I made my first lettuce harvest today! Here's what the lettuce pot looked like before dinner. A few heads had leaves there were big enough to eat. :) Twelves leaves to be exact! We also had 2 ripe strawberries. Which, of course, is not enough for a salad. Unless you are a rabbit. So I supplemented with a petite head of red lettuce from Farmer's Market. The leaves tasted very tender and the frilly one has a spicy kick to it. Not spicy like a jalapeno, but it tastes piquant. (Btw, David just taught me that word!)
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We had a socialization-filled Memorial's Day Weekend. Saturday night we had dinner at Joy with all our church friends. Wow, really good food and we only paid $12.50 each after tax & tip. I really don't know how could be this inexpensive because the food is really good and we were stuffed to our gills at the end. I made the mental note to take our parents there when they come. They'll like it. Sunday morning was our monthly morning prayer at church followed by a visit to the local rehab center. We go there once a month to sing hymns and share a simple message. We're currently doing the "I am's" and this week was "I am the Son of Man." It was an peculiar visit in that we only had 2 people join us for service in the beginning. Usually there is a room full of residents who would join us. We later found out that there was a Catholic bishop in town giving a service at the same time. After we got home from the visit we relaxed a little and then got to work because we were going to a friend's house for BBQ later that afternoon. We planned to bring lemonade and red velvet cupcakes (per our friends' request). I went to the garden and plucked 13 lemons from the bush. They smelled so nice. The fresh, sweet lemon scent must run through the branches as well. David made the red velvet cupcakes while I assisted by holding the mixer and basically mixed whatever he threw into the mixing bowl. We made two dozen cupcakes. I tried frosting the cupcake for the very first time and it was a lot of fun. Reminds me of the summer that I worked at Braum's Ice Cream. Putting whipped cream on sundaes was my favorite thing to do. We decided not to put too much frosting on the cupcakes so it won't be too sweet and overpower the flavor. So a small dollop is all it took. The red is just so pretty against the cream cheese frosting. While I was in the garden getting lemons I noticed that our tomatoes have grown tall. They were all below the first ring when planted and now they're well past the first ring. This year we have Sungold, Early Girl and Brandywine. There is already a Brandywine growing! Brandywine is an heirloom, slicer tomato and they can get as big as 1.5 lbs each and would probably take a while to get to maturity. After the cupcakes were done, we relaxed a little and then headed over to our friends' for BBQ & fellowship. They had 30+ people at their house and everyone had a great time catching up and talking. We got home at around 11pm. We are planning to meet up with a friend on the next day to go to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve + Half Moon Bay so we did a little bit of research on restaurants before we went to bed. Monday morning, we got up at around 9am or so. Went to Philz to get some coffee and then picked up the friend to head over to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. It's a public county park and during low tide, it becomes a tide pool. As usual, there are lots of families scaling the rocks in search of sea creatures. The weather was really awesome. It wasn't cold and it wasn't windy. It was a really nice, clear day. We saw this purple starfish. And purple sea urchins (there are 4 in the picture below). We got there at around noon and low tide was 9:44 am so parts of it was already under water. But I love how the grass and the seaweed ebb to and fro to the gentle rhythm of the water. Later we also saw an orange starfish. It always amazes me what shapes the starfish contorts themselves into even though they have a hard exoskeleton. I love this variety of starfish we have here. The white spots on their skin literally look like stars. There were quite a few smaller crabs in the water but we also saw this dead crab that was probably 5" across. Sad sight. Since the Marine Reserve was close to Half Moon Bay, we dropped by and walked the downtown since our friend has never been. There are a couple of cute stores in HMB and I was liking this 3-panel wall "art". It was basically wood boards that were carved to make those trees. I liked it because it has a peaceful feel to it and I like the wood. I was wondering if it would work above our sofa. The same shop also had these wood pieces that they planted succulents on. Again, love how it's all natural. Another store had Dash & Albert rugs. First time I've seen them in person. I like the colros of those stripes but they're a bit expensive. Then on the way home, we stopped by a couple of our favorite nurseries. They had this funny plant that has tons of berries on it. They are just amazingly compact and prolific! Then there are these carnivorous plants that had my husband at hello. Actually I admit I quite like them myself. They're so interestingly shaped. I would say I'd feel sorry for bugs that fall into their throats, but I'd be lying. I'm not a fan of bugs. Finally we went to a dessert place and had this really yummy dessert that had black glutinous rice, coconut milk and fresh mangoes. I'm determined to try making it home. Wish I took a picture. Then we went home and relaxed. We've been listening to The Help on audio book and we're hooked. The story is so riveting and sometimes I catch myself wondering what will happen next when I'm at work.
