Category Archives: my garden

The boon of a boy with the pox

family, food and cooking, my garden, nature, , , , , ,
Feeding the neighborhood cat

All the planets were in formation for me to have a blessed weekend. First, grandson Scout came down with the chicken pox. Second, his parents needed to attend a wedding and to travel through our part of the state to get there. Third, I had no obligations I couldn’t get out of. So he stayed with us for three nights! This was only a few days after we’d returned from that trip to his house over the Memorial Day weekend.

Though we have eight other grandchildren, this is the first time we’ve had entire responsibility for any of them this long. I was really busy with the little guy, and it was very satisfying.

His pox weren’t bothering him much, which made it possible for us to just have a good time. After the first full day he was here, I was so high I was ready to write a glowing blog post about the experience as soon as he went to bed. I put it off, and at the end of the second day I was exhausted and couldn’t relate to that woman of the previous day or remember the feeling. It’s a mercy he sleeps long at night so I could too.

That first day I was in the Mom groove — it reminded me at least a little of when I was a youngish mother 30 years ago with a lot to get done every day, little children underfoot and needing something every few minutes. You learn to make the most of every five-minute snatch of time when they are occupied, and you figure out how to get tasks done with them alongside and “helping.”

Scout’s very favorite activity at our place is watching the Kreepy Krauly pool sweep when it comes on for 2 hours every morning. I didn’t want to find out if he would be happy doing that for entire time it runs, because I needed to be right next to him inside the pool fence. I was indulgent to an hour’s worth, which was nerve-wracking enough.

Eventually I figured out that I could prune a few rose branches or sweep the fence while we were in there. Scout helped me dig weeds, too, when he wasn’t trotting from one side of the pool to the other following the machine, talking about it or to it, “Heh-woh, Kweepy!” I think I came closer to falling into the pool than he did, more than once.

Two of the three days he was here were unusually warm, even into the evenings, which made it possible for us to spend a lot of time outdoors. A big dishpan and the hose would have been enough to occupy him, but I also brought out the play stove his grandpa had made about 30 years ago, and some plastic tea dishes. He set to work making “chicken noodle soup,” or so he said.

One of the ways one makes use of the minutes when caring for a little one is to explore together — watch bugs, smell roses, and notice how the hose water feels on the toes.

Scout is a talker and asks the name of every flower he sees. I was able to satisfy him about most of the ones growing in our yard, and a few in the neighborhood. When we got back from one our walks he put his nosegay into a little pot.

None of our grandchildren lives close enough to us that we can see them frequently. For the present, Scout is the closest, and five hours isn’t very close. Maybe the arrival of his little brother or sister late this summer will give us the impetus to make the drive more often.

I’m ready to put in more Grandma Time!

Frilled Shasta Daisy

 

Garden Happy

my garden,
basil seedling

Sitting in the sun with my husband, looking over the evidence of our recent garden work, I said, “I know I could be happy without a yard, but I’m thankful that I do have a place to garden.”

He said, “You would not be happy without a yard.” Well, maybe he knows more than I do. I hope I don’t have to test our hypotheses anytime soon, because I want to be around to see how many basil plants survive their transplanting stress.

Why is it that one can’t buy single basil seedlings anymore? They are always growing in a bunch, obviously from five or six seeds dropped into one hole — or sometimes more like 20 seeds.

iris opening

Yesterday I bought two six-packs of the 5-bunch type, and ended up setting out plants in 40 different spots. I started out by carefully pulling off one little plant at a time, trying not to tear the roots as they separated their tiny fingers. It’s like disrupting a group of siblings who have always slept in the same bed, and forcing them apart to different homes, never to be united again, just so they can grow up — alone. I’m glad I didn’t think of it so sentimentally at the time.

After a while I ran out of room and planted some groupings as they were, or in twos and threes. Maybe I’ll find out that basil does fine even if large families live in one room. They all look remarkably healthy today. Though at 1:00 when I took the picture, they sun hadn’t got to them yet.

I’d also like to see the rest of the cobalt Dutch iris emerge from their buds. It’s always curious to me how they bloom immediately after I cut the last of the lavender-and-yellow sort in the bed right next to them.

The yellow California poppies come back every year in this spot and hang over the sidewalk. Nowadays there is a big salvia bush named Hot Lips behind them, which looks very pretty.

I admired the chives that my husband suggested we plant many years ago when we had to re-do the whole backyard. They don’t require much maintenance, and keep providing nice greens for the eye and the kitchen, and at this time of year, pretty purple flowers to be seen close-up while we are sitting on the swing. Lambs Ears and Pincushion Flower are behind them in the picture below.

And the tomatoes! Mr. Glad and I set out ten plants yesterday, which is the most we’ve ever had in this yard. Because we are going to be away during midsummer, I didn’t want to plant any vegetables other than tomatoes and basil, which meant that we could fit in more tomatoes. When they start bearing I’ll give a report with the names of the winners. We are determined to get a good crop of tomatoes — one of these years.

In the meantime, we had a calming weariness and comfy satisfaction from our labors, and the cheer of all these pretty blooms already here. The other day I counted 40 different plants blooming in the back yard, and another 15 in the front. Spring has sprung in this happy garden!

Snails and Schist Story

my garden, nature
with arugula flowers

A few years ago Soldier son gave me a lovely piece of schist, a rock slab that he brought from the mountains for me because he knew I would love it. And I did. It isn’t the sort of stone you can use for a path or a table or anything, because it’s too thin, so I leaned it against the fence for decoration.

All the snails in the area thought I had made that arrangement just for their sakes — the perfect snail house. I think I even posted a photo of it here once before. Oh, yes, here it is, last April.

When I was trimming the honeysuckle this week I thought I would check behind my rock for snails, and this time there was a cute little colony of them. I laid the slab down on the ground so that I could take their picture, which you see here.

I went into the house for my camera, snapped the photo, took the camera back, and got on with my pruning job. Crunch. I had stepped right on to the schist and broken it into many pieces, of which I decidedly did not want to take a picture, because it would be too sad.