It was a beautiful weekend here with perfect temperatures for gardening and just relaxing outside. I have been working on getting the gardens planted for the past three weeks. I can say that I have made some headway, but still have a lot to do.
This year the month of May temperatures feel more like the month of June. Everything, and I mean everything. is growing fast, which is making it hard to keep up. I was feeling pretty good about getting some of my last plants in the ground, the squash and the final tomatoes, but then I noticed that my peonies and a lot of other perennials still need to be tied up or staked so they don't fall over when they blossom. One more item on the "to do" list.
I was very happy though with my first picking of lettuce for our salad last night and my kale is almost large enough to begin harvesting.
I have a recipe for a great kale salad from Julie. I have made it several times with store-bought kale, but it's so much better with my home-grown version.
Speaking of items on the "to do" list...
We finally gave up on our plum tree. The damage from the bear breaking all of the limbs over the past several years was just too much so we cut it down. We also lost our Pink Lady apple tree - for a different reason, as it was just too cold last winter. I do not plan on any more fruit trees. It's time to buy any fruit that we want from either the farmer's market or the peach man.
The bottom of the garden looks empty though without the large plum tree. It was always glorious when it was covered with blossoms in the spring.
This is one of my "salad bowl" pots, planted with a tomato and lettuce. I have others planted with tomatoes and cucumbers and/or peppers. All of them are looking great and some have already set tomatoes and peppers.
One of my begonias is ready to bloom.
My new planting table is full of plants. I just couldn't resist filling it up with flowers, but there are a few cucumbers in it and some chives.
The birds are enjoying the new feeder location and we love watching them. Both Jon and I have been enjoying the Merlin ID app on our phone, which can identify birds by their birdsong or a photo. The app was created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "Who's singing? Merlin ID can tell you. Download it here: Merlin ID
After listening to all the bird songs, we decided to add a couple more bird houses around the place. We were probably a bit too late for this year, but we're hoping for some nests next year.
I have to mention the hummingbirds. We now have three feeders out because there are already so many of them. Hungry little birds.
It was also time for Miss Lady to be spayed so we made two trips to Fry Creek Veterinary near Sagle last week. We are happy to report that all went well. She spent a couple of days resting at home (as much as border collies rest) and was back at running around full bore on Sunday.
She spends a lot of time on the front porch, "on guard". There are a couple of pesky squirrels around and it's necessary to keep them in line. The rest of the time she spends playing with her favorite toys, tossing them and running with them in her mouth around the yard. It's great to see her running at full speed and having a good time.
Lady is warming up to both the UPS and Fed Ex delivery people. All of them have dog treats and she has begun to figure out that they are safe and okay people to be around. She does not like vehicles and so far has no desire to chase them. A plus, except for the times we need to get her to go with us in the car.
On Mondays my friends, Kristine and Ellie, drive up and we spend a couple of hours playing and singing our favorite tunes. There's lot of conversation between songs and it's always fun. This year we've already added three new songs. Here's one of them.
It seems like this should be Monday, so now I'm already a day behind. Oh well. Happy Tuesday!
Officially, it's Mother's Day,but I think of it as Hedgehog Day ever since the one we celebrated 30 years ago when JP and David gave me a hedgehog for Mother's Day.
We named her Towanda, after the character Idgie in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes.
Towanda wasn't really a cuddly type of pet. There were occasions when we had her out of her cage, but she didn't really like daylight hours much. One time when we had her cage in our bedroom, she managed to get out. We couldn't find her in the middle of the night, so all night long we could hear her stirring around, who knows where, in our bedroom.
Hedgehogs do look cute in photos though even though they are a bit prickly to pet.
I don't have any photos of Towanda, since it was prior to the digital photo age. I found these lovely photos on the web.
“Towanda” is a reference to the alter-ego of Idgie, a character in “Fried Green Tomatoes.” Idgie refers to Towanda as an “Amazon woman” and introduces herself at least once as “Towanda.” It is also a word you say when you want to be empowered, such as when Evelyn runs her car into the snobby ladies who take her parking space.
I love being empowered, don't you? If you would like a little humor today, watch this short clip.
In the spirit of Towanda, this year I have received a very large package - with lots of pieces to put together. It is a planting table and it looks like it will be beautiful once it's assembled.
LOL
When I started opening the box and taking out the pieces, I couldn't help but laugh and think of Towanda.
We had multiple projects on our list yesterday and really wanted to get them all done before the rain showed up.
The hinge on the barn door broke and it became our #1 priority since we couldn't get into the barn without fixing it. We managed to get it off of the barn and used a couple of shovel handles to slide it across the ground. It was too heavy to lift.
The two pieces of cedar on top of each hinge came off pretty easily using the crowbar. Jon built the door in 1981 along with some help from Jamie and David. It was well-constructed.
Once Jon had the new hinges on, we "glided" it back to the barn and used a couple of 2x4's to help hold it in place. It worked perfectly!
A thunderstorm rolled through not too long after we finished our projects. It didn't quite make it here though. We just saw a lot of very dark clouds and heard some thunder.
The barn was a great backdrop for this photo.
My garden projects were to plant my lettuce, cucumbers, broccoli and cauliflower. I decided to wait on planting seeds until after the heavy rain and I'm feeling pretty good about finally getting some plants in the ground. Since the conditions seem warmer this year, I'm going to take a chance on planting things earlier than I normally do.
Do you see those two large pots in the background in this photo? I have a plan for those this year. My gardening cleanup and planting has only just begun.
After all of that hard work we deserved a treat. We had ordered some fresh oysters from the Flying Fish Co. so that we could have fried oysters for dinner. Our friend Neil loves them too so we invited him over to join us. I added some fresh corn-on-the-cob to the menu and it was all really tasty. The fresh oysters didn't disappoint.
This morning it has been raining steadily although I think it is about to stop. We needed the rain and everything will really green up now. Plus, I need at least a day to rest.