Anyway, that was our long weekend. It truly felt long and work felt so long ago and far away. Our plants have been doing very well. :) Our lettuce have grown about an inch now. And since we got the Mesclun mix (meaning we have a couple of varieties), different varieties continue to sprout. Here's one of them. No idea which variety it is but it's so cute. And here's another one. :) The beefsteak tomato has several flowers. :) Can't wait to eat a nice big juicy tomato! And a mum that somehow showed up in the backyard is budding! We still can't figure out how we got a mum in this pot but it is thriving. Oh the mysteries of plant propagation. :) And some strawberry flowers have given way to fruit. And lastly... the chives have sprouted!!! I just learned they're bulb plants! So that means we'll be getting them every year. I hope they will survive and become nice and healthy. :)
Our lettuce have sprouted! After only 4 days in the ground! See tiny sprouts in planter! After growing plants from seed a few times now, I realize the first set of leaves are very different from the final leaf shape of the plants. It's very interesting to me. :) So it's always quite a mystery when something has just sprouted. I feel God has a wonderful sense of humor in spurring our curiosities. I can't wait until these little sprouts grow to yummy lettuce leaves! Don't know if you remember but last time I showed you the lemon thyme it had some very bright green spots in the leaves. Well since then we've put a taller plant next to it to provide some shade and I think it looks fabulous. The leaves look so healthy and green. It just makes me so relieved and happy that it's growing well. David has picked quite a few lemon flowers from the bush to encourage leaf growth and concentrate fruit in only areas we want. We're trying to train our lemon bush to grow upward instead of outward. So we're hoping that by plucking flowers from where they're not supposed to be, they'll grow in other areas. So far I think it's working. We have lots of new, healthy, tender leaves on the bush. :) And the calla lily is back! They're bulb plants like tulips so they return every year. Hopefully this year we'll get a flower. I'm crossing my fingers and buying fish emulsion this year. :) And I mentioned that the strawberry is flowering so I decided to take a closeup picture of the flower. Eventually the white petals will fall and that yellow bump in the middle will grow into a strawberry. Then the green strawberry will gradually turn red. It's a very cute process to watch. Seeing all these healthy plants are very rewarding and heartwarming for me. I would even go so far to say that I feel joy when I see them thrive!
I've been thinking about getting a patio set for a while now and about 2 months ago I realized that I wanted a wood one. So last week I went to World Market and saw that there was an outdoor sale. Basically it's 20% off for any outdoor furniture and other accessories. Well actually I went because I saw this sale online and printed out the coupon hoping that the Valencia set that I had pinned a month ago finally arrived in the stores. And it did! Up until then I was seriously debating just getting this set from Target. I've had good experiences with the Smith & Hawken brand and the set looks very sleek. However they don't carry it in stores and there are no reviews at all, which sort of frigthens me. That in addition to not being able to return to stores had me feeling leery of pulling the trigger. And not to mention it was $899+tax at the time (now $767+tax), which would put me way over my furnishing budget for pretty much until Q3 of this year. So what I didn't tell you last week was after I saw the set, sat on it, loved it and confirmed with the stock room guy that they were in stock I called David. Yup, I'm that wife. The sale was only for the week and we had SC for the rest of the week and so I had convinced myself that it's now or never. So I called him literally at 8:40 pm (the store closes at 9pm) begging him with my sweetest wife voice to come to the store and to take a look. Thankfully, he agreed so I went home, picked him up and went back to the store. Thankfully WM is only 5 mins away from home. And...he liked it! I promise this doesn't always happen. Sometimes I'd be head over heels in love with something and he'd pass by and give it a "meh". Or he would usually find some quality deficiency or other things only reasonable and objective people would see. Annoying. :) Anyway, this time he liked it, too! Yay! So we decided to buy it. So the stock room guy grabbed us a bench, a coffee table and two chairs. The cashier rang everything up and it was only $375. Huh? I was so puzzled. I was sure the set was supposed to be $520 at the end. And then I realized that they had grabbed the "dining" bench and chairs instead of the "occasional" bench and chairs. Ugh. So the guy went back to the stock room and found out that they do have the occasional bench but no more occasional chairs. Insert