Four Hills of Squash

Snow - Day #2

2012-01-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

As promised, we received a fresh batch of snow last night. I would say maybe a fresh inch fell onto already frozen roads and ground. It gave everything an extra sparkle as the sun came up in the 24 degree dawn.

This poor fellow - or gal - was roosting on the front porch railing and didn't even move when I came outside. It must be awfully cold for the hummingbirds that live here year around but we quickly put out the feeder so they had something to eat for energy. We bring the feeders in every night so they don't freeze.

The forecast today calls for warming temperatures. The snow should all melt but a new storm and freezing weather is headed in for tonight. Round #3!

Finally..a little Winter Snowfall!

2012-01-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

After being teased about the possibility of some snowfall, we awoke to a light dusting this morning. It had snowed overnight just enough to cover everything in a blanket of white. Then the temperature rose and most everything melted by noon - sigh. But then around 3:00 it started to snow again and the world was once again white and serene. The people seem to be much happier about this change in the weather than the cats do! Poor Parvati spent the late afternoon sitting in an upstairs window glaring at the outside world.

With the temperature dropping again tonight, there is a promise of more snow overnight and tomorrow. Finally Winter has come to the Northwest!

Another Beautiful Ending

2012-01-12T19:55:00.000-08:00

While this Winter's unseasonable warm and dry weather has many of us worried about the snow pack and Summer water shortages, it does have one amazing bonus - Spectacular Sunsets! Night after night at dusk we have been treated to a glorious show in the Western sky instead of gray skies and early darkness. Tonight's sunset might have been the prettiest yet.

A Very Productive Sunday

2012-01-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

I awoke to yet another sunny day! While this dry mild weather is terrific for getting outdoor chores done, it is certainly confusing to both the plants and the animals. Case in point, look in this tree! Turkey Vultures! We last saw our venue of turkey vultures this Fall as they congregated and left for the big trip down south. Now suddenly today, we have six circling in our sky. I guess the question is, have they come back a few months early or did they never leave? Either way it certainly is strange having them flying high in our January sky.

The first task on my "to-do" list today was planting the various bulbs that we purchased back in October at the Hardy Pant Group meeting. Our speaker that night was Steve Vinisky, owner of Cherry Creek Daffodils. After giving a great talk Steve held court at a sales table where he offer choice bulbs for sale. Of course, we couldn't resist! We ended up buying:

1 bulb of "Snipe" a solid white Cyclamineus Daffodil
6 bulbs of "Kokopelli" a yellow Jonquilla Daffodil , floriferous with a light fragrance
1 bulb of "Sabrosa" a yellow Joonquilla Daffodil, small fragrant pale yellow blossoms
4 bulbs of "Rolf Fiedler" Ipheion Peregrinans, a star flower with striking blue blooms

Fortunately, as Fall was slipping away, we put our purchases in the bottom of the refrigerator. When I took them out today the bulbs seemed just fine. With the exception on "Snipe" all of the bulbs had small green shoots. Pictured above, a sprouting bulb of "Kokopelli". They were more than ready to be planted!

Her are the 4 small bulbs of "Rolf Fielder" . Their size and shape reminded me of grape hyacinth bulbs. I got everything planted and marked with a stake so now we can sit back and - fingers crossed - enjoy the show this Spring.

My second project of the day was attacking my kitchen garden. This past Fall I got everything cleaned up with the exception of the seven tomato plants and the two Morning Glory towers. I also planted a row of garlic in October. All late Fall and early Winter, someone/something has been digging in the kitchen garden, leaving small holes behind. By best guess is it's the chipmunks. Regardless, they have exposed some of my garlic bulbs so today I added soil to the raised row and made sure everything was properly covered with dirt. Then I covered the whole row with a tunnel covered in Remay. This should give the garlic row some added protection from both the weather and the critters.

I was truly surprised to see that almost my entire row of garlic-all three varieties- have already sprouted! Since this is my first attempt at growing my own garlic I don't know if this is normal or not. Perhaps this mild weather is playing games with the garlic too! It certainly made my clean-up task much more pleasant. After a couple hours of hard work, the kitchen garden bed was bare, ready for the 2012 garden.

A Sunny Saturday in January

2012-01-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

When I awoke this morning, sunshine was streaming through my windows and the sky was already a bright, clear blue. It was definitely a day to get outside and tackle those projects still left on my "do-to" list from the Fall. First up was the clearing of blackberry vines, grass, and other assorted "pucker-brush" from the area pictured above. We hadn't mowed this section for a couple of years so it was getting a bit overgrown. And most importantly, we had planted some free yellow daffodil bulbs - King Alfreds ? - there. Because we were ignoring them, they were thriving and we could hardly see them this last Spring underneath all of the assorted vegetation. Two hours later, after much labor with a string trimmer, lawn mower, and small tractor, we finished! Much better and now we will be able to enjoy the daffodils this coming March.

After finishing our project I walked down by the big bird feeder to check on the "Early Sensation" daffodils. Jackpot! Just last weekend I looked here and nothing had poked up through the earth yet. One week later, with the help of mild temperatures, they are now 2" high. These, our earliest blooming daffodils, should start blooming by the end of the month. A little taste of Spring.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! We begin today with a fresh start and all things seem possible. I am not too much for making New Year's resolutions, either in the garden or my personal life. They seem destine to be broken. I prefer to set goals. If they are met, that's wonderful - but if you only make some progress toward them, you're still ahead. So my goals in the garden for the New Year:

Keep trying new things, whether it's new varieties or growing techniques
Don't plant so much that the day-to-day upkeep stops me from having fun

While I am enjoying these first dark days of Winter inside- reading, relaxing and generally hibernating - Mother Nature has been hard at work. On my New Year's walk today, I discovered the beautiful red witch hazel in full bloom in the front flower bed.

I also noticed that all of the Hellebore plants have begun to send up this year's flower stalks. It's time to cut down last years' leaves!

And lastly, in the mudroom bed, I found the "tete-a-tete" daffodils that I divided last July 21st. They are about 2" high now and both new circles appear to be coming up well. It might be only January 1st but the new gardening year has begun!

Christmas Day

2011-12-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day dawned with a dramatic Eastern sky.

I am not a morning person by any means but was so thankful to be up to witness this sunrise. What a Christmas morning gift!

First thing we checked the stocking to see what Santa-paws might have delivered. New cat-nip mice for everyone!

Solomon says please leave me alone - I'm busy here!

Padma was in heaven. Nothing like a 20 pound cat in drug-induced joy!

As I set the Christmas table, this female Hairy Woodpecker was having her Christmas lunch at the peanut feeder.

Just after 4 PM we at down to dinner with Family.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T12:19:00.000-08:00

December 24th was an exact repeat of the 23rd - sunny and very strangely warm outside. On our back patio, where the concrete captures any afternoon heat, the thermometer read 67 degrees!

Parvati was in cat heaven basking in the rare Christmas Eve sunshine.

She flopped back and forth, over and over, as only a contented Kittie can do.

Almost there.......

And we're over! The humans in the household also spent some time soaking in the warmth before our attention turned to the night's festivities. With our thoughts on food, family, and a manager, Mother Nature ended the day with a dramatic sunset.

PEACE ON EARTH

Winter Solstice - The First Day of Winter

2011-12-22T20:46:00.000-08:00

Today officially welcomed Winter! After today, our days will begin to increase in length, ever so slowly. This shortest day of the year blessed us with sunshine and blue skies. Although the daylight was short in length, it was warm ,cheery, and left with a beautiful glow.

"Yule, is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb. Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider."

A Saturday Walk in December

2011-12-03T17:45:00.000-08:00

Today I took some time to enjoy the cold but sunny weather and went for a short hike around the property. Even though we are but a few short weeks from the official start of Winter, there is still much beauty to be found if you keep your eyes wide open. As I passed a meadow covered in fallen oak leaves, a glimmer caught my eye. Upon closer examination I discovered this sweet little spider web, covered on dew.

Most of the leaves have fallen now but are still visually alluring as they loose their fall color and turn brown.

The wild filberts are already producing their male catkins. As Springtime approaches these will grown in length and release pollen.

And some of your young Douglas fir trees are starting to produce cones. The bright green trusses and the brown cones just look like December to me.

A Cold December Night & "Finally Finished!"

2011-12-01T21:04:00.000-08:00

Quite often, December in my part of Oregon includes a long stretch of dry, cold weather. This year the month is starting out with this weather pattern. Today was sunny but with highs only in the 40's. By the time I arrived home it was already 36 degrees with the low tonight expected to be in the 20s. As I drove up our long driveway, the pink colored sky caught my attention. I ran in and grabbed my camera and was able to capture a bit of the lovely sunset. We should have many more of these to enjoy in the next week if this weather pattern continues as predicted.

The big excitement was that I finished the last of my dahlia tuber dividing, washing, and packing away tonight! After 5 weeks I finally am all finished. As you can see, all of the wrapped tubers fit nicely inside two copy paper boxes. These will be stored in an unheated room attached to our garage where they will stay all winter at about 45 degrees.

I planted 199 dahlia plants this Spring. Of the original 199, 194 plants produced tubers that I could dig this fall. Now from those 194 tubers planted this year, I have harvested and stored 621 tubers. A few of those tubers will suffer some rot over the Winter and many won't have a viable eye come Spring. But I should still have plenty of tubers for myself and the rest I can donate to my local Society. Many people ask why I take the time to dig my dahlias. Well, there are two answers to that question. First of all, the clay soil in my garden is so wet that I would loose almost every clump over the Winter. And then the average cost of replacing a dahlia tuber is around $4.50, with new varieties starting at $15.00 and going higher. So even at $4.00, if I have 500 viable tubers this next Spring they have a low-end market value of $2,000! That's worth 5 weeks of work to me.

It is such a great feeling to have this big project done. It feels a little bit like canning and food security. No matter what Mother Nature throws our way this Winter, I know that my two boxes of tubers are safely stored and I will have glorious dahlia plants once again next year.

Fall's Last Hurrah

2011-11-27T19:29:00.000-08:00

After the big wind and rain storms of the last 10 days, most of the trees have dropped their leaves. Now the last of Fall's color is found not by looking up, but by looking down.

A Garden Finish!

2011-11-25T19:07:00.000-08:00

This isn't the most attractive picture of my big garden but to me it's a lovely site! Today I finished digging up the last of my 199 dahlia plants and I got all of the "end-of-season" clean-up completed. Yippee! Considering that we had over 3" of rain earlier this week the digging wasn't too bad. It was actually so wet the clay couldn't even clump on my boots. So, now the garden and the gardener rest!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

The year has turned its circle,

The seasons come and go.

The harvest all is gathered in

And chilly north winds blow.

Orchards have shared their treasures,

The fields, their yellow grain,

So open wide the doorway ---

Thanksgiving comes again!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE !

The Last Outdoor Farmer's Market of the Year

2011-11-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

Today was the final outdoor Lane County Farmer's Market for 2011. The crowds at the market are much lighter now than even a month ago. It's a shame really because there is still so much amazing produce to take home and I even managed to find some new surprises today too!

How about some fresh Ginger! This beautiful white & pink ginger is so much prettier than the brown nobs that are sold in the grocery store. These bulbs still were attached to their stalks. I had no idea that ginger resembled bamboo so much above the soil line.

And these yellow beauties were quince.

