What's Blooming in My Garden-- June 1, 2009

The buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) cover crop is coming into its own and beginning to pull in the beneficials.


Two species of Stellaria here. On the left is Stellaria graminea, otherwise known as Lesser Stitchwort. On the right is the much more common and far tastier chickweed (Stellaria media).


A second unidentified peony (Paeonia spp.).


Here you can see the lesser stitchwort growing under our front maple. That's Annie's hand in the background to give you some idea of just how teeny tiny the flowers of this particular herb are.

Still blooming from last week: raspberries, onions, chives, sage, unidentified yellow flower.

Rabbitnip

My poor, poor catnip.

Apparently, cats aren't the only critters who love catnip. I walked out to the garden a few days ago and noticed that my catnip, which has flourished unscathed for the past three years, was nearly gone! My immediate thought was to heap the blame on the neighborhood felines who frequently climb our privacy fence to hunt in our yard, but later that day I was standing at the backdoor and noticed a little ball of fur by the devastated catnip patch. Long ears, twitching nose, cute little cottontail... It was a rabbit! I've rarely seen them in our garden, but we always find bunny prints in the backyard snow during our winter nature walks. They've never bothered the catnip before though. It must have been a particularly lovely crop this year.

Buns love catnip. Who knew.

What's Blooming in My Garden-- May 25, 2009

Happy Memorial Day everyone. Be safe and keep our brave ones in your hearts.


If you thought I had it all figured out in my garden, you'd be wrong. I'm not actually sure what this flower is. It showed up right next to my lavender, and it's too pretty to pull.


The first flowers of sage (Salvia officinalis) in my garden. These blossoms are on a three-year-old plant that I started from seed. Yes, I'm a proud mama! :)


These lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) actually bloomed last week, but I forgot to photograph them because I'd cut them all and brought them indoors. They are one of the few flowers in my garden that I almost always cut because the scent reminds me of my grandmother.

Still blooming from last week: raspberries, onions, chives.

What's Blooming in My Garden-- May 18, 2009

Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to start recording what's blooming when! Here we go...


One of the unidentified peonies (Paeonia spp.) planted by previous owners. I couldn't adore them more! The smell is divine and can permeate my house even after the blooms I've cut and placed in a vase have returned to the compost pile.


The blueberries (Vaccinium, sect. Cyanococcus) are in bloom! Now we just wait patiently...


The latest bloomer of all the random tulips (Tulipa spp.) previous owners scattered throughout the garden beds. This one is nestled right beside a blueberry bush because it had previously been so shaded by the overgrown bushes I removed to replace with the blueberries that I didn't even know it was there. This is its first year blooming since I've lived here.


Star of Bethlehem, Ornithogalum umbellatum, which is enormously prolific here in my garden, also planted by the previous owners. They now grow beneath the raspberry bushes.


Raspberry (Rubus spp.) blossom. A homely flower which begets a gorgeous berry.


Bloomin' onions (Allium cepa)! I left these onions, planted last spring from seed, in their bed overwinter to see what would happen. Here's the result.


The purple, globular flowers of the common chives (Allium schoenoprasum) always make me smile. Such a soft, delicate bloom for a robust smelling herb. These are third year chives which have bloomed for the first time this year because I commanded that Annie not eat them completely to the dirt this spring.


Okay, okay. I didn't grow these. These blooms were my Mother's Day gifts, one from my husband and children and one from my best friend. I'm not much of a cut flowers type of gal, but it's always good to know someone cares. :)

Free Labor! (or Dave, You'll Have to Suffer Through More Ugly!)

Nothing I love more than something for nothing. Did that make any sense? :)

I'd been on the fence for a long while (like, over a year... you all know I'm a Virgo, right?) about what to do with the Spiraea fronting our bungalow. They were here when we moved in, but there was always this very awkward gap between the bush right next to the steps and the rest of the hedge. When we had our fence put in, I tried to transplant two of the Spiraea's that were in the back of the house into that gap, but they promptly died on me. I don't think I got enough of the root. Those suckers were HUGE and well established. So, the gap stayed. And stayed. And stayed. And drove me nuts.

