We are having a great cherry harvest season here in Wilder! Eve picked them a few times and today she baked not one, but TWO loaves of cherry bread. What’s cherry bread, you ask? Well, I don’t know exactly, but she found a recipe and it’s delicious. It’s sweet and dense and the burst of tart flavor and bright color from the cherries is pure perfection. 🍒
Ever since we built the house we’ve been talking about making in a fenced in backyard for the doggo. This summer Eve worked out the plan, mostly, and talked me in to taking action! Last weekend we bought creeping thyme ground cover and ordered some easy-install wire fencing. The plan was to buy fencing local and do the work last weekend, but we couldn’t find any so we had to order online and wait. So far only one box has arrived, so we put that up and planted ten thyme plants, along with some morning glories that Eve started indoors last month.
The goal is to have a 6′ x 30′-ish fenced in area with low-grow ground covering that’s native and doesn’t need to be mowed. I hope it works out!!
Once the other fencing arrives we’ll put that up. I think we are going to do the ground covering in stages and not tear up the whole back yard right away. In theory the creeping thyme will overpower the grass and spread. We’ll see how that goes!
My little Meyer Lemon tree (aka Oscar!) made a lemon. It’s a cute little thing. I put the plant outside earlier this summer and it was doing very well, but the fruit wasn’t yellowing. Last week the plant got dry and the fruit started yellowing, but also seemed to be shriveling and drying. I watered it really well and today noticed that it looked better and yellow. I squeezed it gently to see if it felt softish or dry, and it came off in my hand! Eve and I were pretty surprised and happy. :)
It wasn’t big enough to do much with, but I squeezed it, sampled it, and put it on fresh avocado. Yum!
Oscar has more buds and one other tiny, green lemon currently growing. As summer comes to an end I’ll bring it back inside for the winter. Hopefully it survives another transition.
Last year Eve came up with the idea for a beautiful wildflower garden. Because we live in an area with shared common grounds, I floated the idea by the neighbors and everyone loved it. Eve, being Eve, went no further with it.
This spring one of the neighbors reached out to Eve and asked if they could work on the garden together, starting with a simpler plan. The neighbor also has a little more garden knowledge than us, or at least a little more garden ambition! She rented a rototiller and the two of them dug up a large patch of land in the side yard. Two weeks later (today), they re-tilled and planted seeds. A few other neighbors came out to join in the fun as well. I popped in and out for moral support and to take pictures. :) Eve wasn’t excited for the hard work and hot sun, but I think she will be excited when the garden starts to grow. I’ll let her get some decorative stuff for it as well, which is the part she really wants. :)
We have been busy with the gardens this summer. Back in April we planted some Hostas and a rose bush, all donated by kind friends. In May we added some Morning Glories to the garden. The goal was that the Morning Glories would fill in the gaps between the Hostas, but instead they took over the garden!
The Hostas got pretty buried and didn’t do much growing. I have faith they grew roots though and will grow bigger next summer! We even got three roses on the tiny new rose bush! I was shocked and thrilled. :)
Last weekend Eve and I decided to add a tree to the collection. The oak tree that the landscapers planted years ago died the first year and we have been thinking about a replacement ever since. Eve started asking for a cherry tree, and I love cherry trees, so we finally got around to making it happen!
We took our Tesla and went to the nursery, joking about who brings a Tesla to buy a tree, other than a Christmas tree, of course :) When we got there, we saw another Tesla in the parking lot. LOL.
We found a Meteor Cherry Tree, the guy bundled up the roots and branches, and slid it right into the car! When we got home Eve went to work digging the hole and planting the tree. She was so confident that I went to the grocery store and let her plant the tree! She did a great job.
She named it George.👆🏻 Laurens supervised.👇🏻
Last week we had a few cold nights and frost took the Morning Glories, so over the weekend Eve decided to clean out the garden. Today we added some mulch and “put the garden to bed.” :)
Eve is a great garden partner (as long as the spiders stay away). We almost got a free Meyer Lemon tree this week too! A lady was giving it away on a local listserve. I have always wanted a Meyer Lemon tree, so I was super excited when I saw it, but someone beat me to it. Oh well. I’ll be happy with George and the sleeping Hostas. :) Mostly I’ll be happy with my awesome green thumb daughter.
