Just A Bit of News

 It has been a bit of a blogging drought around here and I have been trying to catch up but haven't been able to quite fit everything in. 

As soon as I can I will get up to speed 

Lots of change and interesting things happening....and unfortunately my Mac bit the dust and I haven't had a chance to replace it, so many of my photos are in limbo right now 

But...all is good and fall is finally here with beautiful cool mornings and a chance to garden again after a scorcher of a summer

We have a new fountain in the parterre garden and the roses have all been moved to new locations because of the changing shade and sun from the large oak trees.  

 Each of the quadrants will have a large pot with a boxwood topiary and then underplanted with hydrangeas.  The surrounding hedges have filled in and seem to be loving the new shaded area.

The canopy has grown so thick that the roses were not all that happy.  A good problem for the oaks but the roses were really "leggy" and not thriving as they should.  Moving roses is not my favorite job but I think I only lost two out of about 30 plants.  I have one bed left to move but it will be easy now that the weather is cooler.

 We decided to add a small dining area in the main living room of the house.  It's small but cozy and I like the big gas station pennants above the old pine table.  

 Two great old chairs from a Maine cottage on the ends and a large Swedish pine bench and an antique plate rack above.

Some how the odd assortment of wicker seems to fit.  Lots of pillows and ticking are just right in this small intimate space.  

 Over the summer I worked on the rear perennial beds.  Sculpting and removing sod and adding more flowers and interesting foliage 

 Throughout the year the beds will have color and new plants and bulbs.

 Apart from the vegetable beds the perennial beds are my favorite part of this garden.  Lots of work but always great rewards.

The lavender acts as a nice backdrop to the new plants and adds height to the beds and I really enjoy the color and interest that the variety of plantings provide.  It is also a never ending supply of things for arranging in little vases.

I hope you are enjoying a lovely fall....my favorite time of the year !!!!

See you soon

xo

The Polished Pebble Garden Gazette: August Issue

Summer is finally taking a bit of a nap...things slow down and it gives us more time to 

enjoy the long days 

and the beauty of all of our hard work in the garden 

For me, 

it means lots of vegetables and fruit 

and

the excitement of beginning to plan for fall

We have had a very mild summer,with below normal temperatures, 

which has made the lettuce crop amazing...the tomato plants however,

 are not so happy

I  direct sow my lettuce either in large 2 ft x 4 ft sections 

or long rows 

It's nice to mix up the plantings to create patterns 

and fun color variety in every bed

This summer I planted little micro greens which are meant to be harvested when they are very tiny...well not quite this tiny, but wow are they tasty in a salad

Salad greens are picked in the morning and washed a few times in the salad spinner.  I only pick what we will be eating in a day or so because the taste of fresh lettuce is unlike anything you can purchased in a supermarket.  It tastes like lettuce...!

  little spaces in between the lettuce beds are the perfect spot

to sneek in a few radish,

which take up a very small amount garden real estate
and grow really quickly 

My favorite radish right now is a beauty called 

de Avignon

easy to grow, tasty 

and very pretty

These sort of look like a potato because they got a bit big

 but the flavor is mild, sweet and tangy

All of the apples are harvested and we had a bumper crop...

the squirrels and raccoons really enjoyed the apples too

I recently purchased a juicer and have been juicing apples every morning...so delicious

and finally after waiting  three long years 

we have our first really nice crop of grapes 

In addition to being wonderful to eat 

they are just beautiful in these long cascading bunches 

This variety is called Niagra and has seeds 

but is wonderful for juicing

When I walk to the grape arbors you can smell the grapes...heavenly

One of the raised beds is full of herbs and edible flowers like nasturtium,

 which you can add to your salad greens for color.  

Nasturtium blossoms are really spicy!

They look pretty trailing over the sides of the stone beds and 

are very easy to grow from seed

Remember the crazy new tomatoes I ordered called "Super Sauce"  

well this is what they look like...they are huge!

I have only picked about 4 tomatoes off the plants this summer, so I'm not so sure about these guys

but the tomatoes are so big that the plants can barely support the weight of the fruit

We also have chives popping up and some really scary hot peppers...

I'm not sure what to do with the peppers yet?  

any ideas?

In preparation for fall I have two old wine barrels, which have been planted 

with butternut squash and Yukon gold potatoes 

These are young spanish onion and I started some garlic too 

which will be ready to harvest next spring

And if you need  a sweet little taste of summer try this recipe 

for strawberry ice cream

printable version

you can make this ice cream with fresh peaches too and it is so seriously good!

Hope you enjoyed this issue 

of 

the polished pebble 

garden gazette

in case you missed the first issue you can read it 

here

happy harvesting