yum!

garden of love

I admit it....

it's true I've been at the beach since July.....I apologize for my blog neglect but honestly it was a beautiful summer. I'm just not ready to let it go. Don't get me wrong, I love autumn. Ask anyone I am at my best in a warm sweater, sipping hot toddie, crunching through fallen leaves... but as for now I'm soaking up the very last bit of summer. I'll keep you updated.

Wowza.

That's a word I learned from Stanley my first boss on Martha's Vineyard. I worked for him at the Menemsha Fishmarket, slinging lobsters and clam chowder. It is an quiet little fishmarket right on the docks of Menemsha. So beautiful. Stanley's fish market is first on the strip but it's not the only fishmarket- so to entice business he'll put up signs that say, "Wowza!" and "Lobsterzilla". 
Who could pass up that. Silly but still, upon waking up this fine Sunday it was the first thing I thought, Wowza! look at that. I am so proud of it like it just had it's frist day of high school. It's getting exciting now! All sorts of goodies, plenty to share. Our tomato plants are as tall as I am. It seems like every day something new is blooming and fruiting. Our raspberries are just about red enough. While I was hanging beach towels out to dry I found a patch of low bush blueberries ready for picking. It was nothing compaired to our blueberry harvest in Maine last summer but delicious still and the high bush blueberries are just coming out too. I was totally surprised to walk into our deerfenced raised bed to see a ripe zucchini! I never even saw it coming along- but so begins zucchini everything! I actually have some really cool squash planted, an all white heirloom variety, a cool 'flying saucer' and some pumpkins that are already getting wild. I have a few watermelon plants that have yellow

 flesh inside! I am enjoying this so much if you cant tell.... ahhh...well I must say we've been fortunate so far and the few pests we've had have been manageable, with the exception of whatever it is that is devouring my cauliflower...I sacraficed a few plants like the one you see here. I tried neem oil early on, a little safer soap, planted them with dill and nasturtium....

I am not discouraged,

 just perplexed, glad it's only a small  sacrafice,

 hoping it is the worst of

 our problems....happy for all the other joys I've found.

Fireworks!

why can't it rain just a little every night?

it would make watering the garden a thing of the past. watering. waking up and watering. well, at least things are growing! Can you see how big our tomatoes are? and snap peas, chard, strawberries and salad greens. it's great! and the weather here has been beautiful for days. At work we are approaching our July 4th deadline. everything must be fabulous. an extreme level of fabulous that seemed unreal to me, until now, that it is my responsibility.... Ah, my first summer on Martha's Vineyard.  The streets and shores here are flooded with the kind of people that make me wince a little at first and then cock my head to the side in confusion. heels on the beach? full make up in the sun, riding a bike? so many 'dudes' in white caps and board shorts. armored SUV's screaming up old single lane dirt roads and me. it's alarming. I'm alarmed. but it's sooo beautiful that the reason the way too rich and used to be famous flock here it vibrant and clear each lovely summer day. I love the islands farminess, it's free spirit and it's community. I love that I can come home and watch my own garden grow- this is the first time for me and it's really something to tend a garden of my own- the rewards are many and the labors are done with love. and I'll protect my plot from the raging urban SUV drivers and wait for September when they all go home.

Free Tibet/Flower Power

Yesterday was gorgeous! Inspiration flows readily on a breezy 80 degree island day. As I stepped back to survey my latest work I thought 'I love this.' I'm feeling proud and accomplished as I'm leaving and I run into a fellow green professional who tells me that in Buddhism it's believed that the purpose of flowers is to increase our ability to love. Jeez. 

Those Buddhists with their non-violence and flower love....it sort of infused me.

June is when it all starts happening man-now my little veggies and friends are pouring from the earth! I am totally stoked every time I notice a new bud or bloom or baby seed head poke out from the soil. It's just a nice feeling knowing that the seed you plant will grow. I've started them, or purchased them, planned for them, planted them, watered them, watched them, cared for and protected them....I love these guys...

Lady's slipper

I found this beauty in the woods right near our raised beds. They are all over the woods in West Tisbury. 

Cypripedium is a genus of 47 species from the orchid family (Orchidaceae) and the sole genus of the subtribe Cypripediinae. Its abbreviation used in trade journals is Cyp.

