Sunday, June 13, 2010

Farm and Garden Weekly - Week of June 6

This old sidewalk has never been touched since we moved here in 1981. It is rather like our version of living in Italy. I think some people pay the big bucks to have such antiquity in their gardens. :<)

Looking down from terrace
Looking up to terrace

This week we planted the last of the vegetables - summer squash and yellow beans. We also put the dahlias in one of the raised beds. We haven't planted them for two summers so I hope they come up. I bought some cosmos plants and will put them in this week. They are the only annuals I plant now. I used to buy others but they were almost always disappointing. They either didn't grow tall enough or soon enough on my cool hilltop, but cosmos never let me down.

There is still a lot of bird life going on at Windy Poplars. The wild turkey babies are out and about, walking with the mothers out in the north pasture. I think their nests must be in the adjacent woods. Also one day I saw a tom turkey just lying down on a big rock. I guess birds need to rest sometimes too.

I also saw the new crow babies high up in the birch trees. I love their young voices.

I put the camera inside the Dutchman's pipe, and got this shot of the robin eggs. Isn't 'robin's egg blue' just the most wonderful color?!


The peonies are almost open.

This coming week they should be gorgeous. The weather has been quite cool and cloudy and I think it slowed them down a bit. Query (to quote the Provincial Lady): how do you know someone lives in northern New England? Answer: She lights the woodstove on a June day.

The Rosa rugosas along the fence are in full bloom.

The poppies are just amazing. They have this rather surreal look in every picture I take.

The lettuce is ready to eat,

as are the garlic scapes

And scallions

We had them for supper tonight sautéed in olive oil and served over spaghetti. Delicious!

The lupines are still the shining stars of the garden.

19 comments:

  1. Jan, I love your sidewalk. Would like one like it through my garden.
    Your pictures are wonderful and I am envious of your poppies. I have never been able to grow them:)

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  2. I just love your garden. I would like to stroll down your Italian Pathway and sit on the terrace with you, chat about the garden and the kids etc. Those lupines are gorgeous too.

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  3. We were just commenting on the fact that we have to harvest our scapes. Our poppies are finished but they were glorious, and Robin's egg blue?...there is simply nothing prettier.
    Needless to say, loved your post :)

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  4. a friend was just talking about cooking up some garlic scapes she got at a farmer's coop she belongs to - sounds yummy. I think if I start my garden in Spring next year instead of the very pathetic handful of herbs and tomato plants in pots from the Stop & Shop a week ago...sigh... I would like to grow them.

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  5. What gorgeous colors at your farm this week! Thanks for the photos.

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  6. Oh Nan you farm has just come to life in a big way! Thanks for sharing all these lovely photos! Sometimes I really miss our farm. Enjoy! I love those robin eggs in the nest!!

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  7. Beautiful, Nan. I love the lupines best, of course. Yours have such lovely color and I'm not used to seeing the magenta color to them.

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  8. I can't even believe that those robin's eggs are real!!!!! The color is so stunning! How exciting. Thanks for sharing this picture!

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  9. Very nice, Nan. I, too, love the blue color of those eggs.

    What sort of fertilizer do you use for your veggies?

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  10. Beautiful, just beautiful! I've always had a thing for slightly neglected-looking old places, and that old sidewalk of yours is just the right kind.

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  11. Oh, Nan! Your garden looks so lovely this week. I love the stone sidewalk! And yes, the robin eggs are the most beautiful color. Wouldn't a bedroom look pretty in that blue? I only have one peony bush and it has white flowers. Not my favorite. I should plant more (in pinks and reds). And I love the color of the Rosa rugosas!

    Now that my garden has been planted (I spent 6 hours putting in annuals and perennials yesterday!), I'll get some photos to share. You've inspired me!

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  12. First, I just want to say how very much I love your visits to my blog, and that you take the time to leave me a note is an utter delight!

    Ernestine, I couldn't grow them for years and years, and then I got some and they grew! Keep trying!

    Lisa, what a nice idea! Come ahead. I'll have a cosmo ready for you. :<)

    Niki, scapes are a wonder to me! Such a surprising little treat. Thank you so much.

    Susan, you can plant the garlic in the fall and not have to wait till next spring! They stay in the ground all winter and burst out in the spring.

    JoAnn, I do so appreciate all those flowers. They are all so bright and cheery even on the cloudiest day.

    Sherri, isn't the color so, so amazing. I couldn't see the eggs until I saw the picture and I was wowed by the color. I just held the camera over the nest. :<)

    Kay, I have purple, magenta, and pink. They are just so lovely all together on the north slope.

    Laura, I was so lucky to be able to get it. I've never seen anything like that color.

    Gigi, we use the manure that has accumulated over the past year so that it is well-rotted. It is manure from chickens, sheep, goats, and donkey.

    Librarian, then you would like this house as well! :<) Though we are planning some interior work this summer.

    Les, I have only a few white peonies and I adore them. Do you remember the Donald Hall poem? I plan to put up a link to it when my peonies are all out. You left comments on it three years ago:

    http://lettersfromahillfarm.blogspot.
    com/2007/06/todays-poem-by-donald-hall.html

    I'm so pleased to have 'inspired' you! I am really more of a garden appreciator than a gardener. :<)

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  13. Thank you, Hannah! I so love the colors.

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  14. Every picture here made me stop and enjoy. The Robin's egg blue is so amazing. I'd love to have some yarn that color to make - I don't know what. Just to have.

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  15. You make every photo look so inviting! Love your farm and garden tour! Love the nest and robin eggs! Love the 'Italian' path and will imagine with you!
    Love the flowers and the gardens!
    Thanks for the visit!
    Joanne
    P.S.Shared your blog with another friend last evening and you will have yet another visitor to your great and interesting blog with the comprehensive blog roll!
    Thanks again!~J

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  16. Margot, I don't knit but I so love looking at yarn in shops. It feels like art to me with all the colors together.

    Joanne, I'm so pleased you enjoyed the weekly report. It's been good for both Tom and I to keep track of goings-on in the natural world around us. Thank you for your kind, kind words.

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  17. Oh, Nan, you make me want to move Nawth again! The colors, the dewyness, the flowers, the vegetables . . . It just isn't the same here in the tropics.

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  18. J.G., I'm sure there are compensations! Like the book I recently read that mentioned there were almost 300 growing days on this island off South Carolina! Amazing. But I am truly a northern girl.

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