It’s About Time

Gardening is the greatest tonic and therapy a human being can have. Even if you have only a tiny piece of earth, you can create something beautiful, which we all have a great need for. If we begin by respecting plants, it’s inevitable we’ll respect people.
— Audrey Hepburn

No single sort of garden suits everyone. Shut your eyes and dream of the garden you’d most love then open your eyes and start planting. Loved gardens flourish, boring ones are hard work.
— Jackie French

To create a garden is to search for a better world. In our effort to improve on nature, we are guided by a vision of paradise. Whether the result is a horticultural masterpiece or only a modest vegetable patch, it is based on the expectation of a glorious future. This hope for the future is at the heart of all gardening.
— Marina Schinz

It was bound to happen sooner or later. The danger of frost has finally passed *knock on wood* Last week was blistering hot. One night we left the windows open and the central air was coming on when I got up that morning (the thermostat is in the hallway that catches the breeze from the windows).

Then the next night we had a tiny little thunderstorm and the temperature dropped significantly. Two nights ago I left the windows down the hall open when I went to bed and the next morning the heat was coming on.

No frost though, which is good because last Monday I finally got my gardens in, and I thought I’d take a moment to share some pictures. We’ll start with the front garden:

That’s five flats of impatiens in the bottom part, with dark purple irises flanking them on either end. In the upper part is our scraggly bush collection, and pansies hanging from the shepherd’s crook.

One of the additions to our garden ornament collection is the large whirligig the father-in-law gave us. We tried a couple of different spots before finally settling on the peony garden for it.

Moving along to the back yard, I also got my vegetable gardens planted. The first one has a row of bush beans at the back, then tomatoes, and the string shows a row of spinach, one of carrots, and one of lettuce.

The tomato plants look a little wilted, but they were just planted the day I took the picture, and they’d just been watered.

The second garden has a row of clipped back asparagus in the back, a row of pepper plants, then beets, and a multicoloured lettuce. I’m hoping to get a couple of squash plants to go in beside the peppers on the far left.

The pond garden is coming along nicely:

And Kelsey park looks really nice too:

The granddaughter nagged her grapy relentlessly until he finally opened up the pool, only to find that it’s the greenest we’ve ever seen it:

And don’t think for a minute that green is a reflection of the trees at the back of the yard. It really is green. Actually, it was even greener that that. I took that picture yesterday, after the pool had been treated with shock and algaecide.

Anyone care for a swim?

Putting the Garden to Bed

Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable…the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street…by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese.
— Hal Borland

...I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. So I have spent almost all the daylight hours in the open air.
— Nathaniel Hawthorne

If a year was tucked inside of a clock, then autumn would be the magic hour.
— Victoria Erickson

You know it’s autumn when . . . the temperature drops enough that we’re almost getting frost at night. And even on the sunny days we’re still needing to wear a sweater outside, if not a jacket. Yup, it’s my favorite time of year.

I even went down to the waterfront with a friend one day last week. We took our travel mugs of hot beverages and meandered along the boardwalk to the end, then sat in the sun on one of the benches. The wind coming off the lake was cool, but the sun was pretty warm so it kind of evened things out.

Then on the way back we watched a rather large flock of geese flying overhead and they began to circle in for a landing in a soccer field along the boardwalk. And then we noticed something we’d never seen before. The geese were flying sideways. I didn’t even know they could do that. And I really regretted that I didn’t have my phone with me because I would have taken a video of it, just to prove I’m not crazy.

At least I had witnesses though. My friend saw it too, and the artist who was weaving cloth into the chain link fence dropped what she was doing to take a video with her tablet.

The following day the hubby and I decided we should take advantage of the rain-free weather and clean out the vegetable gardens. There were actually a few beans left on the vines on the fence, and a lot of ones that had gone to seed and dried out. I already had enough seeds for next year so I didn’t feel bad at all pulling those vines. I noticed my neighbor on the other side of the fence had already pulled hers.

The yellow bean plants in my garden had already started to die off, and again there were still beans on them, mostly gone to seed and dried up. But believe it or not, there were still blossoms on some of them, meaning they were still producing beans. I didn’t care, I pulled them anyway.

My first crop of peppers had been lost to creatures unknown, and my second crop was so nice looking it was a shame to pick them, but I did. Better I get them than the frost. The same went for the tomatoes. We got a few of the larger tomatoes when they ripened on the vine, but none looked as good as the green ones I ended up picking. I think I’m going to try making a green tomato salsa with my bounty.

I knew the tomato plants were big this year, but it wasn’t until I started pulling them that I realized how insanely big they were. Most of them were doubled over their cages and when straightened up were taller than me. And most of them still had blossoms on them.

