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Alfresco Entertaining in my small Garden

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We’re at the height of summer and I find that almost every day we’re having a meal in the garden on the patio. It’s lovely to sit outdoors enjoying the beauty of the garden and when we’re lucky it’s bounty as well.

As I mentioned in my last post, our tomatoes are just beginning to ripen and very soon we’ll have cucumbers and beans. We’ve already been enjoying strawberries and raspberries from the garden and I expect that we’ll continue to enjoy them for another month or so.

It’s at this time of year when I most enjoy entertaining. I love inviting a few friends or some family members over for an informal visit. We’ll get together and have a barbecue or just a snack and a few drinks. Just a chance to get together – but of course it’s always in the garden surrounded by my lovely flowers and all the lovely scents they produce.

One quick and simple treat that I whip up when guests come over is cheese and crackers. I almost always have both cheddar cheese and a soft cheese on hand like Boursin Cheese and of course a variety of tasty crackers is always handy.

Do you do a lot of entertaining in the summertime? Do you keep supplies on hand for “drop in” guests? Supplies such as tasty spreadable cheeses like the Boursin cheeses discussed above or other quick foods?






Every gardener needs an outdoor sink station

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I was browsing through gardening sites earlier today trying to get ideas for our garden and I came across this fantastic Outdoor Sink Station.

I don’t know about you, but each spring and then in early summer I spend a lot of time outdoors planting seedlings that I’ve grown indoors during the late winter and early spring months, or flats of plants that I’ve purchased from a local nursery.

Planting is messy business! Heck, even weeding or spending time putting fresh soil and compost on the garden is a dirty job.

Rather than trudge inside with dirty hands (my shoes, socks and clothing are usually well dusted too!) it would be nice to have a sink outdoors.

An outdoor sink would also come in handy when it comes time to pluck radishes, carrots, potatoes and other veggies from the soil. You could easily give them a rinse before bringing them into your kitchen.

If you use your backyard and or garden for entertaining guests – sitting outdoors barbecuing on the grill and eating outdoors it might also be handy to have a sink nearby.

What I really like about this Outdoor Sink Station is that there’s also a full size hose located at the bottom of the station. So you might end up having access to a hose closer to the garden than you did in the past. Plus the outdoor sink hose reel has a water-powered engine inside which uses water power to automatically reel-in the hose!

Do you read gardening magazines?

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I have two subscriptions to gardening magazines, one of which I don’t seem to have been receiving lately. I don’t know about magazines in other parts of the world, but the two major Canadian gardening magazines are pretty good. Like any magazine they have a little too much advertising but overall I enjoy the information in them.

I get Canadian Gardening – that’s the one that I don’t seem to have had a copy of recently – and the magazine also has a pretty good website and forum so if you are craving gardening info and just can’t wait for your magazine to arrive you can always visit the forums and join in on the discussions there.

They also have a lot of great How to articles as well as articles about popular plants and gardening techniques.

The other magazine that I subscribe to is Gardening Life. I enjoy both magazines, but if I had to decide which website I liked best it would be Gardening Life’s website. It’s much more professional looking and easier to navigate.

Gardening Life also has forums, great how to articles and plant profiles as well as tips on entertaining outdoors, a section called curb appeal and just like Canadian Gardening they also hold regular contests. I just entered two of the three contests they are running. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll win the trip to British Columbia!

What are your favorite gardening magazines? Do you have a subscription or do you just buy them from a store when the mood hits you?

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