And another exotic fruit - persimmon.

There were a number of stalls offering mushrooms for sale. The selection was amazing.

These cauliflower mushrooms reminded me of sea coral.

And the golden chanterelled just glowed.

Mushrooms

2011-11-10T19:52:00.000-08:00

I haven't had the luck this Fall finding and photographing mushrooms like I did last year. I think part of this is due to last year's excessive rainfall starting in Mid-September and really never quitting. And I am sure part of it is due to me just not being in the right place at the right time- with my camera. However, I did manage to find these two interesting groups of mushrooms in the last few weeks. I don't think that I have ever seen the group pictured above. I found them in our "island" area, a grassy, mown triangle up by the house. There were groups of them sprinkled all over the island. This was a newer group and the pronouncement between the white mushroom and its yellow crown was quite clear. As each mushroom aged, its "umbrella" dome opened and the yellow eye faded.

In our front yard area, and in the front flower bed, I found many groups of the mushrooms pictured below. After spending a lot of time looking at my "Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest" book that Santa Claus brought me last year, I think that I have pretty confidently identified these as "Coprinus Comatus", Shaggy Mane mushrooms. Shaggy Manes are one of the most popular edible mushrooms and fruit mostly in late Summer to Fall in the Pacific Northwest.

Yet Another Frosty Morning

2011-11-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

Yet another frosty, cold morning. The thermometer read 27 degrees and everything was coated in a thick blanket of white frost. I particularly admired the braken ferns, their beautiful geometry etched in white.

The Digging Begins

2011-10-30T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today I started the annual task of digging up all of my dahlias. I have 199 plants set out in 15 rows. I began today by cutting down 3 rows. These will be the tubers that I lift next weekend. Then I dug up the 3 rows of dahlias that I cut down earlier this week. I ended up with 42 clumps. I was pleased at the condition of the tubers that I dug today. With our cool, wet Spring & Summer I was really concerned that the tuber growth might have been affected. But he tubers are all full size and seem to be firm, with very little signs of rot at this point. After I got everything dug I hauled them back to the house. I then gentle hosed each clump off and trimmed them of all the misc roots and stocks. Then they went into the shop to await division and further cleaning.

Here are four nice clumps of the Pom "Willo Borealis". It looks like I should definitely have enough tubers to grow and to share next year. In the picture below, you can clearly see the swollen eyes on tubers, right where they join the stock. This makes dividing so much easier.

A Frosty Morning & A Lovely Afternoon

2011-10-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

We were below freezing again this morning. For those of us counting, that's three days in a row. Quite unusual for this time of the year. The difference today was that the sun came out early. It quickly warmed up and we had a beautiful day. Our big leaf maples were glowing in the low afternoon sunshine. This is why we love October.

Even Colder Night #2

2011-10-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Last night the official low at the airport was 27 degrees. We had a reading before dawn of 29 degrees at our house. As you can see, the extra three degree drop in the temperature finished off my dahlias. They are a pretty sad looking lot now. The good news is I can proceed now with my digging and dividing without feeling guilty about cutting down blooming dahlia plants! Tonight after work I went down to the garden and cut down my first three rows. It was a quick and easy task. Since we haven't had any rain for over two weeks, the ground is nice and dry. I can't believe that I am chopping down the dahlias and I don't have mud sticking to the bottom of my shoes. The dahlias plants are also really easy to work with right now. The frost has essential "freeze-dried" the plants. They are dry, light and easy to carry off to the burn pile. Clean up has never been this easy - seriously! I'm just not used to these easy working conditions.

Here's two rows after I was done. I left about 4" of stem above the ground on each plant. This gives me a nice handle to hold as I gently lift the tubers and a good place to wrap the name tag around as it is carried home. I will let these tubers rest in the ground until Sunday before I dig them up. This will give the tubers time to be "shocked' that the plants are dead ( or in this case cut off). The tubers will immediately begin to harden off and cure underground. The eyes on the individual tubers will also begin to swell. When I dig the tubers on Sunday it will be much easier to see where I should make my cuts and the tubers should store over winter better as well. I have fifteen rows of dahlias this year. My goal is to dig 3 rows every weekend and then wash, divide and label the tubers from those plants during the following weeknights. Sticking to this schedule I will finish digging on Thanksgiving Weekend. Wish me luck!

The First Killing Frost

2011-10-25T19:36:00.001-07:00

This morning on the way to work the car thermometer read 32 degrees. As I drove by the big garden I slowed down and tried to see if I could find any signs of frost damage. I thought that the dahlia foliage looked a little bit darker than normal but with such a quick glance I couldn't be sure. After work I walked down to the garden. Sure enough, the season is officially over! As you can see, all of the dahlia foliage was blackened by the freezing temperature. All of the new growth had turned to mush too but the main stem on each plant was still alive. It didn't get cold enough for a complete kill on the thick stemmed dahlias.

Tonight it is suppose to get even colder. Since I have had this much damage already, I am hoping that tonight's cold delivers the final knock-out punch! It was interesting to see what was damaged and what few plants survived.

My two beautiful rows of "Persian Carpet" zinnias were killed as were the other two varieties of zinnias. My row of mixed marigolds however, survived just fine. My theory is the heat from the earth kept the air temperature from freezing from a height of about 12" high to the ground. Since the marigolds are all just about 6" tall, they all made it ok through the night.

I was very thankful that the marigolds didn't freeze. I planted 3 varieties in the Gem series; "Lemon Gem", "Tangerine Gem" and Red Gem". One of my "Red Gem" plants appears to be a sport. Instead of the solid red petals tipped in orange that the other plants displayed, this plant had many blooms with orange petals overlaid with two red stripes. You can see some examples of this in the picture below. So, I decided to save some seed from this plant and see what I get next year. Perhaps this was a one-off, and will stabilize next year. Or perhaps I have the seed for a neat variation in the "Gem" series. Stay tuned!

The Last Bouquets of the Year...?

2011-10-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

Tonight, right after work, I headed straight down to the big garden. The weather forecasters are calling for the possibility of our first frost of Fall tonight. Yesterday I had picked two bouquets of flowers but I still had a lot of blooms yet to pick. I went through the dahlias and picked a bucket full of red/orange/yellow blooms and then I picked a bouquet of all my Pom dahlias. After I got home and arranged everything I took all of the bouquets outside for a group picture. After all, this could be the last hurrah of Summer!

Here is a close up of my Pom bouquet. I really love this dahlia form. The small, round blooms look sweet, all bunched up together in a mass display. They also remind me of my late Grandmother who also admired this form.

Here's my bouquet of "Persian Carpet" zinnias.

A close up of my pink/white/purple dahlia bouquet.

And my fiery orange/red/yellow bouquet.

This "Jac's Julia" bloom got its own vase. This is a new variety for me this year and this is the first bloom to open. I love it! Here's hoping that it has made some good tubers. I would love to grow more than one plant of it next year.

You can tell that there has been a huge change in the temperature today. It is another lovely sunny day, but there has been a constant, strong, cold wind. As I staged these bouquets tonight my two garden helpers remained curled up in their beds!

A Birthday Harvest

2011-10-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

My birthday weekend coincided with the first frost advisory getting issued by the National Weather Service. At this point, there looks to be a chance of our first freeze arriving Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. With this news in mind, I devoted much of my birthday to harvesting the garden - so much for a lazy, restful day! I started down in the big garden. There are lots and lots of flowers left on the dahlias and zinnias. They have all really come on strong this month and I can't stand the thought of all of those last blooms getting wasted by a cold night. So, I started by cutting a bucket of dahlias in the white/pink/purple color group. Then I cut a bouquet of "Persian Carpet" zinnias. I thought both "arrangements" looked pretty stunning against my purple garden bench.

It was also time to harvest my "Speckled Hound" Winter Squash. My poor four plants did the best that they could. They were planted in half day sun and really struggled. Amazingly, each plant did set one fruit. The fruit on the far left, above, best represents their potential. "Speckled Hound" is a boxy shaped winter squash with a concentrated sweet, nutty flavor. The squash are a light orange color with a randomly patterned blue/green overlay. And the skin is amazingly smooth. It almost has the feeling of being waxed. They grow to a size if 3-6 pounds. My four however came in a little below that. They were 2 lbs. 2.5 oz, 1 lbs. 9.4 oz., 1 lbs. 12.8 oz., and 2 lbs. 5.1 oz. for a total of 7 lbs. 13.8 oz.

My final big project of the day was harvesting my "Hutterite Soup" bush beans. I am truly a bit amazed that I was able to get a harvest out of these bean plants. They were planted from seed on July 2nd and I wasn't sure that there would be enough good weather to see them to complete maturity. As you can see, underneath the bean leaves, the beans are starting to turn yellow and dry. We have had a nice stretch of 10+ days without rain and that has really been a blessing.

I pulled up each plant one by one and clipped of the bean pods. It took me over an hour but I ended up with a full garden trug for my efforts. Now I can lay them out in trays at home in a warm room to further dry for a few days.

Late October at the Market

2011-10-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a picture-perfect day at the Farmer's Market. The early morning fog had burned off completely by 9:00 AM and the sky was a lovely clear blue. Even thought we didn't need anything in particular at the Market, it was just too perfect a Fall day to stay at home! Once again, there were large, stunning displays of Winter Squash.

This clever flower vendor used an assortment of squash and pumpkins as vases. A perfect seasonal centerpiece.

Another special Fall treat - Apple Cider. This vendor was handing out free samples - it was delicious!

I loved this display of cauliflower. All three colors stacked together.

Many of the stalls were selling long stalks of of brussel sprouts.

And there were many, many different apple varieties to try. Liberty & Jonagold seemed to be the two most popular.

There were at least three stalls selling mushrooms. These were labeled as Golden Chanterelles.

And more Winter Squash. You can tell what I love the most! I was also impressed with the size of the pumpkins, pictured below. The vendor assured us if we purchased one, he would hold it at his stand so we wouldn't have to walk around with it. I should hope so!

A burst of Color in the Dahlia Patch

2011-10-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

Every year, as the daily average temperature drops and our nights become cool and damp, my dahlias get a second burst of life. Although the blooms are smaller at this time of year, they re-gain perfect form and attain dazzling, saturated color. Above, is a lovely bloom of "Sean C" a purple and white collarette. I didn't have a good bloom all of September to take to a show. But now my plants are blooming heavily and the blooms are perfect!

I got my "Sorbet" tuber planted very late this Summer. This is my first open bloom this year. It's worth the wait!

Here is a lovely bloom of "Jo". I am so pleased to see this bloom. I lost all of my tubers but one this year and wasn't sure that it was going to sprout and grow. It is also no longer sold in any catalogues, so if I lost it, it was gone for good. Happily, it took off in late July and I can now enjoy its first bloom of the year.

A fiery bloom of "Canoz Anne" a Waterlily form in a dark blend of red & yellow.

A cheery bloom of "Lulu Island Dad" a miniature ball form in yellow.

And my first open bloom of "Chimicum Davi" a miniature ball form in pink.

As you can see below, the dahlia plants are starting to look a little ragged but they are still producing a lot of blooms and color to enjoy.

The Sights of Mid-October

2011-10-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day in October that we didn't get any measurable rainfall. Finally, a sunny warm October day to enjoy. After work I took a quick walk around the property. The berries on the Wild Honeysuckle just glow like jewels right now.

