Help Mommy

We've been working on a shady area of our yard. We laid sod here last year and it died because there is no sun in this area. It also gets a ton of water and stay soggy due to all of the runoff coming off the large hill in the background. We put down some river rock and large rock, and I decided to do 'Sweet Caress' Mahonia between the walk and the rocks. On the day I planted the mahonias, Lydia was so pumped about helping me. Since I had my big shovel and bucket, she got out her shovel and bucket so that she could (in her words) "help mommy". 

Those are the 'Sweet Caress' Mahonias there on the right.

Then, we played and enjoyed the afternoon in the backyard.

Lydia LOVES to pick my flowers. Blooms don't last long around here. She picks them all. This is my only bed that gets "full" sun. I have herbs - rosemary, oregano, thyme, lavender, and basil - and a few perennials. That's sedum 'autumn Joy' that Lydia is picking.

Hot June

The weather over the past two-and-a-half weeks has been HOT and DRY. We've either topped or have been close to 100F heat indexes every day. I've been caught in pop-up thunderstorms all over the state, but none at MY HOUSE. That means I've been busy watering my vegetable and herb gardens and my new plantings in the patio and azalea gardens, but I have not yet watered the front porch beds or the lawn. Well, today it looks like I'll have to. Lacecap hydrangea in the shady front bed and shasta daisies in my perennial bed are looking pretty awful. In the spring I planted hot pink geraniums, dark purple petunias, and white sweet alyssum in these pots on either side of the front door. I was really hoping that by the Fourth of July, they'd all be bursting with color, and I'd have a creative red-white-and-blue container. The alyssum did great for a while, but it hasn't put on any new blooms. Any suggestions on how to get it to put on more? It is the lacey plant in the front.

Happy Friday! I can't wait to get out in the yard tomorrow. I've got a few things on my list.

• Replace lantana in the front porch bed. I FINALLY finished weeding and cleaning out the bed, and now I need new lantana plants. Can you believe I haven't been able to find ANY 'New Gold' lantana at the garden centers this year? WTH? Three years ago the garden centers were drowning in the stuff. All I can find this year is some no-label lantana that is lemon yellow. But I want 'New Gold'!
• Pull up fennel plants. Again, they never made bulbs, just started producing a flower stalk once it got hot. This year is the last year I try fennel in the spring. It just doesn't work. I am going to try it this fall, but it seems I never have enough space for it in the fall.
• Plant butternut squash 'Autumn Glow' and beans 'Burpee's Tenderpod' where fennel was.

As hot as it is supposed to be tomorrow (96F is the high, with a heat index well above 100F), I am sure that will be plenty!

Summer Cocktails

On Sunday night, Chip made us two yummy, warm-weather cocktails. For me, a Pink Salty Dog. For himself, a Blackberry-Mint Julep. Both recipes I'd clipped from Martha Stewart a few years ago.
My salty dog was so delicious! It reminded me of a grapefruit flavored margarita. I didn't try the julep because I'm not really a fan of bourbon, but Chip said it was delicious, too.

More Walle

Yes, I am still alive! It has been way too long since I've added a post, y'all. I know it!

Walle is keeping me on my toes these days. It is hard to find time to blog when there is a bad little kitten to take care of. Walle still likes to play, bite, and sleep. He has added a few new hobbies, too. He hangs out Chip's favorite drum:


He falls asleep while playing on his Kitty Pirate Ship:

Asleep with claw still caught in a toy. Don't worry, I removed the claw soon after I snapped the photo.

Then, he wakes up from his cat nap and destroys his Kitty Pirate Ship:


He also has started meowing at our bedroom door at 5:45 AM. Ah, the joys of parenthood!

In the flower garden, the shasta daisies and coneflower are in full bloom.





The Knock-Out roses are on their second flush.


And I've got lavender blooming in the herb garden.

We've harvested leeks, Swiss chard, sugar snap peas, and lettuce out of the spring garden. And we've even havested a few squash and zucchini out of the summer garden. No tomatoes yet, but I am really looking forward to those.

I have a hundred other things I need to blog about, but dinner doesn't cook itself! Tonight I am cooking pasta with yogurt and zucchini (from the garden!) based on this Farfalle with Yogurt and Zucchini recipe from Food+Wine. I'm subbing whole wheat pasta. Yum!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2009

What's blooming...

in my herb garden?

Thyme

Lavender
Catmint "Walker's Low"

in my backyard?

Hydrangea "Endless Summer"

Gardenia "August Beauty"

in my veggie garden?