But one day, one fine and glorious day when I realized that the rest of my yard and house were in shambles because of my indecisiveness, I made a decision. *enter the heavenly chorus* I posted my Spiraea to Freecycle. If they'd dig 'em up, they could have 'em.

Before:


After:

All the twiggy looking stuff you see there is mown English ivy, the bane of my garden. And yes, I'm still frantically trying to convince The Husband that ripping off that dreadful dun-colored aluminum siding would be a good thing.

I got an amazing number of willing volunteers and actually had to hold specific bushes for people. It was pretty crazy!

Do I have any regrets? No. Well, okay, maybe one. Nearly every house in the neighborhood has these same bushes somewhere on their property, so I kinda feel like I'm outta the club or am breaking some sacred neighborhood vow of unity. But then again, every house in the neighborhood has these same bushes. The truth is, these bushes were taller than me, which made it very difficult and dangerous for me to try to trim them. The Husband sure wasn't gonna do it. Oh, and those bushes collected garbage like you wouldn't believe. Never OUR garbage of course. Just whatever was tumblin' down the street on those fine blustery days here in good ole O-H. You wouldn't BELIEVE the amount of trash I found lurking under and behind them. They really look their best when they can run wild and free too which just made our house look sloppy. Their blossom laden boughs were always gorgeous, but I'd rather have something useful there (and there will be something useful there... someday).

I have big plans for the space, but they won't get done this year. I've bigger fish to fry, as always seems to be the case with old houses and young gardens. I'm okay with that though. I finally made a decision in under two years! It's a miracle!

And did I mention that I got people to dig out my pain-in-the-rear bushes FOR FREE!?

Goin' to the Dogs

Last summer's garden

Believe it or not, I AM putting things in the ground this year. I didn't really know how much I'd actually get to with such a new babe around the homestead, but I decided to take it in slow, small increments and see how I fared. I'm trying to get one bed planted a day, and it's been going well (not counting the rain... oh! the rain!). I am truly the sort of dame that revels in having her hands (and feet and knees and face) dirty, so it's been blissful tying the baby to my back and setting about my work in the garden. Unfortunately, there's one thing ruining it all for me.

Dog poop.

And I don't even have a dog.

For whatever reason my neighbors, whose yard is actually smaller than my teeny yard (you can see their house in the picture above), decided to get not one, not two, not three, but FOUR dogs. Whaaa? They got a puppy last year shortly after they moved into the house, and the poor pup spent all his time outdoors in the kennel come rain, shine, snow, hail or whatever. No dog house. It was dreadful. Now they have all four of the dogs in the kennel! Everytime I go out to do my garden chores, I am beset by the foul fecal smell of those animals. Now, I love dogs. I may be a cat person, but I love dogs too. But come on! Four medium-sized dogs in a kennel meant for one? And no poo cleanup!?

In a neighborhood as closely packed as this one, there has to be a little consideration for your fellow human beings, don't you think? I mean, I asked them before I decided to bring bees onto the homestead, and I nixed the idea because my canine-lovin' neighbor is allergic. Where's the love?

The First Greening

Here in Ohio, we know that the warm temperatures are probably a temporary thing. There's likely to be another big snow or a batch of freezing rain or some other weather phenomenon to send us slinking back into our warm homes. Still, I can smell spring in the air and am reveling in the little bits of green beginning to poke through. So much to look forward to...


Primula poking through the leaf mulch


Moss in the fairy garden


New leaves sprouting on the Quinault strawberries

Come back to me green! Oh, how I love thee!

Out in the Cold

Snow on Echinacea seed heads

There are only 69 days between now and my due date. I'm hard at work during the day feathering my nest and shouting out frustration at how slowly things are going. Why can't I decide on curtains for the bedroom? We need double doors on our closet for real efficiency! How am I ever going to fit two girls into one room, let alone three!?