The split-leaf "wild" blackberries are attaining some great Fall color

The Wild roses hips are also lovely right now.

And here are the leaves on the "wild" Himalayan Blackberries.

We have found one "wild" apple tree on our property. It is growing in the shade and is very tall and scrawny as it attempts to find some sunlight. It is loaded with apples this year and the sheer weight of them has bent it over. I haven't ever eaten one the the apples but might have to give it a try this year since they are within reach. I imagine that they aren't a very good eating quality but they certainly are pretty with a beautiful red blush over their yellow/green skin.

Garlic Planting

2011-10-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Part of the fun of gardening for me is trying to grow something new each year. This year I wanted to give garlic a try. I LOVE garlic but recently spent $10 for 8 heads at our Farmer's Market. Yikes! So this Saturday I visited Down-to-Earth to have a look at their garlic selection. Jackpot! I have said it before and I will say it again - we are so lucky to have this store in our town.

They had 17 -yes 17 -organic varieties to choose from. They also had one free pamphlet explaining how to plant garlic and another free pamphlet describing each variety in-depth. After much consideration, I narrowed down the field to 3 finalists: "Chesnok Red", "Nootka Rose", and "Silver Rose". Here is the description of each from the pamphlet:

"Chesnok Red" Hardneck : Large bulbs with purple stripes, hard tight heads, and easy to peal cloves. An excellent garlic for baking with a nice creamy texture. Pleasant medium pungency, long lasting flavor. Late Season.

"Nootka Rose" Softneck: Nootka Rose is a well colored variety with the potential for high productivity. The cloves are streaked red on mahogany. Nootka Rose makes an attractive braiding garlic and has a robust flavor for a softneck. Late Season.

"Silver Rose: Softneck: Silver Rose boasts large bulbs with purple stripes. It is an easy to peal garlic with hard, tight heads. A great baking garlic, Silver Rose has a creamy texture and long lasting flavor. Mid Season.

"Pictured from left to right; "Chesnok Red", "Nootka Rose" and "Silver Rose".

Here is an individual clove of "Chesnok Red' waiting to be planted. Both the bulb and the individual cloves were tinted with such a lovely red/purple color.

I built a raised row to plant the garlic in and then laid out all of the cloves. Per the instructions, I added 1 Tbs. of Bone Meal to each planting hole and then in they went, pointed end up! Then I watered them in well. That should be it for a while. I think that I will see some green shoots appear before our weather turns cold. If so, I will have to cover the row with remay to give the young plants some protection from the birds. Now it's time to sit back, watch, and learn.

Garden Clean-up and another Harvest

2011-10-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I took advantage of the mild weather and started some "garden clean-up" in the kitchen garden. This job always takes me longer then I think that it will. I started by taking out all of the winter squash vines. That turned out to be a bit of a tricky job since many of the vines had climbed up the inside of the deer fence. It took me quite a while to unravel and cut all of the tendrils off to release the vines. The fence is much happier now and is no longer sagging under the weight of those vines and fruit.

Once I got the squash area cleaned up I turned my attention to the Sweet Potatoes. I decided it was time to empty the grow bags and see if anything was actually growing in there! This is the "before" picture of my "Georgia Jet" Sweet Potato. Considering what a cold and wet Summer it was for the most part, I am truly amazed by how much growth the plant produced. This single slip grew to cover most of the grow bag surface with healthy green/purple leaves.

And here is the "before" picture of the "Beauregard" Sweet Potato. It didn't grow quite as large as the "Georgia Jet" plant did. The holes in the leaves were not caused by disease or insects but by finches. Yes, Gold Finches! For some reason they liked nibbling on the green foliage and this grow bag was located very close to a bird feeder.

The big reveal.............there was something growing inside those bags! On the left is pictured the red/orange tubers of the "Beauregard" and on the right the hot pink colored "Georgie Jet" tubers. Not surprisingly, the larger "Georgia Jet" plant produced a bigger crop of tubers.

Fortunately, we aren't depending on this harvest to survive the Winter! My "Georgia Jet" plant harvest was 1 lbs. 6.2 oz.

The "Beauregard" harvest was only 11.0 oz.

And here is the total harvest after getting washed and trimmed. As you can see the "Georgia Jet" actually produced on fairly big, fat tuber. All the rest were fairly long but skinny. However, I think we can get at least one meal of diced and baked Sweet Potatoes out of this.

Besides Sweet Potatoes, I also harvested my Pepper "crop". Crop is probably too strong a word here! Each of my 2 pepper plants produced exactly 1 pepper! The poor plants had to contend with cold weather and getting completely smothered by the Winter Squash vines. Pictured above, my one "Lilac" pepper. It weighted 1.4 oz.

I also had one lovely "Gypsy" pepper too. It weighted 3.0 oz.

I did have to add this picture. I must have worked outside for close to two hours. And during that entire time Tom-Cat slept nearby in his cat bed. He didn't even open an eye. Not exactly the best garden helper today!

I also had to show the picture, below. I know that it isn't of very good quality. But the exciting part is the bird on the right side of the tray. I know, you can only see the back half of the bird. But it's an Evening Grosbeak! We thought that all of our Evening Grosbeaks had left for the Winter weeks ago. But suddenly, I looked up today and there was this handsome guy. I am guessing he is just stopping by on his way South but it was great to get one more sighting this year. Happy travels sir. We will see you next Spring.

Saturday at the Market..and some Sunshine!

2011-10-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

After 8+ days of rainy weather and grey skies, we awoke today to sunshine! I was especially thankful for the nice weather because I hadn't made it to the Saturday Farmer's Market for the last few weeks. Upon arrival it quickly became clear that it was now Squash Time! I absolutely fell in love with this display at the Sweet Leaf Farm stall. A gorgeous mountain of Winter Squash.

And here is a close-up!

I was also smitten with these sweet baskets. A clever vendor had planted individual wicker baskets with assorted Fall annuals & perennials. They were so pretty and it was such a fun idea.

Besides Winter Squash, it was also Pepper season. Every stall had baskets upon baskets filled with all sorts of varieties.The air even smelled of peppers because one stall was roasting them on-site. The smell is quite strong and unique, but I like it. My sister does not!

A lovely pile of bell peppers.

There were also a couple of stands selling bulbs and we couldn't walk by those! I ended up buying 12 bulbs of daffodil "Las Vegas". It is a large, early bloomer that has white petals and a vivid yellow trumpet. It was hard to choose with all of the varieties offered.

And one more shot of Winter Squash! Below is a beautiful little squash called "Carnival". I just love it's mottled skin splotched in greens, yellows and oranges.

The Squash Harvest

2011-10-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

There has been a definite change in the weather. Our lovely, warm Summer days have gone and we now seem to be stuck in a never-ending chain of grey days with some sort of rainfall. I decided it was time to harvest my squash before any mold might might have a change to get established. The squash leaves were starting to succumb to powdery mildew and there was little chance of much more growth and maturing happening this growing season.

So here is the group portrait of the Class of '11! It is much smaller than it has been in past years. But since I was truly concerned for a while this early Summer that I wouldn't get a single squash to mature, I am happy with the results.

This is the first time that I have grown "Marina di Chioggia" and I have had such fun with it. It produced monster vines, the largest that I have ever grown. The catalogues loosely describe its final fruit size as "6-12 lbs." While I only had 3 squash set on my two plants, they all beat this size range. From left to right, these three weighed in at 13 lbs., 17 lbs., and 26.1 lbs.! Yes, that's 56 lbs. of Winter Squash from just these three!

I have grown "Delicata" for years and they remain one of my all-time favorite Winter Squash. They have such a sweet, dry flesh and come in an easy, single-serving size. The flesh is quite thin and can be eaten or quickly pealed off. I was afraid that I wouldn't have any home grown "Delicata" to eat this year because I planted my 2 "'Delicata" plants so late. But, after a slow start, and the ever present threat of being devoured by the "Marina di Chioggia" vines, they came on strong and produced an admirable crop. I ended up with 10 squash that weighed a total of 12 lbs. 5 oz.

Everyone has been cleaned and dried and are safely stored in the unheated garage. Now It's time to get out the recipes and get cooking!

The Great Tomato Glut!

2011-09-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

Every year, as Summer draws to a close, I worry that my tomatoes won't reach maturity. This year, with our wet & cool June & July my worry was greater than ever.Oh why did I worry! With the threat of rain this weekend, I decided I needed to harvest all of my ripe tomatoes tonight after work. I worked from plant to plant, reaching deep into the jungle of vines, looking for that pop of color amidst all of the green.

I started with my "Black Krim" plant. These are by far the biggest tomatoes that I grow. This variety has been a dependable plant for me. It hasn't needed all of the heat that many other "large size" tomatoes seem to need to ripen.I was a bit astonished as I kept finding ripe tomato after ripe tomato on this one plant. When I was finished I had harvested 21 "Black Krim" and there are still more then half a dozen unripened fruit left growing. The total weight harvested was 11 lbs. 5 oz.

The yellow fruit in the above picture are the "Azoychka". I harvested 21 fruit that weighed 5 lbs. 1.7 oz. In front of the "Azoychka" are the "Santa Clara Canner". These tomatoes have the prettiest skin. It is lightly pleated and is a bright and very shiny red. It almost looks like patent leather. I harvested 10 "Santa Clara Canner" that weighed 2 lbs. 9.3 oz.

The cute black plum shaped tomatoes in the above picture are named " Black Plum". I picked 49 of these last night and the total weight was 1 lbs. 12.8 oz. Behind the "Black Plum" are the "Black Prince". These tomatoes are the perfect "in-between" size sandwiched between the "Black Krim" and the "Black Plum". I harvested 15 "Black Prince" that weighed in at 2 lbs. 5.7 oz. Pictured behind the "Black Prince" are the "Peron Sprayless OG". I picked 11 of these perfectly round tomatoes that weighed 1 lb. 10.7 oz.

So, my total harvest tonight ended up with 127 tomatoes weighing 24 lbs. 13.2 oz.

Loving the Fall Sunshine

2011-09-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

Rudbeckia Trilobia "Browned Eyed Susan"

Today we enjoyed a perfect Oregon Fall day. The car thermometer read 82 as I drove home from work. We sat outside in the sunshine for a while before firing up the barbecue for dinner. After dinner, more time outside, watering plants and just relishing the warm evening. As dusk fell, we saw a heron and then later, two flocks of ducks, fly across the sky. Then it was the bats turn to take flight. We watched the sliver of a moon sink in the southwestern sky and called it a night.

The Rains Return

2011-09-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

I awoke to a funny noise this morning. I thought at first it was the heating/cooling system but quickly realized it was the sound of rain falling on the roof. It has been a while! We did have some quick down pours move though the area last Sunday but our last true rain event was sometime in July. I was a bit torn about the rain. On the one hand it would clear the air, dampen the earth, and help to stamp out forest fire danger. But on the other hand, I knew my flower garden would take a bit of a hit.

Tonight after work I walked down to the big garden. I was pleased with how little actual damage there was. I had about 10 dahlia knocked over but that was my fault for not ever completely finishing up tying all of the plants to their stakes. Most of the damage occured on plants that were loaded with blooms. These all snapped. I cut them off and tossed them over the fence. Within a week or so new blooms will take their place and you won't be able to tell what happened. On my way back from the garden I can across this little guy. He too will be glad for some rain to green up his grass.

