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"
Arbors are a traditional way of providing support for climbing plants while providing a shady spot to sit or walk. In urban settings they are often used as part of the entrance to the garden complete with a small gate. Home gardeners use them grow grapes or other vining plants while landscapers and homeowners often use arbors to create natural shading on patios and decks.
We walked under an impressive arbor covering a good stretch of pathway at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. The arbor was a simple series of arched supports with wood slats attached. Unfortunately it was not as shady as it would be during the summer months as it was winter when we visited. This arbor would be extremely easy to duplicate on a smaller scale in the home garden using a series of pvc supports similar to building a garden hoop house.
During the first trip we made to Busch Gardens in December, I took a picture of this gorgeous yellow flower. Hurrying to catch up to the others I neglected to take a picture of the tag but I was sure I knew what the flower was so wasn't too worried. Going through the pictures to edit some of them for my blogs I was sure I knew the flower but the name continued to be tucked safely in the recesses of my mind. Thanks to the the Florida Botanical Gardens website I was able to identify the flower as Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae). The funny thing is I knew it was something to do with birds and all that kept popping into my mind was 'parrot'. The boat shaped bracts hold orange or white sepals and a blue tongue resembling birds. Isn't it unique?
Happy Gardening!
Bush Gardens has many fine examples of large topiaries. All of them are quite impressive to say the least. It is amazing how the arborist uses a combination of various plants to create the desired effect in the finished topiary. This huge butterfly topiary was near the pond with all of the California flamingoes and tucked back far enough to prevent getting closer to. Isn't is simply gorgeous?
Continuing on with sharing a few pictures of our visiting Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida here is a picture of a gorgeous Gardenia with the information tag. I mentioned that many of the plant species within the park had information tags. Each tag gives the common and scientific name as well as a few details about the plant. The Gardenia (Gardenia augusta) is an evergreen shrub that presents masses of fragrant white flowers in April and May. It is a member of the coffee family. Gardenia is somewhat drought and cold trolerant. It prefers full sun to part shade. This shrub would be an ideal addition to our vacation home garden! Hiding behind the trunk of the Gardenia is one of the many birds that frequent the gardens hoping to be fed by visitors.
Visiting these types of parks can be very informative for the home gardener. It is difficult to picture what a mature plant, shrub or tree will look like from a picture in a book or online. More importantly is is difficult to gauge the mature size. Quite often a home gardener will plant a tree or shrub only to find out it is too big for the intended location when it reaches maturity.
It is rather slow on the garden front here in the blistery north so I thought I would share a few gardening related pictures with you from our recent vacation in the sunny south. As mentioned yesterday we enjoyed visiting Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida twice. The grounds in this amusement part are amazing! While there are rides there are also various exhibits where you can interact with or get closer to the large variety of animals. In addition to the exhibits you can take a free train ride around the park or you can get up close and personal to the wild game via a safari tour.
The kangaroo and wallaby exhibit has several of each on one side with a wooden fence set up so visitors can feed them. Meadering through the exhibit is this gorgeous little naturalized stream conplete with waterfalls, home to waterfowl, fish and several species of plants. This type of stream but on a smaller scale is something home gardeners to easily add as a water feature in their gardens. Isn't it pretty?
We left the chilly north on December 8 to stay mainly at our vacation home in the sunny south, returning north January 9. During that time we made two visits to Busch Gardens. While this is an amusement park it very much has a garden setting. Many of the plantings have name tags that I found quite useful. It's nice to be able to see the actual plant for future identification.
I was quite impressed with the huge lion topiary waiting to greet visitors to the park. Isn't he majestic? I can't imagine how much work goes into keeping him trimmed. I would love to try my hand at topiary. I've tried to find a wire frame for reindeer like those used for Christmas decorating but without the lights. So far I have been unsuccessful so I might have to buy the ones for Christmas and strip them of their lights. This project is on my to do list for my new garden once we move. Hopefully the house will sell soon so I have ample spring to work on the new garden beds.
If you have been following this blog you will know we bought a vacation home last year giving me the opportunity to garden in two very different hardiness zones. It has meant learning about various critters that visit our southern garden. There are venomous snakes and spiders there so it is important to identify these types of visitors to avoid possible bites.
