Moonrays on the floor of shed - not working
Moonrays on the shelves - working
Lanterns on the ladder proximal to shed door - weakly lit
Lanterns on the ladder distal to shed door - well lit
Saturday, 7 November, 2009
Saturday, 4 July, 2009
Mm.Mm. Radishes.
Having just harvested our first-ever home grown radishes, I can, with confidence and conviction, express my belief that any salad would benefit from the addition of some fresh-from-the-garden radishes...yum!
Sunday, 7 June, 2009
What's new
Lisa brought me some sweet woodruff and heirloom tomato plants from the Landon Library plant swap last weekend. She says we can expect a yield of yellow, green, orange and purple tomatoes!!
She and I went to Gathering on the Green yesterday and for just $5 I picked up some dill (M’s been asking for it), lady’s mantle, pulmonaria, and “Fresh Look Orange” celosia. I wasn’t familiar with this plant before, and I was drawn to its sunset-golden colour… I anticipate the celosia will add much needed contrast to my very green garden. I planted all four of them in a row in front of Stella, the cherry tree.
I planted the pulmonaria and lady’s mantle underneath the birches because just the other day I spent a couple of hours weeding out that whole area. Now it’s mostly houtynia under there. I do plan to add trilliums too, but I haven’t been out to harvest them yet.
Planted the dill on the edge of the veggie bed, only because it’s too leggy and weedy to plant elsewhere. Also sowed some spinach and wax bean seeds in there yesterday. A few days ago I sowed some mesclun seeds in the money tree pot, and some chervil out in the herb garden. Had some old scarlet phlox seeds as well, so I planted them in the front of the first tier of the raised bed.
Yesterday afternoon, from M’s sister’s garden, I received some pink and purple bachelor buttons, some kind of white-flowering ground cover, zebra grass (what a struggle to extract that clump!!), miscanthus, a trumpet vine and an oriental poppy as well as four surplus cherry tomato plants. Will have to dig all of these in this morning before the rain begins.
The hanging plants have taken very well and I’m regularly dead heading the petunias. The bidens are far more yellow than I hoped for, but still pretty.
Tradscantia is in bloom right now, just in the last day or so. Very pretty.
Our pole bean seedlings were doing beautifully – we had six healthy stalks – until the bleepin’ bunnies chomped the tops off!! I’ve replaced the cloches and have all digits crossed that they bounce back from that assault.
The ‘Rouge Cardinal’ clematis has finally started to show, and how exquisite! I love the colour – it’s like red wine velvet. The jackmanii is almost about to bloom too, and the darn thing jumped across to the other trellis and got itself all tangled up! It’s also snaked through the fence so we’ll see blossoms on the deck too. I’m not sad about that.
A couple weeks back my Mom brought me a ‘Marmalade’ coral bells, which I planted beside the other one in the only shady spot in the back yard. Within minutes, squirrels had uprooted and pulverized it, but rather than give up, I shoved whatever shredded roots I could find back into the soil and covered it with a cloche. And wouldn’tchya know it? The plucky little thing sprouted new leaves! I’m tickled pink! I won’t be fooled twice though – the cloche will remain in place for a good long time while the wee one establishes itself.
Portulaca, it turns out, had self-seeded in the clematis bed, but only in a couple of areas… I’ll spread them out & share the surplus with Lisa now that I can positively identify them.
Hibiscus finally made its appearance at the very end of May (26th), and since then a few dahlia and canna shoots have emerged as well… though it has been unseasonably cool for the last couple of weeks.
She and I went to Gathering on the Green yesterday and for just $5 I picked up some dill (M’s been asking for it), lady’s mantle, pulmonaria, and “Fresh Look Orange” celosia. I wasn’t familiar with this plant before, and I was drawn to its sunset-golden colour… I anticipate the celosia will add much needed contrast to my very green garden. I planted all four of them in a row in front of Stella, the cherry tree.
I planted the pulmonaria and lady’s mantle underneath the birches because just the other day I spent a couple of hours weeding out that whole area. Now it’s mostly houtynia under there. I do plan to add trilliums too, but I haven’t been out to harvest them yet.
Planted the dill on the edge of the veggie bed, only because it’s too leggy and weedy to plant elsewhere. Also sowed some spinach and wax bean seeds in there yesterday. A few days ago I sowed some mesclun seeds in the money tree pot, and some chervil out in the herb garden. Had some old scarlet phlox seeds as well, so I planted them in the front of the first tier of the raised bed.
Yesterday afternoon, from M’s sister’s garden, I received some pink and purple bachelor buttons, some kind of white-flowering ground cover, zebra grass (what a struggle to extract that clump!!), miscanthus, a trumpet vine and an oriental poppy as well as four surplus cherry tomato plants. Will have to dig all of these in this morning before the rain begins.
