We cut the bushes together, today,
“Tandem Hedging,” as Jay called it.
We used Jon’s new hedgetrimmers with plastic hand-guard
and Katie’s dad’s old hedgetrimmers equipped with not an ounce of safety or security, but equipped with about 160 ounces of solid metal.
On some parts we got a little carried away, but isn’t all art and effort that way?
i was so excited to see that someone had posted a blog here in june that i decided to post one meself!
i don’t have so much to say, house-wise, so instead i’ll leave you with this bit of a Knoxville treasure, a photo of the Royale from Nama, a much-loved meal here on Grainger Ave.
June, as we are all aware, comes in like a lion but goes out like a lamb. The storms blowing through are on their way out but I HAD to post some photos of the sunset after yesterday’s storm … I don’t actually hope the storms are gone, though. I love not having to get out and water my garden in the mornings, and I love waking up at 4 a.m. to flashes, cracks & booms of thunder, wind laying the grass close to the ground and whipping the trees into a froth. 
It was even more dramatic than this. It is so nice to be babysitting someone’s digital camera. It means I can photograph sunsets and put them online immediately. It also means I can document our garden a little, which I will: 
The healthiest bit of the straggling line of basil.
Some Rutgers tomatoes, and I’m not sure but the smallest one might be an Oxheart. We have one Oxheart in a pot, and I know most of these are Rutgers, but I may have transplanted. These are very small … the only other tomato we have is quite a bit bigger, though, so I’m not too worried.
This is a rogue mystery squash volunteer that Emily found out by the sidewalk. We’re very proud to have a mystery squash, especially since we didn’t plant any because time got away from us.
Of course the roses are fine … I kept smelling them while taking this picture and feeling slightly magical.
(what i mean to say is, we have seeds.)
fancy, schmancy, beautiful lovely glorious tiny spiny seedies wrapped in paper and kept together by a metal clip and sitting on my piano.
they have names like “tender grey” and “sleeping beauty” and “oxheart” (which to me sounds incredibly brave, though i’m not entirely familiar with the hearts of oxen.)
the whole world is bright and shiny.
That hillbilly potato leaf photo is making me hungry.
and making me think about that day that we sat on the front porch and ate that heirloom tomato from the farmers market, on crackers.
Can i just say, mmmmmmmmm! i’m READY for the porch celing fans doing their best to keep us cool while we eat every meal of the day out there. I was SO wrong to think about taking classes over the summer. i want to spend the summer living: eating sweating painting weeding and working in my future studio/laundry room. open windows.
p.s… beauty sleep.
and flowers! some thoughts:
- columbine (meh, probably not)
- butterfly flower
- canterbury bells (which will inspire me to read the Tales again, which is my secret reason for wanting to grow these flowers)
- catchfly, or “none-so-pretty” (for the name, of course)
- cosmos, and this is a must, but I don’t know what colors yet
- coneflower
- black-eyed-susans?
- forget-me-nots?
- cherry-rose nasturtium? oh my gosh! or the jewel blend, or mahogany, or peach melba! oh wow!
- I would never grow scabiosa.
- I also may have to give up all my sunflower dreams…this year
Seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange…
- Brandywine tomato: according to Dr. Craig Andersen of the University of Arkansas, Brandywine has a pretty low yield. I haven’t heard this before, so we’ll just have to see, but even if it’s true it’s ok because everyone we know will also be growing tomatoes (exaggeration) and these are just going to be so tasty. They’re also “late producing” and so is the Hillbilly Potato Leaf. We’re going to have to wait for our tomatoes this year I suppose…unless we start them now.
- Hillbilly Potato Leaf tomato: this one is a heavy producer we think and will need full sun. Furthermore, parts of this one are poisonous?
- Merveille de Quatre Saisons lettuces: This is such a pretty salad green. If we get this going early and maybe only in containers, we can prevent hot-weather bolting by, um, that “serial gardening” thing and even bringing them up on the porch or even inside in the hot days of early summer. I mean, it would be so great to have this one going as long as possible. And in the fall we can just sow it straight onto the ground again.
- Amish Canteloupe: This is late, too, about 85 days, but I couldn’t find much else on it. Probably needs sun, too.
- Copenhagen Market cabbage: This one is supposed to be good for sauerkraut!! Will not do well in containers, ought to be started indoors early, can be planted again in the fall. Does this mean it won’t weather the summer? I don’t know. But at least it will do ok in part shade, although this website recommends you plant them near tomatoes to fend off the cabbage worms, oh god.
- Five Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard: I hear that chard is hardy and can stand late spring frosts, and that you maybe should just go ahead and sow outside as soon as you can. They’ll deal with crowding and even warm weather, and one planting should last the whole year. These are going to be so beautiful… oh, and you harvest this as soon as the leaves are big enough to eat: 4-6 weeks.
- Joe’s Long Cayenne peppers: I feel like such a nerd typing all this up, but we can’t have a meeting right now because Emily is having her beauty sleep. Anyways this pepper is apparently a relative of the tomato and needs similar growing conditions, blah, how much sun space do we have now? Two square feet? Sigh. We’ll make it work. Especially since these slender blushing beauties are an heirloom from Calabria, Italy and will dive with exuberance into salsas and hot pepper flakes.
- Black Beauty Zuccini: 50-60 days till harvest, and I bet this one can tolerate an amount of shade, too.
Look! a new header photo!
That’s because our house is dressed for christmas, now, both sides and the porch.
Hey, as Emily has brought to our attention recently, we need a name for ‘lil dreary, here. I mean, obviously the duplex is neither little nor dreary — I’m just referencing a book we all have read. point being, we need a name. please submit your suggestions to me at 1336 on a black & white postcard of Zagreb or Moscow, or in a letter, in code. just make sure you send the key as well. the deadline is … Thanksgiving? some ideas to get you started:
1) big dreary
2) big happy
3) big cheerful
4) big tearful
5) big earful
just some ideas.
I guess we’re having one, and I guess we should also make pizzas and Eden salads, and sing. Um, should we just make one of the pizzas an Eden Salad Pizza? hm…maybe it would work with a pesto base / sauce? Does anyone have any pesto connections? I could contribute the crusts, the figs, spinach, almonds, feta, and green onions, but … someone else could get the pesto. unless there’s another sauce that would be better. or, hey: maybe no sauce on that one — just olive oil and the stuff. maybe.
or maybe everybody has dinner plans already and we can do pizza another day. if this is so, THEN, I’ll probably make one anyway for me just to see how it goes. yum.
– later –
Ehm, it’s raining.
