Sprout

September Garden

2014-09-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

I love September in the garden here. The crystal clear blue skies, the clean air, the long afternoon shadows. It’s warm and dry; it's exactly the kind of weather I long for in May and June after an abundance of chilly rain. And even though I love fall, I bask in the lasting September warmth, like a cat stretched out in the sun.

The garden becomes something different for us in September. It’s always a sort of playground for the kids, but as our summer ends and the gorgeous dry weather stretches out. It’s less about what’s growing and more about spiders and wicked looking webs spun all over the yard.

It's about using the long heavy dead sunflower stalks as swords and finding seeds to play with.

It’s about garden clean-up, and lingering on the lawn, and savoring every single last drop of summer because we know we will soon be in for a long chilly wet spell.

Jasper's Beans

2014-09-05T09:35:00.002-07:00

The last few years we’ve planted beans in the garden. I like how easy they are for the kids to plant and watch grow, and my brother sends the kids cool bean seeds for their birthdays in April every year. Last year he sent Rattlesnake beans and this year it was a package with green, yellow and purple bean seeds. We planted some of both in the beds this year.

There’s this sense of almost instant gratification in planting beans for the kids. And they are super low maintenance. When the do sprout, which is fairly quickly, they are big hearty sprouts and they grow quickly. Give the pole or climbing beans a bit of tepee or trellis to climb and they are off!

But here’s the thing, I don’t really like beans. I mean spicy pickled beans in a fabulous Bloody Mary, yes please. Or sautéed in brown butter with garlic, okay fine, but beans, as I’m sure most of you know, produce a lot, way more than I care to eat.

Let’s just say they aren’t up there at the top of my list like home grown tomatoes or broccoli.

But guess who likes them? Jasper Ohlin, the vegetable hater. Not only does he like them, but he actually requests them at meals when I make the kids eat vegetables. And last week, we were getting ready to go pick Greg up from work and Jasper asked if he could take some green beans with him as a snack in the car.

Who took my child and replaced him with this impostor?? I guess I'm glad we have all these beans growing!

Sunshine!

2014-08-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

I love my garden in the bright morning sun, even if it makes for not the best photography.

Getting Rid of Blackspot

2014-08-02T12:36:00.002-07:00

When the kids and I came home in late June, two of our young rose bushes were covered in blackspot. This picture below actually shows a new spot coming on, but when we first arrived the spots were all over most of the leaves, and many of them were yellowing and falling off.

One of the roses was nearly dead. We had already lost our gorgeous Joseph’s Coat rose over the winter and I wasn’t about to lose any more, if I could help it. Lily helped me make a fungicidal soap out of 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 3 tablespoons baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons of organic soap and one gallon of water, to spray on the leaves of the roses. She and Jasper also wanted to help spray it on. In fact they wanted to spray it on everything in the garden.

Not only were they super helpful, but they also added a bit of flair to their outfits or uniforms, as they were calling them. Jasper, of course had many different outfits, and Lily fashioned her own sort of spray bottle. I love how one of Jasper’s outfits includes a sweater of Lily’s from when she was about nine-months-old.

The fungicide has been working great on the rose we used it on. I picked off most of the leaves with blackspot then sprayed the fungicide on the rest of the leaves every few days for the last month. I also continued to pick off any new leaves that developed black spot, and it looks gorgeous now!

I sprayed the puny sick rose at first but then I decided to prune it way down, fertilize, compost, and water the heck out of it because it looked like it needed more than just fungicide. It needed some serious pampering. Since it looked close to death I didn’t think my overzealous care could hurt it. Thankfully it is coming back strong with all kinds of new healthy growth all over it.

And of course the kids are now addicted to spray bottles.

Playing with Snails

2014-07-24T09:55:00.001-07:00

I think my kids are obsessed with snails. For years we’ve been going for walks in our neighborhood, usually the same direction or path (to avoid some random off-leash dogs). One particular block has a lot of retaining walls that are often covered in snails especially during the rainy days. In fact, when they know we are going for a walk, Lily and Jasper yell, “Can we go to the snail wall?”

But if you want to see their obsession in action, come visit on a rainy day after a long hot dry spell. Yesterday after breakfast they both threw on their rain boots and coats and went splashing outside to find snails, because as Lily said with a look of glee (obsession) in her eyes, “On a rainy day there are usually a ton of snails!”

So we went snail hunting and as the three of us discovered them hiding in the strawberry plants and hanging onto the sides of planters or crawling up the trees, Lily and Jasper collected them in their pots. They played with them for almost an hour as the rain poured down on them.

This morning, right after breakfast, Lily was out there playing with them again. Poor snails, they don't stand a chance in our yard.