The Onion Harvest

2011-09-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

With the threat of rain on Sunday I decided it was time to pull out my onions Saturday evening. Originally planted from purchased starts - not sets - on April 17th, both onion varieties have been happily growing in their raised bed row for the past 160 days. "Prince" is a yellow storage onion that I grew last year for the first time.

"Red Bull" is a red storage onion. This is a new variety for me this year.

As you can see, I had my hands full!

The "Red Bull" in particular had enormous tops by this time of year.

I took them into the shop and pealed away a few layers of the outer, dirty skin and made sure that they were free of dirt. I was pleased that none of the onions had any "bad" spots were rot had begun. These should all store well. I ended up with 14 "Prince" onions that weighted an average of 14.11 oz. My total harvest for this variety was 12 lbs. 5.9 oz.

Set on their tray, ready for Winter storage.

The "Red Bull" onions have such a beautiful red/purple color. And boy do they smell like onions! I ended up with 13 "Red Bull" weighing an average of 10.24 oz. Their average weight should be higher. As you can see I have 3 "Red Bull" that are quite small. These three were planted at the end of the onion row and the birds picked and ate away at them when they were small. It really stunted their growth. Thankfully, the birds left the rest of the onion row alone. My total harvest for "Red Bull" was 8 lbs. 5.6 oz.

Cleaned up and ready for the photo shoot.

My total onion harvest for the year came in at 20 lbs. 11.5 oz.

The DCDS Show

2011-09-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

Today was the annual dahlia show held by the Douglas County Dahlia Society in Roseburg. My exciting news - my 1-bloom "Valley Porcupine" was voted best 1-bloom Novelty Fully Double in the Show! I made the Head Table for the first time showing in the Open Division. Roseburg is a smaller show but I was still very pleased. But first I should back up a little.......

My day started very early. The alarm went off at 5:15 and I was out the door and on the road by 6:15. As I was on my way to pick up my car-pool partner I glanced at the Eastern sky- WOW. The sun was just beginning to rise over the Cascades. This almost made up for having to get up at such an awful hour on a weekend day! I arrived at the Douglas County Fairgrounds right around 8:00 AM, so I had a leisurely hour to get my entries on the tables before the judging started at 9:00.

By 2:00 PM all of the judging was complete and the Head Table entries were getting all organized. I had a chance to act as an alternative Head Table judge, jumping in when other judges had to step-out because we were judging one of their blooms. I had to step-out when judging my "Valley Porcupine" entry and when we were judging Best 1-bloom Pom since my "Mi Wong" had won Best 1-bloom Pom Open. The Amateur Pom correctly beat it for Best Pom in Show. It wasn't too painful since a good friend won!

DCDS had a beautiful table with all of the floater entries. This is a nice was to enter a bloom that maybe snapped on the way to the show.

A close-up of a Fourth of July themed arrangement.

Above, my entry of "Colwood Hope" and below my triple entry of "Weston Spanish Dancer".

The First Day of Autumn

2011-09-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

Today marks the the First day of Fall with the arrival of the Autumn Equinox. It is a little hard to believe since today's high temperature pushed close to 90 degrees. We have enjoyed an entire week of 85 degree+ temperatures and if it wasn't for the shorter days, and long shadows brought by the sun's lower path, you could easily think it was still July.

I spent tonight getting ready for the last dahlia show of the season. I picked blooms right after work and then got busy with the staging. I managed to pull together 12 entries for this week. I might have had more, but the bright sun and hot weather this week really wrecked havoc on the red dahlias in particular. The front of the blooms looked fine but the backs were really faded and drooping.

I was pleased to have another triple entry to take this week. It is ironic though that the entry is of "Weston Spanish Dancer". It was the Flower of the Year at last week's show and I didn't have even a single bloom to take. But this week, 3 nice blooms!

I am really happy to have a beautiful entry of "Colwood Hope" a B sized White Lacinited form. I was given 2 cuttings from a dahlia friend this Spring who didn't have any more room left in her garden! Both plants have opened their first blooms this week and I picked the best of the two to show this weekend. I also have another nice "Dagmar" to bring. But if I was a betting gal, I think my best chance for a Head Table bloom this weekend is with my single bloom of "Valley Porcupine" a pink Double Novelty form. Ironically - again - I didn't even purchase this tuber but was given it as a free "thank-you" for an order I placed. Go figure. We shall see what happens tomorrow!

The Last Day of Summer

2011-09-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

Marigold "Lemon Gem"

Today is officially the last day of Summer. It certainly doesn't feel like it here. We are in the middle of a 6 day stretch of mid-eighty degree weather. Each day has been just perfect. Beautiful blue skies and sunshine. I am sad to see Summer go but also ready for the beauty and slower days of Autumn.

The Time-Lapse Kitchen Garden

2011-09-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about blogging is that you have a permanent visual record of your garden. Day to day, year to year, I always think that I will remember everything. And of coarse, within weeks I forget a lot. It is always fun to look back at the pictures of my garden over one growing season just to appreciate how much growth and change there was. The top picture was taken on 04-03-2011. On a dry April day I had the chance to finally get the kitchen garden all cleaned up from the precious year. I added a fresh layer of Nature's Best Compost, raked it all in and it was ready to go for the new growing year.

04-10-11

Here the first two raised beds have been made and the radish and lettuce have been planted.

06-05-11

By early June the radish are being picked and enjoyed. The lettuce is ready also but under the protective cover of a remay tent. Both onion varieties are planted and growing and the tomatoes are in the ground now too.

06-27-11

By late June everything has been planted in the garden except the "Butternut" squash transplants. The remaining lettuce will get pulled after the Fourth of July weekend to make way for the last 2 hills of squash. With the cool weather, I kept a remay cover over the "Marina di Chioggia" squash for a while to provide some extra warmth.

07-11-11

Now the kitchen garden is all planted for the Summer.

07-25-11

By late July the tomatoes are at the top of the first tier of their cages. The morning glory have also reached the top of their support towers. The onion bulbs are really expanding and the "Marina di Chioggia" squash is starting to crawl.

08-01-11

By the first day of August the garden is really starting to fill-in. By this time it is obvious that the late-transplanted "Butternut" squash are not going to make it. This is actually good news because the "Marina di Chioggia" is about to engulf their whole growing area.

08-15-11

By mid-August the tomatoes have reached the top of the second tier of their towers. The "Delicata"squash is finally coming on in size just as the "Marina di Chioggia" reaches it. The onions are slowly disappearing from sight, lost in a sea of squash leaves.

08-29-11

By the end of August the garden has completely filled up with green plant material. The squash are pushing out of the deer fencing, only to get eaten every night. Both morning glories are blooming profusely.

09-06-11

Everything has grown over the tops of their respective towers. One vine of the "Marina di Chioggia" is now growing up the inside of the deer fencing, heading toward the sky! You can't see it in the picture but the plants are loaded with green tomatoes and maturing winter squash. Harvest time won't be far away!

A Tomato Explotion

2011-09-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

As the calendar switched to September, my seven tomato plants were covered with green tomatoes. I was really concerned that there might not be enough warm weather left to ripen all of the fruit. Enter almost two weeks straight of 90 degree days to the rescue! In September! This has been such a strange weather year. But by this weekend there was lots of color peaking out beneath the green foliage.

My biggest harvest of the day came from my "Black Krim" tomatoes. I picked 12 fruit and the total weight was 7 lbs 12.7 oz.

This plate shows from left to right; "Peron Sprayless OG", "Azoychka" and "Black Prince". I harvested eleven fruit that weighted 1 lbs 9.1 oz of "Peron Sprayless OG", seven fruit of "Azoychka" that weighted 2 lbs. .2 oz, and sixteen fruit of "Black Prince" that weighted 2 lbs. 4.5 oz.

And this plate is holding a container of "Super Sweet 100", a pile of "Black Plum" and two "Santa Clara Canner. I picked 65 "Super Sweet 100" that weighted 1 lbs. 7.7 oz., two "Santa Clara Canner" that weighed 7.0 oz., and 27 "Black Plum" that weighed 1 lbs. 3 oz.

So my total harvests for this week:

Tomatoes 16 lbs. 12.2 oz
Blackberries 4 lbs. 3.9 oz.

The Dahlia Show

2011-09-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today was the big local dahlia show. I was up and out the door by 7:30AM. I packed all of my entries into milk crates and loaded them into the car. Then I drove slowly down the steep, long gravel driveway. The hardest part about entering blooms into a dahlia show is safely transporting them to the show. Many an exhibitor has had their heart broken by a pot-hole induced snapped stem!

We had 42 exhibitors enter over 1,500 blooms. The show room was a sea of color. Let the judging begin! As I wrote yesterday, this was my first year entering in the open category. The competition is the toughest here and I had little hope of going very far with my few blooms. I was correct in predicting that my "Dagmar" would be my best entry. It won a blue ribbon and then advanced to win Best of Type. So I was pleased to make it to the second round with a bloom in my first year. Next year I will shoot for the next level, Section Champion and a shot at the Head Table.

After judging concluded, the Head Table was filled with all of the "best of the best". The top row holds all of the single bloom entries and the bottom row all of the 3-bloom entries. Amazing, beautiful blooms.

There is also a section for arrangements. This year we had 11 exhibitors enter the category "She was an elegant lady" in honor of our late member Alfretta. The only criteria for the arrangement was the blooms had to be in pink and purple, her favorite colors.

And we also had full tables of basket arrangements. Pictured below, the winner of best basket in the show.

Getting Ready for the Show

2011-09-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight I rushed down to the garden after I got home to pick for tomorrow's Dahlia Show. I truly wasn't sure if I would have any blooms to take. My dahlias just haven't been very good this year. They really hated the cool Spring & Summer weather and in turn grew slowly. Some of my bushes are stunted while others are now just starting to branch out. But, it is always much more fun to judge at a show when you have blooms entered too. I managed to find 10 decent looking ones and hauled them up to the house.

For there I staged them in their show cans filled with floral foam. An entry tag with correct information was attached to each one and I was ready to go. I had quite a few Poms to bring and was able to stage a triple of "Willo Borealis".

For my bigger ones, I have 3 incurved cactus and 2 waterlily forms. You can tell what I like to grow! This year I have to move up to the top exhibiting group, advanced amateur. It is going to be really tough now to get a bloom to the Head Table. I think my best chance for this weekend's show is my bloom of "Dagmar", a B sized orange incurved cactus. We shall see what tomorrow brings!

The Vegetable Garden in September

2011-09-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

I took a short 4-day vacation last week and it was amazing to see the changes in my garden after I returned. The weather continued its 2-week hot spell through Sunday. Really, the hot weather was just what my vegetable garden needed. It has allowed everything to catch up and really start to mature.

I have 3 "Marinia di chioggia" squash that have set on the vine and are almost ready to cut. They are such a cool squash. BIG! The catalogue description says 10 pounds but I think at least two of them are already larger than that. They have turned a lovely shade of blue/grey and are getting quite warty. I am already beginning to wonder how I will cut them open and cook them......hmmm.

I also have one "Marinia di chioggia" vine that has grown the whole length of the garden and is now climbing up the deer fence inside. It has set 3 young squash but I am afraid there is just not enough warm weather ahead to allow them to reach maturity.

