Are you a good cook?

So, although this is a Garden blog, most of my plants are edibles (or produce edibles) so the results of "Are you a good cook?" can be proudly displayed herein:

You Are an Excellent Cook

You're a top cook, but you weren't born that way. It's taken a lot of practice, a lot of experimenting, and a lot of learning. It's likely that you have what it takes to be a top chef, should you have the desire...

Are You A Good Cook?

Diggins' garden

Here are my friends Kate, Nate, and Sara in their veggie patch. Simon was putting the finishing touches on the lovely dinner we ate on their patio while we toured the garden.

The Final Fig Part 2

Yum.

The Final Fig

Here is the final fig of the season from my potted fig tree "Figaro". Sigh. They were sooooo good!

Stung!

After managing to avoid getting bee or wasp stings for a number of years, I got nailed right on the tip of my nose last night! Yikes! It hurt like hell, and I ran into the house and held an ice cube on it for the first few minutes. I worried that my nose would swell up and be into even more of a bulbous protrusion than it already is (actually, I like my nose just fine, I just wanted to say "bulbous protrusion") but I think the ice helped. My upper lip is looking a little like a duck bill, since it's a bit swollen between my nose and lip, and I had real bags under my eyes this morning where some swelling created a saggy skin sac. It isn't severe enough to warrant a photo, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Deck garden

IMG_3596_2.JPG
Originally uploaded by Artemismaria

Here's Mom and I on the last day of her recent visit, having our breakfast in the deck garden. Note the nice Tiki umbrella.

Eight Random Facts

A while ago, my friend Kate "tagged" me for eight random facts. They didn't seem to belong on a Garden Blog, so I put them on my original blog, which hadn't seen much action. Unfortunately, I was tired that night and only got up to 4 (well, 5 if you count the fact that I was tired and decided to finish later). Anyway, Kate, here ya go.

Happy Independence Day!

Here's a flag display in my neighborhood in a cooler season. Today's high was forecast at 99 degrees F and we're in for 104 in the next few days. My evaporative cooler is working like a champ. This photo makes me feel downright chilly. :-)

Fi-ga-ro, Fi-ga-ro, Figarofigarofigaro!

No, not the opera - but my fig "tree". My mom brought me the start from her mammoth fig tree when she last visited, and Figaro has been transplanted a time or two. The next year, F bore one or maybe two delectable fruits. Last year I don't recall how many, if any, there were, since I was busy immersing him in buckets of water to kill an ant colony nesting in the soil and swabbing his leaves with alcohol (later learned I could just scrape it off) to get rid of a nasty scale infestation. I nearly gave up, but this year am being rewarded with a lovely plant and many little figs. Sing it, Figaro!

Urban Farming Part 2

Here's an update on the Urban Farming posting... a photo of the progress... I'm actually a bit amazed at home well their plants are doing since the soil was not amended for so many years and was growing primarily what I call "nasty grass"; the kind that spreads and hooks into any soil it can find. They've got some nice yellow squash ready to harvest (I made my first two zukes into Zucchini Ankara last night), and some cantaloupes look promising (I didn't bother with melons this year), and the other night one of the kids was shouting "Look at this one! It's red! Is it an apple?" so I guess the tomatoes are coming on, too (I ate my first ripe Juliet yesterday). For the first time since starting this garden, I find myself with a bit of competitiveness the next yard over.

Cactus Garden

The centerpiece I brought home from the wedding (on the right) is quite at home with some of my other cacti out on the deck. The one in the middle has a great swirly growth habit.

Desert Garden

Recently, I returned to the Sonoran Desert after an absence of many years. A good friend was married in the Phoenix area, where she grew up. Despite temperatures of 114, I reveled in being among the giant cacti once again. The saguaro is one of my favorite plants of all time.

June rain gives way to more sun

Last week, we had a 30 degree drop in temperature and a *lot* of rain for this area. Here's my deck then... before more of the plants came out of the house.

Island Garden

Originally uploaded by Artemismaria

Who needs Photoshop? Just take a landscape photo with the right light using your cameraphone.

This is my friends' garden path-to-nowhere. A beautiful bay is at the end of the driveway.

Urban Farming Part 1

My neighbors to the east have tilled their *entire* yard and 3 or 4 families have planted there. I told him he had quite the farm going, and he said he was making up for all the years he's been telling me he should do something back there. It's quite a sight to behold...looooooong rows of veggies: tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, corn, etc. I'll post a photo when things get a little bigger. It's a nice view, but the prime sitting spot is directly on the other side of the (chain link) fence (since my catalpa sheds afternoon shade there) so I've got to get my bamboo fence back up soon - for a little privacy and for the hostas planted there - they don't like the morning sun even.

As for the privacy, it won't do much for increasing peace and quiet - at least not when the whole "tribe" (my neighbor's terminology, not mine) is there. At those times, moms and dads are speaking Tongan at the top of their lungs (got to hear over the sound of the roto-tiller, you know) and the kids are riding bikes up and down the driveway, sidewalks and street. Oh, well, the weekday mornings are heavenly, as they're all hard working folks.

I'm glad to see it. Beats the heck out of a weed farm.

seedlings

I love starting seeds. When they first poked their little green heads out, I put them in the sun, and left the tray out on the deck for the warm night. I took this the next morning.

Cones

The blue spruce in the front yard has its first cones! Many years ago, the New Frontiers Natural Food Market was giving away seedlings for Earth Day. My mom and one of my sisters was visiting from the East Coast, and when we went to the market, we each took one home. I grew them in pots and the two lilacs and spruce have now been firmly ensconced in the front yard landscape since '94 or so.

Birds

Lately, birds seem to be everywhere. Sure, there's the usual coming-of-summer chirping in the morning (I love that) but when the neighbors goslings (which I thought were ducks when they appeared after Easter) started growing, there was the sound of their progress across the "lawn" next door when someone came through the gate. (Watch-geese?)

This morning, though, a bird made its presence known to me in a most surprising way.

I decided to forgo my morning caffeine until after I got a few things accomplished, and make my regular latte more of a reward than a habit. It was 8:15 or so, and I was having a much-needed weeding session in the front yard, when suddenly I felt what I thought was a large insect plastering itself to my left arm, right below the elbow. I'm sure by now you realized what happened - a bird crapped on my arm! Yuk! Must have been flying overhead, because by the time I realized it was no insect but rather a hot steamy glop of bird do-do, there was nothing to be seen in the tree overhead or in the sky.

Needless to say, I went into the house and washed my arm twice with Dr. Bronner's, then made my coffee.