Tomato and Basil: Together Forever

Morning Views

Lessons

There are many reasons why we are so drawn to gardening at this point in our lives - a desire to be self-sufficient, connection to the land under our feet, and a way to be present, fully aware of the life around us. I crave, truly yearn, to slow down. So I spent the day with my mother learning the lessons that she learned from her mother. And it was as fulfilling as I imagined.

The Life and Consumption of a Banana Pepper

Grateful

When Gardening Isn't Glamerous

They've Arrived

Really Cute Invaders

I swear these mushrooms arrived full grown in our back yard over night. How did they grow when everything else is brown and dead? I find them endearing, and now I can't stop thinking about cute little alien invasions!

How does your garden grow?

This morning's rain was an unexpected and quieting way to start the day. It did not help me get to work on time, though, because I spent too long listening to it, staring longingly at it, and figuring out how to take rain-pictures out our front door. Our crepe myrtles have been the last to bloom on the block. At first we were worried, and then we realized that they are just waiting to show everyone else up.

Inspiration

I have gladly left the picture taking to S over the past few years. He has a gently creative and analytical eye. And a really nice camera. But, I am now feeling the need to reach out and learn new things. So I braved the mosquitoes and the water logged Sony to try to document our garden as it is right now.

A sampling of our bounty

I suppose I could have moved the the hose out of the way and removed our impromptu compost pile from the middle of the lawn, but this is how it looks most days. Just trying to go for an honest shot, right? Ignore the bare brown spots on the lawn. It's been the hottest and most dry month in history, or something. Next, I will learn to take pictures before the sun starts to go down! Truthfully, this garden - the zinnias and roses and tomatoes - makes me take a deep breath and take responsibility. And now I know how to download pictures and update the blog all by myself.

and when inspiration finally hits you it barely even breaks your fall

-ani d

Drought

The past two months have been slightly tumultuous at Meadowhill. Both of us have been preoccupied and a little tired. The ground is scorched and thirsty with not enough rain and weeks of 100 degree days. Our inspiration similarly seemed to run dry. But our garden continues to grow and produce and reassure us that everything moves full circle.
Perhaps an update:
I spent a fretful morning in May transplanting my birthday rosebush and then standing around looking at it to make sure it made it through the day. The front two rose bushes look healthy but have momentarily stopped producing roses. The lilies bloomed so wonderfully by our driveway and in the front beds. A lovely purple flower (spider wort?) gave us color by our front steps for the end of May and June. (Everything but the roses are dead now. We really need to clean out the dead leaves to make way for new beginnings and so as not to embarrass our neighbors). We harvested our potato crop between June 7th and 14th and found true bliss in tiny baked potatoes. We harvested our onions around the same time and were so proud of their size. A few bunches of broccoli and two heads of cabbage survived, too, mostly of their own accord. We picked our first striped roma at the end of June. The romas produced early and lots though we haven't had many in the past few weeks. The purple krim came soon after, and that plant has given us an incredible bounty of tomatoes! It is still growing strong. The hillbilly and mortgage lifter started giving us really yummy fruit in July but were hit pretty hard by the heat. The big boys just gave us their first huge red tomato last week. The front cucumber plant actually survived and is officially out of control, climbing up the purple krim and out onto the lawn. The bell pepper plants have struggled a little (or maybe withered due to unintentional neglect on our parts), but the banana and carmen peppers have been amazing. Amazing to the point that I looked up banana pepper recipes on-line. The edamame is tall and strong and continues to look exactly the same day after day with little purple flowers. We have no idea what to do or expect. S is going to do some research so we can be more proactive than just staring at them looking perplexed. But, truthfully, we have just been perplexed in general lately.

Filling in the Spaces

We had a rare Saturday at home together yesterday. We took a walk through Maymont and finally decided to buy a grill. I hung up our first load of laundry on the clothes line (and only had one frustrating incident of the line getting too much slack and dropping dish towels and tank tops in the mulch).

We then spent most of the afternoon working in our garden. We planted three rows of edamame seeds (from mom and dad W), cucumber plants, several sweet basil plants, and marigolds throughout. I planted two different types of Lantana (one white and one red/orange) on separate ends of the garden while S mounded up the potatoes.

We planted more zinnia seeds and promised each other that we would not stomp on them, pick them, or dig them up as we did the first set. I became enamored by wave petunias at a patient's house last week, and bought two purple ones for pots in our backyard. Our little owl finally has a home tucked in between flowers. And, our security kitty prowls the territory and sits guard in between the tomato plants.

Strawberry!

We picked our first strawberry today!

It was the best strawberry that I have ever eaten.

Perhaps one of the smallest, too.

We were so excited about it that we forgot to take a picture of the first one.

Take my word for it, it was awesome

The Next Step

We went to the Maymont Herb festival on Saturday with Matt and Melissa, and it was amazing. Vendors lined the big field by Maymont's back entrance and tons of people milled around carrying large flats of plants. Our favorite vendor was Amy's Garden from Charles City County, and we bought four gorgeous heirloom tomato plants - "hillbilly," "purple krim," "speckled roma," and the notorious "mortgage lifter." I am way too excited about them. We also bought a random pepper plant called "carmen." We bought lime basil, blue African basil, hot and spicy oregano, and curled parsley at A Thyme to Plant at Lavender Fields. We also bought "Irene"lantana and a sweet potato vine at County Gardens. I want to try to start some plants by seed after this growing season, so we got a pack of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Tropic Tomato seeds.

We decided (hoped!) that the soil was dry enough to plant, so we planted all of our new plants right after we got home as well as three big boy tomato plants, three green bell pepper plants, and three banana pepper plants that Elaine gave us.

I re-potted the strawberry plant that Mom W gave us for Easter as well as the mint and aloe from Matt and Melissa. We planted the lantana and sweet potato in the barrel in the driveway.

There are, of course, several things left to do. We still would like to get a sweet basil plant and several cucumbers for the large beds. We also plan on putting marigolds throughout to help stave off the bugs. We still have no plans for the side bed. Perhaps annuals and more lantana (I love that stuff). And, we need to actually use the mulch that is sitting in bags on our patio.

Cycles

The tulips were a startling source of joy for us. We did not expect them to be so red, to be collected in such perfect clumps around the trees and in the front beds. We did not expect to be so pleased by the three rouge white tulips that somehow worked themselves up in between all the red. I was surprised about how deep a sense of loss I felt when the blooms began to fade. But, then, the Spirea began to bloom, spilling the white blooms over the top of our steps and dropping tiny white petals on the ground below. They are beginning to fade slightly now, too, and I have been feeling the same sort of peculiar grief as with the tulips. Perhaps I should have more faith because our first rose opened this weekend. Pink and sweet smelling and otherwise wonderfully indescribable.

Spirea By The Front Steps

Some New Wildlife and Some Old

This bird hopped around our garden for a few minutes.

I think he is digging up worms from the soil.

Kitty likes to sleep in the garden.

This is a notch on the fence in the backyard.

Not really wildlife, but it looks cool.