Dear Garden Diary

Morning Glory
at Bill Martin's Nurseryland

I adopted one these established morning glory plants (the one I photographed in fact) not knowing what I'd do with it.. but I couldn't resist. I brought one to my mother's last year and tried to train it along her balcony. It didn't like it there; the wind there was too strong - but I have to give the little vine credit, it tried. 

I gave Laura my favourite blue delphiniums yesterday after admitting (finally) to myself that we simply

don't have the space for them in our garden. Perhaps my clematis will now have enough room to ..you know, grow. I thought the blue of the morning glories will make up for the lack of blue delphiniums. I planted them inside the vegetable bed to ramble along the fence.

I'd like to waddle on down to the greenhouse now - there are things I need: bird netting to train the peas on, more string, sunflower seeds ...[I will not have sunflower envy this year gazing down and across at Laura's garden.), ..and of course, more flowers.

I could be helping - making cuttings, maybe even planting a bit..., but my back oh my back is so incredibly sore. I've gone from sitting in a hospital room around the clock to trying to catch up on garden work, and making up for household neglect.., not to mention nesting syndrome is in full bloom. I want to do everything, but my watermelon belly says no.

my watermelon baby
23.5 weeks

The greenhouse smells great, especially the vegetable and herb greenhouse. We've already adopted Grape and Early Girl tomato plants, still needing a Roma and maybe another. I'm trying so hard to keep the garden at a manageable level this year, and only plant what we will use (so we're not giving away boxes of tomatoes on our front step every second day). They'll all live in the small vegetable bed beside the porch - a hot bed, and most protected space in the yard. I'm expecting a glorious crop. 

Thanks to the addition of a towering herb planter, most of this year's herb garden is already under-way,  leaving a little more space in the bed. Other than oodles of basil I don't think we need any more herbs. Some lavender varieties are waiting to be added here and there - for the bees.

garlic chives, osteopermum, Munstead Lavender
and me
in the small vegetable bed

Our asparagus is coming up. They're the first to rise in the large vegetable bed. I'm so excited to eat them. I haven't quite settled on a plan for this year's large vegetable bed, and I'm beginning to assume it's just going to come together as I plant. Two rows of peas are now in, beans to follow, carrots and beets too. We need kale and cucumbers, and some space reserved for a zucchini mound. The cucumbers I plan to train skyward again - that worked well last year as a small space saver. This will be my first year with this garden without interruption. I'll be too far along with this pregnancy to travel to Australia this year, and though my heart is broken over that I'm happy to have the time to dedicate to the garden. Hopefully I can keep it under control.

happy pansies
at Bill Martin's Nurseryland

what's on your plate?

harvest

11 September 2012

Garden Grown Wild

A zucchini has grown into the pine tree, and we have cucumbers appearing everywhere in a garden grown wild. The untamed cucumbers are the size of zucchini people joke about and try to give away. The dogs are loving the fresh garden cucumbers though, and I see a lot of tzatziki and tabouleh in our future.
Returning after more than a month of neglect I found some zucchini the size of Clifford, and made way for more. Thank goodness we have Cindy & Kevin coming to help us eat - and Thanksgiving not far away.  Cakes and muffins are going to feed our weekend guests.

The tomatoes are as abundant - as expected, nearly ripe. Soon we will be making sauces and salsas - and I can't wait. Beans, beets, basil, ..some carrots (though still not as many appeared as I would have hoped), but everything else is thriving. The kale and chard survived the caterpillars and are screaming for soup...yum; and of course our own Brussels Sprouts for Thanksgiving. I'll plant some autumn peas, radishes, and spinach if I ever get over the jet lag.

The fence R built can barely hold it all in. ...not that anything daring enough to grow through it will survive. Four legged nibblers will chew off anything that roams..


All the tomatoes require staking, and a little pruning..had we been here during their peak growth we could have controlled it, but now they're just out of control. Hopefully I can untangle them without losing too much. Next year when we go away I am organizing garden management ..

