Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Subtle Lament

Thought I'd show a few pics of what going on around here with the garden and such, since I haven't made anymore progress on the siding. Hopefully that will change this weekend at least. However, I'se not feeling so good tonight so this is going to be a quick post. My heart has been showing it's 'O' today and that combined with welding in this heat has got me tore down a little.
My cayenne peppers are really kicking some pepper butt though! I only have two plants but they are both loaded. I like to dry these and use them throughout the year in cooking.

My two blueberry bushes are showing promise by already putting out new shoots of growth. You can see this by the much lighter colored tips.

This is a native plant I have shown on here before but I think it's really cool this time of year. I did not edit the colors in this photo now. It really is almost white on the upper tips and then gets darker as it goes down. It's almost like it's frosted. This is what we refer to as Mountain Mint. It can be use medicinally and has a wonderful aroma. It grows very prolifically here and so I let a few sprout up in my driveway flower bed. The deer won't touch it.

It gets it's whitest coloring right before it flowers in mid-summer. The flowers are tiny but very pretty and the bees seem to like it. The plant can get around 5 feet tall.

Now, here is some garlic I harvested recently. It is some heirloom type that was given to me and that's all I know. You see I got 4 nice, regular looking bulbs there but then there were scads of these humongous, single clove bulbs. Are those just immature bulbs? Should I have left them in the ground? I can just replant them in the fall, can't I?
Alright, I'm going to crash in my new bed, which is great by the way..


*Duke Ellington/ a beautiful song; one of my favorites.

7 comments:

Caddie said...

Yum, those peppers are beautiful. All my pepper plants are only about a foot high, some not even that. Well, experience is the best teacher, so next year, I'll have to try something else. I worked my heart out making these six beds.

That garlic looks tasty. Did you leave some to go to seed? I hope so. I fear heirloom seeds being a real rarity before long. The cost for them is already unbelievable. I got ten eggplant seeds - cost $3-and not the first one germinated. My luck stinks at times. That last picture of the mint looks exactly like the wild mint here. Its stolen into my flower beds, taken over...but that's mint's habit.

You wrote of the wild day lilies some time ago. The orange ones? They have always been prolific up here. They are really beautiful.

Think you should see a doctor? Is there heart problems in your family?

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Heat and working outdoors can really get to you, Annie, especially in your line of work. Hope you take time to rest in that nice (and comfy) new bed and take care of yourself, as we all know yu will do (right?)

You garden is producing some nice flowers and veggies. Grenville has thought of planting garlic. I use fresh bulbs (store-bought) but sometimes it's just easier (and less messier) to open a jar of chopped garlic and use that. How long can you store the stuff you've grown?

MamaHen said...

Hey Sissy! well, these pepper plants are only about 18 inches tall. They just sat there for the longest and I didn't think they were going to do anything but one day they just took off!
I did let the garlic go to seed but don't know if it's going to take.
I have a heart doctor I see about once or twice a year for check ups. I am okay, just have an arrhythmia that bothers me sometimes but there is not much they can do about it.

Hey Beatrice! Yes, I take care of myself and rest often, I promise! ;)
I can store garlic for many months and I use it pretty often so it doesn't go back. It keeps well.
Sometimes I buy the bulbs or already in the jar but like to grow my own. I take one whole bulb and run it through my little food processor to dice it and put it in a jar, then store in the fridge. That is convenient and easy.

R.Powers said...

Please take care of that ticker!

That was a pretty long post for a quickie!
Great looking peppers!

Wild mints are such bee attractors and tough plants to boot. That one is really pretty.

MamaHen said...

Hey FC! well, even my quickies tend to linger on... heh!
I'm taking care of my heart I promise. It's okay, just likes to make me rest every so often.
yeah, those peppers are nice; just hope they stay pretty 'til they ripen.

Beau said...

Beautiful plants... those peppers are awesome. Cayenne? I'll have to try some one day. And your garlic! I've never heard of mountain mint- looks really neat.

MamaHen said...

Hey BEau! thanks! yeah, cayenne is easy to grow and wonderful for flavoring all kinds of food.