In the Pink

Good evening/early morning :) As you might have noticed, I've changed the design/layout a little/lot. I have no particular reasoning, just that I feel like we all look a little better surrounded by pink :) There are limits, however, to what I can do with blogger templates and mediocre html skills, so thank you for your patience while I work on improving this blog.

Anyhow, I've got some other writing to be doing right now so I'll keep this entry short. I just wanted to post some pictures I took of these really cute poppies which popped up (heh) unexpectedly in my garden this summer. Incidentally, they happen to be pink so I thought they'd fit in nicely with the new layout :)

Right now I have a mess of wildflowers growing in and amongst various vegetables in my garden, but I think the pink poppies have got to be my favourites. -A totally unexpected delight. You see, in February I started on a very ambitious project to grow all of the annuals this year from seed using my aerogarden as a growlight...
I started at the end of February but realized by about April that it wasn't gonna go well. I just didn't have enough light and time to make sure the little guys were properly cared for.

See all of those cute little seedlings? Beet and dill babies to be exact. They all died horrible deaths.

As a result, only a handful of the 150 or so seedlings I started out with actually made it into the garden. In fact, I was so frustrated by my failings at such a seemingly simple proect that one night in May I took a whole bunch of seed packets and dumped the contents out into various soil beds around my yard. I think I did this partially in a fit of rage and partially as insurance. See, my boyfriend has a theory that I like to mess with things too much and that that's why my forays into hydroponics didn't work out-and sadly he's pretty spot on. However that night, as I ran around spilling the seeds of all matter of herbs, vegetables, and wildflowers, I was more concered with having some back-up plants in case all of my indoor seedlings kicked it. Ok and I wanted to prove him wrong...

See? I scattered these darn seeds everywhere and just left them to grow like you do, you crazy hippie. No measuring, no carful plotting, mapping or labeling-I just went nuts. And not a thing grew! The seeds must have been faulty or something. It's all a big conspiracy to ruin my garden...

Only it wasn't a conspiracy. And the seeds were perfectly fine (dammit). In fact, every single dang seed I threw out like a madwoman managed to sprout and develop into a nice, healthy little plant. Meanwhile my carefully planned aerogarden-reared seedlings languished indoors, all leggyness and wilt. * le sigh*

Purple Prince Zinnia: one of the few survivors of Aerogardengate '10. See those tiny petals in the center? They just keep on growing and multiplying for about 2-3 weeks until the flower is one giant purple puffball! BEST CUT FLOWERS EVER.

Love the flavour of these little guys in salads. Cucumbery and earthy at the same time.

Okay enough with the drama. I'm actually really happy with some of the plants I have out there. I especially adore the edible cornflowers and marigolds. -And the pink cosmos which have formed this massive wispy spray of green and pink beside the pool. I have a special place in my heart for these tiny, delicate poppies however, so I'm proud to feature them today.

I placed my little poppy cuttings in a pink morroccan tea glass from a set I bought at the Exhibition (CNE) yesterday. You might also recognize the little copper dish as an old school jello mold...

They sort of remind me of those tiny umbrellas you sometimes get in cocktails.

Just imagine that the little copper mold is filled with delicious cardamom shortbread cookies :)

I felt that the glass should be on a little saucer or tray but I was too lazy to hunt around for one so I grabbed one of these from my kitchen. I aso put off taking these photos until the late afternoon when the light wasn't as strong. And it was windy. Something tells me I have a great future ahead of me as a professional photographer :P

The mark of a true professional? Catching your fingers in a shot.

Alrighty folks, that's about all I got for you tonight. Tomorrow night I'll hopefully be done with some of my projects and will therefore be able to get to those recipes I want to post for you. Hope everyone is well and enjoying this last weekend of August :)

Kat