I miss the gardening of the four raised beds (each one 4x12x2) that I built and dug in some years ago and now moving to some pot gardening, yes a double entendre. Have a huge pot in which I'm planning to put a kumquat tree. We already have a mini orchard, huge peach tree, olive tree, lemon tree, lime tree and a grapefruit tree. Gardening pretty much a year round activity here in this part of Mexico except for May when it's too hot. A few pots with herbs and select veggies and the "plan" is to begin in late June. Patience and perseverance pay off, eventually,
What I'd give to be able to have an orchard, Gary! Our humid weather and associated pests do not play nicely in the sandbox with tree fruit. That said, you'll see the edge of a fig tree in one of my photos, also added since our sun exposure shifted. You sound well seasoned. May your efforts be fulfilling! Thanks for the comment.
Thanks, Elizabeth. "Well seasoned." I like that description and have worn it for many seasons. Spices of life make living and all that we cook taste better when we get just the right amounts, not too much, not too little, just right. There's something about gardening that connects us to the earth and to growing that's part of our nature. Why ignore that when it's food for the soul?
Your garden looks and is great and it's going to be a success story... I have my annual garden also and my new crop this year is doing well... two rows of fast growing and blooming half runner green beans....Yum..
Runner beans - drool! That sounds like a great addition. We'll have to check in on harvests, though with my somewhat late start this season, I may not have much to report for a little while yet. Appreciate you being here, Barry, thanks!
Okay, okra does have a reputation and I might laugh at it sometimes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love it. So viva the okra! May it go forth, multiply, and fill the earth with boiled okra smoothie shops!
Okra fist bumps!! Not sure how excited I am about the idea of a boiled okra smoothie, but then I'm not big on any kind of smoothie, so we can just let that be the culprit. What stands out as a favorite okra dish, Switter?
As you surely know, that is also a very popular preparation in the south, clearly with roots in Africa. I love it many ways, but pickled is a winner, as is stewed with fresh tomatoes and corn. Mmm!
Yay! I am happy for you! Gardening is not at all like assembling flat-pack furniture, which is a soul-sucking endeavor. I'm not a farmer and don't actually know all that much about growing things, but I concur that in this realm, patience is a virtue. I just passed six years of living in my current home. When I moved in, I hated the big, scrubby pine in my front yard. I hated how it blocked the light from getting in my front windows. I hated the needles it dropped, killing the grass beneath it and stabbing my bare feet should I try to walk in the yard without shoes. I hated how it sucked up all the water, making it almost impossible to grow anything beneath it. If I could have, I would have cut it down. What a difference six years makes. That tree is home to the squirrels and birds I love to watch through our front window. I've learned what can grow beneath its branches, and I've planted those things. It provides shade that will only be more important as our climate continues to change. And, just this year we killed the grass and have planted all kinds of things more compatible with the tree. Now, I'm so grateful that I figured out how to adapt to the tree, rather than killing it to accommodate my ignorance and fleeting desires. Lessons for more than gardening in your essay today.
Oh, Rita. Thank you for giving that pine tree a chance to develop a relationship with you! What a sweet story. I have no idea what would possess someone to jump right into tree removal as a front line effort at a new home. He'd never spent a summer here, so perhaps he had no concept for how much he would want that shade. He sold the house not long after his high impact, brief ownership. Thankfully, the new owners seem much more conscientious!
By the way, I've been catching up on emails and read your recent piece earlier today. Still formulating a longer response, but the short version is -- brains before brawn. LOL!
I’m glad you reconnected with the simple joy of growing vegetables … for you , at your own pace and scale ! I’ve been a gardener since I was 7 years old, and have had my hands in the soil , growing food , and my deep spiritual connection to the Earth ever since . Through success and failure , gardening has been the one constant in my life - may my body hold up long enough to keep on growing
Melody, I love that you have had your hands in the soil for such a long time (a sign of a true grower, to call it soil rather than dirt!). Funny you mention hoping the body keeps up with the desire. The fencing around our new space is what we could install quickly and hopefully ward off the deer that are so apt to browse here. There is currently no gate, and the upper reaches are constructed with monofilament. So, I'm bending down and weaving my way through to come and go. I just said to my husband this morning that it was gardening yoga! 😅
And catch up I'm sure you will, Prue, but do take all the time you need for a full restoration. I'm [not so] secretly glad you have a whole winter ahead of you so that you are less tempted to jump the gun!
We do have a lovely in-town space here with some room to spread our wings out back. There are houses on both sides, and the back of a commercial building, all in close proximity just not visible in my images. The biggest complication for anything I might want to grow are the roots from all those trees. The silver maples are overachievers in that regard, and they have completely infiltrated my original two raised beds (~20' away). The new space is maybe another 10' further out. It will be a grand experiment to see if that puts it far enough away to avoid similar complications. I am hopeful!
