Thursday 31 July 2014

Can you find the vegetables?

I am not the most committed weeder. I will go full force for a day, feel it in every muscle for the next three, then life gets busy and the weeds set in and before I know it, they've taken over. As proof, here is a picture of my vegetable garden. In it, there are potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, beans, strawberries, zuchinni, and about 5 sad little peppers currently protected by a screen. Can you find any of them?

I spent a couple of hours weeding yesterday. The carnage remains thrown around the outside of the garden to be raked up and dumped, but here are the results. I can now see patches of soil and ended up picking two huge collanders of beans and harvested a zuchinni that was about a foot and a half long!

For the past couple of years I have planted these really neat purple beans. They are called Royal Burgundy. The flowers are very pretty and the beans are a lovely dark purple. They taste just like green beans and after they are boiled in water, they turn green.
Enjoy your day!

Wednesday 30 July 2014

Concerning this weather...

     O.K., I know it is very Canadian to talk about the weather, but seriously folks... it feels like October in the morning when I get up, and again at night, and pretty much throughout the day. We are not lacking in rain. The plants are growing (as well as the weeds) but imagine their delight if the temperature were to go up! Imagine how they would breath a sigh of relief at not having to huddle together to stay warm or brace themselves against the wind. Imagine how excited I would be at wearing something sleeveless.
    Yesterday I popped into a friend's for a quick visit and we sat out on her charming patio surrounded by daylilies and hydrangeas. It was beautiful. And cold. I think I literally shivered, short of teeth chattering, while we talked. She was wearing a sweater!!!  In July!
     I have heard the term Polar Vortex being thrown around to describe our current weather system. Others speak of global warming. All I know is I feel rather cheated out of a summer so far.
     We have a pool. It was a husband do-it-himself project. Yes, he put in his own in-ground pool. (Save that for a later post!). We heat the water using solar panels through which the water runs. This means our pool water heats up if there is sun. We also drag a "solar blanket" (large blue bubble wrap) over the pool at night. But unfortunately lack of sun and extremely chilly temperatures at night have resulted in a refreshingly brisk pool. This is sad. I think we may make better use of one of those nice metal firepits on the pool deck.

one of my favourite dark daylily called "Salieri"

glorious hollyhock catching a fleeting ray of sun







Hope you are having a nice warm day wherever you are, and enjoy a coffee on the porch.

Going for it!

      After being a lurker for quite a while now, I am beginning my own blog. In this light-hearted blog I will share my trials and tribulations with gardening, (both flower and vegetable), inform you about which particular do-it-himself project the husband is currently working on, figure out what's for supper, and tell you how many times I've let the cat out.
      I'm not quite at the half century mark and have accumulated some experience and wisdom (?) in a few areas. I'm a Canadian mom of two teenagers who have turned out to be pretty great kids. I have a full-time career of 25 years. My family and I live in an old brick house in a really small village. We are quite rural, and up until a year ago had a backyard coop of several chickens. The husband also has a career and is pretty confident in doing projects himself, from car work, to general repairs, to renovations. Long-suffering wives of D.I.Y. husbands may enjoy this aspect of "Coffee on the Porch with Me".
      I love growing things and digging in the dirt, and I'm a true believer in the "survival of the fittest" approach to gardening. I've never hired a landscaper or garden designer (perhaps that shows!) and I am happy to share perennials as well as advice. I get an incredible amount of joy from eating, freezing, and canning vegetables that I have grown. My vegetable garden is not pristine, and if bindweed was a cash crop, I'd be independently wealthy.
      I am embarking on the new experience of sending a child off to university this fall, so there may be future posts on that topic as well. Also, my second child is beginning highschool in the fall. Many firsts for our family.
      I am looking forward to learning more about blogging and posting what are hopefully amusing, interesting snippits of my life. So, please join me for a cup of coffee on the porch.

These happy eggs happened accidentally when I was making chocolate zuchinni cake the other day!