July Plant Update

July was a great month for plant observations and we saw some critters too! It’s been hot here, but we have also had some rain, so the garden and flowers are loving it! We got some smoke from the Canada wildfires and the sun was red for a few days. Things like that never take good photos unfortunately.

I love seeing all the different types of cone flowers out now!

Who knows what these mop top flowers are called?

From all the rain, many large mushrooms have appeared.

These were the size of dinner plates.

In the last few years we have seen more Oyster Catchers on our beach.

We have a few neighbor bunnies.

smoke from the wildfires made it’s way to us one early morning.

Did the smoke effect your observations? Who and what did you see around where you live this month?

I’m looking forward to August which can sometimes be an abundant month for plants around here!

June Plant Update

I may be wrong, but I feel that everything this year is a bit late, plant wise. When we look at the garden, it’s very evident there. But even the flowers and trees and sky and sea seem late this year. Or perhaps less brilliant. That being said, I’m happy to see blooms when they come and in June there were blooms!

Echinacea is one of my all time favorites!

Our one and only (blurry) Poppy for the year.

This yard had thrilling and stunning lilies.

And you can’t beat this color combo!

Some climbing shrooms.

And a very small fellow at home.

June was good for wild fruit!

And pretty lovely for sunsets.

I loved seeing this giant!

Overall, June was a good month for plant observations, even if it felt delayed. What were plants doing near you this month? Do you agree that things seem late this year?

Mad Cat Garden | May 2021

May was the month that the star of our garden shined the brightest. We got this orange thyme when we made our first front yard bed and it’s been going strong ever since! We love it for it’s bushy nature and bright clean scent. We don’t cook with it, but just let it do it’s thing every year. But when it flowers is always a special moment.

This year we planted a fancy milkweed, tomatoes, tomatillos, and some pumpkins around the orange thyme. Another perennial that is planted in this bed is coming up as well. I’m not sure what plant it is, but it has purple flowers when it blooms and the bees love it.

We planted a mini pumpkin bed this year, but the pumpkins aren’t doing well. We had hoped to have a pumpkin patch in the front yard, but I think we will have to try again next year.

The bed on the other side, we planted some herbs including curry! It smells amazing! We put a pepper in there, but we stilll have ots of room for other plants.

Our other front bed has mint coming up all over! The rosemary from last year lived and is thriving, we planted a bunch of other herbs and flowers there, but only a few have come up so far.

What was your May garden doing? Ours is definitely a little stunted from the weird weather. When writing this (in early June), we’ve also had a lot of rain and some plants seem a bit drowned. We will see what the summer months bring!

May Plant Update

May was up and down for plant observations. We observed a lot, but the pits and peaks were with the weather. At the beginning of the month, our world looked like Spring, all flowers and bright colors, but it felt like Winter, cold and brisk. Later there was hot sun and Summer feels, and it seems we had skipped Spring entirely. By the end of the month it was raining, cold and we were back to late Winter or early Spring. Over all this is the first year in many many years that I cannot predict at least in part, the weather and the seasons.

Love these little trumpets.

More and more I appreciate azaleas.

Wild colors.

The peonies were big and bountiful.

The outside…

…and the inside.

Stumbled on this little lake front park.

Lovely high views.

As well as this hidden beach.

If you could hear him, you would know that this is a red wing blackbird.

We were surprised by this image.

We found some unexpected spots, where hopefully we can return and revisit. We also visited our normal spots, some of which we have not seen since this time last year. We saw lots of flowers!

What were your plant observations? What were the seasons doing at this time?

May in Review

What a weird month May was…. Have I said that about every month this year?

It was cold, summery, rainy, hot, busy, restful, and unexpected. The month started out cold but sunny. Seemingly, Spring had totally passed us and we were in a weird limbo between Winter and Summer. Flowers were out and blooming, pollen everywhere, animals were out. We saw #watchercats, deer, rabbit, and new birds. By mid month, it was hot, all Summer all the time. Plants were happy, the tomatoes shot up. We had peppers, peas, and herbs. But by the end of the month, storms rolled in. It was torrential rains and strong winds for memorial weekend. The temps have dropped and we are back to Spring like 50s and 60s as we start the new month.

We traveled and explored a little this month, ate in a restaurant (but still sat outside), and get a lot of big looming, but boring tasks crossed off our to-do lists. We are back down to only one car which is very exciting!

I’m totally thrown off by this year so far. Much more than last year, so that’s saying something. What will June look like? I have no idea.

Mad Cat Garden | April 2021

It was a big month in the garden with lots of plants growing a little bit. So the progress wasn’t spectacular to look at. I took this opportunity to look at the front beds a bit.

