My garden hates me. This is a climbing rose, it’s supposed to climb but it’s actively avoiding everything I’m giving it to climb on. It looks like it’s flinging itself in any direction hoping to escape.
Rose Sky’s the Limit.
Gone to Seed: Roses
Tag: Garden
Mono No Aware: More Butterflies
Mono No Aware: Tomato Jungle
Just a few short weeks ago, the garden was tripping over itself. I used to pluck and trim my tomato plants like Bonsai, but after a few years of awesome tomatoes, I had a run of bad luck: hard tomatoes, yellow leaf disease, spoiled blackbirds who ate but one bite of each. After giving up for a season, I decided to let the plants grow as they pleased and they made themselves a jungle. Now, after the most enormous haul of tomatoes ever, they have given in to exhaustion.
Copyright © 2016 MRStrauss • All rights reserved
Mono No Aware: Azaleas and Rhododendron
In honor of the Japanese appreciation for nature’s transience, I captured some of the azaleas and rhododendrons in my gardens.
A Blueberry Garden Begins
After resting the bed for a year, I added peat moss and 24lbs of soil acidifier to get around a ph of 5.
I had everything laid out and the paper mulch pinned down when a freak windstorm blew it all away.
Everything is in and weighted down. The paper mulch looks weird, but I know I’ll be thankful for it all summer long. I bought the plants from Stark Bro’s. I planted two Misty, two Sunshine Blue, and two Sweetheart. I chose these varieties because they had the biggest zone range around my zone: 7. My concern is, well, the climate around here is changing and some varieties need quite a bit of cold weather and some not at all; sometimes we have mild winters and sometimes we freeze. I’ll probably test the soil again around June. If all goes well, in a few years I’ll have a lot of berries. Of course then I’ll have to figure out how to keep the birds away. I’m hoping that writing about the garden will bring it luck. Silly.
Cucumber
When a small packet of heirloom cucumber seeds turns into this, you need more cucumber ideas. I have quite a few Asian and Greek inspired recipes so I needed something to go with other foods.
This is best made a few hours before serving. Start with this basic recipe and then see how it tastes. I usually end up adding a little more vinegar or sugar. You can also add chopped fresh dill or red pepper flakes for a different take. Or more garlic.
4 cucumbers, skins removed and seeds scooped out, thinly sliced
6 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons good tasting olive oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1 garlic clove, crushed or put through a garlic press
salt to taste
Copyright © 2014 MRStrauss • All rights reserved