Category Archives: Gardening

Animals - especially dogs, Gardening, News, summer

A Woeful Tale of Tomatoes and A Short Break

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In Maine, this has been one weird summer with so much rain that parts of the state have had flooding and road washouts. In Winthrop, the town where I live, we have escaped the worst of the flooding. However, the rain has taken its toll on my cucumbers and tomatoes.

The cucumbers have been a complete bust—stunted and producing only two fat, stumpy cukes that were inedible. The tomatoes have fared a little better, but they are not as lush and productive as they have been in previous years. Instead, they are tall and spindly with not much fruit.

I have had enough for some tomato sandwiches but not enough for making a sauce, the way I usually do in the summer. This has been especially disappointing for Dee, who loves my roasted tomato sauce.

Another casualty: the nasturtiums. I planted a whole row of seeds in the long bed by the patio in the backyard. While I do have a patch or two, most of the seeds rotted in the rains of June.

Still, I am a glass half-full kind of person, and some nasturtiums are better than none, especially when you see them close-up.

And to further cheer myself up, I took a picture of black-eyed Susans against the blue gazing ball.

Despite the rainy summer, Clif, Dee, and I have managed to slide in many lunches and suppers on the patio. Because of the rain, the mosquitoes are still a nuisance—most years they are gone by August—but we have citronella torches to help with the problem.

Right on schedule, the grasshoppers are buzzing, and the crickets are singing their sweet song of late summer. Always such a delight to hear nature’s musicians.

The delights of fall wait just around the corner—a time of apples and fires in the fire pit and warm days followed by crisp nights. But late summer is also a time to be cherished, the winding down of one season before the next season comes.

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Exciting News and a Short Break

Next Monday, our daughter Shannon and her husband Mike will be moving in with us while they look for  an apartment in the Boston area. (They already have one lead.) They have said farewell to their old jobs as managers of a senior citizen complex and are moving on to other jobs. With Shannon and Mike come two dogs and a cat. Our household will be very lively for the next few weeks.

Clif and I have done a lot to get the house ready for them, but there is still much to do. Starting today, I am going to take a break from blogging, and plan to be back sometime the beginning of September.

What a grand way to celebrate the end of summer!

See you in a couple of weeks.

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For the Dog Days of Late Summer

Listening: Who Let the Dogs Out

Party on!

 

 

 

Art, Farther Afield, Gardening, People

South of the Border to Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire

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“The property was a 37-acre dairy farm that had been abandoned for about 40 years. The first years were clearing out the acres of poison ivy, and the pucker-brush. Work on the farm as a landscaped project started about 1987….Bed by bed, gardens were eked out. In 1991, a wildlife pond was added….Now, about 2/3rds of the property is garden.”
—From the Bedrock Gardens website.

Thursday was quite a day for this homebody. In my trusty red Honda Fit, I traveled out of Maine to go to Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire, where I met my blogging friend Judy of New England Garden and Thread.

We had hoped other bloggers from northern New England would be able to join us, but that did not work out. A busy time of year, I know.

But two is indeed company, and as soon as we met, we chatted as though we were old friends, which, in a way, we are. We have been blogging friends for many years and have gotten to know each other through our words about our lives in Maine and New Hampshire.

Here we are at the entry to fabulous Bedrock Gardens. Lovely Judy is on the left, and I am on the right.

And here are some pictures of Bedrock Gardens, a really wonderful place. I am afraid my pictures do not do justice to these beautiful  gardens with its many sculptures, most of them done by Jill Nooney, one of the founders who designed and planted Bedrock Gardens.

A faithful canine waited near the entrance to the gardens.

We went through the magic pathway,

where three guardians waited.

What was this lurking in the woods?

Or this?

Then there was this fine fellow.

Finally, a more tranquil scene.

After spending over two hours at Bedrock Gardens, Judy and I went a few miles down the road to Emery Farm Market and Café.  We had delicious bagel sandwiches, and we were able to sit on the café’s porch, where we could eat and chat as long as we wanted.

What could make this already excellent day any better? Why, an utterly delicious donut. (Longtime readers might remember my passion for donuts.)

All too soon, it was time to head home. But I was full of good memories and good food. As we would say in Maine, it was a finest kind of day.

I am hoping that meeting with Judy in the summer will be an annual event, perhaps in New Hampshire, perhaps in Maine. Such a great pleasure to meet with blogging friends.

 

 

 

Environment, Gardening, Spring

The Smoke Blows and the Garden Grows

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Last week, the East Coast had quite a time. Smoke from Canadian forest fires blew down, making New York City look like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie—the air was so thick with smoke that the Statue of Liberty was barely visible in the harbor, and the street lights were turned on at 2:00 p.m.

Incredible as it might seem, Maine—right next to Canada—escaped the smoke. A low-pressure system stalled off the Gulf of Maine kept our air clear. Thank you, low-pressure system.

Fortunately, our eldest daughter Dee, who lives in Brooklyn, decided to come to Maine last Sunday, right before the smoke filled the city. She will be working remotely on a permanent basis and has decided to make her home in Maine. Such a delight to have her here.