The two photos above are of the front bed which are flowers, not food, but came back quite well this year. This bed is all bulbs and it’s a great surprise each year what decides to come up and how many come up each year. This year we had bright tulips, hostas, daffs, and pink and purple hyacinths.

My montauk daisies came up again this year, which is always a surprise as well.

Our front beds started coming up with a lovely butterfly attracting bush and a few mint volunteers. The orange thyme always thrives in our big bed. The rosemary survived this year! We planted a bunch of herb seeds in the beginning of April but none came up.

Sadly by the end of the month our front flower bed was completely destroyed. We got a new roof and the beds were trampled!! The hostas and irises were ok, so I was happy about that!!

How was your garden month in April?

April Plant Update

What the heck spring? The month has been all over the weather map. Cold, rainy, hot, sunny, hail, freezes, and the plants can’t keep up! Spring was not sprung in our neck of the woods. It kinda limped in, left and then returned. Even now, in the first week of May, it’s dreary. Where is out bight spring blooms? Already gone, missed them, it’s over. There were some good plant observations but everything felt stunted.

So many petals!

Love those rain droplets.

Belmar, NJ

Asbury Park, NJ

A rainbow.

Some early blossoms.

What is this fiery shrub??

Lovely lichen.

River bed.

Asbury in the evening.

In the beginning of the month, our front bed was blooming…

…but by then end, it had been trampled by the roofers. At least we have a new roof.

How was your April? Was the weather cooperating with you? Was it what you wanted and hoped for?

Something Nice

When you find a book, or three, by one of your favorite authors but leave it for someone else to try!

Mad Cat Garden | March 2021

March is always the month that the garden really kicks off. We planted seeds this month and really tried to use the green house to it’s full potential. My husband has been making seed pots reusing newspaper. We also use found or donated pots. We have some kale and chard that had wintered over.

We also bought a few lettuces and chards to get our garden going.

Flowers and strawberries also wintered over in the green house. Both are already blooming!

Peas are the seeds that have come up the most but we also started pumpkins, radishes, tomatoes, peppers and more.

During the start of the month, almost everything was in the green house, but as the month wore on, we started moving plants out to the yard/garden.

We didn’t turn our beds in March, bc we were letting any bees, moths, pollinators, or other bugs stay sleeping under the ground as the weather is still chilly. The bluebs started budding, and the pear trees have leaves.

While a lot happened in March, it was still a month of waiting in the garden. Hopefully the weather will break and we can do a lot more in April.

What is happening in your garden this month? Was it gearing up or winding down?

March Plant Update

March still feels like a blur but we did get some good plant and nature observations in. The weather was up and down but by the end of the month there were some flowers and buds pocking out and about. Spring might have officially started in March, but only at the end of the month did it really feel like it.

Lovely, foggy, moody Asbury Park.

This poor beauty.

Dusting and rearranging the house plants.

Found a stone cormorant.

And a living duck.

We spent plenty of time at the beach this month.

Spotted this crane on a still wintery walk.

And this camouflaged deer on a drive.

Swampy goodness.

This pic does not do justice at all to how HUGE this bald eagle was.

I’ve seen this little creature a few times now. Neighbors.

Another foggy evening.

And finally the cherry blossoms.

What did you see or do in nature this month?

Mad Cat Garden | February 2021

In January and February it was very hard to think about or even imagine working in the garden. For most of that time, our yard was covered in snow.

But as Feb wound down, we started thinking forward to Spring and we even got the seeds out to get started.

This is the first year that they garden was extremely dormant for the three most wintery months. We will see what that means for Spring, if anything. Perhaps it is just the natural cycle of things.

What was happening in your garden in February?

February Plant Update

There was a lot of snow in February. Sometimes we went out and explored it and sometimes we hid inside our warm house.

When we took walks, we saw a lot of cat tracks!

Ivy on trees is hanging on.

Bare trees give sneak peaks at some bird folk’s houses.

Ice on Deal lake.

Met a new neighbor.

Dove feather.

Shi++y pics of the moon

The full moon this month was a highlight of our observations and we went down to the beach to see it on the water. There were also some shoot sightings here and there which was surprising (as always) after so much cold and snow.

Are you seeing signs of Spring where you are or is it still deep Winter?

January Plant Update

Oh January. There were some plant observations, but we ended up at the beach more than in the garden, or at parks this month. There’s nothing quite like the Jersey Shore in winter. So let’s call this a beach edition.

Where were most of your observations made this month?

