Gardening and Flowers

My tomato plants in my raised bed garden....also onions, lettuce and beans.

My potatoes growing in the potato sacks that I made out of weed barrier fabric 3 years ago.

Rich mowing the bottom grass.....can't really call it a lawn as it is mostly weeds.

Orange Lilies in Dad and Mae's raised flower bed.

Mae's Grandson gave her a couple of trees in a small container and told her they needed to be put into a larger container. So, she planted them in the raised flower bed. Her Grandson was horrified when he found out she had planted the 2 Bonsai trees he had given her as a houseplant outside.

Pink and Yellow lilies in Dad and Mae's raised flower bed.

Pink lilies...closeup.

Strawberries that we bought at Mary's Garden in Canyonville. They were so sweet and juicy. These are June bearers and starting this week the Everbearing ones will start to ripen. They are a little spendy at $18 a flat.....but well worth it. There was no waste other than the stems on the ones we bought. They start picking them at daylight and only pick as many as they predict they will sell so they are always fresh daily. You can also go U-pick them. We used to pick them ourselves until it started hurting my back and legs so much afterwards. Now we pay a little more and buy them already picked. We enjoyed them fresh over ice cream the day we brought them home. I sliced the rest and put them in the freezer in pint bags. We plan on getting at least 2 more flats soon to freeze and make jam.

Soon it will be time to pick blackberries. I'll post photos of Dad and Mae's blackberries in their backyard later when they start ripening. Dad keeps them trimmed and so they are easy to pick by the bucketfuls. They keep them picked all summer until there are no more berries. I can't tell you how many 5 quart ice cream buckets that we pick off those berries each year. Dad and Mae freezes the berries and juice and then distributes it amongst their families and friends. I go over and help pick as many as possible. I freeze whole berries and can juice from running the berries through my juicer. I don't add any sugar to the juice so we can make jelly out of it later. We like to mix it with Diet-7Up for a refreshing drink.

Rich's co-worker said the sweet cherries should be ready soon! He doesn't use them other than eating so we can pick several pounds. I'm planning on canning and dehydrating them this year. I was fortunate enough to find a cherry pitter (brand new) on Ebay for 99c plus $3.95 shipping. I was the only person that bid on it. I'm still trying to find a French Bean slicer on Ebay for a reasonable price. I've found them but the starting bids are more than what they cost in the store.