Saturday, June 27, 2015

A Day in My Quilt Room - Not!

It was planned . . . but it's not gonna happen.  But it's my choice, right?  (Please, an intervention that will sentence me to a week locked in my quilt room.)

Last night's forecast said we were likely going to have rain today, so that's why I planned my day of quilting.  Now they are saying the rain won't start until about 11 p.m. tonight.  (Who employs these weather people?  And why?!)  Sure 'nuf, we have an absolutely gorgeous day going out there so already I've harvested a new batch of mixed lettuces, greens of various sorts to mix in our salads and a big bunch of crunchy but tender spinach.  Now they're all washed and stashed in the refridge.

I should be cooking and serving the last of our vegetable bounty left in the freezer from last season, but somehow the beets, peas, Brussels sprouts, squash, beans, etc. (flavorful though they still are) don't seem as appetizing now as the wonderful greens available straight from the garden.

While I was out in the garden a short time ago, I snapped some pictures to share.


What flowering plant could be prettier than chives in bloom?  I know I should cut these four chive plants down so they will re-grow tender, fresh, new shoots I can cut and freeze for our winter's use (I have none put by yet), but I find them so attractive, I keep putting off cutting them down.

I hope I haven't made a mistake by trying to start our broccoli and cabbage from seed in the garden.  The broccoli germinated well and is putting on a little (little being the operative word) size, but the cabbage is still teeny-tiny, and I've even had to replant some of the green cabbage seeds that didn't germinate.


I haven't tried growing cauliflower for years as I seem to have a black thumb when it comes to getting the heads to form correctly.  But for some reason, I did plant a few this year.  The one on the right hand side, in the back, is substantially smaller than the rest of them.  Why does this happen?  I interspersed marigolds with the plants because brassicas like to grow with blooms and also planted a row of dill down the center of the bed because that's reported to help repel insects.


There is still no evidence of growth from the potato sets I planted under straw in this bed.  Yesterday I pulled some of the straw away from the side of the bed to see if I could detect any growth and discovered that immediately below the layer of dry straw on top, all below is absolutely saturated with water.  We've been having a lot of rain recently and even though my raised beds always seem to drain very well, the potato sets may be rotting.  Or rotted.  I must remember:  In gardening there are no failures, only experiments.  :o}


The three rows of taters planted the conventional way in the field garden are up and growing.  It may be the growing is a mite slow because of lack of warmth, but they've made a good showing so far.

Okay, so now I'm going back out to fill in more of the asparagus trenches.  It's time as all of the roots seem to be growing like crazy and the spears have nearly all turned into tiny fern-like trees.

Yupper, I suspect I'll not spend much time quilting today.  Sigh.  But our rain that is now to start late tonight looks like it may continue all day tomorrow (IF those crazy forecasters don't change their minds again) and as Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day," (or something like that).  So there's a chance I'll be in my quilt room then.

20 comments:

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

I'll gladly send you some of my rain. It has rained the entire day, and flooding continues. It's still raining. Your garden looks great!

Mama Pea said...

Thanks, Kristina. No, no, please don't send any of your rain this way. (California would love it though.) I worked like crazy out in the garden today in case we do get the forecasted rain for the next couple of days. I sure hope you get some relief from all your rain. Flooding is definitely not a good thing.

Sparkless said...

Send us your rain we are roasting with no rain in sight for weeks! It's 44C here today.

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - Un-bee-lievable! Who knew ANY place in Canada could be so hot?! (Guess that just proves how ignorant I am about different climates in different parts of your country!)

Carolyn said...

That's IT, MamaPea! You go STRAIGHT to your Quilt Room and don't come out until I call you for supper!!!

(don't you wish somebody would tell you that???)

Tami said...

Your first picture reminds me of a pretty English Garden. Hang in there Sister...Everything in good time!

Sandy Livesay said...

Mama Pea,

I had to remove most of my straw on my potatoes after all our rain to allow the bed to dry out a bit. This worked for me. Maybe lightly racking the straw away from the bed will help??

Even though it's going to rain "LATER IN THE EVENING", I would still spend a relaxing day quilting :-)

As for cooking vegetables from the freezer vs. those in your garden, I would sneak out of the garden to have a great meal.......I know, I'm terrible that way, LOL!!!!

Enjoy your weekend!!!
Hugs,
Sandy

Laurie said...

I just love looking at your garden!

Mama Pea said...

Carolyn - You wouldn't believe how excited I was . . . until I read your last sentence. I thought I HAD to go to my quilt room and that you were coming to fix me supper. :o(

Mama Pea said...

Oh, my gosh, Tami! That is the nicest comment. If only!!! (I took a rock building class once and ever since I've had this dream of building a rock wall completely enclosing the garden. Yep, thinking along the lines of an English garden!)

Mama Pea said...

Sandy - Super-good idea of removing some of the straw from the bed of drowning potatoes to let it dry out a bit! Next stretch of dry weather, I'm going to do that. Thank you. (My better half who thinks I'm the most impatient person in the world keeps saying, "Have patience! It all may turn out fine yet." Bah-humbug, I say. I'm gonna try to dry the bed out.) ;o}

I'm kind of waiting for my hubby and me to start growing green vegetation out of our ears . . . we've been eating so much greenery from the garden! Good thing we both LOVE fresh, crunchy stuff and aren't yet tired of it.

Mama Pea said...

Aw, gee, thank you, Laurie!

Endah Murniyati said...

Your garden looks so neat. I love to see your raised beds

Mama Pea said...

Endah - Thank you so much!

Susan said...

Given the awful spring/early summer you've had, your garden is amazing! I, too, am shoveling in the greens while I can. There's always winter to do things we love to do, right? Right?

Lisa said...

For years now I always look forward to seeing your beautiful summer garden! Those chive blooms are gorgeous and I like the way you have them placed in that bed. This was the first year I planted marigold among the vegetables, hoping they'd be some sort of bug deterrent.... but found I just like the way they look. Hope you get some time soon in your quilting studio!

Mark said...

Mama Pea, your garden looks great!! Now that the rain has stopped and I'm home on vacation (yeah, right!) for a week I'll have something to show.

Mama Pea said...

Mark - Hoping your week's "vacation" has been a good one!

Mama Pea said...

Susan - I remarked to hubby last night that we sure do eat differently in the summer than the winter! But I think it's a good thing to eat as much according to the season as you can. Love those greens!

Mama Pea said...

Lisa - Thank you for your continued encouragement! I've read that it's the aroma of the marigolds that deters bad bugs. But now, of course, they've bred the unpleasant odor out of them so they don't do as good a job. (But I still plant them hoping they'll do some good.)