We had such a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes (I have about 15 bags of them in the freezer) that the hubby decided to not save any of the green ones, and the few red ones that were left (some of which were already on the ground) he left for the forest critters.

Now all that’s left of my vegetable gardens is the asparagus and the rhubarb. According to my neighbor (who gave them to me), I’m supposed to wait until the foliage dies off and then cut them back.

Looks like I’m ready – bring on the frost!

Multisulcate Monday

multisulcate ~ many-furrowed

I don’t know about your garden, but mine has been pretty much a bust this year.

The beans did okay at first, but then they kind of petered out quickly. But then the weirdest thing happened. The bush beans at the front of my garden suddenly decided they were pole beans and proceeded to grow over top of the carrots, wax beans, and peas to get to the fence. And then they started producing more beans, which I didn’t catch in time so I’m letting them go to seed to plant next year.

The peas were disappointing. For all the plants we had, they didn’t produce much. I think I picked them only two or three times. And the carrots are no bigger now than they were a month ago and that’s my fault. They’re sandwiched in between the two rows of beans so I don’t think they got enough light. I’ve pulled the beans from the front row off them as much as I can but I suspect it’s too late for them to do anything.

The tomates didn’t do well at all. The cherry tomatoes on the deck weren’t bad, not great, but not bad – certainly not the bumper crop we had last year. As for the beefsteaks and Brandywines . . . well, we got a few on each plant, but they were small and what didn’t rot on the vine the bugs and squirrels got to.

Out of five pumpkin vines I got 2 small pie pumpkins. I think combined that might be enough for 1 pie. The beets looked like they were doing okay, but they’re really small. And the peppers? Well, they got off to a slow start and I’ve had a couple of respectable looking banana peppers, and one small bell pepper the colour of eggplant. There are still a few struggling, so hopefully they’re not done yet.

On the other side of the yard, the neighbour’s pole beans growing up our fence did okay. I’ve picked from my side of the fence a few times, but never more than enough for supper. And although her butternut squash took over my rose garden, I’ll have four squash for my trouble, two of which are in good enough shape to actually use. LOL

The rest of her garden was as iffy as mine, and she spends a lot more time and energy on it than I do. From what I gather, a lot of other home gardeners didn’t do so well either.

Makes you wonder what the price of food is going to be like this winter, doesn’t it?

Muniment Monday

muniment ~ means of defence; record fortifying or proving a claim

Once again it was a quiet week last week. And I didn’t even have a trip to Costco to liven things up. I did, however, start a list of things we forgot to buy at Costco. LOL

We had just enough rain last week to make my garden happy. The peas are pretty much done, as are the green beans, and the yellow beans might need to be picked once more. However, the green beans my neighbour is growing on the fence are just starting, which is good timing because I’m not going to get buried in green beans.

I have no idea how the carrots are doing, other than they probably need to be thinned badly. They’re hidden under the beans and I’m leery about getting overly-friendly with the bean plants. The last couple of times I picked them my arms started stinging.

My beets are hanging in there, but they’re growing really slowly. I was able to pick enough small ones to feed the granddaughter and I when she was here for supper, but we were really splitting a single serving.

I have two teeny tiny little peppers forming, so I’m crossing my fingers for more. And I have two pumpkins in my pumpkin patch. But the plants are still blooming so I’m hoping for more.

The neighbour’s butternut squash are trying to take over my rose garden, and so far I have two nicely formed squash making it all worth while. Last year she had quite the bumper crop so we’ll have to see what this year brings.

In the insect world . . . The hubby and granddaughter found this bug a few weeks ago, and were curious about what kind of bug it was.

Looks like some kind of caterpillar, don’t you think? I did a Google search for caterpillars with that colouring, but came up empty. Then I changed the search to “long black bugs with orange on them” and to my surprise I immediately came up with a hit.

Turns out it’s the larvae form of the Asian lady beetle. So when it grows up it’s going to be a Ladybug – I didn’t even know they had a larvae stage.

Unlike the Japanese Beetles, Ladybugs are welcome in my garden any time.

Mundify Monday

mundify ~ to cleanse; to purify; to heal

The beans and peas are loving the heat wave we’ve been having, the tomatoes . . . not so much. The tomatoes in the garden are getting flowers, but then the flowers dry up and fall off. I have one beefsteak tomato starting, but so far the heritage Brandywines have nothing but dead flowers.

The peppers are still alive, and a couple of them are thinking about getting blossoms, but so far not much action with them. The beets are doing well, and so far I have just one pumpkin starting. All those blossoms and most of them just fall off (or get nibbled off by a forest creature) without the fruit starting below it. The carrots need to be thinned . . . if I could get at them. They’re sandwiched in between the rows of beans so you can’t even see them.

