Sunday, June 26, 2011

Summer 2011

No, I haven't been posting much lately. Summer is in full force and I haven't got enough free time to do it all. We've been having fun, though. We've made it to the beach twice with family and friends. We're planning on picking blueberries later this week at Sinking Creek Farm and then hiking the Cascades trail next weekend. We've got family parties and reunions, afternoons in our little inflatable pool, and maybe a backyard camp out planned. 

The vegetable garden is looking good. I've got a gazillion tomato plants along with eggplant, peppers, yellow squash and zucchini, okra, sweet corn, and half-runner beans. And pumpkins. With any luck it'll be a banner year for pumpkins, seeing how I just transplanted 75 of the little suckers last night. I put the Jarrahdales inside the garden with the deer fencing, and the sugar pies went into a new "pumpkin patch" we tilled about a month ago. These are smaller pumpkins in the 5-7 pound range that are great for cooking, but just the right size for decorating for the under 6 year old set. I'm growing them for Ally's day care center's Fall Festival this year. Ally even helped me plant the seeds. Steve put up some galvanized fencing around the patch yesterday to protect the young plants from the deer herd that's claimed the back part of our property. 

The front flower beds also look good, at least from a distance. The rose campion, gloriosa daisies, lamb's ear, and lemon balm are colorful and um, vigorous this year. A closer inspection would show you the grass, shiso, plantain and other weeds that are taking over the beds. I'm learning that there's a very fine line between a loose, cottage garden style and something that you shouldn't turn your back on at night. Even the plants I deliberately set out have gone feral this season. I'll be spending a lot of time out there over the next week or so ripping out the bullies and getting the weeds under control. At least I'm getting some exercise and I no longer feel guilty about not getting on the elliptical machine.

At some point I know that the weather we're having right now will turn from pleasant sunny days with comfortable nights into hot, sticky, dry weeks that are miserable to spend outside. That's when I hope to spend more time writing and working with my Etsy shop. Until then, you can probably find me outside with a shovel in hand and cursing at the crabgrass. 

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