Except for the red currants below, there seems to be a theme in the garden today: purple, yellow and green.
These currants were cleaned, cooked, strained, had sugar added to the remaining liquid, then tasted and frozen. My winter self will be thanking my summer self when I drizzle the currant juice over my yoghurt one blustery morning in January.
When Ted saw me taking this picture, he asked, "You are not going to paint that are you? That would border on insanity."
Hmmm...... I've put the original image in my Art Pictures folder. Who knows? I might feel insane sometime this fall.
The peas got a little big while we were away last week. You can't stop nature from doing what it's designed to do. There were two bowls of green beens ready too!!! Green and yellow. Two zucchini were grated and frozen for winter chocolate chip zucchini muffins. The remaining two went into tonight's supper: Zucchini Lasagne.
We've been watching one of our mature pines for the last month or so. The needles were turning brown. When we got home on Thursday, it was clear that the tree was dead. Sad day. Ted measured it to be 95' tall! It was easy to see what killed the tree. When chopping it up, he found evidence of beetle infestation just beneath the bark. Life and death happens. A few years ago we lost all of our ash trees. Now, it seems that the pines might be going too.
There is a Dutch gardener who I admire, Piet Oudolf. I think that our perennial bed has the look of a Piet Oudolf garden this year. And, I can't take credit for it. It seems that the annual rudbeckias seeded themselves down prolifically last year.
These pumpkin plants have been suffering in the drought. We've watered them a bit here and there, but not nearly enough. In the heat of the day, the leaves wilt, trying to conserve moisture. Despite that challenge, we've got a nice pumpkin that is already colouring. There are a few other smaller ones too.
This year the Delicata Squash are happy where they are.
I needed some garlic for tonight's supper. When I dug up a fresh garlic, I noticed how HUGE it was. The cloves were starting to separate. Time to harvest!
Japanese Beetles are feasting on our grape leaves. Do you see the lacy look to the leaf in the foreground? Despite their damage, it looks like we may get a good grape crop. Today, we had some canned white grape juice from last year, mixed with ginger ale. Yum!!!! Ted said that it tasted better than beer!
This variety is coming along nicely.
Our sunflowers seed themselves down from year to year. Migrating birds will enjoy their seeds in the fall.
While we are harvesting quite a few vegetables, others are just starting the pollination process. This is an eggplant flower. If we get some heat, it will still mature.
Much more yellow. Remember that I said earlier that I'd harvested four zucchini (two to freeze, two for the lasagne)? Looks like the food bank will be getting 7 on Wednesday!
I can't wait to try these melons in a month or so.
When we decided to plant the Guatemalan Squash in the main vegetable garden, we had no idea how aggressive they are when they are planted in good soil. We've had to chop back serious amounts of foliage to save the watermelons and peppers that were being shaded by them.
Dill is ready.
There is nothing so beautiful as a red cabbage as it forms its head. I am looking forward to freezing these using a new recipe that I tasted last week. Exciting!
And, the purple continues. We planted a row of flowers to attract butterflies and birds. Haven't seen a single butterfly or bird around the row yet. They attract me though. Maybe that is all they need to do.
Our raspberry-loving Toronto grandkids will be here next week. The raspberries are almost finished! Oops. I think they will be happy with the alternative. And, maybe ones that are under netting. Do you see the bird damage?
So, here's the pine tree. I am glad that Ted is very good at felling trees. There was a tiny window where it needed to fall and he did it!
Being away from the gardens for a week makes for a ton of work when we return home. Next week will be one of more food processing and hoeing. At least I won't be doing it alone.
End of tour: purple, yellow and green.
Today's sponsor? My little chirping buddy.
“I think it pisses God off
if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere
and don't notice it.”
alice walker
Comments