We had one of our friends and his 8 year old visiting us. A couple of days after they left and our kids were visiting, we pulled into the driveway where I spotted what I thought was a hair band the little one had dropped. I instinctively bent down to pick up the hair band then stopped short to take a better look. While the hair band was still, I noticed a orangey red band. There was a slight movement then the hair band uncurled to reveal a small! Pictured is the baby ringneck snake sunning himself in the warmth of the sun on our driveway. He was about 3 - inches long.
Ringneck snakes are common harmless, beneficial snakes in Florida. They feed on earthworms, slugs, small skinks, lizards and tiny frogs. As with any snake they may bite if cornered but it is non-toxic to people. Ringneck snakes are sociable so they are usually found with other ringneck snakes. They reach a length of about 2 feet at maturity. Newly hatched ringneck snakes are prey for large spiders and centipedes.
Ringneck snakes have a rather unusual defensive trait. When disturbed the turn upside down displaying their orangy red underside upwards in a curled fashion. It could be the orangy red colouration serves as a visual warning to predators that they may be distasteful or poisonous. It could be just a camoflauge method for prey to trick them into thinking the snake is already dead very similar to how an opossum plays dead to avoid predation. The ringneck snake also releases a foul-smelling odour to defend against predators. If playing dead and the odour doesn't work the snake will viciously bite.
Palm trees are quite common at our vacation home. I love them! They are rather majestic looking. We will be shopping for palm trees our next trip to our vacation home. To my understanding palm trees are not without problems though. The first problem we discovered is they attract palmetto bugs. These huge and rather ugly bugs also known as the American cockroach are more annoying than anything else especially when they get in the house, and they do. The second thing I have noticed is palm trees look to be higher maintenance although that might just be from what we've seen. The large, lower fonds die off then need to removed to encourage the tree to grow upwards. It is likely no more work trimming hedges except when the trees get taller reaching the lower fonds.
I had high hopes of planting an orange tree at our vacation home during our visit but the hopes of that were dashed. It was unseasonably cold with several days of morning frost, not the kind of weather for planting trees. My orange tree will have to wait until our next visit. That's ok though as I have a lot of plans for our vacation home garden. I'm not impressed with the mulch we used so by then I will have a better idea of what I want to use. Several homes are using larger stones as mulch. This looks nice so might be one idea. I'm off do do a bit of research for our vacation home garden plans.
My gosh, we have been at our vacation home throughout the holiday season. Unfortunately it has been unseasonably cold here with frost several mornings. Folks had their plants wrapped in sheets and quilts to protect them from the frost. Our casualty was a potted poinsettia but other than that the gardens weren't harmed. Here's to another great year of gardening at both of our homes!
Looking back on 2010 we did nothing but battle adverse growing conditions. The problem is battling these types of conditions can be rather difficult. A dry growing condition can be compensated by extra watering, irrigation and shading but a too wet of a growing condition if difficult to battle. Raised beds help somewhat but traditional row gardening is at the mercy of the extra moisture. There really isn't much adjustment available for temperatures.
Raised beds get a bit warmer quicker and stay warmer longer extending the growing season somewhat. Shading can help protect against high heat while covering the garden beds or using mini greenhouse protection can help protect against frost. For the most part though, in normal home gardening growing conditions adjusting for temperature is still rather hit and miss.
When adverse growing conditions hit, the best you can do is hold on tight, do what damage control you can and hope for the best. That's one of the things that makes home gardening so much fun!
All garden pools regardless of their size are constructed pretty much the same way. You can use a rigid, pre-formed black pond liner or black pond liner however if you want to save a bit of money you can use a pre-formed kiddy pool. Ideally the pond should be at least 3 feet deep at its deepest but if over wintering fish the pond should be deeper. The pond excavation site should be leveled which is very important when using pre-formed liners. Pond constructed with pond liner should be leveled then lined with old rug material or sand to cushion the bottom somewhat. Once the liner is in place water is added, smoothing out the liner as the pond fills. Filtration and water movement is added then the edge is naturalized with rocks and vegetation along with the pond planted. Floater plants are added and finally the fish. Our experience was it was better to add fish a good week or so after the water had time to age. Here's a video outlining how to set up a garden pond. Enjoy!
Small ponds have become a common garden feature. They create a lovely, natural accent that attracts birds and other garden visitors. Ideally a garden pond is set up as a small eco-system with plants and fish. When done properly the pond becomes sustainable in that the plants filter the water while removing nitrogen and providing shade to prevent algae problems. The fish provide nitrogen for the plants while keeping beneficial algae under control.
