Neighbours talking over the garden gate has long been a tradition. They share gardening tips, complain about the weather and pests yet are ever eager to discuss their gardens. That is what I had in mind when creating this blog. So stop by my garden gate to find out the latest happenings in my garden.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
"All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child." ~ Madame Marie Curie"

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Balsam Apple (Momordic charantia)

Balsam Apple Seed Pod
(Momordic charantia)
September 22, 2010

I have taught my husband well!  He was out on the golf course with a couple of buddies and spotted a rather interesting plant so he brought me home a seed pod for identification.  Despite warnings he should not touch unknown plants just in case apparently this plant did not pose a warning for him.  I now have to get him used to taking pictures of the actual plants.  At any rate with just the seed pod I was able to quickly identify the plant as being Momordic charantia or commonly balsam apple, balsam pear or bitter melon.  The seed pod is bright orange and knobby ridged.  Inside the seed pod there are bright red seeds surrounded by  a gelatinous protective coating as pictured.  This plant is classified as an annual weed.  There is some indication that there are medicinal uses for reducing blood sugar but the fruit coat, ripe fruits and seeds are toxic when ingested in large quantities.  I will be looking to get pictures of the actual plant.  It should be easy to identify with this unique type of seed pod.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

And The Rain Arrives

We had heavy rains the last few days.  It really has been a little too late though.  Now it will become an issue of too much rain for the local farmers to harvest before the crops rot in the fields.  The soybean harvest has been halted due to the rains and this definitely is not good for those trying to harvest tomatoes.  Our average day of first frost (ADFF) falls the end of the first week of October so if the tomatoes aren't harvested by then they will need to be plowed under.

The grass is loving all the extra rain.  The only downside is trying to cut the grass has been hindered so the yards are looking a little shaggy.  This has just been a bad year for gardening all the way around.  There's only so much you can do about the weather but you have a bit better chance being a home gardener than a commercial grower.  I'm keeping my fingers cross they can get their crops off!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Orange Tree

orange tree
Orange Tree
September 18, 2010

Apparently the oranges are so plentiful here that people put boxes of them to the road hoping someone will take them.  Pictured is one of our neighbour's orange tree.  They said to help ourselves when the fruit is ready for picking.  We rented in the park our first trip here that was meant to purchase a house in the park that we had seen online.  We decided against that house but looked at several others, got to know the park and basically enjoyed ourselves.  That trip we enjoyed a lot of fresh picked oranges and let me tell you they taste so much better than store bought!  Now that we bought here I want to plant an orange tree.

One neighbour told us that the orange trees can be problematic and they are higher maintenance trees.  Leaf drop seems to be an issue for some gardeners.  My husband thinks I should just take advantage of all the free fruit rather than try growing an orange tree but the challenge sounds fun.  I plan on visiting a few nurseries in the area of our vacation home where I look for a nice, healthy tree as well as get advice for growing it.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Monday, September 20, 2010

Unidentified Moth

unidentified moth
Unidentified Moth
September 16, 2010

During one of out strops a few days ago I spotted this pretty moth fluttering around on the sidewalk.  His wing span was about 3 - inches so a rather impressive size.  He stopped just long enough for me to get this picture showing his gorgeous markings.  I'm not sure what kind of moth he is.  If you can help identify please leave a comment.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Sunday, September 19, 2010

Butterfly Bush

butterfly bush
Butterfly Bush
September 16, 2010

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast a few days ago.  They had a lot of these gorgeous bushes bordering the parking lot.  As we enjoyed our breakfast I watched a large number of butterflies frequenting the bushes.  I aptly named them butterfly bushes but that likely is not their name.  What I found very interesting is the range of colours in the blooms.  Aren't they just gorgeous?  No wonder the butterflies enjoy them!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Saturday, September 18, 2010

Across the Garden Fence

I've been emailing with a couple of neighbours at our vacation home.  Here we are experiencing one of the driest summers in ages and apparently the average rainfall where our vacation home is the average monthly rainfall was six inches.  I told them they could send a little our way!  We are experiencing another cold spell so the chances of the organic farmer having another harvest of pickling cucumbers is rather slim.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A Sad Gardening Day in the Neighbourhood

The weather has turned cool here so the organic pickling cucumbers I was hoping for haven't materialized although there is still a slim chance.  I've been keeping a close eye on my garden.  It is a bit sheltered so can tolerate a bit more adverse weather conditions.  We are quickly approaching our ADFF but most gardens should still be going fairly strong and if fall crops were planted they should be coming up by now.  With all the weather problems late blight still hasn't hit the tomatoes so I took several cuttings for my indoor continuous garden.  They are nice and healthy looking so I have a fair amount of hope they will perform nicely.  As I tended the garden I could help but notice that our neighbours two and three doors down has stripped their gardens to the bare soil.  Everything is gone.  Then I took a basket of tomatoes over to another of our neighbours and noticed their garden which is a very impressive raised bed system was also completely cleaned out.  Mine is the only garden still going full tilt!  I told them to help themselves because I have more tomatoes than we can use.  These are the beautiful big slicing heirloom tomatoes, brandywine.  One slice fills a slice of toast for toasted tomato sandwiches.  What I couldn't give away I brought in along with any other tomato I could find then ran them through the food mill for a raw smooth sauce to be frozen until I have enough tomatoes to can the sauce up. 