The "Delicata" winter squash are also doing really well. You have to lift up the leaves to even find them at this point. I am lucky that they are such fast maturing squash since the 2 plants that I have were planted pretty late. I think that I should have a fairly good harvest after all.

The "Prince" onions are ready to harvest any time. Most of the tops have fallen over.

The "Red Bull" onions are also ready to be pulled and put into storage. I just need to find the time!

The big change in the last week has been the ripening of the various tomatoes. Finally! Here is a "Black Krim" just about ready to be picked.

The "Azoychka" are turning a lovely shade of yellow. I have have harvested more of this Russian variety so far than any other variety in my garden. It definitely wins the award for earliest tomato of the year.

These lovely red globes are "Peron Sprayless OG".

Here are two low hanging "Black Prince" ready to pick.

And how cute is this truss of "Black Plum"?!

I am finally getting some color on my first "Santa Clara Canner".

And the "Super Sweet 100" are all starting to turn red. It will be a cherry tomato glut!

The "Heavenly Blue" morning glory continues to wow me everyday. I will never tire of its electric blue color. The last few days have been overcast until very late in the afternoon. This seems to confuse the morning glory plants a bit. Instead of closing up by 2 PM or so they are still wide open and fresh when I get home from work.

Monday Harvest Report

2011-09-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, as I was giving my Aunt and Uncle a garden tour, I noticed some color deep inside a few tomato plants. Ripe tomatoes! I picked what I had and sent them home as a gift. I just want a taste report back. So Sunday I picked:

(2) "Azoychka" 4.1 oz & 5.3 oz

(2) "Peron Sprayless OG" 5.0 oz. & 3.3 oz

(1) "Black Prince" 1.8 oz

Tomato total 1 lb 3.5 oz.

Today I picked blackberries again. I started the job yesterday, picking for some cobblers Beth made for our guests. Then today I hit all of the other bushes on the property. My two day total:

Blackberries 7 lb. 3 oz.

Finally a Finish

2011-09-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

Another amazing weather day today. It reached 92 degrees and yesterday it was 93 degrees. I don't think that I can ever remember such a warm Labor Day Weekend before. But we deserve it after the Spring and early Summer we had. It is giving me hope that some of my vegetable crops may mature after all- fingers crossed! I spent part of my day finishing my big weeding project down in the dahlia garden. It feels so nice to have that finished and off my "to-do" list. Tomorrow morning we are going to mow that grass around the garden and then things should be looking pretty ship-shape.

The "Persian Carpet" Zinnias that I direct planted from seed in the garden in July are just starting to bloom now. I probably have ten plants blooming but all of them are close. They produce such a beautiful mix of colors and will bloom profusely until frost.

One of the first to open this year.

New dahlia varieties continue to bloom as well. This is "Haley's Dream" a miniature cactus bi-colored in dark pink & white. Ever since an entry of mine was beaten by this variety in a show a few years ago, I have wanted to grow it myself. Like most miniatures it seems to produce a lot of blooms. I like it.

Another new variety for me: "Camano Susan". This is a BB sized semi-cactus in orange. As the bloom ages the center begins to open in yellow. A beautiful combination.

And yet another new variety for me - "Belred Sunset". It is listed as a BB cactus red but in my garden it appears to be growing as an incurved cactus.

A Holiday Weekend

2011-09-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

Today kicked-off a wonderful 3-day weekend and the best news of all - the weather is suppose to be fabulous! This morning the whole family headed down to the Farmer's Market. After stopping to enjoy some breakfast treats we took a leisurely tour of the market. There were piles and piles of beautiful tomatoes everywhere.

The pears have started to ripen. This basket held regular Bartlett and also Red Bartlett.

This farm stand did a nice educational display. They cut open a sample of each tomato they were selling.

This was the first time that I have ever seen Sea Berries sold at the market. Sea Berries, also called Sea Buck-thorn, is one of the most commonly grown berries in the world, yet most Americans have never heard of them. They are native over a wide area of Europe & Asia. The berries are acidic but when mixed with sweetener make a healthy drink full of important nutrients. In Finland it is used as a nutritional ingredient in baby food and in Germany it is found in a popular juice drink.

The melons continue to shine. There is something about watermelon that just screams "summertime" to me.

I hope wherever you are this holiday weekend, you make the time to find a patch of shade and maybe slip in a nap or two. Happy Labor Day Weekend!

The First of September!

2011-09-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

And suddenly, today is the first day of September! How did that happen! All I have to do is look around - there are signs of Fall's impending arrival everywhere. The oak trees seem to have a good supply of young, green acorns which is very good news. Last Fall there wasn't an acorn to be found anywhere. Our Evening Grosbeaks have left for parts South as have the Violet-Green Swallows and the Band-tailed Pigeons. The sun is much lower in the sky these days. The sunlight is now shining down at an angle and has a yellow, filtered quality to it. It is setting behind our Douglas Fir tree line at 7:00 PM with dusk arriving around 8:00 PM. Welcome September!

Vegetable Garden Update

2011-08-30T07:22:00.000-07:00

As August draws to a close, the vegetable garden is bursting with foliage, flowers, and produce. My two varieties of morning glories are really peaking now. The tower of "Mixed Colors" morning glory is completely covered. I am finally seeing a nice mix, every day, of all three colors after having had only white blooms for some time.

The "Heavenly Blue" morning glory is just starting its show. I am now getting 10+ blooms a day of this amazing, electric blue color.

The onions have had a super year. The tops are beginning to fall over on their own; although a few have been pulled over by the squash! I really should knock over all of the tops and let them start to cure while the weather is still warm and dry.

I think the "Prince" yellow storage onions are even larger this year then they were last year.

And the "Red Bull" have done just as well.

It's difficult to tell what kind of success I am having - or not having - with the two sweet potato plants. The "Georgia Jet" plant, pictured below, has completely filled its black grow bag. The foliage seems healthy and remarkable lush for the mostly cool Summer that we have had. I just don't know what I will find beneath the soil!

I have one nice "Gypsy" sweet pepper on my plant. It didn't enjoy this cold Summer and I am sure it also didn't care to be smothered by the Winter Squash and Morning Glory vines either!

The tomatoes continue to grow but I still am not seeing any color hinting that ripening is on the horizon. My "Black Krim" are attaining a nice size.

And the "Black Prince" look good too. They have an interesting blocky shape.

The winter squash are trying to take over the whole garden! It amazes me every year how much growth they put out. This year it's all the more incredible since I only have 4 plants total, instead of the usual 8.

My new rooster had been trapped in a sea of squash leaves - he doesn't look happy.

Right now I have three "Marina di Chioggia" squash growing on the vines. They are attaining a pretty good size too. I would guess they might be in the 10 pound range. This is a new variety for me and it has been fun watching how the squash matures. As you can see below, in its "mid-stage" it is a very pretty medium green and the outer skin is still fairly smooth.

As it ages it is getting more and more "warty" and the skin is getting darker and darker. Stay tuned!

You have to pull up the leaves on the two "Delicata" plants to even see the young squash. I think that I now have a half-dozen set and growing. If September favors us with sunny and dry weather I hope to be able to harvest a dozen or more.

The vegetable garden. A lush sea of green!

Heavenly Blue Indeed!

2011-08-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

Its taken it all Summer, but the "Heavenly Blue" morning glory is finally blooming. I am now seeing 10+ open blooms a day and they are amazing! There are so few flowers with true blue blooms - delphiniums, himalayan poppies, and hydrangea among them. Each has its own unique shade of blue.

This morning glory has such an electric tone, set off with its darker blue star and white & yellow throat. The "Heavenly Blue" is growing up a post between two tomato cages. It just glows in this section of the garden and draws your eyes every time. I might have had to wait for this show, but it has certainly been worth it!

August Sunset

2011-08-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful Oregon Summer day. The high reached somewhere around 89 degrees. We started the day at the Farmer's Market & then watched the Eugene Celebration Parade & Bed Races. Did a little weeding in the afternoon and took a nap. After dinner tonight I watered and enjoyed this amazing sunset. A great day to be an Oregonian!

The Last Rose of Summer

2011-08-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

Every year I watch Dorothy's rose by the big garden. It normally begins blooming with a huge flush of color sometime in June. It then blooms intermittently for the next month or so. It is always fun to see if I can spot what I dramatically call "the last rose of Summer" on this plant. This year, the last bloom on the canes is now full open today. In comparison, the last bloom of 2010 was on September 13th and the last bloom of 2009 was on July 29th. Our two cool Springs the last two years have certainly moved the date of the final bloom much later compared to the hot Summer of 2009. When will the last bloom open next year?

Big Garden Update

2011-08-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Things continue to grow and thrive down in the big garden. I have been so busy the last few weeks with the watering and my big weeding project that I haven't taken much time to sit back and observe what's going on.

The "Hutterite Soup" bush beans are finally blooming at the end of August! I am quite sure that there isn't enough time for the beans to mature and dry on the plant but it will still be fun to watch them grow.

The plants are now about 1 1/2 " tall and have pretty green heart shaped leaves.

I am pretty pleased with the success of all of the varieties of Marigolds that I grew from seed. I know that Marigolds are very common but somehow growing them from seed yourself makes them seem a little more special. Here is a ruffled bloom of "Queen Sophia".

And this is my one plant of "Durango". I like how the underside of each petal is yellow and flips up a bit to contrast with the red top color. Very striking.

My biggest joy has been with the Gem Series of Marigolds. They are about 6" tall in my garden though I think that they would reach close to a foot in height in full sun. They have such fine,airy, detailed foliage and are just getting covered in blooms. This is a plant of "Tangerine" Gem.

And this is "Lemon" Gem.

"Red" Gem is my favorite of the three, I think. I love how each red petal is outlined in orange.

Now this Gem plant isn't like the other three. I think it is a cross from the seed growing fields or a sport but I love it. It looks like "Lemon" Gem & "Red" Gem had a fling! I think I might try to save some seed from this plant and see what I get next year.

All of the Zinnia varieties are doing well too. I get more and more colors blooming each day which is always fun since you never quite know what you are getting when you plant a mix.

The dahlia patch is starting to mature now too. As you can see, I have about 5 more rows to weed and then that huge project will be done! More and more varieties are starting to open their blooms here each day. I love seeing old favorites again but it's exciting to see new varieties bloom for the first time to. You never know if they will be as pretty as the catalog picture was!

Here is "Clearview David" a BB sized Formal Decorative form in lavender.

"Martina" a miniature Formal Decorative in a dark blend of white & purple.

Here's a new one to my garden this year. "Leota Mace" is a Waterlily form in Dark Pink.

"Crazy 4 Jesse" is an Incurved Cactus in a dark blend of dark red & yellow. It was a new variety for me last year and I liked it so much I have three plants of it this year. It seems to be an early bloomer and has been among the first varieties to bloom for me both years that I have grown it.

Good old "Pam Howden" a waterlily form in a light blend of yellow, orange, & dark pink. If I had to choose just a handful of varieties to grow, this would be on my top five list. Beautiful with loads of perfectly formed blooms. Hybridized in Australia in 1995.

Another favorite of mine "Ms Kennedy", a Miniature Ball in Orange. Can you tell that I love orange dahlias? I have won best MB in show with this variety three times since I first started growing it.

More poor neglected morning glories are doing pretty good too. Many have reached the top of the fence now. The bad part about having them growing down in this garden is that I never get to see them bloom except on weekends. The blooms are always closed up by the time I get home from work and make it down to this garden on the weekdays. Above it pictured a pretty bloom of "Milky Way" and below a bloom of "Tie-dye".

