Garden is producing well

I am really getting a little tired of endless watering and deadheading. It is all I seem to do. The monotony is relieved by the Fig war against the starlings, but Xena is learning the ropes and enjoys climbing the fig tree to stand guard!
The broccoli is producing well and a volunteer squash plant has produced a giant round Zucca. (Can't call it a Zucchini!!!)
Everything looks a little sad and wilty and I suspect the lilies will be done blooming by Saturday which is a shame.
If next summer is like this one, I shall have to install a watering system.

Deadheading

Before I left for Boston my garden greeted visitors with the cheery wave of hundreds of Shasta daisies bobbing in the breeze. On my return I was faced with a sea of dessicated flowers begging to be lopped, that they might bloom again. I never did get around to picking the armfuls of flowers before I left and now I am faced with snipping sad little yellow crowns before they spread their seeds. As I was out in front of the house I had random conversations with passers-by, a great way to spend time. The little old lady who walks round the block started picking seed heads out of my bin. She was after the wild sweet peas. I tried to explain that they were not edible and nor did they have scent, but this was hard as she speaks no English and I recognise nothing of her language. God I love trying to have effective non-verbal conversations with people who speak other languages. It is the ultimate test of common humanity. The mail lady came by and we talked about how many people grow gardens now and how nice it is that people make time for their yards now.
The lilies are glorious, but every one of them is poorly placed in the garden, so I shall have to dig up and move some in the fall.

Wilting in the heat

We had rain on Sunday. Fairly significant too, but now it is Thursday and it has been sunny again for the last couple of days and things are wilting again. My Wisteria has perished, at least in the upper reaches. I now have twigs nicely entwining my trellis instead of a lush canopy. The honey suckle is similarly sad. I suspect they are both in rather poor soil. I do hope the wisteria recovers.
Xena is discovering the great outdoors and loving every moment of it. The peas are finishing and I picked the last of the first lettuce crop today. The next batch is doing well. I also picked my first Zucchini and my first plums. The broccoli has a few heads on. I don't know what will happen when I am away next week. Someone else will have to do the daily picking of the sweet peas so they keep flowering. It is going to be a bumper year for grapes, which is very exciting and the tomatoes are perfect now, but in a week or so I shall be buried in them. The new bed is the perfect spot for them. i think I will try egplants and peppers too next year.
The rose bush by the living room window is amazing. I love the view from the front of my house, now. I never saw it when we had the old wooden shutters up. They were always closed for viewing the TV.
Xena is in her favorite spot, watching the birds at the feeder.

The sun returns

The sun has returned and I had not been as dutiful as I might have been about watering on the cloudy days. Things are looking a little sad, so I got the hoses out for deep watering. I cannot keep up with the jobs to be done and now we have the opportunity to acquire more bricks to finish off the patio. it never ends.
The figs are ripening, the grapes are doing well and the tomatoes are unbelievable. I also have some glorious flowers. I have fuschias everywhere, hardy and otherwise. I love the delicate ballet dancing flowers.
The daisies have taken over parts of the garden as they always do. But they are very pretty. I should pick huge bunches of them and bring them into the house.

A change in the weather

The blistering heat has ended, but there has still been no rain to speak of. My Wisteria is looking sad and I decided it is because its roots extend under the brick patio and had been getting overheated, and very dry. So yesterday I watered the bricks. I am not sure if it has helped. It is a hardy plant and I am sure it will survive. it might just look a little ragged all year. The grape vive is going gang busters however. We will have lots of grapes. I can't keep pace with the sweet peas and the lettuce. The tomatoes are producing enough to consume daily and I have a glut of snap peas. I just wish it would rain hard and for a long time as I am getting very sick of lugging hose pipes around the garden. I am making a mental note of all the tasks to be done in the next twelve months.
1. Install a watering system.
2. Prune trees
3. Plant and Elderberry bush against the fence.
4. Dig out the Lilac and turn the front bed into a rose garden.
5. Rationalise the parking strip.

I found I do have a few apples this year. I thought I had none, but found about four on the tree the other day. The foliage is so thick it is hard to spot them.
I really do need help in managing my home and garden, I can potter around all summer doing small chores - cleaning out cupboards, gardening, washing, making things. I love the pace, but it makes life seem sisyphean.
And then there is the pile of wood in the driveway. it was gone for about 6 months, but now its back and who knows when it will be gone again as the next two weekends are full.

