Yesterday was mostly spent catching up in the herb garden. All of the rain lately is really giving the lavender a hard time. The new lavender plants are gone, but I'll try to see if I can revive them. I hate to give up on them. It's already cloudy today- rain will likely start about noon. I have a couple of things I want to get done this morning out there.

I've had a wonderful crop of dill seeds. I'm drying them and will package later in the week in paper- eventually into jars. The fragrance is so great! These can also go nicely into an herb bread. The seeds add more flavor to the bread than just using the dill weed does. I'll work on a recipe that uses these, some dill weed, and some other herbs along with some ground flax seeds.

Some morning glory seeds arrived yesterday. I think these should be started in small pots and be transplanted. Starting seeds directly in the soil seems to be a problem this time of year. It's too hard to tell them from the new weeds that want to grow out there.

It's time to get the gourds started for Fall. And another group of beans into the rotation. Aryanna's carrots are getting taller tops, but are far from being ready to pull. She is always so anxious about her carrots. This year she turns five.

Things that look great in the gardens include the lemon grass, various mints (orange, chocolate, lemon, lime, apple, spearmint), basil (cinnamon, purple ruffle, regular) dill, lemon verbena, lemon balm, vanilla grass- recently divided. Vegetables that are thriving include bell peppers, tomatoes (some of the heirloom varieties are struggling due to their trip here and the rains) and some beans. The sunflower plants are to my waist now.

Better get out there before the rains come today!

Today's activities include feeding the tomatoes, beans and peppers. Feeding the scented geraniums (lower nitrogen for them so they will flower), thinning the mesclun lettuce (field greens) and getting some more bean seeds planted. I want to get some sand to start more scented geraniums - the cuttings root so well in sand.

I'm having a birthday today- mine- but I am hoping for a quiet, noneventful day of gardening. The gardens are begging me to do some work in them. I was greeted today by two beautiful waterlilies that bloomed. The rose garden had plenty of roses for cutting for a party on Saturday-that was great. I also clipped off a large stalk of lavender and cream orchids and multiple sprays of stephanotis. The frequent rains lately have been a mixed blessing. I am noticing some black spot beginnings the roses, so I will need to get on that. The sunflower plants are getting bigger by the day. Some of the herbs in the herb garden need less water than they are getting, so more rain there will not help. I may need to dig a bed up and correct the soil mix with some additives that allows more moisture to drain away.

The butterfly emerged from it's pupa and was gone before I could get a picture of her drying her wings. I missed it! So I have been poking around looking for another, finding nothing yet. I don't even see the caterpillars today but the milkweed plants look ragged so they have been there.

I am cross stitching a "block" for a group project of a friendship quilt for a fellow stitcher that needs to be mailed this week. I also need to get caught up on some mystery stitching that I am signed up for with Chatelaine. So there's never a boring moment here!

Wild week here!

Friday was our daughter's wedding. They have safely arrived in San Fransisco and are having a wonderful time. Some roses from my rose garden were incorporated into the corsages, and some herbs and a couple of four leaf clovers were added to my daughter's bouquet. The rosemary and lavender made it beautifully fragrant. It was a lovely wedding, and they both looked very happy.
I have had a bit of time to get out to the gardens, but not as much as I would have liked. I started some herb cuttings for a friend, did a little weeding (never stops!) and have had some tomato and bell pepper harvests. The sunflowers are about18" high now, the beans plants are about 8" tall. There are many flowers on the tomatoes. I have put in several different varieties- some interesting heirlooms among them. The waterlily continues to put forth flowers- a pink/peach color that is so nice against the deep shiny green leaves. I am timing a burst of roses for a party this coming Saturday. There might be some calla lilies as well. The stephanotis will have plenty of blooms, I think.
The cutting/butterfly garden is popular with the monarchs, we have eggs on the milkweed leaves and we have found a jade green pupa on the underside of a nearby orchid leaf. It is just beginning to become slightly clear today. It is fascinating that the pupa is trimmed in a metallic gold group of beads.
I haven't done any cross stitching this week with all of the other activities. I have plenty to get caught up on!

In the beginning...

Well, everyone else seems to have a blog to keep track of things, so I thought I'd try it too. Here I can track and write about my stitching, gardening, reading and other writings that I am excited about and interested in. So we shall see...