The garden is mostly just showing off with pomp and circumstance, their showy leaves, straight stalks and bursts of little flowers but what IS beginning to produce is giving harvests of 'just enough' and the tastes are the most delicious you've tasted since you don't even remember when. The baskets and baskets and bowls and bowls that fill your days with 'putting up' are a month or two away still but you aren't thinking about that yet.
No. You are just thinking about how sweet that baby carrot you just thinned tasted in your mouth and how lovely the bright green lettuce looks in a tidy row. You are just enjoying the feeling of cutting that head of broccoli for dinner tonight and savoring the rich smell on your finger from plucking a few basil leaves.
Ah, lovely June.
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| ~the garden on paper~ |
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| ~ the garden from the window~ |
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| ~we are growing potatoes in hay this year and all I can say is...so far so good!~ |
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| ~The pumpkin patch. Pretty measley looking right now!~ |
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| ~(not quite yet) elderberries!~ |
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| ~ horseradish~ |
Giving thanks some more....
#856...broccoli harvesting
#857...a shirtless boy who paroles the garden perimeter several times daily
#858...a garden that can not afford to be fenced in this year that wakes up every morning still intact
#859...fresh salads for lunch
#860...elderberries right under my nose
#861...potatoes needing to be re-hayed. AGAIN!
#862...corn that actually GREW (after four years of trying!)
#863...hay mulch
#864...minced stevia in a fruit salad
#865...babies with constant chive breath
#866...a bit of rain, a bit of heat. Just enough of each.
regarding #857... is 'parole' a garden-tending verb? love it!
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are wow! No one would know this is a first year garden, it looks like years of careful cultivation have taken place!
ReplyDeleteWe grass mulched the week after we planted, but it is now time to till between the rows, lay newspaper and straw mulch. I'm getting stiff just thinking about it.
And living amongst all the farms that we do, why am I suddenly not seeing ANY "Straw and hay for sale, second farm on the left" signs?!?!?
Can't wait to see how your potatoes do!
If you have lots of elderflowers, you could make elderflower cordial.
ReplyDeleteVery nice!! We just made a batch.
And there will be berries left to make elderberry syrup later in the year!!
Love from England (cool and wet)
Anonymous~ Matt makes fun of me all the time for making up words. So-probably, YES. ;-)
ReplyDeleteBonnie~ THANKS. That means a lot! What is REALLY too bad is that there are not signs saying "FREE: OLD HAY" Now THAT would be awesome. We had lots of hay this spring because we had to surround the (poor) foundation with it over the winter. But now I have run out and I am going to be needing a WHOLE lot more-the potatoes already need more!
Els~ I fully plan to make elderberry syrup when the time comes, but elderflower cordial?! Now that sounds divine! ~Love from PA- HOT AND HUMID! :-)
Elderflower cordial is easy:
ReplyDelete16-20 fully open flowerheads, washed in cold water to get rid of creepy crawlies
900 gr sugar
1.2 liter boiling water
25 gr citric acid
3 unwaxed lemons, cut up
Pour boiling water over sugar in big bowl, dissolve and allow to cool.
Add flowers, pushing them down.
Add citric acid and lemons; cover and leave at room temp for 24 hours.
Strain, squeezing to get all goodness out, and bottle. Keep in fridge.
Dilute with water or sparkling water to taste, and mint sprig or ice cubes if you like.
Enjoy!!
Els
Els~ THANK YOU! I didn't want to bother you but I really wanted to ask for it! I thought I would try to google it--but you made my life much easier! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteNow-to find some more blossoms!
Success!!And let me know what you think of it!
ReplyDeleteEls