Early July Blooms
When we start getting consistently warm weather in late June & early July the garden seems to explode overnight. Every day there are new things blooming, new vegetables to harvest, and new birds and insects flitting around. Here’s what was blooming in my garden last week. July is really the most floriferous time in my garden, other season have blooms but not nearly as many.
Some of these are in my cutting garden, some are growing wild in various areas of the garden, I enjoy each one of them, even if I didn’t plant them. I’m always amazed that each year as I plant a wider variety of plants a wider variety of insects and birds appear.
What’s blooming in your garden this week?
Filed under Around the Garden | Comments (6)Friday Favorite: Little Nuggets
It is that season for baby birds. I have turkey cutlets and chicken nuggets running around the garden and mama duck is sitting on a nest of 10 eggs. I’m always trying to figure out just who will be allowed to sit and how many eggs I’ll allow. If you’re not careful you can end up with an army of new birds that need feed and watered.
Around here, birds hatch their clutches in the coops with the rest of the birds and the little ones are running around outside and among the bird birds from day one. It works out very well, it saves me a ton of time and the mama birds get to do what they want to do. I love that I never have to brood chicks and that I don’t have to worry about integrating new birds. It all just falls into place naturally.
Any little birds, wild or domesticated, in your garden?
Filed under Around the Garden, Feathered & Furred | Comments (4)Delicious Volunteers
I always have a few volunteer potatoes, it’s hard to get every single little tuber out of the ground when you harvest them. They’re always welcome, I harvest them all as new potatoes since they grow up in areas of the garden where I have other things planted.
We enjoyed these little lovelies for breakfast the other morning, browned in bacon great with a few onions. You just can’t beat the delicious flavor of new potatoes!
What are you harvesting from you garden this week?
Filed under Around the Garden, Edible, harvest | Comments (4)Fourth of July Fun
On the Fourth of July, we spent the day at our neighbor’s family’s camp on Lake St. George. First off, Mr Chiots was in the boat parade. Our neighbor used his vintage boat to tow Mr Chiots in his sailboat (no sails, sporting flags instead). It’s a fun little community event that is getting better and better every year!
After the parade we enjoyed the BBQ chicken from the local volunteer fire dept (of which Mr Chiots is a member) and then we sat by the lake, relaxed, went for boat ride, and Mr Chiots sailed, and sailed, and sailed.
It was a fun and relaxing day spent in the company of family and friends, just as it should be. Being on a lake on the Fourth of July is just as American as apple pie.
How did you celebrate this patriotic holiday?
Filed under Maine | Comments (2)Friday Favorite: Success
I’ve been growing bulb fennel for years, but I’ve always had trouble with bolting. It can be a picky crop, there are lots of things it doesn’t like, root disruption, cold weather, hot weather, lean soil, etc. I finally decided to try a few hybrid varieties, this year I tried ‘Preludio’ from Johnny’s Seed and it’s FANTASTIC!
I have eight bulbs in the garden that will be ready to harvest in the next week or two and three more succession plantings of them for the summer and fall. I’m really looking forward to fennel salad with lemon and parmesan. Fennel is an expensive vegetable to buy, I’m always looking to grow what costs me the most at the store.
What plant/vegetable took a few tries for you to achieve success with?
Filed under Around the Garden, Edible | Comments (4)