May -- A Time to Plant

Well, Thomas is gone, planted in Orlando for four months of BMW STEP training.  Fernando surmised that Thomas would not be home again, that this was a finality.  That's as it should be, of course, but that was a hard thing for this mama to fathom--her baby in an apartment far away, not easily accessible, probably not coming home.

My thoughts now turned toward Fernando and his employment situation.  He has had three different companies express interest in him, three different phone interviews, and three time to wait answers.  I then turned toward the warmer weather and my garden outside.  As long as Fernando was home, we could both go out and plant something and watch it grow.

Fernando is such a generous worker; his heart gives of himself and he willingly works in my garden for me, especially at planting time, shoveling compost, doing the back-breaking work so that I can focus on getting little plants and seeds into the ground.

I scaled back this year, planting just a few tomatoes, a bed of green beans, another of carrots.  The garlic sprouted up from seeds planted last autumn, which I love because it's such a no-nonsense gonna-grow-no-matter-what kind of crop.

I planted two little cherry tomato plants, hoping they'd do well in this particular corner of the plot.

Herbs went in this bed below, with green beans in the middle, and carrots on the left side.  I am hoping like mad the carrots turn out well like they have in the past!

After letting this back bed rest last year, I planted my four tomato plants here.  My choice was Arkansas Traveler, an indeterminate variety that produced well for me last year.  Here's hoping for another good harvest this year!

In my front yard flower garden, I basically ignored the wild oregano growing like a bush in the front.  It's not the best herb in the kitchen.  But I planted a few more French sorrel plants, hoping to have a few harvests of sorrel for my delicious French sorrel soup.

French sorrel in the center.

The hardy English thyme was already a nice sized little bush (on the left in the image below).

Now it's time to wait, to nurture, to watch things grow, to hope.  I was hoping for more than vegetables, and herbs.  As I watched Fernando go through phone interviews, and one Skype interview with a company based on the East Coast, I hoped to watch seeds of change grow, to watch something new sprout, to see the Lord guide our path once again down a new road.


Back to life,
Christine

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In My Garden -- Early June 2016

Early June.

I'm playing "catch up" with my blog this week...  Since I've been working four days a week, my off-days are usually spent "recuperating" and rejuvenating--and doing my own laundry, cooking for the guys, running errands...  You see why my blog has been on the back burner?

I sweet-talked Fernando and Joseph into picking strawberries on this early June morning, which I believe was a homeschool convention day (meaning I had to be at the convention working all day).  They picked a nice amount to add to the strawberries I had already picked, so that meant we'd have not only strawberry preserves (which, to this day, I haven't made yet!!), we'd get to have a nice Strawberry Shortcake Night soon.

On another early June day, I confronted my two sage plants, which had flowered and gotten huge since last year.  I cut off all the flowers parts close to the base, and used the leaves to make fried sage--I simply chopped them up and fried them in a little butter, then used them as topping for everything from my ham chili to soup to salad.  Yum!

Pruned back and ready to grow nicely again.

I also weeded the pathway near the carrot/sage/garlic/tomato bed.

Also in early June, I tackled the front flower garden.  This oregano bush--it's not really a plant any more, I don't think--has taken over the front part of the garden and I'd really rather just dig it out.  For now, I trimmed it way back.

I also had Danny do a bunch of weeding for me.  Guys are so handy!

A second "companion" oregano plant.

Variegated beard tongue blooming pink.

I also picked my French sorrel before it bloomed this year.  I have wanted to make French sorrel soup, which (at this point) I've already made.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Amazing-ness!!  I'll share a recipe as I continue to catch up with blogging.

So, remember those strawberries?  Yep, hulled and washed and turned into yumminess.

Strawberry Shortcake Night was fantastic!


Back to life,
Christine

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May into June -- My Garden

Time to mosey on out to my raised beds with camera in hand to show you what has been happening in my little neck of the woods!

I started right off with my sage, planted last year and growing wonderfully in the rich soil.  They had blossomed once, and are starting to blossom again, so I'd have to trim those back.

Nice and trim!  Can't wait for fried sage leaves!!

I also weeded what I could in the pathway next to the sage.

In the sage bed, the garlic was growing nicely, and four tomato plants looked healthy and strong.  The two on the right are Summer Peach--yielding smaller yellow fruit that is fuzzy like a peach and sweet--and the two on the left are a new variety to me:  Kentucky Traveler.  I'll definitely let you know how these are!

In the back garden, I planted herbs (on the left, one lone tomato plant (given to me and I had nowhere to plant it), then green beans in the back.  The green bean section is a little more shaded (Jacob's tree grows off to the right of this photo), so hopefully they'll do okay there.  Chives also grow in that back right corner.

After noticing the bare spots in my mulched pathway above, I inspected and noted other areas which would need some more mulch.  Time to save some money and cover those areas.

The Alpine strawberry bed also hosts my two rhubarb plants, which I really need to harvest.  With me working four days a week now, I'll have to carve out some time to make both strawberry jam and cinnamon-rhubarb jam, two of my favorites.  Maybe this year, I'll make some strawberry-rhubarb jam, too!

The middle bed hosts garlic (bottom left), tomatoes (middle), then peas and carrots (back).  I planted the peas late, so hopefully they won't mind a little heat as they come up, and hopefully I'll have a harvest to speak of.

Finally, my front bed is definitely a strawberry bed.  They keep shooting out and taking over the walkway, and I let them, harvest the plants, then pull them back.  This year (since I'm posting this a few weeks after these photos were taken), we had Strawberry Mayhem for two weeks, and now (mid-June) I'm back to picking not quite a quart every three days or so.  That'll quickly wind down--but those Alpine strawberries are in full swing and will yield berries all summer long!  They're very small berries, but I've been collecting them, rinsing and freezing them, and I already have enough for a double recipe of strawberry muffins.

Here's proof that I can get my guys to come help in the garden when needed!

My "overhead" view of the garden--which, when we finally take the pool down, I will no longer be able to do as I have year after year.  Boo.

With weeding pretty much every other day, you can build up a pretty good pile.  My guys finally loaded this all up into a yard waste back for curbside pickup.  It's still a pretty photo, though, huh?  I think so, anyway.

That's the tour!  As soon as I hit Publish on this post, I'm back out to the garden to feed the tomatoes and give everything a nice drink of water.  See you soon!


Back to life,
Christine

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Fruits and Veggies

Late May.

Come along with me on a tour of my garden, nice and close up!

Carrot sprouts are peeking up through the compost.

The sage set to blooming--I will have to cut back all the blooms.

In the strawberry patch were surprises from the overnight rains.

A strawberry to pick!

There were lots of green strawberries, and beautiful blossoms as well.

My pea plants, sown much later than I would've liked, were sprouting up.  Hopefully I'll be able to harvest their delicious fruit before the summer heat sets in.

Baby pea sprouts.

Above and below, my green bean plants were taking root.

Tomato blossoms!

My parsley is looking beautiful this year.

This basil--columnar basil--is a new herb for me this year.  The leaves are smaller than traditional basil, but can be used in the same way.  They also taste the same as the traditional basil.  You may recall that a number of years ago, my traditional basil developed basil downy mildew, and I needed to find an alternative for the several years experts say it will take for the mildew to finally be gone in my garden.  I've had success with Medinette basil (not pictured but I'm growing it again this year), and I thought I'd try this variety.

Here's to a new garden and harvest season!!


Back to life,
Christine

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