Over the weekend, the weather patterns changed,  clearing the smoke away from the East Coast. But the Canada wildfires rage on. We can only hope that the smoke doesn’t travel south again.

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On a happier note, at our home on the edge of the woods, my gardens, with their various shades of green, are flourishing. After a very dry May, we had a week of rain, too much for some people, but I was delighted with the wet weather.

Here are some scenes from the garden.

In the front yard, the chives are in pink blossom,

the blue gazing ball rests between two toads,

and the hostas make a pleasing sweep of green.

The hosta that Judy—from New England Garden and Thread—sent me is thriving.

Now around to the backyard.

The patio is once again an inviting place to sit and listen to the birds sing their spring songs. Last night we heard the ethereal song of the hermit thrush. Such a delight.

And irises, my favorite of favorites, are in bloom.

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This summer is shaping up to be a really busy one filled with events, family, and friends. Therefore, I’ve decided to take the weekends off from reading and commenting on blog posts. But never fear, from Monday through Friday, I’ll be reading and commenting, and come fall I plan to go back to my regular reading.

 

Gardening, Spring

Summer Is Nearly Here

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Summer, it seems, is tapping on Spring’s shoulder. The leaves are full and deep green—no more sweet green fringe—and they sigh as the wind moves through them. The blackflies are nearly gone, and the mosquitos have taken their place. The ticks aren’t too bad even though Clif has been bitten once and needed to go on antibiotics as a preventative measure. I check myself when I come in and so far haven’t found any on me.

As a reminder that Spring hasn’t quite left, the peepers still sing at night. Such a sweet song. Here is a short YouTube audio for folks who have never heard this lovely sound.

I have been busy in the garden, moving slowly but steadily, getting the work done. Most of my focus has been on the gardens, but I did take time to make a potato salad to go with our Beyond Burgers—our first but certainly not last barbecue of the season.

As we ate, we listened to the gentle sound of the water in the fountain, a 60th birthday present from Dee, Shannon, and Mike.

Here are some late spring delights from the yard and garden.

A Jack-in-the-pulpit  between the edge of our lawn and the woods,

wood poppies, also on the edge of the yard,

and Solomon’s seal bending over sweet woodruff.

As always, I wish that Spring wouldn’t rush by so fast, that she would linger a little longer. But like a guest who never outstays her welcome, she will soon be off, letting Summer take her place.

 

Gardening, Spring

Green with a Side Order of Green

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Finally, spring has come to central Maine, to my home on the edge of the woods. I won’t say things are abloom in my yard. That would be going too far. My garden’s brief blast of color comes in middle June and lasts through July.

Instead, what I have is green, green, and more green. But as my blogging friend Quercus once reminded me, green is a color, too. Yes, it is, and when you live by the woods, green is what you mostly get in the spring.

I only had one fatality over the winter, a Jacob’s ladder, which I miss very much. Still, when you consider how cold it got one weekend in February—50°F below zero with the wind chill, so cold that the house cracked and snapped in protest—losing one plant isn’t too bad. I consider it a minor miracle that I didn’t lose more.

In Maine, May is the time to get cracking in the garden, to remove the blown-in leaves from the beds, to add compost and fertilizer, to move and divide plants. By the time June rolls around, the plants have grown to the point where adding much of anything is difficult and dividing and moving seem like a bad idea.

Therefore, out I go most every nice day, and despite my creaky knees, I am making good progress. Twice a week, Clif goes to our transfer station (aka the dump) to get free compost for me. And very good compost it is. For years, I’ve been getting compost from the transfer station, and, so far anyway, I have had no problems with pesty weed seed invading my beds.

The next few weeks will be busy ones for me as I get the gardens sorted. Blog posts will be short, but I will be sure to include pictures that document the progress of the green and growing things in my beds.

For starters, here is the picture of our woods, which is about 60 feet from our patio. I wish I could give you a better idea of the expanse of green that comes to the edge of our yard, but this picture, at least, gives some hint of it.

Here’s a view from the front. Green with a side order of green.

And here’s a side view.

But look a little more closely and you get bits of white.

And what’s this? A flash of purple in the back garden?

Yes, indeed. A lovely sign of things to come.

 

Books, Gardening, Spring

The Great Unfurling

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Busy, busy, busy. Spring has officially come to Maine—the black flies have reared their nasty little heads—and gardeners have about one month to get their gardens in order. By June, the plants are too big for easy fertilizing, composting, and dividing. So the race is on!

I am happy to report I am pretty much on schedule. My first job is to remove all the leaves that have blown into the various beds, and this is no small thing when you live on the edge of a small forest.

I am about two-thirds done with leaf removal. After that, it will be on to spreading compost and fertilizer then dividing perennials and planting annuals, which is one of my favorite things to do.

In between removing wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of leaves from the beds, I have taken time to admire to admire the unfurling of the ferns, which I always love to see. For couple of weeks, the curled ferns are so tender and delicate looking. Then just like that they spring into sweet leafiness, and year after year, I am enchanted as I watch the process.