New pond owners often introduce fish too quickly to their garden ponds, before beneficial algae has a chance to form and the water age a bit. The solution for many is to add a few snails to the pond because beneficial algae is mistaken as being needed to be controlled. This is the wrong solution. Beneficial algae should be control through water filtration and shading of the pond. I refer to the beneficial algae as pond patina. It's a light coating of algae on the pond sides that does not cause the pond water to turn green. String algae is a bit more difficult to control. It should be manually removed. If the water turns green, knock down the algae by adding a bit of cornmeal or the contents of a package of grape koolaid mix. The grape koolaid provides immediate shade that causes the algae to die back a bit. The grape koolaid is also an effect way to control pest birds like grackles that frequent the pond creating another problem - snails!
Snails are going to happen in the pond which is one reason you should not introduce them. Snails are generally introduced into ponds naturally on the feet of visiting birds. Snails are beneficial BUT they multiply too fast blocking intake lines and filters. Any snail die down will cause additional problems like bacterial build-up and water souring. If (really when) you notice snails have been introduced to your pond, keep a close check on the snail population level. As soon as you notice snails in your pond you need to start doing a bit of scooping and do no ever, ever, ever release the snails to the wild!
Snow is bombarding part of southern Ontario like you would not believe. London had received 71 cm last report and it was still coming down. The problem with snow is some of it has to be moved in order to carry on with daily living unless of course you are able to hibernate for the winter. Snow has a lot of benefits though. It is a great insulator and wind barrier. Instead of piling snow from the driveway on each side consider piling it in your garden where it will protect from soil erosion, insulate the garden bed and provide extra moisture for the spring.
Gardening seems so far away with winter setting in and the holiday season upon us. That brings me to the never ending question of real verses artificial Christmas trees. Hands down I am on the real Christmas tree even though we have used an artificial Christmas tree for the past 5 years. Now here my reasoning.
When we moved to our last house we bought an eco-friendly fiber optic artificial tree that lit up using one halogen light. At that time my allergies were running amuck and my asthma was far from being under control. That is precisely the time to not introduce allergens from a real Christmas tree. This year we are not putting up the artificial Christmas tree other than the ceramic one using a CFL but we do have plans for a real Christmas tree.
Real Christmas trees are grown on farms as a cash crop. Until harvest the trees add oxygen to the air while filtering the air making it cleaner. The trees can be used for home heating in a wood stove or wood fireplace by removing the branches while the branches can be composted. Those are a few eco-friendly reasons to use a real Chrismas trees. At the same time buying a real Christmas tree is supporting local growers making for a stronger community economically.
Christmas is just around the corner so I thought I would do up a gardening wish list. The nice thing about gardening is everyone knows you garden so it is easier to buy gifts for those special occasions. Here's a few things that are on my gardening wish list:
seeds - I'm especially fond of receiving seeds and it doesn't matter what. I look forward in anticipation to see if I can get the seeds to germinate and what the plant will look like.
fancy pots - I am very much utilitarian when it comes to planting which means most of my pots tend to be plastic or plain terra cotta. I really love the looks of the glazed pots to set a plainer pot in while adding a bit of interest to the gardens.
a gazing ball - I would love to have a gazing ball!
gnomes - Trust me on this one, I could never, ever, ever have too many gnomes :)
copper tape - I use copper tape to snail proof my garden beds and containers so a roll of that is always very much appreciated.
a garden bench - I love garden benches, just to stop and sit a spell while out in the garden.
We are still experiencing unseasonably mild temperatures here, not that I'm complaining. The lawns look almost the best they have all year with the extra bit of rain we've been having. There have been a couple of squirrels skirting about the yards but still no sign of the wild rabbits. I've been told that the rabbit population is cyclic but to not see any is rather discerning. I suspect with the harder economic times the wild rabbits are ending up in the stew pot. Duck season is in full swing to so we hear the occasional shot reminding us that the snow will be upon us shortly.
There is very little going on outdoors this time of the year. We still have another day's worth of leaf gathering to do and put the plastic up on the screen-in sunporch but there isn't any actual garden work to do. I still have to wash the solar lights I want to keep if the house sells but other than that pretty much all of the garden work is complete. It's now time to start dreaming of next year's garden.
