I carried my camera down to the garden shed with me nearly every day this week, and yet there are so few photographs to show for it! I dove fully into the soil back there - almost literally - and had hands too dirt-covered to hardly even pick up that camera. We have spent every waking moment possible in the garden this week - flip flopping work schedules to make the most of daylight hours, going for easy meals, ignoring the laundry, and on and on to get the garden in. And it was worth it - everything that we want to be planted at this point is now tucked safely into their beds. In my attempt to continue growing more of what we eat (along with these kids of mine simultaneously continuing to grow and eat more!), this is our largest garden yet. And this time of year, I am feeling absolutely optimistic and hopeful about keeping up with it all!
I am most excited about our new addition - some leftover cattle panels made into a bit of a hoop house for growing birdhouse gourds, and tiny pumpkins. I'm excited to see that space evolve and hope those vines will grow right up and surround the hoop as I imagine it will.
We finally finished cutting and tying all the poles for pole beans - there were eighty total! And it was just at about the 75th that I realized (gulp) that I bought only bush beans again this year. Bush beans! Again! So bush beans went into the ground in a bed nearby, and I scooted myself out to the nursery for some pole bean seeds - a lot of pole bean seeds. Next year, I swear I'll pay closer attention on that order!
In Annabel's corner of the garden, Harper and Adelaide built her a lovely little fire pit. Because every house needs a place to toast marshmallows, you know. And that's just what they've done a few times - keeping quite busy between helping us in the garden, and feeding their fire, and feeding their bellies.
There is hardly anything coming out of the garden quite yet, but we are making the most of what we do bring in. We decided to let our asparagus grow one more year before cutting (I've read that waiting until year three to cut makes for a healthier plant. We'll see.) So it's just herbs and rhubarb coming in, nettles and dandelions from the yard. We're quite enjoying all that mint tea, and the rhubarb is getting put to some great uses - pie, rhubarb soda, not to mention cocktail hour. You might enjoy this week's favorite garden cocktail too. A Rhubarb Collins of sorts...
1 oz Rhubarb Syrup
2 oz gin
1 oz lemon juice
club soda
Shake syrup, gin, and lemon juice in a shaker filled with ice. Pour over a tall glass of ice. Top with club soda. Yum.
The garden is getting a good long soaking today with the rain that's falling, and we're getting a lovely little break from the work of it too. Though it won't be long before I start itching to get out there again. Oh, the early days of summer in the garden are so good!
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If you're keeping garden notes and photographs and want to share it with the rest of us, do leave a comment with a link so that we may take a stroll through your garden too! It's a delight to see what and how things are growing all over, and to read the comments with such great gardening wisdom! Thank you all for continuing to share in this little project.
