Oh Bountiful Harvest

This is my largest harvest ever! I know it doesn't seem like much, but hey it's only my second summer as a vegetable gardener. The reddish-purple tomato is my first ever 'Purple Calabash;' we're each going to have a taste at dinner tonight. I've been harvesting the 'San Marzano's' for a while now, but never enough to make a meals worth. I definitely need 3 plants next year instead of 2, or should I get 4?

One of our family favorites is a roasted tomatoes recipe that I have been anxious to try with this variety. Up until now, I've only made it with canned because I haven't had enough ripened at one time! Credit for the recipe belongs to Bringing Tuscany Home by Frances Mayes.

3 28-oz cans of whole peeled tomoatoes, drained and cut in half lengthwise

1/4 cup olive oil

3 T each minced rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil

5 garlic cloves chopped

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200.

Arrange the tomatoes cut side up in a baking dish. Drizzle the oil and scatter herbs and garlic over them. Salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 2 hours.

We have had these mixed into a store bought pasta sauce, in a pasta salad and as a bruschetta. They're delicious everytime! If I ever get to try it with the 'San Marzano's' I'll let you know how it tastes.

My Favorite Time of Day

I have had a worry on my heart recently, now relieved, that kept me from doing much of what I usually enjoyed. However, there was always one thing I could rally myself for: a nightly "walk" around the yard with Simon and the dogs.

Watching the dogs play,

and enjoy the slide,

doing some weeding and checking for new growth,

feeding the fish (the dogs come running so they can eat too when we call, "Time to feed the fish,")

and watching the various amphibian eggs appear and disappear (the fish eat more than just the food we give them.)

helped me keep going.

Although I didn't do much gardening (or blogging) the past two weeks, I was able to turn to my creation as a meditative retreat that kept me going when I needed it most. It provided me a place to relax and enjoy the moment, a place where I didn't have to throw myself into a project or other distraction to keep my whirling mind still. For a while I was able to ignore all of the "to-do's" around me and just enjoy. My favorite time of day is heaven!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-July 2008

Monarda from my mom's garden. This is new to me this year and though I know it's a thug and I'll be hating it in a few years, I really love it's spiky hairdo!

















Anise Hyssop 'Blue Fortune' from inside the kitchen garden. This was one of those great finds, drastically marked down at a nursery because it was puny looking. Well, it's puny no more.



















A volunteer of Queen Anne's Lace just where I'd want it; in the kitchen garden. Sally Cunningham of Great Garden Companions loves these for "attracting and sheltering a wide range of beneficials."

Coreopsis grandiflora 'Golden Showers.' These are repeated along the brick sidewalk in front of the house. I was bemoaning the fact they were too upright at first, but they've softened some. I think I'll still move them back in the fall though.

Echinacea from Martha's garden. Last year the deer ate it, but so far so good.

The most amazing hydrangea that came with the house. It's monstrous and beautiful! I suspect it's 'Annabelle,' but I'm not 100% sure.

Asiatic lilies I also inherited. They're smell is a little too heavy for me to have in the house, but I do like that it greets me when I step out on the porch.

Also in bloom...
Butterfly Bush
Fennel (just this week!)
Liatris
Russian Sage

Shasta daisies

Baby Bluebird Rescue x 2

Saturday, July 5th

The previously mentioned babies saw their first snake! We suspect it's the previously photographed rat snake because we first saw it near the same location. Within the hour we were very excited to see it again, this time slithering along the backyard. Luckily, I am no longer using my Palm to shoot photos so as you'll see these are much better! Since I was mostly preoccupied with the twins, my son Simon had the presence of mind to shoot some fabulous snake shots.

We were a little slow to comprehend why we were so lucky to see this brazen fellow, but when he started heading toward the steadily chirping baby bluebirds we caught on! He was hungry.

We tried to stand in his path, hoping he would veer, but with no success. He made it to the tree and began climbing ! Knowing he wasn't poisonous, wasn't comfort enough to convince any of us to touch him at first. Using sticks we gently pushed him down and then tried moving him with the baby pool.

He escaped and headed back to the tree. My Dad got into the act and was brave enough to pick him up by the tail! He quickly doubled back on him though and was, ummm, quickly put back on the ground. I had put down my human baby and picked up the camera by this time, but the only shot I got of my Dad, the snake wrangler, was of his butt; I'll spare you that one. Finally, he was deposited in the woods and what we hoped was far enough away from the bluebird babies! They were safe!

Saturday, July 12th

I was enjoying my favorite view yesterday afternoon, looking down from my bedroom window, when I saw baby bluebirds diving out of their home like paratroopers from a plane. It was very exciting until I noticed that one of the birds had landed in the baby pool immediately below. Simon and I rushed outside to see if help was needed and found that a second baby bird had also landed in the pool. The parents were flying anxiously above, chirping furiously, but the babies were motionless,

one on the dry side,

the other on the wet.

The wet one was easy to scoop out using a frisbee. We deposited him on the grass

and the father found him quickly.

He hopped across the yard, finally taking flight.

