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Friday, May 28, 2010

State of the [Garden] Nation: Late May

I love this time of year. We're full into growing season around here, and things are starting to fill out. I was out for a walk tonight, enjoying the scent of Lilacs in the air. And exciting things start showing up in the produce section.

I wish I was one of those people who naturally loves all fruits and vegetables. I know they are out there, but I'm not one of them. Which is not to say that I don't eat them, just that the list of fruits and vegetables that I really, truly enjoy for their own sake is short. But I found one of them in Pete's Frootique today.

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iPhone photo

These are not local, still too early for that. Not as good as what my parents will be picking from their cherry trees a month from now. But they are juicy and sweet and I will do my best to eat my fill before cherry season wanes.

Out in the garden, things are looking lovely. It's warm enough most days to enjoy being outside, but not silly hot yet. I think I could quite happily live with this weather year round.

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Tuesday, when I was out planting seeds, Frank was doing his best to crawl into my little green basket. I use this basket to carry my seeds, garden gloves, scissors, twine, a bottle of water...all those small, miscellaneous things that I want to have with me out in the garden. I wasn't sure why Frank was so enamored, but I had to pull out the camera. I snapped a shot or two, then zoomed in closer and realized he had dumped my pea seeds all over the ground and was nosing around in them like he thought they might be something good to eat.

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For those of you who have never planted peas, the seeds are literally dried peas. They are often coated in something that turns them pink. I don't actually know what it is - I remember seeing these pink pea seeds when I was a little girl and I've always just accepted that is what they look like. But I wasn't so sure it would be a good idea if Frank were to ingest any of it, so I immediately stopped to pick them all out of the grass.

At this point Zappa joined the party. Obviously there was something interesting going on here and he had to check it out.

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With all this good stuff, there is still more to come. These baby plants are still waiting to be transplanted in their final locations.

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Which is why I love this time of year so much I guess – so much more to look forward to!

4 comments:

the Bag Lady said...

Your flowers look wonderful! I wish I could say the same about my weed-patch. I swear, I only turned my back for a minute - where did all those dandelions come from?

Love the pictures of the cats, too. (I don't know what they coat the peas with in your neck of the woods - I've never seen pink peas!)

Christy said...

I know I sound like a broken record but I love your garden! I have a hard enough time keeping a small front yard and backyard up. I wish I had 1/10 of your gardening skills, looks beautiful!

JavaChick said...

Bag Laydy - Maybe it's a Vesey's thing. I'm pretty sure that's where my dad always got his seeds as well. I picked up a pack of regular peas (these pink ones are Sugar Snap) from a rack in the grocery store and they were green, like plain old dried peas.

Christy - We have a landscaping company that takes care of our lawn and we've asked them to put down new mulch this year as well. It would be hard to keep up if I had to do it all, but I like to have something to do outside, so they do the big stuff and I putter in my gardens which I enjoy.

Sagan said...

I had no idea about the peas- that's cool!

A week ago I got to go to the boyfriend's parents place to help with planting and weeding... it made me miss having a garden. There's something so relaxing and and happy and beautiful about gardening, isn't there?