The mid-way point of summer is a time of particular happiness. However, I am still finding it hard to write, especially with the research necessary to write about the Pilgrimage to Provence. These days my writing consists of freewriting about my sister, about the nature of loss and about the adaptations we make to live and come to peace.
Given that, I hope you will enjoy collages of pictures taken in the garden. There are four categories of photos: the perennial flower bed, the veggie garden, the summer pleasures of dining outside, and a theme called “In a Vase on Monday”, which links me with Rambling In the Garden.
I’m also linking in with Jami at An Oregon Cottage for more tidbits about Summer Pleasures.
Enjoy!
The Veggie Garden
We were able to harvest over six quarts of blueberries this year, in addition to picking for breakfast each day. These varieties have been in this spot for over six years and have finally begun to produce large quantities of berries. I’ve learned it can sometimes take that long for blueberries to establish fully. These varieties are a mixture of high and low bush blueberries, and the only types I remember for certain are: Bluray and BlueCrop. Blueberries want a Ph of between 4-5 to do well, they also love acidic soil which you can help create by adding things like coffee grounds or a Tb. of vinegar in a gallon of water. Mulch well in hot weather. Mmmmm. Blueberries for breakfast.
Here is the back half of the vegetable garden, with a close up of the heirloom pumpkins coming along well. The one you see here (below) is “Cinderella’s Carriage”, an antique variety that will develop orange/red fruits that are flattened and deeply lobed at ripening. At 18 to 35 pounds, they will look exactly like the old-fashioned illustrations of the fairy tale coach.
Tomatoes peeking through their cages. This year we grew fewer heirlooms in order to see if a higher yield would result. The tomato you see is Early Girl, a classic Oregon tomato. We’re growing four other varieties, including paste tomatoes for making stews in the winter.
Looking towards the house (and the greenhouse), you can see the hearty vines of the Bush bean Romano Purpiat, a classic Italian bean, with nearly stringless pods that turn bright green when cooked.
A colander full of beans for tonight’s dinner.
View of the garden from the Meyer Lemons. These lemons make the greenhouse smell like heaven in November when Pacific Northwesterners need a little reminder of summer.
The Perennial Flower Bed
This is an overview of the perennial flower bed looking out towards the art studio. What follows is a collage of some individual flowers in the bed: the dahlias, “E Z Duzzit” and “Wannabe” and a white hybrid tea called “White Sail” which has that old-fashioned fragrance rose lovers go crazy for…
Summer Pleasures
What is better than having dinner in the garden on a summer’s evening? Here is dinner outside…whoops! It looks like the diners have come and gone, leaving us just hungry for fajitas.
In a Vase
And finally, my contribution to Cathy’s “In a Vase on Monday.” I suspect everyone knows this but just in case: when cutting dahlias for indoors, cut the stems at a severe angle. It gives more surface area for water to go to the flower and keeps the stem from resting flat at the bottom of the vase which cuts off the water supply to the flower.
Here are the vases in my kitchen today:
Happy Summer Everyone.
Count your blessings.
It’s all looking great, Susie! How wonderful to have so many beautiful AND edible plants. Our Meyer Lemon had a bit of a shock when we took it outside, but we have a few maturing Lemons and some new blooms. So fun!
Hi Beth–thanks for visiting. I’ve had so many go-arounds with my lemons, but it’s always worth the effort. Since we’ve had some surprisingly cold winters in recent memory, my husband had the idea of putting a shop light (20 volts maybe?) in WITH the lemons which were all wrapped up in Reemay cloth and to our pleasure all our lemons survived in the greenhouse. It was getting too expensive to heat the whole greenhouse to a temp. that the lemons would like. I *bet* your lemons had a shock going from your warm indoors to outside. Isn’t it interesting that some plants keel over from shock and others rally in amazing ways?!?
Oh yes, it’s definitelly worth it with the Lemons and they do seem to bounce back splendidly! Actually, we waited to move the Lemon tree outdoors until May–when the outdoor/indoor temperatures were roughly the same. But the shock of the actual move (lifting and transporting outside) and less sun (when the Oak trees filled up with foliage) gave it a little pause. In this shady yard, it’s so challenging to find a spot with enough sun–and a spot that allows for easy transport to shelter when we have severe weather. I’m continuing to learn, which is the joy of it all! 🙂
Wow Susie..I would love to come and spend some time in your garden and maybe take something home with me…anything..anything at all. Beautiful….You will be linked in and I usually just take the first photo from a post as when I am working with 25 or so posts, it takes me a while to do them all anyway… but any of your photos is a winner..