Recovering My Garden

2014-07-20T08:54:00.001-07:00

Leaving a garden for six weeks in the spring definitely means you’ll come home to lots of work. We sure did! Aphids, snails, some roses covered in black spot, some roses nearly dead, and not a lot of good growing going on. The broccoli was struggling. The kale didn’t make it, the arugula had already gone to seed and flower; at first glance it seemed like anything thriving in the garden was weeds. Including the six-foot-tall bindweed that had taken over a patch of our backyard. Actually the entire backyard was a tangled up mess of weeds and strawberry plants and my Dahlias trying to bust through. Oh and some random lilac shoots climbing out of the stone planter.

Sunflowers and garlic were thankfully growing strong, and some of my roses, my favorite rugosas and old English rose bush were covered in healthy, lovely scented blooms. Plus there were bunches of strawberries left. I could come home to roses and strawberries any day.

I tackled some of the smaller tasks first like getting all the weeds out of the raised beds and getting our beans, yellow squash and onions in along with some more arugula, although it’s been so hot and dry for us here that I’m not sure this new crop of arugula will make it either.

Then I got Greg to help me in the backyard where the bindweed had completely covered over the raised beds in back. Ever since we built the beds in front, I’ve halfway ignored the ones in back, sometimes planting flowers or late summer/fall crops, but this year it just looked like a crazy, scary jungle.

I was so smug when we left Georgia and its KUDZU behind all those years ago. Uhhhgg! Bindweed is my own form of Kudzu! As in, it’s a complete fast growing menace, climbing over and killing everything in its wake, and nearly impossible to eradicate.

Along with all the other projects we have going on inside our 101-year-old house, we’d like to do something fun after we clean up all the bindweed and rip out the old rotten wood from the beds. Keep your fingers crossed! (Or wave your magic wand for me and magically redo our entire backyard!)

Garden Anarchy

2014-05-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

Weird things have been happening in our garden this year, weird bad things. It's like the garden is staging a revolt. Maybe it knows the kids and I are going to be gone for six weeks and it's angry!

First there are our sugar snap peas, or rather, lack of them. Lily and I started them inside on a tray between two damp paper towels the way we do successfully every year. Not only did most of them fail to open and sprout, but they all turned moldy. That has never happened to us before. I bought a different kind of seed this year, I wonder if that could be it. After our moldy starts we planted over a dozen seeds directly into the soil outside and this is what we have right now.

It's been almost a month and only four tiny sprouts are even trying to grow. They are joined by a tiny tight mess of lettuce which we didn't plant.

The strawberry plants did not have a good winter; one whole row is practically decimated.

Luckily we had lots of runners popping up all over the garden so I transplanted a few into the strawberry bed and hopefully they will flourish.

The weird winter also killed my two favorite Spanish lavender bushes. Both of them completely dead. I've never lost a lavender bush before either.

Last year I planted a dozen beautiful fringed leafed tulips on either side of our front gate. One side looks like this,

the other looks like this.

I have no idea where the bulbs went, perhaps some underground creature.

My peonies have almost no blooms starting, and we won't even talk about what's going on with my radishes…

But worst of all, two of my biggest rose bushes have tent worms!!!!!!!!

Goodbye for now garden. I'll be back in June!

It's All About the Sun

2014-04-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about the sun. We have had so much cold hard rain this winter and spring, the kind of relentless chilly monsoons that make you want to keep your head down, not lift it up like you do when you want to feel the sprinkles of a warm summer storm. The kind of rain we’ve been having is the kind that saturates the earth, making it dangerous, dangerous enough to come crashing down and bury people.

I know we need the rain for our gardens, our land, our lives, but right now we need a break from the rain. We need the sun.

And oh how we love the sun! We are just like our gorgeous little sprouts, reaching towards, stretching for, basking in the sun.

When it’s late September I’ll probably be crying for some rain to drench my parched plants, but for now, for us on our tiny spec of land and, I suspect, for many of you out there, it’s really only about the sun right now. Bring! It! On!

Roses

2013-10-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I thought I picked my last roses for the year. It felt like we'd suddenly gone from summer to winter, skipping over fall completely, with the chilly pouring rain and cold nights. Part of me wanted to leave the last few blooms in the yard, uncut, to kid myself into thinking that the lovely heady scent they perfume my yard with wouldn't be gone just yet. My selfish side wanted to put them in a vase and have them inside with me to ward off the winter. My selfish side won out.

If there's one thing I'm selfish about in the garden it's my roses. Not selfish in the sense that I won't share them with anyone, just in the sense that I 'm the one who takes care of them, talks to them, adores them. I soak up their essence every day I can.

My rugosas and my very old English rose bush start blooming in late March or April and they bloom all summer long producing the most wonderful spicy, musky rose blooms. Their fragrance is what wakes my up in the spring after our cold, soggy winters. After I'm certain I just can't handle one more day of that wet chill. Picture yourself walking outside into the garden in the morning with a light rain or leftover dew settled on the plants, when the roses begin blooming, and oh the musky rose scent, it's intoxicating. It can stop me in my tracks. It's my antidepressant.