Mad Cat Garden | December 2020

Every month for the last few years, I have looked back at the pics I took of the garden the previous, and gone over them in this column. And this month, I don’t have any. I have no pics of our garden from dec 2020.

Crazy.

I could have simply skipped this series this month, but that just didn’t feel right. This year was such a great year in our garden in many ways and this has given me an opportunity to look back over 2020 and our garden.

In January, the photos look bright and sunny! There was chard and a radish still growing in the garden. There was also snow that month, so it wasn’t all off to a sunny start. It was sad to remember our jackfruit trees and see them as small babies, thriving. Jan felt full of potential, but too early for lots of growth.

The groundhog predicted an early spring and much of the family was out observing the garden in Feb. We worked on the compost, and saw out onion of two years still surviving the winter. Inside the jackfruit was growing and we were rearranging the house to keep them and other seedlings in the sunny spots.

In March, especially towards the end saw so much change and growth in the garden. Inside seedlings and sprouts were going strong and we were quickly running out of space! Luckily by the end of the month we moved a few things outside! We got lettuces and other leafy greens to plant outside as well. The blueberries were budding, the onion growing, and all over the garden, plants were starting to peak out of the earth. Around the neighborhood, we also started seeing other people prepping their own gardens!

In April, there were peppers, peas and other plants jumping up under the grow lights inside. Lettuces, kale, cauliflower, and more were started in the outside beds. Herbs we planted the month before were taking off in our front beds. We were also trying new experiments with beds. We took a shelving unit that came with the house when we bought it, and had been living in the basement for years, got new life as a 5th backyard bed.

In May, more herbs, more new beds, tomatoes, raspberry bushes, flowers and a pile of dirt!

In June our radishes had already gone to seed, brussels were brusseling, lettuces and kale were huge. Peppers were starting and we were branching out with new veggies, like edemame. Summer was here and the garden seemed small but was starting to feel quite lush. Blueberries were popping up and we were already fighting the birds to get a few for ourselves. And out onion was huge!

In July the lettuces had bolted, we had basil, mint lavender, the blueberries were getting ripe and eaten before we could taste them. We had shishitos, tomatoes, and greens to eat. But the garden was still in a blooming stage. By this time in 2019, we were over flowing with fruit and veg. This year this the garden seems a bit stunted.

In August flowers were blooming, raspberries were berrying, and we were harvesting zucchini, a new veg for our garden. We were eating from the garden a lot at this point. this was the height of the garden, but we were still surprised that the garden wasn’t as lush as the previous year.

By September, the garden was winding down and I was writing about the joy of using up our last veg and eating the end of our favorite summer meals. We had also finally put up our green house and were starting to populate it.

In October the morning glories we re still going strong and we were pursuing our new new favorite pastime of seed saving. This was the month we saved the most seeds. We saved out own seeds and we also went foraging for seeds. We hope to use a lot of the seeds we saved in the spring and summer of 2021.

In November we had packed the greenhouse almost full and we were cleaning out the beds. We still had our brussels which never fully matured and we never picked. We were still eating lettuce and kale from the greenhouse.

And now, in December, the beds are bare. All the plants that hibernate in the winter are doing so. We moved as many flowers as we could into the greenhouse but it’s getting harder to keep it warm on below freezing nights. We thrifted a space heater and has it helped add some warmth on the coldest nights. We are starting now, to think about the new growing season. Our grower friends are buying seeds and we are all making plans for 2021.

What was your garden like in 2020? Did it thrive or was it sparse? Was it what you expected or was it surprising? What are you plans for 2021?

December Plant Update

We spent way too much time in December indoors. The weather turned cold and we had work to do, and the month went so fast! We did get out some and tried to take walks and make some plant observations when we could.

The surfers braved the cold, but were rewarded by beautiful skies in Dec.

I was taken with this speckled sand.

Near Deal Lake, flowers bloomed in December.

Our boxwood has these amazing bright green tips with tinges of red.

I was captivated by the huge aloe.

Back on my wreath game.

Made from all foraged materials.

Hello, Neighbor.

Goodbye 2020.

Another year of plant observations on the books! Even though we didn’t go out too much, I feel we were mindful of our practice to observe the plants and nature around us. We went to a few parks, and made a point to walk. We were disappointed when we could not. In 2021, I’m excited to keep up this habit and this series!

Best Nine 2020

I love to see my Best Nine every year! I use my instagram to look back at my life as well as be a pretty social media tool. In 2020, I didn’t insta as much as past years.

