Category Archives: my garden

Looking and Sniffing Around

my garden, nature, , , ,

runner ducks

The rain brought out the good smells of the earth and plants, like the junipers lining the broad sidewalk along which Pippin and I walked for a long time yesterday. We were on our way to the park so that Scout could feed the ducks. Dozens of ducks, geese and even some coots came to sample our bread — but I focused eventually on the backs of the geese, and dreamed of a skirt in those colors and patterns.

More species of birds live by the lake and sleep on the lawns than last time I was here. Even runner ducks, and several types of geese in addition to the Canada geese, who were not interested in us at all.

I loved these khaki-colored guys with their topknots.

pimiento pepper

After we got home, Pippin looked out the window and said, “Oh, you have a phoebe!” I was so excited to hear that, but it took me a while to see the little bird on the fence after it was pointed out to me, and not just because I wasn’t wearing my glasses. If a large goose gets in my face the way they did at the park, I notice them, but otherwise the details of my environment have to be fairly stationary if they are going to get my attention.

This morning I went out to take photos of the wet and more stationary garden. Quite a few pimientos are ripe red now, and I’ll be snapping them off soon to roast over the gas flame of the stove.

In the front yard the verbena is still blooming away, and contrasts nicely with the variegated leaves of the shrub whose name I can’t remember right now.

Cécile Brunner

The mister and I are Glad that our nest will be ready against the winter cold: At this very moment a man is installing a brand new furnace in the garage, and yesterday we laid in a supply of oak firewood. Those logs make for another yummy scent of Fall. Stay warm, Everyone!

 

Scout in the garden and the toolbox.

family, my garden,

Seventh Grandson showed himself to be a boy after my own heart this morning, as we were out picking vegetables before the rain came on strong. First the tomatoes. It didn’t surprise me that he liked popping most of the fruits he picked into his mouth.

But the pole beans were just as much to his liking. He even dropped the tomato he was working on so as to attend to the job of getting the beans off the vines and quickly into his mouth to savor and munch on for a while. He didn’t spit them out, either.

When the rain began in earnest we had to come inside.
But there were Grandpa’s drums to play.

 

For hours Scout played with his tool-themed birthday presents: a put-put weed-whacker and a lawnmower, saws and a drill and more.

And at lunchtime he asked for one of the decorations from last night’s tool box cake that his mom had made, the chocolate pliers.

Greenies Came at Last

my garden

Here’s a representative sample of the best of our tomato harvest this year. It’s way better than nothing! The large “grapes” are Juliet tomatoes, the yellow are Sun Sugar, and – look! There are even five Green Grapes, which I put in the front of the tray close to the camera. The rascals didn’t arrive till today, the last day of September, and they may be the entire crop.

My favorite this year might be the Persimmon, which are the large orange tomatoes. They are the largest of any we got; even the Better Boys, supposed to be Beefsteak-type, were tiny guys, indistinguishable from the Early Girls and New Girls, both of which were few and scrawny.

But I made a cherry tomato salad, and think I’ll do some soup, too – both recipes I made up in a better tomato year. And those Juliets will be perfect slow-roasted!

Spiders, Perfume, and Hot Lips

my garden, nature, trees


Technically it is summer, and we do have days above 80°. The summer squash and Blue Lakes are producing, and we even picked a Persimmon orange tomato, so I shouldn’t complain. But it’s a good year to notice features of the garden other than vegetables.

The manzanita was peeling magnificently a short while back and we stared with unbelief at its ability to hold on to the peeled bark with some kind of magical glue.
fennel between manzanita and snowball

It’s in the part of the yard where over a year ago I planted a tiny fennel bush that has now grown into a mighty giant. Spiders have taken over that end of the garden this summer and they really like building webby bridges from the fennel to the manzanita and over to the rhododendron and the pine tree.

…also to the snowball bush, and back to the fence, and including the wisteria, and….if Mr. Glad hadn’t taken the broom to a dozen squatters yesterday I’m afraid they’d have wrapped it all up and out of my reach for good.

This morning I got entangled in the sticky threads just going through the door to take more photos in the mist. The red sedum is in bloom, and one of the two types of rose geranium that share a pot in the middle of the patio where we are sure to bump the leaves frequently and release that heavenly scent.

The hybrid verbena lived all through the winter, and the New Zealand Spinach self-sowed abundantly, so they make lush neighbors to the summer squash at the other end of the yard.

In the Spring I planted a new salvia, called Hot Lips, if I remember right. Each little flower is a half-inch across. 

Do they make you think of a kiss? Well, then, I send them to you as a greeting on this summer’s day.