Saturday, August 23, 2008

Presents From TN Bloggers Dinner & Plant Flesh

All of the garden bloggers that I met on Tuesday (I think it was) have already posted about our meeting. You can see photos of our gatherings at the various blogs:

Tina at In The Garden
Frances at Faire Garden
Dave at the Home Garden
Donna at Mother Nature's Garden
Gail at Clay and Limestone

Did I leave anyone out? I hope not.

I'm extremely late in blogging about our visit, but I must say that it was wonderful. It's great to finally meet people you've only been reading about. And it's interesting and funny how everyone has such a distinct personality and voice... and I feel like I've known them forever because I've been reading about their gardens.

I wanted to show you the gifts I received from our gathering.

First, Tina's extremely thoughtful and beautiful gift. She makes the most beautiful marker stones, and she had asked me what I wanted mine to say. I choose "Cam and DP."

Below: The beautiful marker stone! It now sits in the front vegetable bed. Everyone who walks to the front door will see it.


Frances and Gail handed out some plants to everyone. I got some daylilies. I still have to find a place to plant them. I'm thinking I will plant them near the mailbox. I just have to dig up all the rocks that the bad construction workers left there. (It was not a good company, and I am SO happy they are now out of business.)

Since I am not a flower person, I'm hoping that these don't die before next spring. LoL. My American grandmother tells me that daylilies are very easy to grow, so I am hoping this is true. She used to grow over 10 varieties in her garden, so I trust that she's right!

Daylilies sure are pretty. The only drawback is that they don't have an aroma, or a flowery smell to them. But they are pretty, so that's good. And they'll be perfect for cutting and putting into a vase. So I'm very excited.

Below: My new daylily plant.

Finally, I wanted to show you the flesh... the "body" of some of these delicious veggies and fruits that I've been eating.

I know some of you have been dying to see "Barney." He wasn't ripe when we picked him from the vine. I just got very excited because he was so big. And plus, we had so many new watermelon growing on the vine. So I decided to just pick him. He was picked way too early, but he was still pretty juicy and delicious. He doesn't look like he would be that good, but he REALLY was. Lots of flavor and very yummy! I can't wait to taste some of his other brothers and sisters. I bet if I let them ripen on the vine, they'll be 100 times better and 100 times more delicious. But he was pretty delish!

Below: Barney's "Bod"

I'll end with the flesh of the corn that my family ate last week. Remember, we had an amazing bounty, and it was ALL so delicious. We did take a picture of one of the corns before we boiled it. It was yellow and just so pretty.

Below: Yellow corn


Have a great weekend everyone!

16 comments:

Dawn said...

I'm glad you guys had a good time, and daylilies ARE sooo easy.
Barney is making me hungry......

Anonymous said...

That is so neat that you got to meet each other. I love the garden marker Tina made for you. You will love daylillies, they are very easy to grow. That watermelon & corn look very yummy! :) Thanks for visiting my blog & the nice comments you left.

Robj98168 said...

I wanna eat that barney! Great garden you got there! Check out the Square foot gardening group on yahoo some time if you haven't already- jeez, ya think I would check the membership list! Bad, moderator, Bad!- we would be glad to have you there!

tina said...

It all looks lovely you big tease with that delicious looking Barney and the corn! The mailbox would be great for your new red daylilies and I am glad you found a home for your marker stone. Did Cam like it?

DP Nguyen said...

Hi Dawn- I'm so glad that daylilies are easy! I hope they'll bloom and be beautiful for me!

Hi Perennial garden lover- I also love the garden marker that Tina made, it was so lovely. Glad to hear about the daylilies info. I would be afraid of trying to grow a difficult flower!

Hi Rob-Haha, Barney was pretty good. Cool club, I'll have to check it out! Thanks for visiting.

Hi Tina- Cam really loved the marker stone. he thought it was really cool and asked me how you made it. If you had a kit and etc. I had no idea, I just assumed it was difficult b/c its an arts and crafts deal, and I don't do well with concrete, lol.

Gisele Schoene said...

What a great idea the meeting. I imagine it was very nice to get to know each other. Next time you meet close to Knoxville, let me know, I would like to enjoy.
Wow! You are getting lots and lots of veggies! I can't wait to eat my watermelons. I am sure I will do like you and pick them before they are ripe.

tina said...

It is a kit with plastic letters and molds. I mix it with concrete vinyl patcher. Hard work mixing that but an everlasting marker for sure. I add the color in with concrete color mix. Several colors but I chose what I want at the time.

Wicked Gardener said...

DP - I liked those makers a lot too so I looked them up online. Here is what I found: http://www.wordsandcrafts.com/stones/msindex.html

tina said...

Yup, that is the exact kit Wicked Gardener. They are lots of fun and the kit is well worth it. I have two types made by this company.

Frances, said...

Hi DP, great job on the write up of the meeting. I agree that voices sometimes are different than what we expect, especially if you speak on the phone first without seeing them at the same time! Barney is handsome and glad he was delicious too. Your daylily should do well by the mailbox, that is a good spot for it. I envy your corn, I have never tried it before. Your marker that Tina made is very special, hope Cam like it too.

Susie said...

How much fun you guys must of having getting to put faces with blogs.

I like your marker stone. What a neat idea.

Growing daylillies is a snap. They are very low maintenance and just easy. You'll enjoy them much!

DP Nguyen said...

Hi Gisele, I think Frances lives near Knoxville, and I think it would be great to meet another garden blogger! I can't wait for you to taste your watermelon. I bet they will be just delicious! Its hard to know when they are ripe. Next time, I'm going to try to wait longer before i pick them!

Hi Tina- Glad to know that it's the right kit. I think I might buy it and try to experiment with it. It might be disaster, but the kit doesn't look too expensive. Do you have to buy a new kit as you run out of supplies or just buy new concrete?

Hi Wicked Gardener- Thanks for the link! It's very helpful!! and thanks for visiting!

Hi Frances, I had so much fun with the corn this year. I think I was lucky b/c I don't have a lot of deer or other corn-eating critters around here. So my corn was successful.

tina said...

I use a big bag of concrete vinyl patcher purchased only at Home Depot. Lowes does not carry the big bags.
But the kit is reuseable.

DP Nguyen said...

Hi Susie, I am very excited about the daylilies. Now, I just have to get the energy to dig up all the rocks near the mailbox before I can actually plant them. It'll be a big project, lol.

Hi Tina- Very cool info. Home Depot is very close to my house. I may really have to consider getting this kit.

Cindy said...

How fun to read about your visit from your perspective.
Barney looks great! And so does that delicious looking corn.

DP Nguyen said...

Hi Susie-Thanks, both Barney and the corn were pretty delicious! It's funny how everyone has a different takes on the visit.