Once the final lawn cut for the season has been done it is time to winterize the lawnmower. This is not a difficult task but neglecting to do so may cause starting problems in the spring and premature rusting of the lawnmower bed. Here's what we do:
remove any grass build-up under the bed
hose down the bed and under the bed well
allow to fully dry in a sunny location
rub a bit of oil onto the blade to prevent rusting
pour gas stabilizer into the gas tank
place the lawnmower in corner of garage ready for the following season
We cleaned out the two smaller and one larger garden bed on Saturday. While a good portion of the leaves were mowed over with the mulching lawnmower to provide mulch for the lawn another good portion were vacuumed up. Rather than waste the leaves collected by the leaf blower/vacuum my husband dumped them onto the two smaller beds and the garden paths where they will break down over the winter enriching the soil. In the spring any remaining will be worked into the soil to continue providing nutrients as they break down. We also ended up bagging some of the leaves. Despite all leaf raking and gathering there is still a lot more to come as one of our maples still has a fair number of leaves to fall.
Our lawn mower has mulching capabilities so it makes sense to take advantage of that to get rid of a few leaves. We have way more than we can compost in the gardens and I don't like putting leaves out for municipal collection unless necessary. One solution we came up with was running over the leaves during the last couple of lawn cuttings with the lawn mower set to mulch. The mulch setting cuts the leaves finely leaving them behind in the grass where they can breakdown and add nutrients over the winter. It saves bagging the leaves as well as helps to get rid of all those extra leaves you can't compost. It is an eco-friendly approach too as the leaves feed the lawn reducing the need for any additional fertilizer.
My gosh, 2010 has been a year of many changes for us. With the purchase of a vacation home in a considerably warmer zone than here there was the excitement of new gardening experiences but at the same time I was saddened at the prospect of selling this house. We went ahead and added to the garden beds despite the house being up for sale. Then the house came off the market while we spent a much needed break at the vacation house. Upon returning home we relisted the house so it is with a lot of mixed feelings seeing the close of this year's gardens. There is a very good chance we won't be here in the spring so while I am happy at what I've been able to accomplish I'm saddened at the prospect of not seeing the results of all our hard work. But so it goes with gardening. Part of the fun of gardening is the adventure and the challenge of starting over again when necessary.
Now that we've had our first hard frost followed by rather cool nights but pleasant days, my thoughts have turned to winterizing the garden. Here's my to do list for winterizing the gardens this year keeping in mind the house is on the market so I may be setting up a new garden at new home next year. As you can see there is still a bit more to do.
The grey days of November have arrived. I dread these days because they are so dull and dreary lasting most of the month. Quite often we wake to a blanket of fog that slowly dissipates throughout the day but never really fully goes away. The sky turns a bleak, mono-toned grey broken occasionally only by ominous looking storm clouds. Most days will see a bit of misty rain as well although some days are just a complete all day rain. Even the garden beds take on a dreary, rather sad appearance when viewed from indoors. Soon the beds will be covered with a blanket of snow but for now I have my memories and pictures of a rather productive gardening season.
The weather has turned surprisingly mild so I managed to get a bit more painting done outdoors. The main thing we did in the garden was drain the hoses and put them away for winter storage. We also drained the water lines shutting off the valves as well so there is no water in the lines. It does freeze here over winter so this is a necessary part of fall garden clean-up. It was nice to do a bit of puttering in the garden even though it was pretty much cleaning out. Tomorrow is predicted to be warm and mild as well so it will be another raking the leaves day!
Every year about this time after the main gardening season is over, I take a bit of time to go my notes of what plants did well and new varieties that I would like to try the following year. Then I set about ordering seed catalogues that usually arrive in the coldest part of the winter so they are a cheery sight! I keep seed catalogues as garden reference material so they tend to add up a bit. This year I decided not to place my annual seed catalogue orders. All of these catalogues are available online with just as much information if not more and the catalogues are searchable. I will miss the brightly coloured seed catalogues arriving in the midst of winter but I think using the online catalogues is the eco-friendly choice.
I was up at 3 AM this morning to see a beautiful blanket of twinkling snow. Pleasant thoughts filled my head as I drifted back off into dreamland. There was still snow on the ground when I got up for the day but by about 9 AM it was all melted. The first snow of the season is always exciting. Everything looks so clean and pristine!