He landed on the slide and slid right down to the bottom! I laughed out loud, but unfortunately didn't snap a picture. While all of this was going on the 2nd baby was still unmoving in the pool. Simon managed to get him out; I was too nervous to watch how he did it. neither mother nor father found this one right away. We didn't have to worry though, this little fellow was an expert in disguise.

Can you spot him in the grass?

Careful now, don't hurt his feelings, he's convinced he's invisible!

As we watched from afar he finally stuck his head up and his father found him! The family was reunited and hanging out in our woods!

Two final notes:

The offending pool is now empty and upside down so it can't catch anything else!

The snake appeared again today by the cutting garden. He seemed a little nervous around us this time and quickly headed back to the woods. Poor guy, I guess he doesn't know that with the bluebirds safe our interest in him is purely scientific!

Anticipation...

A week with my two-year old niece and nephew, mostly at my house and partly at theirs, didn't leave much time for gardening OR blogging. As soon as I arrived home today, I greeted Simon and the dogs and we all headed out to the gardens. The most change was in the kitchen garden, quickly filling with soon to be ripened food.

'San Marzano' roma tomatoes

'Purple Calabash' tomato

Yellow peppers

Onions

Yellow squash

A Week in Wildlife

Flower longhorn on the oregano which is always loaded with bumblebees. I counted 5 on a single flower this day.

Water striders devouring a beautiful, iridescent bee that had the misfortune to fall into our pond. The striders don't actually walk on water, but instead skate about on the water's film.


Dragonfly by the pond. There have been several around dipping their bums in the water which I assume means their laying eggs.

Millipede on the front step. Bedtime was delayed until I found my camera and took a couple of shots. I was never sure if they stung or not, but apparently they don't. Instead, they'll only curl up in a ball. Think of this though, according to the Virginia Cooporative Extension, "There were several locations in which the numbers of millipedes were so excessive that they swarmed over mulched flower beds and invaded basements and other ground level rooms in houses. At times there can be thousands of millipedes moving across lawn areas and into houses." Can you imagine? That's the stuff nightmares are made of.


The daddy (I think) bluebird peeking at the world.


I give up! I've been looking and looking for this one. I think it's some kind of skipper, but I'm just not sure. Any ideas out there?



A painted lady on lavender flowers.

This guy was floating in the lily pads. I love that you can see his webbed foot floating to the surface.

Tomato Trellis and Floating Row Covers

I had read I should avoid the standard tomato cages so I decided to create something in the fashion of a trellis I saw on The Victory Garden. Using some stakes I already had, I bought some cobalt blue outdoor paint for color and, using twine for the sides, installed the trellis. Two mistakes were immediately apparent, the stakes are too short and I placed the front and rear ones too far apart! The 2nd part is easy enough to fix, but the taller stakes will have to wait until next year. So far they're doing an okay job of holding up the 'San Marzano' roma tomatoes (the other tomatoes aren't big enough yet to need the trellis.) The white flowers mixed in are cilantro that self-seeded from last year; they small yellow flowers front, right are 'Lemon Gem' marigolds.

Once my 'Sugar Baby' watermelon, 'Earlisweet' muskmelon and 'Gold Rush' yellow squash seeds began to turn into plants, Simon and I dug out the floating row cover recommended by Sally Jean Cunningham in Great Garden Companions and Edward Smith in The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. Of course, I forgot that Smith had detailed directions on how to install your row covers; the picture above is NOT what he recommended. Instead, I tried to find something for support in my local box store, struck out and in the interest of time, cut the pieces what I hoped would be extra large. I used landscape fabric pins (these resemble pins my mother used with her hot rollers when I was a child--I wonder if she still has those? The pins that is, not the curlers) and rocks to hold it down. After my weekend away I returned to see the plants bulging up under the row cover. Here's what I saw when I peeked!

No flowers yet! So I let them breathe for a moment, then bunched up the row cover so that it would "grow" along with the plants. Hopefully, I didn't let a bunch of thug insects in at the same time!

Next year, I think I'll actually follow his advice to use wire to raise the pieces and wrap two thin slats of wood in the sides to hold it down. Much more attractive then my little shrouds! I'll keep checking for flowers and, as soon as they appear, take off the covers so pollination can occur!

This is my "control subject." An acorn squash that I decided to leave uncovered (read was too hot and lazy to cover.) So far it hasn't been invaded yet either. I bought this already growing from a big box and planted it the same weekend as my seeds. Notice that their size is almost the same!

You may have noticed in some of these pictures, my next big project to tackle in the kitchen garden. The grass.

I thought it would be nice,and just fine, to have grass paths until I was able to install brick ones. Unfortunately, that just made me naive twice! There is no brick in my immediate future and the grass grows quickly. My husband kindly trims it, but that just spits grass pieces into the beds which quickly grow into weeds; and it's only a matter of time before he hits a plant. It's also messy! Now, I can stand a little bit of messy in the garden (I have a bed to prove it), but this is ridiculous. You can barely tell where the beds begin and end in the above picture. So I've decided I will remove the grass and cover the paths with pine needles. I love walking on pine needles and they're the same color as bricks so if I only get bricks a little at a time, I could install them in sections and the difference wouldn't be glaring.