Bracing for a Hot Week or Two

Last week, it rained on and off so I didn't have to water my garden much.  Right now, my yard is actually quite lush and I have to cut my grass, in addition to weeding my vegetable garden.  For the next ten days, it's predicted that it will be very very hot, getting into the mid-90s by Wednesday.  Even though there are predictions of a slight chance of rain, I don't think I'll be getting much rain at all.  I hope that I'll have enough water saved up in my rain barrels to water my plants until the next rainstorm.    Even though I have two rain barrels, I'm debating whether I should purchase two more or whether I should just set up a system to use the lake water to water my garden during a dry spell.  I'll mull over this for a little bit more.

Anyhow, how is the weather in your neck of the woods? 

Lilies in the Garden

 

The lilies in my garden are now coming into bloom, right after the peonies and irises have just faded.  The Asiatic lilies, the day lilies, and all sorts of lilies are coming our of their slumber, ready to show their wonderful faces to the world.  

 

Unfortunately, some of the lilies never got a chance to shine because some critter (I think it was a squirrel) bit off the flower bud before it even got a chance to bloom.  Darn it, right?  Well, hopefully next year it will get its chance to shine bright.

I can't wait for the Oriental lilies to bloom.  They're my favorite because they're so fragrant.  I especially love Stargazer lilies.  I have a couple in my garden, but I'm thinking of purchasing more bulbs so that I can have enough to produce flowers for my garden and for the home. 

 

If you want to find out more about lilies, please check out the following website:  http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/dg1112.html

Do you have a favorite type of lily?

Rhododendron: Stamens and Pistil

First Raspberry of the Season

Spring has come early; thus, summer has also come early too.  I don't recall ever getting a raspberry this ripe (or semi-ripe) this early.  I hope this doesn't mean that there will also be an early fall and early winter too.

At the rate that this weather is going, I might just have lots and lots of ripe raspberries by July 4th.  I hope I'll also have enough to jam with.  Jam made from my own homegrown raspberries are always delectable.

Rhubarb Lime Ginger Jam

I had great intentions to jam today.  (I won't go into detail about my unsuccessful attempt—I burned my strawberry jam).  I was successful in my first attempt at making rhubarb lime ginger jam.  The rhubarb used for this jam came were harvested from my garden.  

The jam is tangy, sweet, and sour.  All of the flavors just go so well together.  I think the recipe below is easily adaptable.  For example, the recipe would've turned out fine with the juice of only one lime, but I added the juice of an extra lime because I didn't want the jam to be runny at all.  (The jam is soft and spreadable.)  At the same time, if you wanted the jam to be a little bit more sour and less sweet, 1/4 cup of sugar could be omitted from the recipe below. 

Rhubarb Ginger Lime Jam

1.5 pounds of chopped up rhubarb (use only the stems and NOT the leaves)

2 whole limes juiced and zest 1 of the limes

1 inch piece of ginger, grated

1  1/2 Cups of sugar

1.   Combine the rhubarb, lime juice, zest, ginger, and sugar in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

2.   Put the rhubarb mixture along with any juices from the bowl into a medium pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened.  The rhubarb will begun to break down.  It will thicken more as it cools.

3.  Put into clean sterilized jars and refrigerate.  Otherwise, you could also can the jam in a hot water bath, which was what I did (I left a 1/4 quarter head space in each jar and I boiled the jars for ten minutes).  

If you want canning instructions, please check out the following website:  http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/waterbath-canning-highacid-foods.html

Friday's Quote: Anais Nin

"Dreams are necessary to life."---Anais Nin

I think that because I live in a country that allows me to dream and sometimes encourages me to dream, I know that I have been very lucky so far in my life.  I don't think I'm an amazing person or that I'm even all that great.  I'm average and I've lead an average life.  Yet, I look back on my life and the paths that I've traversed to get to where I am today, and I am thankful for such a beautiful and bountiful life, and for being able to just dream.  I continue to dream about what my life could be and I continue to strive towards what it is that I want.  Of course, I recognize that it's not always easy, and sometimes not always possible to achieve all of my dreams in my lifetime, but it doesn't hurt to keep on dreaming.

What do you dream about your life?

Rustic Stairs

[Nevis, MN; taken June 9, 2012.]

I've Got Garlic Scapes

 

For the last two weeks, the garlic scapes have been popping out of my garlic plants and I've been harvesting one or two at a time.  I've been cutting up the garlic scapes and throwing it into my noodle soups.  When cooked, it tastes like a crunchy mild garlic.  It's quite yummy.

