chrysanthemums salvia cut flowers

In a Vase on Monday, one month apart

It’s a month since I brought home flowers. Time is ripping past and there is so much to do on the house, in the garden, and at work that there just doesn’t seem to be time.
fruit and flowers with pumpkin
But yesterday I decided to pick some Mother’s day flowers for a close friend.
So here are last month’s flowers and yesterday’s flowers.
fall flowers and pumpkinsChrysanthemums are flowering now, the last of the pumpkins are inside, and the anemones are almost gone.
anemone roses and dahlias cut flowersWeirdly, I found the first of the Paper Whites flowering yesterday – although the weather is unseasonably warm.

Organically grown tomatoes in trug

Peak Bruschetta

Finally, enough big tomatoes! We have had a grafted sweet100 giving us buckets of little tomatoes since November, but I was late getting the big toms in so we have been on Bruschetta rationing until now.
Big orange tomato saved seed organically grown

I like bruschetta to have one thick slice of raw tomato covering a full piece of sourdough toasted on the barbecue with olive oil and balsamic, topped with basil and Parmesan. This is the best way to appreciate the lovely patterns on the inside of these big tomatoes, but it’s very messy to eat.

Mid Summer

I’m still madly busy, so much so that I spent a rare weekend in the city, worrying that the birds would feast on my first really big tomatoes. As it turns out, they left the really big ones alone, and there is plenty for all of us – we are really into bruschetta season now. It was raining all weekend anyway, we have had almost 4 inches – 92 mm of rain since we were here 2 weeks ago.
The first windows are in the barn house – so exciting! We are oiling more redwood weatherboards this week, and looking after vegetables in any spare time.
Here are a few photos – these are from mid January.

chard going to seed with plum tree
Ruby Chard forming seed by a plum tree. Great seeds for micro greens

Continue reading “Mid Summer”

cut flowers spring bulbs in rain

In a Vase on Monday – a Mixed Bag of Weather and Flowers

My first few tulips are up, and I’m cherishing them as many of them have been eaten by the mysterious rodent or muscalid.

It was a mixed bag of a weekend, with a perfect sunny day, a frosty night, and then a rainy day followed by a misty morning. The flowers were picked in the rain, and photographed as picked – a great opportunity for photographing water droplets but a very drooping arrangement. Back at home I found a better vase for them and they are now all dry and standing up nicely.

Continue reading “In a Vase on Monday – a Mixed Bag of Weather and Flowers”