W-A-L-K (Garden Update)

(Originally published June 3, 2022)

In the mornings I take Tig out on her promenade, which is her daily W-A-L-K around the backyard in her harness and leash. Matt always spells out W-A-L-K when he asks if The Madame (Tig) has gone outside yet, because the dogs he grew up with understood the word "walk" so his family would say DOUBLEYEW-AYE-ELL-KAY to keep the pups from amping up. Tig does not even seem to recognize her own name but, sure, may as well err on the safe said and spell "walk" so we don't get her "excited" about the possibility of going outside.

While walking down the back steps, I noticed this poppy in the process of emerging from its... I dunno what it's called. That case that holds a flower bud before it blooms? Its hat. I noticed this poppy in the process of doffing its hat, which is always super cute because it looks like it's wearing a pretty little dunce's cap. By the time The Madame and I were returning to the house, the little flower cap had been doffed! Good job, little poppy. I'm very proud of you!

Here's another one from a different W-A-L-K:

Oh, the places you'll go in my backyard.

Our neighbors were digging up their back patio(?) which meant Erika AND MATT GOT A FREE PILE OF BRICKS. This is but a portion of our bricks. We have so many more deposits around the yard. We first started using bricks to edge our gardening patches and lawn when our decrepit chimney had to be dismantled. Now everybody in the neighborhood knows that if you have shitty old broken bricks, you just give 'em to Matt and Erika, they'll take 'em.

Lookit my garden!! I'm so frickin proud of all the work we've done on it-- AND STILL SO MUCH MORE TO DO, OF COURSE. We wanna get rid of the lawn entirely and use up the rest of our shit brick piles to make a path from the gate to the house. Plus more grow boxes, obviously.

Look at thissssssssssss.

My cup (will) runneth over with potatoes and broccoli (in the fall).

(I wrote "in the fall" but I didn't actually check if that's when you harvest potatoes and broccoli. Hm, ok, a surface-level googling says that potatoes in Oregon are sometime after October and sprint-planted broccoli is: "when the central head reaches 1 inch across it should be ready to harvest in  about a week depending on weather." Ok, cool, but, like, what season is that?)

Here's another poppy wearing its little bud casing like a jaunty beret.

All good things must come to an end, so in conclusion to this Very Good Update, here is a broccoli leaf and sugar snap pea branch(?) that met with an accidental dismemberment but then got to live a second life as indoors decorations: