My Lady In Red Garden

By happy mistake, my garden is in shades of red this year. I'm well pleased.

And my tomato plants are amazing. I think planting them in pots were definitely the way to go.

 

And I'm going to have a million gazillion roses. These are my Heirloom Roses.

 

And Mister Lincoln Roses

 

And my husband doing what he does...

 

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My Rose Garden

I can't stop photographing my roses!  I am amazed with how spectacular not only mine are, but how they look all around my neighborhood. What a year for roses it's been.

OK, I'll be honest, my husband's the one who does most of the work babying the roses. 

And he's had a helper...

In fact, he's had a lot of help.  A couple of weeks ago was "bring your child to work" day, and since it's not really appropriate to have my children accompany me into someone's childbirth, my husband said they could accompany him.  I could hear the wheels turning in my firstborn's head, "Sweet!  Day off!  Sleep, video games."  So he quickly said that he would stay with his dad.  (The other two opted to go on to school.)  He had quite an awakening!  He found out just what Dad does around here...

Man work....

He cleaned out all my gutters!  He's such a good boy.  He had a little bit of an awakening, and when it was all over, he learned that hard work makes him feel good about himself.  He had a really good day.

Anyway, check out my "Mister Lincoln Rose."  It's bigger than my face!

And my "Dick Clark Rose."  It's my favorite out of the whole garden.

And my beautiful "Heirloom Rose."  She is beyond words...



And really, does anyone not fall into a sea of tranquility when they see a perfect "Peace Rose?"

If anyone has wondered if it's worth the money to buy one of those "Topsy Turvy" planters, I'll let you judge for yourself...(strawberry rhubarb crisp anyone?)

I have been very happy with my Topsy Turvy and I'm going to get one started for my tomatos here within a couple of days.

Thanks for letting me brag this morning!  I hope everyone is enjoying the beauty that the warm spring has brought us.  Enjoy your day.

More Spring

Ahhh Spring.  Warm conditions this year has made it spectacular.  I love pink.  And white...

...and lilacs are my favorite flower...so I'm in heaven.  Yes, my yard in heaven will contain lilacs.  And they will never stop blooming...

How could anyone NOT like lilacs?

I put bouquets of lilacs in mason jars around the house...

I love mason jars.

My daughter thinks its summer...

And she took up tree climbing...understandably...I'd want to climb that beautiful tree too...

I've been spending a lot of time at the library.  Why?  Because on the second floor, there are fluffy chairs facing windows that overlook this:

Yes, this was taken with my iPhone right through the glass of the window...  I love Colorado...and the Flatirons.  Another post for another day.

The Power In Spring

Yesterday was a big day for me.  I had the most daunting job interview of my life.  It was for a job I already had for years, but I had to step down to accommodate some needs of my family.  Now the opportunity arose for me to get it back.  It was a job that I loved.  But I had to go through the interview process all over again.  I sat in front of 11 of my colleagues and answered some of the most difficult and drilling questions I've ever had to answer.  It was scary.  I'm still waiting to hear.

In all my nervousness and waiting for the time to go through the interview, I went through the worst anxiety that I've had in my adult life.  It was debilitating really.  So I took my iPhone outside and started taking pictures of all the things outside that made me smile.  All the little lovelies of spring that I have in my yard.  And the peace of God started to replace all the worries in my mind.  Here are some of the things I saw:

It's a beautiful spring this year in Colorado thanks to our incredibly unseasonably warm weather.  The flowering trees are spectacular...way too early!  But thank goodness they are.

In the first chapter of Max Lucado's book, He Chose The Nails, there is a poem that is very appropriate for what happened to me yesterday in my yard.  I think Max Lucado wrote it because there is no siting to show otherwise.  Here it is:

He splashed orange in the sunrise
and cast the sky in blue.
And if you love to see geese as they gather,
chances are you'll see that too.

Did have to make the squirrel's tail furry?
Was he obliged to make the birds sing?
And the funny way that chickens scurry
or the majesty of thunder when it rings?

Why give a flower fragrance? Why give food its taste?
Could it be
he loves to see
that look upon your face?

Yes, I'm sure my face reflected my awe at what God creates in my humble little yard.  And the same Power that makes all these things beautiful and thriving is the same Power that takes care of me.  I think I'll be OK.

Never Have To Buy Green Onions Again!

I can always use a little help.

A few weeks ago, I was browsing on Pinterest and saw a pin on how you can grow green onions in your window sill.  (I didn't even repin it or "like" it so I don't have any means of giving it credit.  My apologies.) A few days later, I was cooking dinner and was about to throw away some root ends of some scallions, so I decided to try it. All I did was cut about an inch above the roots, and then stuck the roots in some water.  I just used mason jars. 

I'm not kidding when I say the very next day there were shoots growing straight up.  The above picture are the ones in my window sill.  The long shoots were about two inches long about a week and a half ago!  It works so well!  I just cut off what I need, as if they were growing outside in the garden.

I love Pinterest.  I am now a better person just because I pin...  (I pin therefor I am...)

Just kidding.  But I'm always learning something or other on there.  I highly recommend it.

My Little Garden Tour 2010

It is with great pride that I introduce my little garden.  Little though it may be, it is hearty, persistent, and loyal.  Regularly, my family finds me outside just staring at it fondly, like a painter at his painting.  There truely is something peacful and fulfilling about it.  I'm a new and inexperienced gardener, and am learning that my garden is a very effective anti-anxiety/antidepressant.  But as far as asthetics, I need some help.  I need someone to give me pointers. So come and look with me...

These were some pictures that I took in the Spring:

Columbines, Baby Apples, Strawberries and Cherries;  Morning Glories, and Basil.

Spring blossoms brought summer fruit...

I see applesauce in my future...and I'm taking orders.  Let me know.  I will be swimming in it!  I need recipes.

Those are my boys playing basketball in front of the apple and cherry tree in the spring.  On the right are my apples this morning.  The birds ate all the cherries...which is just as well because they were sour cherries...and I don't know what to do with sour cherries.

And my tomatoes...oh, my tomatoes.

This is when I first planted them, a couple weeks later, and this morning.  I have a forest on my hands.  The basketball is there to show you the size.  They stand about as tall as my head.  I don't know what's with the brown leaves.  Again, any suggestions? 

Does anyone notice something missing in the picture of my tomatoes?  Yes, tomatoes!  I've got great big plants, but no tomatoes!  I've got a few blossoms, but that's it!  What'd I do wrong?  Where's Martha Stewart when I need her?

I did have some losses this year.  My cucumbers and watermelon got dug up by the dog, I uprooted my spaghetti squash when I was moving the sprinkler, the birds ate my cherries and strawberries; and the dog trampled my columbines, bleeding heart, and peonies.  I mourned.  Especially about the peonies.  And my heart bled over my bleeding heart.

But not everything was a loss.  Here's some of my flowers:

And my herbs:

That's Oregano and Mint, my giant Basil and teeny Thyme, and my beautiful Parsley.  I also have Cilantro and Chives not pictured.  I love my herb garden.   I think Martha would approve...and so would Ina.

And, well this...this just has to stand alone...in all it's glory...

These are my Disneyland Roses that Dave planted for me last year.  There are no roses more glorious than these.

Thanks for walking with me through my garden this year.  Its not perfect, but I love it. 

Garden Eulogy

Today I will say goodbye to my garden.

There was a thin layer of frost over the grass the night before last, and my huge, lush, green, non-fruit-producing garden vegetation is struggling to emerge from the stress. Yes, with a little tender care I could probably nurse it through this difficult time, but I can't seem to bring myself to force it to struggle through this life any longer. It's time to read it it's last rights and let it go. It has lived through a long difficult battle with little sun, and too-cool whether for it to live the life it was born to live.

My pumkins, although having strong vines and beautiful orange flowers opening and giving joy in the mornings; giving purpose to bees and shading happy soil insects with its huge leaf canopies, have never produced a single pumkin.

My tomatoes: giant, fragrant, stunning bushes of emerald dutifully produced many green fruits...that never gained the strength to turn red. And those that did were inflicted with black spots over their surface, though I dutifully inspected the stems for worms and never found a one.

My corn never gained enough strength to produce their intended ears of gold; and remain tall stocks of green. At least upon their death they will give me as my inheritance a festive front porch decoration for autumn.

My peas long since passed, gave me about a half cup of beautiful, delicious pods before going into the light.

My carrots never grew more than about 3 inches long and about a half inch diameter, although their tops were a glorious chartreuse, lacey border standing 2-feet high that inspired the rest of the garden to make the most out of its life.

My cucumbers remain little gerkins.

My zucchini were the only ones who gave me beautiful fruit, some of which grew to be a foot and a half long. I will have zucchini bread coming out of my ears, and I have found that it is delicious julienned into long strips and sauteed in butter, salt, and pepper.

So today as I say goodbye, I am grateful for the gift of joy and purpose my little garden has given me over the summer. And I will spend the winter months researching the trouble endured by my selfless corner of the yard, so that again in March my little seedlings will look forward to a lush, happy, bountiful, abundant life.

Better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.

My Garden Today...

My garden will soon be producing more produce than my family can eat, I daresay. However, nothing is ready to eat now. My friends are telling me how they are "up to their ears in zucchini," or how "it's so great to go out to the garden and pick my dinner." Well, I guess I'm behind. All I've been able to eat is lettuce, and a few peas (enough for my 7-year-old to have one helping...). Well, I'm behind, but I guess its coming. Here are some things I've learned:

1. Peas are vines...and need something to climb or else they wind up in a tangled mess.

2. Carrots have to be thinned out....or else they grow no bigger than a fat toothpick.

3. Tomatoes need support as high as my head...and they'd still probably fall over the side.

4. Herbs need a lot of sunlight or they won't grow.

5. It is necessary to wash all the bugs out of the lettuce before serving it.

6. I absolutely love to grow a garden. :)

Look At My Garden!

Forgive me, but I had to do a blog entry just to show off my garden! I've been having a great time this year and have been learning a lot. My garden, which was a tangled, weeded, mess when we first moved here, gets better and better each year.

The only place I have to plant a garden is a sloped edge of the back yard that we had to clear of dead trees. So, once it was cleared, Dave built me a retaining wall and hauled in some nice soil and told me to make it nice. I decided to resort back to my childhood memories of my mother working in her vegetable garden. I revelled in the memory of going to the tomato patch with the hose and a salt shaker and gobbling up the sun-warmed, ripe, homegrown tomatoes. There is no other taste like that in the world. So, I was resolved to have vegetable garden that would make my mother proud.

The first year, I didn't realize tomatoes needed support, and that I should grow squashes away from cucumbers. I ended up with rotten tomatoes growing on the ground and cucumbers that looked like uglifruit. I lived and learned.

So, having practiced a couple of years, I have a garden that, even though it's not perfect, I'm very proud of. Here's some pictures of the process. Most things were started from seed in the house at the end of March.