I’ve had to pick beans a couple of times already, and the peas once. That green thing outside of the basket is from my neighbor’s garden. It’s supposed to be an acorn squash but it looks more like a weird shaped zucchini to me. Guess I’ll find out what it is when I cut it apart to spiralize. Zucchini or squash, either way it’s going to end up as noodles for spaghetti.

The tomatoes on the deck, however, are starting to show promise. I have a few cherry tomatoes and several beefsteaks that I’m babying along.

Not only does the deck get more shade, it’s right off the house so the squirrels and chipmunks aren’t as apt to bother the plants on it. But if these plants live up to their promise, I’m skipping the other garden centers next year and going straight to Walmart for my plants.

The last couple of years we planted our own seeds for the cherry tomatoes but this year my neighbour gave us some she’d started inside. They’re doing okay, but they’re not as prolific as the ones we’ve had before. It could be the excessive heat, or it could just be the seeds she used. I’m very pleased with the beefsteak tomatoes though, especially since the brandywines she gave us aren’t doing well. But then neither are hers.

She has a huge garden and not only are her tomatoes not doing much (yet), neither are her beans. Usually by this time of the summer she’s at our door once or twice a week with beans and cucumbers to share. This year the only thing that’s doing well for her is the leaf lettuce and cabbage (which is also quite yummy). In fact, this year I got to share my beans with her.

You just never know what will do well in a garden.

Minimuscular Monday

minimuscular ~ tiny

There were a couple of days that were nicely foggy last week, and I do love me a good fog, but it was also kind of rainy so I didn’t want to risk my good camera by going out and taking pictures. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

The picture above is one I took last summer, of our neighbourhood fox waiting patiently for the daughter to take his picture. After we put the big fence up last year we didn’t see much of the foxes in our backyard, but there was a bit of a gap under one part of the fence at the back where they could crawl under and then leave again by a different gap. However, the neighbour behind us jammed some bricks in the gap so no more wildlife save for squirrels.

UPS took pity on me and delivered five more Nora Roberts books over the course of last week and so far I’ve only read one of them. I’m trying to make them last because I prefer the trade size paperbacks and once I’m done them I’ll have to start getting the mass market editions.

As my nod to the holiday weekend where tradition says it’s time to start gardening, I planted some bulbs on Saturday. I had more black lilies than I realized and planted a cluster in the center of the little square garden with the lamp post in it in the front, and two clusters behind the fountain in the pond garden at the back. The rest I gave to the daughter when they stopped by – the grandbaby wanted to show off her bike-riding prowess and biked all the way over to our house (with her parents and the dog walking alongside).

I also had some miniature iris that went in a corner of the front garden as well as the pond garden, something I can’t remember the name of that I have my doubts will grow at all because the bulbs seemed dried out to me, and four bleeding hearts spaced along the back fence.

If it stops raining again, maybe I’ll think about getting the vegetable garden started this week. At least the peas and beans.

Morkin Monday

morkin ~ animal that has died by accident

The romantic notion of having my own vegetable garden has been quickly deflated. Gardens are a lot of work! It’s not just the weeding – it actually hasn’t been bad for weeds now that everything’s filled in – but I’m having to pick the beans every couple of days and I’m having trouble judging when the peas should be picked – too soon and you’ve basically got pea pods, too late and the peas are big and bitter.

But I have to admit, it felt good getting the first batch of green beans done up for the freezer. And I’m pretty sure we’ll enjoy them during the winter. My neighbour showed me what to look for to see how many pumpkins I’m going to end up with. So far . . . one. All those blooms and only one is going to turn into a pumpkin. *sigh* And that’s only if this little guy:

leaves it alone. He’s already taken care of the squash blossoms on one of the plants, so it’s doubtful I’ll get any squash. But fortunately my neighbour looks like she’s going to have a bumper crop again, and she likes to share.

You might take note of the vines growing through the fence – even they have squash starting under their blooms. And tradition dictates that whatever grows through the fence is mine. LOL

Over the years the neighbours rotate their “crops.” In the past I’ve had enough green beans and peas growing through the fence to freeze, and one year it was cucumbers. I can’t talk her into growing zucchini though, so I guess I’ll have to plant my own next year. Meanwhile I’ll need to look up some recipes to use the butternut squash in.

I can’t wait for the fall to make vegetable soup with my own vegetables!

Mithridate Monday

mithridate ~ antidote to poison

Welcome to Canada, where you get wind, rain, sun, and snow – sometimes all in the same day.

It appears that we skipped over spring and went right from late winter to early summer. One day we were still getting frost warnings, the next we were running around without our coats on. The grass is green and the trees are leafing up nicely. And the first round of flowers – tulips, daffodils, and crocus – are already fading to make room for others.