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As many of you know, I am also working like crazy to finish Of Time and Magic, Book Four in my Great Library Series. I had hoped to be wrapped up by now, but it looks is though I won’t be finished until either the end of this week or the beginning of next week. I want to take my time with the ending of this book, which is the culmination of ten years of work, when I began the first book in the series, Maya and the Book of Everything.

I probably have three more chapters left to go.  The winds of the writing gods blow me to and fro, but I am getting there.  I can definitely see the harbor and many friendly faces on the dock.

Of Time and Magic‘s current word count: 99, 180

Food for Thought, Gardening, News

A Tale of Two Gardens & a Short Break

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At my home on the edge of the woods, my gardens look their best in June, July, and August. This time of year, they are at a frowzy stage, with lots of drooping yellow and brown leaves and spent flowers.

The back garden, more formally laid out than the ones in the front yard, is most definitely past its best. The glory of its summer days are long gone.

However, as you can see from this view from one of the windows in our house, the backyard is still a nice place to be, even in autumn.

In the front yard, the gardens are more haphazardly laid out and are not as lovely as the back garden when it’s at its peak.

However, in autumn, the “tangly” nature of the front gardens really shines, reminding me that late bloomers have a certain loveliness. Perhaps the same is true of people as well?

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Next week will be a busy one for me. In between painting and refurbishing one of our bathrooms, we will also be celebrating two birthdays—my 64th birthday on the 15th and Clif’s 70th. His birthday is not until the 27th, but we are firm believers in celebrating early and often.

I will therefore be taking a break from posting, reading other blogs, and commenting.

I plan to come back the week of September 20th.

À bientôt!

 

Gardening

Gardening in a June Heatwave

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When I was young, it would have been inconceivable to have a heatwave in June in Maine. Yet here we are with the temp in the mid 90s. Records have yet again been broken. Back in the day, even at the end of July or the beginning of August, it was rare for the temp to be that high. My parents and grandparents would have been astonished to deal with such heat in June. And not at all happy. Thank goodness we have Eva, our air conditioner.

Nevertheless, I have pushed on with gardening, going out right after breakfast and coming in before noon, the opposite of what I usually do.

Three weeks ago, the plant table looked like this:

This morning, it looked like this:

Here are some of the flowers in pots by our entryway, their cheery colors ready to greet visitors.

A closer look at the violas, or Johnny-jump-ups as they are also called around here.

But for me, none of the newbies can compare with the irises, which have been here for over thirty years.

With such beauty, a closer look is definitely in order.

On this second week in June, the intense gardening is coming to an end. From here on out, it will be maintenance, feeding, watering, and weeding. A part of me is relieved. Planting and getting the beds ready have been a lot of work. But a part of me is also a little sorry that the rush of spring planting has come to an end. A busy time, yes, but also an exciting time.

My gardens are most definitely June and July gardens. Accordingly, for the next couple months, my blog will feature many pictures of the bursts of color that come briefly to this shady yard.

When you have to wait nine months—almost like having a baby—for flowers, the pleasure is oh so sweet when they finally bloom.

 

 

Gardening, People

Judy’s Hosta Plus a Couple More

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Long-time readers will know that hostas are a major feature in my gardens. For years, I went for plants that had glorious blooms. One after another, I lost those plants. All right. I’ll admit it. I craved a cottage garden. But, when you live in the woods, you are doomed to heartache if you try for a cottage garden.

A few years (and tears) ago, I gave in to hostas, especially in the driest beds.  My moister beds do have a little more variety, but even in them, there are many plants that won’t thrive.

Slowly, I learned to appreciate hostas and the wave of various shades of green they bring to the front yard. Their blossoms are modest but pleasing. (Be gone, all thoughts of corn flowers!) But here’s the most important factor of all: They grow and flourish where most plants just fizzle. Snail and slugs might munch their leaves to lace, but the hostas are not intimidated. Each year, they rebound with vigor. Surely there is a lesson in all of this.

My blogging friend Judy of New England Garden and Thread is also a fan of hostas. Last year, during the height of the pandemic, she sent me a package, which—lo and behold!—contained a hosta. It was a little droopy, but I know how sturdy hostas are, and I planted it right away.

Judy, you will not surprised to learn that this hosta is thriving. Here is a picture of that beauty, whose name I’ve unfortunately forgotten.

Many thanks, Judy!

And here are a couple more pictures of some of the hostas in my garden. Just because.

Gardening

Rainy Day Photos from the Garden

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Yesterday, the rain came, not driving but instead light and perfect, which nonetheless brought us a goodly amount. Three or four inches, I think. Unfortunately, I don’t have a rain gauge.

Too bad it had to happen on Memorial Day weekend—a holiday in this country where we honor those who have died in military service. We also mourn friends and family who have passed. But there is no denying the rain is much needed. It has been a dry spring.

Here are some scenes from a grateful garden. Or maybe it’s the gardener who is grateful.