The Hammock

Today I lay in my hammock and watched a cloud dragon drift across the sky. I marveled at the size of the figs on my tree, as well as their sheer number. But I made a not that certain branches will need pruning after the fruit is ripe. We neglected to prune the plum tree this year and although it was laden with blossom in the spring the plums are few. The tree is too heavy with leaf and casts too much shade around it.
It has been ridiculously hot and I need to water some things twice a day. CPR must be administered from the hose pipe in the heat of the day or everything wilts. There are cracks and pops of fireworks resounding about the neighbourhood and I fear the danger of fire is great. Everything is tinder dry. Tomorrow is the fourth and everyone has a cache of illicit fireworks, there will be people on our balcony watching the Lake Union show. It is a reasonable view from here. We will be at the 15 th annual 61st Street parade all afternoon. When it began Rachael and her cohort were the toddlers, now there is a whole new generation coming up.
28 years ago I got married for the first time. Independence Day is always bitter-sweet for me. most people think it's just because I represent the losing side in that particular war, and i have been known to wear black to the parade, but really it is my personal mouring for a hideous mistake.
Life is immeasurably better than it was back then.

Long postponed jobs

This is a time for completing long overdue tasks. yesterday we pulled everything out of the space which I have in the past called the glory hole. if it had been built with the house it might have been called the coal cellar. For us it stores wood and bikes and garden tools. Brad is working on more bookshelves and some of the wood is being used. The remainder will then be put back awaiting the next job.
I have owned two hammocks for a very long time. One was a present from Brazil in 1984, the other we bought in Mexico in 2003. neither had ever been used. Last year I bought a hammock stand at the garden show. So today I put a hammock up on my back lawn and lay in it for a while.
Rachael has been the archetypal teenager and lived in a pit for the last 4 years at least. There have been various attempts to bring order to the havoc, or just to reveal the carpet so it can be vacuumed. She has spent the last week or so sorting out her old life before she moves on to new things. She is going through drawers and shelves and I am sure finding things she has long forgotten about.
So life moves on and one step at a time we get a little order in the chaos that is our lives.
I am becoming utterly absorbed by my book and at times it feels like my life story.

My Quan Yin

One of the photos on the right is my version of Quan Yin, completed during my sabbatical in 2004. She sits on my garden table outside my studio. The Goddess of Compassion is my deity.

Vegetable thinning reaps rewards

Baby parsnips and baby leeks.

The Garden Meditation

First Position

Stand barefoot, with feet together. Breathe in. Straighten and stretch your abdomen. Breathe out. Soften your abdomen while holding it up and in. Breathe in. Tuck your tail. Breathe out. Breathe in. Lift up out of your abdomen. Raise and roll back your shoulders as you breathe out. Be still. Breathe in and as you breathe out travel around your body noticing imbalances. Repeat until you begin to feel yourself succumbing to gravity.
Breathe in. Spread your toes. Draw up your knees with your quads. Breathe out. Breathe in and stretch up out of your pelvis. Breathe out and soften the waist. Breathe in as you expand the chest outwards and upwards, filling the lungs to capacity. Roll back your shoulders as you exhale very slowly, consciously releasing your shoulders and relaxing your arms. Feel the weight of your arms stretching out your shoulders. Stand and breathe slowly and deeply, empty your mind. Yet become aware of your body. Find your center of mass. It will probably be somewhere within the basket of your pelvis, just below your navel. Feel your natural stance.
Spread your toes and feel the equilateral triangle that is your feet.

(Here there is supposed to be a picture, but it didn’t copy over from word)

Focus your weight into the the heels and the balls of your feet. But you need to balance equally between the two heels. The weight should be in the center of each heel. In each foot the weight is distributed between the three points where the sole first touches the ground.
The heels and the little toes form an equilateral triangle and the geometric center of the triangle is situated in the space between your arches.
The goal is to place the center of mass of the body directly over this spot. Visualize the basket of your pelvis. Locate your center of mass and swing the basket till it rests in the right place. Feel your connection to the earth.
Imagine a string attached to the top of your head pullling you upwards. Let it lift your spine as you inhale, lower your shoulders, exhale and soften your entire stance. Arms hang by your side.
You could stay like this forever.