I am glad that you have your garden to enjoy during what is such a difficult time for you and your family. I am so sorry… hug… Michelle
Thank you Michelle. I hadn’t expected you to put it in this time. But of course, you can’t be keeping all those pictures…It must be a lot of work for you. My garden is a haven and especially now. Thank you for recognizing that. Come on over-:)) After spending so many hours on your river, the least I can do is return the favor!
Hi Susie – thanks for linking your vases to the In a Vase on Monday meme. It is lovely to see vases from all sorts of different places with so many different flowers. If you wanted to tell us why you picked certain things or used certain vases it all adds to the inspiration that we are getting from this meme, but even just a photo is fine – the idea was to encourage ourselves to cut material and bring it indoors to enjoy. Good to see all your exciting fruit and veg too – and you could arrange those creatively in a container …. 😉
Hi Cathy and thanks for visiting. I did a post on deep blue hydrangeas in the archives, which I probably could have included huh? It seemed like fun to join in this time; I have flowers in the house always, if it grows it is in danger of making it into an arrangement in my house-:)) Thank you for hosting the meme Cathy.
Beautiful photos Susie. When pictures speak a thousand words, or flavors and beauty as in this case. As I was in your garden less than a month ago, your images are particularly alive for me. I was eyeing a couple of tomatoes that looked quite ripened to me, but guess who was guarding them, like gold.
You will get a chuckle from this Marisol. Two days ago, John, Molly and Matthew stopped by on their way north for a week of vacation. They were hungry and we went out back to pick lots of tomatoes and basil for Insalata Caprese for everyone. So those tomatoes were spoken for even before we knew it! But you are right, Paddy loves his tomatoes….you Italians, you know your stuff. It was so great to have you here. I hope you’ll come back and we’ll do another Qigong day in the backyard. I’m sure I could get a good group to study with you–all my friends remember and ask about you.
A dream of a garden! And gorgeous pictures of its bounty. Do you use aluminum sulfate solution to get those hydrangeas such a deep blue, or is that its natural color? Your flower arrangements are pure artistry.
Thank you Marilyn, it certainly is a haven for me, that’s for sure. I have used aluminum sulfate in pots with hydrangeas when they were turning pink and I would have none of it. But in general, I find our soil is somewhat acidic and they tend to go blue if I have chosen varieties that are prone to those saturated blues. I can usually keep large bouquets of blue hydrangeas in the house for almost two months time before they are so faded out of doors that I don’t enjoy cutting them. Did you know that hydrangeas like to be root-bound? It is something we learned in Italy and helps give an option for people who want the flowers on a patio. They can get huge in a big pot and with a little aluminum sulfate, retain that heavenly blue.
Both your vases are pretty, Susan, but I especially like the brightly-colored one with the always cheerful sunflowers and your delicious dahlias, which I find impossible to grow successfully. I’m envious of the blueberries too, as I had my heaviest fruit production in early spring and now what little I have is picked off berry by berry by the birds – of course, watching that provides enjoyment of a sort as well.
Welcome Kris! So nice to have you stop by–I know what you mean about your blueberries. It can be maddening, but the first time you see a young bird trapped in netting, you realize you never want to do THAT again…My Border Collie, Fly, has a thing for blueberries. She sizes them up and then wanders casually by raising one lip in the silliest way to gum a berry before she thinks I’ve seen her. She is so busted!
I have popped over via Rambling In The Garden to have a look at your vase of flowers and have really enjoyed both your flowers and the rest of the post about your garden! I am interested to read your comment about hydrangeas – I have 3 in pots which are doing really well and I was thinking of repotting them this autumn – I think I will leave them now as you have said that they like to be pot bound. I always struggle to keep the blue colour so I will try aluminium sulphate trick.
Yes, It’s sure worth trying, but be careful to water in fully so as not to burn the plant. It’s a tricky thing knowing when to go for a bigger pot. Hydrangeas DO like to be rootbound, but if you stick your finger in the pot and feel nothing but root material, you know the plant does need soil too. (I have one hydrangea in that situation and I have to either root prune it or get a bigger pot.) I’ve had some good success with root pruning–do you know the technique? It requires removing the entire plant from its pot and using a VERY sharp knife or machete taking off no more than 1/3 of the root evenly around the edges. Replant with a good planting mix and add plenty of vitamin B to prevent root shock. This enables the plant to keep growing and have the soil to grow IN. E.B. Stone has a plant starter that is a good organic product for this purpose.