We did a little family gardening today. Arlo dug some big holes, my mom bought pansies, and I planted them. I saw Mother Earth planted crocuses around the yard as well. All was good until Arlo decided to keep working. Poor pansies didn’t stand a chance! :/ I brought him in, replanted the flowers, and will now hope for the best
1. Arlo digs holes 2. I plant pansies 3. Arlo unplants pansies 4. Mother Earth plants crocuses
Eve decided to plant her daisies on Daisy’s grave as well. For some reason that whole part of the lawn is a soggy, muddy mess! We planted the seeds anyway, ’cause that’s how we roll.
Planting daisies in the mud.
Now we sit back and hope that the weather cooperates and doesn’t freeze our little flowers and seeds!
Eve and I planted a garden this morning in the backyard. This garden area is now on it’s third incarnation. It started as a veggie garden way back when, then turned into a dirt box for a few years where the kids played with their trucks and dug holes to China, and now it will (maybe) become a beautiful flower garden.
I’m teaching Eve the laziest gardening skills. Last weekend we pulled up as many weeks as we could and used the shovel and rake to level out the space (no more huge mountains and deep lava pits) and loosen up the dirt. Then a week went by and the weeds grew back. This morning we went out again, pulled up more weeds, and planted seeds. During the week Eve had drawn a few plans for the seed planting, based on the heights of the flowers and the angles of the sun, but when we went out this morning she ended up just sprinkling them in loose rows. We’re working with seed packets from last summer, so I don’t know if they’ll even grow! Once all seven types of flowers had been sprinkled about the garden we dumped a giant bag of potting soil (also from last summer) on top and use the rake to spread it all around, destroying any semblance of seed rows we had. Then we sprayed the whole thing with water from the hose. Easy peasy!
I told her we should make a journal and keep track of what we planted and when, but probably we’ll both be too lazy busy to make that really happen. Hopefully nature will cooperate with us and Eve will have her big, beautiful flower garden this summer. If not, maybe I’ll teach her the right way next summer. :)
Eve and I planted cherry pits and popcorn kernels this morning. I will have one very excited girl on my hands if they grow!
I made her wear her boots so she didn't get all dirty before school, and she chose her raincoat over sunscreen. :)
We planted chocolate mint and freesia today. The chocolate mint (repotting, really, Lex and I bought the plants already growing at the Home Depot!) went into an old pot of dirt that had something else growing in it last year. I don’t remember what. For the freesia bulbs I dumped a bag of manure on the wood mulch where our tree came down last year. Then we tucked the little bulbs right in and poured a bottle of water on top. I’m a top-notch expert gardener, have you noticed?
Garden girl
Lex and I packed up and started to move on to something else. Eve sat there for awhile, patting the dirt. Then she said, “Aww… I love these flowers. [brief pause, more patting] I want to hug the cow poop.” How can you not laugh at that girl!?!
We had a busy afternoon today. Alan and Lex worked together to put in the air conditioners while Eve and I did some gardening. I read in a magazine that cats don’t like the smell of lavender, so I thought I’d plant some lavender around the yard and see if that reduced the amount of cat poop we are always cleaning up. I got two packs of seeds awhile ago but failed to read the directions or do anything with them. Then I thought it would be easier and more immediately effective to just buy lavender plants instead of starting from seed. I haven’t made it to a plant store though, so today we decided to just throw the seeds in the ground and see what happens. You are supposed to plant them indoors, wrap them in a plastic bag for awhile (humidity, I presume) and then slowly acclimate them to the outdoors. Or put down some dirt, drop in a few seeds, watch what happens. A total waste of time? We’ll see!
Fresh dirt, seeds...
Water, water, everywhere...
This was her favorite part of the process.
After that I prepped the old iris garden in the back yard, right next to our raised bed garden, and we planted some pumpkin seeds. Also potentially a waste of time. I’ve tried them in the past but we’ve never actually gotten pumpkins. This year they are in their own bed, with more space, and were more properly planted. Once again, we’ll see :) That seems to be my philosophy on gardening. Toss in some seeds and see what happens!
Something that is not a waste of time is our CSA this year. Look at what we had for dinner! Sesame tofu on a bed of romaine, spinach, and tatsoi. Soooo yummy!
One healthy photo per dozen cakes/cookies photos. That's a good balance, right?
The kids are in bed so I’m going to bake some Alaskan Sourdough bread (KAF mix from their overstock sale today!), try hard to stop eating animal crackers (though I’ll probably sample some fresh bread tonight!), and crash. I’m tired! Hoping my voice comes back tomorrow. Eve insists their is a frog stuck in my throat and my voice can’t get out. I love how kids hear expressions and run with them. At some point in time I’m sure she heard someone say “there’s a frog in my throat” and now she thinks the one in my throat is so big the voice can’t get past. Sweet silly girl.