It’s been rainy here, and the garden has gone feral. This afternoon I cut so much chard that the only place big enough to wash it all was my bathtub! It’s washed, and sitting outside in laundry baskets, waiting for morning when I’ll have time to cut, blanch, bag-and-seal and freeze it all. I hope I can get it all done before my nice cleaning person comes … SO much chard …
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This year’s rodeo just wasn’t the same — last year the rodeo was the highlight of the summer. This year was a little tough. Rodeo was one of the things Patrick and I did together — we grew up at horse shows back east. I went to my first horse show at six months old, tucked under the bleachers in a basket while my mother ran the old Lake Forest Horse Show, which like the stables at Onwentsia, is now long gone. From the time we could talk we were told by various grownups to “watch that” as a horse…
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The weather has been wonky lately, which is one reason for the light blogging. There isn’t much to talk about in the garden because, well, it’s been raining. Which is good, and up here in drought country, we’re not complaining, but it is getting just the tiniest bit boring. Summer is so short that it’s hard to lose a whole month to cold and rain, but on the other hand, maybe we won’t have fires all summer. So anyhow, we came back from a little hike yesterday afternoon just as the clouds were gathering and took refuge in my kitchen.…
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Not much going on here at LivingSmall. It’s been raining, which is good, but which keeps garden news to a minimum. And I’m working on my new book, which means that all my writing energy is going that direction. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with news from the much-anticipated Livingston Rodeo. Three days of rodeo right here over the weekend of the 4th. I love a rodeo.
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Last night we had a perfect dinner in the garden. It was a beautiful day — sunny and warm with those big blue skies for which the state is famous. My friend Jim Fergus has been here for the past few days and so I invited Bill and Maryanne to join us for dinner in my backyard. I miss cooking and miss having people over. And so it was lovely to have a normal dinner in the back garden — the daisies are starting to bloom, as are the iris, the columbines and the pink shrub roses I planted last…
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Look at that — my very own white picket fence! It’s taken a couple of weeks, and when the guys first came to build it, somehow we’d agreed on a four-foot fence (to match last year’s big investment, the board fence on the south side of the yard). When they put the posts in I nearly had a heart attack — at four feet, it was going to look like Fortress Charlotte. They were nice enough to cut the posts down some, and build the three-foot fence I’d envisioned. So I spent my Memoiral Day weekend painting the fence —…
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I transplanted the tomatoes into the garden this afternoon … they’re cozy in their wall o’water cones as are the zucchini, some of the cucumbers, and the eggplants. The peppers are on their own, and I hope they’ll be okay — the temperatures have been in the mid-fifties during the day with intermittent rain, and down into the forties at night. The sides of the cucumber peat pots were growing little tiny oyster mushrooms on them. Interesting. But we’ve had lots of lovely soft rain, perfect rain for transplants, and it’s supposed to keep up for about the next ten…
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A couple of months ago, I ordered two Tess of the D’Urbervilles bare root rosebushes from White Flower Farm. They kindly sent me a note that they couldn’t guarantee them as my zone is too cold, but between global warming, and planting them on the south side of my house, in the tropical perennial bed, well, I think they’ll be fine. They look lovely in the photos, bushy dark-pink roses which should bloom continually and will make a nice contrast to the ancient and wonderful white rugosa roses that were here when I moved in. I’ve also planted a couple…
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The cold frames finally got a real tryout — the weather went cold again on us this week. Last night the temps went down into the mid-thirties, and this morning it was still a balmy forty-five degrees inside the cold frame. Hooray! They work! No blogging this week. My Dad is coming for a visit from Europe. I haven’t seen him in many years, so I’m a little nervous, but I’m hoping we’ll have a nice visit. I just wish the weather would clear up again so we can do some hiking … Anyhow, back next week …
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Here they are, the great cold frames I built for my garden. As you can see, Owen thinks they’re swell, too. The interesting part was that I’m not really much of a carpenter. I have a few skills, and my own power tools, but I only had about half a plan when I started. I knew how big I wanted the rectangles that form the front of the frames to be, and then it got a little tricky fitting the back sides up under this little wooden lip along the side of the house. Now, as everyone knows, I miss…