Friday, March 29, 2013

The Glory of the Garden...my favorite garden poem.


The Glory of the Garden

OUR England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.
For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,
You'll find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of all
The cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dung-pits and the tanks,
The rollers, carts, and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the planks.

And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys
Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise ;
For, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare the birds,
The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.
And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows ;
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,
For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.

Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:-" Oh, how beautiful," and sitting in the shade
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives.
There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thick,
There's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick
But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.

Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,
If it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner In the Glory of the Garden.
Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!

And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away !

By Rudyard Kipling

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Is it normal for raspberries to spread this fast? And Beamer the gardening cat.


 I am not sure if you can see, but my Fall Gold Raspberry went crazy over the winter and is sending shoots up about two feet around the main plant. Is that normal? I don't know what to expect. I think it would be kind of neat to have the gold and red raspberries moosh together a bit, but I don't want any one variety taking over the whole bed. So what do you think?

As I was taking the raspberry pictures...Beamer as usual stuck his face right up at me to smash his nose onto mine. I have never had a cat do that before. He follows me like a dog all day gardening, jumps up in front of me and TA DA!!! I've never been able to get a picture of it before. How cute is this cat!? Notice how he has kinda plunked his butt onto the strawberries and raspberry shoots. Adorable.

Flowers already. Don't you love the coast?

This little area of the garden smells like heaven. Don't you just love hyacinths? While I was away the crocus' bloomed, so I missed them. The great thing about gardening...there is always next year.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Herbal Vinegars....

This picture inspires me. I have planted a lot of herbs the past couple years. So I think I need to make herbal vinegars. I have the bottles, I have the vinegar and I have the herbs. Kind of a classic no-brainer.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Does anyone have a few seeds for this plant, that I could have?

I have been looking for seeds for this type of cornflower for two years and just can't find any. I can get the regular looking ones, but I love these ones that look like a firework exploding. I grew them years ago. Does anyone have a few seeds I could have?

The greenhouse and the lettuce. I LOVE lettuce.

The greenhouse right now.
Shoe for scale. Look at the lettuce.

My favorites are the speckled. I see a salad coming right up.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Alpaca poop and rhubarb...OMG what a combination.

I love rhubarb. I haven't had the best luck with it. I put straw on it and some alpaca poop and crossed my fingers for it. I was away for two weeks on vacation. When I returned and looked over the deck, this is what I saw. It looked really weird so I had to investigate.
My shoe is there for perspective. Note the poop. You can't see it too
well, but the straw is popped up about a foot.
That's better. Wow.
And with the straw pushed away. OMG!!! Rhubarb!!!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The gardens have gone crazy in two weeks.

I've been away from the garden for two weeks. Look at what I found on my return.
Narcissis from Aunt Helen. Now called Muskoka Daffodils!!
Perdita Rose
Winter jasmine in the greenhouse.
Tomorrow...we'll start the veg pictures.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Erin's big adventure. Or. What does it mean when you are 1343'd at an airport?


Keeping my eye on the prize. Sunset just before our second
Green Flash.
Allan and I just returned from a trip to Hawaii. It was spur of the moment. One Sunday I did not have a passport and had no intention of going to Hawaii. The following Sunday we were in the air. We only had one stop. Vancouver. On two previous trips I had been singled out for the 'Random' full search. In Vancouver we were heading through the ropes toward the customs booth. We were intercepted by a uniformed Customs Guy. He asked to see my customs declaration. I gave it to him...he drew all over the customs logo on front with a red sharpie and wrote 1343 on the back. He said to me, "when you get to the officer, tell him you need a supervisor". Well if that wasn't the longest ten minutes or so. I figured maybe they wanted to know about the prescription meds in my purse. I was trying to think of anything it could be. Why me again?!! What the hell?! So our turn at the booth arrives. I hand the officer my customs declaration. I say, 'we need a supervisor'. He says 'what do you mean'? I said 'the officer who intercepted us told us we need a supervisor'. He asked who it was and we pointed to the gentleman. Our Customs guy called him over and asked what it was about. The officer said, 'it's a time check.' Huh? 'We want to see how long it's taking to get through the lineup.'

Hahahaha. 1343 = 13:43 in the afternoon.

It has become a running gag in the family. I am not feeling the sympathy for the trauma!!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

A project for next winter. When there is no gardening to be done.

I struggled this winter with the void created when the gardening ceased. Don't get me wrong, I found lots of little puttering around and planning things to do, but felt a bit lost. I started cleaning and purging the house as you know, but what then.
Then I found Susan Branch and her blog. In her blog she features vintage 50's style decor. She loves old appliances, linens and collectibles. I saw one of her old embroidered tea towels in the blog, embroidered with an 'old school' design from my childhood. EUREKA. I went on the hunt. I am nearing the end of a Hawaiian vacation and a bit of it was spent in craft and fabric stores....and a bit of ebay.....and I have enough to get me through a couple of winters.
This picture is one of my eBay finds!!