Beautiful photos and garden, Susie. I laughed when I read about Fly going for the blueberries. It reminded me of long ago when my mother’s little dog, I think a Peke/Terrier mix, loved to get the raspberries off the bushes in the backyard. And, also long ago, my long gone cat Charlie adored grated zucchini.
A cat that liked grated zucchini….now that is a first for me. I trust Charlie lived to a ripe old age before he died. In fact, you may only think he is gone. He may well be on a mountaintop in Tibet dishing advice-:)) Fly cracks me up when she sneaks up on our blueberries. She is utterly convinced we don’t see her Flybys! Sometimes she will bark at the Robins when they are in competition for the goodies.
Susie I hope your garden is giving you some solace…my your veg garden is splendid and full of some many goodies. I adore Cinderella’s Carriage pumpkins. And your feast in the garden is heavenly. I do love the vases especially my fav in your garden, the blue hydrangeas. May you continue to find peace and solace as you heal from your loss my friend.
The garden is helping me a lot Donna. It is just such a fundamental thing to be doing, picking food for life. Is it any wonder, we find all this existential stuff to talk about when we are gardening? Since I took the photo of the pumpkins, they have begun to turn red/orange and are growing like mad, in part because it has been so freakin’ HOT. Come October, it will make me so happy to put them all over the place. The winter squash are getting big too–my favorites are early Butternut. They are good keepers. Thank you for being such a force of consistent kindness and support for me Donna.
Your Monday vases are lovely. I am swooning over your hydrangeas.
Welcome Susie! I’m so happy to see you here as I have enjoyed your blog too. If you are a dark blue hydrangea fan, then I must turn you on to this post from the archives: http://www.life-change-compost.com/porch/
This is why I keep those tall blue vases around! I think they have an elegant look and last for quite awhile if I remember to hammer the stems (the same way I do with lilacs) so that they take in lots of water and don’t droop too soon. Please come by again, it’s great to have you visit.
Love seeing all the colors in your post. What especially attracts my eye is your outdoor dinner. Gosh, it takes me long enough just to prepare the food … it would be fun to make it so attractive. Maybe when my daughter comes back from camp, I could get her interested in color on the table.
Hi Leora, I have a little help from those French oilcloth tablecloths in such yummy summer colors, a small vase of bright flowers and bright candles, and voila’. I have to be honest too and admit that this dinner was a pot luck, so friends brought wonderful things. For me, color is one of the things that I love most in this world, so I can’t imagine putting a table together without color. Maybe your daughter will be like that too? If she is, it seems to make eating all the happier-:)) Good luck making tablesettings bright and fun.
Everything just looks fabulous! My mockingbird has harvested loads of blueberries but I haven’t had a single one. That’s ok – I can drive to the farmer’s market. :o) I didn’t know that about dahlias but it makes perfect sense. I’m looking forward to seeing those pumpkins! They will be beauties. :o)
Tammy, I’ll try and remember to take photos of the pumpkins when they are ripe and red/orange. They are a knock out. Glad you took note of the dahlia cutting tip–it’s one of those things that seems so obvious, but it sure took me a long time to learn it. And I am so thrilled to hear that you liked “The Beet Goes On” It’s one of my favorite stories too–still gives me the chuckles remembering the scene. Pink splashes all over the kitchen, and Rufus so contrite-:)) I should re-blog it sometime because people rarely look at that sidebar.
I read The Beet Goes On. LOVED IT!!!
I’m impressed with how tidy your gardens appear to be! WOW!
Well, it’s also the camera angle! As I’ve gotten older I do gardening chores in bits, a little bit every evening I’m home. Even the deadheading can take me a half hour every two days or so in order to keep new flowers blooming. We have help with the grass, but the rest is Paddy (my husband) and me. Thank goodness he loves gardening too. The raised beds are nine years old now. When they begin to fall apart, I’m not sure what we’ll do–they were so much work to put in.
You have fabulous gardens! Your blooms are beautiful. I have no luck with flowers. My veggies do quite good. I am growing 6 different heirloom tomatoes this year, and each plant is laden with tomatoes!
