A transitional vegetable garden

The darn green beans keep producing, but it's heartening to see seedlings of spinach, arugula, mustard- spinach, lettuce, and creasy-greens come along nicely. Transplanted leeks, lettuce, and rapini are looking good, too.

And I'm hopeful for quite a few more tomatillos and ancho peppers in the next month or so, as well as the thick-walled pizza peppers coming along in pots.

The poblano/ancho peppers are a great variety called "Magnifico" and they're truly tasty. I bought a transplant at the WNC Herb Festival this spring, but tracked down a source of seeds today - Territorial Seeds - and ordered some for next season. They have a sweetness that anchos don't normally have and are a bit thicker-walled than most. Excellent!

I'm just about ready to pull out the final squash vines, but until they look truly dreadful, we'll enjoy them. Garlic (on the way) will replace them in the lower bed, along with the resurgent perennial leeks!

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Lotus fruits and lovely gardens

One of the benefits of living in Asheville is being able to visit the Biltmore Estate. As a passholder, I happily can go anytime, for early morning walks along the French Broad River, or excursions with my gardening companion and Woody through the gardens and a loop around Bass Lake.

I don't give a hoot about the house, but the landscape and gardens (and the preserved views of the mountains and pastoral andscapes) are truly a treasure.  The walk along the French Broad River is wonderful. And the wave of sunflowers that's continued all summer -- lovely!

In recent years, the horticultural aspects of the walled garden and the conservatories has really become excellent, with displays and change-outs great fun to see, however gaudy and Victorian-inspired they might be (this year has been that, certainly!)

This year's late summer walled garden displays

The Italian Garden looks wonderful this year -- there must be a new gardener in charge, as it's always been pretty ho-hum before.

In late summer, it's full of all sorts of interesting aquatics, and wonderful lotus fruits in the side pools.

Italian Garden (at Biltmore)

Lotus fruits and fading leaves

This, That, and The Other Little Thing

Big Love: Sable is so tall, I need to stand on that truck tire to get into the saddle. 

But, I don't care. I love her.

Enjoyed some much-needed horse time, yesterday, with my best friend. Here she is, standing politely at the barn door, waiting for her oats. I would imagine that most folks visiting this blog are garden gals, not horse people.. so plz allow me to point out an interesting tidbit about this photo.

Look close -- she isn't wearing a bridle or a halter. Because she's not tied up; she never is.

The gates to this boarding facility are wide open, and she could run away, but she won't. Because she likes me! And, we're a team. (Plus, I've got opposable thumbs and I know how to unlock the oat bin.)

 Cowboy Bob photo-bombs our ride through the Fairie Forest. (Me & Sable, left.)

Lots of folks, who consider themselves 'horse experts' have been very critical of me for giving her this amount of freedom.

One guy, in particular, burdened me with an extra long lecture on why that was a terrible thing to do.

Sable & I are members of the 'Between the Ears' club. A national group of horse lovers who photograph all the amazing places we've been, and sites we've seen, between the ears of our beloved horses.

When I asked that guy why he never lets his horses run loose... even if they're fenced in on their property. To graze on the grass in their front yard, or whatever... he replied:  

Because we couldn't catch 'em when it's time to put them back in their stalls.

So, lemme get this straight. I'm doing it all wrong because my horse actually likes me and won't run away? 

 

Note to self: 

I spend way too much time listening to critics. 

And, not nearly enough time messing with their heads.

I would also like to point out that... Roy Rogers could just whistle for Trigger and he'd come a runnin'. So there.

Good Eats!

This big bumble is having the time of his life!

I slept outside Thursday night! Purely by accident! :-)

Returned home after 2 days of meetings...mentally drained, laid down on the couch -- out on the deck -- to enjoy the pretty flowers and listen to the birdies sing. Woke hours later to a near full moon.

That was so cool!

This week was 2016 marketing plans meetings - where you sit for 2 days in a windowless room and try to come up with a good idea.

Hardy Lobelia is a great, late bloomer for your garden.

I'm - allegedly - a marketing consultant but since I specialize in web-only advertising, they all think I'm a computer programmer. And, nothing I say, or do, will ever alter that opinion.

* I could try to educate them.. but, in my little world... nobody ever listens, or learns.

More Hardy Lobelia -- if you don't care for red, the purple is absolutely stunning. (Pay no attention to how badly that fence needs painting. :)

Being typecast drives me crazy & I've been thinking about that ever since the PR person cornered me at the end of those two long days ~ at the precise moment when everyone was eagerly packing up their stuff to leave.