Oh my gosh what a year 2010 has been! Our house has been on the market for most of the year which cramped the intended garden expansion yet I did get two new smaller raised beds put in. We also managed to get some grass reseeded to clean up a couple of problem areas for any house viewings. The main battle this year was the weather. Late winter was considerably drier which affected ground conditions. Spring was cooler and wetter than predicted. The raised beds were planted a bit later as we were on vacation in May. The summer blessed with heat and more heat but not much in the way of moisture. Then we were gone half of September and part of October so I did miss some of my harvest. Despite all of this the gardens were rather productive!
lettuces - a small crop
radishes - a small crop
onions - few and far between
peppers - a bumper year, one of the best I've ever had especially for the sweets but the hots did amazing well too
tomatoes - best performer this year was Brandywine followed by a commercial variety and sweet millions; Tiny Tims did not perform well
cucumber - very impressive performance by Marketmore, very poor performance by pickling cucumbers
strawberries - poor performace but the plants are new
horseradish - lost one plant, other one still struggling along indoors
rhubarb - lost the plant
herbs - excellent performance except for pesto basil with both plants dying
It is time to clean out the garden. Yesterday morning's frost has knocked down most of the plants which is always nice. It rained last night so things are still wet and is threatening rain again today as well as rain predicted for the next couple of days. Sunday is supposed to be dry and warmer so it will be a good clean-out the garden combined with rake the leaves day.
I awoke to the most amazing sight this morning. We had our first hard frost! It had turned foggy overnight, something I could tell without even looking as the freighters were sounding their fog horns throughout the night. The fog was heavy enough this morning that I could barely see the water! The house was surrounded in the mystical mist. The garden beds decked with their frosty cover with the foggy mist hover was a sight to behold. It looked the perfect spot for gnomes, fairies, unicorns and other mythical beings!
With the milder weather I've been able to continue harvesting tomatoes that I left on the vines as long as possible. Green tomatoes can be coaxed into ripening with a bit of time and patience. The flavour will not be as pronounced as those tomatoes ripened on the vine but they are still quite delicious. Green tomatoes with a small tinge of pink will ripen indoors. Totally green tomatoes will never ripen but they can be used for fried green tomatoes, salsa verde and green tomato ketchup. Tomatoes that have been hit by frost will never ripen.
Many home gardeners ripen green tomatoes on windowsills but in many cases the tomatoes will spoil before ripening especially on sunny windowsills. Tomatoes can be ripened indoors by putting them in a brown paper bag with a ripening banana. The banana produces ethylene gas that speeds the ripening process in the tomatoes. Larger quantities of green tomatoes can be ripened in a box with or without a banana. My preferred method is to place the green tomatoes on a baking sheet then set where the tomatoes will not be exposed to direct sunlight. An alternative method is to pull the entire plant, shaking as much dirt as possible from the root ball. Then hang the entire plant upside down in a sheltered area (eg. garage, basement) where it is dark. The tomatoes will ripen on the vines. Any tomatoes that don't ripen can be used as previously mentioned.
What an incredibly odd year with respect to weather! Here it is November first and we still haven't had a frost. The good news is now the house is on the market we've been able to get a few things done outside like painting. The best news is I'm still picking peppers, the odd tomato and herbs from the garden. The bad news is even though the gardens are still producing, cleaning them out would take care of that late season scruffiness that happens towards the end of the gardening season. Well, I will just mosey along getting whatever work done outside before a frost hits and thank my lucky stars that the garden is still producing this late in the season!
A sure sign of winter approaching is the falling leaves. We get a lot of leaves because we have 3 large maple trees in our back yard and the neighbours on both sides of us each have a large maple tree. Across the road in front of our house there are more trees that drop leaves, neighbouring properties with lots of trees and our huge, old willow tree. Most of our neighbours rake the leaves up and burn them. One of our neighbours is out almost daily raking or using a leaf blower then bagging the leaves for municipal collection. They pick up leaves and other yard waste for the community compost centre. With the large number of leaves we experience it is almost impossible for us to rely solely on composting though.
We tend to leave the leaves until after the first frost which is really late this year. We still haven't had a frost but I'm not complaining. My husband sets the lawn mower on mulch to take care of a large portion of the leaves. He also uses a leaf vacuum to collect what can't be mulched. We compost what we can and put the rest out for the municipal collection.
