A Friday Chit-Chat and A Tour of the Trugs

 Who doesn't appreciate the charm of a watermelon flower?

While carving husband's second watermelon of the season, not as big as the first one, I started to play with an idea. Well, while I cut down way too far on the rind, my idea will play out on the next one. I had watched a few Instagram videos of creative cutting by street fruit vendors in Vietnam, I was inspired by their skill and efficiency. There was no waste.

Do you remember when I was so thrilled about the raised bed garden trugs I purchased in the early Spring? Well, they were recently assembled (too late to return them) and let me just say, for what I paid for these things, they should not have been flimsy, they should not have been sticky from some sealant they used, and they should have not had wobbly legs.

Three of the long planters fit in the tray of the trug. I am keeping this small and manageable and may not have enough to dry for the season, but one never knows if I cut often. We  will see.  

Accommodations needed to be made. My assembler needed to resurrect his collection of colorful comments by the time he was done. With every screw, the wood split. The pieces did not fit together "square" and needed some manipulation to fit together. The plan was to fill each planter with garden soil that would be contained and aerated by the magnificent "liner" that was included with purchase. If the seller did do this as claimed, the entire thing would have collapsed. (again, too late to return) Sooo, we decided to use safe, non-porous lightweight planters to plant my herbs. While all of this is still in progress, I though I would share the mid-point of my planting. We decided not to let anything edible be planted inside the box, I have no idea what kind of poison that sticky stuff was.      

Here we have some rosemary, some sweet Italian basil, hugging each other.

I had to have some divine thyme and oregano.You can see a bit of the dill on the right, I have since trimmed it back and removed the burnt leaves. The chives are in front of that.

This year we stopped at a new-to-us nursery and were thrilled to find such amazing plants and flowers and the price was far better than we had seen in other places. Just look at this adorable hot pepper! It was tiny when I purchased it and has grown and doubled in size in just a week. The plant is laden with blossoms. I should have picked up another. The other end of this planter will have some Italian parsley that I just found yesterday. If you frequent Whole Foods they often have a nice little selection of potted herbs and right now there are quite a few. Thus, the parsley came home with me when I went for fresh fruit and vege. What can I say? 

OK, so with a small planting like this I will not be able to make a roaster full of stuffed peppers, or a tempura fry offering, but a single pepper to cut up into scrambled eggs or a nice little saute for a burger or steak topping, yes, we can do that. I am so used to having a garden that this transition is a compromise. I will survive. 

Is she not divine, this rose bush just keeps on giving. She will re-bloom in August. We had a strong storm and her petals survived. It felt like a gift from above to apologize for my swan dive incident. I'm reaching here Sewtopians, bear with me, as I write this I am miserable with a new and nagging pain and compensating a bit😊😊😊

 This is a photo of the finished planter, on their website, looking sturdy and ready to go. Notice it is leaning against a wall? Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire! I left a negative review, me and about 100 other people!

 A garden tour of Pickety Place by Linda Smith Davis, HERE. Such an enchanting place! It is on my bucket list.  

The Cottage Fairy, new video. Painting in a wildflower woodland, making lilac flavored ice cream. While I am not so keen on such a desert, it might be something you would like to try!