Death by Gardening

Ah summer!  For me, as for many others, the Victoria Day long weekend marks the beginning of summer and is the traditional weekend to plant out the more tender vegetables such as tomatoes and beans.  And, like many others, I spent most of it outside, digging in my garden.  This year, we were blessed with absolutely glorious weather - in fact, it was almost too hot.  It was 28C in the shade, no idea what it was in the sun.

So in preparation for this gardening marathon, I went to the garden centre last Tuesday and just about filled the back of my car.  It's a Jeep Liberty - not the biggest, but certainly big enough.

Filled the car

Come the weekend, Chuck and I managed to get the rest of the ground turned and added compost.  Most of the herbs are now planted - culinary is pretty well done, but there is still work to happen on the tea garden.

Culinary Herbs

All the beans (green and those for drying), broccoli (10), tomatoes (cherry (3), beefsteak (2) and Roma (18)), and corn are done.  It's all planted.  

Asparagus

Potatoes

Tomatoes and Broccoli

Onions

Garden, looking west

The only thing left is pumpkins, and the only reason that wasn't done is by the time the rest of the plants were in, I was such a wreck that if I bent over one more time, I think I would have fallen and just stayed there.  They'll go in sometime this week.


This weekend was also my sister-in-law's birthday and I gave her the "Almost Ovals" scarf.  I think she was really pleased with it, and I was very happy to give it.  So far Giftstash 2012 is working out well.  The next project is "Alhambra" by Anne Hansen.

My Alhambra

I made this in the winter for me and I liked it so much I'm doing another one.  I found the first time I knit this though, I had a lot of trouble with it - I regularly had the wrong number of stitches on the needle and probably knit it twice, given the amount of ripping I had to do but this time, it's pretty easy and is moving at about twice the pace of the first one I did.  Again, I'm using CashSilk Lace by SweetGeorgia Yarns.  This is a truly decadent blend of 45% cashmere (yes, 45%) and 55% silk.  The colour is 'Ginger'.  This time I know who the recipient will be - and I think it makes it more fun to knit when you know who is going to get it.

Ginger Alhambra