Karen, anybody with a resident squirrel named Stony Braveheart gets my vote. Dare I ask how the little furball got his name?? Anyway, I went looking for those heirlooms on your site and I think I saw some Cherokee Purple. Are those one of the heirlooms you are growing? Turns out we did have one of those. Your crop looks very prolific! And I’m betting the “red” mulch is helping in your climate. Wonderful photos on your site Karen. Your little grandaughter will be getting a beet tattoo before you know it! I have friend with one–yep, a large beet with green leaves on the inside of her arm.
Two years ago we planted two plants of blueberries. They had just a few berries last year but now one of them is heavy with the berries, the other one surprisingly had just a few. We intend to plant one or two more to support their fertility, I hope it will help.
The vases look beautiful. I have a hydrangea too but it hasn’t bloomed yet. I hope it is just because it needs some time to settle…
I like the frame for the beans, it looks nice. It is a good idea, I might use something like that in my garden too.
Your gardening has inspired me, Susan. We have a large garden which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it but I have neglected its needs lately. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with it as it is a living, ever changing organism…
You really stated it so well Petra–that is the challenge of gardening I think. Realizing that you have the care of many changing, living organisms. This feeling I’ve always had about gardens must be why I go out every morning and have a chat with the garden, just to see who is feeling strong and who is under siege from one invader or another. It’s a full time job sometimes. Good luck with your blueberries, you may need to do just what you are proposing: plant more for fertility. Maybe also some high and low bush varieties and some that are early and late season. I think it also helps to have flowers nearby that attract the pollinators. On another subject, are you missing V&V? I am.
Susan, to be entirely frank, I am missing V&V, but partially. I am quite relieved not to be supposed to comment on the blog daily any more as it was very demanding for me. I didn’t want to skip any post but I was often late with my comments and was not sure whether they were of any use when posted a week later. This condition of participation – though I understand its reason – was very strict to me. On the other hand, I miss the community. It’s not easy to keep in touch with everybody outside the V&V blog where we were gathering and I am grateful for those contacts which last via our blogs or the Facebook page…
You have a beautiful garden. the blueberries look soooooo yummy.
Thank you Felicia and welcome! It’s nice to have you visit. There is nothing quite like taking a bowl outside in the morning in your jammies to gather blueberries for breakfast.
Enjoyed reading your post – flowers and veggies and fresh food! All that is needed to enjoy August!
Oh good–that is JUST what I was hoping for. Thank you Beth, and thanks for visiting. Hope you’ll stop by again-:))
It seems so appropriate for you to have these treasures of Mother Earth these days of mourning, Susie. I’ve been thinking of your often, trusting in the healing process…..
Thank you Ginnie. Nature and grief are surely alike, as is boundless joy and growth. There still is no predicting what a day will bring, but it is getting easier. I am more sure that we don’t lose the ones we love, not really. Also, I accept a little easier than when a living thing is done with this life, it is done. Jill’s way of leaving is where my pain lies.
Thanks for sharing the beauty blooming where you’re making fresh tracks
in the soil of living….it’s a beautiful heart you’re sharing
as you tend your gardens and live your days.
It’s an honor to share the road,
Jennifer
“Fresh tracks in the soil of living…” Jennifer, you have words like no one else. And I feel the same: it is an honor to share the road. Sometimes on a tough day, it is enough to know that people like you are in the world.
is Cinder’s carriage for Halloween, or also for eating?
Hi Diana, “Cinderella’s Couch” is a French heirloom also known as Rouge vif d’Etampes. They are extremely productive in France and you see them everywhere. This is where I fell in love with the remarkable red/orange color, so deep and rich. The pumpkins also do resemble a carriage with high thick lobes on the sides. But to your question! YES, they are sweet and moist and almost like a custard. Perfect for pies or any kind of baking.
Ahhhh, more gorgeousness from Susie T!
Sandy, I keep remembering the day you fell asleep in the hammock under the tree in our backyard. That made me so happy. It’s hard not to have gorgeousness in a Portland summer!
Oh, my, how I needed the rest and repose of the sanctuary of your home and company on that trip! I hadn’t slept during the day for years! I do hope to make another trip north soon and my little place is always open to you and Patrick too, of course. xoxo
Blueberries! The stuff of sweet, beautiful dreams:)
I love that you have them warm and fresh from bush.
And all your lovely veggies and fleurs….sweet summertime, indeed.
Peace and patient path-walking to you as you continue to
process through the grief and graces of your sister’s passing
and the whole messy business of being alive and creating
in the here and now.
Love and hugs,
Jennifer