Category Archives: Garden

In Front of Our House

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This morning I took camera in hand to get a picture of the Suzies that grow on the front side of our house.  They are always very charming.

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This one was entertaining a visitor.

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These two shots I added to the two images I capture Sunday evening.  I went out Sunday to capture a photo of my favorite day lily before it was too late.  (It [they] grow[s] on the front side of the house.)

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You can see why I particularly enjoy this beauty.  After capturing that image I turned 180 degrees to see the sun low in the western sky.

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We had received a quarter inch of rain to supplement the 1.5 inches we’d received a couple of days earlier, so the sky was cloudy.  The peeking sun did put some drama in the scene.

In the Garden

I haven’t done a good job of reporting on out garden, so this morning I captured this image.

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On the left, fence-climbing peas.  Behind them are onions that heavy rains have bent down.  We’ve harvested about half of them already.  Potatoes and tomatoes are behind the onions.  Rhubarb grows along the far fence.  It doesn’t look big, because we keep it well harvested.  The taller green plants are zucchini, which are as prolific as you would expect.  Beyond them is New Zealand spinach–a favorite of ours because it doesn’t bolt in warm weather and gives us great greens from spring until first frost.  Beets grow along the fence beyond the blue spinner.  They are quite tasty this year.  We are fed up.

More Signs of Spring

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The following pix are a week old.  I meant to post them earlier this week, but life intervened.

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Lots of daffodils and more opening each day.

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I love the friendly blossoms on the ground cover.  We call it myrtle, but you may know it as vinca or periwinkle.

Meanwhile out in the garden . . .

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Rhubarb is greeting the spring.  These leaves have been touched with frost.  (Remember this is from last week.)

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What a happy sight to see the first shoot of giant garlic breaking through.  It is a promise of another good year.

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Then we come to the end of another beautiful day.  Time for a good night’s sleep.

The View From Here

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The neighbor has harvested the wheat from the field behind us and has baled the straw.  From here it look like a lot of straw.

Sunday evening, Sylvia and I were talking on the phone with our son in Omaha.  The sun had just set and it was a pleasant evening.  I took the phone outside and sat on our small deck to watch the fireflies.  A gentle breeze kept the mosquitoes away.

In the gather gloom, I became aware of motion on the low ground.  Turning my head, I saw the twin fawns and their mom.  The children wanted to play.  They would run and chase each other as fast as the wind.

I watched until I could no longer see them through the darkness.  Then I went back inside.  The fireflies kept telegraphing their messages to one another.

The garden is doing very well again this year.  As a wise friend observed, “You either have too much zucchini or you didn’t plant any.”  Our first try at cantaloupe is proving interesting as the single plant is trying to take over its corner of the world.  Sylvia pruned it back.

There is one exception to the flourishing garden.  Three times, Sylvia planted parsnips.  None of those plantings developed into parsnips. :no:

 

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Speaking of Plants, Around Here They Have Grew Some

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The veggie garden is doing great.  We’ve been enjoying its bounty since April.

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Outside my office window, lovely blossoms are keeping the pollinators busy.

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In the flower garden, Stella has opened up in a most lovely way.

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Critters

Last evening, I sat on the end deck enjoying the quiet spell that surrounds the end of the day.  I’m not sure if I first saw the doe running or heard the ripping sound of her flight through the wheat field.  Soon a younger one appeared in the hay field that was our lower lawn and she followed.  They ran toward shelter.  Moments later, they sauntered back.  Were they thinking, “Now wasn’t that silly?”  In a couple of minutes, they disappeared behind a stand of pine trees.

I hope you are enjoying the start to this summer.  I am.

Thus Ends a Tale

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In my most recent post there was a pic of our make-shift frost cover.  Sylvia and I had fashioned it with a garden tripod and a blue tarp.  On seeing the image our son, Scott, thought of the line from Shakespeare’s play, Richard the Third.  He quoted it this way, “Now is the winter of our discount tent.”  He’s a clever one.

We had hoped to keep that jalapeño plant alive beyond that first frost.  The next day, I removed the tarp to inspect for potential damage.