Clifford finds a shady spot under an Early Girl tomato
to lick the last bits of cucumber of his nose,
while Gromit searches for more.

The Thunbergia is climbing eagerly, 

nearly up to the back balcony railing; 

I can't quite capture how incredible it is.

hostas blooming

Morden Blush

Dear Garden Diary,

R completed the garden fence on Sunday; allowing me to drill in the final screw. The fence is a work of art, and fills the back yard with the scent of cedar.
It's too bad the garden within has been annihilated by the damn army worms. It's ugly out there - like shrapnel blew through the kale and chard.
The Trichograms are visible in small numbers, not that I've been able to photograph any. I suspect the ants ate more than hatched.

The ridiculous heat of late has kept me from bothering with much of anything in the garden, aside from drought prevention and pea picking. I still have some things to pot, and I have little time to get it all done before we're gone for three weeks. Yipes.

This morning while lying in bed, awake after R left to catch his early  flight, I thought of something profound to write about the garden - or about how I feel about something to do with it. It was good, really good..., but it's gone. I actually got up and partially dressed thinking I would sit down with  pot of coffee and write it all down, then shook my head, threw off my gown and crawled back into bed. There was no way I'd survive the day in the greenhouse on such little sleep. So, I willed myself to remember that profound thought and went back to sleep.
This is why it's important to keep a notebook and pencil at had at all times. I bet if I had I would have something more interesting to write about.

Somebody recently said they loved the idea of keeping a garden blog, but just couldn't imagine having the time to do it. I can't - as a gardener - imagine not doing it. Before my online journals I always kept written journal - still do, sort of. I will always doodle, and keep a pad and pencil in my garden apron - I don't know how to keep track of everything without notes. I note when I plant things, when pests arrive, buds bloom - scribbles and notes on dirty paper. I've been trying to keep better records of all my plants, inspired by the exemplary excel sheet organization of Northern Shade. Mine are coming along. Along with that darned glossary (which I've been "working on" for a few years now..)

Time is a funny thing. Funny how when you're running out of it so much can get done. So much of everything I do is done in pieces. I wish I had ten times the time I have do get things done, started - breathe life into some imagined projects. Ah well, for the time being I'm happy with keep this scattered blog. It's the best record I have of gardens I've known. My desk is covered in years of notebooks and baggies full of plant tags & empty seed packages waiting to be logged. A hoarder of important stuff.

#twopeasinapod

A lot of my time is spent staring through my iPhone, using limited characters and hashtags to write about my garden. My Instagrammed garden journal is simple to keep, simple to share. I often think of them as short abstracts to inspire me when I have the time to write more.
This is why I love photography so much - how so much can be said in a photo, one shot. I framed this one of two peas in a pod to show my engagement & wedding rings, the two peas, R's beautiful garden fence, and our summer garden all over everything. A photo that completely defines 'amy's garden' right now, us: two peas in a pod - with our Australian wedding just around the corner.♥ ♥ ♥

My to-do list is long - starting with: finish planting the poor suffering plants in small greenhouse pots. Reseed some things (spinach, beets)..plant more peas again. (The dogs have enjoyed most of the peas this year...as always). ...and on...

I look forward to seeing it all when we return.

Speaking of which, my most important to-do list item in Australia this year is to garden blog the experience. I had such good intentions of doing it last year. With tulips and daffodils blooming along side woody zonal geranium shrubs, bird of paradise plants lining the highway during Christmas in July in the Mountains. At least I can count on my hashtags to bring me back.

a fork'd radish

radish
1 July 2012

...he was, for all the world, 

like a fork'd radish, 

with a head fantastically carved upon it with a knife

          King Henry IV. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2.

FREE EBOOK 

The Plant-lore & Garden-craft of Shakespeare

by Henry Nicholson Ellacombe

a garden fence

photo by Rohan M.

Rohan built a garden fence. 