super sad face here. So we decided to just buy the coffee table and bench first. The manager took down my name so they can call me as soon as they received the chairs. So this was last Tuesday. On Wednesday, I called another WM store to ask if they have any of the occasional chairs in stock. Nope. None of them had any in stock except for the store in Marin, which is 2 hours away. *sigh. But then they told me that 4 chairs should be arriving at the Mountain View store. Elated, I called the MV store. The lady very politely told me that if the manager already got my name they would call me when the chairs arrive. Thursday night was the beginning of our ESSC so I decided that I would not think about this anymore. It was my time to focus on my spiritual self and not about two occasional chairs. And so I did. I had decided that worst comes to worst I would just order the chairs online Sunday night after I come back from church since the sale ends on Sunday. It's just an extra $30 for shipping. I would not be petty with God. So ESSC happened and really thank God we had 6 baptisms! (If I ever gather my thoughts I'll post about this.) It also just so happened that an elderly sister passed away last week and so her memorial service was scheduled for Sunday afternoon after SC is over. So basically David and I didn't get home until past 9pm on Sunday because of cleanup and such. No complaints though, we both had many reflections about SC and realized again how wonderful it is to have good coworkers in Christ. Having good coworkers can really turn something bitter and difficult into something joyful. Anyway, so we got home past 9 and after showering I remembered that I should order the chairs. So I went online and guess what? The chair can't be found anywhere on the site! At first I thought I was too tired and missed it or something, but I slowly realized that it just was not there. The bench was there, the coffee table was there. But no chair. It wasn't even out of stock. It just wasn't there at all. That was when I told myself to be ready to return the coffee table and bench we had gotten. Well, another task for another day. So I went to bed. Two days later (Tuesday), I decided to call Mountain View WM to ask if they had received those 4 chairs that were coming in. To my surprise the guy told me that they had 1 of those chairs in stock. So strange. I didn't miss any calls. Did they forget to call me? At the end of the call, I decided to just go into the store to grab that one chair and try my luck in other stores. When I got there, the guy kindly brought out the last chair in stock and even called other stores to see if they have any in stock. The manager was also there -- actually the same one I left my name with! She recognized me and kept apologizing to me saying that they usually always call when people leave their names and she didn't know what happened. Then the guy got off the phone and said the Stevens Creek store is willing to sell me their store sample. When the manager heard this, she says if they're willing to sell their store sample then so is she! So that's how I ended up getting the two occasional chairs! At the end, they even sold me the chairs for 20% off even though the sale already ended! I was so surprised after the chairs were loaded into the car that everything turned out this way. :) Yay. Thank God. We assembled the set the last two evenings and they're super easy to put together. In fact, I did the bench all by myself today. :) I was super happy that the outdoor pillows I got from Ikea (total impulse buy from 2 or 3 weeks ago) was perfect! David immediately sprayed all the pillows with Scotch Guard. They are white after all. I've read some good tips on how to clean outdoor pillows/cushions without tossing them in the wash so I feel pretty confident that they'll hold up. But if not, the pillow covers do come off and can be washed. I really like it. :) It still feels like a blank slate but it definitely anchors the space. Now it's a matter of adding the little pieces and doing a little bit of decorating. At the very least I plan to sew some pillow covers to add some color. :) Oops, in this picture the bench cushion was drying from the Scotch Guard spray so it's missing. :) But here's the bird's eye view from our bedroom balcony. I do want to get a garden stool that can double as a side table in the future. :) Just so it can seat more people in a pinch. Oh, we also moved all the plants to the sunniest part of the garden. Yesterday I planted the lettuce and chives seeds so that's why there are 2 pots of dirt. I still have to plant a slicer tomato. :) Maybe this weekend. Oh my I feel so tired after telling this crazy story so I'm going to bed. Oh before I go, I just want to say that I stayed within my furnishings budget. :) Yes, I pretty much spent my May budget, but I did stay within my budget. How in the world did I do that? Well it took lots of self control for several months. And credit card award dollars. And health awards.
