Sunday, June 29, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Pollen and Petals: Lemon Tree Buds
I don't know what this guy is doing. This dwarf meyer lemon tree was a birthday gift to me last January. It was shipped to me, and I was told it may lose many of its leaves due to shipment/transport shock. It did. It hasn't gotten them back. When the Spring began, it grew flower buds all over the branches that dropped their leaves. The flowers came but the leaves didn't follow. It's been outside since late May, and now it's flowering again. Leaves? Who needs'em.
(Well, technically this plant ought to need'em. We'll see where this goes.)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
A Little of What's New
I was glancing back over some of my old posts and, seeing some pictures from my last garden log update, it hit me how much has changed. Of course, I already knew that from the feeling of hauling all those compost bags around, but it was nice to actually see in the pictures.
I really enjoy going out every day and watching my garden, seeing how things have changed from one day to the next. I expect a lot from it, always looking for consistent new growth. Sometimes it feels like things are going too slowly. That's why it's nice to have this garden log. So that I can look back and see just how much has happened in a short time, at what hasn't happened since I last stopped to watch.
The last garden log update had a photo with one completed but empty raised bed. There are now three such beds built and planted. In Raised Bed #2, I have some greens I bought as starts, as well as a number of seed-grown plants. There are two kinds of hot peppers, two kinds of sweet peppers, basil, sunflowers, cucumbers, and beans. There is also a purple tomatillo plant. It's the only tomatillo seedling I had that made it, but it's also my largest plant right now. Here's a shot of the half of that bed without the mature greens, followed by a close-up of the greens.
In the other new bed, Raised Bed #3 (I'm kind of looking forward to naming the gardens), There are two kinds of tomatoes, basil, peas, beans, sweet peppers, nasturtiums, two kinds of corn, and zucchini plants growing. Here's a nice, if relatively unrevealing shot of that bed. The many tiny seedlings are courtesy of my cottonwood trees that were kind enough to seed my entire back yard.
Another big change can be seen in the herb garden. In my last post with pictures, it was just starting to come back in. Now it is overgrown and in need of serious harvesting. I want to tackle the winter savory, bottom middle, first. I would like to put cuttings in the food processor with water, and then freeze the solution into mini ice cube trays. I could then pop them into a plastic bag and have frozen herb nuggets ready whenever I need them.
I've also been working on a container garden. I like the flexibility of such a garden, and the possibility of splitting it up and putting certain plants where they are needed. This may be to act as a companion plant, as my carefully potted mint is now supposedly discouraging cabbage moths from some of my cabbage. Pots from the container garden can also just fill an empty space, as they do here...
The pot by itself on the left has some transplanted bronze fennel seedlings from last year's fennel that re-seeded. Of the three on the right, the green one has two bush beans and two cowpeas, the white one has a mini red bell pepper plant, and the large one has two different cherry tomatoes, some lemon basil, and one more bush bean plant. Here's another shot of them, cause I wanna...
And that's it for now!
I really enjoy going out every day and watching my garden, seeing how things have changed from one day to the next. I expect a lot from it, always looking for consistent new growth. Sometimes it feels like things are going too slowly. That's why it's nice to have this garden log. So that I can look back and see just how much has happened in a short time, at what hasn't happened since I last stopped to watch.
The last garden log update had a photo with one completed but empty raised bed. There are now three such beds built and planted. In Raised Bed #2, I have some greens I bought as starts, as well as a number of seed-grown plants. There are two kinds of hot peppers, two kinds of sweet peppers, basil, sunflowers, cucumbers, and beans. There is also a purple tomatillo plant. It's the only tomatillo seedling I had that made it, but it's also my largest plant right now. Here's a shot of the half of that bed without the mature greens, followed by a close-up of the greens.
In the other new bed, Raised Bed #3 (I'm kind of looking forward to naming the gardens), There are two kinds of tomatoes, basil, peas, beans, sweet peppers, nasturtiums, two kinds of corn, and zucchini plants growing. Here's a nice, if relatively unrevealing shot of that bed. The many tiny seedlings are courtesy of my cottonwood trees that were kind enough to seed my entire back yard.
Another big change can be seen in the herb garden. In my last post with pictures, it was just starting to come back in. Now it is overgrown and in need of serious harvesting. I want to tackle the winter savory, bottom middle, first. I would like to put cuttings in the food processor with water, and then freeze the solution into mini ice cube trays. I could then pop them into a plastic bag and have frozen herb nuggets ready whenever I need them.
I've also been working on a container garden. I like the flexibility of such a garden, and the possibility of splitting it up and putting certain plants where they are needed. This may be to act as a companion plant, as my carefully potted mint is now supposedly discouraging cabbage moths from some of my cabbage. Pots from the container garden can also just fill an empty space, as they do here...
The pot by itself on the left has some transplanted bronze fennel seedlings from last year's fennel that re-seeded. Of the three on the right, the green one has two bush beans and two cowpeas, the white one has a mini red bell pepper plant, and the large one has two different cherry tomatoes, some lemon basil, and one more bush bean plant. Here's another shot of them, cause I wanna...
And that's it for now!
Pollen and Petals (Back!)
Due to an unfortunate hard drive failure, I don't have any trip pictures to share. Nevertheless, a lot has happened in the last month and a half. To kick things off, here's a shot of the rose bush I inherited when I moved in here, freshly weeded and trellised.
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