Barefoot Kitchen Witch - In the Garden

In Which My Son Serves Breakfast to a Spider On This Dewdrop Laden Morning

Foggy this morning.  My husband, son and I were all outside this morning, before the sun burned through, checking out all the vegetables and (in my case) admiring all the tiny water droplets that adorned the fernier greens.

 

There were also little patches of dew-laden webs scattered on the lawn and tucked against the fence or the edge of a garden. 

I love things like this.  Love to look closely at the dewdrops strung like jewels along the nearly invisible strands of web. 

It's magical.

Anyway, in one such web I found its architect and builder - a little brown spider tucked toward the back of the web, out of the way, out of sight....

When Hail Strikes

We had hail here a couple of days ago, and while it was really cool from a safe-inside-the-house perspective, the poor plants outside probably didn't enjoy it quite so much.

Especially the ones with the big leaves...

 

 

It's hard to see, but that baby zucchini got hit.  It seems to be okay.  Our butternut squash plant lost a whole stalk or branch or whatever you call it. 

But still, I think everything will be fine. 

I can't help but imagine, though, how horrible it would be to have a working farm and have your crops - your livelihood - battered and broken by a sudden hail storm.  Leafy greens no longer so pretty, so tempting to consumers at the farmers' markets.  I hope our local farmers didn't suffer too much damage.  I'll be checking things out when I go tomorrow.  And if the spinach has some holes, or the mesclun mixes look a bit ragged, I'll be buying them anyway.

Alien Allium

Several weeks ago I noticed a strange new inhabitant in the Rose-of-Sharon Garden.  We have tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths, and larger hyacinths blooming there in the earlier spring, and then peonies, black-eyed-susan, poppies, roses, and I forget what else that comes up as the season progresses.

But this was a different creature.  Growing all alone, straight and tall, right near the Rose of Sharon tree.

It had a single bud at the end of the stalk, and it looked kind of familiar...

As the bud swelled, I realized that it looked an awful lot like the buds on the chives, only bigger.

And once the bud started to open, I was pretty sure we had some kind of ornamental allium.  We just don't know where it came from.

 

But I'm glad it's there.  I wonder if it will re-seed itself....

Broccoli Rabe, Complete

We've harvested (or picked, I guess, since we're not a farm) nearly all of our broccoli rabe. 

It grew so well this year - big and leafy and slow to bolt, until just within the last few days.  We did notice that the rows of rabe plants in front (i.e. the southern row) grew taller and leafier than the rows behind it, and the smaller plants were the ones that suddenly had had enough and decided to bolt.

It all tastes good, though.  I like rabe best sauted in olive oil and garlic, maybe with a sprinkling of grated parmesan on top.  Simple.

   

27 April 2008 (yeah, a week late, practically)

Just some photos I shot last Sunday...

Tulips...

Peony buds...

Bleeding hearts...

Lilacs beginning to open up...

Iris buds peeking out...

Pea tendrils taking hold...

Baby scallions unfolding...

And little baby hops leaves awakening...

Oh...and Julia, too.

Flower Pictures

Yes, I've slacked a bit here.  Tomorrow I hope to rectify that, but I make no promises.

The following pictures were taken about a week ago, give or take.  Of course, just in that short span of time, SO many more buds have bloomed, and I even have som Iris buds out there.  This time of year is such a rush of color.  Every day there's more.

Anyway, first off, on April 16th...not exactly something we've cultivated, but I had to include it.  Alex gave me this when I got back from grocery shopping one day and stuck it in/on my car.  He's such a sweet little boy.

A daffodil right at the start of our front walk...

And another one closer to the house...

  The following day...April 17th...Oh - these aren't flowers, they're vegetables.  Asparagus, to be exact.  They're amazing plants - they grow an inch or more every day once they get going. 

And that daffodil that hadn't yet bloomed on the 16th?

Here she is:

Pretty, huh?

Next day, April 18th, and next up - hyacinths.

The pink ones had already started blooming earlier...and now the darker, purpley ones are blooming...

Those are in the Rose of Sharon garden beside the driveway....

This white one is right beside our front steps.  And it smells heavenly.

 

Oh, and, also in the front yard - the first tulip.

And, last in this batch, lilac buds.

And that's all I've got for now.  Which seems really strange to me.  I must have some still on my camera that I just haven't uploaded yet.

But still.  I really need to get caught up. 

Pansies and Violas - 12 April 2008

And this last one is a portion of the dark blue viola above...enlarged and softened.

   

After the Morning Rain - 12 April 2008

Water droplets on the cherry tree...

Asparagus shoots...

New blueberry leaves...

And all the seedlings in the garden - the main raised bed we use for vegetables.  Along the left and middle column (they're divided by string) are tons of little broccoli rabe plants.  They'll be harvested relatively early, and once they're out, the tomatoes and eggplant and other things will go in. 

But in the left column, we also now have red leaf lettuce, chervil, pak choi, and, I think, arugula.  And green lettuce.  I think that's everything.

And now, around to the front of the house...

Tons and tons of hostas coming up.  I think  I might need to separate them at the end of the season this year.

And finally, in the window box closest to our back door...some creeping thyme...

 

Slowly - 9 April 2008

Maybe I'll get a blossom from this poor accident victim yet.

Pink Hyacinth - 8 April 2008

Bill planted a mix of pink and purple hyacinths last fall - I didn't even remember he'd done it until I saw this one and its neighbors starting to open.