Misty Rambles

Veggie Garden Start

2010-02-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

It's been so beautiful here for the past week; sunny and warm! I found myself browsing the seed selection at my local store, and yes, I even bought some. Tom Thumb lettuce, Regal Hybrid spinach, and Nelson Hybrid carrots, all from Territorial Seed Company which sells seeds and plants that do well here in the Pacific Northwest.

After that, I just had to visit my garden and see how it's been doing all winter. I cleared out some dried up vines from peas, tomatos, and some marigold stems, and did a bit of weeding. If I'd started earlier in the day I might have just planted a few of the seeds just to see how they'd grow! But, it was late and the sun was beginning to set, so I lingered to enjoy the last rays of sun and warmth, and then headed home.

Spring is not far away!!!

Northwest Flower & Garden Show

2010-02-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

Taking place through this weekend, in Seattle, and unfortunately I won't be there! Here's the website for the show: http://www.gardenshow.com/seattle/index/ for more information.

Their "Garden Tip of the Week" is to "Build a worm bin for your kitchen!" Such excitement about worms--in the house, no less! I've considered it but somehow, even in winter when a trip to the outdoor composter is something I put off longer than I should, a box of wriggling worms under my sink doesn't have a lot of appeal. However, my cats might find it quite a wonderful new toy--box of live, wriggling stringy things that can provide endless fun. No, think I'll skip it for now.

Fossil Flowers and Op-Art Fish

2010-01-18T21:48:00.000-08:00

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture blog recently posted some of their curators' favorite acquisitions over the past year. Favorites included a collection of Washington spiders (35,000 of them!), an incredible op-art looking fish, called a Psychedelic Frogfish (which also made Time's top 10 as number 6: "The World's Weirdest Fish." Also on the Burke curators list (listed in Part 2) were a Brontothere skull, and my favorites (along with the fish) a 15 million-year-old fossil seastar from the Olympic National Park, and some 50 million-year old fossil flowers from British Columbia.

I was happy to see that they posted a photo of the cases containing the spider specimens rather than the actual arachnids, but I was not too happy to see the hyena skin (with a tag through its eye). To see the fish minus spider and dead hyena pics, check out the Time Magazine article--it shows quite a dramatic shot of the fish.

Of course you knew there would be photos...

2009-11-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

And here they are.

Cleaning up at the end of the season

2009-11-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

There's still plenty of work to do before the garden is ready for winter, but I've cleared off all the plants that were done for the season. Those that are left are looking a bit sad; even the scarecrows are ready for a rest!

There was a red-winged blackbird perched on a dried up sunflower when I first arrived, but it quickly took flight, leaving me to my solitary labors. A few hardy survivors continue on, including some sugar snap peas, and edible chrysanthemums I planted just to try. The peas are delicious but too few :-( to make a good dinner. As for the chrysanthemums, I prefer their appearance to their taste.

Tomatoes, potatoes, and miscellaneous August garden views

2009-08-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

In other words, more veggie garden photos.

First tomatoes and more

2009-08-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I spent several hours doing some serious work in the garden, ripping out weeds and too many plants that had gone to seed. I'm saving some of the seeds and hope to plant them next year. Friday was the heavy work day, Saturday I planted more seeds for a late harvest of peas, lettuce, carrots, and cauliflower. I don't really know whether there's enough time left for any of these veggies to grow before winter sets in but this is my year to experiment.

The yellow pear tomatoes and the mystery small red tomatoes (cherry/sun gold/sweet 100?) are doing quite well. Found more blue potatoes when I went to plant the carrot seeds. Today's lunch was leftover eggplant Parmesan I made with the funny little white eggplants a local college agriculture program donated to the garden.

Surprisingly, Saturday was a very quiet day at the garden! Friday there were many people there. Workers at the adjacent farm, families with children touring the garden and harvesting from their family plots, and solitary gardeners like me catching up on the weeding and harvesting that was too hot to do earlier made it a lively place. But Saturday there were very few people there, and after watering the garden, I sat and enjoyed the relative solitude. Hummingbirds zoomed across the gardens in what looked like a game of tag; one even perched on one of my tomato cages, but not long enough for me to get out the camera and take a photo. Finches were busy harvesting sunflower seeds and racing around, chattering away at one another. Corn stalk leaves rustled with the wind. It all reminded me of why I like gardening; besides the satisfaction of helping things grow and getting delicious, fresh food in exchange for a little work, it provides a space to connect with the natural world, and refreshes the spirit.

