Life's Little Pleasures From the Garden

Yesterday evening, I ventured out into the garden before the sun went down to do "garden patrol". "Garden patrol" consists of watering things that aren't on the drip-mist irrigation system yet; checking on produce to see if it's ready for harvesting; check the water levels in the pond and other water feature; say hi to the garden kitties, Oreo and Mooch, and give them some canned food; and just check on the latest developments in the garden.

This time of year during my garden patrol, I often find produce that is at the peak of perfection and ready to be picked. Yesterday was no exception. I retrieved my wide and low harvest basket with a big handle to sling over my arm. I went in the back garden to harvest the luscious strawberries and plums as well as some pole beans and spinach leaves. It made for such a lovely arrangement in the basket that I had to photograph them before I dismantled it.

Once inside, the spinach and pole beans go into containers in the fridge with others that have been harvested over the past couple of days. With small harvests, this is the best way to get a good serving together.

The strawberries were rinsed and went straight into a cup to be delivered to Hubby who was working hard in his home office. I have been eating the strawberries straight off the bushes out in the garden for a month or so now. I thought it was only fair that he should get the next few batches.

The plums went into the fridge too so I could cool them off since they were quite warm after being out in the heat all day. Later in the evening I had cold juicy plums for dessert after our late dinner. Yum!

This is why I love gardening so much. These little treasures make it all worth it.

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A New Look for the Blog's 1 Year Birthday

The Rosehaven Cottage blog (and website) turned a year old this week! I can't believe how fast a whole year has flown by. I decided that the blog (and website) needed a facelift with a design that was a better reflection of who I am.

I stayed up way too late last night coming up with designs based on my photographs and my art. I did mock-up homepages using Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Elements in tandem until I found something that felt right.

Today, I ventured out into the cloud called the internet to find out how I could create my own Blogger template or at least customize an existing one so that it felt like it was my own.

Through the use of Google, I found the site Blogger Buster and the wonderful free eBook that she has available for downloading called "The Cheats' Guide to Customizing Blogger Templates".

With my mock-ups in one window and the eBook in another, I set up a test blog on Blogger so I could tweak the html code to my heart's content without messing up the real blog. Once I got it the way I like it, I went back to the real blog and made the necessary template change to Blogger's Minima and then did the very minor html code changes by hand instead of copying and pasting the code from the test blog. That way I didn't lose all my widgets and sidebar elements.

So this is the result! If I was a white goose, I'd dance with my head in the air.

The website is going to take longer to overhaul particularly since I need to get Mac-based software for the development. I'm leaning toward Adobe Dreamweaver and would appreciate feedback any of you may have on what has worked for you, what hasn't, and whether you've used Adobe Dreamweaver before.

As a little treat to commemorate the blog's birthday, I decided to go back through the last year's posts and feature some of my favorite photos with today's post. Enjoy!

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At least SOMETHING likes this heat!

At 11:40 a.m. this morning, I was dismayed to see that the digital thermometer read 100 F (38 C). I love the sun but not when it beats down at temps this high. According to weather reporters, today could potentially reach 115 F (46 C). Our climate is considered a Mediterranean climate, but even at that, these temps are off the charts.

Fortunately, living in very close proximity to the waters of the San Francisco Bay has its advantages during our summer heatwaves. The water usually has a cooling effect once the sun slips over the horizon, causing our temps to dip down overnight often as much as a full 30-40 degrees. So although our heatwaves rival those of a desert clime, they are far more tolerable.

The water and the hilly geography of the San Francisco Bay Area creates many micro-climates within a relatively small radius less than a hundred miles. Even though San Francisco is only about 45 miles (72 km) away, it is a world away as far as its growing zone. And Oakland is only 30 miles (48 km) away but still there is a vast difference between there and here.

This overriding consideration for micro-climates leads to some tricky calculating when one is at a nursery picking out plants. If I'm at a nursery anywhere too far outside my micro-climate, the selection will not be appropriate for my home garden even though I may only be a half hour drive away from home. The Sunset Western Garden Book eventually becomes any serious Bay Area gardener's best friend for this very reason. There's usually a copy at every nursery I go to in case I need to make a quick check before buying something I'm not familiar with.

One of the plants that can either thrive or fade depending on which Bay Area micro-climate it's planted in is bougainvillea. Bougainvillea LOVES heat! In San Francisco proper, some strains of bougainvillea may not do so well because of the city's famous foggy skies and cooler temps (hence the infamous quote "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" [often inaccurately attributed to Mark Twain]).

Well, here in our little micro-climate the bougainvillea only struggles through a few freezes and frosts every winter and then comes back like gangbusters once spring has sprung. By summer, it is trying to take over the driveway that borders the white picket fence the bougainvillea climbs for support. I whack it back regularly so Hubby and his car aren't injured by the deadly inch-long thorns, and it just keeps growing. The reflected heat from the concrete driveway and the full sun location make it thrive.

One particularly bad freeze a couple of winters ago zapped all of bougainvillea so bad that I'd thought for sure I'd lost them. Even the big 3-4 inch trunks died. But the bougainvillea came back sending shoots out from its roots--which is why I have no idea which varieties I still have except for the obviously identifiable Raspberry Ice with its variegated leaves (see top photo). The rest are now a mystery.

So on this day of record-breaking high temps, there will be at least one living thing thriving and basking in the heat out in the garden. And that will be the bougainvillea.