When frost threatens the garden, bringing in potted plants and tender plants is an ideal way to keep plants for the next spring. There are a couple of problems with bring in plants with the main one introducing insects indoors. I kid you not, I brought in an asparagus fern that hid a spider almost the size of a quarter! Other common insects in potted plants are ants, earwings and pill bugs. Outdoor potted plants can also introduce plant diseases that may spread throughout other houseplants. There are a few ways to avoid these problems.
tap the pot several times before and after moving which will knock off some insects especially earwings and pill bugs
brush the pot well to make sure there are no spider nests
check the plant itself for any spiders, caterpillars or other insects
spray plants with Safer's soap or a homemade soap solution
isolate plants from other house plants to ensure insects and/or disease do not spread
I've been following a discussion about the 5 crops (foods) that should be grown for sustainable living in uncertain times. They are: potatoes, corn, beans, squash and eggs. My gosh I have to say I disagree with the potatoes and corn. I will be discussing this in greater detail on my cooking blog but from a gardening perspective you really do need a fair amount of space to grow enough potatoes to make it worth your while even if growing in sacks or garbage cans. For most home gardeners corn takes up too much space for the yield and does not lend itself well to growing on a balcony.
Here is a list of fruits and vegetables that I would consider necessary for sustainable living space permitting of course:
tomatoes
peppers
lettuces
chards
onions
carrots
squash
pole beans
peas
rutabaga
fruit bearing bushes
fruit bearing trees
Some animals take up more room than others and depending on location may not be allowed by the municipality. Consider too that animals are a 24/7 commitment so may not fit in with your lifestyle. Here is a list of animals tthat would be nice to have for sustainable living in smaller spaces:
Palm trees are very popular where our vacation home is. They are rather problem free, tolerating the heat and humidity well. Pictured is one of the palm trees near our vacation home. Now palms actually come with one itsy, bitsy problem. They attract palmetto bugs aka American cockroach. I am not impressed with palmetto bugs at all even though I know they don't bite or do damage. They are huge and they will come up sewage pipes. We have had two come up through the toilet at the vacation home so I am definitely not impressed. The last thing I need before having coffee in the morning is to have a visitor in my toilet, thank-you very much!
I love doing a bit of garden surfing so to speak in our vacation home community. Our vacation home is is Zone 9B so considerably warmer than our home Zone 6 B. That means I get to discover a lot of rather interesting tropical plants. This is a showy bulbaceous bulb that does not do well at temperatures below 60ºF. While I won't be able to grow this gorgeous plant outdoors at home I will be able to grow some at our vacation home. Isn't is pretty?
I picked a fair amount of various peppers over the last few days in anticipation of frost soon to come. Pictured are some of the jalapeno peppers. See the thin white striations on the lower three jalapeno peppers? These striations are known as corking. Some believe that corking is an indication of that jalapeno pepper being hotter than those without corking. However, Cook's Illustrated tested this theory and found no correlation between corking and heat of the individual jalapeno pepper. Rather corking is a genetic trait this this particular variety of chili pepper that has no bearing on the heat level of the pepper. Corking is a desired trait for jalapeno peppers grown in Mexico. Some hybrid varieties of jalapeno peppers are less prone to corking.
The milder weather has given me extra time to get plants indoors. Yesterday I brought in a pot of onions. I planted the onions in early June but by mid-July they were pretty much done. I intended to dump the pot and replant but forgot. When we returned home from our September vacation I was pleasantly greeted with some rather healthy looking growth. It looks like I will have a few fresh onions for salads!
The sky was a gorgeous blue yesterday morning. It had rained the night before so I was waiting for the gardens to dry a bit before raiding them again. I figured I would get the last of any of the green tomatoes since if a frost hits them they won't ripen off the vine and gathering a few herbs. I didn't get the chance. By afternoon the skies turned ominous looking then let out a blast of hail! That's right hail! Talk about the weather turning.
My gosh, by any stretch of the imagination home gardeners and commercial growers in our area have not had a good growing season. Despite that the fall has been rather on the mild side meaning the garden has been producing longer than normal. It is beyond our ADFF and we have yet to have a frost. The weather is turning and based on the week's weather predictions I decided to pick whatever vegetables I could yesterday. I was surprised at how much there really was left to pick! By far the majority was peppers but still enough tomatoes to do something with. Those two lone tomatoes are the last of the Brandywines so we are really going to enjoy a couple of toasted tomato sandwiches! They will be the last decent toasted tomato sandwiches of the year but will keep our mouth watering for next year's crop.