And I don't have to do much to these rose bushes; I fertilize them and deadhead them and prune a bit, but even when I completely neglect them, they grow and flower and make me happy. Their scent surrounds my garden and breathes life into my senses all summer long. And so much of what gardening is for me is about scent.

I also have one Joseph's Coat Rose, which isn't the healthiest rose in my yard, but is hands down my favorite looking bloom. It begins as almost a dark reddish orange...

and as it opens up becomes more orangey-peachy-pink with hints of yellow.

It's scent changes too from spicy to passion-fruity.

My dear friend, Ingrid gave me two roses to plant for my birthday this past February, a Touch of Class...

with a lovely spicy balsam scent,

and a White Licorice Floribunda which smelled sweet and sugary, like vanilla.

I love the scent of roses in my garden, so unlike most store-bought roses, but this year I was surprised when the kids started to enjoy them too, how different each one smells, the way the bushes change and grow, how fast black spot can spread through a plant. Plus, all the rose bushes attract ladybugs, snails and weird looking aphids, and their thorns are amazing!

One of my favorite things about the garden this year was watching Lily and Jasper decide how perfectly lovely it is to cut a few roses every day, put them in a vase, and set them at the dinner table to enjoy while we're drawing or eating family dinner.

Our family dinners can be absolute disasters sometimes trying to get Jasper to eat what we make, but the ritual of sitting down together is one I hope he will grow to love, and I like to think this summer helped a little bit as he always looked forward to putting a vase of roses at each meal.

Watching Them Grow

2013-09-23T14:08:00.001-07:00

Three seeds, two experiments, lots of growth. Way back in the middle of the summer, the kids and I planted yellow squash, marigold and bean seeds in egg shells and egg cartons. We also tried a bean experiment to see which way the bean sprouts would grow. Both experiments were fun and after the sprouts started growing we planted them in the garden.

After that we mostly just watched them grow,

and grow,

and grow.

Of course we watered them and added compost once in a while, but there was a lot of just watching. Watching and being amazed at how beautiful they are,

how tall they got,

how fast they grew from tiny to huge,

how clever they are.

It reminds me of my kids, obviously I water them and feed them (hmmm, maybe Jasper would eat compost?)

I try as hard as I can every day to nurture them and not get frustrated. I fail often. I hope for sunny days to soak up the warmth and rainy ones to splash in puddles, a good balance of both. But a lot of the time, I'm just watching.

Watching them grow.

We sent Lily off to kindergarten this month and I'm amazed for all of these reasons.

How fast she's growing,

how beautiful she is,

how clever,

how fragile yet resilient,

and how hard and amazing at the same time it is for me to just let her go (grow!)

Amazing Spiders!

2013-09-03T21:33:00.004-07:00

It's that time of year again, spiders are everywhere!

Outside, their sticky webs are waiting every morning, in the doorway, strung from zucchini to sunflower, nestled around my tomato plants and beautifully attached to old anemone buds.

Inside it's like they're haunting me, appearing in the bathtub in the morning before I can barely see straight. A HUGE one racing across my bedroom floor as I turned on the light the other night. Waiting for me in the bathroom at 2 am. Am I embarrassed to say I've screamed for Greg to come save me several times from them? Absolutely not!

I love spiders in the garden, their beautiful webs and their appetite for insects, but boy they are ginormous this time of year, all fattened up from all the eating they've been doing, but I really, really don't like sharing my house with them. And, dang are they hard for me to photograph clearly!!

Lily and Jasper love to find spiders in the garden, and they love to find spiders who have trapped insects in their webs. This weekend Greg and the kids and I were playing in the garden and there were webs everywhere. Greg thought it would be fun to find a bug and toss it into one of the webs and watch the spider in action. Never gonna happen I thought to myself. I never doubted that they would find a bug, after all, Jasper is my bug whisperer, but tossing one into the web seemed like it would never work.

It took Jasper, after tipping over a few potted plants, about one minute to find and grab an earwig. Greg gently tossed it into the web and WOW! That bug stuck and that spider moved like lightning tearing apart bits of its own web to spin that earwig into submission while we watched from the sidelines. So fast it was amazing! (Off to the side is a trapped ladybug Lily wanted to save. She said, "I'm going to go find a wood chip and knock that ladybug free." Greg replied, "I think it's too late for that darlin'.")

Turns out Greg really enjoys tossing earwigs into spiderwebs. Tonight the kids found a roly poly they tossed into a web which fell off after a minute. A minute was all it took for me to capture it on camera. Not the best photos I've ever taken, but they do a pretty good job.

But then Jasper fell onto an old wooden bird feeder, broke it apart and discovered families and families of earwigs inside. Eeeeew! Greg gathered a whole cupful and while the kids ran around the yard chasing Dizzy, Greg had fun throwing earwig after earwig into a web trying to get one to stick. I could tell he was way too into it because whenever he missed he kept saying, "I can't get it into the net!" But the hockey player persevered and, finally, GOAL!!! One landed and stuck and Greg and I watched again while a spider secured its prey. I'm making us out to look like bug assassins, but really, our organic garden is crawling with them. And to be perfectly honest I can't stand earwigs. Plus watching a spider dart over and grab its prey and use its web to bind the prey up faster than you can say gin and tonic is pretty fascinating to watch!

