Yesterday I saw this perfect specimen of poison ivy:  just two leaves (ignore that little leaflet on the left), each with three scalloped leaflets, and growing at the base of a tree.  Everybody needs to be able to identify this plant, especially if you work in the garden or in your yard.  All parts of the plant contain a heavy oil, Urushiol, and even plants this small can cause inflammation of the skin in susceptible individuals.  My best advise is:  learn to recognize it, and avoid it.  

 

I want to be sure that all my friends can identify poison ivy, because it can be a stinker if you touch it.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

This is just one sunflower that I planted back in April.  Look at all those branches and flowers!  And all this from just one seed!!!  It is about 10 feet tall.  I love it!!  It makes me smile every time I look out there.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

We made this Buttermilk Berry Cake in a cast iron skillet from a Cook's Country recipe.  WOW!!!  Is it good!!!  Not too sweet;  in fact, it is delicious for breakfast.  The ingredients are not much different than blueberry muffins.

 

I will put it in the recipe section, because it is definitely a keeper.

 

So, thank you, Linda, for thinking of us and our abundance of blueberries.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Last week when we were in the park, we noticed some the American Beech trees have set fruit.  You can actually see these beechnuts are cracking open.  I'm pretty sure they are edible, but let me just check, before I tell you for certain.

 

Yes, the leaves, bark, and beechnuts are edible, but in large doses can be toxic.  OK.  Let's just be happy to know that they are edible, and leave them for the squirrels and other critters.  We have lots of other choices.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Well, I have done it again.   Even though I always say I won't, I let the morning glories grow up the tomato cages.  But it is so easy to see why I let them go:  they are beautiful.  And yesterday morning in the rain, they really made me smile.

 

They aren't growing up all the tomato cages, just a few.  But there are enough of them to make me happy.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

I picked this cucumber this morning, and measured it.  It is 15 inches long.  Really!!!

 

We plant this variety every year:  Suyo Long.  They are fabulous.  And since they are heirlooms we can save the seeds, and replant the following year.  I only buy new seeds every few years to to be sure they haven't been cross-pollinated with any other Cucurbits.  So far we have been very lucky.  

 

This year the vines have grown way up over the trellis and flopped down the other side.  They just keep giving us beautiful cucumbers.  Time to make pickles again, before the dill runs out.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

This is the Sumac at the far end of the garden.  When we walk down there we can hear the BUZZ.  The flowers are covered with bees.  There are honey bees, bumblers, and probably some others.  If you enlarge the picture, you can see them all over the flowers.  This is my natural (read:  do nothing) means of attracting pollinators to my garden.  Whatever works, right?

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

And my sunflowers are starting to bloom.  This one is about 10 feet tall, and you can see more flower buds along the stem.  I don't plant them in a straight line;  I plant them willy nilly all over the garden.  Tall ones, short ones, yellow, orange, and red ones.  They are so great!!!

 

The seed catalogs suggest planting sunflowers to attract pollinators to your garden.  That's fine, and they do do that, but mostly we plant them for the fun of it.  And that works for me.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out this contraption.  It peels apples in a jiffy.  It probably cores them too, but I can't figure out how to do that.  So we use that other tool on the counter to core them.  Then I just have to clean them up a bit, chop them coursely and put them in a big pot for an hour or so.  We add a little sugar and a lot of cinnamon and then can it.  

 

We filled the big pot half full, and ended up with 7 pints of apple sauce.  

 

And the deer LOVE the trimmings.  It is hilarious to see them pick up a mouthful of peels;  it looks like they are eating spaghetti.  Anyway, our apple sauce is delicious, and everybody here is happy.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

You know those Hidden Pictures games?  Well, here's my version of it.  Find 6 butternuts squashes in this picture.  Hahaha!!!

 

You can also see one yellow pepper, even though there are really five.  But don't bother looking for eggplants, because there aren't any of those, just the cages. 

 

And that big fluffy pile of green in the bottom right corner:  carrot greens.  

 

The garden is exploding, and I love it!!! 

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!