Here are some other marigolds we grew this year.  I collected the seeds from Rosalie's beautiful flower bed, last summer.

 

I am downhill, looking up at these marigolds.  But they are still nearly 5 feet tall!!!  I put several in the vegetable garden, and more in our terraced beds.  As you can see:  along with my rogue zucchinis.  I love seeing their bright, cheerful flowers.

 

They make me smile every time I walk by, or look out the kitchen window.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

No, really.  These are my favorites, today.    

 

I love Marigolds.  I plant hundreds of them every year.  I don't even know when I last bought seeds.  I just keep saving the seeds and planting them over and over.

 

Marigolds produce thousands of seeds.  Each flower has about 50 seeds.  And of course I collect them, and store them in a dry place until time to plant again.  I sow the seeds when I sow tomatoes and peppers and eggplants.  They like warm soil.  Then as they grow, I transplant them into cell packs.  I can spend hours doing this part.  And when they are big enough to put out, I plant them everywhere!!!   I love the whole process.  It feels like I am participating in some kind of magic.  

 

This row of Marigolds is in the first row in the garden.  It's what we see when we drive up the road.  

 

When I go out to the garden to pick cucumbers and tomatoes, I also bring in Marigolds and put them in little vases all over the house.  They make me happy.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Check out these tomatillos.  They look like little lanterns.  

 

When they first set, (you can see one all the way to the right)  they are empty.  If you squeeze them, they feel like little balloons.  As they grow they fill up the lantern with a little tomato-like berry.  Then the skin splits, and you know they are ready to pick.

 

One year we had a huge harvest, and we made salsa verde.  We also like to skewer them, and cook them for a few minutes on the grill.  They are so sweet and delicious!!!  I ordered new seeds for next year:  Yellow ones.  I'm excited.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

This is what the deer did to my beautiful Hostas.  

 

Last year, all we did was protect the flowers with a barrier.  That worked fine.  But this year they have eaten the flowers and the leaves.  

 

Not too pretty.  Oh well.  We have barricaded everything else.  Next year we will guard the Hostas too.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look how pretty!!!  This Genovese basil is about two feet tall, and half as wide.  There are about ten plants just like this one.  Did I tell you that I grew them from seed?  Of course I did.  ;)

 

We use it fresh on pizza, in flower arrangements, and on just about everything green:  salad, green beans, eggs, and so on.  The berries (the seeds before the get dry and hard) get tossed into fruit salads, you know, like melons and grapes and blueberries.

 

When the frost comes, I will pull them up, hang them upside down in the basement, and in a couple months we'll have dried basil for the winter and spring.  

 

For now, though, I really love to brush my hands along this row, and breath deeply:  That's called 'aromatherapy.'

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Every time we walk down the trail, we look for Tedd.  And he's always in the same spot.  I guess he likes it there.

 

Thought you'd like to see Tedd and Jon.  We tickle ourselves.

 

HAPPY TUESDAY!!!

 

 

 

We have a bucket at the top of the stairs to the basement (doesn't everybody?)   Into this bucket we put things that need to go to the basement, the next time somebody goes down there.  

 

Well, this morning I started to drop in a wet dish towel, and I saw this!!!  Surprise!!!  I nudged the bucket, and it moved!!!  JON!!!

 

We see them a lot, but they move so slowly that you have time to think about how to catch them and put them outside.  I don't like to kill critters, but I don't want them inside my house.  So I just report the incident to my hero, and he takes care of it.  Don't know if he squished it or just relocated it;  don't care.  Just so it's not in the bucket, or inside a wet dish towel.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

On our walk the other day, we noticed this Cardinal-flower down by the creek.  We looked for them on the trail, but saw none this year.  

 

My Wildflowers in Color book identified it as Lobelia cardinalis.  Most Lobelias are blue and purple;  this is the only red species.  It also says that it grows along streamsides, roadside ditches, in marshes and wet meadows.  Yep, that's exactly the habitat in which we have seen it.  

 

Look for Cardinal-flowers on your walks, especially in wet places.  It is blooming now.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Nothing here from the garden;  just another fun cooking project.  Nothing like rainy days to get our kitchen hopping.

 

This is a roasting pan full of Chex Mix.  I know there are tons of recipes out there, but ours is definitely the best, to us!!!  Momma didn't particularly like it, cause we use "too much" Old Bay, but we like it this way.  

 

I'll add this version to the recipe section.  

 

HAPPY COOKING!!!

 

We can really make a mess in the kitchen.  But we have so much fun doing it, that we don't mind the clean-up process.  

 

This is just the stove part.  I'm not even going to show you the island.  It is a total wreck.  Don't care!!  

 

We love this part of gardening:  preserving the best of our efforts.  Come winter, we will have forgotten about all those hours planting, watering, and weeding, and will be grateful for our time spent preserving.  And enjoying our delicious tomato soup.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!