July Garden Photos

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

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

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!

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

Trilliums at Tryon Creek State Park

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!

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

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!