There's not much blooming, but I have leeks, lettuce, Swiss chard, and fennel. And sugar snap peas, eight-ball zucchini, and yellow crookneck squash.

Catching Up

Some great transformations have happened this summer at A Shower Fresh Garden, and I need to get you guys caught up! Chip built an AWESOME fence around the pool pump. I'll post about that later this week. First I want to show you the almost finished herb garden!

Last summer I wrote about four different sections of my garden that were just atrocious. I've fixed a few of those "Bad and Ugly" beds. I put a veggie garden in where there were dead azaleas before. And on my front porch I've replaced even more dead azaleas with knockout roses . The veggie garden hasn't thrived. Turns out that spot is too sunny for azaleas and not sunny enough to make tomatoes. I've babied my veggie patch all summer, and all we've gotten out of it are some radishes and sugar snap peas. Here's a photo from today.

See? I've got a pepper plant, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, eggplant, even some sad little tomato plants. But the only thing that seems to be growing well is one weird cucumber. If you read the sign in my iris bed, it says, "There are no garden mistakes, only experiments." Yep, I feel like Wallace (from Wallace and Grommet) because I am "experimenting mostly!" I have a plan to fix this. I always have a plan! Well, look at that! The left side of the tree gets tons of sun! Sure, I'll have to convert more of the lawn for garden, but I'm sure Chip won't complain. All I need is another one of those raised beds, because I do love that raised bed. And I'm sure there are veggies that will grow in partial shade. The sugar snaps did fine. Any suggestions on what other veggies will grow in partial shade?

The herb garden transformation is really something. Remember how terrible it looked? Well, take a look at this (June 2007):

First, Chip added a brick patio (March 2008).
Then, I added a raised bed for the herbs (April 2008).
Then, I did some major landscaping. My favorite addition has been catmint (first photo below). I also added cannas that I moved from the veggie garden bed, a lantana that I moved from the front porch bed, and some daylilies that I moved when redoing the bed by the pool pump. Really the only plants I bought new were the catmint, the herbs, a few extra liriope, and a gardenia.

The transformation is almost complete! My grandfather is making us two white benches to place around the firepit on the brick patio. I'll post more photos when I get them. So far, I am really pleased with what we've been able to accomplish! The soil in this bed was hard, difficult to dig, and totally depleted . Compost from my bin was a lifesaver. We've been able to turn this portion of my yard into something usable and its not ugly anymore!

Towering Glads on a Summer Day

It got hot this weekend. Saturday it topped out in the low 90s, and by Thursday it is supposed to hit the mid-90s. Yowzer! I guess that's what June means here in Mississippi. Summer arrives in full force.


I planted a few Seeds of Change "Sweet Cal Wonder Orange Bell Pepper" seeds that I got at the local grocery co-op. I don't like the taste of green bell peppers, but I can deal with red and orange ones. I think the red bell peppers are better for you anyway. At least that's what Ellie Krieger on the Food Network says. The zucchini, and squash plants are coming along. The carrots should be ready to pick very soon. The rosemary in my herb garden is getting big, big and looks really yummy. I can't wait to make roasted sweet potatoes (from Vardaman, Mississippi of course) with all that fresh rosemary.


My flower garden is really coming together. I've spent some time improving some of the ugly areas, and I can't wait to show them off! Just a few more improvements to make and I'll be showing all of you before and after photos of some of my ugliest garden beds.

One thing in my garden that is not ugly? Take a look at the gladioli. These pretty yellow glads are passalongs from my Grandma.

These plants are BIG. Some of them are topping out at over four feet. I called my Grandma to let her know how gorgeous these flowers were looking. She said she was going to give me some cucumber seeds, and I am elated about that. My Granny's cucumbers are THE BEST. Tasty. Crunchy. In summer she always has a bowl of freshly sliced cucumber on the table. I like to give them a tiny sprinkling of salt. Mmmm. She just picked her first cucumber yesterday... My brother was there for dinner Saturday evening to taste its summery goodness. I'm a bit jealous.

Teeny Tiny Carrots

Memorial Day Weekend. The three-day weekend that starts summer. Ours was good. Chip's band played a music festival in Lafayette, Louisiana on Sunday afternoon. They sounded great. After the gig we packed up his drums and drove over to New Orleans. It was a fantastic day to be in the Big Easy. We spent the afternoon cheering for the Rebels in the SEC baseball championship game against LSU. We had a beer in a bar near our hotel and seemed to be the only Rebel fans in the heart of the land of purple and gold. Ole Miss lost, but it was a good way to spend the afternoon.