I will be doing clean picks until a good frost which likely won't happen for a couple of days or more given that we are in a pocket where we enjoy a bit of warming effect from the water. There will be smaller amounts of vegetable coming in and today if it is dry I will be harvesting herbs. I'm still bringing in clippings as well. There are a few busy harvest days ahead yet, if we are lucky :)
I spent the morning bringing in plants and doing a bit of picking in the garden. The weather is still quite nice but it's easy to see it is turning. The weather forecast for today is a low of 0ºC and a low of -3ºC tomorrow making the possibility of a frost all that much closer. I decided it would be prudent to make a clean pick of the remaining vegetables. That way if we get a frost they won't be lost. We are in a slight pocket where the warming effects of the water is felt so it will likely still be a few more days before we get a frost.
We still haven't had our first frost so things are still trickling in from the garden. I don't clean out the garden beds until after first frost which kills off the plants making clean out a bit easier. Leaving the plants also protects the soil a bit from erosion. Many of the farmers here have gone to leaving the stubble in the fields rather than plow the field under for the same reason. The stubble also helps reduce drifting snow.
I brought a couple more tomato clippings indoors. I may dig up one of the California Wonder pepper plants to bring indoors as well. I have a pot of onions that I will likely bring indoors too. Our house is on the market again but I'm making garden plans here just in case as well as garden plans for our vacation home. We have a house in mind that if we sell which is iffy because the market has softened we'd like to buy. It has a good sized yard for gardening as well. So once again gardening plans are up in the air but still going forward and the nice thing about plans is they can always be changed.
Oldest and youngest grandchildren visited yesterday. On their way to the car after our visit we stopped to check out the garden. Imagine oldest grandchild's squeals of delight at spotting this beautiful leopard frog. This is the first time I've seen a frog in the garden. It sure was a pleasant surprise.
My gosh! Like many I've complained about the local growing conditions this year. It was certainly by any stretch of the imagination brutal. Autumn has arrived and guess what despite warnings of an early frost we haven't had one. That means I'm still harvesting peppers, tomatoes, herbs and chard. It really is nice after having such a nasty season that we are seeing an extended harvest.
If you have been following this blog you will know that I now garden in two very different hardiness zones. My home hardiness zone is Canadian Hardiness Zone 6A but our vacation home is in US Hardiness Zone 9B. I am learning so much about gardening in a warmer climate! We were out doing a little yard work and discovered this huge and I do mean huge spider. We have large funnel spiders as home but that did not prepare me for this huge spider! It had to be about 4 times the size of a large funnel spider. To get an idea of the size of this spider each siding strip from straight edge on the bottom to cove edge on the top is 4 - inches. The spider stretched out would span most of that 4 - inches! Needless to say we have a healthy new respect for gardening gloves!
I should mention that I was as far as we can tell bit by something shortly after arriving. My hand swelled horribly with a very tender lump then it turned just about every shade of purple you could imagine with my knuckles a bright red. It took a good week for the swelling to start going down. After three weeks the bruising is almost gone but the tender lump remains. As long as I'm seeing signs of healing I'm not concerned but in hindsight I likely should have had it checked because if bit again by the same critter the reaction will likely be a lot worse. As a result I have been doing a fair amount of research in what to be on the look-out for in US Zone 9B. There definitely are a couple of venomous snakes, brown recluse spiders and fire ants to watch out for.
A couple of weeks ago we went down to the clubhouse for dinner. Surrounding the clubhouse are lovely raised garden beds as well as traditional style. What is really nice is they have placards with the names of many of the plants to help other residents in the community identify the plants they may want to use in their own gardens. A cute little salamander darted about then right on cue posed for his photoshoot. As amphibians go, salamanders are a bit more of the cute size. I love watching the geckos too and while I enjoy photographing the alligators I am sure to keep a safe distance from them!