And my sweet nasturtiums "Lady Bird Cream Purple Spot" that I bought at the nursery and planted so very late are actually starting to bloom. They are tough little plants!

First Blackberry Harvest of the Year

2011-08-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we reached another milestone - the first Blackberry harvest of the year! It was another amazing, warm day- I think it reached at least 90 again. I walked the whole property, down the hill to the garden, and back. It took the whole journey but I was able to fill my favorite berry-picking bucket full. As in all past years, the area with the most ripe berries was right by the big garden gate at the head of the secret path. I still don't understand why the berries here ripen first because they certainly don't get a lot of sun or water there compared to other places.

When I picked all that I could reach - and you know the biggest and best ones are always just out of reach - I headed home and washed them all. A quick stop on the scale revealed that I had picked 3 lb 4.1 oz. Not bad at all for the first go-around. There will be many more harvests ahead as the berry ripening accelerates.

Summers Finally Here & Now There's Signs of Fall

2011-08-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's official high was 92 and today I think it reached at least 90. Finally a weekend that was on the verge of actually being HOT! As you can see, Tom-Cat found a patch of shade and slept away the hottest part of the day. And although Fall is still offically over a month away, Mother Nature is slowly showing signs of its impending return.

The leaves on the three Sweet Gum trees are just beginning to turn from bright green to red.

The Bracken Fern are also making a switch from green to golden yellow.

I found a few actual filberts on the wild filbert bushes. The protective wrappers are drying and turning brown.

Another transition into Fall around here is the sound of crickets at night. They always begin their chorus in the month of August as our nighttime temperatures begin to cool.

And I was pleased to see this juvenile Evening Grosbeak at the feeder this morning. He definitely isn't a normal sign of approaching Fall. In a regular year, the Evening Grosbeaks would have been gone from our area for weeks by this time. But we are still hearing their distinctive "Chir" in the maple trees and I spotted one adult male and this juvenile male this weekend at the feeders. I think that their schedule is as delayed as our plants this year and we are so glad to still have them around.

Our 2nd 90 Degree Day of the Year

2011-08-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

I actually got up pretty early - for me! - and we made it down to the Farmer's Market by 9:30 AM. After a delicious breakfast we set out to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Market. It had been 3 weeks since we had a chance to visit so I knew that there would be lots of new things to see.

First of all, the produce is just amazing right now. We still have lots of the mid-season favorites like beans and summer squash but are now seeing many late summer vegetables as well. The tables are loaded and the displays are beautiful.

One vendor at the market specializes in Peppers. In the Spring she sells plant starts and then in the summer she sells the fruit. She has a really diverse offering for our part of the world. I imagine she is growing the peppers in hoop houses to provide extra heat but that is just a guess. All of her peppers were labeled clearly and displayed in pretty wicker baskets.

One "new-comer" since I was last at the Market were figs.

I also was attracted to this basket of "Lemon" cucumbers.

We were amazed at all of the cantaloupe and melons that we saw for sale. While there have always been a few varieties offered in past years, this year the number of different kinds that we saw were just amazing. It was a melon lovers dream and I think really reflects the amazing diversity available in seed catalogues now. There are so many interesting heirlooms from Canada and Russia that can grow well in our climate and mature without a lot of heat and humidity.The Farmers now have access to them and we are benefiting from it.

A lovely display of nectarines.

I was most excited to see the corn truck there! Most of his load was bi-colored though he had a small amount of all yellow corn too. This cold, wet year has really affected his ability to get a mature crop to market. Everyone was thrilled to see him there. I picked up two ears for dinner tonight.

I loved this hand-made quilt that was a backdrop in one vendor's stall.

I ended up buying three different melons today - an unnamed cantaloupe, a "charentais" cantaloupe, and a "lambkin" melon. I had never heard of "lambkin" melons before but their yellow and green skin caught my eye. It was a AAS winner in 2007 and is know for both its excellent flavor and its long keeping ability. The seller recommended that we eat it last of the three varieties that we purchased because it would still be at peak flavor the longest. After a fun day at the market we stopped at Down to Earth and then headed home. The temperature hit 92 degrees today and we had a warm evening tonight to enjoy. I worked down in the garden for about an hour and a half. I got another row weeded and dis-budded all of the dahlias. I got back at the house just before dusk and we enjoyed dessert outside and watched the International Space Station fly over at 8:51. A very nice day!

Coneflowers

2011-08-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

As August slowly marches toward September many of the perennial flowers are done blooming for the year. One exception to this is the cone-flowers.These reliable plants start to bloom in July and are in peak condition in August. The "traditional" cone-flower is purple but there are many new colors and forms available now.

This bright one is named "Tomato Soup". Unfortunately, the tags for the two yellow varieties have disappeared.

Green Tomatoes Galore

2011-08-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

I finally harvested my first two ripe tomatoes this past weekend but the bulk of the harvest is yet to come. My plants are now loaded with green tomatoes in various sizes and shapes. Let's take a tour..

"Black Krim" fruit.

A nice group of "Azoychka". This Russian variety produced my first ripened tomato this year.

"Person Sprayless OG" hiding deep in the plant.

"Black Prince" seems to be forming very uniformly round fruit.

I love the shape of these "Black Plum". As you can see they are growing in large clusters.

A perfect, young "Santa Clara Canner".

And a long truss of "Super Sweet 100". So now I just need another three weeks of sunny days and fairly warm nights and then the tomato glut should arrive! For obvious reasons, the kitchen garden is off limits to the cats. But, as I was taking the pictures for this post. Tom-cat snuck in and crept behind me. He settled down between the winter squash and the morning glory and tried his hardest to blend in. Good try buddy!

Azoychka Tomatoes - First Tomato Harvest of the Year

2011-08-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was watering and generally fussing with my tomato plants. I was admiring all of the green tomatoes that I have on all seven plants and wondering when I would finally be able to harvest one. Imagine my surprise when I bent down and looked back into the "Azoychka" plant and saw some glowing orange in amongst all of the green. Staring at me were two ripe tomatoes just waiting to be discovered and picked.

"Azoychka" is a Russian heirloom reportedly found at the Moscow Bird Market. This indeterminate plant does well in both cool and warmer climates. It is stated to produce an abundance - 30 to 40 - orange/yellow tomatoes per plant in 68-78 days. I chose this new-to-me variety this Spring since we were having record cold temperatures and rainfall. And it seems to have been a good choice. It was my first variety to set and not surprisingly, the first variety to to mature. These two fruit weighted 5.50 oz and 5.58 oz and were pretty blemish free for an heirloom. I am anxious to hear what my taste testers think about its flavor.

Sunday in the Garden

2011-08-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

Not too much to report today. We had a mostly sunny day and I was able to spend a little over an hour this morning down in the big garden weeding. I now have half of the dahlia rows completely weeded and that part looks really good.

Now that I am starting to get some blooming flowers in the garden, nectar loving critters are beginning to frequent the area. I am now seeing hummingbirds working the zinnias and today I had this swallowtail butterfly flitting from bloom to bloom. This is yet another reason that I choose to garden organically. I love having all of the wildlife in and around my garden and would hate to cause them any harm.

Zinnia Blooms

2011-08-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

I spent most of my free time today down in the big garden continuing my weeding project. I ended up getting five dahlia rows done so I feel good about that. I am starting to get more and more color in the garden every day it seems. I now have the first blooms open on two varieties of Zinnias that I started from seed this Spring. First off, the "Zahara Double Cherry" are starting to bloom. They are smaller plants, about 8" tall. They are branching like crazy though and are going to be covered in blooms in a few weeks. I am surprised by their color however. I assumed with Cherry in the name that they would be bright red. In fact they all seem to be what I would describe as hot pink. Oh well, they are very pretty none the less.

I also have the first bloom open on a "Blue Point " Zinnia today. It's a lovely, happy shade of bright yellow. After I finished up for the night I came across this little fellow sunning in the road. I haven't run across many snakes this Summer, perhaps due to our cooler weather. He wasn't very happy having his picture taken so I finished quickly and headed home.

Full Sturgeon Moon

2011-08-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight after work and dinner I went down to the big garden for a relaxing evening of weeding. I got quite a bit done. I only have 3 rows of bush beans left and then all of the rows will be weeded. Then it will be onto the dahlias! But it is already looking so much better. That week of heavy rain that we had in July germinated every weed seed in the garden I think. But if I can get it all weeded now, perhaps it won't be so bad this Fall when more regular rain starts up again. I did have some new dahlia blooms to admire during my weeding breaks. Pictured above, "Stoneleigh Joyce" a red Pom.

And I have my first bloom of "Pooh" a bi-colored collarette of red and yellow.

New for me this year is "Frank Kafka" a miniature ball in lavender.

After weeding I went back up to the house and enjoyed dessert on the back patio as the sun when down. We soon noticed that moon rising above the shop roof in between some Fir trees. Tonight is August's Full moon. The Native American tribes from the Eastern US and the Northern Great Lakes Region are credited with naming the Full moon in each month. The most common name for the August Moon is the Sturgeon Moon but it has also been called the Full Red Moon, The Green Corn Moon, and the Grain Moon.

"Mixed Color" Morning Glory

2011-08-11T21:08:00.000-07:00

My "Mixed Colors" morning glory plants are finally living up to their name. For The last month or so almost all of the blooms have been white with a soft purple star. Then I started getting some pink blooms and now I am finally seeing a few purple blooms everyday as well. It is a very pretty mix but hasn't been very evenly distributed between the three colors. I can't complain about its vigor however. It has already completely covered the tower I gave it as support and is now slowly climbing up the deer fence. A few stray vines keep attacking my poor pepper plants!

The Big Garden Inventory 2011

2011-08-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

Last week we took a tour and inventory of the kitchen garden next to the house. This week it's time to go down to the Big Garden and see what's growing! This garden is planted primarily with flowers but a few vegetables did find their way in. Here's a complete list of what's growing there this year:

Seed

"Hutterite Soup" Bush Bean - Seed Savers Exchange
"Queen Sophia" Marigold - Johnny's Select Seed
"Durango" Marigold - Johnny's Select Seed
"Tangerine Gem" Marigold - Johnny's Select Seed
"Red Gem" Marigold - Johnny's Select Seed
"Lemon Gem" Marigold - Johnny's Select Seed
"Persian Carpet" Zinnia - Renee's Seed
"Zahara Double Cherry" - Zinnia -Johnny's Select Seed
"Blue Point Bouquet" - Zinnia - Renee's Seed
"Bling Bling" - Zinnia - Renee's Seed
"Speckled Hound" - Winter Squash- The Cook's Garden
199 Misc. Dahlias - various sources

Plants

"Profusion" Mixed Colors - Zinnia - Peoria Gardens
"Apricot Profusion" - Zinnia - Peoria Gardens
"Lady Bird Cream Purple Spot" - Nasturtium - Log House Plants
"Sunrise Serenade" - Morning Glory - Log House Plants
"Grandpa Ott" - Morning Glory - Log House Plants
"Split Personality" - Morning Glory - Log House Plants

The "Hutterite Soup" bush beans are now about 8" tall. They are doing well but I really don't think that there will be enough time for them to grow beans to maturity before the rains come this Fall. I just got them planted too late this year. It's already a week into August and they haven't even bloomed yet.

