Today's harvest - three romaines, three stalks of kale, three cherry tomatoes and three pints of strawberries. Good things come in sets of three.
Another good thing - a fully weeded garden. It took Hubby and me three hours, but the thing she is done. Just need to thin carrots and mulch and maybe fertilize. And figure out what to do about those nasty cucumber beetles I found out there, the first time I've seen any in all my gardening years. Gah. Bad things come in swarms of beetles.
As part of my Master Gardener duties, I volunteered to help out with Gardenfest - the city garden tour put on by our county's MG group. Five gardens are selected for the tour which was held last Thursday evening. I was stationed at one of the homes, greeting visitors and signing their tickets. On Tuesday we had a pre-tour visit at all five gardens. Here's a few photos I took along the way.
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| I might get a birdbath just so I can plant moss roses in it |
After seeing these immaculate, weed-free (mostly) beautiful creations I was humbled and shamed. My own garden is full of weeds, and the wild vegetation around my house could hide Sleeping Beauty's castle. Ugh.
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| I loved the rough stone design of this garden |
I have the next three days off. I am resolved to get rid of the weeds in my raised beds. I have asked for Hubby's help, and he has foolishly agreed. If we get control of the raised bed situation, then we can move on to the landscaping in the yard.
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| Picture perfect |
We haven't had any measurable rain for two weeks now, and Hubby and I have spent at least an hour watering the beds every other day. The heat is relentless, as are the gnats.
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| Sweet William flowers. Must get some seed. |
We're still picking strawberries every few days. And my lettuce is finally ready for harvesting. Maybe I'll broil some chicken and make a strawberry chicken salad tomorrow. With pecans and feta cheese. That sounds tasty.
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| Such beautiful brassicas |
The strawberry harvest has begun. Yesterday we had strawberry milkshakes to celebrate. My favorite way of eating the berries is with cream and a little sugar sprinkled on top. So yummy. Maybe someday I'll make it to Wimbledon and watch the match eating strawberries and cream. And if I do I'll toast a Pimm's drink to my parents - they both loved tennis, loved Wimbledon and loved England.
It's another warm day. Tomorrow will be warmer, into the 90s. We may hit 100 on Sunday.
I really really don't like the hot. It goes against my Viking blood.
We went to a grad party on Saturday at Hermann Heights. It was a nice shindig, with friends and family and ice cream and hot dogs. The grad party in the other gazebo had rented a taco truck for their event. Holy moly, how much do people spend on these things? I never had a grad party when I was finishing high school, and I'm not holding one for my kids. They just seem like a not-so-subtle way to have people give you money. We'll throw a party for G sometime this summer, but nobody will need to bring cash.
I think the heat is increasing my cantankerousness.
During the shindig G and his friends climbed up the Hermann Monument and stood admiring their vast domain. All three of them are going to the same college this fall, plus a few more of G's friends. I'm glad he'll have folks to hang with.
I watered the garden after work in prep for the heat and wind wave tomorrow. And found the first few ripe berries of the season, surrounded by fringes of dill. Yum.
So after I typed this blog and decided on the title, I thought 'Hermann and the Heat' was a fairly good band name. A mix of Herman's Hermits and Canned Heat? Maybe not. Anyway, I searched for the name on YouTube and found something worth listening to on a hot June day.
A garden tour commences. It always looks fairly nice in mid-June before the heat and bugs of July make garden work miserable, and the weeds take full advantage.
Lettuce - Grandma Hadley's romaine in front and loose leaf in back. My lettuce is really behind - I should be harvesting by now. Our spring was very cold and wet.
One of two garlic beds.
Our bed of sunchokes, transplanted last fall.
Gita yard-long and ideal market snap beans in the back, prizm kale in the front.
Cherokee purple tomatoes in the back, California wonder peppers in the front, plus a few marigolds. My peppers are also behind, they should be twice as tall as they are.
Strawberries! We've got one bed of cavendish and three beds of flavorfest.
Marketmore cucumbers in the back and Waltham's butternut squash in the front.
Picotee Cosmos in the back and China asters (UMN seed trial) in the front. And weeds scattered throughout.
Sunburst patty pan squash. I ran out of straw half-way through. We'll see if mulched or un-mulched are more productive.
Dwarf sunflowers (UMN seed trial) in the back, more Waltham butternut squash in the front.
Calendula back left, basil front left, black Krim tomatoes on the right.
And finally, photos of hubby's yesterday project - transplanting some of our golden raspberries. Our old raspberry patch has gotten out of control and filled with brush, thistle and weeds.
He's transplanted 30 young canes to a new area and surrounded them with fabric and wood chips, in hopes to make things easier. We'll cut down the old bed soon. I hope this works!
Not included are a bed of rutgers tomatoes and ailsa craig onions, a bed of jade cross Brussels sprouts and Burpee's golden zucchini, and various other things planted in pots near the front walkway. I've planted a lot of summer squash this year. Last year my zucchini plants withered in the drought and I was totally bummed. I love grilled zucchini. So I'm making up for it with tons of plants this year.
Next week we're getting temps in the high 80's and 90's, so we'll see how things fare. As long as the rains are steady, I'll try to keep up with the weeds.
I've had the itch to make some soap recently. I get the itch several times a year, and over the course of a few days/weeks I crank out 4-5 batches. I make far more than we ever use, so the extras are 'gifted' to unsuspecting family members. They say they enjoy them, but they don't really have a choice now, do they?
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| A large batch of coffee soap from several years ago |
So on Sunday I made soap. Or rather, I tried to make soap. I devised a 5-lb batch using my normal recipe, and was intending to split it into 8 different colors to turn into soap dough (kinda like play-do but used for soap crafting). However, my best laid plays went a-gley.
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| Soap dough gnomes from Sorcery Soap |
Long story short, my lye was old and had lost its efficacy. So the chemical reaction that turns oils and water and lye into soap didn't happen. Of course I didn't realize this until an hour or two into the process, when despite my best efforts at mixing my soap batter it never emulsified.
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| Icky soap batter separation |
To a soap-maker, emulsification is key - it's the point where the chemical reaction kicks into gear and all the base ingredients combine into happy soap soup. But if you get your measurements wrong, or if your ingredients aren't up-to-snuff, then bad things happen.
After Sunday's failure, I was a bit down in the dumps. But I still was feeling the itch. So on Monday I made another batch. And not just any old soap recipe, but something I've never tried before - liquid soap. I found a couple of tutorials on YouTube and decided to give it a go. Our big bottle of store-bought liquid soap was empty, so I figured it was a good time to try.
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| A gelatinous mass of soap batter cooking on the stove |
And it worked! The liquid isn't as clear as it should be, but it's the right pH and it suds well. And most importantly, it cleans well. I scented it with lemon and lemongrass essential oils. It smells heavenly. Homemade liquid soap is thinner than store-bought, but it's fantastic stuff. And I've got enough to last a while. Not too much, however - sorry unsuspecting siblings, no liquid soap for you!
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| Enough to fill my empty bottle |
Poor man's black forest cherry cake. Devil's food cake mix with cherry pie filling and fsssht on top. A yummy ending to a pretty great birthday observed.
Wedge salad with blue cheese dressing, balsamic reduction and bacon pieces. We reduced the balsamic this afternoon. Sooo tasty. My hubby is a fantastic cook.
