Dusting of white

Did I mention that we'd gotten a dusting of snow at the end of November? The nasturtiums were holding their own until then but they really couldn't deal with the cold snap. You can see them all flopped over in front of the bed.

Nature's Own Gardens

Yes, I've been rather MIA around here but I can explain away at least three weeks worth of absenteeism with a wonderful (and much needed) vacation that we took at the end of October. We did a marathon road trip of 2,400 miles from Portland Oregon down to San Diego California and back. There was much to see and do and we saw and did and had a great time!

There is nothing so sharp as the breeze that comes off the ocean at the end of summer... We'd stopped at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and it was a joy to soak up the sun and smell the salty air.


Of course the best "garden" in California is undoubtedly Yosemite. I could spend days and days there - I wish we had.



I love to see the unique cloud formations around Mt. Shasta...


Anyway, back at home I've decidedly missed my window of "fall clean up" opportunity. Alas. We got home to some very wet weather. I guess I'm going to have to leave it for spring. Though for a few days it was beautiful until the rain washed it all away.


I did manage to get some garlic planted very late. Covered it in straw even! As soon as Christmas is past I'll start working on next year's garden plan... of course by then it's nearly too late, heh. I can't believe how incredibly swift this year went by - how does it happen? I can't believe it's already December.

Where does the time go?

I really need to get my garlic planted pronto! Don't know it's going to happen till after the first of November. What was the latest you ever planted garlic and had it do okay? I might have to wait till spring now...

Also, I didn't plant any morning glories this year but happily one day I looked out my window and LO! I had a lovely little bloom. Looks like it reseeded itself. Everything was so late this year I was surprised to see it. I planted a grape vine there and didn't notice it growing up and around the grape. (Yeah, that's how MIA I've been this year). Even the daliah's that normally bloom in late August have waited till October to bloom. It's been a nutty gardening year.


My little brown eyed susan vines that went NUTS last year were barely 12" this year... planted at the same time, same soil, with the same general conditions other then the weather.


Of course nothing slows down crook neck squash! This beauty was about a foot long before I even noticed it. Wha? When did that happen?!


And what post from me would be complete without me complaining about some garden pest or other? ;^) I had another bad year of black bean aphids. They started at the artichokes and have steadily moved on to other plants now. Just as the corn finished ripening this summer all the stocks were attacked by aphids. I really don't know what to do about them. I might forego the artichokes next year just to see if that'll keep them out of the garden (they always congregate there first). Spraying them with soapy water has had little effect and while I have noticed a lot of ladybugs and ladybug larva loitering about, they aren't quite able to keep up with the aphid Vegas style buffet.

Fall clean up in the garden

Today was the most perfect beautiful fall day. It was amazing. The air was crisp and sharp and smelled wonderful like wood smoke, freshly cut grass and crinkly dry leaves. I spent the majority of the day outside in the warm sunshine working on the garden fall clean up. I can't believe how badly I ignored the garden this year!

My poor tomato bed was (and sadly still is) a total mess. I never got around to clipping anything back and it became such a jungle that I wound up with very few toms because of A.) bad weather and B.) not enough air circulation. Things rotted on the vine before I could get to them and half of them I couldn't reach in the tangle. Plus the big icky spiders kinda scare me. Heh. (and yes I pulled those big ol weeds in my gravel path today!)


I did manage to clear out the "sisters" bed (corn, beans and squash) which were all long done.


After clearing out the bed I wound up with about a dozen of the sugar squash (off three vines). I'm pretty excited to try these! This was the first year growing them and since I'm pretty much the only one who eats squash in our house these little one size servings should be just perfect for me. I'm looking forward to roasting a few - I'll try to remember to report back in and let you know how they turned out.


I'm also excited that I finally got ONE of the mini chocolate peppers to ripen. Last year was a total bust. I'm planning on noshing it for lunch tomorrow in a fresh spinach salad.


Miss S is also getting to big enough that she's able to entertain herself while I work in the garden. Sometimes she tries to help...

...and other times she gets up to mischief! (... like "stealing" tools out of my bucket!)


She helped me collect a few things from around the garden today... a few good tomatoes, some jalapenos and a couple of carrots.