We are back homeside after being away for a couple of weeks. It wasn't the ideal time to go away with respect to the garden but it was a much needed break for us. I can't believe what a difference a bit of time away from the gardens made. Apparently we got a fair amount of rain because the lawns look lovely. They are nice and green! The herb bed is doing wonderful and I just picked oodles of hot peppers for canning. The tomatoes didn't fare as well with too much rain that caused splitting. Still there were a few stragglers to pick. I did end up losing my potted grapevine and one horseradish but all of a sudden my onions are back. So it's been an interesting return to my home garden after having a bit of fun at my vacation garde :)
Plumbago auriculata is a very popular garden plant in Zone 9B where our vacation home is. This is an evergreen bush with showy blue flowers that remind me of phlox. I think it is quite pretty so will be planting a few bushes at our vacation home. Propagation is by semiripe tip cuttings in the spring or by seed. However, the nurseries in the area sell potted bushes for planting. Isn't it a pretty bush?
Now that our gardening season is starting to wind down with the ADFF quickly approaching, I am looking for a few winter gardening projects to test out. This year was quite dry throughout the summer creating problems with the container plants that easily dried out just a couple of hours after watering. I didn't use the watering globes outdoors but I did use the SoilMoistTMgranules on some of the inedible planters. Nothing seemed to help this year so I'm going to start experimenting with self watering containers.
I am going to try a couple of styles of homemade self watering containers. The following video shows the first type I am going to try. This is a very practical set-up that should cost about $5 using recycled materials. It will cost more in potting soil than materials. Potting soil will have a better wicking action than garden soil but I will likely experiment with a homemade soil mixture to use. What I like about this design is the container is large enough for several vegetable varieties. With a bit of modification the container can sit inside a wooden container so it will look nice as well. I will likely use a piece of PVC pipe that we have left over from plumbing repairs rather than try to find plastic water bottles.
There are many ways to get seeds for your garden with one of the most popular being through seed catalogues. Another popular method is collecting seeds from plants growing in your garden. If you join a local garden club they usually offer a seed an/or plant exchange. You can also get seeds from family and friends who garden. All of these methods are great ways to get seeds. One method of getting seeds is through a seed bank.
A seed bank is usually run by one or two gardening enthusiasts but in some cases is run by a gardening group. Seed banks have slightly different rules based on who is running them. In general, you put in a request for the seeds you would like along with any seeds you have to offer. Some seed banks request you donate seeds to help keep the seed bank well stocked. Most ask that you send a SASE with your request as well. In return they will send you 5 to 10 seeds of the requested variety if they have it. The number of seeds will be based on both supply and demand.
There are a few things to be aware of if using a seed bank. First most seed banks are run by volunteers or individual garden enthusiasts who are not paid. They are simply doing this because they love gardening and want to help fellow gardeners. As such they are always very appreciative if you can donate seeds to their seed bank. It is also considered rude to request too many seed varieties so keep that in mind when making your request. In general requesting 2 to 4 varieties is acceptable with a seed donation depending on the seed bank. Don't expect more than 5 to 10 seeds of any one variety. The may be a lower germination rate for seeds from a seed bank. The reason for lower germination rate is seed banks accept seed donations that may be collected from gardeners ranging from very inexperienced to very experienced. The seed bank has no way of knowing the gardener's experience or how the seeds were treated during and after collection. As with an item being sent through the mail there may be delays and in some cases the envelop may get lost. Another thing to consider is where the seed bank is located. If it is outside of your country there may be some restrictions as to what you can order. Check with Customs first before requesting seeds from seed banks in other countries. I have not heard of any problems but then I've only dealt with seed banks in Canada.
Happy Gardening!
When it comes to gardening, the choice of what to grow is reduced to heirloom varieties or hybrids. By far I prefer heirloom varieties because I can save the seeds that breed true. Seed can be saved from hybrids and I do but quite often they do not breed true. There are also asexual propagation restrictions on some hybrid varieties.
One commentator asked me back in the spring if I could list the heirloom varieties that I grow. Here is my list and it does change from year to year as I try other heirloom varieties. Those marked with an asterisk (*) are heirloom varieties I am planning on growing in 2011 in addition to the others listed. I've likely missed a lot of heirlooms on our property especially the non-edible varieties. In addition to this list I would consider the majority of the herbs I grow as heirloom varieties.
There are many benefits to joining a local garden club. Not only do you get to interact with other gardeners you can get a lot of growing tips as well a exchange clippings and seeds. We have a local garden club where we live as well as a garden club where our vacation home is. I think they are a great way to extend your gardening knowledge while meeting other gardeners!
Happy Gardening!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
I am a wife, mother and grandma who enjoys the many aspects of homemaking. A variety of interests and hobbies combined with travel keep me active. They reflect the importance of family, friends, home and good food.
