Wordless Wednesday

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Lawn Warts/Chainsaw Fantasy

Generally, I am a lover of all things in the garden, but I do have a few pet peeves that just drive me crazy. They are: lawn warts, aka bushes, and rogue plants growing amidst the intended planting. By rogues, I don’t mean the odd weed, or wild flower, I mean. Stuff like an elm with a 2″ truck growing from the root of a diseased rose bush, or, a trumpet vine growing from a forsythia.

Oh man, I had to trim that sucker back so many times last year! Wow, they grow fast, you’d think it’wer kudzu! This year I slacked off and it flowered.
Hummers, where are you?!

this, a pointless privet, invaded by a powdery mildew-infested lilac, which never blooms, and a oak, that came from who knows where, okay, it came from an acorn, but who knows where the acorn came from.

Unsightly to say the least.

Somebody, please tell me why there must be two lawn warts on an undefined pathway to the mailbox, is it so I can stand next to the road, trimming them, while cars trucks hurtle by? Or, is it so the person riding the lawn mower gets to do doughnuts around them? It’s not even on a level plane, for cryin’ out loud!! Can you picture me tilting, squinting, and crouching down, like a golf player, to even those two up! Oy! What a joke!

Count them, two more, smelly, no stinky, (they stink we smell them) boxwoods. They may smell, they may take up space and shade the garden, but at least they don’t require continuous trimming, like the privets.

There’s more but I won’t show them to you, there are a total of seven blobs (privets) pointlessly scattered around the yard, without rhyme or reason. Besides the seven privets, one, which almost resembles a hedge, about 10 feet long,  and the two boxwoods. Do you have any idea how long it takes to trim those with hedge shears, dull ones to boot. Me neither!

I vow, if I ever own a little home, my first landscaping project will be renting a chainsaw to saw down any alien lawn warts!

Is there something in your yard that is a continual nuisance?

Blackberry Season with Recipe

It’s mid July the height of blackberry season.

Berries, like black gold, are a seasonal treat to be savored while they last.

We always manage to eat all the before before we get around to making anything, but if you have a ton of berries to use, a lovely seasonal Blackberry-Apple pie would be a great way to use them! Here’s a Recipe from “Farm Journal’s Best-Ever Pies” cookbook. I haven’t tried it, but their recipes are always spot-on.

Double Pie Crust

2 C. flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 C.  oil

3 Tbsp ice water

Sift or whisk flour and salt. Blend in oil with a fork or pastry blender, sprinkle ice water over the crumbly (sand-like) flour mixture. Form into a ball and divide roughly in half, one half slightly larger for the bottom. Chill. Roll out when ready to use

Blackberry-Apple Pie

3 C. Blackberries

1 C. Tart apples, pared and sliced.

1 C. Sugar

3 Tbsp Quick cooking tapioca (I would substitute corn starch for this)

1/2 Tsp Cinnamon

2 Tbsp butter, chopped.

Mix fruits together. Whisk dry ingredients. Mix  dry ingredients with the fruit. Pour into your pastry shell, dot with the 2 Tbsp of butter. Cover with the top crust and slit for steam to escape.

Bake at 425 for 40 to 50 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling bubbly.

Cool before eating, if you can wait!

MMMM!!!!

Friday Garden Update #9

This week was a a little bit of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Curses on the Charentais melon! Me and the French never got along, seems to be the case with this cantaloupe as well.

Some of my tomato plants are really looking diseased. They can barely hold themselves up.

Still waiting on the Marconi peppers. I’m hoping the turn red soon.

Sheepnose Pimento is almost ripe, such a deep  red color. I’m really excited about these. I’m sure they’re going to be delicious!

Another sugar baby watermelon. This one weighed seven pounds.

The butternut vines all died. These did really well for me last year, but this year they are only 1/3 of their full sized advertised at 3 to 6 pounds each. I only had a few large ones, the average size is just under a pound each. There was no sign of disease of sawdust from the SVB.  I’m guessing it was just not a good year for these. Hopefully next year will be better!

The chiles are going crazy! This weeks harvest was 15 ounces.

This is one of my volunteer sunflowers, at least 20 flowers on this one.  A freak of nature I tell you.  It will be fun to see what next year’s look like, it seems like the variation of yellows is becoming greater and greater.

I am pleased with the hyacinth bean, a big improvement on that ugly brown pole. (With an out-of-service satellite on it.)

The biggest news of the week is that the garden expenses are in the black now!  Total harvest, minus expenses $6.70. Wooohoo!!!

Have a great weekend! TGIF!