So many home gardeners are calling it quits this year and perhaps a bit too early.  I'm of the gardening school that I will hang on no matter what until the first hard frost hits.  It seems a bit too early to be tilling the garden under.  Heck local farmers are just harvesting soy beans and tomatoes here.  That will continue through almost mid-October so there is still plenty of time left for home gardening.  It was sad to see three gardens reduced to soil today.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Sunday, September 12, 2010

The Weather Has Changed

My gosh!  I think 2010 is going to go down in history as the worst gardening season ever.  I'm not kidding and in some ways it is a bit frustrating but in other ways it just makes me dig in my heels a bit harder and fight back.  Despite the local predictions of a dry spring we had a wet, cool spring.  Then we were hit with high heat and humidity for July and August but very little rainfall.  To put things in perspective since we moved here in 2007 we have averaged using the AC five days each summer.  This summer it was on for a good fourteen days!  Our peaksaver® was triggered twice which is more than they predicted when we signed up for the program.  The downside to the high heat and humidity was rather violent weather all around us to the point there were many days we couldn't take the boat out due to active weather in the area even though we didn't a drop of rain.  Everyone was hoping the heatwave would lift while the farmers were begging for rain.  Overnight the temperatures plummeted to the point of needing a jacket while the winds picked up and the rains started. 

Many are saying the rain came a little too late.  While the abrupt weather change has been a tad rude it has made for nice canning weather.  The gardens are starting to wind down.  I am not putting in a fall garden this year but will be working on my continuous indoor harvest.  I'm in the process of taking tomato clippings to grow indoors.  So far blight has not hit the tomato plants and they still look fairly healthy but it is only a matter of time.  Our ADFF is quickly approaching.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Friday, September 10, 2010

A Small Harvest

harvest Sep 7, 2010
A Small Harvest
September 7, 2010

This really has been a bad year for gardening here.  August has been so dry that it is more than affecting the local growers.  Irrigating has been the only way to save the crops but still that may not be enough.  I did a clean pick of the garden a couple of days ago.  The tomatoes are producing nicely and despite the weather the sweet peppers are really performing nicely!  Doesn't it look wonderful?

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Thursday, September 09, 2010

Swiss Chard

swiss chard
Swiss Chard
September 7, 2010

I didn't plant  a lot of Swiss chard this year but the 2 square feet are producing nicely.  I've been cutting the outer leaves then letting the inner leaves mature which seems to be keeping the plants a bit more productive.   I picked enough for freezing a couple of nights ago.  It wasn't a lot but it was enough for about two cups of steamed greens for the freezer. 

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Tuesday, September 07, 2010

The Finer Art of Pest Control

I have been discussing spider control on my homemaking blog.  In this particular infestation I have had to resort to using chemical insecticidal control because four identified species are venomous and there has been a burst in the funnel spider population so reducing their numbers is important to lessen the risk of a problematic spider bite.

Anytime I have to resort to chemical pest control it signifies to me that something is out of balance with my gardens and property in general.  The problem is resorting to chemical pest control while it may be necessary can further cause an off balance.  The reality is predators do not catch dead prey.  If the prey is not there because they were killed off via chemical means the predators will move on to where the prey are.  Our spring and summer weather has been so far off this year it is no wonder we are dealing with a few pest issues.  I hope this is not indicative of things to come!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Monday, September 06, 2010

Pink Hibiscus

pink hibiscus
Pink Hibiscus
August 26, 2010

Daily walking has become my excuse for being a garden snoop.  This way I can check out what other great plants others are growing in their gardens and ones I may want to add to my gardens.  I spotted this pretty pink hibiscus on one of my walks.  Hibiscus is a member of the mallow family and while I haven't grown hibiscus I have grown okra and rose mallow, both members of the mallow family as well.  The mallow family have pretty, showy flowers.  I didn't have luck with okra other than the flowers but rose mallow grew well for me which reminds me to plan on growing it next year.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Sunday, September 05, 2010

The Grasshopper Incident

King of Denmark is a wonderful heirloom spinach that performs nicely.  One look at the mature plants and you will easily see why this variety is king just from the sheer size of it.  A few days ago I noted that the King of Denmark spinach was looking rather good.  Then I noticed that something had been helping itself to a taste test.  A couple of days later I found the critter responsible for the damage.

King of Denmark spinach
The damage on the King of Denmark spinach was indicative of a chewing insect.  There was evidence of insect frauss as well.   I kept an eye on the spinach to see what was eating it.  It took a couple of days but I finally caught the little critter, a grasshopper.

Grasshoppers have not been a huge problem in my gardens.  While I have had a small amount of damage due to grasshoppers for the most part it has been minimal.  They can do a fair amount of damage in a short period of time.  Grasshoppers tend to be more problematic during drier summers so I'm not surprised to see them leaving their mark in the garden this year.

grasshopper jail
Catching the grasshopper red handed was nice because I was easily able to identify the damaging causing insect.  I captured the offending critter and put him into time out in a grasshopper jail cell.  I thought it was a rather fitting punishment.  It was obvious he could not stay where he was!  Manual removal of any offending garden pest is always my first choice wherever possible. 

I've been checking the garden for more signs of grasshopper damage.  So far I haven't found any so this appears to be an isolated incident.  Since the problem is not widespread I will continue to use the manual removal method. 

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010