Sunday Bits #30! (green garlic, green beans, strawberry cupcakes)

Wow! Can you believe it has been 30 weeks of sharing all these lovely Bits with you already? Time certainly has flown by, and here we are, right in the thick of things in gardening season.

We have had more days of hazy smoke filled air than without this week, so my outdoor time has been limited. That said, I am grateful to be in an area with no active fires and am praying for rain! Like, we need a couple days of good downpour kind of rains! Time for a rain dance!

I am loving this new corner of ours, looking forward to watching it fill in. There are many plants in there.. you just cannot see them yet ; ) Mulch really makes the biggest difference, doesn't it? Keeps the dogs from tracking in mud, cleans things up, makes everything look tidy and pulled together.

I had my little grandies over the other day, helping me in plant up all 12 flower pots on the patio. My wee granddaughter helped with the slow release fertiliser and flower planting, while grandson watered the pots for us. The plants, and Nan, are going to need a few days to recover from all that 'help'.

Gardening Bits

This article about green garlic...what it is and how to use it. If you planted garlic in the fall, you have green garlic in your garden right now that you can harvest, if you want, as long as you planted lots and are willing to forgo a few bulbs later on.

If you planted your garlic in spring, you will have green garlic to harvest by late summer. It will not break into cloves as it did not go through the winter freeze but green garlic is super yummy in everything, too! Use anywhere you would use garlic, onions, or leeks.

Growing green beans tips! I love to grow pole beans rather than bush beans, though the yellow wax bush beans are amazing, so tender. Pole beans take up way less room in the garden though, going up means more ground space for other things! I am growing Kentucky Wonder again this year, is one of my favourites!

Bringing your begonias, verbena, or geraniums indoors for summer? What a great idea. I am so going to do this! Using Summer Annuals And Perrenials To Decorate Indoors - StoneGable (stonegableblog.com)

This dreamy dahlia garden! Scroll down to check out their amazing greenhouse/garden room!

Garden Dccor Bits

I saw this post the other day, about staining the deck a nice driftwood colour. It is so pretty. Check it out to see what she did, what she used, and how great it looks. Our deck will be getting a good scrub and a coat of whatever stain is on it right now (that the former owners left downstairs)! No changes for us, at least not this year. If I were to change it though, I would love this colour! To follow that up, here is her patio all set up and how to repel mosquitos. You need to check it out, if only to see how pretty that deck is.

Do you love the look of outdoor string lights? I am in love with them. I found this article about hanging lights in all sorts of situations and how to do it. It is a great article... but I will admit, I still am not sure how I am going to set mine up. Over the patio and table? around the perimeter of the patio? around the perimeter of the yard, back and forth over the patio? Do you have string lights? What did you do?

How to make your colourful ceramic pots look like terracotta! I really like this pot diy! There are many ways to pretty up your pots, but this one for us terracotta lovers is a really good one. Flower Pot Upcycle Project - Thistle Key Lane

As I write this, I am still planning what treats to make for the neighbourhood coffee klatch that I am hosting this week. I have house cleaners coming the day before to help me get rid of all the construction dust that just seems to keep coming, plus the dog hair and drool off the walls so today is cleaning day to get ready for the cleaning lady, hahaha! Anyway, I have some baking to do and this lovely post with 15 yummy cookie recipes came along, so now I am trying to pare it down to just a couple of favourites ; )

By the way, the coffee klatch was great. I ended up making two kinds of cookies, some of these super yummy (vegan) strawberry cupcakes (they were a big hit!) and the blueberry coffee cake from my Food For Thought section. I made the cake with a bit less sugar than it called for, this time, and added the glaze. Boy, was it ever yummy! Loved the cupcakes, too, but trying to figure out how to make a not so sweet frosting for it. Anyone have ideas on how to make it thick and yummy but not sugar laden? I was thinking maybe just using whipped cream, though not real cream, of course. Oh, and I did not use the food colouring either, I do not care if my cupcakes are brown rather than red, as long as they taste good, and they sure did!

This rhubarb compote sounds amazing! I have never added cinnamon or citrus to mine! I think it is time to try something new. My rhubarb is still under the garbage can but we will be harvesting the stalks in two weeks time, to make all sorts of rhubarb goodies - pie and this compote are on the must-make list.

Do you all love panzanella? Bread salad? It is one of my all time favourite summer meals. Here is a spring themed panzanella that I need to try! Perfect way to use that lovely loaf of artisan bread and fresh asparagus from the garden, or market.

Decorating Stuff

Styling With Lamps. This article shows the difference that putting the right things with your artwork will do for the room. I know it is about the lamps but I loved it for the flowers and the Finnish Iitalla candlesticks, hah! Check it out and see whether you prefer the tall gold ones or the green chunkier ones.

Painting your front door, colours that are not black! Is funny because I currently have a black door at this new house. I like it, it goes so nicely with the colours of the house... but as the doorway is set in, it also makes it dark and cave like, just blends in. I do not like to blend in, I kinda want to make a statement.

It will be painted some version of blue, but I think a lighter one this time. The first time I painted a door, the house was a sage green colour so I went with an almost black colour of blue, like slate blue. The next time we painted a door, the house was white with grey trim so I went with a dark grey blue, I think it was BM's Blue Heron. I seem to like the smoky blues and even now am drawn to them. However, this time I am going brighter as I think the darker blues are no different than black in this case! Eek! Something like the SW's Mountain Stream in (above) this article. What do you think? Too blue?

My sweet neighbour gave me this lovely basket of calibrachoa as a house warming gift! Such a sweetie. I have no place to hang this basket though, so I took off the handle and plunked it into my strawberry pot. It is perfect! great fit and gives purpose to my this pot that I never plant up but use as garden art. Now it really pops :)

You all need to check out these petunias! This is Crazytunia Cosmic Purple! Look at the size of those gorgeous blooms. Cannot wait to see how it fills out in this basket.

Hope you are all having a really lovely long weekend. Doing the things you love, with the people you love. Happy gardening ~ Tanja