It's quite incredible, curving around the existing pathway between the small kitchen garden and the new, larger kitchen garden bed. Cedar pickets, each cut by R himself. Notice the perfectly aligned screws. OCD anyone? Two gates, one near the barbecue patio, the other halfway to the dog run - both with self closing hinges. It just might be the most beautiful garden fence in the world.

I doodled on his photo of the fence in progress; imagining the last of the grass away and our fire-pit in place. It's going to be lovely. Recycled brick will make take the place of the grass - and though we'll have a lot going on in a small space path-wise, that is what makes an adopted garden. 

A neighbourhood cat
strolling through the photo
:)

Stick Amy is in the garden replanting the spinach - as most of the leaves have been nibbled away. I'm counting on some established roots, but along with washed away carrots some new seeds need to be added. 

garden plan 2011
change of plans, no more grass: brick patio instead
things are coming along

in the garden this week....

Dianthus
'Raspberry Parfait'
line the small kitchen garden

Achillea millefolium
'Apricot Delight' Yarrow
Globosa Blue Spruce

Gromit Wensleydale
Chief Pea Inspector

peas
pummelled by rain

peas at eye level

peas please
19 June 2012

the kitchen garden (and dogs)

garlic chives

radishes
5 June 2012

Gromit Wensleydale Jackson
Chief Pea Inspector

R's incredible garden fence is coming along (ugh, that snow fence is killing me - literally. "A is for Amy who fell ..over the snow fence in the garden..." to change Edward Gorey's poem for a moment.) The cleverly curved wood to match the existing path is just beautiful. My man is incredible.

So, the fence is coming along, ...yesterday Dan aka 'Urban Greenspaces" came by and adopted the mugo pine and the white potentilla that were getting a little to snug side by side, and out of place in our new garden plan. It's outstanding what a difference is made to the landscape of our small yard with the removal of those two shrubs. There's less of a tunnelling effect, the space seems wider - rather than long and narrow. I stood out there this morning and took a deep breath from the steps. I'm in love with this garden.

Gromit W & Clifford the Big Red Dog
on the job

"The little kitchen garden" is what I'm calling the small plot tucked beside the porch. It's the hottest zone in our garden, thawed first, planted first, a cooker. Peppers and one sweet cherry tomato are filling in the space - and once these early peas finish they can move in there too. The rest of it is filled with herbs, my dear John Davis explorer rose, and this year: a sweet little Tangerine Thunbergia vine, who will climb to the second floor balcony on twine I tied one morning.

Tangerine Thunbergia

kale, chard

almost edible

 garlic chives

sweet cherry 100 & peas

in the ground so far:

radish:
Watermelon radish - Chinese origin, ball shaped, red flesh / white skin, Crispy, mild, sweet. Grows best under cooler temperatures. Can be eaten raw or cooked.

Cherry Ball radish: Quick growing, small, round, bright red fruit. Crisp white flesh. Mild flavour.

carrots:
Purple Dragon (heirloom) - Deep purple/red skin with orange-yellow flesh. Sweet, spicy flavour. Medium length, tapered.

Scarlet Nante - Dependable, sweet, and crisp. Bright orange. One of the most popular, easy to grow varieties. Stubbies.

Creme de Lite F1 - Creamy skinned, tapered, juicy sweet flesh. No need to peel, best raw but tasty cooked.

beans:
Velour Dwarf French - Long, purple pods. Stringless, great texture. Compact bush habit; long bearing, disease resistant.

Blue Lake Pole Bean: Smooth, stringless, and strong flavour, meaty texture. Long bearing, dark green pods.

spinach:
Long Standing Bloomsdale - Dark green, thick textured, long bearing. Crinkled leaves, rich in iron. Prefers cool temperatures of spring and fall, easy to grow, likes to be moist.

beets:
Cynindra Formanova - Long, carrot-like dark red roots, tops are excellent greens. Slow to start, great producers. Keep moist.