My nights, on the other hand, are spent in fierce debate with The Husband over where, when, and how to have this baby. Not exactly what I'd planned to be doing at this point, but it needs to be done. I'm doing my best to keep a positive attitude and an open heart, knowing that regardless of the details, this baby will be born and will be loved. And I will recover. Slowly or quickly, I will recover.

How I SHOULD Have Prepared My Garden For Winter

Yesterday we were a little surprised to get quite the snow flurry. It was wet, packing snow too. Mondays are errand days for me, so I was out and about and thinking of all the things I still haven't done to prepare my garden for winter. Between the kids being ill, me being ill, and the rain we've had for the last week or so, I am sorely behind. Still on the to-do list:

-Rake all leaves (which only ceased falling a couple of days ago) onto garden beds
-Cover compost piles
-Find something to do with the billion and a half pebbles filling the children's sled and every single plastic pot I own
-Wash all outdoor toys and bring to basement for duration of winter
-Clean patio area
-Move large rocks from backyard to frontyard for border
-Remove hose from spigot and store
-Clean all garden tools
-Mulch blueberry bushes with pine needles

We're supposed to get more snow Sunday, but I hope that this slight bit we have now will melt before then so that I can get my behind in gear! How is everyone else doing on winter prep?

Today's Harvest

The past 24 hours have been a little hectic, so we spent today digging potatoes in the garden, ripping up our sunflowers, corn, and tomato plants, and wondering what in the world to do with the bed still overflowing with prickly borage.

Last night wasn't nearly so much fun. I spent a couple of hours in the ER after not feeling the baby move for 48 hours and waking up at 7am with mild cramping. I'm not the type to run to a doctor, but The Husband was worried enough to come home early from work, so off I went. Before I left, The Husband pressed his cheek to my tummy and told the baby that he loved it and he knew it'd be all right. "Behave for your Mommy, okay?" One last kiss to my stomach. "I'd feel better if the baby had a name," I said without knowing why.

It took the nurse nearly 20 minutes to find the baby's heartbeat. I was sweating bullets, even though I know that ER nurses aren't nearly as adept at this sort of thing as a nurse or doc at an OB/GYN office. Finally, we heard the heartbeat, and at that exact moment, my little one let out an enormous kick and bounced that doppler right off of my stomach. I know, little one. I should never have disturbed you.

I was ready to go home at that point, but the doctor had different ideas, of course. I had a full battery of blood work drawn, gave a urine sample, and was wheeled in for an ultrasound, grumbling all the way. Once I heard baby's heart beating, I knew things were fine. It was glorious to see that baby moving on the ultrasound screen though! The first question from the woman doing the ultrasound was whether or not I wanted to know the sex. Daniel had made a point of telling me before I left for the hospital that I'd better find out the sex of the baby if given the chance. He knows all too well that I'd rather be surprised, but this pregnancy has been all about compromise, so I agreed. As soon as the image shifted to that secret spot between the baby's legs, I knew it was a girl. Though I'd been getting boy vibes for the whole pregnancy, I wasn't surprised. The one name we had agreed on had been for a girl. The baby had had her name all along.

Armed with new ultrasound photos to show the kids, a handful of Vicodin (what? Doesn't your doctor prescribe Vicodin for adominal pain that you've described as mild and a 2 on a scale of 1-10?), and a "diagnosis" connecting my normally low blood pressure with a lethargic but undistressed baby (yeah, right), I finally got in the car and rambled on home. The Husband was relieved, as was I. I still couldn't get her to move today until I decided to put some pressure on my uterus. Then she poked delicately at my hand.

Airius had some trouble adjusting to the idea of a baby sister this morning. After all, the boy had flipped a coin and been told our baby was a boy! He's coming around though. I told him we may still keep the baby in his room for awhile, which is what he really wants. He's jealous that his sisters always have each other for company. Maybe we'll move the twins back in together and let The Bean share a room with the baby. I don't know. Anyone have any suggestions?