Since my last post I’ve actually had the deck door open a few times. Haven’t quite got to the barefoot stage yet, but then my feet get cold easily.

I haven’t been able to take the granddaughter to play at the beach after preschool lately, not because of the rain, but because there isn’t any beach. I guess maybe it's because of the rain after all. Once again the water level of Lake Ontario is so high that it’s right up to the board walk at the local waterfront. It had started to recede a bit the morning I went down to see for myself, but I’m sure it won’t take much to flood it again.

The granddaughter and I were able to get all of our seedlings in the ground on Friday, and then Saturday they were pretty much flattened by a heavy rain. Fortunately they had some sun yesterday so they weren’t looking quite as bedraggled. But they only have today to make their comeback because it’s supposed to rain the rest of the week.

It's a learning experience, that's for sure. While I agree that some plants, like tomatoes, benefit from being started indoors, there are many that don't need the head start. Beans, for instance. They sprouted in just a couple of days and were about a foot high before we got them into the garden. I would have been better to plant the seeds directly to start with. And carrots - there's gotta be a trick to planting carrot seeds. The seeds I planted inside were just barely sprouting and fell apart when I tried to put them in the garden, so I ended up planting more seeds but they did not end up in even rows like I recall from my mother's garden.

For those of you who are interested, the seedlings that we planted were green beans, purple beans, peas, broccoli, cabbage, peppers, regular carrots, purple carrots, and dill. We also planted pumpkin seeds which didn’t sprout but I planted the pods anyway just in case. And my neighbour gave us about eight brandywine tomato seedlings, some sweet millions (which I think are cherry tomatoes), and some more pepper plants.

Even with all of that my garden looks a little sparse, but it’s just getting started. It’ll be interesting to see what it looks like in another couple of weeks.

Monoousian Monday

monoousian ~ having the same substance

Warning: Picture intensive post!

I’ll give you three guesses what I was doing this weekend... Gardening!

We bought our plants on Friday night and I was appalled at how much we paid - to the point where I even suggested to the hubby that we could forget plants in the front garden and just fill it in with decorative wood chips instead. I think I’ll be buying a lot of seeds next year. Maybe some bulbs this fall.

But before I get to my garden pictures, a couple of people asked me about the christening gown I made last weekend. I know it’s kind of hard to picture it from my description (you can click on it to see a bigger version), so here it is in all its glory:

Not bad considering I was working without a pattern, eh? My friend was thrilled, her daughter was thrilled, but I have no idea how the baby boy felt about it. LOL

Now, on to my gardens. First we have the front garden, always a treat because it’s so long.

As you can see, I lost both of my dogwoods and one of my sand cherries over the winter. Not sure how that happened considering the winter wasn’t all that bad and they’re right up next to the house. These are the same shrubs that made it unscathed through the ice storm a few years ago.

Anyway, here’s what the garden looks like now:

I added a pink begonia hanging from the shepherd’s crook yesterday, but didn’t take a new picture because it was raining.

The other major planting I did was in Kelsey Park. Kelsey Park, for those of you who are new, is a small round garden with a fountain in the center, under which our border collie Kelsey is buried. There are also three cats buried in various spots around it - only the hubby knows for sure where, and he also knows where the others will be going when their time comes. Our own little pet cemetery. :-)

This is what it looked like before:

The after picture kind of looks like I just planted my plants amongst the weeds, and in a way that’s exactly what I did. When I bought all those bedding plants, I did not realize that the sweet pea seeds that I planted last year and didn’t come up came up this year. So now as well as pansies, marigolds, and tufted things, I have sweet peas growing around the edge of the garden.

And last but not least, a few years ago I lucked into a terra cotta strawberry pot. That was the same year I found a variety of mint plants - spearmint, chocolate mint, lemon mint, pineapple mint... I can’t remember what store had them, but I thought it would be really cool to do an all mint indoor herb garden in the pot. And I’m sure under the care of someone else it would have been. But for me the plants died rather quickly and the pot has been empty ever since.

So this year I started thinking about what went wrong and I wondered if maybe I should have had the mint garden outside for the summer to let the plants get well established before bringing it in for the winter. This year I only found two kinds of mint, but I found some thyme, chives, and sage for it and I bought some dill seeds to plant in the top. Now it’s sitting on the deck where it will get lots of sun, if the sun every comes out for any length of time.

According to the 14-day forecast on the weather network, it’s going to be another week before we see any significant sun. While I’m sure the plants in my gardens will enjoy the good soaking, I’m not so sure about the wildflower seeds I planted in the boxes bordering the patio.

Guess I’ll have to post more pictures at the beginning of July to show you how my garden is growing. :-D