Seriously? You've been sitting here for 2 solid days and now you need some of my time? Well, my Mama always told me to take a compliment whenever, wherever I could get one. This gal clearly values my opinion! So, I agreed.

Turns out her smartphone was acting dumb and since I'm a computer programmer (in her mind) -- she wanted us to go have some wine and fix this thingamajig! {Sheesh}

Now, you can't just have wine in Utah. 

There's a law against having that much fun. (Alcohol must be accompanied by food.)

So, we ordered some appetizers and waited for what felt like forever for that wine to show up - all the while she was explaining, in painstaking detail, what was wrong with the blessed phone.

I knew exactly what was wrong with it (one does not need to be a computer programmer to fix a damn phone) so once I got her to shut up I took the phone and began to re-set that thingamajig. And, then! She pissed me off...

"So, Kate, do you have a boyfriend?" She asks.

What am I, fourteen? I thought to myself. I politely handed her back her phone and explained that I had no idea how to fix it. Which was a big, fat lie.

Still mad about that!

And, in the grand scheme of life, it is such a little thing!

To everyone but me.

I guess I'll just end up going to my grave -- without having landed on the ultimate, snappy comeback to the most commonly asked question in my life.

Nobody wants to hear how I can train a horse to do what she's told without those ropes and ties that bind.

No. no. The only item of interest is why in the world I have chosen not to get re-married. Isn't that kind of bleeding obvious? I didn't want to.

Seems to me that by the time we reach this 50-something period of our female lives, certain things shouldn't matter. Women could be handed more respect. Without ageism. Sexism. Stereotypical Stupid-ism raising it's ugly head.

Admittedly, I'm sensitive to that question because I have to answer it all the time.

So, I just thought I'd throw this silliness out into the universe ~ in case any of the rest of you have situations like this that make you kind of bonkers. If you have a snappy comeback I'd be delighted if you would share....

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful week in the garden!



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Grateful for Gardens

It has been a long, hot and very tiresome summer. Was thinking about that, yesterday, when I was down in the Salt Lake City Valley, running a full day of errands.

I love my little hometown ~ the mountain town of Park City. But, I hold zero affection for the sprawling metropolis down below. I only visit when I need stuff. And, I needed all kinds of stuff. Grateful for a big car that I filled to the brim with groceries, flowers, horse supplies and even some new clothes.

The hard labor of horses + getting my new gardens all spiffy caused me to drop from a size 14 to a size 12 jeans. I probably could have hoisted myself into a size 10 but I'm allergic to constricting waist bands. PLUS, winter will arrive at some point when that excess poundage should happily reappear. :-)

Is it just me or is it darn near impossible to find jeans that flatter a 50-something's body?

The pair I like are Lee 1989s. The fact that this company has to remind me how I haven't evolved (fashion-wise) in 26 years is more than a wee bit insulting.

But, I swallowed my pride. Fought the crowds at the dumbest of stores, ("We need your phone number to finish this transaction." What?? "Use mine!" offers a loyal shopper in line behind me - eager for the purchase points.) I grabbed those beloved jeans and got outta there as quick as I could.

I don't know why I'm so anti-social but I just hate how stores demand your private information.

No. You can't have my phone number. Or, my email. No. I'm not gonna like you on Facebook. Can't you just take my money and be done with it??

Okay, that felt good. A little bitch session always does.

 

But, why stop there? The sad fact of life is that it's just been an awful summer. The death of a friend, sick horses, family strife, horrid work conflicts. You name it; it's happened. People and their problems have worn me paper thin this year.  I guess that's what has kept me from blogging for so many weeks. And, it's also kept me hibernated in the garden.

We were talking about that over at the barn. What to do when it all feels bad. 

What can you do? Other than tough it out? And, curse my family for the umpteenth time for raising me to be one of those stoic Midwesterners who keep things all bottled up inside.  Best of times, worst of times... I dunno. My remedy is to surround myself with beauty and hope things will get better. At some point. I mean they kind of have to... don't they?

After I finished up the drudgery of running all those errands, I decided to treat myself with a visit to Millcreek Gardens where I went a little hog wild on Coleus. Don't ya just love 'em? Such stunning foliage - though I've never ever planted one outdoors. I keep 'em in pots on the windowsill. Shade annuals make fantastic houseplants!

PS: While it's highly doubtful my mood could entertain you... I sincerely hope the gardens have!




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Coleus

I absolutely love their stunning foliage. :))

Daylilies

Foxglove

The Fairie Forest