As for me, I'm hibernating inside in my studio with a paintbrush in hand. The bougainvillea can have my share of the outside for today.

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Juicy Plums for Independence Day

A bountiful harvest has begun here at Rosehaven Cottage thanks to one Santa Rosa plum tree that is laden with so much fruit some of its boughs are bending and touching the ground. This is really exciting for me because this is the first year that the tree has actually produced more than 1 or 2 plums. I LOVE plums (Hubby doesn't like them) so I am thrilled!

Some of you may remember that I wrote about this plight earlier in the year when the tree was blossoming as I shared some photos of the lovely spring plum blossoms. Now the majority of those blossoms have become luscious plums that are ripening at varying rates all over the tree.

Because sitting under the plum tree is one of my favorite daily activities, I have been watching and gently hand-checking the fruit each time I'm out there. Early in the ripening stages when a plum that's been within my reach has been ripe enough, I've plucked it from the tree and eaten it right there. Yummy!

Well, now that the number of plums that are ripe has increased, I was able to take my harvest basket out and pick the first bunch of plums all at once. That was a real treat!

The plums came inside and went into this nifty rinsing basket that Hubby has in the kitchen (the kitchen is Hubby's domain, by the way). After a good rinse in some cool water, the plums were covered with droplets and were very photogenic (as you can see in the photos above).

Of course I've eaten the perfectly ripe ones as a wonderful sweet treat as part of my breakfast, lunch, or dinner. As the others ripen, I'm going to try my hand at making homemade fruit leather with our home dehydrator. I'll make sure and photographically document the process when I do so I can share.

Now why, you may ask, am I featuring these fresh fruits on America's Independence Day?

Well, today is also my own Independence Day. It was two years ago today that I made the life-changing decision to eat, eat well, and gain my independence from the burdens of a chronic illness as well as OCD-related anxiety and depression. Along with adopting the WeightWatchers lifestyle, I consciously chose to no longer consume any hydrogenated oils and products (trans fats) while increasing my consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids in the form of walnuts and other nuts. I also chose to eat instead of continuing the pattern of "forgetting" to eat all day--a pattern that was taking me down a very unhealthy road and had caused my metabolism to grind to a halt. July 4, 2006 was a very big milestone day for me, to say the least.

As I've traveled this interesting health-focused journey for the past 2 years, I've come to love simple and luscious foods like these plums that I'm harvesting off our tree. Grown organically (as all the other produce in our garden), these plums are more than a summer treat for me. Instead, I see each one as a small package of health and wellness ready for me to consume and gain its benefits--the most profound benefit being independence.

Happy Independence Day!

Links to my writing on the Rosehaven Cottage Health, Wellness, and Food blog:
A Delicious Way to Get My Veggies
"Cute Attacks" and Feeling Healthy
Managing Anxiety and Depression with Nutrition

Links to spiritually-based resources at Provident Living:
Helpful Information on Social and Emotional Strength
Physical Health

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Back by Popular Demand... The Irish Creme Rose

The last post prompted a number of questions in the comments, so I decided that instead of answering the questions there I'd just post another photo of this lovely rose. This photo was taken back in May. Being the first bloom of the year the edges of the blossoms look a bit crinkled.

Some of you have asked if this is the real name of this rose. Yes, it is (believe it or not). It is really called the "Irish Creme" rose.

Others of you have asked if it has a scent. It surely does! The scent is a traditional vintage rose scent with a big of tanginess to it that isn't as citrusy as the Gold Medal rose but it does make it distinctively not musky. It's a bright scent that I usually associate with food.

I acquired this rose at WalMart, of all places. So not only is it unusually lovely, it only cost me about 5 or 6 bucks! It was a bareroot rose during the winter of 2006-2007. Since it was at WalMart, I'm assuming that it wasn't a new release and has been available for at least a year or more.

Finally, despite it being labeled as a "cool weather" rose it survived the summer of 2007 with record temps around 115 F (46 C). It got a bit leggy after that, so I cut it back (which is probably why it hasn't grown as much as roses normally do). We've already had a heatwave this year with temps over 100 F (38 C), and it did well even though the very tips of some of the leaves got crispy.

I think the trick to growing this rose in a hot climate like ours is to plant it where it only gets morning sun. It's planted on the east side of our garden so that the house casts shade on it in the afternoon and evening. It shares a bed with a Japanese maple, some lemon verbena, a hedge of rosemary, and other herbs that give it shelter. I let the lemon verbena and other herbs grow right up against it so the soil around the base stays shaded and cooler. I've got it irrigated with a small soaker hose going right by it's base and it gets watered every two to three days for about 30 minutes.

I'm glad I didn't see the "cool weather" label or I wouldn't have bought it. I would have missed out on this gorgeous and unusual rose being in my garden.

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A Bit O' the Irish

No, I haven't doctored the color on this photo. This photo is "as shot". That's the real color of my Irish Creme rose. Isn't it "yummy"?

This rosebush went in last year and has been slower than most in growing and producing. After I purchased it I happened to notice the fine print that said it is a "cool weather rose". Oops! I had to find a cooler spot in the front garden for it where it's sheltered from the scorching heat of our summer afternoons and evenings. It is fairing better than I expected and this bloom is the first "true" bloom it has produced. I think it's a great specimen so I had to share it.