Why I worried about not getting garlic scapes in the first place, I have no idea.  In case if you're wondering what exactly garlic scapes are, the scapes are the curly budding part of the garlic plant that is supposed to turn into a flower.  The scape is cut off so that the garlic plant can focus its energy on making a bigger garlic bulb and not go into flower production.  As I've stated before, it's the hard neck variety of garlic that has the scapes and not the soft neck variety.  I guess I now know that my garlic is the hard neck variety.  

It's pretty obvious, but I'm already dreaming of planting my garlic crop for next year.  Of course, I'm shouldn't be rushing myself and over anticipate until I fully harvested my first crop, but I'm just so excited.  

Have you tasted garlic scapes before?  What crop in your garden are you eagerly anticipating?

Friday's Quote: A.C. Benson

"Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene."---A.C. Benson

With each passing year, I find that I accumulate and have a harder time getting rid of stress.  Of course, a change of scenery is one option.  It's helpful to easily move around, travel, and lose oneself in another place.  Yet, I find that my stress follows me despite the change in scenery.  Of course, there's always the costs that comes with trying to change my scenery.

So, through the years, I have learned other mechanisms to cope with stress that bring changes within myself.  For example, I find that running helps me think out some of my problems.  I have found gardening to really help improve my mood (e.g. the discovery of new things growing in the garden, digging in the dirt, pulling out weeds), and I've also taken up simple yoga exercises to calm my mind and body.  I find that these methods are much more easier to deal with my stress than to just take off for a different scenery.

In what ways have you changed yourself instead of changing your scenery? 

Lucky Enough?

Noshing on Strawberries

I’m selfish.  I’ll admit it.  I don’t want to share with the animals.  For the last couple of days I have been picking and eating my semi-ripe Mara des Bois strawberries, noshing on one or two a day.  Even though the strawberries aren’t fully ripe, they are still sweet.  My semi-ripe strawberries are even sweeter than the fully “ripe” ones from the stores.  Imagine how sweet the berries would be if they were fully ripe.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve temporarily forsaken store bought strawberries.  Thus, I’ve been craving strawberries, especially when I see it in front of me, slowly ripening to a scarlet red.  The first two strawberries that I got in my garden, the animals got to.  It was even more disappointing when I discovered that the animals didn’t even eat all of the berries, but pecked away at a bit of the fruit.  So, until I have more berries, I will continue to nosh away on semi-ripe strawberries.

As for the “stray” strawberry plants, I think that it may be an alpine strawberry because the fruit are so small.  In the picture above, the two small strawberries in the top left are from my stray strawberry plants.  I’m thinking of replanting those strawberry plants in and around my garden beds.  I will then put that raised bed to good use, either planting other vegetables there or plant more Mara des Bois strawberries.  I’m even thinking of adding another raised bed or two to my garden.

An Apricot or Two

I have a Sungold apricot tree (at least I think it's a Sungold) that came with my home.  I recall seeing blossoms on that tree the first spring after I purchased my home.  Yet, I never got any fruit from the tree.  The main reason for the lack of fruit is probably due to the fact that the tree needed another apricot tree to pollinate it, more specifically a Moongold apricot tree.

Of course, I never got around to getting a Moongold apricot tree, until this year. I thought that before purchasing, I would double check if the exiting tree was a Sungold apricot tree.  As I was looking for the tag, unfortunately it was torn off, I noticed that there were a handful of little apricots on the tree.  I presume that someone around my neck of the woods must have an apricot tree too.  Anyhow, I can't believe the little fuzzy green fruit growing right before my eyes.  Of course, I'm sure I would have gotten more fruit, had there been another pollinating tree, but I'm excited to see these fruits.  I will try my best this year to get another apricot tree.  I really do hope that I'll get at least an apricot or two this year.

Friday's Quote: Sallust

"Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay."---Sallust

Since I started gardening, I have always tried to grow things as organically as possible.  Of course there's the health benefits when one eats or lives organically, but the other is the fact that the fewer chemicals there are in my garden, the more harmony there is in getting my plants to grow.  For example, I don't fertilize my grass (in fact I've been trying to grow other things in place of grass), I try to water my plants with collected rain water, and I don't spray for "pests."

I've tried letting mother nature take care of my garden in her own way to ensure a constant harmony.  I really do love my garden (despite it being so small and messy) and all of my plants.  Of course, I never want to see my garden in decay.