The hanging plants have taken very well and I’m regularly dead heading the petunias. The bidens are far more yellow than I hoped for, but still pretty.
Tradscantia is in bloom right now, just in the last day or so. Very pretty.
Our pole bean seedlings were doing beautifully – we had six healthy stalks – until the bleepin’ bunnies chomped the tops off!! I’ve replaced the cloches and have all digits crossed that they bounce back from that assault.
The ‘Rouge Cardinal’ clematis has finally started to show, and how exquisite! I love the colour – it’s like red wine velvet. The jackmanii is almost about to bloom too, and the darn thing jumped across to the other trellis and got itself all tangled up! It’s also snaked through the fence so we’ll see blossoms on the deck too. I’m not sad about that.
A couple weeks back my Mom brought me a ‘Marmalade’ coral bells, which I planted beside the other one in the only shady spot in the back yard. Within minutes, squirrels had uprooted and pulverized it, but rather than give up, I shoved whatever shredded roots I could find back into the soil and covered it with a cloche. And wouldn’tchya know it? The plucky little thing sprouted new leaves! I’m tickled pink! I won’t be fooled twice though – the cloche will remain in place for a good long time while the wee one establishes itself.
Portulaca, it turns out, had self-seeded in the clematis bed, but only in a couple of areas… I’ll spread them out & share the surplus with Lisa now that I can positively identify them.
Hibiscus finally made its appearance at the very end of May (26th), and since then a few dahlia and canna shoots have emerged as well… though it has been unseasonably cool for the last couple of weeks.
Saturday, 16 May, 2009
New plantings
Spent a few hours yesterday morning planting in the cannas, including the special 'phasion' canna, six of the dahlias bulbs, and the remaining two purple fountain grasses, all in the upper tier of the west bed.
Decided to plant the Sorbaria Sem in the shadiest part of the yard, under Lloyd's treeline. Looks at home there.
It poured last night so everything should be well watered in.
Also planted my very first ever hanging arrangement! I used the orange & yellow bidens which I bought from the plant sale Lisa took us to, along with a small white petunia and a pretty violet lobelia picked up at Rona y'day. I think it's going to look pretty (I hope, anyway) and as luck would have it, there'll be a twin hanging pot soon because I had fully double the plants I needed to fill the first pot!
I moved this guy (photo left) because he gets so big he obscured the view of the rose of Sharon behind him. I have no idea what this plant is though...
Yesterday I bought a President's Choice Chippewa Blueberry bush, a Tomato 'Health Kick', a red and a green pepper plant, and a cucumber plant. Picked up seeds for pumpkin, chervil, radish, spicy mesclun, spinach, pole beans, and a bag of shallot bulbs. I'm very excited to plant our first vegetable garden together. Hoping to spend some time Monday turning over and amending the soil for it, as well as constructing the barrier fence around the area.
Decided to plant the Sorbaria Sem in the shadiest part of the yard, under Lloyd's treeline. Looks at home there.
It poured last night so everything should be well watered in.
Also planted my very first ever hanging arrangement! I used the orange & yellow bidens which I bought from the plant sale Lisa took us to, along with a small white petunia and a pretty violet lobelia picked up at Rona y'day. I think it's going to look pretty (I hope, anyway) and as luck would have it, there'll be a twin hanging pot soon because I had fully double the plants I needed to fill the first pot!
I moved this guy (photo left) because he gets so big he obscured the view of the rose of Sharon behind him. I have no idea what this plant is though...
Yesterday I bought a President's Choice Chippewa Blueberry bush, a Tomato 'Health Kick', a red and a green pepper plant, and a cucumber plant. Picked up seeds for pumpkin, chervil, radish, spicy mesclun, spinach, pole beans, and a bag of shallot bulbs. I'm very excited to plant our first vegetable garden together. Hoping to spend some time Monday turning over and amending the soil for it, as well as constructing the barrier fence around the area.
Thursday, 14 May, 2009
2009!
Despite my best intentions, I haven't done any of the garden planning I'd hoped to do over winter. As it turns out, that doesn't matter because I have no money in the budget for gardening right now anyway! For Christmas my Love bought me Designing Your Gardens and Landscapes by Janet Macunovich, as well as a gardening colour wheel, graph paper pad & garden design stencil. Since I can't buy plants or tools or even mulch right now, I am focusing my gardening energy and enthusiasm in planning for when I do have some room in the budget. I'm reading the book and making lists and notes aplenty. I'll also take this opportunity to update my garden blog with both new observations and past notes I continually find stashed in various gardening and plant info books - I will be happy when it's all organized in this one spot for easy reference. Away we go...