I ended up with more rows for flowers this year then I had flowers started to plant in the rows. So it was off to the nursery! I came home with a couple of 6-packs of "Apricot Profusion" Zinnias. I have grown many of the Profusion series from seed, but hadn't ever heard of the apricot color before. I took a chance and I am so glad that I did. It is a wonderful shade of orange that just glows on overcast days. I can't wait for the plants to really branch out and be covered in this terrific color.

One of the many "new-to-me" plants that I started from seed this year are the Gem series of Marigolds. These dainty plants are getting covered in the smallest, single blooms of reds, oranges, and yellows. I think these plants would be better displayed planted in a pot closer to eye level then they are here in the ground. I do think they are awfully sweet though and it will be interesting to see how tall they get.

The "Zahara Double Cherry" Zinnias are another new one for me. I read about this variety in an issue of Organic Gardening last year and decided that I wanted to give it a try this year. It shouldn't be too much longer before the first blooms open.

My two rows of "Persian Carpet" Zinnias are finally starting to take off. These poor guys didn't get planted until quite late so they have some catching up to do. They will reach a height of only around 12" so they are a bit quicker to bloom than some of the other taller varieties.

A perfect bud on a "Bling Bling" Zinnia. This is another new variety for me. The colors on the package are super bright as the name implies. It should make for a dazzling row.

I think that this "Blue Point Bouquet " Zinnia will be the first zinnia that I started from seed to open. I haven't grown this variety for two years and I am excited to have it in my garden once again. It offers a great color assortment on nicely sized, well branching plants.

The dahlias have just started to open. Here is a bloom of a new-to-me Pom "Valda".

Another Pom, this time the pink beauty "Lismoore Peggy". This particular bloom is perfectly round, just as a pom should be. It would be a great candidate to take to a dahlia show.

One of my favorite collerettes "David Lam". It is such a beautiful shade of dark red.

A partially opened bloom of "CG Nordic".

And this bloom is all about potential! An immature bud of "Ryecroft Dave's Choice", an excellent show flower. Depending on the weather this bloom should be open in about a week I would guess.

A view looking across all of the dahlias down toward the flower rows at the far end.

Yes, there are a few vegetables in this garden! Here are two of my four "Speckled Hound" Winter Squash. Considering what a shady, and slightly damp place that I have planted them in, they are doing remarkably well.

Here are two fruit on one of the plants. The yellow fruit on the left did not get pollinated and is in the process of falling off. The one on the right did get pollinated, I think, and should begin to rapidly expand in size. Fingers crossed!

Here is my trellis planted with many varieties of Morning Glories. Because this picture was taken in the evening most of them have closed up for the day. I have had a big problem this year that when the varieties finally bloom they are not the variety printed on the plant tag. Oh well, I love them all so it's just been a bit of a surprise to see what all I have.

Here is a bloom that has started to close of "Sunrise Serenade".

I have had a lot of these open this week. Again, it is not the variety on the tag but I think it is "Flying Saucer".

And I can't forget Dorothy's rose. It is still throwing off a beautiful bloom here and there. I don't know its true name but it is a reliable performer year after year.

Pollinating Squash

2011-08-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

After I get home from work, I have gotten in the habit lately of checking on my Winter Squash. I am specifically looking to see if any of the female fruit's flowers have opened that day. If so, I look for some open Male flowers and do some hand pollinating. I am concerned because I am not seeing any bees in the squash patch and without a pollinator - bee or person - the squash won't set any fruit. First I pollinated the "Delicata" pictured above. It is only the second female bloom to open this year but it did have lots of male blooms open along with it. That bodes well for successful pollination having happened at some point today. Below is a picture of a "Marina di Chioggia" female fruit. I have had 4-5 bloom already but I am not feeling good about their pollination success rate.

So far this guy below, is the only squash I know for sure that set and is starting to grow. However, it is difficult, with the enormous size of the "Marina di Chioggia" leaves, to see all of the vines clearly. I am hoping that there are more set fruit under there that I just haven't discovered yet!

The Barn Swallows- Round #2

2011-08-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

Last week we noticed that our Barn Swallows had quit sitting on their nest and had begun flying back and forth, making food deliveries. We watched and listened but couldn't hear anything. Tonight, however, it became very clear that that every time the parents arrived at the nest a soft "cheep, cheep, cheep" could be heard and little bits of fluff seemed to be poking over the edge of the nest. With the zoom lens on my camera I was able to capture two little beaks open, begging for food. We think there might be three total in this nest, which would match the total from the first flush. Either way, Mom & Dad Barn Swallow have some busy weeks ahead as they fly from dawn to dusk catching insects for their young.

Saturday at the PDX Farmer's Market

2011-08-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

It was time to get out of town and enjoy some R & R so Saturday morning we boarded the Amtrak Train at 5:30 AM - Yawn!- and headed north to Portland. We arrived at 8:00 AM and were bound for the Portland Farmer's Market by 9:00AM! The Portland Farmer's Market was founded in 1993 and has rapidly grown into one of the best attended Markets in the US. I had never been to it before and was anxious to compare it to Eugene's. It is located around the park blocks, next to the campus of PSU. We were able to hop on the free Portland Trolley Car and it had a stop just 1 block from the Market. Very Handy!

One of the first differences that I noted was there are a lot less plant vendors at the PDX Market. I image most city dwellers don't have large- or any - yards, thus don't have the need for a lot of perennial plants. However, I did find this amazing vendor. He had set up the most beautiful display of potted plants. He had an incredible variety of Rudbeckia for sale, among other things.

Swan Island Dahlias, out of Canby, had cut dahlia bouquets for sale. People were loving them!

Among the many "new to me" things I saw were these Donut Peaches. They looked just like their name implied - wide and flat. I tried a sample. They were very firm - more so then an apple - but tasted like a peach.

We grabbed breakfast at the Pearl Bakery. I had a very good croissant filled with ham & brie.

The PDX market has an amazing number of specialty food vendors. From meats, to cheeses, to seafood, to noodles! We brought home 5 different kinds of dried pasta noodles from Nonna's Noodles.

I also brought home 2 different cheeses. I got an extra-sharp cheddar from Rouge Creamery out of Medford. And I got a small little tub of Pepper flavored Goat Cheese from Dee Creek Farm out of Woodland , WA. We spent over two hours walking, sampling, and shopping at the Market. Portland is very lucky to have such a vibrant, diverse Farmer's Market.

First Dahlia Bloom of the Year!

2011-08-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

Tonight in the garden I spied my first open dahlia bloom of 2011. Not surprisingly, it was on a plant that was in the first row that I planted this year. It's a bloom of "Raeann's Peach" a single dark blend of orange and red. Today was overcast until after 1:00 PM so the colors on this have stayed bright and vivid.

Blackberries - An Update

2011-08-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

Like everything else in the Southern Willamette Valley, the wild blackberries are late this year. They are finally done flowering, but are still just bunches of growing green marbles. Tonight I did spy the first one turning red, but it will still be weeks and weeks before we are picking buckets full of glossy, ripe fruit.

Vegetable Garden Inventory 2011

2011-08-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

I realized that I haven't taken the time to put in writing my complete garden inventories. Now that I am finally done with all of my planting, it's time! Today I will list everything growing in my vegetable garden up at the house and next Tuesday I will inventory everything growing down in the Big Garden.

Seed

(2) "Marina di Chioggia" Winter Squash - Seed Savers Exchange
(1) "Delicata" Winter Squash -

Purchased Plants

(16) "Red Bull" Red Onions - Hayhurst
(18) "Prince" Yellow Storage Onion - Hayhurst
(1) "Black Krim" Tomato - Log House Plants
(1) "Azoychka" Tomato - Mountain View Farm
(1) "Peron Sparyless OG" Tomato - Hayhurst
(1) "Black Prince" Tomato -
(1) "Black Plum" Tomato -
(1) "Santa Clara Canner" Tomato -
(1) "Super Sweet 100" Tomato -
(1) "Georgia Jet" Sweet Potato - Mountain View Farm
(1)"Beauregard" Sweet Potato - Mountain View Farm
(1) " Lilac" Sweet Pepper - Mountain View Farm
(1) "Gypsy" Sweet Pepper - Hayhurst
(1) "Delicata" Winter Squash -
(2) "Heavenly Blue" Morning Glory - Log House Plants
(4) "Mixed Colors" Morning Glory - Log House Plants

As of today, August 2nd, all of the tomato plants are setting fruit. None of the tomatoes are anywhere near to ripening, but it is still exciting to see all of the little green orbs at last. The "Black Plum" plant has also hit the top of the second tier of its cage. The other six plants aren't far behind.

Here is a truss of tiny "Black Plum" tomatoes.

The sweet potatoes look like they are doing well..but who knows what is going on down in the soil! The foliage is dark green and healthy on both plants, thought the "Georgia Jet" seems to be a little more vigorous.

The onions continue to thrive. Here are the "Red Bull".

And here are the "Prince". Rain or shine, the onions have grown well all year.

My four plants of "Mixed Color" morning glory have completely covered the tower. It has taken them a while to start blooming but I am finally now seeing 6-10 blooms every morning.

The "Gypsy" pepper has set two fruit though the one on the left doesn't look too good. It also has quite a few bloom still on the plant so hopefully I will have more peppers set in the next few weeks.

Here is a female blossom on the "Marina di Chioggia" winter squash. It opened this morning along with two male blooms. I didn't want to take any chances to before work I took one of the male blooms and pollinated this female bloom. Then tonight, in case the bees hadn't been at work on the second male bloom, I cut it and pollinated the female again. In a few days I should know if I was successful or not.

My two "Delicata" winter squash are just starting to fall over and crawl. I honestly don't think that there is enough time for the vines to grow, bloom, set fruit and mature now that it is August. But I am willing to watch and keep my fingers crossed. It is one of my all-time favorite varieties.

All in all I am pleased with the progress of this garden. The full sun that it receives each day makes such a difference in the plants grown here. Even with a wet and cold Spring, they seem to have mostly caught up.

August First & the Everything is Green

2011-08-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

As you may know, we had heavy rainfall this year in both May & June. July even saw 2" fall during one stormy week. While this has made gardening a challenge it isn't without its benefits. As the calendar switched to August today I was amazed to look at our neighbor's field. Normally by the 4th of July, this pasture has turned brown.While it is just beginning to get a few brown spots, it is for the most part still green and growing.

And across the road our field is a lush, horses dream!

Another reminder of all that rainfall are the two seasonal creeks. Again, in a "normal year" they both would have run dry sometime in July. But this year, even the smallest of the two not only has water but it is still flowing just the tiniest bit if you listen carefully. That's good news for all of the wild critter looking for a drink.

The Lavender Allee

2011-07-31T21:24:00.000-07:00

I am afraid that my Lavender Allee has been completely neglected this year. I never got around to doing the early Spring weeding and we haven't cut back any of the meadow grass around the plants. Despite all of this, the plants are in full bloom and are doing really well.

The plants are in peak bloom right now which is about 3 weeks later than normal.

The best news is they are chock full of bees. As I knelt down to take these pictures, I could hear a constant buzzing coming from all of the plants. It looked like most of the bees were honey bees, perhaps from a neighbors hives.

