Garden Update

There has been so much to decide and stress over this year that I've found myself disconnecting more than usual lately. One of the best ways I've found to achieve this is the garden. I've said it before, but digging in the dirt is therapy for me. It takes me back to when I was young, crawling through our huge garden at home...yes, with a butter knife. That's how my mama taught me how to weed. While labor intensive, the blade slices pretty easily even through compacted soil to loosen up stubborn root systems, and is extremely effective at reducing the number of weeds that regrow.  Sometimes I crawl between the tomato plants and sit there, as if invisible, breathing in their sharp familiar smell and pretending I have no responsibilities.

Our garden isn't doing as well as I had hoped this year. The tomatoes developed blight. A four foot section of pole beans and a four foot section of cucumbers never came up, and I never got around to replanting. Same with the squash. We lost half the bell pepper plants and three of four zucchini plants to an over zealous helper. This makes for a few bald spots in the garden. Half a row of onions were knocked over in an out-of-control game of tag. But it's alright. If we do (hopefully!) end up moving this summer there will be less to clear out.

I am doing better this year at keeping up with the weeding. Funny how that works...the higher the stress level, the cleaner my garden!

My parents' massive garden, large enough to feed a small army, supplies for us what our garden lacks. We are blessed to have such generous family. Most recently they sent us home with a bunch of fresh basil and garlic. I sliced a couple basil leaves and a clove of garlic on some diced tomatoes for a "midnight snack" last night. Makes my mouth water! The rest of the basil I'm drying to use for cooking later.

The pink plate definitely makes this snack look a lot less appetizing, but I'm trying to use up my stash of party supplies before we (hopefully) move. Less to pack.

Eli is experimenting this year with a hill of potatoes in a five gallon pail. The goal is to not have to dig potatoes in the fall. Ideally, you tip the pail over and you can pick the potatoes up off the ground. You drill holes in the bottom of the pail, add a few inches of soil, put in a couple taters, and fill the rest of the pail with soil. I'll admit I was a skeptic. The potatoes were planted so far toward the bottom of the pail I didn't think they'd emerge until September. But here, you can see they're up and even blooming. So far so good!

The sole zucchini plant has baby zucchini coming on, cucumbers are loaded with blossoms (and a few itty bitty cukes), and beans are finally ready to pick. We've been getting a couple kohlrabi every few days, though something has recently started snacking on the leaves. And despite the blight, there are a lot of tomatoes set on.

And as usual, the cherry tomato tree
by the deck steps is doing spectacular.

There are several volunteer sunflowers coming up amidst the veggies, and one line red poppy. I don't know where it came from, but it's gorgeous and I'm leaving it!

I'm also growing sunflowers beside the front porch this year. So that bed's been different each year. The first year here I planted zinnias there that never grew. The next year were Cannas, stunning and much like a privacy hedge. Then sweet pea hyacinths, purple vines and delicate flowers that weaved a net across the side of the porch. Cheery sunflowers seemed like a good change for this summer.

The cascading alysum by the back door is filling in nice as well. I want to pot up the geraniums and take them with us if we move.

This strange specimen is a tubular begonia. from last season that I've left to its own maintenance. It has survived little boys digging in it and a whole month of sunless winter days. It wins the award for fortitude.

And in closing, here is a photo of a baby gymnast. Happy Friday!