Blooms

Despite the chilly weather...my flowers are looking good. 

This is a rose that D's grandma planted, and we moved to our house.

The pink blooms welcome visitors at our back door.

This is a gazania bloom.. they fold up if the sun is not shining!

Looks like I am leaning toward pink this year!  :)

~Melinda

Garden's turning green....

Things are looking pretty healthy out in the garden.  A few little tomatoes, and a couple baby zucchinis. If we had a few days of warm sun.... we'd could be harvesting!

I started zinnias from seed back in mid March...First bloom! Yay!

Potatoes catching the last of the evening sun!

Potatoes in the foreground, then onions and leeks, then a few more tomatoes,
swiss chard, tomatillas, and zukes, cukes , cants and Big Mac pumpkins.
Three rows of tomatoes, peppers and zinnias were behind me when I took this pictures.

Sunny mother's day...

Got tons of things planted today... temps were in the high 80's, and I am pretty tuckered out!


Here is the view looking through our ash tree at the bright blue sky.  I was lying on the deck bench, taking a rest.

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!!

Fun app!

Here is a "sketch" version of an apple blossom photo, using my PS Express free app.


I think I like it :)

Getting dirty!

The vegetable gardening is in full swing!


We have planted two rows of Walla Walla sweets, a row of red onions and leeks (first time for leeks!), and three rows of potatoes - red, white and Yukon Gold.  No weeds yet :)


We have four full flats of flowers and more tomatoes than we need that we take out in the morning and bring in at night  Two days ago there was frost on my windshield when I headed out to work at 6:30 a.m.  Brrr!


The days are warm and the spring temps means the flowering trees and the orchards are bright with color and buzzing bees.  


.

The Golden Delicious apples next door are in full bloom!

When you duck into the orchard you can hear the  bees, 

busy doing their pollinating thing!

Later!!

~M

Optimistic!

Post-frost planting time in Selah is the middle of May, so today I started three different kinds of flowers in a little seed-starting kit.  I may order some specific flower seeds from Burpee or Nichols.... but at least I got them started.

The rainbow coleus seeds were TINY - and I know I dropped more than one in each cell.  The cosmos seeds were long....at least half-an-inch and very skinny.  The zinnia seeds were different shapes and sizes, since the seed packet was for a mixed variety. 

They are sitting in a southeastern facing window...waiting for the Selah sunshine to warm them up.

Amazing to think that the gorgeous healthy flower plants I enjoy in the summer come start as such little tiny seeds! 

In a couple weeks I will start two varieties of zucchini and a short-season cantaloup!  Yum!

~M

A frosty few days...

 We have had cold, frosty weather for a while. Almost no difference between day and night temps!

 

Christmas lights are even prettier with the white frost magnifying the light!

Seasons.....

Spent most of today doing our "summer is over" thing in the yard.  A beautiful sunny day... warm enough that I shed my jacket within a few minutes. 

Looking south  - trees still have lots of leaves left!

Such a pretty day! 
Interesting that the one birch on the left and the one behind the weeping birch are still green!

Here is a "before" shot, taken on the walkway to our back door, the end of June.



Here is the "after" shot - four months later - as I load the cart on the right
with the frosted and dying plants from the containers.



Empty and ready to wait through the winter to be replanted.

Nice.

Still looks like summer...

Last year on Sept. 24 the daytime high temp was 60 and the low 38.  This year is got to nearly 90. Missed setting a new record high by one degree!  Zinnias are happy to keep growing!



I am preserving summer by freezing tomato soup...yum!  Found the recipe on SouleMama's blog.

It's hard to tell, but there is a fence in the background.  The birdhouse gourds have taken over half the garden.

They start right behing the zinnias, and have gone up and over the fence, and across the woodpile.  Some of the gourds are as big as basketballls...

WHAT are you going to do with them, you might ask.... hmmm.. not real sure!

Great garden eats

While the nights grow longer and COOLER, the days are still quite warm, and the garden keeps on giving!

We steamed and blanched fresh (white) corn today....YUMMY!  Will be great to take a package of sweet home-grown corn out of the freezer when days are short, and the air is cold.

Today we picked two gigantic bowls of tomatoes, and more just as ripe in the garden. May be making some fancy bruschetta sauce tomorrow...will see...just one more day til I am back at the office, up to my eyeballs in work.

The odd-colored ones are Cherokee Purple....an heirloom that doesn't look that great but is excellent eating.

Sometimes when I am rinsing fruit in the sink, or taking hot jars out of the dishwasher, I think about how different it must have been to can or make jam over a woodstove. I just have to turn on the burner, and I have reliable heat that I can turn up or down as I need it.  I am canning food mostly for fun...certainly we will eat it, but I am not struggling to put up enough food  to feed my family all winter.

summer blooms...

A couple asters brighten up my containers on the back walk... 

Sunflowers - at least 12 ft tall - silhouetted against the evening sky.

Even the hostas take their turn at blooming!



visit comin' up!

Gearing up for a trip to the westside...taking zukes, cukes, potatoes, onions, eggs and homemade cherry jam.... what fun!

Has been a few weeks since we have seen that grandbaby!  Can't wait!  And we get to see our pregnant daughter.... haven't seen that baby bump in too long!!

This unassuming pile are the pieces of a crib skirt, cut out and ready to sew.  :)

I need to get busy!!

Growin' like crazy!

Summer is in full swing in eastern Washington, as you can see by the garden pics. Had potatoes and onions for lunch yesterday..... just minutes after we harvested them!

Sweet corn looking good!

Birdhouse gourd hillls continue to spread like crazy... little gourds are starting to form.

Sunsflowers in the back, leaning to the east, facing the morning sun. 
Zukes in front, mulched with big sheets of cardboard.  Not real attractive, but works!



Found our first tomatoes in the midst of overwhelming foliage!
I am brutally breaking off the suckers.

First potato harvest... yukon gold, reds, and russets.  Tasty!

And use fresh-picked strawberries and raspberries for first jam of the season....

Crushed fruit, lids simmering, and LOTS of sugar!

Four pints - YUMMY!!!

The pectin box had a recipe for jalepeno jelly... think I might get peppers at the farmers' market next week and give it a try!

Sunshine!

It's the fourth of July and it is a beautiful day in Selah! Had lots of fun at a family BBQ yesterday....  as usual, way too much to eat :)  The next generation, Norma's great grandkids, enjoyed the pool and running around in the yard.


One of my gazanias from the Master Gardeners



Geraniums, lobelia, coleus, and a calendula to the right



Walla walla sweet onions - just about ready to harvest



I have FOUR kinds of zucchinis... this is a yellow zucchini, can you tell?  :)

I am pleasantly relaxed and cooled off, after hanging out in the pool for a time.  YAY! 

Had some odd, disjointed thought ramblings, floating around in the pool... among other things, I was thinking about Ree Drummond, aka Pioneer Woman, and how different her life would be if she had not visited her local watering hole that first night she met Marlboro Man.... 

Was thinking how some people take risks, while others chose not to, and how "chance" encounters and decisions put us on wholly different paths than we might have expected.... Nothing we haven't all thought of one time or another.... not sure why it appeared in my thoughts in the pool :)

Lovely day in July

The calendulas I started from seeds are blooming and a gorgeous color!

Sunflowers growing against the garden fence - June 20

Nine days later - June 29 - sunflowers are taller than the fence!

And today I got to spend some time in the pool.....NICE!!