Last Garden Look-see?

Fall is here.

But i don't have to be all in love with that fact, do i?

It is a glorious season, i'll give it that.

A favourite of mine.

That is, when we have a proper summer. :)

Here about 50% of the summer garden has been put to bed.

We are still waiting on the corn to ripen.

 This year, we experimented with short season corn.  It grew to 2-3 feet and sprouted tassels.

Funny little things, yet very efficient.  We didn't even plant them until the 4th of July.

Next year, i will try succession planting them in little blocks and hope we have a longer corn season.

I do miss the 6 foot tall varieties, so maybe when we get a little more space, we can grow that just for fun and fall decorating. :)

Another thing i was very surprised to find in the garden was a musk melon the size of a golf ball.

We planted these in June, which might have been a little too long to wait.

Really need a greenhouse structure in my future. :)

We did have luck growing one small pumpkin this year. 

And although our roma toms didn't produce too well this year, we did end up with a ton of cherry toms.  I cleaned about 10 bunches this weekend from one vine.  That's not including the ones we robbed during the season of dining outdoors. :)

While cleaning out the squash and toms this weekend, i noticed there are arrent little pea vines popping up here and there.  I was inspired to try a little experimenting.  I planted a few rows of dwarf snap peas and used some of the seed tapes Cookie and i made for next Spring (we are getting organised now, as we areever hopefully of a relocation this winter!)  Included in the seed tapes are Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, Samish Savoy winter hardy spinach, French Breakfast radishes, and a little Big Seeded Mache.  We haven't tried mache before, so we will see how it goes. 

I've planted these things in the bed where the potatoes were.  It will be interesting to see if things sprout as well this time of year as they would in our March.  Should anything sprout, i've divided them into groups so that we can erect cold frames around them.  As we pull the corn out of the ground, the chickens will be parked over this area of the garden more and more, helping us make the space a little more fruitful next year.

Hoping your Fall gardening is going well and less soggy than sunny.



Tuesday's Garden Look-See

We've had a couple of good harvests from the garden the past couple weeks.  That last burst of hot weather a couple weeks ago did the tomatoes good.  We are seeing more yellow and red out there...hoping to sustain them till the end of the month.  Work with us, Mother Nature!

Here's today's harvest in time for dinner:  green beans, cherry toms, and a couple of carrots for Cookie Monster.  Should be quite tasty with tuna melts!

This year's potato harvest of bittersweet.  Out of a ten foot section of Red Chief potatoes we grew a whole whopping 5 spuds.  It has to be our mistake though, because the Yellow Finn seed from the same seed company grew about 15 pounds from 10 feet of seed.

Bring on the au gratins!!

This week is supposed to be another mild fall week.  Sunny and in the mid to upper 70's.  Not typical Seattle weather, but we'll take it!

Garden Look-See

Forgive me if you are a person that is not too keen on bugs.

I was completely enamoured with them in the garden this morning. :)

Ladybug larve

 The diversity in the yard is absolutely amazing this year.  There were lots of bugs last year, but the co-existance this year is more evident.

Three's Company

This was breakfast a couple mornings ago....homemade granola and fresh strawberries from the yard.

Aside from growing bugs and berries, the rest of the garden is catching up.  Cocozelle and nasturtiums are loving the mild temps.

The toms seem to need a little boost, so i am collecting plastic jugs and filling them with water.  I place these around the toms to warm up during the day, and at night they keep the toms a little warmer.

Corn's catching up too....thankfully, the crows have stayed away!!

Scallions are coming up...they were too shaded by the chamomile. :)

 Our neighbour across the street is a sweet Asian lady...we can't speak much because we don't speak each other's language, but we have had a few friendly encounters.  She surprised me in the garden the other day with these two heads of lettuce that her family grew in their yard.

Back to the bugs.

Don't you just love these little guys?

He looks like he's keeping watch over my toms.

They're fine, but i wish he'd erradicate the aphids from my cauliflower!!

I am trying to figure out if these are soldier boys or possibly something like a longhorned beetle.

They don't seem to have the same type of abdomen that they soldier boys do.

"Hey Doll, how ya doin'?"

Who can resist that cute little face, i'd like to know?!?

