Garden Goodness

Apple Trees, Apples, Bees, Fermenting, Flowers, garden, garlic, Hibiscus, Peach Tree, Pollinators, Reflections, Sauerkraut, Sunflowers, The Farm, Tomatoes, , , ,

Hello and welcome. Despite having very dry weather, and doing our best to keep things watered, our gardens have flourished.

Blooming Beauties

Right now our hibiscus bushes are the star of the show.

Their large, showy flowers are stunning.

I don’t like to play favorites, but if I had to pick a favorite flower, it would probably be the hibiscus.

This hibiscus that I planted three years ago on my mom’s birthday was just beginning to open on Sunday, August 10, which would have been my mom’s 80th birthday.

Today it was in full bloom. 🙂

Several weeks ago we decided that we needed to rework the memorial garden the we planted this spring. This garden memorializes our parents who have all passed away. The beautiful lupine plants that were planted on either side of the rock were struggling, apparently not getting enough sun. My husband dug them up and planted them in the very sunny prayer garden and they have since developed new growth.

On Saturday, August 9, I visited my sister who wanted to thin her flower beds. My husband and I decided the shade loving hostas would do well in the memorial garden. My sister had just what we were looking for. She was very generous, selecting the large beautiful plants, instead of the ones the deer had eaten. The two light green hostas were one that my husband split before planting. I also brought home a lungwort plant that my husband split and planted (the dark green wilted plants). It looks sad after being transplanted but I read that it will develop new growth and should be fine.

Veggies

Our garden situation is changing daily and some of these photos are about two weeks old. I’ve just fallen behind in my blogging.

The honeybees that moved into our empty hive seem to be doing well.

Bees love squash and pumpkin blossoms.

And this is what can happen when a pumpkin or squash blossom is pollinated. 🙂

A basket of fresh garden goodness. My husband has been bringing home this basket full of veggies every day.

Eggplant, sweet corn, beets, green beans, tomatoes, banana peppers and cucumber were the haul on that day. Many of these vegetables are being eaten fresh. Others are being canned or frozen.

I made four pints of dill relish last week.

On Wednesday my husband and I made a trip to the orchard so I could can some peaches. On Thursday I canned 23 pints of peaches and had a dozen left over for eating fresh. Sunday, I made peach cobbler with five of the fresh ones.

One of our peach trees produced two peaches.

One for my husband and one for me. They were perfectly ripe when I picked them yesterday and so delicious. The orchard peaches, that were picked before they were ripe, were not as sweet as these.

They are not ready yet, but it looks like we will have a great apple crop.

The other thing the bees are enjoying right now are the sunflowers.

But who doesn’t love sunflowers.

This week’s projects include canning tomato juice (I did 6 quarts yesterday), making sauerkraut (I started it fermenting today), and cleaning garlic (tomorrow or Thursday).

Thanks for visiting.

14 thoughts on “Garden Goodness”

  2. I want your energy! Your sunflowers are gorgeous!
    Such a busy time of year when everything needs to be picked from the garden around the same time. You are doing this all so effortlessly. Bravo!

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    1. Thanks, Carol Anne. This has been one of our best years for gardening and we are so thankful for all of the produce. We really are enjoying it. I hope you too are enjoying summer while it lasts.

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    1. Yes, they do remind me of her. Some of the sunflower seeds he planted this year were saved from Teddybear Sunflowers dad had given me. They didn’t stay small like the parent plants were. Some are nearly as tall as our mammoth sunflowers.

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  6. My goodness Ruth – I feel like a sloth next to all your productive activities! Your garden has produced a bounty and will continue to produce from the looks of it. We had rain all day today, so I hope you also got the same gentle rain from dawn to dusk to help your crops and plants. The hibiscus are beautiful indeed and how nice the one planted in honor of your mom began to open on what would have been her 80th birthday. I like hostas and when I had my backyard garden, mine bloomed every year and looked nice and hardy the rest of the non-blooming time. My neighbor gave me some of his August lilies and they took right away and were hardy as well.

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    1. Yes, we still have tomatoes coming in and peppers and eggplant. Squash and pumpkins and apples won’t be ready for a while yet. We did get rain mostly in the morning. It was good everything needed it and the cooler temps will help too.
      I think our hostas will do weel as long as we keep them fenced. Apparently, they are a favorite of deer and chickens.

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      1. You are all set Ruth. Harvest time and Fall … my favorite season – so you can decorate with the pumpkins and then make pie! My high school friend lives in New York and has finally given up on her hostas as the deer love them – she does not have chickens in the mix though. 🙂 She deals with raccoons a lot as she feeds and shelters feral cats and the raccoons (and the deer) eat the cat food.

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