Barbabietola da Orto / Dolce de Chioggia - Italian heirloom named for a fishing town near Venice. Alternating red and white rings, excellent for greens fresh eating, & pickling.

also:
Peas, lettuce, mesclun, leeks, Brussels Sprouts, kale, Swiss Chard, 'Sweet 100' cherry tomato, 'Yellow Boy' tomato x 2, 'Roma' tomato x 2, Jalapeno Pepper, Asparagus, garlic.

Herbs: Thyme, Lemon Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, Italian Large Leaf Basil, Purple Leaf Basil, Lemon Verbena, garlic chives, onion chives.

radishes
25 May 2012

in the ground

radish x (2 varieties)

spinach

beans

asparagus

carrot x (2 varieties)

beet x (2 varieties)

leeks

tomato x (3 varieties)

1 jalapeno pepper

kale

chard

brussel sprouts

peas x (4 varieties)

mesclun

rosemary

sage

thyme

lemon thyme

lavender

basil

garlic

John Davis 19 May 2012

John Davis Explorer Rose
19 May 2012
long, large & lush

Kitchen Garden 15 May 2012

mesclun

'Sugar Daddy'
peas

Dear Garden Diary,

I've been Mrs. M for nearly two weeks, and in one week I'll be back standing under the open roof of a greenhouse. These are some pretty good weeks.

With my mother feeling fairly well, a little relief has set in - a chance to catch my breath before the next spin, I feel a positive energy these days that I haven't had for a while. The cabin fever has been unbearable.
We took Claire for a walk through the waterfront on the first evening of day light savings; refreshing and muddy, but it got me even more excited about the coming months. Last year I was still in too much pain to enjoy any of this - I've missed it.

So, with visions of plant tags dancing in my head, I can't help but start to think about what our backyard will bring this year. Claire and I enjoyed Sunday morning on the back balcony, nearly hot with spring sun.

Our little micro climate section of our kitchen garden is already clear of snow with green parsley poking through, next to lavender and rosemary - both of which seem to have sprung back. Amazing. John Davis is embarrassingly out of control and I'm so glad. I need to tidy him up a little before photos, but I can say that he's got more healthy cane than I've ever seen. grin

Sweet Woodruff and the Hardy Geraniums are appearing along the west fence. I can see it own't be long for the rest. Though the area gets mostly afternoon shade because of the Tamarack and the fence, it does get nice warm morning sun, and protected protected from most wind it has it's own climate.

Gromit Wensleydale observed the kitchen garden this morning and has approved the planting of peas and radishes. Maybe even some lettuce. He is ready to snack. (dogs snacking in the garden will be frowned upon this season) I pulled out the seeds and tags from last year, added them to this year's already growing stack and already know that we are running along that yellow bring road to another garden bursting at the seams. Not that I mind too much. R's enthusiasm is great, and after he dug up that whole new bed for our vegetables we're both ready to play with possibilities.

The anticipation for greenhouse season is busting in me. Bring it on!

Dear Garden Diary,

The new garden look enormous compared to our previous dedicated kitchen garden. R moved all the soil, I took the photos and made soup. (I don't know how I keep ending up with this end of the straw...)

Okay, the yellow brick road is a bit much in this doodle, but - like I tried to explain to R, I'm imagining some recycled brick as the border between grass & sunny perennials and garden, in a colour like the Bora Laskin building. A yellow brick road yes, and about a foot and a half wide.

The doodle above will be one of many garden plan doodles from now until the end of winter. So many possibilities. :) I probably could have made more plans the other day when I did this had I not spent so much time putting eyes on the beets and bees in the flowers.

This was the soil we had delivered in..July, I think, from LCR Estates. On a rainy day, in the evening. Must have been right before we left for Oz. R (with Ms help) moved it all in the rain from the drive to the dog run. It's beautiful triple mix, and has already filled the whole west side garden (new this year after having to remove all the rocks and pebbles because a certain dumb Basset kept swallowing pebbles). The vet bills this year far outweighed the gardening bills. 

There is still a large heap left in the dog run, which R plans to move this weekend. I guess I'll take photos and make soup.