Saturday at the Farmer's Market

Today Beth and I went down to the Lane County Farmer's Market. We got off to a bit of a later start for us, so by the time we arrived it was 11 Am and we were more then ready for some breakfast. Beth went with Steak & Eggs from Field to Table and I stuck with a traditional pasty from Cousin Jacks. Then I found room for a chocolate chip cookie from Provisions. Needless to say, neither of us had a beer from Nenkasi !

Since I was last at the Market, full size heirloom tomatoes have arrived.

I also found this beautiful bunch of "Red Torpedo" onions. I wasn't the only one to admire them. When we came back by 15 minutes later they were almost sold out.

The Groundworks Organic farm stand had the first corn of the season. It was an early dwarf variety called "Precious". I held off. I am patiently waiting for the first, full sized sweet corn. A few more weeks!

Almost every farm stand had huge baskets of Fava Beans.

And with the heat has come the arrival of Zucchini. I particularly admired the green variety on the left. It had beautiful ridges running up and down its length.

July Wildflower Walk

This morning, before it had a chance to get too warm, I took a walk around the property. About a month ago, I did the same thing and posted everything that I found that was blooming. I thought that it would be interesting to do the same thing again and compare. I went into my walk expecting that I wouldn't find very much in bloom, now that we are in July and the meadows are just starting to dry up for the Summer. I was amazed to discover how much is blooming right now. Perhaps our wet, cool Spring and early Summer have delayed things, or perhaps the extra moisture has made certain plants more vigorous and plentiful. Whatever the reason, I had lots to document.

The first plant that caught my eye was this grass. I remember it from past years but not in the quantities that it is blooming this year. Everywhere you look in the meadows, the small tulip-shaped purple blooms are glowing. Each stem has up to 4 blooms on it.

I was so excited when this orange caught my eye. I haven't seen any wild columbine on our property for the past two years. I love it and was frustrated that we didn't seem to have any. Upon closer inspection of this plant, I discovered why. It looked like the deer had eaten 2/3rds of all the stock and buds off of it. The only reason the plant was still surviving was because it was growing under and out from a small fir tree. Apparently the deer love wild columbine as much as I do!

I am guessing this guy is some member of the clover family. It has lovely dark purple blooms.

From the meadow I transitioned into the woods. Here I found lots and lots of this blooming shrub/brush.

Each branch is tipped in a cascade of miniature cream colored sprays.

Not too far away I found this shrub that was blooming in a cluster of hot pink. There weren't a lot of blooms, but you could sure find them easily.

The wild roses are still blooming, especially in shaded areas.

Back into the meadows again. The wild daisies are very common, but are still putting on quite a show.

Near the ground I spied clumps of hairy vetch climbing up grasses and other supports.Hummingbirds love their tubular shaped blooms.

Even though it is not a native, the blackberries are in full bloom right now. In full sun the blooms fade to white, but in dappled sunlight they have a soft pink coloring. They have loved all of the rain.

This pretty little flower was found in all of the meadows. Its stocks were topped in clusters of 8-12 small pink blooms.

Lastly, the thistle is starting to bloom. As much of a pain as it is to gardeners, the goldfinch feast on it after the blooms go to seed. This is reason enough to have some of it around.

Another hot one..

Another, sunny hot day today. It was different from yesterday though, as we had some high clouds come in around 3 PM. After that it became increasingly sticky and muggy. Tonight was the first night working down in the garden where I was just plain hot and sweaty. Ugh! On the brighter side of things, I can almost see the tomatoes growing each day. I need to get out the top tiers for the cages now. And the plants are really beginning to bloom.

Here is a pretty truss of blooms on "Persimmon". Every tomato plant in the vegetable garden is blooming now. Hopefully this high heat will not cause the blooms to not set fruit and drop.

After dinner we made it down to the garden and got 12 more dahlia planted. Then we gave everything a good, deep watering. So far all the plants appear to be holding up just fine in the heat. I now have 169 dahlias planted and just 31 left to go. Pictured above are two plants of "Sorbet", a B sized semi-cactus bloom that is a dark blend of dark red and white.

Here is the last group left to plant. The end is in sight! Hurray! We finished planting and watering at 9 PM and headed back to the house where we were delighted to discover an ice cream run had been delivered! We sat on the front porch, cooled off and watched the lovely sunset.

The Temperatures Rising!

Just as promised, the temperature the last few days has increased by almost 10 degrees a day. We were just in the 70's 2 days ago. It's a little bit hard on both the people and the plants. Every year, when it starts to get really warm, I am always reminded that the cats know how to stay cool and comfortable better than anyone else.

Cleo picked the bottom, empty shelf of a plant display stand. Cool and private.

Parvati went for her comfortable old carpet sample in the shade.

And it was no surprise to find Tom-Cat sacked out on his favorite bench.

I think it looks like he is smiling as he sleeps! Stay cool as a cat everyone !

