A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 119~ The Light In The Afternoon

"But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it my possessiveness. The Sun warms my back instead of beating on my head... The harvest has dwindled and I grown apart from the intense midsummer relationship that brought it on."

~Robert Finch




Ordinarily I wouldn't complain about summer coming to an end, but I enjoyed this past three months of warm weather, because it helped to produce the most beautiful roses I have ever grown, and the yummiest tomatoes and zucchini. It wasn't one of those oppressive summers, when it is so hot outside you can't think straight, but it was a consistent summer and it was good, not just for growing things, but for stretching my creativity as well.

Later today, Alan and I will be cooking up some tomatoes from the garden, in some wonderful all purpose tomato sauce, that will eventually become pasta sauce, pizza sauce, and assorted different bases for dinner dishes. I will post the photos along with the recipes as they are developed. I am still considering what wines I may want to add to the sauce. A nice Cabernet for sure I think. We'll see. :)

 

 For the most part, we had an amazingly bug free garden. The roses have been strong and producing new growth at a better than expected rate, so it softened the blow a good bit when I found some aphids munching down on some of my Pink Promise roses. (YIKES). I caught the infestation early, and cut the rose bush back to eliminate the infected new growth, then did a deep sprinkling of cinnamon at the base of the bush. Next I did some preventive maintenance by cutting the new growth from the rest of the roses in the garden.

 

It's been a couple days, and I haven't seen any new instances of aphids, but I will have to watch things closely for the rest of the season. If all else fails, I have some homemade organic remedy all mixed up and ready to go. It worked wonders in years past, so I am confident that if I need to use it, it will do the trick! In late October, I will prune all of the rose bushes back by a third to promote new growth next spring. Aphids like to overwinter in dry leaves, so while I adore autumn and look forward to the big mess the leaves make, this year I will have to be diligent about the raking and disposal of them. FUN! :) It's a good thing I love autumn leaves so much... lol... it will make dealing with them a lot more fun. At least that's what I am hoping! LOL.

The autumn light is beginning to whisper our way, especially in the late afternoon. When that gorgeous late day sun hits the roses, it's nothing short of magical. The roses in this posting all are showing off that light, with only a tiny amount of editing on my part. This pretty much how everything looks right now, and we are getting little bits of color all around. The leaves are gorgeous this year, and I can't wait to get out with my camera a document it all.

Autumn... HERE I COME!




Me :)

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 92~ Garden Update

"The greatest gift of the garden, is the restoration of the five senses."

~Hanna Rion

It's time to update the happenings in the garden. The roses are probably at their most lovely right now. They have been doing exceptionally well this year in general, but as the summer moves on, the colors seem to only get more vivid and the plants themselves are much stronger. I have full faith, that as the winter months come upon us, the rose garden will not only survive, but might even bloom a little. That's one of the best parts about living in Northern California... the tease of perhaps having fresh roses from one's own garden on Christmas morning! :)

The Zucchini and the tomatoes are also doing fantastic. It's taking the Heirloom tomatoes a long time to reach full maturity, but they are going to be delicious when they do. A couple have reached an amazing shade of red, and it's all I can do to resist cutting it from the vine and eating it right there. But, alas, it is a Black Krim, and it has a way to go before reaching it's height of flavor. It's okay, Alan's Mama Mia tomatoes are red, ripe and ready for picking. I am going to be one busy lady over the next week or two trying out various recipes.

Tomato Bisque
Tomato Crustini
Stuffed Tomatoes
Zucchini Gems
Tomato and Zucchini Gratin

I will be posting some photos, over the next few days, of the recipes I am trying. I love to get the basic recipe for something delicious, and then tweak it to make it my own. Lunch later today will be a Toasted Cheese Tomato and Sandwich, on sourdough bread, toasted with a bit of cheese and fresh herbs on the outside, and a small amount of my special aioli on the inside, to make it crunchy and tasty. Yum. And won't the roses look lovely on the table, for my rustic lunch? There is nothing like vegetables straight out of the garden.

:) Happiness.


Garden Gallery August 9, 2012













"It is good to alone in a garden at dawn or dark so that all it's shy presences may haunt you and possess you in the reverie of suspended thought."

~Me :)

~Me :)