Lettuce, peas, Rock Walls

lettuce mix planted Sept 2011

This is the lettuce that I planted right after I got home from vacation. When it germinated it was much thicker, but something was eating it. I don't have any idea what; grasshoppers, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, rats, little birds, who knows? The area next to this patch (on the left) I am prepping to plant some more lettuce.

Bleushokker peas and misticanza (mixed lettuce)

In this photo you can see that the Bleushokker peas are really taking off. These were planted Sep 25th. In front of them is a patch of mixed lettuce. This bed stays a little cooler than the first one so the lettuce has grown better. Also whatever was eating the lettuce in the first bed has not discovered this bed. So far I have harvested 4 ounces of lettuce from this one and will probably be able to harvest about 2 ounces today.

mixed lettuce planted Oct 3, 2011

In this photo is the lettuce I planted Oct 3, with an spun polyester row cover over it.

Hopi Purple Pod beans

These are the Hopi Purple Pod beans. The vines are doing pretty well, tho I lost of few while I was on vacation. The survivors are loaded with bean pods and they are beginning to color up. These are not really green bean type beans, they are more a dried bean type. When more of the pods are ready I'll pick them and make a batch of soup or garden chili.

Rock Wall downstream side from above

But most projects around here have ground to a halt while I concentrate on getting as much wall building done as possible before it starts freezing up at night.

Rock Walls and Culverts down stream side

Rock Walls, down stream, right side

FIRST HARVEST!

Misticanza; baby lettuces, first harvest

Woot, a few days ago I made my first harvest of baby lettuces, yummy! I was able to pick about 2 ounces, enough for a salad and a few days later picked about another 2 ounces.

violas

The violas in the tub by the front gate are really doing well. They are edible and I will be adding them to my salads, just because it is fun to eat flowers ;-)

Around the Place

baby lettuce mix

I thought today I'd just give you a few pictures of things happening around here.  The baby lettuces are taking off. Botanical Interests has many varieties of organic lettuce seed for you to try; I love all the colors, flavors and textures available!

Bleushokker Soup Peas

The Bleushokkers were the first peas to go in this year and are doing well. I grew them for the first time a few years ago. You can read a review of them and 5 other peas varieties that I wrote over on Associated Content.  I'm really looking forward to pea season this year with the Bleushokkers, snow peas and green and purple snap peas.

Along the south side of the house

I whacked down some of the weed trees along the south side of the house. I would like to get the greenhouse finished along there but I don't know if that is going to happen before it gets cold this year. Still so many things to do!

Heavenly Blue Morning Glories

The morning glories are still going strong; can you see the white gourd blossoms mingled in with them?

Gourd blossom peeks out from under the morning glories

potatoes growing in a pot

My potatoes growing in pots are doing ok but not the best. The ones I planted in the garden beds basically croaked while I was on vacation, there was a 100+ heat wave while I was gone and they just didn't get enough water. Better luck next year!

planting bed

 







I divided this bed up into sections for planting. In it I planted Bloomsdale longstanding spinach, Golden Globe yellow turnips, Easter Egg radishes, Western Front kale, mixed lettuces, mache, mizuna and chard. The turnips and radishes are planted in the dividing lines. After watering I covered  it with a row cover to keep out the birds.

stone steps in the creek

Last weekend I also worked down in the creek. I'm on the down stream side of the culverts. The July 4th storm washed a lot of dirt out of this area.  Since part of it was washed out anyway and a very steep drop to the bottom I decided to make some steps to make it easier to get up and down. I'm also working on the walls around the culverts.

stone walls in the creek

More planting!

seedling in a soil block ready to transplant

Well I made lots of soil blocks and have been planting lots of seeds. The best gardening season of the year is fall to spring; summers are just too darn hot. I've planted the following,either in the ground or in soil blocks:

• Amber violas from Botanical Interests.
• pakchoy
• tatsoy
• Broccoli-purple, DiCicco and Romanesco
• Early Snowball Cauliflower
• Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage
• Red Giant Mustard
• dwarf snap dragons
• mixed lettuces
• Golden Globe Turnips
• Easter Egg Radishes
• Western Front Kale
• mache
• mizuna
• chard
• spinach
• Sweet Magnolia, a purple podded snap pea

 If you don't know what soil blocks are, I wrote a three part article about them, complete with color photos of making and using them. You can read part one, at this link: Seed Starting in Soil Blocks. There are links to the other parts on that page.

mmmmm didn't I just cut down those stupid trees???

Planting Time!

Heavenly Blue Morning Glories

I love Morning Glories, especially these Heavenly Blues. They remind me of my granny; she always grew them on trellises around the house. Right now they are blooming up a storm, which always signals to me that fall is really here.

We had a short sudden rain shower this afternoon, about .2" of rain with a little hail. I had done some more cement work down in the creek this morning. Just fortunate that the cement had set up pretty good before the rain started and a trickle of water ran through the culverts and onto the freshly laid bit of wall.

Spent most of the day working on an article about making and using soil block; Seed Starting in Soil Blocks

Something has been eating the strawberry plants and carrying off their leaves as well as some of the newly sprouting pea plants. It's not a bird, they wouldn't bother the strawberry leaves and they pull the pea plants out of the ground, not bite them off. So the usual four legged suspects; wood rats, pack rats, chipmunks, squirrels. Also one of them or maybe a small bird or mouse got under the screen and ate a lot of seedling lettuce.