I didn't quite realize just how out of hand things were till I got to really looking at the back corner by the compost and discovered a blackberry vine that had started to take over. I know they're quite tasty and yeah, we ate all the berries we could find today (!) but that doesn't mean I didn't rip that sucker out. They're so invasive here that if I let it go our whole back yard would be a berry bramble in six months. lol


As I was digging out the blackberry root a giant earthworm slowly made it's escape. That baby was huge!


I only wish that I hadn't run of room to put stuff. I managed to FILL three cubic feet of compost bin and two really large city yard waste bins today. I'd have kept going if I'd had a place to put the plant debris. But at least it made me stop and just enjoy the outdoors and my sweet little family this evening. (DH was loitering around in between working on the car in the garage... those berries didn't eat themselves ya know!)

Yay for an eatable landscape

Even though it was in general a crappy year for gardening I'll have to say I'm still so oh very relieved to have one. I haven't been to the grocery store in a while now and yet we'll still have a lovely meal tonight. One of the things I was so annoyed by all season were the potatoes which took over everything! However I was ever so grateful to grab a few handfuls of the french fingerling's to roast with the pork loin this evening. I'd also made some red onion marmalade from the garden onions early in the season and mixed that with chopped walnuts (I always have these on hand since I'm so addicted to them) as well as dried cranberries with a splash of balsamic vinegar and stuffed the pork with this. In a wee bit I'll run out and dodge the big ol dreary rain drops (yes they're back) to pluck some summer squash that I'll sautee with a bit of honey, butter and fresh thyme to round out the meal.

Onions and such

Okay, I might be a little bit dead. ;^) Our company has all gone home now and soon school will start in ernest. That means I'll get a few minutes to myself each week to update you on the garden goodness.

I will have to say that this year has been a difficult one in the garden and I'll try to tackle each issue shortly. Can you say cold wet weather? Infestations of worms, aphids and ants? Green tomatoes? It's all rather pathetic really.

And just because what fun is a post without a picture... the onions are all harvested now. They're so very pretty and tasty even if they were quite small this year.

I'm not dead!

I swear! I've been taking pictures but this month has been the craziest of them all.... we've had house guests since early Aug. and it shall continue until the very end. Hopefully in September when it quiets down again and school starts and I have time to myself for a few days each week I'll be able to update ya'll. I haven't forgotten about you!

We've had some beautiful produce come out of the garden this summer. Here are two different bush beans (Dragon's Tongue and some that Granny sent me...Burgundies?) Plus our classic Kentucky Pole Green Beans. All wonderful and slightly varied. We steamed them up and with a bit of butter and salt they hardly needed they were delish!

We're growing anatomically correct carrots this year

I'm not sure why but gosh I've just been busy this year. I haven't even really had time to be in the garden. In the spring it was uncomfortably wet and cool and now we're busy with all the things summer brings. I need to weed in the worst way. Of course that's not stopping all the wonderful things from blooming and fruiting. I pulled out a big fluffy white cauliflower head out of the garden the other day. So delish! Also pulled a few beets (they were almost ready, I ate them anyway, heh.) My garlic also did beautifully this year, much better then last year when they were just runty little things. This year I would up with door knob sized bulbs. Woo!





We still have a few pests looming about but they haven't caused any real destruction this year. Last year they tried to make swiss cheese of the broccoli. I was constantly picking off little yellow eggs and tiny green caterpillars. This year I'm enjoying watching my kid catch the moths in her net. Heh.



The bees are loving all the flowers I've planted. Next year I might try to intermingle them more with the veggies.



Dragonflies are also taking time to visit the garden as well. This lovely little fellow held still long enough to let me take his picture.




Just the first glimmer of summer squash is coming into view... I've got my sauce pan ready and waiting.



We're still getting strawberries and the blueberries are also starting to ripen. It's a nice time of year when they over lap... there's also much snacking going on in the garden.



Annie's Granny sent me some bean seeds last year and they're just now starting to make yummy looking little pods. It won't be long before I'll be throwing my magic beans in a pot! (They lose their purple color when blanched and turn bright green - that's how you know when they're done. Cool! I can hardly wait.)



The first round of corn is also starting to tassel. I'm looking forward to corn and tomato salad or just throwing a cob on the BBQ. How can anyone not love summer?

Harvest

Seems like I haven't made too many posts about the garden this year, let alone the harvests. I did get around to picking quite a few peas today and a small head of broccoli. I steamed it for my lunch, yum!