I'm telling you, there is never a dull moment around here!!

Squash Blossom Love

2013-08-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

It's squash blossom season again. It has been for a few weeks in our garden. And this year they just keep coming. I don't know if it's the kind I planted, yellow crooknecks, or the awesome compost from Cedar Grove or the EcoFeed fertilizer.

Maybe it's all the garden love.

We've had so many blossoms, I can't keep up. I wish I had a local cafe or restaurant to deliver them to. Every year in my garden I've planted some kind of zucchini, yellow squash or winter squash. They always produce; usually they produce more than enough. Many of us have had those summers where we have so much zucchini we're desperate to pawn it off on others. But this year I've had way more blossoms than squash.

The amount of blossoms may in fact outnumber the amount of hoodlums in my hood, which isn't really a very comforting thought, because I'm pretty sure if I had to stand up to one of the hoodlums, or defend my home, squash blossoms absolutely would not come in handy. Halt! Or I'll throw my small, tissue-thin, fragile yellow blossoms in your face!

Good thing we have a ferocious guard dog!!

I do love the vegetable, grilled, roasted, sautéed in some pasta with lots of garlic, fresh herbs and lemon, always the lemon! Grated and added to brownies, cookies and loaves. But it truly is the blossoms that have my heart. Why? You may ask. Two words for you, deep fried!

Lily and Jasper could care less about eating them.

(What do they know anyway!) But they do love climbing under the three-foot tall plants and finding them. Actually I think they like discovering the pollen inside and the beautiful furry black bumblebees searching for that pollen.

But these gorgeous babies, stuffed with a little bit of soft cheese like a whole-milk ricotta mixed with some fresh herbs, garlic and lemon. Dipped in a light batter, fried in hot oil and topped with some sea salt and just a sprinkle of lemon. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!

I like to pick them in the morning when they are wide open so I can pick the stamen and pistils out. Some people pick them when they are closed; it's all up to you. If I'm not using them right away, I carefully cover them with some damp paper towels and put them in the fridge.

The filling I make differs every time, based on what I have. But generally I mix about a 1/4 cup of ricotta or goat cheese with some fresh herbs from the garden, chives, parsley and basil, a bit of lemon zest, some minced garlic, salt and pepper, all to taste. Each blossom only needs a teaspoon or so of cheese filling. I fill them carefully and then gently twist the tops closed so they look like this.

For the batter I mix: 1 cup rice flour or Pamela's Gluten-Free Artisan Flour Mix, 1/2 cup corn starch, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Then I whisk in 1 cup chilled beer, milk or soda water. (Some recipes call for more corn starch.) Cover and let chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Then heat up some canola, peanut or coconut oil and fry away for a few minutes each, people. Sprinkle some salt and squeeze just a touch of lemon over the finished fried goodies. YUM! We've been doing this once a week for several weeks now, and I never remember to get a picture of the finished product. Stuffed, deep fried squash blossoms beg to be eaten almost immediately, or as soon as they've cooled off enough not to burn your tongue!

Enjoy your squash blossoms!

Lily's Carrot

2013-08-18T14:01:00.001-07:00

Last year Lily and I planted lots of carrots, about six rows. So many seeds fell into the rows I was certain I would have to thin them. Unfortunately something else thinned them for us; some creepy crawly came along while we slept one night and feasted on all the green carrot sprouts popping up, leaving us with two or three chomped down remains.

Earlier this summer I noticed two carrots growing in the same spot, a few seeds must have overwintered and Lily was delighted. They just happened to be in a section of the garden where the kids dig and play and create mountains, lakes and volcanoes for pachycephalosaurus, you know, things common to most gardens. So even though we watered the two carrots, that was about all we did to take care of them and honestly I didn't hold out much hope for them.

However, one of them thrived despite the plastic dinosaurs, raging floods and hot lava. Two weeks ago, Lily and I decided to pick it. It was huge and gnarly looking with a mini carrot growing out the side. And it tasted delicious.

Here she is last year about this time planting her carrot seeds.

And here she is this year with her carrot. Amazing the difference a year can make.

I'm sure glad we picked it when we did, because just two days after Lily ate it, she crashed teeth first into the coffee table knocking four of her front teeth loose. One of them was broken and fell out all by itself this week, another one's on it's way out any day, and the other two are loosey goosey! I think it'll be a while before she can eat huge carrots again.

While We Were Gone

2013-07-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

The kids and I just returned from two weeks in the Midwest. Lily and Jasper got to spend time with Greg's mom in Michigan while I did a Tour de Ohio. I missed my kids, Greg and our goofball, Dizzy like crazy, but I also missed my garden. The garden is so many things for me; it's calming, therapeutic, sensory, ritual, and promise.

