seed dreams

Inspired by My Farmhouse Kitchen's recent garden endeavors, I decided it was time for me to peruse my favorite online seed store, Renees Garden Seeds, and order the seeds for this year's garden plot. Last year I rented a plot on the local organic community garden, and although we were flooded and the weeds were merciless, I am going to try it out again this year. To read all about last year's and see photos, click here. To make a long story short, the farmer plants rows of organic vegetables, and you are resposible for caring for your piece. You can add your own seeds to your plot if you like.

These are the seeds I am dreaming of. At Renee's Garden Seeds you will find many heirloom and vintage sorts. I LOVE the illustrations, and the photos.

clockwise: saltwater taffy swirls sweet peas, antique perfume delight sweet peas, watermelon sweet peas, easter egg radishes

 

(top to bottom)

left: apricot blush zinnias, heirloom tomatoes, doubleclick cosmos

middle: shirley poppies, cut-and-come-again zinnias

right: bluepoint zinnias, dancing petticoats cosmos

  

 1. samba sunflowers 2. cinderella heirloom pumpkins 3. bandolier sunflowers

Oh yes, I am dreaming of my garden. 

xo country girl

Hot Summer Morning

What a morning. Blue skies, insects humming in the tall grass, butterflies flitting through the air. Even the farm machines look beautiful on days like this. The veggie garden has recovered a bit from the rough hale and thunder storms and I picked a nice fist full of cosmos. Before heading back home, Kiki slipped into the cool river water and swam in circles, snapping at floating leaves. Such a lovely summer day.

where's kiki?

Kiki was playing hide and seek today! Can you spot her?

Step Into My Garden...

"Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed."

-Walt Whitman

I am so pleased with my garden! I have mostly left it alone, and it is doing wonderfully well. Sure, there are lots of weeds and grasses, but they don't bother me. In fact, I think they add a fullness of green, and help to sop up all the rain we've been having. 

The sunflowers recently opened and are absolutely beautiful. I will definitely be sowing these next year again. The great thing is that, because they are from organic seed, I can gather, dry, and save them for next spring. 

I loved seeing these tiny bees, delighting in the dusty pollen of a pink poppy. It's a wonderful feeling to know that the flowers I planted are feeding these hard workers.

And look, the beginning of a pumpkin! So round, plump and golden, covered in rain drops. My favorite plant of all. 

Latest Look at my Veggie Plot

"A garden is evidence of faith. It links us with all the misty figures of the past who also planted and were nourished by the fruits of their planting." -Gladys Taber

What a joy it was to visit my vegetable garden allotment after over a week of rain. Everything has blossomed and flourished. I harvested two heads of lettuce, and tomorrow will go back for some of those gorgeous purple kohlrabi that you see in the middle. My only qualm is that it all ripens at the same time, which means either getting creative with recipes or giving some of the produce away; I'll be doing a little of both. 

In the top photo you can see that I have planted flowers interspersed with the vegetables, because I didn't want any bald patches of earth, and also, blossoms attract helpful winged things for pollination. In the last photo you see nasturtiums intertwining with a pumpkin plant; cool! That's exactly what I wanted!

The ground is really muddy and some of the pepper and tomato plants suffered from so much water, but I think only two plants of mine are looking beat. Other than that, I spied a few tiny beginnings of yellow zucchini, and also small golden pumpkin babies the size of walnuts. It's all very exciting.

I'm Back!

"Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way. Stay away from what might have been, and look at what can be." Marsha Petrie Sue

It's been such a long time since I last wrote, a whole season has come and gone and now it is already Summer! Absolutely gorgeous here, everything green and lush; insects buzzing and birds singing. Here you see the majestic oak I love to visit every day; it's surrounded by blackberry hedges, raspberry canes, and delicious wild strawberries. When we get to this spot, Kiki plops down and rests in it's shade. It's a wonderful tree. 

My veggie plot is coming along well. I have already harvested a fistful of red and white radishes. Lettuce is up next. Slugs ate two of my sunflowers and few of the nasturtiums, but other than that, things are bountiful and thriving. 

"Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet." -Collette

Blue skies today! It's amazing what rays of sun on your face will do to you. After an almost sleepless night of tossing and turning (I even woke up at four in the morning and made warm milk with honey) it was a joy to step outside into the cold but sunny morning. I took a new path in the forest which I'm pretty sure is overgrown in summer; there are advantages to winter time! Kiki chased cawing ravens, and in the woods where it has been so quiet the past few days, there were birds singing. Could it be that they sing because the sun is shining? 

Yesterday we walked with a local woman and her dog, and she told me about the nearby garden of which you can rent a piece for the growing and harvesting season. The farmer enriches the soil, takes good care of it, and plants rows and rows of vegetables and flowers. Each person is then responsible for weeding, watering, and harvesting their piece. It seems like a wonderful idea since we don't have our own garden at the new apartment. There are pieces of garden available for 40 euros, and larger ones for 80 euros. I am definitely going to try to get us a piece!