May 10, 2009 Additions to the Garden (a la Mom's generosity):
Pink Cloud Beauty Bush (Kolkwitzia Amabilis)- will grow to 2m high and wide; requires full sun to light shade; blooms pink flowers in mid spring. Zone 4. I planted it just in front of the tippy lilac tree at the back of the yard where it can grow to be as big as it likes and will hide the mess of camp fire tinder behind it.
Purple Fountain Grass - this annual grass will grow to 4' high and 2' wide; requires full sun; blooms reddish-purple flower plumes in June. I have tried one out front (sort of a gamble but if it like it there, it'll make that little bed pop), and will plant the other two around the new Canna Phasion I picked up at Rona - probably along the west side fence midway back in the tiered bed.
Black Lace Elderberry - will grow to 2m high and wide; requires sun to part shade; blooms pink flowers in June. I planted it just beyond the east side tree line.
Sorbaria Sem - will grow to 1 m high and wide; best in part shade; a dwarf shrub with bright pink new shoots; blooms white flowers in summer. Haven't planted it yet because I'm not sure where to put it... am thinking it should go out front, but where exactly?? I don't want to have to move it next year when we start building the front porch (squee!!).
Plants just emerging in the back yard beds (May 10, 2009):
Other observations (same day):
decide where to plant multiple dahlia bulbs, parrot impatiens
plant cannas & calla lilies
prepare the area in front of the grasses as a vegetable garden
pour paths through and around veggie beds
trim boxwoods
weed under the boxwoods and plant full-sun loving ground cover
scrape out weeds from between stones in path to shed
move some hostas from the front yard to along the east side of the deck
dig out grass around trunks of Max & Spike and plant or mulch
edge the long garden
May 10, 2009 Additions to the Garden (a la Mom's generosity):
Pink Cloud Beauty Bush (Kolkwitzia Amabilis)- will grow to 2m high and wide; requires full sun to light shade; blooms pink flowers in mid spring. Zone 4. I planted it just in front of the tippy lilac tree at the back of the yard where it can grow to be as big as it likes and will hide the mess of camp fire tinder behind it.
Purple Fountain Grass - this annual grass will grow to 4' high and 2' wide; requires full sun; blooms reddish-purple flower plumes in June. I have tried one out front (sort of a gamble but if it like it there, it'll make that little bed pop), and will plant the other two around the new Canna Phasion I picked up at Rona - probably along the west side fence midway back in the tiered bed.
Black Lace Elderberry - will grow to 2m high and wide; requires sun to part shade; blooms pink flowers in June. I planted it just beyond the east side tree line.
Sorbaria Sem - will grow to 1 m high and wide; best in part shade; a dwarf shrub with bright pink new shoots; blooms white flowers in summer. Haven't planted it yet because I'm not sure where to put it... am thinking it should go out front, but where exactly?? I don't want to have to move it next year when we start building the front porch (squee!!).
Plants just emerging in the back yard beds (May 10, 2009):
- houtynia under the birches
- thyme & oregano
- some little red stalk with point-tipped green leaves just in front of Stella the cherry tree
- buds on the rose of Sharon (I was almost convinced this was dead)
- echinacea
- zebra grass beside the shed. The patch just past Spike (thorned Honeylocust tree) doesn't appear to have made it through the winter
Other observations (same day):
- William the trillium didn't survive :o(
- the cheddar pinks have sprouted babies in three locations around the mother plant
- 2 of the 3 delphineums have emerged. The red one didn't survive but it was my least fave anyway.
- scarlet phlox out front was poorly so I moved it to full sun among the rocks out back
decide where to plant multiple dahlia bulbs, parrot impatiens
plant cannas & calla lilies
prepare the area in front of the grasses as a vegetable garden
pour paths through and around veggie beds
trim boxwoods
weed under the boxwoods and plant full-sun loving ground cover
scrape out weeds from between stones in path to shed
move some hostas from the front yard to along the east side of the deck
dig out grass around trunks of Max & Spike and plant or mulch
edge the long garden
Tuesday, 30 September, 2008
Quick note just to say...
I would like to add some Efanthia wood spurge (?Efanthia Imprefant?) (Euphorbia amygdaloides hybrid (Proven Winner)) to the garden next year.
Thank you. Come again.
Monday, 15 September, 2008
Before & After
These B & A photos are of the same area, just shot from opposite ends.Same with this one (and I have no idea why I shot the before pic on such a weird angle).
I spent HOURS clearing a dense wall of weed in front of the cannas, but sadly I still have about 24' sq. to go.. sigh..
This 'after' shot is slightly to the right of the 'before' shot, but you get the idea.