The peas went into a new red potato side dish that also involved bacon, garlic and a little bit of lemon juice. It was also super delish but I didn't get a picture (I was too busy noshing), Here they are freshly shelled. I can't believe we're getting peas into July already, that's so late. It was such a long cold spring we're really behind it seems. It rained today too but hopefully we'll get some warmer weather next week...

Quick Update

Heeellloooo! Long time no talky.
Well we FINALLY got some lovely weather and I'll admit I haven't been indoors on the computer much. Oh it's lovely and warm and sunny and lovely and well just plain wonderful and I hope you'll forgive me for my absenteeism. I've got some stuff I want to talk about but I'm short on time this morning so I'll leave you with some pictures and the thought that I haven't forgotten about ya'll.

Gonna start building an Ark here soon...

This has been one of the wettest springs on record for the PNW. I mean, we're pretty used to a lot of cool days and wet weather and I'm okay with that but this is getting ridiculous. I've really not been in the garden at all because the rain just *never* lets up. There's stuff to do, I need to weed badly for example, but don't really want to get soaked doing it. Everything is struggling (except the potatoes which are still going nuts) under all the water. This was not the year to attempt melons for example - so I'm just going to let them go and try again next year (fingers crossed for hotter and dryer in 2011). By this time last year my peas were done and they're barely just forming now. The corn's gone back to being all yellow. We really need a few warm sunny days to dry everything out. We're supposed to get that this weekend but I'm holding my breath. This weather feels so perpetual and is completely depressing. Every forecasted day of warmth and sunshine disappears into a rain cloud as of late. I think I need a sunny Southern vacation before I lose my mind....

"According to KGW Meteorologist Rod Hill, by the time the latest storm system pushed through Thursday, Portland could see enough rain to push past its all-time record rain total for June, after only ten days in the month.
The all-time record rainfall for June is 4.08 inches. On Sunday, 1.48 inches of rain fell in Portland, nearly as much as the city typically received in the entire month of June. Sunday's deluge brought Portland's monthly rain total to 3.09 inches.
Wet weather records have been falling like the rain since April, and another one fell Wednesday. June 9 is the latest into the calendar year that Portland has failed to reach 80 degrees for the high temperature at least once.
With Sunday's deluge, Portland also surpassed the record for most rain for May and June combined, with 7.83 inches since May 1.
Many Oregon cities, including Astoria, Salem, Eugene and Portland, had already reached their June monthly rainfall by June 4.
Rain records have been falling for three months. The wet start to June follows a May that was the third-wettest ever recorded at 4.75 inches of rain. April set a new record with 25 measurable days of rain. Hill noted that, since April 1, 52 out of the 67 days have had measurable rain."

Death Day

I haven't done a Death Day post in a long time (happily enough!) but all this cool wet weather we're having is just wreaking some havoc on those warm weather loving plants like my Moon and Stars melon. ::cries a little bit::

It's fungualed, nibbled, has a split stem and in general looks like it's about to croak. I think I'll have to start a new one from seed and hope it isn't too late to get a harvest.

Wet and wet

(Complain Train comin' through!) Oh, oh, oh I am getting so very sick of this cool wet weather. Sick, I say, sick! ::shakes fist at sky:: My garden doesn't like it much either. Everything is too wet. It took a break for a few hours today, long enough to get out and poke around for a minute or two but not much more then that.

The corn, peppers and basil are overwatered at this point. See the lovely yellow that says, Okay enough rain already!



Plus with all the wet I didn't get a chance to mow the lawn for the past couple of weeks, till today anyway. It's gotten a bit out of hand, though not quite as bad as before. I'd rather use the push mower but with the grass so wet it won't push through it. So yay for the gas mower in this case.


Then there are the fungal issues that are starting to crop up too. The cilantro is getting some sort of weird subtle bumpy texture to it but it's not the worst of it. Tomorrow for Death Day I have a real treasure to share. ::sigh:: I wish I didn't. I haven't killed anything in a long time!


The poor tarragon is looking pretty shabby too. The weather is rather conducive to happy slugs, snails and rolly-pollies.


On the other hand the bee's were out today pollenating the thyme.


The sage is also in bloom and dealing okay with the rain.


My lettuce is somehow managing to be slug free and looking good.


The potatoes (giant pile of plant on the right) are still going nuts.


And of course all the natives are going nuts on the north side of the house.