Garden Glimpses

An early look at concord grapes

Happy summer, all! Gosh, it's been a while, but I'm happy to get back to the blog. Even more than that, I'm happy that it's garden season again, so prepare yourself for a barrage of garden photos from the crazy plant lady. ;) Here are some glimpses from around the yard.

Bumble bee at work among the chive blossoms

I like gardening - it's a place where I find myself when I need to lose myself. ~ Alice Sebold

Can we discuss how early things seem to be this year? Like the tiny green tomato that's already growing on this plant? Tomatoes are inarguably the most-awaited produce in our garden, so I'm more than excited at the prospect of earlier tomatoes. Of course, I shouldn't count tomatoes before they're ripened... Anyhow, I believe everything is a good week or so early, based on my archived photos of what was blooming 1 year ago.

An explosion of blooms from our rose bush

The rose bush is absolutely monstrous year, like a flower bomb went off. I can almost see the cartoon words "KA-BOOM" when I look at that mass of blossoms every morning. And the roses' spicy fragrance is such a delight to walk by while working in the garden. Here's a recipe for a lovely rose petal jelly, if you would like to find a use for your roses (besides looking pretty, of course.)

Blackberry blossom

What are you growing this year? We've been pretty lucky that several things just came up of their own accord. Lettuce, squash, carrots, dill. Distinguishing carrots seedlings from dill is real fun, let me tell you. I got an impressive sunburn while thinning out that section of the garden. But it's always worth it. Once I cook those carrots with lemon garlic butter, the sunburn will be long forgotten. :) As Rudyard Kipling once said, "Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh, how beautiful,' and sitting in the shade."

Please feel free to share your garden experiences in the comments below!

Thank you for stopping by,

Eva