And while we were gone it went crazy! I always think it needs my daily minute attention in order to flourish, but really it just needs sun and a bit of water.

My Touch of Class roses bloomed! I've been waiting and waiting for them after a rough spring when Dizzy destroyed several of the main stems, but it recovered nicely and is lovely. It has a hint of spice to it and I got to see it by moonlight the first night we got home .

The sunflowers bloomed while we were away and they also grew a few feet. Seriously, some of them are over eight feet tall and still growing.

I actually have one nice looking tomato, which, for all you Ohioans is nothing, but I'm quite proud.

No surprise about the zucchini and yellow squash going crazy, but it still surprises me how quickly the leaves get huge.

Even the broccoli, beans and marigolds we planted from seeds look great. And then there's my favorite, garlic. Greg picked most of it before we got home, but he left a few to bloom. I just love the way they look when they bloom.

Greg and Lily took some pictures of the garden too; Lily even used my Nikon and did a pretty good job.

You can tell how absolutely thrilled Jasper is to be back in the garden! It's a good thing he's cute!

Seed Experiments in the Garden!

2013-07-06T10:07:00.001-07:00

I found this great book from the library called Backyard Biology: Investigate Habitats Outside Your Door with 25 Projects by Donna Latham, Illustrated by Beth Hetland.

It's part of the Build It Yourself series by Nomad Press. And I LOVE IT! This book is full of facts, trivia and fun projects to encourage kids to explore living things in their own backyards, neighborhoods and parks.

What I immediately liked about it, just from a quick skimming through at the library, was its ease of use for me as a parent to help my kids learn about biology with highlighted vocabulary, simple drawings, fun experiments and projects which foster learning through engagement and creativity. And there are tips throughout to help kids become nature detectives and planet protectors...YEAH! Not to mention it has silly biology jokes, and my kids love jokes. It's geared towards kids 9 and older, but many of the projects can be done by younger kids as well.

Page 74 immediately caught my eye for a few reasons: I always have extra seeds hanging around, I had all the additional supplies at home, which made it super convenient, and I knew my three-year-old could do it too, even if he could barely say the word, geotropism. To be honest, I'm pretty sure I never said the word, geotropism until I read this book. Lily, on the other hand, will not only remember it, she will probably quiz me later!

Honestly I just wanted my kids to be able to see what happens to the seed in the wet paper towel through the clear plastic cup. Lily and Jasper had the most fun playing with the water and the paper towels, getting them wet, squishing them out, getting them wet, and squishing the water out all over again.

The experiment in the book is about how gravity affects the roots' growth (geotropism), but we amended it a bit. We did get the paper towels wet and squish them into the plastic cups and push some bean seeds into the cup in different directions, but in addition to hypothesizing about which way we thought the roots would grow, we also guessed which way the plants would grow.

I love Jasper's attempt at writing his name on the cup!

Then we placed them in our warm sunny windowsill and checked them every day to see if they needed more water.

It took less than a week for the beans to sprout and grow.

And now we are ready to plant them in the garden with the rest of our Legos...I mean beans!!

What's Not Growing!

2013-06-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

Just as many things flourish in our garden, there are always those plants that don't seem to do well no matter what I do. Here's a glimpse at what's NOT growing in our garden.

BASIL

I'm not surprised, it never does well; it's never warm enough here, at least it's never warm enough at the end of May or during June when the beautiful, flush plants from the nursery lure me in. But I always buy a plant (or three!) A part of me hopes this will be the year they will adapt and grow into the kinds of plants I can pick from all summer and into the fall, plants that have so many healthy leaves I can make jars of homemade pesto to freeze for the winter.

I remember a few years ago when I was in Mexico and the resort used basil as one of their landscaping plants. Talk about amazing; they were so big, two and three feet tall and wide that I don't think I would have recognized them except the scent was like a perfume in the humid air every time I walked by one.

I'll probably never have very successful basil, but I'm still okay with buying a few plants every year, especially if I get to use the lovely fragrant leaves in a recipe or two before the plants completely conk out.

BLUEBERRIES

This one vexes me as we live in a climate PERFECT for blueberries. We bought four bushes almost four years ago. At the time they were two-year old bushes so they were a good size. I bought them for the fruit as well as the brilliant red foliage the leaves display in the fall. We amended the soil to make sure there was plenty of acid and we planted a few different kinds so they could cross-pollinate. Last year and this year something really odd has happened to them. All these precious white blossoms bloom and fall off like they are supposed to, but in addition to the blossoms falling off, the little stems that hold the blossom, and would grow the fruit, also fall off.

I did some research and the closest I can gather is that they maybe have a blossom blight and that there is nothing I can do for them; they are doomed! Jasper's face pretty much sums up how we feel about not picking blueberries from our own plants! Did I mention it's one of the few foods that boy actually eats?!

