Dear Friend,
I was thinking of you as I was planting our vegetable garden. Your green thumb would love our rich wonderful soil and although you’ve spent your life in So. California, if you were here you’d somehow know just what to plant and where to plant it…unlike I who had a plan, that quickly went astray once the seeds were actually going into the ground. You’d be planting with great enthusiasm and delight.
I know I planted too much of somethings, but I suppose that is what thinning is for. I’ve not really ever gotten very good at thinning. It is so hard to pull out good veggies that are growing…well, except for zucchini…I do know one plant goes a very long way and as it is we picked out a yellow and a green on this year, so that will be double trouble. This years’ zucchini chutney will certainly be colorful. I tried very hard to not plant too many pumpkin seeds, but really can one have too many pumpkins? After all, THE Grandchild will need a very nice pumpkin or two.
Friend, I miss your laugh and your creativity. I was thinking of you as we drilled holes in the ground to ‘plant’ abandoned old cement drains into the garden standing on end, filled them with dirt and they are now ready for herbs, horseradish and for invasive plants like mint.
You’d love how I fashioned parts of an old arbor into my bean climbing support. I turned the two ends upside down to fix into the earth. Last week I’d removed all the suckers from the orchard and they were perfect for weaving into the arbor. This was quite fun and I think will be very functional…best of all, as you know…it looks really cool too! I just wish the photo was better, but some things are hard to capture on film…or what ever is in my phone that lets me take pictures.
I have been encouraged that the flower garden across the front is coming back in as well and the Shasta Daisy’s are doing well. The weeds are out and the grass is trimmed with an old wooden border to make mowing along it easy. As soon as the fence is done, I will plant more flowers…they will be protected from the wind, but unfortunately not the chickens.
My Loving Spouse and I even started to plant the posts for the rest of the garden fence last night. I wanted to wait for him, as I do not seem to be able to put fence posts in the right spot and did not want the rest of the fence to be crooked, as it really is a pretty fence. The corner post was established and it was when we began on the East side, that I noticed that if we stayed this course, my flower garden would end up inside the vegetable garden..grrr. My Loving Spouse suggest we just ‘move’ the plants. I know, he didn’t really have any idea how hard I’d already worked to have the flower garden in place…hours and hours…. So we dug up the corner post and re-posted it so as to protect the ‘established’ flower garden AND I promised My Loving Spouse that I would acknowledge to the ‘world’ (or at least to the blog-o-sphere) that he’d moved the post willingly and without complaining for which I am quite grateful for.
Isn’t it amazing how when you even water the garden, it not only looks so much better, but you can almost hear the veggies growing?
Well, I’ll keep you posted at how things progress taking you with me in my thoughts and heart, but especially when I am in the garden…
love,
your friend
I remember hunting for pumpkin seeds with you on my first visit to Ellensburg!
I confess that I am quite jealous of your garden. You have the three requisites: first, the space; second the fertile soil; third, water. We have become amateur “Farmers Brown” here, but we are desperately lacking in space. I’ve had to co-opt two borders around the house as well as a planter around our white oak tree–it’s tall enough and shaped correctly to allow sunlight underneath. I’ve managed to figure out soaker hose irrigation patterns with timers for all of these. We’ve planted chard, (the spinach is already gone) herbs, five varieties of tomatoes, a plethora of potatoes, eggplant, zucchini and straight neck yellow squashes , a variety of lettuces, several varieties of peppers, onions and cucumbers AND my big experiment, which is a hybrid blackberry trellis for what Texas A&M Agrilife states is the only variety of berry that can survive Texas weather. But, we lack the space to put in real beds for veggies and water remains at a premium here in drought-plagued Texas. There, anything you might have wondered and much much more. Ought I start a blog?
We are very lucky and enjoy our gardening season, which is a true season…meaning about 3-4 months! Water is wonderful as we do have senior water rights and are learning more each year about tapping into our irrigation water and not our city water.
A new garden is one of the most exciting things ever!! I hope there is enough zucchini for Pat to put up some of that delicious zucchini relish!!
Xoxoxo C
Oh, for sure! It is a hit!
WOW! Your garden is going to be ginormous! And sounds like you will have a pumpkin patch worthy of the arrival of “The Great Pumpkin” talked about by Linus in Peanuts.
Down here in So Cal, we are being told to conserve water… a lot! Glad my front garden is mostly drought tolerant, cuz its going to be put to the test this summer.
Love your arbor, too!
I confess…I hate living where there is a drought, although you did do an amazing job with your front yard!