First Meditation

From your standing position look around you for a good place to sit.
You may wish to sit in a chair or on a bench, or you may sit in a cross legged position on the floor.
But first you must walk to the chosen place very slowly. Observe everything that is in your path. Inhale deeply and notice any smells. Focus on a pleasant aroma and inhale its positivity. Smile. Look around you and look for something that appeals to you. Notice its shapes and colours. Look at the way the light falls on it. Look into the shadows. Listen to the sounds of the place, birdsong, airplanes, music, people’s voices, the wind in the trees.
Feel the air on your skin. Feel the temperature of the air, feel the wind in your hair or perhaps the rain wetting your skin.
Walk to the place where you intend to sit and observe it well, inhale the space then as you exhale lower yourself to the sitting position.
Breathe slowly and deeply and try to empty your mind of thoughts. Close your eyes, but see your surroundings in your mind’s eye. Use your other senses to reinforce your vision.
Relax your shoulders, fold your hands softly in your lap and continue breathing deeply. Focus on your breath.
Draw your attention to the muscles of your face. As you inhale feel your smile muscles lifting. The movement should be very subtle. Think about why you chose this spot. Feel its beauty and all that interests you about it. Feel at ease and comfortable. Let the smile slowly deepen with each breath until it would be perceptible to an observer.
So here you are sitting and grinning. Think about what it is that is making you content at this moment.
Maybe it is the warmth of the sun, maybe it is the song of the birds, perhaps the scent of a flower wafting over you on the wind. Maybe you have just eaten something tasty. Enjoy the moment. Open your eyes slowly and look around you.
You can sit for as long as you like. Love the earth and all it produces. Resolve to do all you can do to nurture this space surrounding you.

Enjoying the Sun

Today seemed like a perfect day for lying out on my back lawn, reading. First the Economist cover to cover, then my novel - The 351 Books of Irma Acuri by David Bacu. Highly recommended for all sensual mathematicians. Yes, they do exist. Others would probably enjoy it too, but a warning to the more innocent; it is surprisingly explicit.
I always feel most deeply human when I can be outdoors, scantily clad and barefoot. I love the heat of the pebbles on the soles of my feet, almost impossible to walk on. I love lying in Savasana on the earth. Stretching my spine, feeling the unevenness of the ground. I love the feel of the sun on my skin. I love the fact that I cannot open my eyes without endangering them. My body can totally relax. I particulalry like being on a beach, where the sand slowly and imperceptibly conforms to support your body perfectly. It is also best to have a body of water close by to dunk in and swim.
The one huge omission from my otherwise perfet garden, is a swimming pool.
The only thing wrong with Ballard is that there is nowhere really good to swim.
I have devised a Garden Meditation, which I am still editing and will post shortly.
As I lay soaking up rays I listened to the world around me, but the bird song and bee-buzz, were soon drowned out by the fiendish wail of two stroke engines and the acrid smell of their exhausts masked the sweet perfume of my flowers.
So I retreated inside to update the world on the state of my mind. Just in case anyone cares to listen.
It is a beautiful day here in Seattle, but I am beginning to fret from the lack of rain, and I will fret even more when my water bill comes. I have too many plants to keep alive! Another flaw in the overplanting approach I have to my garden.
Ah well, at least it is chaotically pretty, and my lawn is more like a meadow.

A little patch of European Countriside

I spent an hour watering this morning. This is a lovely summer ritual. As I water I take stock of all the jobs I need to do. Maintaining this little patch of land is a full time job. I shall have to get help. Two of my favorite students are doing yard work this summer so I shall have to get them to come and help me.
We went to see Food Inc last night.
http://www.foodincmovie.com/
This is an amazing and terrifying film. How can we have got ourselves to the point where our food supply is controlled by people who have no care for the earth. They care more for their money and status than for the condition of the earth on which they, like the rest of us, depend for existance. What good is money if the water is polluted and the land is poisoned. It saddens me that it is cheaper for people to feed their families with the empty calories of fast food and supermarket staples, than to feed them carrots and broccoli and pears. I am fortunate that I have enough money that I am not forced to make these choices and can buy farm fresh eggs and fresh produce at the farmers market. I also grow my own vegetables and herbs. I would love to keep chickens, but can't work out where to put them.
My garden is like a little patch of Europe. It is wild and chaotic. I encourage volunteers in my garden. If a plant wants to live in my world I will do my best to nurture it. Sometimes it will be in an inappropriate place and I will be forced to either move it or uproot it. This is particularly true of the multitude of Walnut trees that the squirrels seem to want to grow here.
I love the fact that the current economy is making people plant vegetable gardens. Maybe there is hope for the world. Wal-Mart is starting to stock Organic produce because they see people voting with their check books. We should all top buying stuff that supports the giant food industrial complex and start taking responsibility for what we put into our bodies. I wish those less fortunate than myself could do likewise. Everyone should see the movie. Two magazines are also to be recommended. Ode and Yes!. WE need to educate ourselves in the care of the earth as well as our own bodies.
Plant a garden. Give the surpless to a foodbank. Teach children how to grow things. Take control.

