Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Cliff wonders why I spend so much time outside in the morning

I love to watch the sun as it starts to shed light on my home.  


The cottonwood tree in the pasture is so pretty at dawn.  


There's always some new flower blooming.  


The garden holds surprises for me every day.  My mother told me that when she was a little girl, she always hoped a few strawberries would be ripe in time for her birthday, May 21.  Mine are a month earlier than that, this year.  Of course, I'm 100 miles south of my mother's childhood home.  


The tomato plant I put out ridiculously early, about three weeks ago, is blooming.  I may have to cover it Sunday night; we'll see.  


The cages are in place around my main crop of Celebrity tomatoes... eight plants.  Down at the end in the row on the right is a single caged plant I bought Monday, a very special plant.  


It's a Rutgers, which is considered an heirloom variety.  It was developed in the 1930's.  This was my mainstay tomato for canning and table use until blight became an every-year problem and I had to switch to newer kinds, like Celebrity.  They are nice tomatoes, but not nearly as tasty as the Rutgers.  I would be deliriously happy if this single plant would somehow beat the blight and give us some decent-tasting tomatoes.  


Everybody knows what the Mayapple, or Mayflower, plant looks like, but have you ever seen an actual flower on the plant?  Or the apple?  Here it is!  I noticed it blooming the other day, and watched for the Mayapple fruit to appear.  I don't know that it's edible, and since it's only about 1/2 inch through, it wouldn't make much of a meal anyhow.  This is one of the mayflower plants I brought up out of the woods to see if it was possible to transplant them.  They are thriving so well that I will probably eliminate some of the plants before long.  It's the same with the wild violets, which would love to take over my flowerbed.  


Red is such a pretty color, especially on things that come from my garden.

10 comments:

  1. What a beautiful morning there for you. The sun is up here today and soon I hope it will be warm enough to enjoy early mornings outside. The pictures are all wonderful from the sunrise to the strawberries. How amazing you have a tomato plant blooming already!
    Have a wonderful Wednesday!

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  2. All people are creative artists. Tell Cliff you're the kind that needs, and is inspired by dawn and all things natural and beautiful on this earth.

    What is his art? :)

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  3. We have hundreds of mayapples in our woods over here....

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  4. In small amounts you can eat the fruit, but too much will poison you.

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  5. Love those strawberries. I am surprised the frost hasn't already got that tomato. Our temp got down to 35º one night this week. I did cover some of my flowers and my tomatoes.

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  6. My mouth is watering looking at your strawberries. Yum! I miss having a garden and all the homegrown goodies.

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  7. My mouth is watering looking at your strawberries. Yum! I miss having a garden and all the homegrown goodies.

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  8. Waking up and seeing the sunrise is inspiration. I am a nightowl, so when you're waking, I'm going to sleep. But seeing that morning sky and breathing in that fresh air alters your senses, for sure. Those strawberries look soooo good. I can almost taste them. Tell Cliff he should get up, grab a cup of coffee and meet you outside to take in MOTHER NATURE and all she has to offer. Men sometimes are oblivious to the beauty and serenity of it all. Take care.

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  9. Your strawberries look SOOO delicious! Up here in Northern Mn its still to cold to plant much. some people are putting in there lettuce, peas,etc, but our ground is still pretty cold. Still have to have my garden tilled for the spring tilling before I can plant. LOVE the mornings, I am a early morning gal too! Want to sleep come night time. ha! Wendy

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  10. I love early mornings when I can take the time to enjoy!!

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