Wednesday, June 16, 2010

my distraction

I could spend all day blogging about how horrible the news is, our failure of a president, or guns and shooting but really? I look out the window of my back porch, see this

and it's all over. All I want to do is get outside, get my hands dirty, and feel the sun on my neck. We've got our little garden planted - a few tomatoes (even a delightfully odd heirloom purple), lots of peppers (hot and not), and the usual wide variety of herbs. I put in a few sweet peas, some tomatillos for my salsa, and what I call the great eggplant experiment. I've never attempted to grow them before but the varieties, which produce a black and a white fruit, were called Hansel and Gretel - how could I resist?

We also have a squash type thing growing. Or it could be a cucumber. Or maybe even pumpkin! The seed snuck in from the compost pile and found a happy home in amongst the jalapenos. It's like the mystery grab bag plant - we're excited to see what we get.

I've planted a few flowers, too, just for the pretty.

Check out the planter I made out of a section of old hollow tree trunk. (It's the best kind of clever & lovely - free.)

And just for fun, here's a bonus photo of two naughty boy tabbies surveying their domain from the bay window.
(all photos can be enlarged by clicking on them)

12 comments:

Nancy R. said...

How lovely! It's so civilized. Even my herb garden is out of control. 3 1/2 foot tall Rosemary, sure. But 3' oregano?? And the lemon balm, ahem, took off this year. And don't even get me started on the tansy the church lady sold me saying it wasn't invasive.

breda said...

Oh, no, lemon balm. I'm convinced it's a citrus-fresh spawn of evil garden gnomes.

On a Wing and a Whim said...

Ah, you garden so wonderfully. I'm trying to keep the seedlings alive here - they're not doing so well as the weather swings from 76 degrees to 48. Yay for June in Alaska - at least the tulips are finally blooming!

Anonymous said...

I've found eggplant tricky.
1. Keep the flea-beetles off 'em, at least until they get bigger.
2. Keep 'em warm
3. Keep 'em growing fast.

Once they get big and start to bear, though, they aren't much trouble.

Mike W. said...

I think it's the other way around. Blogging is a distraction from that.

Not much beats staying home & enjoying the outdoors on a bright, sunny day. Adding some beer, outdoor grilling & women in bikini's makes it even better.

The Displaced Louisiana Guy said...

Now that's a yard to be proud of. Throw in a grab- bag of kids toys and un-weed eated edges (I hate weed eating, so I only do it about every other mowing), and it looks a lot like my house. Yay fresh veggies!

Ed Rasimus said...

I don't care how your garden grows, you aren't palming any excess zucchini off on me!

Actually, I'm envious. Here in N. Texas the only thing that seems to grow well is bluebells and crabgrass. Of course we've apparently got a good crop of armadillo and raccoon, if the road kill is any indication. Skunk comes in for harvest in a couple of weeks.

Laura said...

Hey Breda, next year, do you want tomato seeds? I do all heirlooms in my garden and I'm still in possession of about 700 Cherokee Purple tomato seeds. I'll be saving seeds from my German Johnson, Kellogg's Breakfast, Marglobe, Vorlon, and Jersey Devil tomatoes if all goes well.

sobriant74 said...

Good luck, I am trying to keep my squash and zuc's from being overrun by weeds. But my carrots are growing like weeds, so it balances out I guess.

Crustyrusty said...

Heirloom tomatoes...

Yum :)

Bubblehead Les. said...

Just picked up some sunchokes from a friend down in Akron. Putting them in the dead space behind my garage. He said if anything'll grow up in this clay we have up here in our neck of the woods w/o spending a ton of money on soil, fertilizer, etc, it'll be chokes. Let you know how they turn out.

Lissa said...

I want a garden so bad I can practically taste the cherry tomatoes . . . Damn second-floor apartment!!