Today in the Garden State

Sorry it has been so long since I blogged here... Today we were outside all day...enjoying the end of Summer in our corner
of the Garden State. The above photo shows the cranberries. We have flowers again..

This Butternut Squash flower just makes me feel happy.

The Figs are ripening!!!

A little Butternut Squash growing in the grass...

Princess's friend came over and worked side by side with me in the garden.

She was a gem!!

This little one only eats....

We have melted

There is no more pretty white snow here in

our corner of the Garden State.

Bits of green are coming up everywhere, although I could not

find a snowdrop anywhere. Farmer Dad and I took a long walk

out about the yard on Sunday after his Birthday Celebration

on Saturday. Did you hear the guys jamming out in our basement

where you live? I took Princess and vacated the premises for a few hours.

I came home to quiet and the house was still clean.

Men do grow up! Who knew? ;-)

We also spent some time trying to figure out what seeds we may need to order

for this year.There is a lot of activity on the fruit trees and my forsythia is wakingMy beloved Fig tree is growing up towards the sun and looking happy.

Waiting for spring

It is cold here, 29 degrees.It feels colder.

Normally, I enjoy all the seasons, but today

I found myself looking out my window at this

and wishing figs were getting ready to burst out on it.

Instead of playing outside, we made one of these and stayed inside doing this

We have only received one seed catalog so far.....where are they?

Fruit Meme

I was tagged on my homeschool blog,
growinginthegardenstate
to do a Fruit Meme, and I thought
I'd post it here too, in case anyone wants to play along.


Wendy over at Zoom Times
tagged me for this garden themed Fruit Meme.....

1 How much space do you have?
maybe a quarter acre (?)

2 What fruit do you grow?
grapes
golden and red raspberries
figs
gooseberries
cranberries
blackberries
strawberries
2 plums
3 pears
black and red cherries
red currants
In the annual garden:
cantaloupe
watermelon
In the house...
pineapple although I have never been able to get fruit

3 Which is your favorite?
FIGS!

4 What do you most want to grow, but can't?
blueberries
We are going to try it up at the community garden plot next year.
Be sure to let me know in the comments if you played along.
I will tag ,outerbanksmom
hopefully she'll play when she's feeling better.

FIGS!!

This is the view over my kitchen sink.

Don't they look great?

I can't wait for harvest time...the smell of them ripe on
the tree...with a little goat cheese on some good bread.
It amazes me every year that we get more, this big old tree filled with figs began as a small
twig from my neighbor's tree as they were getting ready to sell their house.
There were about three of them on the back of their house before they moved in, the
old man who lived there before them had let them be and when he died at 103,
his nieces came and each took one of the smaller ones growing under the older big ones.
He was an interesting old man who lived simply off his piece of land, he took care of himself
right up to the end. Hanging his clothes on the line in the backyard to dry every other day.
With each new owner, we worry that they will not understand what they have and ruin it.
Each one has, just a bit. But we feel better knowing that a little bit of the gardening
Mr Bartholomew did is alive and well in our yard today.
Our tree is now bigger than what was is left in his old yard,
and I think of him often while I do my dishes.

Getting our cages in a row...

as the rain started, Farmer Dad placed cages on all the tomatoes and such in the garden.
It was a pleasant Father's Day here in the Garden State.
It is really feeling more like summer every day.

A shot of the fig tree.

Monday found the Ground Hog (Wood Chuck) showing up again.
Not once, but several times. I am trying to deter him, by running out
and chasing him off...wouldn't want him feeling as comfortable in our yard
as these two do.
Ground Hogs just eat too much, too quickly.......
It also rained here in the evening, and it was terribly windy,
but we were spared the brunt of the storms.

And the figs just keep on coming.....

Here are some pictures of F.D. picking figs.