At last, you have found the keys to the comment castle! Lyn, I know it's been an uphill struggle to be able to weigh in here, so big thanks for sticking with it. I have high hopes for this new growing space (double entendre for the win!).
There's something deeply satisfying - and delicious - about growing your own food. Your set up looks perfect and very inspiring if only I could be speeded up in the same way. Here my main issue is squirrels, raccoons and chipmunks. Rather than just eat a whole tomato or bean, they prefer to try one bite of everything ... Or just dig it up. The raised bed now has a mesh "lid" and the few things in pots have their "feet" covered in river stones a tip I read online. So far it's working like a charm! Nothing dug up, rooted out or even bothered with! Fingers crossed. Lovely post. Elizabeth!!
Raccoons and chipmunks not as much, but boy are we plagued with squirrels! About a year ago, our three cats went to the great beyond, one by one, over the course of 18 months. Terrible losses. Since then, the squirrel and rabbit populations have exploded. Not sure what we will do to mitigate that. You'll notice we opted for chicken wire fencing, with the bunnies in mind. Squirrels are a whole other matter, as you well know. Long term, we may have to cage everything in. Or get new cats. LOL! We also have a hardy deer population. This will likely not be my last post on the matter. Thanks for taking time to read and comment, Sue.
Your pictures (one in particular!) have reminded me of a questionable-looking plant which appeared underneath our bird feeder one summer. My parents were having some work done on the house, and one of the builders would always slow down and regard it with suspicious interest every time he walked past it.
Turns out that innocuous hemp whose seeds are found in bird food mixes looks exactly like the real thing... 🤣
Well, they are both the same species. I've visited hemp farms, which announce themselves with that same musky sweetness, reminiscent of some combination of burning leaves and skunk. I am giggling thinking of the builder's thoughts: "Can I harvest this?...will they notice?...are they?...do they?..." What a great story!
I miss the gardening of the four raised beds (each one 4x12x2) that I built and dug in some years ago and now moving to some pot gardening, yes a double entendre. Have a huge pot in which I'm planning to put a kumquat tree. We already have a mini orchard, huge peach tree, olive tree, lemon tree, lime tree and a grapefruit tree. Gardening pretty much a year round activity here in this part of Mexico except for May when it's too hot. A few pots with herbs and select veggies and the "plan" is to begin in late June. Patience and perseverance pay off, eventually,
What I'd give to be able to have an orchard, Gary! Our humid weather and associated pests do not play nicely in the sandbox with tree fruit. That said, you'll see the edge of a fig tree in one of my photos, also added since our sun exposure shifted. You sound well seasoned. May your efforts be fulfilling! Thanks for the comment.
Thanks, Elizabeth. "Well seasoned." I like that description and have worn it for many seasons. Spices of life make living and all that we cook taste better when we get just the right amounts, not too much, not too little, just right. There's something about gardening that connects us to the earth and to growing that's part of our nature. Why ignore that when it's food for the soul?
Your garden looks and is great and it's going to be a success story... I have my annual garden also and my new crop this year is doing well... two rows of fast growing and blooming half runner green beans....Yum..
Runner beans - drool! That sounds like a great addition. We'll have to check in on harvests, though with my somewhat late start this season, I may not have much to report for a little while yet. Appreciate you being here, Barry, thanks!
Okay, okra does have a reputation and I might laugh at it sometimes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love it. So viva the okra! May it go forth, multiply, and fill the earth with boiled okra smoothie shops!
Okra fist bumps!! Not sure how excited I am about the idea of a boiled okra smoothie, but then I'm not big on any kind of smoothie, so we can just let that be the culprit. What stands out as a favorite okra dish, Switter?
Fried okra breaded in cornmeal. I got hooked on it when we lived in Mother Africa.
As you surely know, that is also a very popular preparation in the south, clearly with roots in Africa. I love it many ways, but pickled is a winner, as is stewed with fresh tomatoes and corn. Mmm!
Pickled is always good.
Yay! I am happy for you! Gardening is not at all like assembling flat-pack furniture, which is a soul-sucking endeavor. I'm not a farmer and don't actually know all that much about growing things, but I concur that in this realm, patience is a virtue. I just passed six years of living in my current home. When I moved in, I hated the big, scrubby pine in my front yard. I hated how it blocked the light from getting in my front windows. I hated the needles it dropped, killing the grass beneath it and stabbing my bare feet should I try to walk in the yard without shoes. I hated how it sucked up all the water, making it almost impossible to grow anything beneath it. If I could have, I would have cut it down. What a difference six years makes. That tree is home to the squirrels and birds I love to watch through our front window. I've learned what can grow beneath its branches, and I've planted those things. It provides shade that will only be more important as our climate continues to change. And, just this year we killed the grass and have planted all kinds of things more compatible with the tree. Now, I'm so grateful that I figured out how to adapt to the tree, rather than killing it to accommodate my ignorance and fleeting desires. Lessons for more than gardening in your essay today.