A profusion of greenery

2009-08-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

One last post of July garden images, and then I'll be caught up. As you can see, the garden was really in full bloom by mid-July, and a few plants, notably the bok choy and radishes, had already blossomed and gone to seed.

The Swiss chard and green lettuce did very well until August, when they finally gave up after a week of over 90 degree heat. I didn't spend too much time in the garden that week; just made sure to water daily and then headed back to cooler places.

The sunflowers didn't seem to mind the heat at all.

July Garden Photos

2009-08-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

Here's the same corner view that was in the May image.

Red-leaf spinach, basil, sunflower and tomato cage in the background

Nasturtiums everywhere!

By July everything was thriving, and the nasturtiums were all over the garden, as were the sunflowers!

Feathery fennel and potato leaves in the foreground

Did I mention the potatoes and fennel that I planted? Or the giant squash--maybe zucchinis--that appeared in another corner of the garden?

May Veggie Garden Update

2009-08-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

Flowering chives plant from a neighbor's garden

In May I planted seeds and seedlings, including one yellow pepper plant protected from the cold by a plastic water-filled wrap.

First planting

A well-protected pepper plant

The flowering chives plant is from a neighboring garden. In my garden I planted the pepper seedling, a couple of spinach seedlings, and some basil, yellow pear tomatoes, pole beans, lettuce, bok choy, radishes, and zucchini. The nasturtium leaves just emerging invited themselves, as did several other plants, but more about them later.

My veggie garden in April

2009-08-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time for garden visits this summer. Among other activities I've been busy with my community garden plot. So, to fill in the gaps, here are some pics of my vegetable garden as it appeared in April.

The view in mid-April shows that there wasn't much there but a compost bin and some dirt!

At that time there was also a resident Killdeer whose nest was next to one corner of the garden and who was very upset every time I tried to plant. She would fly into my garden and limp along, dragging one wing behind her to lead me away from her nest.

Lilacs!

2009-05-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

From the Duniway Park Lilac Garden. Just pics for now, more later....

Trilliums at Tryon Creek State Park

2009-04-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

Since I mentioned trilliums previously, here are a few pictures of trilliums and Tryon Creek State Park from last spring.

The Friends of Tryon Creek State Park sponsor a yearly trillium festival and native plant sale -- http://www.tryonfriends.org/events/trillium_festival.html -- which is happening this weekend (April 4th and 5th) so I wanted to make sure to post these before that event takes place this year!

Almost Spring!

2009-03-16T18:22:00.001-07:00

And so, once again, I'm in the mood for gardens! This year I've got a spot in a local community garden and last Saturday was the first day for volunteers to help get the new plots ready. It was rainy, blustery, and cold! But none of the new gardeners get our plots until they are all ready, so it was worth the effort!

Volunteers were rewarded with some free onion and potato starts too.

New direction

2008-03-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

We've had some mild temperatures and sunshine here over the past few weeks, and that has encouraged the daffodils to bloom. Those cheerful yellow flowers have got me searching for other signs of Spring. The mild and rainy Pacific Northwest winters provide a perfect climate for growing many types of plants, and there are a variety of wonderful public gardens in the region. Why not explore some of these gardens, and perhaps learn something more about the landscape and the history of this place at the same time?

My goal is to visit one garden a week through the summer. Of course I couldn't wait to get started. Because it is still early in the growing season, I wanted to start with a garden that contained early-blooming plants. Well, I'm not a botanist, and definitely a long way from being a master gardener--most of my gardening experience consists of buying seasonal plants for a small collection of containers that live on the front porch, balcony, or wherever they fit. So, I began by looking around to see what was blooming in the neighborhood. Daffodils, Camellias, a few ambitious azaleas. I remembered hearing about a lilac garden in Portland's Duniway Park and decided to make that the site of my first garden visit. Aren't lilacs one of the first flowering shrubs to make a spectacular showing in the Spring?

Apparently not. The lilacs looked like they needed another few weeks before they'd be blossoming. So, it was on to plan B--Trilliums!

Winter blues

2008-01-01T19:27:00.001-08:00

Holiday guests, cold and gray days, short light and long nights all add up to the usual mid-winter slowdown. Sleep sounds appealing when I ought to be working. The good news is that now the solstice has passed, the days get brighter and longer. It just takes time. This morning I woke up early, before dawn, and sat in my living room which was lit only by the single string of Christmas lights around the big front window. It was peaceful, and the glow was just enough to watch the sunrise by. Not a bad start to the new year.