PEONIES

If someone walked by and saw my peonies they might think, what is wrong with that poor gardener, she can't even get peonies to bloom in a place where most people's peonies are overflowing, literally, falling over with huge gorgeous blooms! Last year, from five plants, (three of which were already in the yard when we bought this house, and have never bloomed since we've lived here) I got one bloom. I would have had three, but Jasper bent one off before it could bloom and Dizzy destroyed the other. So last year I moved several of the plants, put in lots of compost and made sure they weren't planted too deep as per all the tips I read about peonies liking a bit of winter chill in order to bloom in the spring. The only one that bloomed is the one that bloomed last year, and it only produced two precious deep purple pinkish blooms. I kept one for myself and gave one to my good friend and awesome gardener/flower whisperer, Ingrid.

I drive or walk by all these houses in our neighborhood with overflowing blossoms just drooping off neglected peony after neglected peony and I just want to cry, or go cut them off and steal them!

RHUBARB

A friend gave us precious twenty-year old Rhubarb crowns about three years ago, what a gift! Not only does Rhubarb also grow really well around here, but I love pairing rhubarb with strawberries in spring recipes. Delish! My rhubarb has done nothing but struggle. I keep giving it compost, I water it, and although it starts off strong, it barely manages to cling to life by the time June comes around. We all know it's not the heat that's killing it! But it almost looks burnt.

I think I might try to move it this fall, as maybe the location is the problem. Most people I know out here who have rhubarb don't have to do anything to it and they still grow these huge bush like rhubarb plants. I'm stumped!

Garden Updates

2013-06-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

Despite all the hoodlums, the police and the middle schoolers who leave their cigarette butts along our front fence, AND the 54 degree temperatures and rain we’ve had, our garden is flourishing. I always wish for more sun, more plants to tend to, more gardening time, but when I stop and look at how many things are growing, it makes me happy!

When we actually do have a sunshiny nice day, the kids and I - like everyone else in the PacNW - take advantage!! We dig in the dirt, play in the sprinkler, eat popsicles and SOAK UP THE RAYS!!

Even Dizzy gets high from the sun, that dog loves him some sunshine!

Here’s a look at what’s growing in our garden right now during the end of June.

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Broccoli

Sugar Snap Peas

Tons of herbs, including, Lemon Thyme - my favorite!!

Garlic

More Berries!!

Beans and Dinosaurs!

We also have tons of flowers blooming now, begging for more sunshine, Please!!

Bachelor's Buttons

Knautia

Globe Flower

Black Swan Poppy...AMAZING!

Foxglove

Day Lillies

Roses

The Beas, butterflies and other weird bugs are enjoying our garden too! I hope your garden is going bonkers like ours is!

In The Hood: Police, Pit Bulls & Strawberries

2013-06-18T10:58:00.001-07:00

These last few weeks have done nothing to endear me to Everett, to this neighborhood, to this block. I never thought of myself as someone who would live in the Hood. Ha! Growing up I didn’t even know what the Hood was, but over the years, since leaving college I’ve lived or worked in more than one, Downtown Los Angeles, East LA and now Everett. Oh Everett, things like, police, Pit Bulls off leash (I mean come on people, really?? Pit Bulls Off Leash??), poor schools, and indoor furniture on the front porch are more common than Bush-Cheney signs in rural North Georgia during 2004.

Twice in the past few weeks, in the middle of the night, the police have set up camp outside our bedroom window with their lights flashing and siren going off every few minutes for more than an hour each time. Turns out, they are searching for a suspect. Several police park around the neighborhood to create a sort of perimeter, while more police with K-9s set out on foot to try to capture the criminal. Lovely. The flashing lights, the noise, the middle of the night, let me tell you how enjoyable that’s been! Add our 80 pound hyperventilating dog to the mix and it all makes for fun times.

Last Sunday while cutting chives for our breakfast, a car of thugs spewed down our street, one of them hanging out the window yelling all kinds of B, F and C words at our neighbor two doors down and threatening to “SHOOT [his] A--!”

“Can you all just calm down for a minute while I cut some chives on this nice peaceful SUNDAY MORNING!” I wanted to say. Instead, the thugs drove by, yelling and throwing things out of their car a few more times, someone called the police, and eventually all was well with the neighborhood for a few minutes.

This same two-doors-down-neighbor, who is probably my age, and lives there with his mom when he’s not doing time in prison has a Pit Bull puppy he keeps off leash in his unfenced front yard. When I say, "puppy" I'm talking a fully grown puppy. Picture me and the two kids walking Dizzy down the block when out of nowhere comes this rambunctious Pit Bull running towards us. “Oh, she’s friendly!” the neighbor calls as he tries to coerce her back into his yard. "She just loves kids!"

