Too Much of a Good Thing

garden, Gardening, Rain, Reflections,

Last week, when I took you all on a little garden tour, our gardens were doing well. We had gotten some much needed rain and did not anticipate having to water anytime soon. Now we have gotten too much rain, and our gardens are suffering .

June 27, 2021

It is called wet wilt. The ground is simply too wet for the plants and they are basically drowning.

June 27, 2021

We have lost significant amounts of tomatoes and peppers and the entire row of green beans. Today we noticed that the cabbage and potatoes have also taken a hit.

June 27, 2021

On June 27th, when we first discovered that we were losing plants, my husband removed all of the straw mulch in order to give the ground an opportunity to dry out and prevent further damage, but with showers and storms adding water to the ground each day there has been no chance of that. We now have about five dry days in the forecast so hopefully the worst is over and all is not lost.

While this is discouraging we must remember –

Do Not Worry
(Matthew 6: 25-34)25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.

As soon as the ground dries up some we will be placing some of the lost plants. My husband was able to find some tomato and pepper plants at a garden center and he also bought more green bean seeds. 🙂

Word Of The Week – Week #25

Reflections, Word of the Week

Hello and Welcome.

Momma keeping an eye on her baby.

Our word of the week is Serendipity.

Merriam Webster defines Serendipity as:

 the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for

Serendipity is a fun word to say (at least in my opinion). I seem to experience this phenomenon often – like spotting the momma deer watching her baby from a distance or witnessing a humming bird playing in the lawn sprinkler. Serendipity makes me smile.

Thanks for reading. 🙂

Early Summer Garden Tour

garden, Gardening, Reflections,

Well summer arrived this week – incognito it seems. It came disguised as spring of all things. It showed up as the rain storms that were absent throughout April and May. They dumped over two inches of rain on us in about 12 hours Sunday and Monday. It also brought cooler temperatures that dipped down into the 40’s in the overnight hours.

The rains returned today and it seems as though we have gotten at least two more inches. If there is any accuracy in the forecast for the next 10 days our drought problems should be over since there are some chances of rain everyday over the next 10.

For some crops. such as our strawberries and blueberries, it’s too late to make a difference but other crops should be served well by the rain.

Shall we take a look around?

The apple trees have some apples, not a bumper crop, (we had several days of frost while the apple trees were blossoming) but hopefully enough for a pie or two.

The blueberries are beginning to ripen. Again this won’t be a bumper crop. I suspect these were impacted by both frost and drought but we are grateful for what we get.

In garden 3, which now has become the puppy playground, these cabbage and onions were some of the first vegetables to be planted. They are doing well.

Also in garden 3 the potatoes (above) were also planted early. They have blossoms.

We also have a row of potatoes in the main garden (above). These were the first to be planted and despite being hit by frost on several days they have flourished.

The above photo was taken as I enter the main garden and look to the north. Sweet corn, pie pumpkins, cantaloupes, tomatoes and three different types of squash are growing in this area.

The photo below is from the same spot looking to the south.

Pumpkins, cucumbers, hot peppers, sweet peppers, eggplant. tomatoes, okra, green beans, beets, swiss chard, and dill are growing on this side of the garden.

We have several varieties of tomatoes. Some have begun to blossom and make fruit.

Jalapeno peppers are starting to bear fruit

as are the bell peppers.

It will be a while before we are picking green beans (above) but just the thought of them makes my mouth water.

We also have sunflowers planted in several areas along the fence, some of which came up as volunteers.

Thanks for joining me for a garden tour. Are you enjoying any home grown produce or looking forward to doing so?

Word of the Week – Week # 24

Reflections, Word of the Week

Hello and Welcome!

Our word this week is humility.

Merriam Webster defines humility as:

 freedom from pride or arrogance : the quality or state of being humble

Like, integrity, humility is a characteristic that I have great respect and admiration for: the person who, when praised, gives credit to those who have supported their efforts: the one who has the strength to say “I was wrong. I am sorry.”: and the individual who truly finds it an honor to serve those in need.