There were also a smaller amount of my favorites, the bumble bees. Next year I have to find the time to replace dead plants, weed, and keep the grass down. The lavender is so pretty at a time of year where many other plants are winding down and provides so much important food to the pollinators. Plus it smells divine!

The Last Hodge-podge Flower Row

2011-07-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

Tonight after work I went down to the big garden and finished planting my last flower row. All of the other rows were planted the first week of July but this poor one kept getting bumped down in priority. The original plan called for this whole row to be planted with various marigold plants that I started from seed this year. Sadly, by the time I got around to planting this last row, many of my young plants had died. I lost quite a few due to damping off during our rainy week and others simply died of neglect I think. So the ones that are still around are made of tough stuff! I ended up with a really hodge-podge row and ended up buying some row "fillers" at Grey's Garden Center. But at least it's all done now.

One of my successes from seed this year are the "Queen Sophia" marigolds. I had never planted marigolds from seed and found them to be as easy as zinnias to grow. There seems to be a bit of a variance in color pattern. Some of them, like the bloom pictured above, have quite a bit of yellow along with the red.

Others, like this one, are predominantly red. This is how it looks in the catalog picture. Either way I think that they are quite pretty.

Another new-to-me marigold variety that I grew from seed this year is the Gem series. I planted "Red Gem", "Tangerine Gem" & "Lemon Gem". The plants are danity in size and have delicate, feathery foliage. The little guy pictured above is a "Red Gem". It is the first of all of the plants to bloom.

I ended my morning in the garden by planting some nasturtiums. I bought a six-pack of "Lady Bird Cream Purple Spot" as an emergency filler. I ended up not needed it in any of the flower rows so I picked a bare spot of ground and planted them there. They look a little puny right now but I hope that they will start to grow and fill-in quickly.

Finally Finished!

2011-07-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

Tonight I FINALLY finished planting my dahlias. All 199 are now out of their pots and planted into the ground. It took me 25 days this year to get them all planted - there was a lot of other things going on in my life and I am afraid that the dahlias took second place some days. It also didn't help that I lost almost a full planting week to rainy weather and super saturated soil. Nonetheless, I am now done. It will be so nice, in the upcoming evenings, to be able to focus on other tasks like watering & weeding. I am looking forward to putting the planting shovel away!

Evening Grosbeak Babies

2011-07-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

Of all of the wonderful birds that live on our property throughout the year, I think my favorites are the Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinuse). Part of what makes them special is the fact that they aren't here for much of the year. They arrive in a small flocks in the middle of Spring and normally have migrated for higher elevations in June. For the last few years we have had one family stay and raise its family before departing. This year it appeared that we had two families stay as we often were seeing two males and two females at the feeders.This week our two families guess seems to have been confirmed. Early in the week I spied this female eating at the feeder. Beside her was this young male.

Every time she quit feeding herself he begged for her to feed him. It was quite effective! In past years it had appeared that our families always had just one offspring, so I though this was her only fledgling.

However, two days later I caught this female at the feeder with a begging boy on each side of her! Although the boys haven't yet gained their striking yellow beak and "eyebrow" stripe that they will have in adulthood, you can tell that they are males by their single, large white oval on each wing. As you can see, the females have white patches instead on their wings. This mother bounced back an forth between the two feeding them seed. What was funny was as she fed one chick, the other chick ate seed by itself. They both could do it but still wanted Mom to feed them! Our feeling that we had two families was most likely confirmed the next day when my sister saw a female feeding a female chick. Needless to say, I am very happy. It has been great having two families stick around this year and I am super pleased that they seem to have raised three healthy babies.

Almost There!

2011-07-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight after work I went down to the big garden and worked on planting dahlias. I came so close to finishing up this evening. I planted another 15. That takes me up to 196 planted and just 3 left to go! I didn't finish tonight because 2 of the 3 that I still need to plant are up by the house. Pictured above, "Cornel" a dark red ball form ( and very happy to be out of their pots and into the ground!).

Digging Up Bulbs & Replanting Bulbs

2011-07-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

No, this picture wasn't taken today! It was, in fact, taken the first day of March this year. As you can clearly see, this beautiful clump of "tete-a-tete" daffodils is way to crowded. I tried to count the blooms and I think there were over 60 in this clump. And if you look closely to the right side of the daffodils you can see some Grape Hyacinth leaves trying to poke and find some sunlight. Clearly, it was past time to dug up the bulbs and do some dividing and replanting.

So tonight after work and dinner we worked on this project. First off, we added quite a few tractor bucket loads of Natures Best soil to the flower bed. The back of the bed needed quite a bit added and the front needed some leveling off as well. Then I gently took a spade to the spot where the daffodil bulbs were actually heaving out of the ground due to over crowding. I dug and dug and was amazed at how deeply they were stacked in the ground. I tries my best to distinguish between the daffodil bulbs and the grape hyacinth bulbs. It would have been a lot easier if they were different colors or something! When I was finally done I had a full cardboard box of "tete-a-tete" bulbs, pictured above, and half of box of grape hyacinth bulbs, pictured below.

I had so many "tete-a-tete" after digging up the bulbs I decided to make two new clumps out of them. You can see in the above photo that all of the bulbs had long, healthy root systems.

Then I dug a a third hole for the grape hyacinths. I am guessing that I have a few - how many ? - baby daffodil bulbs mixed in here. It will be fun to watch next Spring and see how good my guessing was. I was careful to give all of the bulbs room so that they could divide and naturalize for a few years without becoming too crowded again. When I was all done I stuck three wooden markers in the ground above each circle of bulbs so that I won't accidentally plant something else in that spot. A project completed!

Soggy, Damp, Wet!

2011-07-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe but we received another .4" of rain today. It did stop by late afternoon and this evening the sun was making an appearance. It has been days since I made it down to the big garden, so I strolled down for a look after dinner. Sigh. It was depressing down there. So very, very wet. I could stand still on the lawn and actually hear the water seeping into the ground. I had two holes dug in the garden where I hadn't yet planted dahlias. Both had at least an inch of standing water in the bottom. The ground is so saturated right now. I am concerned that the dahlias that I do have planted might have standing water near their roots. But here is nothing that I can now do but watch and wait.

As you can see, I am getting very close to having all of the dahlias in. Just this group left to plant. I should have finished up last weekend if the rains hadn't arrived.

The "Speckled Hound" Winter Squash all have male blooms that are open now. They don't have any female flowers yet so I don't have to worry about the rain washing away all of the pollen.

The "Hutterite Soup" bush beans are also trying their best. I would say about 1/3 of the seed hasn't germinated yet and I really don't expect that it ever will. I am afraid the seed has rotted in all of this cold and wet weather.

My flower rows are doing well. The plants have all settled in and are starting to put on quite a bit of new growth. Soon the rows will be defined enough that I can remove the stakes and string marking each row.

And here is a poor, wet bloom on a "Queen Sophia" Marigold that I started from seed. They are still in the trays that they were started in and the rain has caused many of the plants to dampen off. The stems are simply rotting at the point where they reach the soil. These natives of Mexico are having a pretty tough time with all of this wet weather.

Tomato Update

2011-07-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Lost somewhere, in the rush to get all of my dahlias planted and the rainy weather that we have been experiencing lately, was the fact that my tomatoes desperately needed to have the second level put onto their cages. For the last few weeks, every time I watered them, I would think I need to put on the second level tomorrow. Finally I took the time tonight. It was of coarse, my harder than it needed to be. I had a good 18" of growth to wrestle with and get centered in the second tower before I lowered onto the first. I have been using theses tomato cages from Gardener's Supply Company now for over five years. I think that they are the best! They are made of a sturdy metal, square frame that collapses flat for storage. You can use one level for shorter determinate tomatoes or set on the second level for taller indeterminate varieties. They are super strong and I have never had a full grown tomato plant, weighed down by fruit, foliage & rain, tip over a cage in the Fall. That is saying something.

Anyway, here are the first three plants after getting straightened up and centered into the second level of their cage.

Here is group number two with only the first level of cage on.. There are four plants here but it is pretty difficult to make them out individually. And afterwards...............

much better!

Most of the plants are blooming now, though I am worried about our nighttime temperatures dipping below 50 degrees. Like myself, the tomatoes would appreciate a little more sun & a little less rain these days.

I do have two varieties that have begun to set fruit. This is the first tomato that I have found on the "Peron Sprayless OG" plant. It isn't much bigger than a marble right now.

The "Azoychka" tomato has set a lot of fruit. Some of them are getting pretty big but none have begun to turn yellow yet. I should have my first ripe tomato of the year from this plant.

While I was working in the vegetable garden Tom-Cat joined me. He is normally fenced out of this area so he is pleased to sneak in when I am not looking and have the gate open. Parvati, on the other hand, said it was much to cold out to be a garden helper tonight.

And Even More July Rain!

2011-07-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

Grey skies and depressed gardeners. That's the story around here! Around midnight it started raining again and this time it rained most of the day today. It has finally let up and I checked the rain gauge after dinner. Another .7 inches! That's 1.2" for the weekend and 1.45" in the last seven days. I looked on-line and the average rainfall here in July is .64" so we have more than doubled that. It wouldn't be quite so bad if I had everything planted. My plan was to finish up this weekend, but now I will be lucky if it gets dry enough to get back in the garden by Tuesday. So a Friday wrap-up looks more realistic now. If it quits raining...........

More July Rain!

2011-07-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

Our cold and wet weather continues! Last night, at about midnight, it began to pour. It rained hard much of the night and the showers continued on and off today. Needless to say I didn't get any more dahlias planted today. The rain seems to be done now, although the sky is still charcoal grey with low hanging clouds. I just emptied the rain guage and this storm dumped another 1/2 inch! Will we ever get any hot, dry weather this Summer?

The Planting Continues

2011-07-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

Back to working planting dahlia tonight. We got another 13 planted this evening and also unloaded the scoop of Nature's Best that Dad picked up for me yesterday afternoon. That should be more than enough soil to finish up planting all of the dahlias. After tonight's work I have planted 136 of 200 dahlias, so I am 68% done! Pictured above, two plants of "Granny Norman", a B sized Semi-Cactus form in a light bland of Pink & Yellow.

Garden Visitors

2011-07-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went down to the garden after dinner to get some more dahlias planted. I had probably been working for about half an hour when I heard voices coming down the secret path. They grew louder until I spied some young guests coming in the garden gate! Needless to say I didn't get anymore work done tonight. Sometimes garden surprises are plants growing that you didn't expect and sometimes they are people arriving that you didn't expect. My little cousins from Michigan were an unplanned joy tonight. Thanks for visiting my garden Quinten & Mikaila!

Digitalis " Honey Trumpet"

2011-07-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

Last year, during a program at an Avid Gardner's meeting, we were introduced to Xera wholesale nursery. The owner Paul Bonine, gave a talk on new and unique plants offered by his nursery. One that really jumped out at us was digitalis "Honey Trumpet". This perennial foxglove is a Xera Nursery introduction. It repeatedly sends up multiple spikes of amber/honey colored bells that last from June until Frost. The plant grows to a size of 2' by 2'. When we had a chance last June to visit Xera - and do some shopping! - we picked up two plants of "Honey Trumpet". They settled right in and came back this Spring just fine. They have probably doubled in size and are just covered in these amazing colored bells. As the sun hits the back side of the plants, at it sets each day, the bells just glow. A highly recommended plant!