I really love to look back at my best nine for each year; they are not always what I was expecting! It’s also interesting how the photos end up being organized. Look at 2019, the whole middle row is rainbows!! Here are my best nine from past years:

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

I didn’t realize before making this post, but I started this practive the year we moved to Asbury Park. Looking back at it now, it’s really interesting to see the progression of moving to the beach!

Do you make a best nine? What memories does it conjure this year?

November Plant Update

November felt like am month where we got back to plant observations, even tho looking back I didn’t have too much saved. This month was mostly temperate, but turned cold for some days and right before the end of the month. We caught many beautiful sunsets and twilight times as the days got shorter.

Sunset Lake, Asbury Park.

6th Ave Beach, Asbury Park.

Cormorant Tree.

The sun setting on Old Man’s Beard.

These flowering trees are either out of season or very very confused.

Cattails going poof.

Sometimes the backs of buildings are the best.

Bayhead, NJ

So there were more expanses than plants observed this month, but we had a great time looking. What are plants doing in your area?

Mad Cat Garden | November 2020

November was a mostly quiet month in the garden. In the beginning of the month we harvested a very few last items. Later, we pulled up most of the beds, cleaned them and get them ready for winter. We transplanted a lot of plants, veggies and flowers, and put them in the green house.

We are still struggling with how to best utilize space in the garden. When we are urban foraging, we keep our eyes out for shelving and other items that we might use. As of Nov, it’s pretty full! We will need to make some room for seeds and seedlings in just a few months.

An empty garden bed is like a glass of water. Are they sad and empty? or are they brimming with potential for the next planting season?

We never ate our brussels sprouts. Mostly bc the whiteflies got there first and were pretty wild this year. The frost did eventually get to the kale seen here.

In the beginning of the month we picked a lot of green tomatoes. I had many ideas for them but ended up trying to pickle them. Can you re-pickle pickles? I feel that they didn’t pickle as much as I had hopped and I’m not sure how to selvedge them.

What did your garden look like in November? Was it a Wintery month for you, where you broke down your garden? or are you gearing up to a great growing season?

Something to Try | Beach Butterfly Rescue

Operation Butterfly Rescue!

We took a short walk on the beach a few weeks ago when it was a cold, rainy, blustery day in October. As we beach combed, we came across a monarch butterfly that we thought was dead. But when we examined it closer, they had only been blown off course, their wings wet and heavy, and were unable to recover in the drizzle and wind. My practice in these cases, and what I did for this little fellow, was to carry them up the beach a bit, dig a hole, with one wall higher than the other to protect him for the wind, and place him in. now protected, they can stretch and dry their wings, hopefully to recover and fly on.

A few steps on, we came across another and repeated the process. And a few steps on, another. So we decided to take a different tact, and the next 3 butterflies that we found we put in a little bag that we were carrying, being careful to hold the bag open as not to crush them. Out of the three we brought off the beach, one was pretty bad off, two were pretty active.

We weren’t quite sure what we would do with them, and where we would put them, but we decided we would take them all the way home and put them in our greenhouse. At least it would be warm and dryer in there!

Unfortunately, when we checked on the butterflies the next day, the worse off one was already dead. The other two were perked up a little! We hoped that they would eventually feel good enough to fly away. We left them on their on own and checked back a few days later.

When we went back we found one, passed on. but hopefully the last of the three flew off!

Was the butterfly rescue a success? Probably not really. But I felt good knowing these three creatures got to be out of the wind and rain a bit.

We seem to always go to lengths to save wayward creatures (just the other day I took a praying mantis off a car in a parking lot, before it drove away with the mantis as unsuspecting passenger). Is this a common practice?

Video | October Reading Wrap Up | Vlog Style Wrap Up | BookTube | October 2020

Hi, I’m Mo.
Thanks for joining me today! I post videos on Mondays and Fridays.
Here is my vlog style reading wrap up! I read 8 books in October. One book was a reread, most were thrifted, some were amazing, others not so much. How was your October reading?

Books in this video:
Unnatural Causes (1967) PD James
The Borrowers (1952) Mary Norton
Coke Machine Glow (2001) Gord Downie
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1998) Dr Oliver Sacks
The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) Agatha Christie
The House of Silk (2011) Anthony Horowitz
Through a Glass, Darkly (1950) Helen McCloy
The Old Country (2005) Mordicai Gerstein

One of these books was in my Book ASMR/TBR ASMR video: https://youtu.be/eDnneprEBzs
Two of these books were mentioned in my first vlog: https://youtu.be/cbhKGk6_mFI

Cats in this video: Martin

Original music by audionightlight. https://soundcloud.com/anlight/tracks

Blog: http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog
Instagram: http://instagram.com/madcat1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/120401161-ana-mo-shoshin

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