Today's harvest, artfully arranged by garden girl Annie in a basket received from a Freecycle offer. I'll talk more about the results of the garden in another post, but for now I'm resting with my children, those in the here and now and those whose faces I have yet to see. Love, love, love.

What's Blooming in My Garden-- September 26, 2008

The elusive Holy Grail of my garden, a blooming Corno di Toro pepper (Capsicum annuum). This picture was taken in late August, so we do actually have just a few peppers ripening in the garden now. It's a miracle!


A volunteer globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa). I'm not at all fond of the fuschia color of the bracts, but my Scorpio Sun daughter loves it. It was she who picked out the amaranth at the nursery last year. I was lazy last year and did not collect seeds, but this year I will because Annie really loves this plant.


My unidentified wild aster, which I pretty much let have the run of the yard. The beneficials love this plant come September when most other blooms are spent. The bush, and this does get huge enough to call a bush, just thrums with the humming and activity of various insects. Wherever I've lived (excluding California), this plant has followed. I lean towards Heath aster (Symphyotricum ericoides) as the species, but I'm just not certain. Anyone wanna weigh in?


Night-blooming and very fragrant moonflower vine (Ipomoea alba). I have yet to build a trellis structure that can adequately maintain this vine's vigorous growth. Still, I love nothing more than sitting on my porch in the moonlight, surrounded by the luminescent glow and the intoxicating scent of these beauties.


'Dark Opal' basil's (Ociumum basilicum) delicate flowers.


The sky blue cousin of the moonflower vine, morning glories (Ipomoea spp.) are as cheerful as moonflowers are mysterious. In our garden, this is their first year, and I can already tell that I'm going to have to keep a close eye on these stranglers.


One of my equinox gifts, a delicately shaded purple aster which shall ever after be known as Equinox Aster at our homestead. It is possibly New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), but that is as yet unconfirmed.

Mystery Squash

When this squash vine came up in the exact spot that I'd planted our Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins last year, I assumed that it was a volutary reseeding of said pumpkin. After all, I didn't grow any other squash last year, hadn't planted any squash anywhere near that spot this year, and none of my neighbors grow squash. Then the fruit in the picture began to form, and I was a bit surprised by its skinny, elongated form. The vine succumbed to powdery mildew along with the rest of my planted squash vines, but this fruit survived. It was dark green with some striation, so then I thought that perhaps some zucchini had been tossed that way (my yard also happens to be my neighbor's personal landfill, apparently). But lo and behold! After the vine had perished, the squash began to ripen... to orange.

I'm not sure if it's a Jack-o-Lantern pumpkin that just happens to be very oddly shaped, or if it's something else entirely, but we won't be letting it go to waste. I brought it inside finally, and when it ripens further, I'll slice it up and try my grandma's fried squash recipe on it.

What's Blooming in My Garden-- August 31, 2008

It's been awhile since I've posted what's blooming in my garden. It's not that nothing new has been blooming, it's just that I've been... off. Today, though, I'm catching up!


The surprisingly lovely violet blossoms of black turtle beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). The pods are purple too! Love it.


My current favorite plant, marshmallow (Althaea officinalis). Marshmallow is mostly considered a biennial, but this blossom appears on a first-year plant. I'll leave some of these "early" bloomers and see if they come back next year, but I'm digging up the roots of some this year for various sorts of medicine.


Another squash blossom, this time Early Prolific Yellow Straightneck (Cucurbita pepo). Not so prolific in my garden. This blossom, captured in the camera a couple of weeks ago, is long since gone. Its parent plant has fallen almost completely to powdery mildew (my fault, I know).


Store-bought potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) setting flowers. These have since been followed by fruit typical of all the Nightshade family plants.


