outside – Page 3 – monadnock mama

admin / July 13, 2014

lupines

From Miss Rumphius , by Barbara Cooney:

“You must do something to make the world more beautiful.”

“All right,” I say.

But I do not know yet what that can be.

Two things: if you have never read Miss Rumphius , by Barbara Cooney, you are missing out on one of the greatest children’s books of all time; if you have never been to Maine at the end of June when the lupines are in bloom, you are missing out on one of the most beautiful natural wonders of all time.

[Note: These photos were taken at the house my family rents every summer. If you’re interested in visiting Lubec, I highly recommend this rental cottage and you can get more info here. It’s not a 5 star hotel, but it is a true Maine-living experience and you can’t beat the views.]

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admin / July 13, 2014

blooming right now

From “Afternoon on a Hill” by Edna St. Vincent Millay:

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.

Right now we have several types of daylillies in bloom: orange daylily; stella d’oro; and two I don’t know the names of but I think they are of the “carousel princess” variety. We also have shasta daisies, coneflowers (echinacea), and some gloriosa daisies that I think are wildflowers but I leave them alone because they’re pretty. Also, honey bees! [All photos taken with my Nikkor 105mm 2.8D “micro” lens].

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admin / June 27, 2014

garden 2014 // week 3

This update is a couple of days late, but with all the rain and just life being busy in general this is the best I can do. So…the garden has exploded. I’m amazed! Our beans sprouted and are really thriving, which makes me so happy. Pole beans are so satisfying to have in a garden because they grow really fast. Also, I finally got the raspberry bush planted in the ground (it is not exactly thriving, but I still have hope!). I noticed that a bunch of my pepper plants were producing buds already, even though they are not very tall (maybe 10 inches?). I read a bit online about what to do, and several people suggested removing the buds so that the plant would put more energy into growing taller. So, I plucked off all of the buds and I am hoping that the plants will grow some more and then try flowering again later in the summer. If I destroyed my chances to have peppers by meddling with the buds I guess that’s a lesson learned!

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admin / June 18, 2014

garden 2014 // week 2

Two weeks into this garden experiment, and things continue to grow, especially the zucchini! I’m worried that I might not have allotted enough space for it as it’s kind of overpowering the butternut squash. We also got a few new plants this week: a raspberry bush and some heirloom pole beans from my neighbor across the street (thank you, Rebecca!); and a bit of mint that I acquired from the garden at the Primary School. Their mint is completely out of control, so I’m sure it won’t be missed. Having battled a mint infestation at one of our prior homes, my one word of advice is that you should NEVER plant mint outside of a pot, unless you want it everywhere. We also had our first “harvest,” though it was really just a broken chard leaf. I fed it to Zane. (I also sampled the basil — time to make pesto!)

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admin / June 10, 2014

garden 2014 // week 1

I’m pleased to say that, despite the trials and tribulations involved in getting everything set up, our vegetable garden is doing great! We purchased plants that were already started, but even after just a week I can definitely see a difference. Some of them have grown a lot! We have both beds planted now and I’ll include a garden plan in my next post so you can see what we planted and where. I ended up putting some chicken wire over the tops of the plants (I cut holes for them, which was a huge pain) because we have so many free-roaming cats around here (5 of them!). I don’t want any kitties to think my raised beds are their personal toilets. So far it’s working great and the cats haven’t bothered my veggies. If anyone local has the same problem, I have a ton of chicken wire leftover and you’re welcome to have some of it.