Oh, Rita. Thank you for giving that pine tree a chance to develop a relationship with you! What a sweet story. I have no idea what would possess someone to jump right into tree removal as a front line effort at a new home. He'd never spent a summer here, so perhaps he had no concept for how much he would want that shade. He sold the house not long after his high impact, brief ownership. Thankfully, the new owners seem much more conscientious!
By the way, I've been catching up on emails and read your recent piece earlier today. Still formulating a longer response, but the short version is -- brains before brawn. LOL!
I’m glad you reconnected with the simple joy of growing vegetables … for you , at your own pace and scale ! I’ve been a gardener since I was 7 years old, and have had my hands in the soil , growing food , and my deep spiritual connection to the Earth ever since . Through success and failure , gardening has been the one constant in my life - may my body hold up long enough to keep on growing
Melody, I love that you have had your hands in the soil for such a long time (a sign of a true grower, to call it soil rather than dirt!). Funny you mention hoping the body keeps up with the desire. The fencing around our new space is what we could install quickly and hopefully ward off the deer that are so apt to browse here. There is currently no gate, and the upper reaches are constructed with monofilament. So, I'm bending down and weaving my way through to come and go. I just said to my husband this morning that it was gardening yoga! 😅
What a superb space for gardens.
All that natural form in the trees that surround you and then the space for veg, for flowers, for anything! Golly, the world's your oyster!
I've been watching Chelsea Flower Show 2024 on Britbox and am filled with good intentions. Just need the rest of me to catch up!
And catch up I'm sure you will, Prue, but do take all the time you need for a full restoration. I'm [not so] secretly glad you have a whole winter ahead of you so that you are less tempted to jump the gun!
We do have a lovely in-town space here with some room to spread our wings out back. There are houses on both sides, and the back of a commercial building, all in close proximity just not visible in my images. The biggest complication for anything I might want to grow are the roots from all those trees. The silver maples are overachievers in that regard, and they have completely infiltrated my original two raised beds (~20' away). The new space is maybe another 10' further out. It will be a grand experiment to see if that puts it far enough away to avoid similar complications. I am hopeful!
Thanks for sharing my enthusiasm. :)
Your new garden looks beautiful! I have no doubt your veggie crop will be nutritious and beautiful too. 🩷
At last, you have found the keys to the comment castle! Lyn, I know it's been an uphill struggle to be able to weigh in here, so big thanks for sticking with it. I have high hopes for this new growing space (double entendre for the win!).
Adore the message and so value the time lapse. In more ways than one. 😜😜😜
If only we could move that fast when we wanted to! :) Thanks, Courtney. How's the new job treating you?
There's something deeply satisfying - and delicious - about growing your own food. Your set up looks perfect and very inspiring if only I could be speeded up in the same way. Here my main issue is squirrels, raccoons and chipmunks. Rather than just eat a whole tomato or bean, they prefer to try one bite of everything ... Or just dig it up. The raised bed now has a mesh "lid" and the few things in pots have their "feet" covered in river stones a tip I read online. So far it's working like a charm! Nothing dug up, rooted out or even bothered with! Fingers crossed. Lovely post. Elizabeth!!
Raccoons and chipmunks not as much, but boy are we plagued with squirrels! About a year ago, our three cats went to the great beyond, one by one, over the course of 18 months. Terrible losses. Since then, the squirrel and rabbit populations have exploded. Not sure what we will do to mitigate that. You'll notice we opted for chicken wire fencing, with the bunnies in mind. Squirrels are a whole other matter, as you well know. Long term, we may have to cage everything in. Or get new cats. LOL! We also have a hardy deer population. This will likely not be my last post on the matter. Thanks for taking time to read and comment, Sue.
Love this! I'm so happy for you, Elizabeth!
Your pictures (one in particular!) have reminded me of a questionable-looking plant which appeared underneath our bird feeder one summer. My parents were having some work done on the house, and one of the builders would always slow down and regard it with suspicious interest every time he walked past it.
Turns out that innocuous hemp whose seeds are found in bird food mixes looks exactly like the real thing... 🤣
Well, they are both the same species. I've visited hemp farms, which announce themselves with that same musky sweetness, reminiscent of some combination of burning leaves and skunk. I am giggling thinking of the builder's thoughts: "Can I harvest this?...will they notice?...are they?...do they?..." What a great story!
LOL - he was definitely thinking that - frankly, I’m still surprised that we never found that any of its leaves were missing! 😁
🚭