Tasty and cheerful nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus). Last year, plants from this same seed were enormous! This year, they're limping along. Of course, it could be my insistence on not watering this year... or the fact that they weren't planted until, like, June... or the fact that they're being shaded by the corn, buckwheat, and asparagus ferns... or...


The marigolds (Tagetes spp.) are doing their very best to keep non-existant pests from the non-existant peppers. *sigh*



Helping along those workhorse marigolds is a lonely little sweet basil plant (Ocimum basilicum). I think my seed was old. Then again, they are in the failure of a pepper bed. Hmmmm... I think a little more water would have been appreciated. Since this basil was hardy enough to make it, despite the odds against it, I'm letting it go to seed. A plant that tenacious should have its lineage continued, right?

There are more flower pictures to come, but I think this is enough for this week. Hope all your gardens are blooming prolifically!

A Good Evening

It's been a long and stressful week, culminating in a trip (an hour each way) to the pediatrician for a 5min. checkup on The Bean this morning. Much earlier than I wanted to wake up too. I was exhausted all day and had no hope of catching a nap.

I've been following the advice of the Shakers and not watering my well established veggies. They've been on their own all summer, and I was about to break down and water the tomatoes at least today because our first green little orb has shown up. Mother Nature is good, though, and we got a nice shower tonight. I don't know if it was enough to even really soak the ground, but we'll see in the morning. Craving some solitude and communion with my plants, I stepped out into the soft shower and started to look around. Lo and behold! Our first Kentucky Wonder beans have come in. I was absolutely shocked for some reason, but I got so excited that I picked the ones in sight and ran in the house hoopin' and hollerin'. That drew Annie from her play, and she joined me in the dank evening to harvest. She tucked a glittering calendula bloom behind her ear and clutched our bean collection in both hands. A proud moment for sure!


Things got even more satisfying when I noticed this bulge amongst our Golden Bantam sweet corn. I was really beginning to doubt that we'd have any corn between the various storms that toppled our stalks early on and the odd spacing (thank you, squirrels!). Here's hoping I can get to this when it's nice and ripe before the city critters move in on it. I may need to do some hand pollination on this crop, but if we get just a few ears of sweet corn this year, it'll all be worth it. So many people don't grow corn because of the space it takes and its notoriety for not pollinating, but I just can't imagine a year without corn.


It wasn't all good news though. This picture shows the remains of a sunflower head in the yard. Someone's been getting to them other than me. Really, I don't mind all that much. Part of the reason I'm growing sunflowers is because they provide such good, rich food for the wildlife, and I'm all about sharing my bounty. But man this was a massacre! I'm not sure what did it or why because it doesn't seem that much was eaten. Maybe the culprit realized that the seeds weren't quite ripe. I don't really know, but hopefully we won't find this waste again. I'll leave you with a wider picture of the garden, showing the buckwheat cover crop in Bed 1 and the Three Sisters bed. You can also see some of the sunflower border that runs along one part of the fence. That's my neighbor's house in the background, not mine.

What's Blooming in My Garden-- July 28, 2008

Today is my 6th wedding anniversary, so though I had a long, informative post planned, I'm saving it for tomorrow. Nyah nyah! Instead you get...


The sweet blossoms of Rouge Vif D'Etampes squash. What girl can garden without THE Cinderella pumpkin?


A lone Johnny Jump-Up (Viola cornuta) that managed to survive one of my urban homesteader idiotic moments.


Pokeweed (Phytolacca spp.) flowers. When the inky berries form, I'll use them for dye.


Ohhhhhh! *rubs her hands greedily* The (directly seeded, late planted) Brandywine tomatoes (Lycopersicon lycopersicum) are finally setting blossoms. I can't wait to taste those first tomatoes, warmed by the sun...


My poor butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii), which was planted last year and transplanted this year. I have a terrible track record when it comes to transplanting bushes, so I'm uber glad this one managed to stick around.


My Achilles heel, the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), finally abloom. Sweet, sweet success.