How Does My Garden Grow?

Well, we're at about the mid-summer stage here, and I can tell you it's been an odd one.   You may have read about the heatwave that has been hitting much of the country, but it didn't arrive here in the Northwest. We're about a month behind where we usually are at this time of year, and our cool, wet spring led to some issues with the fruit crops in our region. 

For my garden, that meant not much in the way of apricots (hurray!); I've managed to make four and seven-eighths jars of of my (ahem) award-winning apricot and orange conserve, as opposed to the potentially endless amount I could make in a normal year.  The squirrels and birds did get a feed since most of the fruit was at the top of the tree where I can't get to it.  In fact, I relied on windfalls to make the conserve.

I am still picking lettuce - this is almost unheard of at the end of July.  And I have only just gotten my broccoli.

Here are a few photos to get you up to date (let me know if you want more, Lynette!):

This is my Coreposis with unidentified butterfly....

And here's my vegie patch.  I currently have pickling cucumbers, regular cucumbers, four kinds of chillies, four kinds of tomatoes, ground cherries, tomatillos, beans, rhubarb, and asparagus.  It sounds a lot more impressive than it is, trust me!

My tomatoes are really struggling.  It simply hasn't been hot enough (although it feels like it today - it's 8pm and it's 90 degrees Fahrenheit).  They have an ugly affliction called leaf curl.  It apparently doesn't affect production, but they just don't look right.  I feel quite sorry for them:

Here's what the front garden is up to.  Those tall things are asters... they weren't supposed to grow quite that tall...



Here are my annuals for the year; two kinds of zinnias.  They were hard to grow in Illinois because the humidity would make them mouldy.  Totally not an issue here!

This is salvia and a type of coneflower I can't quite remember the name of at the moment.

I love what my sedum, grass, and lavender have conspired to do.  The bees and butterflies love it as much as I do!  This is part of the bed I built earlier this year, although these plants were in the ground last year.

And here's my piece de resistance, and one of the major reasons why I garden:



Attack of the Giant Marshmallows

Several weeks ago now (right before I got that stupid cold) it was Great American Backyard Camp Out Day.  It's not an official holiday, or anything; it's designed to get people away from their TVs and computers and, at the very least, outside into their backyards.

We thought this sounded like a good idea, and since we'd just gotten a new sleeping pad for our tent for when we go car camping, we went ahead and set up the tent.  The reason we got a new sleeping pad was because yours truly in particular is just not as comfortable as she used to be sleeping with a couple of centimetres of cushioning between her and the dirt.  I can do it, but if I don't have to (ie when we're car camping), then I'll avoid it.

Daniel came home with what is actually a mattress topper to put on top of a bed's existing mattress to help make it more comfy.  It has a layer of foam, and a layer of latex memory foam-type stuff.  It fitted the tent perfectly!  And it was totally deluxe.  Felt like I was sleeping on a little bit of cloud (or perhaps a marshmallow).  And actually, it was about as comfy as our indoor bed, which is saying something.  Now I'm plotting and scheming a way to build a permament outdoor bed for the summer!  I think it would be lovely to wake up under a shady tree every morning.

So anyhow.  Marshmallows.  Daniel picked up the food for dinner, and came home with a bag of the world's most ginormous marshmallows.

They look like this:

That's a double A battery... these marshmallows are monstrous!  They weigh somewhere around the 30 gram mark.  Each!

There is a camping tradition in the US called smores (as in, "can I have s'more, please").  It involves chocolate, something they call graham crackers, and, of course, marshmallows.

Now, traditionally you're supposed to use Hersheys chocolate.  Have you ever tasted that stuff?  It's grainy, and tastes like a spoonful of sugar that has no redeeming features. Bleccchhh! I really don't recommend it.  We opted (at least, I opted - I can't remember what chocolate Daniel chose) for Lindt dark chocolate and orange.  I guess you could call it a grownup smore, insofar as a smore can ever be grown up.

The next thing you do is toast the marshmallow.  You're supposed to do this over an open fire, but we didn't have one.  We did, however, have the Great Barbecue Behemoth handy:

It is traditional to blow out the flames on your marshmallow...

Then you assemble the smore and eat it...

As much as a I am a fan of sweet things in general, and chocolate in particular, I will warn you that these are quite rich (just in case you want to try them for yourselves).  Let me know if you want me to send you some giant marshmallows (just so you know, they only come in one flavour... sweet.)