Flowering Daphne
The lovely Daphne is in full bloom, her scent powerful enough to knock you sideways. No wonder the neighborhood squirrels like to hide their nuts nearby. Her waxy green leaves, edged in buttercup yellow, frame the bouquet of blooms. It would be easy to envy that effortless beauty, but I know she’s been working hard since the fall, storing energy for this fabulous display. Deep pink shadows give way to a blush of pinks and creams. Effervescence, defined.
It’s a remarkable experience eating something you grow yourself. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it.
I grow vegetables on a small-scale, and suffer the same garden failures we all do: pests, frost, heatwaves, drought. It’s a wonder anything gets on the table.
It’s human nature to persevere, however, and when success follows…wow!
We ate fresh broccoli from the garden today. Six beautifully formed plants, six perfect heads of broccoli. Those remarkable greens moved from garden to kitchen to table in under an hour. Broccoli never tasted so sweet.
Cream of the Broccoli Crop
Broccoli Fresh from the Plant
Basket of Freshly Picked Broccoli
Broccoli sautéed in Garlic and Olive Oil
Heat oil on medium. Add garlic and broccoli; salt and pepper to taste
Cover for 2 to 5 minutes or until broccoli is tender
Add a dash of lemon juice and a handful of slivered almonds
Cover and cook for one more minute.
Serve immediately
Before Pinterest, when you found an idea you liked, you simply tore it out of a magazine. Way back in 2008, I did just that. I thought it would be fun to make this stack of terracotta pots. It looked easy, affordable and fun.
Stacking Terracotta
I saved the picture and instructions to do as a summer project with my son. Life threw us some curve balls that year, so the clipping was forgotten. Every year since, I pull it out of the folder, think “wouldn’t that be fun?” and then for some reason, I never get around to it. Does that ever happen to you?
Well, not this year.
The beauty of blogging is the sense of accountability. I’m telling you that I will do this fun project. Soon. Maybe even this weekend.
I could simple stack and plant the pots as shown, but I’ve decided to make it even more crafty. I saw another cool idea on a design blog using gold leaf to jazz up clay pots. Doesn’t this look like fun?
I’ve never applied gold leaf before, so I’m challenging myself to try something new. Stay tuned.
What do you have planned this weekend?
Absolutely nothing!
Does this every happen to you? You go into the store for one thing, then leave with something else? I popped into Home Depot today looking for another ‘Trug,’ the light but strong, flexible buckets known as Tubtrugs®. They are really handy in the garden. I bought one a few years ago, and although they say the handles are ‘super strong,’ one of the handles on mine broke. No matter. I turned it into a worm bin. When I went looking for a replacement at the end of the season, they only had the smaller size.
Today I wandered around the store for a while, then asked for help from two associates. They had never heard of them before. As I readied to leave empty-handed I saw these:
Early Heritage Raspberries
Mmmmm…raspberries. The containers alone intrigued me along with the price. $6.98 for an entire shrub of raspberries!!! Holy cow. I’ll take two, please. I thought all raspberries grew as vines until Boomdee mentioned growing them as shrubs. Low and behold, there they were. We really enjoyed eating berries off the vine last summer, so I figured the more the merrier.
I’m still in the market for a Tubtrug, but I left the store in a good mood anyway. Did anything interesting making it into your shopping cart this week?
Tulips Break Ground
Did you hear me squeal with delight?
Tulips are popping up all over the garden. They won’t flower for a little while, but the fact that they’ve survived this long (shh…don’t tip off the squirrels) is amazing.
Last fall I planted three varieties, purchased at a local garden center. They are all sourced from Van Zyverden.
I planted:
In other words, the potential for 35 stunning acts of nature. Guess what? I counted over twenty, ground-breaking bulbs! The last time I planted tulips, nothing came up. Zip. Zero. Nada. I’m really liking these odds.
Tulips all Around!
While I had my nose to the earth, I noticed several more bulbs breaking through: Crocus, Narcissus and a few others, to-be-determined when they bloom.
Oh happy day! What’s ‘cooking’ in your garden this Thursday?
Assorted Spring Bulbs Break Ground
Tulip Bulbs
Here’s the view from my back door.
View from my back door
At first glance, it looks like nothing is blooming. In my under-dressed (put on a coat, Alys!) and overzealous quest for something in bloom, I poked around here and there and teased out the following:
Somehow this Begonia escaped the frost
Faded but beautiful drying hydrangea
Flowering Daphne
The first of the Serbian Bellflowers
An over-do thank you to Laura for these wonderful Forget-me-not seeds. I’m excited to plant them come spring.
Forget-me-not seeds
Earlier this month I wrote about the pros and cons of planting the sidewalk strip. I included a poll and asked readers to vote as well as comment on the idea.
