Mishmash of Garden News

Two weeks ago, The Bean, my niece, got a cabbage plant from school and asked me to plant it. It's looking great right now and trying to form a head. It's one of those 50 lb suckers, so I don't know how large I'll actually let it get since I put it right where I usually can trellis some beans, but I'll let it get a good enough sized head on it to cook up for her. I planted some fortex beans to the left of it and I'll plant another round when I pull it out. I did, however, find my first cabbage worm on it yesteray. Now I know to look out for more! Since I started and am keeping the tomato seedlings outside, they're not growing very fast, but they are growing and not dying so it makes me happy. I'm just terrible at hardening off, so this method seems to work for me as long as I pay close, close attention that it doesn't get down to freezing at night. They'll pick up in growth in a few weeks. Here's the shocker of all shockers. The strawberries in the hanging pots were dead, dead, dead. Crispy and dead. I was entertaining ideas of putting tumbling toms in there this year when I leaned down to take the pot off of it's hook and found this! Iguess they came back! The boy will be happy. They didn't really produce good sized berries here, but a handfull of small ones is better than nothing. One of my students that I taught about 12 years ago has started a custom boutique clothing line for little girls called Jilly B's. All of the clothes are hand made and are just beyond adorable. Yesterday, the girl participated in a photoshoot for her run by another former student's studio, Tasha Fowler Photography. You can find them both on Facebook as well. The dresses the girls wore were just fantastic. They were classic with the touch of whimsy. Tasha's eye for detail and setting brought out the detail in the dresses and her way with the girls had even the most trepidatious of them eating from her hand. Literally. Jelly beans make anyone happy. ;) I cannot wait to see the pictures. The girl has never done anything like that before and she said she felt like a real princess. It struck me that the boy and girl have never had pictures made together. I'm going to ask Jilly B's to make the boy a white button down with the collar and cuffs one of the patterns of K's dress - I'm thinking the one that lines the jeans - and then get Tasha to take pictures of them together.

The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.