Process of the garden, in pictures

process - a sustained phenomenon or one marked by gradual changes through a series of states

Last night it was taking a while to fall asleep so I opened the photo gallery on my phone and flipped through some recent photos. I realized I really enjoy capturing the process of things - gardening, the construction of our landscape project, cooking, crafting, or how the city looks from the top of our park throughout the seasons. So I thought I'd blog about some of it, using mostly pictures. 

This is my very first garden and I've had this spot planned out since we bought the house 5 years ago. Planning it, watching it grow, and learning along the way has been so gratifying! There's nothing like being able to get your hands into the earth in the early morning and seeing what has transpired overnight. Cultivating the soil, checking for bugs and pest damage and problem solving the issues, the smell of tomato plants and herbs in the air as you water, all of this is really grounding. 

Thoughts and stress float away... as Audrey Hepburn said, 

"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow" 

My giant pile of soil to move

Building and filling

Hey, I grew that! 

planning

planted!

Tiny "California Gold" pepper emerges

The first zucchini bloom

First cucumber bloom! Each flower turns to a vegetable

Yellow Pear Tomatoes getting started

A few weeks in

These are male zucchini flowers, the female flowers have yet to bud

These flowers are edible. You pick them while they are closed and you can stuff them, fry them, or use in salads

Spring mix is starting to grow

As well as butter lettuce

I spy a ripe tomato

First veggies are ready! Learning lots of patience this summer

Painted rocks to trick the squirrels... Have yet to eat one strawberry!

Filling in nicely! Our garden owl keeps birds away

First "Salt and Pepper Cucumber"

Changes as the summer heat takes over. Cilantro died and everything needs extra water. The lettuce needs misting in the afternoon or it wilts and turns bitter

Added new basil plants, hoping to have some late summer pesto!

My petite "Red Robbin" tomato plant. These were stollen by squirrels...

Squirrels eat our first zucchini.... Cayenne pepper is now sprinkled all over our garden and it seems to be working

One very large pepper, just waiting for that "California Gold" color!

Salad mix

First lettuce greens harvest

Nothing like picking your salad greens 10 minutes before dinner! Yay!

Ripe

We love to garden! Happy about the zucchini harvest! 

After cultivating the soil

After cultivating the soil

Grow!

Been thinking about crafting a sign for my garden for a while...

Perfect! My first garden. I'm in love.

Hello, little lady

Minutes after I posted my last blog post, guess who stopped by to check it out? It's startling because all of the sudden there's a bug crawling up my arm or leg and I first want to swat it off but (try to) remember it's my little good luck charm!

Take off

Fairy Gardens

Have you ever seen one in real life? Not a fairy, but a fairy garden! I've come across pins for various miniature and magical looking gardens but I have never seen one in person until I was at the garden store the other day. They are so sweet and whimsical and I feel that they remind you that it's ok to believe in a little magic here and there. As children we run free and so do our imaginations and dreams of magical things. As adults we look to logic and scoff at such whimsey, seeing it as impractical or a waste of our very grown up and very precious time. This is why I love these little enchanted gardens. It brings back that feeling of childhood wonder and amusement in fantastical things!

I really like this one below because it's an edible fairy garden! Wouldn't this make a cute gift? I have one of these "Red Robin" tomato plants and the first ones are just starting to ripen. They are squatty and stout, getting only 12" high at max with small clusters of red fruit. The green mossy looking stuff in the front is some kind of micro thyme or oregano. Neat!

I would love to put one of these in my yard but I think Asher would enjoy dismantling it. Maybe when he's a little older we can do one together!

One Love,

Neely

Strawberry Rocks - I did a pin!

You read that right, folks. I actually did a pin that I found on pinterest! How many of us go on Pinterest and pin all kinds of fun and fascinating things, ultimately creating a HUGE to-do list for ourselves that's delusionally optimistic at best? Pinning is addicting but actually implementing some of the tips and to-do's in real life may be even more addicting! Dare I say... I even challenged myself to doing one pin per day? Haha, it was more of a fleeting thought. Let's not kid ourselves.

I started a garden this year! It was a late start due to the landscaping project we had in the works for May-June. All in all I believe we planted about a month late. Our neighbors have gardens and have given us some samples of their zucchini, chard, chives, basil, cayenne peppers, and tomatoes. Can I just say... I'm jealous! Still, we have things growing slowly and one thing that's growing for sure is a pest problem! Currently we have some kind of black mite that is eating our lettuce and several squirrels that steal and bite on everything else. Naturally I called upon the plethora of knowledge found on Pinterest and here is the result:

Rocks painted to look like strawberries! And what do you know? It works! Mostly... 

Squirrel bites! Those sneaky little pests couldn't help but chomp down! As far as the process, I busted out some acrylic paints and found a few strawberry-shaped-rocks. It took a few coats and some drying time but overall, it worked! I will say that these pretty and juicy looking painted rocks attracted the squirrels instead of deterring them. Therefore, I move them around each morning and do not place them right in the strawberry plant, where it would naturally grow, but more dispersed around them. I found that if placed right by the plant, they give the rocks a nibble and then move right onto the blooms and buds.

I also ordered a garden owl on Amazon to scare squirrels and birds away. Look at his face, it makes me laugh! He gets a new perch every morning to keep the pests on their toes ;)

I don't see any birds around but I do know the squirrels are merely amused by the garden owl. Today I sprayed a solution of biodegradable dish soap and water to get rid of mites on the lettuces. Then I sprinkled cayenne pepper around the plants that the squirrels seem to enjoy most: zucchini (flowers only, as we have yet to get any fruits going before they are stollen), tomatoes, and strawberries (or strawberry rocks) because I have heard they won't go sniffing around near it. We shall see! I don't really know what I'm doing but I'm having fun! Here's hoping some sun, water, and love brings a harvest.