As of today, the vote is split down the middle:
The comments were incredibly helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read, comment or vote. There were many things I hadn’t thought of. Here are a few:
Boomdeeada wrote: I voted to plant the easement but everyone here has great comments. I’d be tempted to put in a perennial of some kind more than vegetables…a bed that begins with tulips, then lilies then iris’s….I also liked the beds of Rudbeckia, alyssum and purple petunia at the Alberta Governor Generals house this summer…that would smell really nice.
I like the idea of planting flowers instead of veg. Another reader also suggested growing a hedge first, then planting within its boundaries.
Sensiblegardening wrote: I had to vote “no” but not because I think it’s a bad idea. I think it’s a great idea. However, after living for 20 years on a rural road, at the dead-end turn around, I’ve seen too much of how disrespectful a lot of the public is of our natural spaces, let alone our own private property that butts up against it. Sorry, but that’s just the ugly truth of it at this point in time. Hopefully more people will become a little more enlightened as time goes on.
Several others also cited this. My husband voted no, too. :-(
Suzanne Elliot suggested a nearby alternative: Thoughts on planting the strip – Dogs and passers-by – Dogs will leave deposits – and not the bank kind – passers by will pick your flowers. In looking at your photo of your lovely front garden I notice that you have a lot of LAWN – how about converting your lawn to something else? You could plant veggies mixed with flowers closer in to your house in your current lawn area (full sun) – and thereby thwart all but the most brazen flower pickers and fruit/veggie thieves…
Leave the sidewalk strip/easement alone for now. (Subject to change without notice, void where prohibited).
Combine Suzanne and Boomdee’s idea and plant a perennial garden next to the stone walkway on the property in a curving triangle to balance the curving wall on the other side. If that goes well, I’ll plant more perennials on the other side of the driveway. Honestly, you can never have too many flowers, don’t you think? The bees are counting on them.
Transplant the blueberry bush (still very small) and the raspberry vines to another location in the yard. This will free up 25% of the planting boxes.
Finish clearing overgrown and tired looking shrubs around fruit tree. Plant additional flowers from seed.
Meanwhile, please join me in another rain dance.
The San Jose area has received only 0.9 inches of rain so far this month, a third of the normal 2.72 inches.
In a normal year, San Jose would have received about 7.73 inches of rain by now. Instead, only 2.45 inches have fallen since July, not even a third of normal. (San Jose Mercury News)
It’s still January. Boy oh boy this month is creeping by. I keep checking my Mercury News calendar to be sure I haven’t missed any garden chores. It’s a short list.
Protect frost-tender plants. Check. Winter weeding. Check. Watch out for snails and slugs. Haven’t seen ’em. And finally, if it’s to cold and wet, order spring seeds. I did that ages ago.
I pruned the fruit cocktail tree, gave the compost a few spins and checked on the worms. I put out a large bag of laundry lint for the squirrels, and made a delicate wreath of the same for the birds.
Today, in need of a few hardware store items, I quickly perused the garden section. Ho-hum to that as well.
Can you hear me tap, tap, tapping my green thumb? I’m suffering from a serious case of garden withdrawal.
How are you managing the mid-winter doldrums?
Browning Cauliflower
January 26, 2013
I’ve been trying to deny the inevitable for a week now. My cauliflower is done-for. Gone. Kaput. Or at least it looks that way
It didn’t occur to me to protect the plants from frost damage. Cauliflower is a winter crop in warm climates. Shouldn’t it withstand the elements? The plants look okay, but all of the cauliflower heads turned brown.
Upon further reading, I’m wondering if I missed a step, something known as blanching. It sounds counter-intuitive: instead of allowing the flower heads, called curds, exposure to the sun, you cover them. The articles I’ve read suggest folding the leaves over the curds and holding them in place with twine. Leaves should be tied loosely to allow air to circulate.
Apparently I’ve spent one too many years eating vegetables from the supermarket. Or not. At this point, I suppose time will tell. The browning will continue or abate. The curds will grow or wilt. Meanwhile I just evicted some gray scaly pests from the broccoli plants. In a word: ick!
Stay tuned.
Broccoli and Cauliflower
November 9th
Broccoli and cauliflower
December 17, 2012
Cauliflower
December 18, 2012
Pansies
Last fall I planted purple pansies along the deck, then interspersed bulbs in between. What beautiful planters we would have come spring.
Then the squirrels dug them up. One by one, over a couple of days, they unearthed the hidden gems. Normally I add a layer of organic mulch, but in my never-ending quest to discourage snacking squirrels, I covered at least half of the pots with rough pea-gravel. I used what I had on hand, left over from a summer project.
It was a good, though unintended experiment.Those rascally squirrels dug up all the bulbs in the soft mulch pots, but left the ones under gravel untouched.
I bought more bulbs, a lot more gravel, and replanted with help from the eager day-care kiddos next door. It worked!
Emerging bulbs
At least half a dozen bulbs broke ground this week. I see tiny shoots pushing up between the pansies. Muchas gracias, gravel mulch
Gardening Nirvana and gravel mulch, 1. Squirrels, 7,364. It’s amazing what you can get away with when you’re so darn cute.
Gardening Nirvana 