Pink, White, and Blue, and a Beet

 I bought one more blue petunia on closeout for $1. It's not as pretty as the first one, but it's OK. The planter actually looks decent except for all the surrounding junk.

Last weekend, Jean gave me a yellow beet. Yummers. I ate it earlier in the week, but will share today because I don't have much else right now. I LOVE beet greens. I think they are my favorite cooked greens.

That was part of one meal. Then I had the beet itself for another meal.

This week, Corewell Health was giving out free bags of produce to Seniors. I expected some apples and potatoes, but it was actually great. Corn, cukes, carrots, a few potatoes, spinach and basil. I think they might have come from the community garden. It was all actually fresh, not store packaged. I really appreciate this. The price of food is out of control. I was surprised there was no zucchini. I actually wouldn't mind if someone left a couple in my car!

I was pretty busy today. Edited and then got ready for this weekend's event in Onekama. Had to restock my supply buckets and repack the car. Also needed to finish reading two books because I'll probably be seeing the authors this weekend. The recycling is on the way to the event, so that's all stacked on top of the book tubs to be dropped off first. Have to leave at 7:30 in the morning, so I need to be ready tonight.

Oh, I also made yogurt and some breakfast bars.

See Not Red White and Blue

Will Walk for Vegetables

 I've been trying really hard to walk almost every day, but it's hard to motivate myself to do roads. Also, I'm trying not to drive very far. Today's compromise was that I drove part of the way to a friend's house and then walked there and back to the car.

I went for a few tomatoes, but look what I came home with! Tomorrow... soup.

Neva did not want to be in the picture, but here is a tomoato plant. I'm telling you, there are not many smells better than veggies picked fresh from their plants. She wanted me to take more, but I don't want to get more than I can reasonably eat.

She also has a beautiful row of zinneas.

Moving on to local agriculture. Here's an asparagus field gone to seed. Very common here- lots of asparagus farms.

And more on the ever mysterious passtime of identifying wild asters. These are very similar except the white one has smaller flowers than the blue one. Yes, the second one is light blue. The blue of flowers often doesn't register well with a camera.

The white one is probably Small White Aster, formerly Aster vimineus or Aster racemosus, now Symphyotrichum racemosum. The flowers are larger than Calico Aster and the leaves are different. The stems are smooth and dark purple, and the leaves tend to curl downward at the edges. I'm never sure I'll remember all these details. And... so much for my opinion. The Michigan Herbarium does not show that species in Michigan. Possibly Panicled Aster Symphyotrichum lanceolatum although that one does not seem to have purple stems. I guess if I really care, I'll need to go back with a hand lens and take better pics.

Aster ID is fraught with issues. Decided I would leave my thought process as instructive.

Pretty sure this is Bushy Aster Symphyotrichum dumosum. Anyway, it's a pretty shade of light blue.

You know how it goes. I worked in the morning on projects, then walked in the afternoon. My gardens are being watered right now. I'm sure I won't walk as far tomorrow, but today I did 7 miles. Thankfully, there were patches of shade on some of the roads because it was pretty warm. Oh, and I did a load of laundry.

Miles walked in 2024: 418.2

See Bushy Aster

An Evening with Chuck and Sylvia

Selfies are horrible; we all know this. We took one anyway. I just looked it up and it was almost two years since I last visited Chuck and Sylvia who started out as blogging friends but have turned into real, solid, life-long friends.

Sylvia is like the Energizer Bunny. She is contantly working on things. I won't tell you her age, but she's older than I am, and she keeps a full-size vegetable garden and several flower beds. The evening light made the coneflowers look especially nice.

A patch of sunlight made the marigolds glow.

The zucchini is just temporarily resting before it delivers a few more green bombs. Just kidding... I really like zucchini.

The cherry tomato bush is covered! But you might have to look closely to see them in this small picture. She had already picked the ones that needed harvesting today.

So, Sylvia says this is just a tray of fresh food waiting to be put away. I say it's a work of art. And I can verify that those cherry tomatoes taste better than candy!

Chuck's big news is that he's had an operation that has stopped his essential tremors which were getting very bad. This is huge! We shared a nice dinner- well, they shared, I just ate it! And then we had some time to visit after we ate and did the garden tour.

In the morning, I head for Grand Ledge and the Island Art Fair vendor event.

See Last Visit with Chuck & Sylvia, August 2021

This is Not a Garden

 
I know I said I'm giving up gardening, but I can't resist trying some little gourmet lettuces in jugs. I'll keep them inside until it's warmer and then put on the deck. I can start some more in a couple of weeks and have fresh lettuce all summer (yeah, right. I can hope, though.) I may have to put them in a cage even on the deck given all the wildlife I've seen there. Although so far the rabbits have not been able to climb up there.



In other news: I worked on making notes from the hike journal in the morning, and did things from my work list all afternoon. Crossed off a number of things, but you still can't tell I did anything.

	See How 'Bout that $6 Investment
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Bounty and Generosity

 
I am home from Pennsylvania, and spent the night last night with two of my favorite people, Chuck and Sylvia of Secondary Roads.

One of their favorite things to do is manage a garden each summer, and the amount of produce they produce (nice heteronyms) is amazing.



I love Swiss chard- to eat, to smell, to look at. My contribution to the day was to help pick some of the bounty and provide directions (via friend Irene) for the best way to blanch and freeze the chard.



You don't need to plant a lot of cabbages when they grow to this size! You can see more about the cabbage at House Guest (which beats the heck out of being a barn guest- just kidding, Chuck). By the way, if you go there, look carefully at the second picture and you will discover that this was indeed the 2013 meeting of the Blog-Posting Murderers Fest, as Sylvia is slinking in from the right with a sharp knife.



The edge of the garden has to have marigolds to help hold the insects and the bunnies at bay. It's not shabby that they look great, too.



After Sylvia and I picked a number of things, we divided them up, and look at all the goodness they sent home with me. I won't have to buy food for a week or more.



Thank you, Chuck and Sylvia. You are some of my favorite people, and I would say that whether you give me veggies or not!

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So Far, So Good!

 

Do you remember these two little pumpkin possibilities from June 24?



Guess what they look like now. Pretty awesome, eh?



As Vanilla pointed out, that fence isn't going to do the job very much longer. I'm working on that. We have plenty of fencing for a nice space, adequate for the pumpkins, and maybe a friend or two next year. The problem is, it's buried in some tall grass. Not an easy job to recover. I have one short piece and one long piece pulled out. One more of each to go to complete the rectangle.



I'm terrible about getting things started and not finishing them, but this needs to happen really soon. I have a very full week of work, so it will be a challenge, for sure, and the most difficult piece is yet to be recovered.

So far the only threat has been a robin that landed inside the small circle of fencing and was pecking at the baby leaves. I ran out and chased it away. Sheesh. Am I going to have to buy bird netting for the top, too?

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What's in the Cage?

 
Last fall, I dug up a spot of ground and worked in some compost. Do you remember why? I actually did remember, and made it happen. A bit late, but we just had frost last week! Should be ok.



I planted some seeds for the small, sweet pie pumpkins. I think the cage will keep them safe from rabbits and deer until they get big enough to escape through the wire, and then I'll either remove it or fence a larger area. I have some fencing, but I'd have to fight with it.

Nevertheless, this is my first foray into growing a vegetable for a LOT of years.

	See 1 Hill = X Pies
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