Saturday, July 12, 2014

Garden Perch

Everyday, Hubby amazes me.
I trudged home from a 3am shift at work and flopped to the floor before running out the door to attend an event with  family.
My playful bunny pranced around with me for five minutes before I had to head out the door again.
And right before I left, Hubs just tossed out a  "oh, when you get home lets put that swing together."
I could have peed my pants with excitement.
But I was running out the door....
So I looked forward, breathlessly, to getting home.
 
Of course when I did, he was finishing up chores, so I ate Chinese food leftovers and opened the front door eleventeen times, checking on him.
I mean, he was weeding poison ivy in the front yard, so I wasn't about to stop him.
 
And FINALLY, he was ready to put the swing together...
I'd been looking forward to this for MONTHS.
(Since he broke the old swing board with his bare hands. Hubby is strong)
And the board was rotten...
 
But I was so glad he participated, because it was a lot more involved than I thought.
First, he had to saw the old bolts off of the original hinges.


Those sparks tingle on the skin.
I had the hard task of searching for bolt halves in the grass.
Hubby always gives me the hard jobs...


Then he had to drill new holes into the board.


And jostle them in to place, after grinding off some of the rust.
 


And hammer them in to place and hammer down the hinge...
 

 
And then it was done!
And I LOVE it!
And Hubby. I love him too. And not just because he does what I want if I bat my eyes enough, or give him sad face or accuse him of destroying the old swing that brought me pure joy and true happiness...
 

 
And so I sat on it.

 
It is so hard to take pictures while balancing. I won't tell you whether or not I fell in to the Hostas.

 
This is where I will spend my summer.
Zoe VonSnugglebottoms can hop around her bunny palace.
And I'll be reading, drinking iced tea, and staring at my garden....
 
 
So Happy!

 
Hubs cut the board four feet long so I could really stretch out.
I LOVE the length...

 
And the foliage right next to it is great...

 
And the wagon wheel my awesome brother gave me for Christmas  is right next to it.


 
And I've got a great view o my bean teepee built with bamboo from my aunt.

 
It's gonna be a barefoot, swinging, iced tea kinda summer!
 
What's going on in your garden?
What kind of structures have you put in?
Where's your favorite spot in your yard?
Share, Share, Share!!!!
 
 

 

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Red, White, and Blue Dwarf Kale

Holidays in the good ole USA.
'Merica.
Land of the Free.
 
And after yesterday, Land of the FULL.
 
'Cause Americans can FEAST, given any possible occasion.
I've seen "half-birthday" parties, "you just got out of prison" parties, "you're single and alone but you like it that way" parties, and everything in between.
 
But celebrating our independence as a nation, man, can we put on a spread.
 
So I wandered out into the garden to see what I could forage up...


My bean blend has quite the mix of yummy beans...

And I pulled out more fistfuls of radishes...
 

And sat down on the patio in my star spangled pants to cut them.

Some of them were a bit small an nubby...

While others looked more like beets than radishes.

But when I was finished chopping everything up,
I had a nice batch of radishes and blue dwarf kale.

I picked what I think is the last of my harvest of snap peas.

Which I promptly ate because they are wretchedly addictive and I have no self control around a snappy, snap pea.
 
And then I made fresh baguettes and topped them with a little goat cheese and sliced radishes.
I had a delicious holiday.
 
How was yours?
Did you eat anything out of your garden?
Share! Share! Share!
 

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

They're All Growin' UP...

This was back in March...
A barren wasteland of dirt and ladders.
I pushed a few fistfuls of seeds in to the ground...

 
 
And I got these little guys a few weeks later.
And then we started to get hurricane amounts of water followed by Sahara desert amounts of sunlight...

 
And these little guys turned in to THESE guys...

There's Dwarf Kale at the base of the ladders, mixed winter squash weaving their way up the ladders, and sunflowers towering over them...
 
It's amazing what a little seed can become!
 
These old ladders are just perfect in the garden. The winter squash tendrils grip on to just about any little chip and crevice.
I can't wait to see the different varieties as the start to form,
especially the Red Kuri Squash!
 
And I FINALLY,
 
After three years of alternating between crying and raging at the squirrels,
 
got a Sunflower...
 
 
 What's going on in your garden? Share, share, share! Pretty please...

Sunday, June 29, 2014

What's GrOwING On?

My garden is FLUFFY.
 
It's like my hair in the 90's when my fashionista sister got her hands on a hair crimper...
and me.
 
Here we all are. In line for the crimping. You'll notice how happy and unassuming I was with natural, soft hair.
 You can see the cord of the crimper draped across the counter top.
 
And this is sort of what my hair looked like after.
 
Like,
There's a lot going on....
 
Just like my garden!
So without too much more fanfare, here it all is, roughly labeled
snap peas

tomatoes growing up the arbor, onion beds in the tier between
 

a mess of herbs along the wall, future arbor and hot boxes in the background

hodge-podge of herbs

climbing together with the snap peas

herbs herbs herbs

potato towers and sweet potato towers
 
bursting out the sides

Lacinato (dinosaur) Kale

Baby Kale (This is going in a taco. Check it out at the Forest Feast!)
Love her recipes!
 

Lower garden view:
nasturtium, yarrow, cilantro, sage, dill, radishes, spinach, strawberries

snap pea as fat as a finger and so sweet and crisp

winter squash trellising up the ladder

Sunflowers

bean blossoms

bean blend

lower garden view:
hot boxes, potato towers, winter squash, pumpkins, melons, sunflowers, kale, radishes

northern garden view:
beans, cucumbers, summer squash, radishes, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, asparagus patch

more, most upper northernest view:
 with bean tepee and grapevines in background