My Grandmother's Garden

On Saturday I stopped by my Grandma Cain's house in Sallis, Mississippi for a visit. July 10th is a significant day for us, so I wanted to see her and give her big hugs and kisses. She fed me lunch of homegrown purple hull peas, snap beans, corn, and squash dressing. There were mashed potatoes and baked chicken, too.

My grandparents' garden always amazes me. In their summer garden they grow tomatoes, yellow summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, butter beans, purple hull peas, snap beans, and corn. I am sure there are other things that I am forgetting about. I don't think a single day goes by when there isn't at least one of those homegrown vegetables on the table. In the summer, you can usually find all of those vegetables on the table at one meal. And, they don't just grow a few of each of those vegetables. My grandmother grew up in a large family, and she has never wanted to scale back the garden. At 80 years old, she still grows enough produce for at least ten families.

Oh, I forgot to mention there are also plums, peaches, figs, watermelons, honeydew, and cantaloupe.

Her flower garden is dear to my heart. Since I rented my first house I've tried to recreate it on what ever patch of land I've had. In the back there are the dark orange sunflowers that she loves so much. There is a rose-of-sharon, yellow and peach gladioli, cleome, and marigolds. And then there are the zinnias. All in shades of purple, just like she likes them.







I brought some zinnias home with me and put them in a mason jar to remind me of her special home.

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 Salads

This week I've made two of my favorite summer salads, and I thought I'd share my recipes.

STRAWBERRY SALAD

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup cream of coconut
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp poppy seeds
6 cups baby spinach
3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
2 cups cubed fresh pineapple
1 banana, sliced
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

For dressing, in a small bowl whisk together water, cream of coconut, lemon juice, mustard, ginger, and poppy seeds. Cover and refrigerate the dressing until cool. To serve, toss together spinach, strawberries, pineapple, and banana with the dressing until coated. Sprinkle with almonds. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

CORN SALAD

1/2 cup lime juice
2 Tbsp honey
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
3 Tbsp snipped fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
6 fresh ears of corn, husked, and cleaned
4 cups baby spinach
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
3/4 cup seeded chopped cucumber

In a large bowl, whisk together lime juice and honey until well combined. Stir in jalapeño pepper, cilantro, and salt. Carefully cut corn kernels off cobs. Add to lime juice mixture. Add spinach, tomato, and cucumber, and toss to combine. Serve immediately. Makes 6 to 8 servings.


I made the Corn Salad on Sunday and served it with Mark Bittman's Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce grilled in a cast iron grill skillet in the house. It was way to hot to cookout on Sunday! Then, I made the Strawberry Salad on Monday. I think I clipped both of these salad recipes from Better Homes and Gardens magazine a few years ago. For the strawberry salad, you could definitely use canned pineapple and store bought poppy seed dressing to make a super easy side salad. The corn salad is a fantastic side with Tex-Mex or Mexican food. It is one of my very favorite salads and is a great way to use fresh corn, tomatoes, and cucumbers from the veggie garden or the farmers' market.

Signs of Summer

I had a great day on Saturday working on one of the "bad and ugly" spots in my backyard. I'm about 70% done, and I can't wait to finish up this project and show everyone my accomplishments in this section of the garden! In order to finish it fully, I've got to wait for fall so I can divide some massive daylilies that were needing to be divided 2 years ago. I do love dividing plants. How cool is it to start with one big plant and end up with two, three, or four little plants that will grow into big plants?! I think it is GREAT.

Part of my "bad and ugly" rehaul this Saturday consisted of dividing four ornamental grasses (variety t.b.d.) into ten clumps, planting two 'Tropicanna' cannas, dividing two agapanthus (a.k.a. Lily of the Nile, 'Ellamae' variety) into 6 plants with some babies that I will try to root.

A couple weekends ago, I moved 3 junpiers. Two of them never took to the new spot, so I pulled them out and planted three new junipers in their place. Then, I remembered that I had two blue oat grasses drowning under all those daylilies, so I moved those, too. The oat grasses reseed freely, so I am hoping that they'll take off in their new spot. I have lots of space for them to fill.

During all of this work (oh, my aching back!), a nice rain shower came through to cool things off. I was working in the rain under a big oak tree, but then I started to get soaked, ran under the porch, and watched the storm pass. I started working in the yard around 9 AM and before I knew it, it was 3:30 PM and I hadn't had a bite to eat. I was really "in the zone"!

On Sunday it was pretty dang hot, but Chip manned the grill for a cookout and pool party with our friends. I made my fish tacos with baked fish, grilled pork tacos from a Rick Bayless recipe, and Chip made grilled banana splits! Everything was so good. It really feels like summer is here.

My perennial corner in the front garden is saying summer is here, too. Just this morning one yellow gladiolus and one shasta daisy ('Becky' variety) have opened up. It won't be long before this area is full of color. Last week, the echinacea popped open, too. This variety is called 'Sundown'.
And my mother-in-law brought me a cupcake and this gorgeous vinca because I'd had a tough week. Isn't she sweet?!
Happy Monday, y'all! Have a good week.