We had dinner at John Besh's Restaurant August. The food was fabulous. My entree was divine. I had the sabelfish. Dessert was delicious, especially the saltwater taffy ice cream.


After the rainy weather this weekend, my garden really needs some weeding. And mulching. After dinner tonight, I plan to put on some jeans and tackle those weeds head on.

The tomato plants are coming along. The herb garden is doing better than I expected. And the carrots in the veggie garden are finally developing into something. Here's a photo a took of a carrot I pulled up on May 19th...

A teeny tiny carrot. I took a bite and it tasted, well, like a carrot. No surprises there.

Since this is my first year to take on veggie gardening, I feel like lots of the stuff I'm doing is experimental. I'm learning a ton about what works and what doesn't. For example, I've learned that swiss chard would do better in my garden if it was planted earlier. I've learned that I need a better way to stake my peas. The carrots are taking much longer than I expected, and I could stand to plant about three times as many as I planted. And by next year, I think I'll be ready to take on a bit more.

Raised Bed Herb Garden.... Done.

We finally finished it! The raised bed for my summer herbs is done.

February:



Just getting started:

Almost there:

Looking good!

No Snow

All the weather gurus were predicting I'd wake up to 2 inches of snow. That's a big deal for central Mississippi. I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up some lunch, and folks were stocking up on groceries like Katrina was coming again. There's barely a drop (or should I say, flake?) of snow on the ground this morning.


I've got a lot more work to do in the backyard this weekend. I've tried to grow a good herb garden for the past two summers, but I've got lots of trees and that means tree roots, too. I don't want to fight tree roots anymore, and I don't think my herbs want to either. I'm gonna build a raised bed for the herb garden, so at some point on Sunday I have to convince Chip to help me load more bricks for it. The bed should look good and it should thrive, although I'm a little concerned about putting it so close to the pool. We don't usually get aggressively splashy in the pool, but I don't want to eat chlorine coated basil either. Ew!

The seedlings are coming up nicely. I'm probably going to have to do something about those darn squirrels very soon. I can see that they've been scratching around in my veggie patch - burying their acorns I'm sure - and I'm worried that it is only a matter of time before they dig up one of my plants. Grrrr....


Here's to Saturday morning! Even a Saturday morning without snow.

Veggies! But not from my yard...

I have herbs, though! Does that count?



I am a relatively new gardener. I've been gardening with mom and dad, granny and pawpaw since I was a kid, but not in a yard of my own. I've only had a house and yard for a few years now so almost everything I do is a new experience. I don't have a veggie garden yet. When we moved into this house I planned to have one. We've been here for over a year, but there are still things standing in my way. 1) The backyard is shady. We've got trees galore back there, in our yard and in our neighbors' yards, that shade the whole thing at some point throughout the day. 2) Other projects. For me it is more important to get the flower beds in order before I move on to the veggies and herbs. When we moved in many of the beds were either neglected or lacked that certain ooomph that said, "Look! A gardener lives here!" I've been working on adding that oomph for the past year.

Am I there? Well, as gardeners, are we ever there? I am getting close. I am happy with the way things are turning out, but I still have a long way to go!

Over the past few weeks I've been working on getting my herb garden together. I've been traveling for work and personal engagements lately, so it took me a little while to get it all planted, dug, composted, and labeled. I think it looks pretty good so far. I planted the Big Thyme and the Italian Oregano late last year. I have a bad habit of planting things too closely in the beginning. And that is exactly what I did with the those plants. I moved the oregano over a few inches to give the thyme some breathing room. I've probably made the exact same mistake with the Dwarf Sage and Hi-Ho Silver Thyme over on the left. I guess the good thing about it is that I can always move them! Behind the sage are two Sweet Basil plants. One of them shed all its leaves before I could get it in the ground, but it is already putting out new growth. I didn't lose it!

I have three varieties of rosemary. From the left: Rosemary, Pine-Scented Rosemary, and Spice Islands Rosemary. The Pine-Scented variety is special because it has soft leaves that are easily chopped up. This makes it an excellent choice to use fresh. It also has a creeping/trailing nature. The other two are uprights. The Spice Islands Rosemary has stems tough enough to use a BBQ skewers!

Oh, and the vivid veggie photo above is the appetizer that I've put together for my husband and I lately. My husband rarely gets a chance to eat lunch at work (and he manages a restaurant for goodness sakes), so he's always starving when he gets home. I'm usually just starting dinner. For this appetizer, I buy whatever is fresh and organic at the market, slice it up, and place a little sesame orange dressing in the middle for dipping. Simple and yummy!