I bet she loves kids, I thought! One day, about two weeks ago the Pit Bull ran down the block and pushed her way into our front yard through the gate with the neighbor's girlfriend chasing behind, while the Pit chased Lily and Jasper. Mad is a nice word to describe me at that point. I won’t elaborate on the conversation the girlfriend and I had; it was short and to the point. Several neighbors have called Animal Control; things have been quieter in the Hood, but let me tell you, it sure makes “hanging out” in the garden with the kids much less fun.

And, that’s not even the only Pit Bull dog experience we’ve had in Everett this month, but I won’t bore you. Something about June, it’s not a good month for me.

Unless you want to talk Strawberries! In that case, I love the Hood! Hood Strawberries that is. Simply put, they are amazing!

Talk about the sweetest, juiciest, most delicious tasting thing ever in such a simple small bite of greatness picked from our own garden. I’m certain these little jewels can’t solve all the world’s problems or even make my neighborhood less of a Hood, but a girl can dream, can’t she! And the kids love them! It took Jasper a few pickings and bowls full to warm up to the idea, but one morning recently he helped me pick them and eat them!!! Yes, this is a food victory in our house, where, I swear to God, this stubborn boy can survive on goldfish and milk alone.

Lily’s become a bit paranoid about spiders and such so she’s much more skeptical about each bite of food she puts in her mouth from the garden, but even the sweet taste of a Hood can’t deter her. I love the way she’s learning to talk about food, too. “Mmm, this one is so juicy! Or I think these are a bit tart for my taste, Mama.”

We've been picking bowls full for the last two weeks and there's a ton more to come. If you're looking for that big brassy, show-offy kind of strawberry, Hood's not the girl for you. She's smaller, often oddly shaped and not very big, but oh the flavor! Sugary sweet, almost, dare I say, like Kool-Aid.

Our favorite ways to eat them are: alone and unadorned, dipped in bittersweet chocolate, or with Greek honey yogurt for Lily. And today we are making homemade Hood strawberry ice cream, the only kind of strawberry ice cream one ever needs to eat! I hope you find some Hood to enjoy this summer.

Eggshell Seed Starters

2013-06-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

We finally tried this fun idea I've been seeing everywhere! I've been saving up egg shells, waiting for a sunny day, and for us to be home from all our spring travels. Last Friday the forces collided in our favor.

We had poor soil, lack of concentration and Legos battling it out, so, as usual, it didn't exactly turn out like I expected. But it was hilarious, and Lily kept saying, "This is so cool. This is way more fun than I thought it was going to be." Which totally made up for the fact that I had to drag them kicking and screaming outside that afternoon.

We used paper egg cartons to hold the shells because I didn't have any plastic ones with the attached tops, (which I bet make really good homes for newly started seeds) but our paper ones will have to do. Jasper and Lily used cups to fill the shells with dirt and I let them pick whatever seeds they wanted to plant. Then they watered them with sippy cups, (with the plastic spill-proof insert removed) which worked really well for watering just a little bit at a time.

Jasper planted beans and more beans; I think he just liked the way the seeds looked. Lily planted beans, zucchini and marigolds. All of which can be started directly in the soil, but that's not the point, really, is it? The best part was when Lily said, "The marigold seeds look just like porcupine quills."

Color in the Garden

2013-05-20T12:04:00.000-07:00

We were out of town for a week, and while we were gone, it was actually sunny. Unfortunately it was probably the only week of sun we will have all spring. It's amazing what can happen in one week to a garden, especially when there's some much desired sunshine.

So many things bloomed in that one week! And so many of them purple!

Chives

Irises

Lavender

Geranium

Centaurea Bachelor Buttons

Allium

Comfrey

Lilacs

I realized when we returned that I have way too much purple in my garden.

When we first bought this house seven years ago, the flowers that were here were mostly pinks, purples and light blues, none of which are really my favorite colors in the garden. Over the years I've tried to add other colors, reds, yellows, deep black purples, oranges.

What I didn't think through very well is when things bloom.

The red, yellow and orange tulips are all dead and gone by the time all the purple arrives, and the yellow-orange of the day lilies and yellow-orangy blacks of the rudibeckia and sunflowers don't bloom until later. So for a while, my garden is very purple with some white, some blue-purples and deep pinks thrown in.

Lily got mad when I said there was too much purple because it's her favorite color. I actually love many of the purple plants in the garden; lavender and allium are two of my favorites, and chives brighten up the whole yard while keeping away lots of garden pests, but this is the first year I realized the garden is very monochromatic in the late spring.

Hello Ladybugs

2013-05-02T07:50:00.002-07:00

Hello first ladybugs we've seen this season.

Climbing on our chives,

Tucked in and on and around our Rugosa Rose bushes.

Lily and I wondered if they were on the rose bush to protect themselves from predators since the rose bushes have super long sharp thorns.

I think we disturbed their mating...

I love to see a garden full of ladybugs. Hi Nana!

Painting Garden Plant Markers

2013-04-08T15:42:00.001-07:00

We're still a bit confused around here, the weather and I.

One moment it's 60 and sunny and we are planting pea starts and ranunculus, and having a picnic on the front lawn...