Tomato Update

Over the last few weeks our weather has slowly improved. We have enjoyed three days over 80 degrees ( finally !) and are now headed into the 90's. No one has enjoyed this change more than the tomato plants. They spent most of May and part of June growing so slowly it felt like they were just sitting there. Then the temperatures started rising and the tomatoes took off ! Looking at last year's blogs posts around this time, it appear that the tomatoes are only about a week behind last years growth. They have done an amazing job catching up. Pictured above is "Rose".

All of the tomatoes that I planted in the vegetable bed are indeterminate varieties. These get almost full day sun here and have a chance to get huge. Above, from left to right are "Black Pear", "Persimmon" & "Black Krim". In this group "Black Krim" is the only variety that I have grown before.

With the hot weather coming, I am thinking that I am only about a week away from adding the second tier to the tomato cages. I just love these cages. This is my third year using them and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I got them from Gardener's Supply Company out of Vermont. They are square in shape and collapse flat for storage. If you are growing indeterminate tomatoes that need it, you just add the second tier when ready. The metal poles on the second tier slip right into the round slots on the top of the first tier. They are a bit spendy, but with basic care and maintenance I can see that they are going to last for many, many years. No more flimsy, round cages that collapse in August for me ! The varieties pictured above, from left to right are "Seattle's Best", "Momotaro" & "Kellogg's Breakfast". "Kellogg's Breakfast" is the only repeat tomato in this group. As you can see I am growing lots of new ones this year. That's part of the fun of gardening!

Sprouting Beans

I noticed yesterday that the beans down in the big garden were starting to push up the soil in mini eruptions. With the sunny weather yesterday, I was greeted with quite a few germinated beans when I went down to the garden this morning. Pictured above is one of the "Hutterite Soup " beans. They are really coming up, with good germination rates. Now I just need the Robins to leave them alone.

On the other side of the dahlias is the "Bingo" Pole bean tower. They are germinating a bit slower, but are larger plants then the "Hutterite Soup" beans once they push through the dirt and stand straight up.

Here are a few of the "Bingo" Pole Beans that have broken through the soil. The weather forecast is calling for the temperatures to climb to 95 degrees in the next two days. This will be a bit of a shock to both the plants and the people ! We just haven't consistently had many warm, sunny days yet this year. In preparation , I watered everything in the big garden and the vegetable garden tonight.

With today being a work holiday, I managed to plant dahlias both this morning and after dinner. I got 12 potted plants settled each round. So now I am looking at 126 planted and 74 left to go! Pictured above are two healthy, young "Hillcrest Kismet" - a BB formal decorative that is a light blend of pink and lavender. I grew one plant of it last year for the first time and fell in love with it. So now I have 3 plants this year!

Happy 4th of July!

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, and the spirits of men

and so it must be daily earned and refreshed -

else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.

~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

A Grey Day..is it really July?

Last night it started sprinkling around 7 PM and it showered lightly off and on all night. Today we have had one very brief shower go through but mostly it has just been a day of dark grey skies. It is hard to believe that the forecasters are calling for 90 degrees by the 7th...we shall see. I certainly am more than ready for Summer to come and to finally stay! That's the keyword.

One silver lining to grey Oregon days is the way that grey skies act as such a perfect background for bright colors. One example is my Morning Glory that was blooming today. While normally very pretty, today the deep purple just glowed. My pink roses also never look more intense then they do on an overcast day. The Morning Glory is "Feringa" and it is a new variety for me this year. What's really cool about it is that it produces two completely different colored blooms. Half of the blooms are a deep purple with a pink star and throat like the bloom pictured above. The other half of the blooms are a pink color. Look closely at the three finished blooms in the picture, you can see that they were all the other color. It is kind of a fun effect having one plant producing two completely different blooms as it travels up the support.

Around 10 Am this morning I went down to the big garden and planted 14 more dahlias. That's 89 in and 111 left to go. Almost at the halfway point. After planting I noticed that the "Polka Dot Mix " Bachelor Buttons that I planted June 27th are up today! That only took 6 days- not bad for such cool weather. And I noticed that the ground in the "Hutterite Soup " Bean row is starting to bulge. I think one warm day and those two rows will be sprouted too!

Happy July

Somehow, it was time to flip the calendar today - July! How did that happen! The gardens certainly aren't looking as far along as they did at this point last year, but there is still lots of Summertime ahead. I did notice this morning that my little "Yellow Patty Pan" Summer Squash in the vegetable bed has been quietly growing and is showing lots of promise.

I spent a little over 2 hours this morning down in the big garden. I got another 12 dahlias planted, so my total is now 75 planted, 125 to go! Pictured above are two plants of "Creekside Volcano" a dazzling laciniated flame blend of yellow and red. I can't wait!

These are the 125 dahlias patiently waiting their turn to get into the ground. The nice thing about starting them in pots is that I am not loosing any growing time. They get off to a great start in the pot and when I finally do get them planted they don't miss a beat. It's a really good system and it stops all damage from slugs and snails too. By the time they get planted they are too tall to eat. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to rabbits!