Category: garden

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Out In the Garden

Chompy, Beany and I took a stroll out into the garden–such as it is. To be honest, we didn’t expect much from the silly, weedy thing. It’s been a funny season–wet, dry, hot, windy and then it all starts over again. The poor plants seemed confused as to what we actually wanted from them.

So it was a fun surprise to find that a fair bit of parsley and dill made it through to the sunlight…

as well as a few peppers, onions, garlic and…yes, a handful of tomatoes…four.

Luckily, the zucchini is always an over achiever…

along with a few hidden cucumbers–found just in the nick of time.

Miss Chompy helped me gather the rest of the strawberries–but they didn’t “keep.” Not a single one made it from the patch to the house.

Don’t look at me…she was holding the pail.

Not such a bad haul–when you think that we expected nothing at all. Looks like it’s back to the farmer’s market for us. Tomatoes, pears, apples and perhaps another lug of peaches…because we’ve already proven…

they don’t keep either.  :}

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Our Silly Garden

We tried to be very stalwart this year and plant our garden–as usual…but something strange is going on here. I mean, really–it’s mid August and we’ve gotten exactly 4 cherry tomatoes so far. Four–and you’re looking at two of them.

I planted the ever-bearing type of strawberries…but I think the robins frightened the plants enough that they stopped producing. Oh, wait–that only happens with cows and chickens. Sorry.

Or I suppose it could be all those weeds causing the problem…but I doubt it.  :}

The parsley came up nicely–along with the orchard grass…in the weed free grow box. Ha ha.

And what–may I ask–is this lettuce-y thing growing in the onions? We didn’t even plant lettuce!

The peas are nice, but they’ve been in the ground for a month now and the pea pods are still scrawny. Is it the dirt? Is it the heat? Is it the moon?

Or is it…just…

me?

I’m hoping it will all perk up soon–but I’ll take any advice I can get. In the meantime, I guess I’ll try more water…and keeping my fingers crossed.

Perhaps some chanting too.  “Growww-growww-growww.”

That should do it.

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Grandmother Willow

Some of you may not know this, but Grandmother Willow actually lives in our backyard.

No kidding.

I’ll tell you, she is one huge, unruly, ominous tree with disobedient branches scrawling clear across the yard.

Again, I’m not kidding.

Some of the limbs were so long and scary that we had to worry that in a good hard wind storm, we might have few fence casualties. Not OK.

There was nothing to do but to call for Lumberjack Dane.

Oh, he chopped and hacked and twisted and yanked…

and hacked and sawed and piled. That’ll teach the old girl to stay within the borders of Munchkin land and not wander off on forbidden paths.

At last, Grandmother Willow was subdued, but it was no small deal. In fact, it was back breaking work for the Lumberjack dude.

Luckily there was a comfy Bungie Chair with his name on it…

there were pretty little cheerleaders to watch and clap just at the right moment…

and Otter Pops…always, always…there are Otter Pops. What cannot be accomplished with such a combo, I ask you?

Next up…world domination.

:}                                                                                                                                                                          569

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Birdy Berries

I have this funny little dream–of walking out into the yard, on a cool summer’s evening…

with a pretty little china saucer in my hand…

and picking fresh strawberries, right there, from my own little patch and sitting on the porch, in a swing–eating them with real cream and just a pinch of sugar.

So we planted a few, and they grew into a few more…and each year


we add a few more, in the hopes that someday…

my silly dream will finally come true. I even have the china saucer…and the cream.

But we have one problem.

Anybody know a sure fire way to keep the robins out of my strawberry patch–that does not involve letting Bird-slayer Beanie out?

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The Pandora Problem

So, one day last summer, the Bald Kid came home from the garden shop with a few bags of potting soil, a ceramic pot and one of the strangest plants I’ve ever seen. It was so strange, in fact that it looked like it came from another planet–like maybe Pandora, from the movie Avatar.

When he first bought it and for months after that many of the leaves had odd ridges and bumps running right down the middle–which is one of the things that made it so peculiar.

We had fun, the Bald Kid and I, taking care of this silly plant and measuring how tall it was growing and wondering how tall it would eventually get, someday. When he left, he said, “Take care of Pandora for me. Maybe when I get back, it will be a huge tree.” Yeah, HE goes to live in Siberia for two years, and all I have to do is take care of his plant. Sounds easy, right?

Well, now on to the sad part of the story. This crazy plant was growing like mad and one morning I came in to find that the leafy top part had tipped over and snapped right off. I nearly cried. It was doing so well. All I could think of to do was to put the top half in a pot of root starter and leave the bottom half alone.

Here’s my question…

Does anybody have an idea of what this plant is called?

I’d like to call a nursery and get some advice on how or if I can save the silly thing. If I can’t and it dies–I’d like to replace it…but I don’t know what “it” is. I’ll keep doing what I’m doing–but I’d love some help or tips or information about it so’s not to do something really wrong and kill both pieces.

Any advice my friends?

Thanks…in advance.

:}

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