The next moment it's 41 and freezing rain is beating sideways against our windows.

As a mom, I go stir crazy when the weather is miserable. Lily and Jasper love being outside in the sun, the rain and the snow, but miserable is no fun for any of us; the bitter, slashing rain can say, "Buh bye!" any day now! I also go stir crazy trying to think up fun, new activities, games and crafts for us to play inside. (There's something about playing outside that never gets boring for them or me.)

However, one thing my kids love to do regularly is paint.

At first, painting with the kids was stressful and manic for me, (can painting be manic?) Trying to keep up with their need for clean water bowls, new paper, Jasper's desire to paint himself, the table, his goldfish crackers...but things (generally) go much smoother now that we've all had some practice together.

I cover the table in a large piece of white paper and I have all of our watercolor supplies in one bin with tons of brushes and sponges and paints. Lily and I use the good paper, but I buy super cheap paper for Jasper as he goes through a piece every ten seconds.

Every year in the garden I try to come up with an easy way to make plant markers, but I don't go to that much trouble because as quickly as I can stick them in the dirt, Jasper is pulling them out and using them to play with and give his roly poly bugs a home. This year I thought it would be fun to paint pictures of each fruit and vegetable, laminate them and attach them to craft sticks.

So while the rain beat against the window one day last week, inside we painted flowers, gardens, bunnies, and sunshine, and started our garden marker painting project. This was one of the coolest activities I've done with Lily. She loved it. I started by painting a vegetable, then Lily would copy me with her paint and I would write the word on her plant marker. So! Much! Fun!

We've only just begun and I can't wait to see how they all turn out.

To Begin Again

2013-03-28T12:48:00.002-07:00

I'm completely unmotivated to begin gardening this year. And I'm not sure exactly why. The reasons are sort of mixed up and muddy in my mind. The weather is having motivational issues too. Freezing rain, bursts of sunshine, snow just last week.

It's like I need to yell to the weather and myself, it's Spring!! Let's get going!!

For my 40th birthday this year, my brother made me this awesome seed starter set out of wood and mini terra cotta pots.

So in one of our bursts of sun last week, Lily, Jasper and I started some seeds. We used these new (or new to us) Earth Plugs. (From Down To Earth Distributors Inc. If you Google Earth Plugs you get a whole bunch of interesting websites about how to make huge holes in your ears...hmm!)

I quickly grabbed the sunflower and radish seeds because I know that starting seeds with two little kids and no proper place to put them is really more about fun, fun and more fun, and not so much about what seeds you start or how many, if any, of those starts actually make it into the garden to thrive.

Some years are more successful than others, and we can always count on our sugar snap pea starts!! I think I continue to start seeds every year with the kids because I hope they can see what happens when you plant a seed.

I hope they love the transformation.

I hope they are awed by it like I am.

Maybe this will get my motivation going.

Spiders, Spiders, Everywhere!

2012-10-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

We found the most amazing spiders living in our garden and all over the yard this year. I know they have been there in the past, but this year, we really paid attention, took pictures, made up stories, watched them spin silk over captured bumblebees.

Since it's almost Halloween, I thought I'd share a few photos of the gorgeous, unbelievably brilliant, and spooky spiders and their webs in Lily's and Jasper's garden.

This one isn't the best photograph, but there were seven or eight webs, hanging one after the other after the other.

For sure, Lily knows more about spiders at age four than I've probably known my whole life! The webs are so cool to look at, I even attempted to hairspray an old abandoned web (Lily made me promise not to ruin any home of a spider while said spider was still living on it) onto black construction paper to save it. It was not successful. Not everything can be captured; some things are just meant to be looked at and awed over.

Have a safe, happy, spooky Halloween week, everyone!

Bye Bye Sunflowers!

2012-10-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

We had such amazing, beautiful, huge sunflowers this year!

Bright yellow,

shades of burnt orangey-brown,

and deep reds.

I even think they are gorgeous in black and white.

Some grew over ten feet tall and finally their heads got so heavy they tipped over, bowed down with gravity.

Lily planted and watered them all from seeds and they were a huge success. They were in the same raised bed as the strawberries and garlic and all three crops did awesome; maybe they liked being planted together. Plus it was such a good summer of sun for us, which we sooooooo needed.

Not only did the sunflowers brighten our raised beds, but like almost everything else in the garden, they became a source of fun and play for Lily and Jasper, from digging out the seeds to play with, to painting the leaves with watercolors and using them as paint brushes,

to playing hide-and-seek in their "sunflower forest."

Even the ladybugs liked our sunflowers.

Greg put Lily on his shoulders just to show how tall they had gotten. I saw gorgeous fields of enormous, tall sunflowers from a moving train once in Italy, but this is the first time I've/we've ever grown any quite so enormous.

Last weekend we finally pulled and dug them all out, and of course, played with them.

See you next year gorgeous bright sunflowers!!