gardening | kimberly ah

Aug 30 2012

this is why i love geraniums

There have been many losses in the garden this year…the over-watered geraniums (the pot wasn’t draining properly), the under-watered Japanese shiso, the non-producing tomato plant and under-producing mint plant…so much sadness. I blame it a little bit on the dry weather, but mostly, it’s me. I didn’t water it enough. But there has been one success with the garden–the sad peachy pink geranium above.

This geranium is two years old and it lived in our spare room (that faces north but gets limited sun thanks to the tree and the building next door) over the winter. When I brought it out, the poor geranium was a pale green single stalk with one tired leaf. I threw it in this hanging pot with my ivy geranium (the pink one), some filler and some petunias (which were another garden casualty this year). I didn’t have much hope for the little guy, but look at it now! It’s flowering and it has a new little branch coming from the bottom! So maybe the garden wasn’t such a huge failure this year after all…

Tagged garden, summer

Aug 29 2012

4 Comments

adventures, gardening, Peggy's Parties

tea in peggy’s garden

My book group friend Peggy has an amazing garden. She knows a ton about plants and flowers and spends the entire winter plotting her summer garden. She also has a vast array of pretty teapots, gorgeous teacups and lovely tablecloths. And, to top it off, she is an incredible baker–her desserts are famous in our book group.

On Tuesday, Peggy invited me over for tea in the garden. It was a perfect summer day to sit among the blooming flowers in the shade of the backyard trees. We enjoyed tea and blueberry coffee cake with a pistachio and coconut topping…soooo good! And we were visited by several birds–goldfinches, cardinals, a woodpecker–and one teeeeeny tiny brown mouse munching innocently on some plants…until he made eye contact with us and decided he should find another yard.

It’s days like these that make me wish fall wasn’t creeping up on us so soon…

Thank you for a lovely day, Peggy!

Tagged adventures, gardening, summer

Jun 25 2012

3 Comments

cocktails, gardening, summer manifesto, what's for dinner Aside

I have been making progress on some of the Summer Manifesto items–even if it IS only the easy ones!

* dine outside (whenever possible)

I have been eating my lunch outside almost every day, and when Naoto is home, we always eat dinner outside (pictured above is the somen we enjoyed for dinner last Thursday…please notice that I am the one using the chopsticks!)

*eat watermelon

We sliced open a watermelon last night. It wasn’t the sweetest, reddest, most delicious melon I’ve ever had, so I would like to revisit the watermelon again…I ate mine with fleur de sel because salt makes everything better. I think Naoto was channeling his inner produce manager in the picture below.

* raise mint & basil for drinks and dinners

My basil is flourishing but my mint is growing so, so slowly that I wonder if I ever will enjoy a mojito this summer. I replanted it on Saturday, so I’m hoping it takes off before winter.

* try 3 “classic” cocktails

I’ve perfected the Tom Collins at home and I think it just might be a new summer favorite. And on Saturday night, I tried a Negroni at a local Italian restaurant. It was bitter, but a little bit sweet and delicious, but not one that I loved so much that I want to perfect it at home right now.

* document summer & FINISH my summer minibook

I’m making slow progress on this. I hope to show the beginnings of my book this week!

The other stuff on the list are set for July & August, but I’ve already had a couple of failures on two manifesto items (sad face).

* tend to my garden daily (no dying plants in September!)

Although I have tended to my balcony garden almost daily, I am sad to report we’ve had a few plant casualties already. My daisy plant never grew or bloomed and it keeled over this weekend, my cilantro missed a few waterings and couldn’t be revived and one of my geraniums got too much rain (a while ago, back when it actually rained) and never recovered. It’s stem was black, it’s leaves were yellow and brown and it had to be removed this weekend. My balloon flower might be the next to go. But everything else is looking green and bright and healthy…the 2011 geraniums I had inside all winter are even back to their dark green and blooming selves. I think next year, I might go 100% geranium. Chin up, green thumb.

* wear sunscreen & sunhats when I’m outside

I am super-good about wearing my sunhat, especially in the morning when I don’t want to comb my hair. But, I slacked on the sunscreen, both in Iowa and while dining al fresco, and I paid for it. I bought some sunscreen last week and have vowed to be more proactive. And, I have a pretty new wide-brimmed sunhat that I’m excited to wear.

So, that’s the state of my summer so far. Right now, I’m heading outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather and read a bit (wearing a hat & sunscreen, of course!)

summer manifesto, in progress

Jun 13 2012

9 Comments

adventures, gardening, summer manifesto, thoughts

summer manifesto

This summer I will:

* eat watermelon

* dine outside (whenever possible)

* read outside every morning (aka turn off the Today Show and go outside…and reading of blogs doesn’t count!)

* find the ice cream truck at least once (We found one in Iowa last weekend and a Bomb Pop has never tasted better!)

* tend to my garden daily (no dying plants in September!)

* raise mint & basil for drinks and dinners

* try 3 “classic” cocktails (1 down with my Tom Collins last weekend!)

* learn to use my new camera (my class starts July 2nd!)

* take walks with my new camera & PRACTICE

* host a little “salad party” for our friend/neighbor Karen

* document summer & FINISH my summer minibook

* wear sunscreen & sunhats when I’m outside

* start & finish our master bathroom remodel

* finish the living room

SO excited for summer. SO excited to get some things done AND relax a little bit too. What about you? What is on your summer manifesto?

May 09 2012

3 Comments

gardening

mary, mary, quite contrary…

…How does your garden grow?

Yesterday was perfectly spring…so I decided to skip cleaning and head outside to work on the balcony garden. First stop: Menards to buy some flowers and some new pots. Last year, I had good luck with geraniums–they bloomed constantly and all but a few (weaklings) stayed alive–so I bought eight new geraniums, two violas, a Shasta daisy and a teeny, tiny balloon flower (it was 99 cents and it was so small that it got lost in my back seat on the ride home). You can see them all (except the balloon flower) packed in the granny cart above. I spent the rest of the day re-potting my new flowers, re-potting the old ones, sweeping the floor and dragging out the rest of the balcony furniture. It made me smile this morning when I peeked out to greens & pinks & purples instead of the wintry drear.

There is still work to be done (like the dreaded task of washing the sliding doors!) but having blooming flowers feels like a giant leap into warm weather. I can already feel myself out there reading a book and drinking coffee (or a cocktail) this summer!