Its members are terrestrial hardy orchids that grow primarily in colder climates of the Northern Hemisphere, in North America, Europe, andAsia. Some grow in the tundra in Alaska and Siberia, which is an unusually cold habitat for orchids. They can withstand extreme cold, growing under the snow and blooming when the snow melts. But, in the wild, most have become rare and close to extinction, due to an ever shrinking natural habitat and overcollection. In the late 20th century, only a single plant of Cypripedium calceolus survived in Britain.

Common names include slipper orchids, Lady's Slippers, mocassin flowers, camel's foot, squirrel foot, steeple cap, Venus' shoes and whippoorwill shoes. The genus has a long history of use, dating back 2500 years to the Far East, where they were used medicinally.

Dinner time!

There's our Kale growing away. I planted it with dill to keep the pesties away-yum dill- and also with nasturtiums because I read in 'Carrots Love Tomatoes' that nasturtiums will begin to yellow if the soil ph lowers and that tells you to add more lime. So far so good.....

Dinner time! Camper style- delicious Kale prepared with love

Who loves homegrown kale? This guy does!

Pots pots pots

Some purty pots

Pots pots pots

This is what they pay the big bucks for :)

Spare time

The weekend before memorial day is crucial. I've been potting annual planters for the rich and famous like a wild woman. Trying to create something stunning, long lasting and unique for each little picturesque pot. I found myself using some of the usual characters, petunias, coleus, geraniums and inpatients- for their dependability and charm- but this year I've been inspired by my own veggie garden and so I'm mixing in lettuces, artichokes, sages to some of my favorite annual combinations. Pictures to follow.
Erik is away this weekend. He went to the mainland to take a kayaking instructors, instructors course. It's amazing how much time presents itself in the absence of a lover....I've spent it all with the veggies. Our little garden is really becoming something! I've already been picking arugula for sandwiches and salads. The snap peas are beginning to climb, nasturtiums, kale, cauliflower, leeks, chard, strawberries, sunflowers, and all the root stuff. Who knew radishes were so cool!? They are compact and leafy, I get all excited every time I peak under the row cover. The Swiss chard looks like Swiss chard and the strawberries came up with more buds than leaves. I planted cucumbers and squash not too long ago so I'm still waiting to see them emerge. I started an early crop of cabbage that is ready to be transplanted. I also started eggplant- a really cool heirloom variety from Johnny's- but it's been a month and nothing...maybe I need a germination pad? So that was a bummer, but I haven't totally given up hope on them. I'll keep you posted. I am in and out of the garden centers so often, I am always tempted to bring home some new and delicious seedlings to plunk in the ground. I am fearful that come July their won't be any room to move in there. Alright well, I am going to play in the perennial beds for a bit I'll let you know how it goes.

Liloceris lilii

The red or scarlet lily beetle (Lilioceris lilii) is a leaf beetle that eats the stems, leaves, buds and flowers of lilies, fritillaries and other plants in the Liliaceae family. It only lays its eggs on Liliuim and Fritillaria species [1]. It is native to parts of Eurasia. It is known to have been introduced separately to Britain and Canada in the 1940s, possibly on imported lily bulbs. It is now a pest in most temperate climates where lilies are cultivated.
The larvae have orange-brown bodies and black heads. They carry their excrement on their backs in order to deter predators. Adults are bright scarlet in colour and 6–9 mm long.
When the adult beetles are threatened they emit a high pitched buzzing from their abdomen.

bastards.

May Flowers

The Other Neighbors

Beech Weather

It's been so warm here the past three weeks that even though it's still April I'm going to jump out there and say that we are past any real dangerous frosts (I hope). We've just had a full moon, and a red moon, and I heard an islander say that we're past the frost date here on Martha's Vineyard when the beech trees finally push off thier last years leaves with this years tender buds. They have. I went to town with the pretty stuff, my favorite! Morning Glories, Sun Flowers, Sweet Peas from seed and Pansies and Allyssum I picked up at the farm store with some strawberry plants. The flowers were an impulse to fill a void in my heart from when I saw that they also had little yellow chicks for sale, ready to come home with me and so clearly chirping my name. So I settled on the pansies and headed home to do some planting. Today I planted our leeks, potatoes and the strawberry plants. We've already got a plethera of yummies started and the soil is looking beautiful, just waiting to be planted.

Break on through

April Showers

When you're a gardener full time a rainy friday is a gift from the Garden Gods.

A day to sleep late, play with the kitties and have a leisurely lunch with a loved one.
A kind of reward for a weeks worth of hard pruning and raking.

A little thanks for staying out there even when the wind picks up and you start to get the sniffles.