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Sylvia went out and harvested the last 43 peppers from that plant.  We estimate about 200 jalapeños from that single plant.  It was the most prolific of the four plants we grew this year.

We missed our goal of November 20 by one week.  Still, we were happy for the extended season.  (First frost here is usually October 20.)

Ode to Fall’s Finish

The fall has fallen
The leaves now litter the ground
Prepared for winter

While Earth is ready for winter, I have a few more tasks to complete.  I should be ready on time.

Frosty Night

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We experienced our first frost of the season last night.  It was a hard one too.  What’s a body to do?  How about pitch a tent in the garden?

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That’s what Sylvia and I did last evening as the sun was setting.  Call it a science experiment.  We are trying to keep our jalapeño plant alive until November 20.  (Typical first frost date for this area is October 20.)

We’ll see how our pepper plant survived when the tent is gone.  For my part, faith and hope continue . . .

My Hot Peppers Are Cool!

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A week ago, I posted a picture of a bucket full of jalapeños that Sylvia had picked.  There is still one plant in the garden that is bearing  jalapeños.  Today, I captured this image to show that we will be harvesting peppers in November.  Can you believe it?

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We have preserved what we don’t eat fresh by dehydrating and freezing.  Sylvia just brought home the supplies so we can prepare poppers and put them in the freezer.  (For poppers, she removes the pepper core, stuffs it with cream cheese and cheddar and wraps in bacon.)  That way when we have a desire for poppers, we can take them from the freezer and pop them into the oven.  At least that’s our theory.

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Sylvia also planted giant garlic for next year.  In the process she discovered some unharvested corms that have started growing and will coming up next spring.  When it comes to garlic, I say the more the better.

We have been busy this past week finishing our window project.  Now, we are now about 99.5% completed.  Best of all, we have finished all of the difficult parts.

More News

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Our garden continues to produce.  On Tuesday, Sylvia harvested a few jalapeños from our four plants.  (They are more like bushes.)

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This bucket was nearly full.  A layer of bell peppers filled it to the rim.  That evening she gave away six dozen jalapeños.  We still had a bit over half of the original amount.  This was from one day’s harvest–we don’t harvest everyday.  This single “haul” was more than we would reap in a normal year from four plants.  Organic fertilizer works wonders.

One plant remains and it is loaded.  We are looking forward to fresh jalapeños in November.  We’ve never done that before.

Replacement Windows

Yesterday the construction crew returned to finish the job of replacing all the windows in this house.  Only a small amount of work remained.  In about an hour they had finished their work, cleaned up the work area, took my check and hit the road.  Thanks guys!  Good job, well done.

Sylvia and I will have to put on the finishing touches.  She’ll paint and I’ll shorten and install window blinds.

Purple

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I went out to check the flower gardens.  Yes, we have three of them.  The theme seemed to be the color purple.  So many beauties clad in royal purple.  It started with the cone flower.

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This year, Sylvia decided to go with purple salvia instead of her usual red.  While not as bold, the purple has added a bit more elegance in my opinion.

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The purple that is most apt to attract your attention as you approach our door is the petunias.  I’ve always had a fondness for these and this year even more so.

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No pictures of the vegetable garden today.  It’s not very pretty but we’re still harvesting carrots, beets, jalapeños and a few green beans.

The forecast shows no frost for us in the near future.  First frost could come later that usual, which is okay by me.

Merry Gold

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We still have plenty of color in the flower gardens.  Sylvia has kept things look good out there.

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All that gold makes me feel rich beyond measure.  Wait.  It gets better.

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You can pep it up a step.  Or even two.

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The purslane adds such a nice touch of color that we’ve let it grow.  At least the ones we didn’t harvest earlier for our dinner table.  The succulent stems and leaves are good in a salad or steamed for greens.

This year, we’ve also added lamb’s quarters (yes, the weed) to our diet.  Thanks Sharkey for telling us about them.  The young tender shoots are best and can be added raw to a salad or steamed as greens.  In the later case a bit of balsamic vinegar adds a nice touch.  (Hint: they make good snacks when you are out in the garden or on a hike.)