In the Garden--For my little friend..

Hey there little friend!

I am Kevin Koi. Welcome to our garden again. I would show you around this time but I'm practicing my swimming right now so feel free to look around. You know the path; just stay on it and you'll be fine. Have fun and come see us again for dinner sometime! You did a GREAT job of feeding me and my family! We were really happy to see you!

This is Sammy's spiderweb. He is sunbathing right now so you probably shouldn't disturb him too much but it is OK to look at his web. There are a lot of spiders in the garden and they do hard work so Sammy deserves a little time in the sun! Your grandma really doesn't like them too much but I think she would like this web. What do you think?

Do you know what these are? Nope, they're not flowers, although they are very colorful like blossoms. They are seed pods; you can ask your grandmother what that means if you don't already know. Aren't they pretty?

Look below the other maple and you will see the baby ferns that were planted today. They are itsy bitsy and your grandma calls them steppable ferns. I think they are very cute; what do you think? I can hardly wait to see them growing all over under the tree; that will be very nice!

Hope you had a good time visiting! Maybe when you come again, you can eat some cherries or blueberries. What is your favorite fruit?

Talk to you later & thanks again for feeding me and my family!

Love, Kevin Koi and the other Koiettes.

Harvest in the NW

Looselead lettuce "Red Fire". As it matures the leaves become-in places-more reddish in tone. This is the 'second growth' of this plant; we had already harvested some off it earlier. EASY to grow; ours was grown in wine barrel halves (see earlier post if interested).

Sweet cherries. You do not want to know how we picked them --- but I just have to tell you anyway. Let me start off by telling you that our cherry is a 4 way supposedly semi-dwarf tree (I am hysterically laughing as I write the word dwarf). Talk about mislabeling --- the tree either has to be a standard or this is the tallest semi-dwarf fruit tree I've ever seen; the rest of our dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees are much smaller in comparison. OK and now to the harvesting of said tree---my hubby took a hoe and pulled on the lower branches and I stood on a ladder and picked them. After we filled a bowl full there are still PLENTY left for high flying birds -- of which are yard has been filled with lately.

For those who may be wondering. A 4 way (hope that is the right word) has 4 different kinds of cherries grafted onto one tree. Ours has Rainier, Bing (I think), and 2 others.We also have a pie cherry that is close to being able to harvest. It's a Montmorency.

Blueberries. Earliblue variety. The first to ripen each year for us; but these are off the one we just planted not too long ago--our other one of this variety is not ready to be picked yet. I cannot say enough good things about blueberries but I have a feeling this year the birds might give me a little competition for ours. Maybe--but they don't know I LOVE my blueberries a little on the tart side so ... we will see:)

More then ready to be harvested--at least in part-is the Swiss chard 'Bright Lights'. I say "in part" because per what I have read you can harvest the outer leaves and the chard will continue to grow more and more until frost. That sounds like a good deal to me for the cost of one plant.

Also I've been using our cilantro and basil for awhile now--may I say YUM again!! It is so great to have fresh herbs; I am really enjoying it! This year it's my goal to make herbal sugar with the lemon verbena and lemon balm, herbal vinegar with the Italian herbs and freeze some of my fav herbs so I will have some to use when winter's rain has made summer just a sweet memory!

What are you harvesting?

Blessings, Aimee

Forgot to mention the yummy gooseberry I are today freshly picked right from one of our bushes. YUM!!! Just like the lemons I used to suck on as a kid (now don't go calling me sourpuss!)

Bird song

One of the sweetest songs in the world was written by God many years ago. May His songs & His grace be with you this day & always.

Blessings,

Aimee

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"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him." Psalms 28:7 KJV

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Photo: One of 'our' bird visitors today.