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A Writer's Garden through the garden gates with Gail Sattler, Catherine Castle blog, crabapples, Guinea Pig lawnmower, strawberries, Summer Garden Update, tomatoes
Here it is mid-summer and I have an update on my gardening efforts. Unfortunately my tomatoes in the back are not doing well, but the ones I put in a planter in the front where they the scorching heat of the day are doing very well. I hope to have some delicious salad additions quite soon.
In the back, my crabapple tree had been trimmed in the late spring, and now it his heavy with crabapples that look like they will be ready in a few weeks. If anyone has some good recipes for what to do with them, please post them. 🙂
My strawberries in my ex-sandbox turned garden continue to do well, we had some delicious berries this spring, here is a photo of how much the plants have multiplied.
And my last photo is of a little helper we have recently acquired. His name is Ignacious – Iggy the Piggy – a guinea pig. A month ago our local news station had a feature about a retired couple living in West Vancouver, BC who hadn’t run their lawnmower for about 6 years. Instead, they have 6 or 7 guinea pigs who go out into the back yard every day and not only mow the grass, but they fertilize it, too. So we put our new guinea pig in the back yard, protected by a little cover to keep him save from predatory birds. We still need to use the lawnmower, but he loves to help keep the lawn in shape.
If you want to make any addition comments or email me a recipe instead of posting it here, please email me from my website – www.gailsattler.com
Gardener/writer Gail Sattler has only been gardening a few years, but has fallen in love with growing. Her favorite part of gardening is seeing new buds in the spring, and watching in the summer as the tomatoes grow larger, then redder, than they were the day before.
When she’s not gardening she is either at her day job, or at band practice, or writing tales of sweet and inspirational romantic comedy.
You’re invited to see more about Gail at her website at www.gailsattler.com.
Catherine Castle 
Finally! I know what to do with my guinea pigs! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the interesting post. I’ve heard of people who rent out goats to people to chomp their grass, but I didn’t know about the guinea pigs.
Sheep are excellent grass mowers too. Hubs and I argued over how much lawn we were going to keep. He was for more lawn – less pasture. Until I reminded him that he’d rather be playing golf than mowing. The sheep pasture goes clear to the road now!
My Grandma used to make crabapple jelly, Gail, but it took hundreds, b/c they’re so small, to reap a pint. Don’t know if it’s worth it! Fun to read how your garden’s grown.
Interesting use for a guinea pig.