Trying to fix the Comments problem

So I have become distracted from the task of tending my garden by trying to fix my blog. I have fiddled with the templates and changed things but still can't work out how to get it to enable comments. I think I need an actual physical person, who knows what they are doing, here beside me. Any volunteers?
Today was a good day for drying washing but now it looks suspiciously as if it might rain. Time to rush out and rescue the laundry before it gets wet. There is something elemental about washing clothes and hanging them out to dry. Human beings the world over do this, except for those with tumble Dryers!
A Gold Finch has just come to the feeder, I haven't seen him for a while and I missed snapping his portrait.
I didn't water yesterday, and haven't yet today as I keep expecting rain, but it hasn't arrived yet. I planted a few new plants, so they will need attention tonight if nature doesn't oblige. There is much deadheading to be done and flowers to pick, and vegetables. No ripe raspberries yet, but the strawberries are great.
I can lose hours out in my beautiful world, but it is a ridiculous amount of work. I can occupy myself all day out there with little difficulty.
I had to remove some photos as they went wierd when I was trying to fix the templates. So i am putting back the passion flower.

Slideshow will have to wait.

Maybe I shall do a video walking tour of the garden. I posted a bunch of photos at the bottom of the page, to give a sense of the space. I need to rationalize the chaos. I have a lily hiding under my maple tree. I shall have to move a bunch of stuff around in the fall.

First Ripe Tomato

I have my first ripe tomato! I also have some glorious views as I walk around. Slide show will be here shortly. But here is a tomato.
Yesterday I took a bunch of lettuce round to the foodbank. I don't know why I never thought of doing that before.

The Rose Bowl

The daily Rose Bowl in the few seconds before the cat discovers it and tries to dismantle it.
It is perfect gardening weather right now, clouds, showers, sunny intervals. I have some more clear out to do and some annuals to put in the few bald spots.
There are about a dozen sweet pea blossoms which need to come inside. I need to ride round to the foodbank with an armful of lettuce this morning.

Gifts from the garden

Fresh pesto, fresh cilantro, Rhubarb and ginger crumble, all being transported to dinner party tonight. Gave Lois a bunch of lettuce today.
Humming birds are fighting at the feeder. I have my first Rufus.
I have bees still in the garden, but not as many as I would like and no honey bees. I wish I could have a hive.

Meditation on caring for Roses

The more Roses I collect the more I learn about them. I pick a bunch almost daily for my house. When I don't pick I have to dead-head and that is much more of a chore. One of the most profound and simplest joys in life is picking a bunch of perfumed roses. You have to move slowly and carefully lest you prick yourself. They are hard to arrange in a bowl. My roses are old species, not grown for their single blooms on long stems. Those roses tend to be beautiful to look at but have no scent. They fill the house with a sweet presence. The cat loves playing with the petals as they fall and occasionally captures a whole mouthful and runs off with them. I hope rose petals don't hurt her. I shall have to ask the vet.
Every year I acquire a few more Roses. My mother loved Roses. One of the last pictures taken of her is in the Butchardt Gardens in front of a sea of roses. She looks happy. I am dedicating my garden to her memory. She would have loved to sit in it and drink tea.
Roses climb by getting its stems all tangled up. Vines tend to put out tendrils to cling to supports with. Wisteria naturally twists around anything vertical placed next to it. Roses just need something for the first stems to drape themselves on then all subsequent shoots use the parent for support, with a little help from twine and trellises!!!

Heaven for plants

It rained over night and was still misting this morning, mizzling as they say in Lancashire - a cross between a mist and a drizzle.
Now there is a watery looking but fiendishly powerful sun. The plants will love this, but my lettuces will bolt. Lettuce anyone? Call and arrange to pick some up.
I even have one red tomato.
After the rain the honeysuckle is intoxicating. I was trying to prune a dead and unsightly bit, which I can see from my nest in the house and it bugs me. I need a taller ladder and someone to help me. I have learned to sense danger more readily as I have grown older.

For lunch I refreshed some tired Asparagus soup with chives and parsley cut fresh. The roses are demanding my attention, I must answer their siren call.
Ralph described my garden as chaos this morning. It is that. But it is charming chaos!

The start of summer

This is the time of year when I reacquaint myself with the landscape we have been creating for the last 15 years. After a cold winter, a wet spring and then 29 days of non-stop sunshine from the end of may, my garden is blooming. Roses Tumble over the trellis as does a grape vine and Wisteria. jasmine and Honeysuckle cascade over the fence. The sweet smells soothe my soul. It is endless work, deadheading, weeding, pruning, staking and harvesting. I bring in daily bouquets of flowers and daily vegetables and herbs. There are families of Chickadees and Sparrows and Finches.

I have my first ripe tomoato and three pears on my new pear tree.

This is the most beautiful place in the world. My plan is to keep a summer diary of my life with the plants, of recipes I create from what I have grown, photos and perhaps even sketches.