Welcome!

Hi, and welcome to my little blog about gardening in a city! Minneapolis, to be exact.  One of my best friends suggested I start a blog so he could keep up with what's happening on my little slice of paradise, and I took him up on the offer. Disclaimer:  I'm no professional-I just happen to have grown up in a garden-crazy household (and I swore through gritted teeth that I would NEVER do this stupid stuff when I was older) and I'm blessed with some really knowledgeable friends. I hope to share the goings-on of my gardens, and learn from all of you, too!
My husband and I live with our two dogs in a little white house (yes, there's even a white picket fence!) on the south side of town with lots of gardens scattered about. My love for plants is equally divided between edible and ornamental, so this blog will cover both. We find that we're mixing the two more and more-mostly because one thing an urban garden does not have is a lot of space. Last, but not least, Jon and I are committed to the principals of organic gardening, and while not experts by any stretch of the imagination, we hope to show how easy it is to do.
I also happen to be a chef, so if it's O.K. with you, I'll be sharing what happens once my lovelies are ripe and ready for eating, cooking, preserving and more.
Thanks for stopping by, 
Heather

Monday, June 8, 2009

Rainy Weekend/I heart Sherlock Holmes

We had quite a cold and rainy weekend, and I for one am rejoicing!  After declaring a drought last week in the Twin Cities, it was a real gift to be able to sit back, relax, and watch it rain! Of course that means not much in the way of gardening-which is nice, actually.  A little bit of enforced balance, I say.
I spent the weekend shopping for new-to-me clothes at Value Village, making squash soup for a friend, and catching up on my WWII-era Sherlock Holmes movies starring, I am not making this up, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson. Sunday morning found the husband and I eating our anniversary brunch at the Red Stag Supper Club, and I tell you, it was worth putting in 5 years for. Seriously, it took me half and hour to decide on what to order-the menu is that enticing. We hope to go back for a Friday Fish Fry, and lunch, too. It was an awesome way to spend a weekend, and when the clouds rolled away for a while on Sunday afternoon I was able to pull a few weeds and snap some photos. 

I picked a bowl of radishes, which I rather enjoy eating for breakfast. They're still quite tender and sweet:

The Poppies have all bloomed-and they are beauties!


This lupine was right next to the white one from a few posts ago:


There are bunches of these bushes in the alley across from my garage, and I have no idea what they are. The fragrance is rather strong, pleasant but not especially floral. Any ideas, anyone?


They made for lovely little arrangements around the house:


The most exciting development, however, was the rose patch!  So rewarding, and truly unexpected...it must have been all the rain that finally got the buds going:



This beautiful climbing rose is part of an interesting Canadian breeding program, the Explorer Series. The particular plant is, I believe, William Baffin-and you can see it is quite vigorous. I only pile the mulch on at the start of winter and this is what I am rewarded with!
We're looking forward to a week of cooler than normal temperatures, with a few more chances of rain. I'll be planting some lettuce seeds this week, hopefully eating up the radishes, and looking forward to some more growth and changes.

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