Tuesday's Garden Look-See

we be jammin

Raspberry season is here!  Hooray!  Moose has canned one gallon of jam today--the first jammin' of 2011.  Take that, Smuckers. :)

one gallon down....1,000,000 to go

 Our shasta daisies are a blessing this year.  They are huge!!  About 3 feet tall.  Since they are on the west edge of our garden, they've shaded the lettuces from the hot afternoon sun which has kept them from bolting!!  And they have attracted all kinds of lady bugs and other beetle-y creatures.

i think this dude's a soldier beetle

blueberries are blushing

hoping we will have some zucchini for our visitours next week

watermelons are growing v-e-e-e-r-y slowly

peas are ripe for the pickin'

Corn's up--planted it last week

Our onions are growing gangbusters!

Crop-share/birthday toms are ripening

I noticed something unusual in the garden this morning...

something that i don't remember planting.

It's a carrot left over from last year.

It's flowering now...

i think carrot flowers are my new favourite flower.

very reminiscent of hydrangeas, which are starting to bloom here.

Irish dancers are growing in our garden as well. :)

This is Cookie Monster's school dress she's earned by dancing so successfully.

The big weekend is coming up--8 dances and a grade exam for the 2nd grade.





Razzies :: The New Zucchini

On our way home from a 3 day vacation at the beach, within just a few feet of our home, Leprechaun the stuffed iguana, flung himself out the window and ran down the street.  When we arrived in our driveway, we found out what was so important to risk the bodily harm that is entailed in one's flinging oneself out of a moving vehicle. :) 

 According to our estimates, a whole mess of razzies were to be due the day before we returned home.  Moose feared that Leprechaun would suck all the sweet juicy jewels from the vines if he didn't react quickly.

So he ran inside and snagged a quart bowl from the cabinet and started plucking.  "One for the bowl, two for me...." 



And in 15 minutes, he had collected enough for his first batch of raspberry preserves of the 2011 season.  Good thing he's off work this week! :)

For those of you dealing with ridiculous amounts of heat this week...this one's for you

courtesy of Western WA Beaches

Tuesday's Look-See in the Garden

After an explosive night around the ol' homestead here...

i found a different kind of bouquet to from around the yard.





No wonder the Valley looked so polluted the day after the Fourth.

 Something that i don't even want to think about is all that firework "seasoning" that is now covering the fruits of our labour out in the garden.  Ewwww!

It was a quiet morning though, which lead to me meeting a few new friends out in the yard.

This cat recently moved into the neighbourhood.

He scares me because he looks just like our cat...

who isn't allowed outside. :)

Sweet ol' Puss

The towees were out...their red eyes mesmerising.

 Sir Robin visited me as well...he was a very sweet chap--he walked right up to me and asked if i cared to share a spot of worm with him for a cup of earl grey.



A hummingbird found me admiring the Jupiter's Beard.
He apparently wanted to fight for it. :)



The garden is decorated in it's red, white, and blues.



currants are ripe for the taking



First tomatoes...which have a funny story behind them.

Last month for my birthday, our wonderful neighbour brought by a gift for me--this tomato plant in a cute little trellised pot.  She shared what a deal she got on it at the local nursery, that she knows that i talk to my plants and coax them into delivering on their fruity promises, and that she thought it would be a perfect birthday gift.  Wasn't that sweet and thoughtie?  Then she pops the trunk on her car, shows me all the other plants she purchased to spruce up her front walk.  And in the course of conversation, this sweet 80 year old woman wishes me a happy birthday again and thanks me for raising this tomato for her--referring to it as our share-cropping endeavour. :) 

It's getting close to raspberry picking time!  Hurrah!

These hollyhocks will be white soon...

Fancy Knickers carnations are bloomin'

Here is an Indian Plum, one of the native species we encourage on our property

We leave the fruits for the birds, however in a couple years when we are studying Native Americans more, i am looking forward to diving into information on their uses of them.  Ink?  Food? 

After the razzies, it'll be these guys' turn

Overall, the gardens looking real nice.  We dug the grass out of the area we enlarged last year.  I planted a cold climate variety of corn this past weekend--we'll see how we do?!?  Up here near the Sound, we get just enough of a breeze to be about a few degrees cooler than the Valley.  I've decided that short season crops might be the key to getting any of those hot weather items like pumpkins, melons, or corn.

Moose has been working really hard on the curb appeal of the place...lots of weed whacking and hedge trimming. 

On the to-do's this week is razzie picking and planting more bush beans.

And enjoying a bit of our hard work.

How does your garden grow??