Category Archives: Peach Tree

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.

As May Comes to a Close

Chives, Forsythia, garden, garlic, Lilacs, Peach Tree, Reflections, Strawberries, The Farm

Hello and welcome.

As May comes to a close,

the garden is planted,

the garlic is doing well,

as is the strawberry patch. There are a lot of blossoms, some beginning to turn into berries. We should have strawberries in a week or two. YUM!

The salvia is blossoming,

as is the thyme,

and the chives. Did you know chive blossoms are edible? Learn more here.

The peach trees have many small peaches. too many for this young tree to support. I read that the fruit should be thinned, leaving only one peach every 6 to 8 inches. This will be done soon.

I spent some time over the last two days pruning some of our forsythia and lilac bushes. When we planted the peach trees we put them on the berm where the lilacs and forsythia are. We wanted them on higher ground since the last few years had been extremely wet and we didn’t want them to drown.

I pruned down the lilacs and forsythia that are near the peach trees so the trees will have enough air flow and sunlight.

With hot weather in the forecast early this week we will need to get the pump in the pond so that we are ready to water to gardens if we don’t get enough rain. My husband claims it is my turn to put the pump in the pond so I’ll be sure to take some pictures so I can show you how we use pond water to irrigate our crops.

Thanks for visiting and Happy June. 😀

Spring Bouquet

Cherry Tree, Daffodils, Dandelions, Flowers, Forsythia, Killdeer, Parkinson's Disease, Peach Tree, Pollinators, Prayer Garrden, Reflections, The Farm, Tulips, , , ,

I think it was our first fall at the farm when I planted a bunch of tulip bulbs in the area that has since become our prayer garden. I remember arriving at the farm one morning the following spring and being delighted that several of the tulips were blossoming. They were so pretty. Later that day when we returned for our afternoon walk all of the pretty blossoms were missing and all that remained were the stems and the leaves. I wanted to cry. Thus began our love-hate relationship with deer.

Our First Tulips

After fencing the farm two years ago and then fencing in the prayer garden last year, we thought it might just be safe to plant tulips. We planted 4.

The first one to open was red. I thought this fitting since the red tulip is a symbol for Parkinsons Disease awareness and April is Parkinsons Awareness month.

The yellow one opened one day later.

And a second red one opened today. I expect the last one will open tomorrow. It looks like it will be another red one.

White hyacinth with mini daffodils.

Peach Tree

We planted a peach tree last year and it was doing well this spring

Peach Tree

so, we decided to plant a second one. Both are blossoming. It would be nice to pick a few peaches in August.

Forsythia

Lots of Daffodils
Sweet Cherry Tree

We planted three sweet cherry trees last year.

Sweet Cherry Tree

The above two have nice blossoms. I would be thrilled to pick a handful of sweet cherries this year.

A honeybee enjoying the dandelions. We lost our bees over the winter and decided not to start a new hive this year so it’s nice to know there are still bees in the area.

A wildflower that popped up and I am still trying to identify. If you know what it is, please tell me in the comments section.

My husband found the killdeer sitting on her nest. There are four eggs in the nest. She is very camouflaged. Can you see her? (Look in the foreground.) He marked the area with the yellow flag so we remember to stay away from it.

Thanks for visiting! What’s blossoming in your area?