Things that haven’t fried yet
With the 100+ degrees we’ve had for the last week and 100+ days forecast for the next week, things are going to start frying here, even though I have an outrageous water bill. Lots of the tomatoes are ripening right now, along with a few other things.
I picked:
- tomatoes
- okra
- strawberries
- leeks
- Genovese and Black Opal Basil
- green beans
The basil is in two vases in the kitchen and permeates the whole house — hey — free air freshener! Since there isn’t enough okra for a side dish, I’m going to try to pickle them — refrigerator-pickle style so I don’t have to mess with canning. Cross your fingers!
I’m thinking of making tomato jam or marmelade — any suggestions? And I am not sure these green beans are worth cooking. They seem very faded and not very green again. The last ones I made were tough and chewy. It may just be too darn hot for them to grow tasty any more.
And the leeks are going to be in a potato leek soup. I’ll eat it all by myself if I have to! You’ve gotta cook fresh stuff when it’s fresh. I’ll try to stretch it — cooking them Wednesday to eat with my DH for dinner on Friday. Yumm-o!Garden geek, or not?
I think we all secretly wonder if we’ve crossed the line into ‘Garden Geekdom.’ And Carol, of May Dreams Gardens has a formula for determining this as it relates to Valentine’s gifts.
I’m not sure if I qualify or not, but here’s what I got for my birthday — tell me what you think!
A little bird-house night light
A garden-inspired candle in a lovely shade of green with a butterfly
A bird house, a fairy house and a little birdie
A garden snail that doesn’t require beer for bait!
A little bird-house night light
A garden-inspired candle in a lovely shade of green with a butterfly
A bird house, a fairy house and a little birdie
A garden snail that doesn’t require beer for bait!
A little herb pot with seeds.
And, not shown, a gift certificate for 2 – yes, count them, 2, 90-minute massages to recuperate from all the gardening!
So, does that make me a geek. (BTW, none of these items were requested or on a wish list. All my sweet loved ones came up with these amazing and beautiful ideas all on their own!)
Seriously? Bluebonnets…in February?
No, this isn’t last year’s photo.
It isn’t a silk flower.
It isn’t a painting.
This is the first Bluebonnet of the season. With the tiniest piece of a bloom opening to these warm February days.
Yesterday it was 91 here. Last night it was 41 at our house and today it’s 60 with up to 40 mph winds. I’m ready for the winds to STOP so I can get to work on…this box!
Here we have my mail order — filled with little gems to put in various gardens. I love High Country Gardens – their plants all came healthy and they include icons in their catalog to tell you if their plants are deer and rabbit resistant. That’s critical information for me and saves me so many steps when they print it right there.
So, we have some lilies, creeping germander, thyme, four-nerve daisy and agastache.
Thymus ‘Pink Chintz’
Hymenoxys Acaulis
Teucrium Aroanium
Agastache ‘Acapulco Salmon & Pink’
These are my baby daffodils – planted long ago and name long-lost!
The bees and the butterflies were literally swarming around the Texas Mountain Laurels yesterday. I kept trying to get a close-up of this butterfly and there was one bee who kept trying to dive-bomb me, certain that I was going to take away his dinner. I told him I meant him no harm, but he didn’t listen, so I gave up and settled for a lesser photo, and me, unstung!
Hallelujah ~~ Half …
an inch of rain! And still coming down. More forecast for the next two days.
Hallelujah.
I love seeing that little cloud icon. It’s been much too long for us.
And it’s a nice, steady rain, one that woke me up at 4:45, the sound of it on the roof so foreign that it pulled me from a deep sleep.
And of course, this now necessitates the dog-foot-drying line by the back door — a sight animal owners know well. Luckily, they’re pretty good about stopping on the rug and walking back and forth if they are just damp, or sitting down for a foot wipe by Mom if they are really drenched.
What an interesting start to the year…
This is why I planted this lovely Japanese Quince.
Today. The first of January, in Austin Texas (which is a totally Spring-like day), my Quince has given me a wonderful gift — the first blooms of Spring.
I know it’s technically not Spring. And we’ll have a few more cold spells and maybe a freeze or two, but very sporadically. It’s just that we have so many nice warm days that plants are fooled into thinking … “Hey, it’s time to bloom!” And that’s what they do.
Here’s my daughter enjoying our beautiful 68 degree day looking for seeds and such in the garden.
A little Skullcap blooming and happy.
The Euonymous that likes slightly cooler weather and sunshine.
Mexican Mint Marigold that has totally redeemed itself by blooming since September straight. And it’s still blooming. It has earned itself a solid place in that bed, even though this summer I was ready to rip them out as they were blocking the water from my vines. I’ve worked around that, vines are getting watered again and the Marigolds are my new best friends!
Here’s my daughter enjoying our beautiful 68 degree day looking for seeds and such in the garden.
A little Skullcap blooming and happy.
The Euonymous that likes slightly cooler weather and sunshine.
Mexican Mint Marigold that has totally redeemed itself by blooming since September straight. And it’s still blooming. It has earned itself a solid place in that bed, even though this summer I was ready to rip them out as they were blocking the water from my vines. I’ve worked around that, vines are getting watered again and the Marigolds are my new best friends!
And this is one of several blooms on the Helianthus Multiflorus Maximus that I planted last Spring and normally blooms in August. Go figure.