I'm sheepish to say that we're just starting the 2012 garden. Oh my, it's already May. Actually I should say that all I've done so far is think about it. Not much has actually happened except for sweeping and general cleanup of the garden. So this post will just be on what the current state of the garden is. Actually, when I went to take pictures I was impressed by how vigorous nature can be. Many plants thrive in our neglect simply because it's their time, their season. Like the mint below. It was so leggy and chewed up by bugs before but look at these healthy leaves now! I would say the mint has never been so healthy since we took it home. The lemon thyme was fuller before but apparently birds like to snip off its branches to make their nests so we've lost quite a few sprigs last month. It's okay. We are generous people. Judging from the bright green color, though, I think it may be getting a tad too much sun. But it's not serious right now since it's not summer yet. I think I'll move it to a spot with just a little bit more shade tomorrow. And our strawberries from last year is blooming! I'm telling you, these plants are vigorous! Either that or they know they're in the hands of one very black-thumbed owner and know that they need to take care of themselves. Either way, after seeing these flowers I bullishly told David that it seems like strawberries are easy to grow so we should get one that actually tastes good. He gave me a "please come back down to earth" look. The lemon bush is flowering again! I feel like it flowers every two months or so. We have around 20ish lemons on the bush right now. :) It's so funny though. We still buy lemons from time to time to "save" the ones we have. We sort of think they are priceless. Delusional parents? Yea, that's us. And the maidenhair fern. It's been putting up tall, new fronds recently. :) We moved it to the shadiest part of the garden and I think it really likes it. And we have some interesting unidentified sprouts in several places in the garden like this one. David told me that last November he planted tons of cherry seeds (saved from super yummy Ranier cherries we had last year). I would be tickled to no end if any of them sprouted! Before putting last year's tomatoes to sleep, I cut off a sucker and planted it. I have no idea if it will grow, but it's free so it's worth a try. :) I would love to have the same tomatoes as last year. And the hydrangea. I'm growing more convinced everyday that we will not get flowers this year. The hydrangea in our community has no flowers yet but it has plenty of buds. Ours only has leaves. :( Oh well, hopefully it stores enough energy for next year. I'm definitely not cutting off any branches this year. And guess what?? Someone is moving into the birdhouse! I have no idea who it is but there are branches and other things gathering in there. :) At first David thought I was snipping branches and putting it into the birdhouse myself. What. Do I seem like someone who would do that? And this is not in the garden but our faithful $5 orchid has started budding again! This orchid has budded at least 2 times already in this location. :) We feel so proud. Also not in the garden but we got some flowers this weekend because there was a memorial service held at church and they were giving away leftover flowers. David put these bouquets together. Wow. I think I need to step aside because these are so nicely done! And that's it! I'm hoping to at least add lettuce, chives and slicer tomatoes (either Brandywine or Early Girl) to the garden this year. :) Wish me (and our plants) luck.
