskmaster yet again. Gather blankets, umbrellas, sunscreen, snacks and oh, yes, the kids, before completing our shopping at the Farmer's Market so we can THEN enjoy the sun. During my preparation / frenzy, my son kept asking me to come see his new trail (we often create new paths for adventures around our house) and I kept nodding and smiling and saying, "Ok Buddy, just let Mommy get the van packed so we can go have some fun." "But Mommy." "I know. Go pack yourself into the van Buggy."


Scurry scurry. Rush rush. Ugh. Where are his sand toys? So, I ran into the garden to grab his gardening tool bag when I stopped dead in my tracks. There before me ran a beautiful path of purple to the garden. Cole's trail. Dozens of zinnias and lavender buds were placed carefully to create a gentle carpet of purple (our favorite garden color) to the raised beds. I had to sit down and catch my breath and then I ran inside to grab my camera. After brushing away a few tears, I approached my little man and told him I found his trail and that it was beautiful and special and incredibly thoughtful. "I made it all purple for you." Yes, he made it all purple...for me.

As you catch yourself hurrying with purpose this week, do not forget to look for/appreciate/acknowledge the fanciful trails made, with love, for you.

Virgin harvest

This year my goal is to outwit the animals in my garden and to actually grow something while managing, laughing and playing with my two kiddos.

Dig this Chick has a great page on her blog honoring gardening firsts. Enjoy!

Join me. Laugh with me.

After dealing with the furry little bandits and a little anticipation...

Time: 10:23pm

Sound: chick-chick-chick-chick and some serious squealing.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

The sprinkler may not solve my problem, but that sound byte was worth every penny we spent on it.

Now I can go to sleep with a smile on my face.