What Other’s Have To Say

A great man is always willing to be little. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 

There’s no need to show off when you know who you are. ~ Maxime Lagacé

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. ~Thomas Merton 

To lead the people, walk behind them. ~ Lao Tzu

Humility will open more doors than arrogance ever will. ~ Zig Ziglar

Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues. ~ Confucius

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels. ~ Augustine of Hippo

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. ~ C. S. Lewis

If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. ~ Mother Teresa

Don’t seek praise. Let your effort speak for itself. ~ Unknown

What The Bible Says

Psalm 25:9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

Proverbs 27:2 Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips.

Romans 12:16  Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Philippians 2:3-4 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Matthew 23:10-12 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Luke 14:11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Thanks for visiting!

It’s Time to Stop and Smell the Roses

Flowers, Gardening, Prayer Garrden, Reflections, Roses

If there is any time of year to literally stop and smell the roses it’s now while the wild roses are blossoming.

Wild roses, unlike their domestic counterparts, give off a lovely fragrance that will even at times drift in he breeze.

Technology, at least to my knowledge, does not allow me to share the that fragrance with you through my blog.

So the best I can do is share some photos.

Our domestic roses, which really don’t have a fragrance, are doing well this year also. This small bush (above) is one of 4 bushes my husband rescued from the nursery/landscape company he worked for two years ago. Had he not brought them home they would have faced certain death.

This larger rose bush (above) has struggled over the years. It was a Mother’s Day gift from my daughters several years ago. It first produced yellow blossoms. After being severely damaged by weather and critters I pruned it way down. It then began producing red flowers. Apparently the yellow rose had been grafted on a red rose bush and it was only the original red rose that survived. This year it is producing more flowers than ever before.

Next to that is a low growing rose bush that I have had to keep pruned because it wants to spread everywhere. I don’t know the name of this type of rose but it is very hardy. It too is loaded with red buds and blossoms.

Low growing mini rose bush (above).

My peony began to blossom last week. I think it was the most beautiful peony I have ever seen.

It may have been the stark contrast of the bold pink flowers set against all of the purples and greens that made it look so beautiful, or it may have been that I planted this peony in 2019 in memory of my Aunt Shirley who passed away that year and this was the first time it has blossomed since it was planted.

It has brought back many fond memories of her.

I had read that deer normally won’t eat peonies so I felt that it was safe to leave it uncaged. I guess the deer in our neighborhood are not normal.

Those bright pink globe-like flowers were apparently irresistible to them. There are still two small buds that have yet to open so the peony will remain caged until it is done blossoming.

While the irises are finished blossoming the thyme and salvia are both in full bloom and attracting the bees and other pollinators. The lavender is getting ready to open. I expect by this time next week it will be in full bloom.

We added some creeping phlox along the new rock boarder. We chose three different shades of pink . They have already begun to spread so hopefully by next spring they will have filled in much of that area.

Not everything gets planted in the prayer garden though. I planted four chamomile plants amongst some wild flowers and they seem quite happy.

While their flowers look similar to chamomile these are wild daisies that have made their home amongst my marshmallow plants this year.

Last but least I’d like to introduce you to Mari the pig. I’m not exactly sure how Mari came to live on our farm. My husband picked her up somewhere in his travels and she fits in quite well at the farm.

I can, however, tell you how Mari got her name. Several weeks ago when I went to plant our porch pots I discovered a plant had started growing in one of the pots. It looked like a petunia so I figured a petunia from last year had dropped a seed there and it sprouted. Since I needed to work that soil in order to put in the plants that I had bought I decided to plant the petunia in the pig planter. I then named the pig Petunia.

Over the weeks we have been watering the petunia and watching it grow while waiting for it to begin to blossom. Last week while looking at it I told my husband that it was looking more like calendula, also know as pot marigold, than a petunia. A few days ago when I took the above photo I noticed that a calendula bud was beginning to form on the plant. I told my husband that I was renaming the pig Mari(gold).

Thanks for visiting and remember to make it a great day! 🙂