Gardening

[Ryan Johnson]

Fingers crossed you have plenty hiding underground

Coriander is one of those herbs you either love or hate. I really like it , it goes really well with Asian foods and with Fish.

 

[Miniv]

Our garden is a disaster!  NOTHING took....except onions .... We have a squash and  some tomato plants in pots that are flourishing.....Weird.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Its been an unusually hot dry year here, cant remember when we had rain last, maybe a month ago. My garden was late getting in since we were helping my son and daughter in law move to a different town when I would normally have been planting. Still for being 3 weeks late its doing okay. My greenhouse is a jungle with tomato plants and they are really producing altho the the fruit are almost entirely green yet. The peas are podding now finally and it looks like its going to be a bumper crop, beans are producing pretty good but I'll see when they are done  just how many I get since its a new variety this year. Cauliflower finished early and the broccoli set its main heads a month ago, just enjoying the little side shoots now. My carrots aren't great this year but I've got enough to share with those near to me who don't garden. In all I'd say its not been a bad year for the garden considering its only the second summer in this new place.

Marsha, I really like your water feature. I bet its relaxing to listen to it gurgle and watch the birds.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

A guest at our garden club meeting yesterday has a greenhouse.  Her engineer husband designed it so it would heat his shop in the winter.  Our group is looking forward to touring it soon to see how it operates.

Our water feature is coming together.  We got two more boulders placed, which will help define the dry stream bed area.  Planted the blue rug junipers; they will have nice year round interest.

I worked in my garden all morning, thinning the strawberries, trimming the squash plants, pulling up moss rose and the giant kale.  I want to plant some new kale; the old was getting rather tough-leaved.  I'll plant some more lettuce in a few weeks.  Possibly when it cools off a little the squash might perform better.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

I planted some herbs in pots undercover. Its still too cold to put anything in the garden beds. I also planted two small magnolia trees into pots , to go on the back deck in front of the bamboo.

My Almond is blossoming , so the better weather must be coming , right ?  :rofl

 

[madmax]

I enjoy reading about everyone's gardening, time constraints kept me from planting my usual very small plot except for basil that is a must for me (!).

One interesting thing happened though.  The hard freeze last winter killed my lime tree that I had grown from a seed and last year was the first crop, I had about 100 limes from it, very sad to lose it.  I had thrown fertilizer around it hoping for a recovery but to no avail.  On an impulse I tossed a handful of gourd seeds in that spot and here is what happened with no other work from me. I can see about 12 so far and new babies are still appearing.  Hope it will be a successful crop.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Sorry you lost your lime tree. Just when it was ready to give you a really good crop, mother nature decided to have her say. 

Im with you on the basil, Ive always got one growing as I use it in so many food dishes 

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Poor little lime tree!  The gourds look amazing.

I put our 5 barred rock chicks into the garden today while I clean their container.  They are having a great time picking around in the asparagus.  They jump down for drinks and snacks, then jump back up into the asparagus.  It's quite a tall jump; sometimes they have to try more than once.   So cute to watch.  They are too little to do any damage.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Put my team of highly qualified gardeners in to begin the clean up and fertilizing process for this years crop.

They are a little lazy at times , I spose its hard to find good help these days  :rofl  

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Yours get the weeds and mine get the bugs.  Your gardening help is probably not any more selective than mine, though.  If only we could teach them WHICH plants and WHICH bugs...

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Will spend some time this weekend in the garden beds, doing some weeding and having a think about what I am going to plant. Have organised to have an arborist come and cut my fruit trees right back. They seem to have hit a "lull" in their development. I may not see a great deal of fruit this year, but hoping for lots in the coming years.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I'd be interested in how he prunes the fruit trees.  My books suggest pruning like a vase, with the tree open in the middle.  Since mine are espaliered, I'd like to see yours when he finishes.

Our fair is this week so I decided to dig under the sweet potatoes and see if there was anything fair-worthy.  What a mess.  One the size of a basketball and 3 footballs.  The others were ordinary.  But, all were riddled with potatoe scab.  I was hoping sweet potatoes would not be susceptible, but no such luck.  I was totally intimidated on how to deal with them.  This morning I rinsed them off with the hose and shoved the monsters in the oven to soften up so I could cut and peel them.  I was able to can 3 quarts.  Dapper Dan loves sweet potato, but I'm afraid to give him more than a few pieces.  Maybe I will try to dehydrate the cull and use it for treats.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

I will take some pics for sure. I have asked him to cut them right back. 

Your sweet potato looks great, hope you find plenty of recipes to make with them !!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Been working at the county fair.  I got champion on my grape jelly.  The canned sweet potatoes got a blue. Apples and onions got second place.  I did well on most of my entries. 

These peanuts are not mine, but I thought some people might like to see how peanuts grow.   There was a lot of cotton entered this year.  It was fun to see all the entries.  I entered the photo of my rooster, but it did not place; there were lots of entries in the animal category. 

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Congratulations Marsha, Its great to see some rewarding results.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

The last of the frosts here have just about gone, so I will start working on this years attempt at a veggie garden in the next few weeks. It will be interesting to see if I have better luck with tomatos this year.

The water lilies are flowering

 

[Cayuse]

I just found this thread, belated congrats on your winnings at the fair, Marsha. September seems like!e such a long time ago!
Ryan, your frosts have shown up here. We had a hard frost two nights ago and last night the water buckets were skimmed heavily with ice. Everything is very grey and dreary. 4-6 inches of snow forecasted for tonite.
I went for my walk today and pick a lone milk weed pod that I had watched grow, dry and shed its seeds throughout this summer/fall season. It made me kinda sad that another year is winding down. I put the lone pod in a small lusterware jug on my kitchen window sill.
My mom and I have cut back the perennials and neatened things up in the flower and raspberry gardens. Not much left to do except hibernate.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

I take my hat off to you, I dont think I could deal with the snow and cold weather like you get. Ive owned horses for the last 30 years and my water troughs have only ever frozen over twice. Both being in the last two years.

How fast has the year gone !! Im starting to think, the older I get the faster its going.

 

[Shari]

Love Peonies. My health hasn't been good for awhile so last spring DH and DS moved them into pots near the house. Keeping my fingers crossed they will winter over well, with the extra protection DH gave them.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I bought a new peony this fall. Looking forward to seeing how it performs next year. Ryan, isn't it a little early for the water lilies? Ours don't usually bloom until true summer.
Cold snap here and I was inspired to use my canned sweet potatoes. I made a pie and some bread.