So I worked on cutting down the weed trees along the side of the house, again. Need to plug up the holes under the house, as I think that is probably where the critters are nesting.

mini greenhouse

rose cuttings

jasmine cuttings

Just 15 Minutes

July 4th storm blew down this Star Jasmine

Sometimes I get more done in a day when I have a short deadline than when I have the whole weekend to accomplish something. I think that deadline gives me a sense of urgency to get the job done without procrastinating.

Lately I've taken to using my timer for almost everything, especially my computer time, to try and keep myself on task. One of the things I'm working on is to work on certain aspects of my life 15 minutes every day.

So this is today's 15 minute session in the garden. We had a big storm on July 4th and I haven't yet cleaned up all the damage. So today I worked on this Star Jasmine. The big white post had rotted a bit at the base and fallen over. I got rid of the old wooden trellis bit and trimmed a lot of dead wood out of the Jasmine. Then I found part of what was an old greeting card rack (you just wouldn't believe some of the junk laying around here!) and put it around the vine. It really did only take about 15 minutes to accomplish this.

Star Jasmine after

I know it's kind of hard to see in the photo but now there is a bare trunk and on top of the card rack trellis is all the green branches that were laying on the ground.

I also trimmed up some of the green parts and put some of the cuttings to see if they will root as I would like to have more jasmine.

I love Star Jasmine, it is a pretty hardy plant, sort of shrubby and sort of viney all at once. It is not the sort of Jasmine used for tea, that is another type that is very frost sensitive so I can't grow it here. Star Jasmine is often seen in the southern US states, blooming in early summer, it fills the evening and early morning air with it's sweet perfume.

Daffodils, Tulips & Pansies

Planting daffodil bulbs by the peach tree

I picked up a bag of 14 mixed daffodil bulbs and 14 mixed tulips. I planted the daffys on one side of the dwarf peach tree and the tulips on the other.

after planting the purple pansies

After I planted the bulbs I put in a drift of purple pansies along the edge. I'm planning this bed to be mostly flowers of different sorts to bloom through the year. In late winter I'll sprinkle some annual seeds over it like poppies and wild flowers to bloom in the late spring, then replace the pansies with marigolds for the summer.

Are you laughing at my bottle edging? A lot of my friends call this "The Drunkard's Path". :-)

A Little Bit At A Time

east side after

east side before

 Here is the east side of the house, before and after I worked over there. Lots left to do. I took some time out from cleaning up to do some seed starting. I took lots of pictures and soon I will be writing an article on making and using soil blocks.


In the meantime I'll keep working on things a little at a time. My regular job really puts a kink in my plans sometimes.

Here's a few other pictures from around the yard for you to enjoy.

Bowl Gourd Blossom

beets & carrots planted about Aug 1

Heavenly Blue Morning Glory

Asparagus going to seed

Clean up, Spruce up

dawn through my bedroom window

I love fall, with the weather cooling off, the crispness of the early morning air. The fact that dawn is no longer right in my eyes because the sun has shifted a bit.

I also love that this is when the Heavenly Blue Morning Glories are at their most outrageous. I grow them because they remind me of my Granny, who loved them.

So sorry not to have been posting; came home from vacation and jumped right back into work along with trying to unpack and tidy up.

But the past few days I've been working out in the yard a bit. A lot of things didn't make it through my vacation, but the beans managed to survive and if you look closely at this pic you will see a nice little bowl gourd hiding among the Morning Glories. Most of the beets and carrots made it and I replanted some of the spots where they didn't.

I've been busy planting lettuce and peas. The peas are just practically jumping out of the ground. Bleushokers and Sugar Snaps so far, along with a few sweet peas in the front yard because I'm addicted to their scent. Can't wait for the lettuce to be big enough to eat, probably 2-3 more weeks yet.  I'm slowly getting weeds, debris and trash cleared out and thinking about what else I want to plant.

The volunteer tomato plant turned out to be a Yellow Marble

Violas in the tub, planted sweet peas on the little tower

 

culverts, downstream side

This week I also began on the downstream side of the culverts. Yeah, the one in the middle is bent, my son straightened it out as good as he could this evening. Neither of us were here when the culverts were installed or we could have fixed it and had the bent part installed at the top. You can see that the culverts are uncovered by about 3 feet; that happened during the storm July 4th. This area will take a lot more work than the upstream side did.  In the meantime I blew the motor on the mixer and had to mix the last two batches in the wheel barrow. My son replaced the motor with a used one that he had, so we'll see how long it lasts.

The front steps, with assorted herbs & flowers in pots

east side of the house

Yesterday I started working on cleaning up the east side of the house, so here's the before pic, tho I forgot to take an after pic, so you'll have to wait till tomorrow!

Flowers in Italy

Early morning shadows

I'm having a lovely time in Italy. We spent 3 days around Perugia, staying just outside the town at a bed and breakfast called Agritourismo San Fellissimo. There are more photos on my art blog of other places, The Artist's Way.

The swimming pool on the terrace

San Fellissimo

Begonias near the stairs

blackberries

Elise meditates in the early morning light

The pergola near the swimming pool

potato vines in bloom

quince