Plant now or forever hold your peas…. It is finally time for everything to be in the ground, and not wanting to look back in August and wish I had planted more. We bought a minute pot this year and so cooking dry beans is easy, and does not take planning the day before and soaking etc. Over the years I have found it so easy to grow Calypso beans. They are the most delicious bean, used in South American dishes, VERY different from other beans.

They grow as a nice bush, take hardly any work, and then I just leave the plant, to let the pods dry out. I then just leave the plants in a dry place and when I have time, I shell them. Problem is that I did not grow many, and only got 2-3 meals. So this year I am trying to get beans in where ever I can squeeze them.

I have also gone back to some other beans I have grown in the past, but never used. (I have jars of bean seeds)

These are 3 varieties of the scarlet runners. I. know one is scarlet, one is pink, and I do not not know the colour of the third one, but I WILL.

I have a song about seeds……. called WITH THIS SEED, as they are Important….perhaps more important than DIAMONDS. I have put a link here:

https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/7CVCwAav0YNzKh6Nz21EDm

So the hope is that we dry all of these beans and when all of the other food we have grown is eaten up, in the dark of winter, we can have bean soups.

Hot weather came and with a gusto, and though it has not been hot for long, it has been dry for a long time. We have had maybe a couple of good rains since March.

So my garlic farm/garden is totally dependant on ME…. (well,… and Ken) 🤔

I guess I feel TOTALLY responsible for the success/failure of my crop, by either overwatering or under watering. Usually you can blame the weather on it getting TOO much water. But now it would be my fault alone.😀

Other horticultural adventures we are taking in what might be considered a bad year to do…….. LAWN

We have not had lawn for at least. ..30 years, however living in a dustbowl/rockpit, chronic cough and runny nose, we thought it might be time to see how the other side lives. We have planted slow growing grass mixed with clover. When we see clear evidence that this starts to resemble LAWN, we are doing to get one of those old fashioned lawn mowers that you push… no motor. They apparently make them again. Stay TUNED.

We have spent QUITE awhile working on the greenhouse in the house. In particular the sink and the counter around it.

As usual, I was trying to use my rocks to create a design. I created a design using different colour groups…..

And then I put the sink in and realized that nothing in my design matched the sink.

So then we went on a search to find COBALT BLUE tiles, and …well, did not find anything close to anything that would match this sink. Tiles tend to be sold in tile stores and its not like you can just buy a few of them and take them home, NOOOOO. You have to choose a tile and then order a quantity of them and then wait forever to have them delivered. It is not a system that allows for you to go in and get a couple of cobalt blue tiles to make your design work.

So first of all I tried using some beads, which created a line of blue to tie in with the sink, but it was not enough.

So back to the drawing board. I was kindly gifted with blue PEI beer bottles, for my project.

We smashed them and put them into the rock tumbler.

gradually they smoothed down and eventually I incorporated them all into the countertop.

We added a second tap, to be able to hook a hose to the tap to water the plants that way. So finally the job is done, now moving OUTDOORS for awhile.

Of course we have had this guy LOTS lately, and we do not have to carry him very much, he is the greatest little hiker, according to my FITBIT, he can easily do 6 KM….. and he seems to run a lot of the way. The only problem is to keep him going in the same direction we want to be heading in 🙂

We will soon have neighbours below us and possibly also above us, more stories to tell.

Much love to all

Janet, Ken, and Tucker the dog……