Yet again, I hang my head in shame for how long it has taken me to post anything here. Granted, I did state at the outset of this gardening season that I wouldn't have time for much, if anything, in or around the garden. But as it turned out, I did spend some time planting, weeding, planning and yet I haven't written any of it here.
Today I re-dedicate myself to using this blog spot for the wonderful tool that it is - as a visual and anecdotal record of how things are growing around here.
I will eventually add a few catch-up posts, to record tidbits I may need to refer back to at some point, but starting today I will double my efforts to post more regularly, as things develop.
Sunday, 29 June, 2008
Updates as of June 22, 2008
- planted a cactus, campanula, lupins and spider flower (?) - all from Deb - under the cherry tree "Stella"
- goblin growing well and about to bloom 3 blossoms
- William is gone ... we assume something must have broken him off and eaten him. I only hope he returns next spring.
- callas and cannas are all growing up well. There are about 5 calla's in bloom
- planted four datura (from Deb) amongst boxwoods on either side of the path up to the shed - they took right away and now today (June 29, 2008) have all four bloomed!
- planted zebra grass - again, from Deb - at the back by the stump
- day lilies about to bloom
- astilbe growing well but no blossoms
- surprise appearance by a few dillweed plants in the rock garden
- cherry tomatoes have already produced six succulent, scrumptious fruits
- planted orange poppy (mid way in upper tier of rock garden) and mexican hat (mid way in lower tier) - both from Deb. Update to June 29th is that they both look terrible but the poppy doesn't even look alive :o(
- planted fuscia pincushion flower - from Deb - in far north upper tier. Had to pull back POUNDS of creeping charlie to make room though - arrrrghhh
- trumpet vine is 6" tall - again
- three new delphiniums - from Mom - all doing well. Update to June 29, 2008 is that all three are in full bloom - picks to follow
- tickseed is huge and bushy and feathery. June 29, 2008 - in full bloom
- two little trees are thriving in the upper tier of the rock garden - one is the Eastern Red Bud and the other is ... ?
- I weeded out the entire rock garden bed but left some tall, wild grass and those little blue wild flowers against the fence because I thought they were pretty
- planted pulmonaria - from Deb - out front, in peanut
- planted white bleeding heart - from Deb - out back, between shed & zebra grass
Tuesday, 24 June, 2008
May 24th
I'm quite behind in my posting, so here it is, a MONTH! since we planted "Max the Maple", and I'm only now recording his arrival. For shame.
Max is the name of a maple sapling that my mother saved as a struggling seedling just because she's that sweet. She has nurtured it through a couple of winters now, and recently decided it was tough enough to withstand the abuses of life in my yard.
Max is also the name of a beautiful dog, who used to reside with Marty's sister.
In the wee morning hours of May 24, 2008, poor Max died of some mystery illness at the far-too-young age of 18 months. He was and is very much loved by us all...
Later in the evening of the 24th, after several cries and hugs, after I'd headed out to work in the garden to get my mind on other things, and after I'd put in a good day's labour lost in thought, Marty and I strolled around the yard together. Me, pointing out what I'd moved or planted or weeded; Marty gazing off in the distance, no doubt wishing I'd fall in a hole.
In an effort to liven him up, as we walked toward the little maple sapling my Mom had given us and which I had just planted an hour earlier, I suggested he name it. Without missing a beat, almost reflexively, Marty came back with "Max". Felt like a reasonable tribute to our dear departed pup, so Max the Maple he be.
Max is the name of a maple sapling that my mother saved as a struggling seedling just because she's that sweet. She has nurtured it through a couple of winters now, and recently decided it was tough enough to withstand the abuses of life in my yard.
Max is also the name of a beautiful dog, who used to reside with Marty's sister.
In the wee morning hours of May 24, 2008, poor Max died of some mystery illness at the far-too-young age of 18 months. He was and is very much loved by us all...
Later in the evening of the 24th, after several cries and hugs, after I'd headed out to work in the garden to get my mind on other things, and after I'd put in a good day's labour lost in thought, Marty and I strolled around the yard together. Me, pointing out what I'd moved or planted or weeded; Marty gazing off in the distance, no doubt wishing I'd fall in a hole.
In an effort to liven him up, as we walked toward the little maple sapling my Mom had given us and which I had just planted an hour earlier, I suggested he name it. Without missing a beat, almost reflexively, Marty came back with "Max". Felt like a reasonable tribute to our dear departed pup, so Max the Maple he be.
Friday, 13 June, 2008
Hummingbird Juice
Recipe
Boil 4 cups water in the kettle
Measure into large measuring cup
Dissolve into it 1 cup sugar
Let cool completely before filling feeder
Boil 4 cups water in the kettle
Measure into large measuring cup
Dissolve into it 1 cup sugar
Let cool completely before filling feeder
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