Lovely little bloomers . . .

A few photos of the hosta blooms, taken before the wicked heat took hold.

I'm hoping some late blooming buds will still burst forth in defiance.

Enjoy,

Lori Ann

Change is inevitable in a garden

"No two gardens are the same.

No two days are the same in one garden."

Hugh Johnson

A "New" Garden is Unfolding . . .

Soooooo - my last post here was in August of 2015.

Much has changed in life, work AND the garden.

Here's a quick catch up:

December 2015 - I broke my leg while trimming a branch off a tree.

2016 - I spent most of the year healing from 2 surgeries.

(Not too much gardening that year, tho I planted a few tomatoes on a walker!)

2017 - A big year of health challenges for my husband and now
96 year old mother.  

2018 - The beginning of re-working a sorely neglected garden while

still attending to other's health needs.

2019 - the "new" garden is coming along . . . 

She is not like the garden before her, she is maturing, becoming more

peaceful and softer.

(Just as I hope for myself.)

This blog began in 2011. Prior to that (2009) we'd built a lovely "kitchen garden" 
in our backyard. The blog came about as a way to document the garden and 
experiment with recipes using our home grown bounty. (read here).

It was a wonderful time of hard work and tasty dishes!

Across the back of our yard are 8 bald cypress trees. We love them for the 

privacy they afford, but they have grown by leaps and bounds.

The shade they cast over the garden was making it difficult for our

vegetables to remain happy.

In 2017 we made the decision to let the kitchen garden return to the earth.

A crew dismantled the raised beds, took down the fence, re-located gravel and stones
from the path, then leveled the dirt and planted see for grass.

Today, no one would know she was ever there, but I know.
I feel a peace in that area of the yard and am thankful for the bounty she
gave us.

To be continued . . .

(Follow along to see how the "new" garden is shaping up and see where the Basil is now!)

Barefoot and happy as always,

Lori Ann

YUM!

Hello there . . .

Last year I began purchasing micro greens at the local farm markets.

What tasty little morsels they are, little bits so fresh and teeny

they just make you, and your taste buds smile!

I decided to try my hand at growing my own.

After many a web search, I settled on:

Sprout People

(Check out their great website!)

https://sproutpeople.org

Talk about immediate gratification!

Microgreens take only 10-14 days to reach beautiful, yummy maturity.

You can top sandwiches, salads, wraps or any dish with these healthy and fun

GREENS!

In the back ~ "Salad Greens", in the front ~ "Mustard greens" ~ Spicy!

Easily grown in a flower pot right outside the kitchen door!

My favorite lunch:

Trader Joe's Sprouted Rye ~ Toasted

Topped with homemade Hummus, Fresh tomato slice (from the garden of course)

Micro Greens & avocado!

Life is good in a garden . . . 

Lori Ann

sad . . .

Sometimes mother nature is not at her best.

She can give more to some and none to others.

She does not base her giving on merit, but doles out sun, rain

and pestilence willy nilly!

Yet . . . where would we be without her?

We have our bad days too!

More days than not, this is the view out our window

This year due to her "giving" us an overabundance of rain, we've lost

most all the tyme in the stone paths!

Tyme doesn't like it's feet wet, much less totally soaking for days (weeks) on end.

Note these photos of our paths a couple years ago and this week.

For now we will dig out the roots, add more pea gravel and 

re-plant in the spring.

Today . . .

Before

Today . . .

Before

Such is life in a garden . . . 

Lori Ann

Rainy days . . .

"God made rainy days so gardeners could get 

the housework done."

Author unknown

* * *

Ok . . .  so enough already :-)

We've had enough rainy days to clean every inch of our home ~ twice!

Our forecast is rain till Monday, 2 days of sun, then rain again.

The humidity has been very high, temps in the 80's and next week 90's.

The garden is beginning to look (and feel) like a tropical jungle!

Sigh . . .  the challenges of gardening

I still love it so!

The perfect arrangement!

The perfect arrangement ~ looks like dinner to me!

The asparagus is slowing a bit . . .  

but still giving just enough for a lovely dinner!

Happy Day,

Lori Ann

Mother's Gardens . . .

June 3rd. was my mother's 92nd. birthday!

We spent the day with her having lunch , a yummy desert and enjoying her pretty flowers.

Once a gardener . . .  always a gardener!