Okay I have so much stuffed in my little head about garden configuration, decoration and color scheme that I need to offload it all before I forget it. Haven't I told you? I have really, really bad memory. And I'm not just saying that. So what better way to offload than a mood board. :) 1. Target Birdhouse 2. Overstock Dial Thermometer 3. Target String Light 4. Ikea Block Candle 5. World Market Ribbed Candle Holder 6. Overstock Outdoor Pillows 7. Overstock Outdoor Pillows 8. Target Patio Set 9. Overstock Fountain 10. Ikea Bistro Set 11. Ikea Side Table 12. Our Brick Floors 13. Overstock Tiered Plant Stand Of course this is just a mood board and things will change. But I like the neutral base with pops of yellow and green. And I love all that wood! It feels comfortable and soothing to me. :)
I have a confession to make: I haven't been in the garden for months. I think when the tomatoes went to sleep and the temperature just got colder and colder, I sort of just stopped gardening. Hence the disappearance of the monthly garden updates. And for some reason, I also stopped going into the garden at all. Not to sit on the bench. Not to admire the lemons which blossomed and fruited in cold weather. It's as if the sliding glass doors to the garden became a wall and the portal disappeared. I went into my own hibernation. Well this past Sunday David was outside moving the plants back (the HOA was painting all the exterior walls, trim and balconies and everything was moved so they're at least 2 feet away from the walls). Since he was taking a while, I went outside, too. I think it was the first time this year. The garden was in complete disarray. Leaves, branches, debris and dirt soiled the beautiful brick patio. And I just had the urge to sweep. What ensued was a thorough sweeping of the brick. It felt so good to be working in the garden again. The air just smells fresher. I then mustered the courage to inspect the plants. I think part of the reason why I haven't been outside is feeling guilt for not tending to our plants. So I was bracing for the worst. The mint from last year was leggy and in generally bad condition. I pruned everything away except a few healthy sprigs. I was relieved the maidenhair fern survived the winter. David must've watered it often because it would've dried completely (like it did last year) without constant watering. I only removed any browning or shriveled parts. I left the tomato skeletons as is. Clearing out pots will be left for another day. And note to self: it's time to buy tomato seeds/plants. This year I want to try growing beefsteaks in addition to sungold. The hydrangea amazed and motivated me. Look at the beautiful green, healthy leaves! Remember last year it was battling some disease that caused the leaves to brown and curl? Well, we pruned off all the diseased branches before winter set in and it was basically pared down to a stub. That was the last I saw of it. So to see this life bursting forth was amazing and inspiring. It makes me want to garden again. The other thing I started to think about is how to configure and use this space. We currently have a bench and 2 chairs. And that's it. After taking these pictures I realized we actually have quite a sizable patio. It has so much potential to be a beautiful and relaxing retreat don't you think? Of course we'll have to figure out a way to display the plants beautifully without compromising their sun needs. So my way of moving forward on this goal is buying a $55 outdoor coffee table (I paid $55 because of a $5 off $50 coupon, Redcard savings and free shipping). I think it'll really start to anchor the space. I'll show you guys when it arrives. :) I'm also thinking some string lights and accessories (like a lantern or something) would be lovely as well. Any suggestions? I'm currently swooning over this birdhouse. We have a hummingbird that frequents our garden and I would be honored if it would nest at our house. Do you think there's a chance it would live in that house? Another lovely spot we have is this covered/shaded part. I love the gray they used for the exterior paint. Reminds me very much of the gray in our bedroom. So serene and clean. What would go in this corner? We've actually been looking on and off for a fountain but none of them have caught our eye yet. I don't feel like I'm super picky either but why are there so many ugly fountains? Another option is a potting table. Or an etagere. Who knows what will end up there. :) Another idea I'm floating in my mind is a bistro set like this one from Ikea. This is the view from the master bedroom balcony. Bird's eye views always gets my mind ticking about configuration. I'm already mentally moving those pots around. :) So glad I stepped into the garden this weekend. It really rekindled something in me. I'm really looking forward to many a happy spring and summer afternoons in the garden. :)
I hope to improve this space this year and make it a nice place to relax and maybe even entertain! Seriously if you have any ideas, please let me know! Somehow outdoor decor is so much harder than indoor for me. If you recalled, last spring we bought 6 tulip bulbs. When the flowers faded and the leaves shriveled, we pruned them to their bulbs and left them in the garden closet for hibernation. Well a few weeks ago, we noticed some tulip-like leaves growing out of the planter that was holding mums. Interesting, I was pretty sure we had cleared the soil before planting the mums so I have no idea how tulip bulbs ended up in there. And later, David opened the garden closet to grab the sweeper when he noticed the tulips bulbs were... sprouting? Basically, tiny leaves were protruding from the bulb! Oops, we must've been late in planting them so we immediately stuck them in a planter. Thankfully they still grew! See cute green leaves below! And I've counted and we have 14 sprouts! Incredible right? How did 6 turn into 14? Only God knows. :)
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