Working for Food

The rewards for gardening and raising chickens are not commensurate with the efforts, but even so!  For dinner I had stir-fried snow peas, freshly dug new potatoes and beets and deviled eggs with chives. From the beverages list I selected iced tea with honey. Anyone who regularly is lucky enough to taste fresh food will understand why I don't really like to eat out.



The West Border gets morning and afternoon shade. I pulled up a chair under the flowering plum and feasted my eyes on pinks, Sweet William and Siberian Iris. The latter tended to flop over, so I brought them in to enjoy.

These beauties are food for the spirit. I am well fed. Everyone can see that.

Everything's Comin' Up Peonies

It's Showtime!


These peonies are special because I rescued them from bloom-less obscurity in shady locations. They are like Dog Pound neglected mutts that turn out to be prize-winning purebred show winners.
These ones out front grew surprisingly large. The the irises in the background, perfectly showy in their own right, are vainly trying to peek over them. Also, there is a favorite deep blue iris next to it that didn't even have the heart to bloom at all.  I have promised to move it to center stage elsewhere.

Here are some irises that have been given their own space. I love these nearly silver white enormous beauties with ruffled edges.

The cow fence peonies, just popping into bloom, are the May highlight of this almost-formal bed near the road. They had their own featured story in my blog last spring. All but the dark red one, Red Magic, were snatched from a dismal existence down by the outbuildings.

These enormous peonies are next to the cistern. I am currently painting the milk can blue for this season's petunia pot for the front porch. Peonies grow from nothing in early spring to three feet tall and five feet wide.

Blood-red splotches adorn these jumbo blooms on Festiva Maxima. The other white one is Shirley Temple, also fabulous. They like for me to brag about them, especially their exquisite fragrance.

Looking Like a Garden

Things are coming up, looking promising and resembling a real garden. Some early veggies like the usually easy radishes didn't do well on account of perhaps starting to sprout and then not getting enough water. It was all my fault for being insensitive to what was going on underground.

At any rate, the BSS are thriving. That's what my family always calls Black-Seeded Simpson lettuces.

They are a seasonal treat in wilted lettuce salad, with fresh onions. Like morels, some years they aren't available. They are gorgeous.

The potatoes have been hilled and mulched. The broccoli are getting tiny heads. The chives are in bloom. It hurts their feelings if I don't let them blossom, and they are cheery.

The Early Round Dutch Cabbages are heading up, but the Bravos from Harris want to get bigger and it will take them quite a while to get there. The other two are savoys, with their crinkly leaves. Notice how I gave them plenty of room. They also got a feeding of fish fertilizer not long ago. We had good rains last week but I'll give them some cistern water soon. Growing cabbages from seed never fails to amaze me. All that growth from only one seed; it's a miracle.

At last, I got a good-sized chunk of rhubarb root to propagate. I have high hopes it will provide me with many pies next year. It's put on two new leaves since I planted it in compost in the top tier.

The late frost danger will soon be over and I can get the tomato and pepper plants in the ground. Today. I'll get the Long Season Beets planted, a bit late but I was waiting on the seed to arrive, then I had to wait while the ground dried out a bit.

Most of the compost boards have been put up. I have put enough weeds and chicken poop in here to fill it several times, but the nature of compost is it keeps squashing down, making room for more. Even a two-fisted weeder like me can't fill it up.

Gardening is the best entertainment ever, and promotes deep sleep when the sun finally sets.