Bean Tower

Doug has often mentioned how, as a kid growing up in England, he loved broad beans fresh from the garden. So this year, broad beans it is! And of course, that was a great excuse to try out this bean tower. It assembled quite easily and looks like it will be a space saver. Seeds ready to be planted tomorrow are:

• Crimson Flowered Fava/Broad Bean (Thompson & Morgan)
• Stereo Fava/Broad Bean (Thompson & Morgan)
• Oregon Sugar Pod II - Sugar Peas (Thompson & Morgan)
  

First foray into the compost heap

Today was the beginning of compost season. Yay! I moved all of the fresh debris out of bin 1. That left the bin about 2/3rds full of good compost, though some of it was still frozen. Still, I got most of it out and ready to use. Spread some on the transplanted rhubarb plants and the rest went into the hole where the beans will grow.

This 3 wire bin system came from Gardeners Supply and hides behind an old stone fireplace & wall. It's a bit awkward to get to the bins, so someday we'll pull down the old wall. The wall, remnant of previous owners, is neither lovely nor functional at this point. Tomorrow it may be compost day 2! Need to move the contents of the other bins, harvest the good compost in them and then rebuild the heaps and get them cooking!

Seeds Sprouted!

After only 72 hours, the Sun Gold and Yellow Stuffer tomato seeds sprouted. A day later, the SunGold tomatoes and celery root were catching up the next day. Amazing.

Let the battle commence....

The crab grass battle that is! 120 pounds of organic corn gluten based WOW Supreme went down on the lawn today. I have another 100 pounds in reserve. That will get spread in a few weeks as a backup to this application. Right now it's really easy to see where the worst of the crab grass was last year. Lots of big brown patches. And also easy to see where the new grass seed took hold nicely last fall. I have tons of grass seed waiting to be overspread later in the summer. Thanks to Gardens Alive for all these great products that help keep my lawn and garden healthy and non-toxic! Of course, a wildflower meadow would be much more natural than a lawn, but even that would be hard to maintain in this pure sand pine-bush area that I live in.

Seeds Started Late

I finally started some seeds - a few weeks late, but it's worth a try. If they don't get big quickly enough, then I'll give in and get seedlings. Some of the seed packs were left over from 2009. I didn't get a chance to start any seeds last year, hoping these will do ok this year.

Seeds Planted:

• Bloody Butcher Tomatoes (from last year)
  
• Sun Gold Tomatoes (from last year)
• Yellow Stuffer Tomatoes (free packet from Thompson & Morgan)
• Celery Root! Found a packet of seeds from Italy at Adams Fairacre Farms last week.
  

Spring!

And so it begins. I stopped at Adams Fairacre Farms yesterday and  bought two tomato plants! I want to see how early I can put them out and how they survive. The first one will go out at the end of March, the other in mid-April. Both in pots with heat capturing walls of water around them. Also bought parsley and some lovely lemon thyme to put along the front path. And so it begins.... another gardening season. hurrah.

Fall Planting

Just to keep track of what I planted this fall:

Along the edge of the new wall:

• winter hardy pansies (lowes - 75% off in early November)
  
• Allium unifolium (WFF - #50 - 10-12" - may/june)
• allium spaerocephalon (WFF - #25 - 24-30" june/july)

By the front door

• Allium Christophil (WFF - #12 - 18-24" - June)

Two patches out front

• Allium Purple Sensation (WFF - #12- 20-30" - May/June)

Along the front walkway

• Naricissus Sweetness (WFF - #24)
• Daffodil Bold Beauties Mix (WFF - #50)

In front of Rhododendrons out back:

• Mixture of daffodils from Lowes - about 100 (on sale 1/2 price in early November)
  

Fall colors

Fall colors,
originally uploaded by pollyalida.

A farewell to the lovely colors of autumn. The nasturtiums didn't do great this summer, but this one blossom was gorgeous. And it was growing up through the purple chrysanthemums. Gorgeous sunny day.

nutella waffles at 10,000 feet!

nutella waffles at 10,000 feet!,
originally uploaded by pollyalida.

Yum!!!!!!!!

Fall blooms

Fall blooms,
originally uploaded by pollyalida.

my garden yesterday

Pretty tree

IMG_7541,
originally uploaded by pollyalida.

in Lockport NY

What's in bloom?

IMG_7133,
originally uploaded by pollyalida.

Daffodils, tulips, forsythia, azalea, hellebores, violets, grape hyacinths, magnolias. What an odd week. The sudden heat has compressed spring. Everything is blooming at once.

Oh yes, dandelions too!

Sunshine

Sunshine,
originally uploaded by pollyalida.

Not sure what sort of flower this is, but there were tons of them blooming away amongst the weeds in a roadside pull off on Rt. 1 somewhere on the way to Monterey. Welcome to sunny California.

FIrst Snow Drops

Spring!,
originally uploaded by pollyalida.

Spring can't be too far off. I found the first snowdrops blooming this week. Daffodils soon....

Frosty Morning

frost,
originally uploaded by pollyalida.

I've always admired photos from frosty English gardens. Finally, I had a perfect morning of frost and sunshine to take some photos myself. A very lovely frosty primrose here.

Gardeners' World - Dec 2007

Odds and ends of notes from the December 2007 Gardeners' World.

Roses

• Banana peels to reduce black spot?
  
• Allium, leeks, onions to reduce aphids
• Lacewing and ladybug houses?
• Aphids - spray with solution of dishsoap and water
• Rich soil - lots of compost and well rotted manure
• Mulch will help prevent black spot?
  
• Twice weekly feeding in the spring

Potatoes

• Pippa Greenwood's choice of salad potatoes: Harlequin (Thompson & Morgan)
• Other close runners up: Charlotte, Nicola and Belle de Fontenay

Dolce Rosso Tomatoes?

We had some wonderfully sweet little tomatoes while in England last month. They were Dolce Rosso tomatoes from Morrison's grocery store. A quick search for seeds has been fruitless. Will look again when I have more time. Someone on a UK gardening board mentioned they'd had nice plants grown from the seeds of the store bought tomatoes. Wondering if "dolce rosso" is a supermarket name? Are they known by something else?

Sweet Peas at Easton Walled Gardens

Easton Walled Gardens (Easton, Lincolnshire, UK) is a wonderful find. The large estate house was torn down after WWII and the grounds and garden left to go wild. In recent years the family have begun the restoration of the grounds and gardens - a mammoth undertaking. But with wonderful results.

Though the whole estate is quite impressive, I was really taken with the rows and rows of sweet peas. I've never been able to grow them in my hot, dry, sandy soil. This was definitely sweet pea heaven! And I love how this picture came out with the gray clouds above.

We only had an hour or so to visit, but we'll be back. Do visit - it's well worth it! http://www.eastonwalledgardens.co.uk/

First daylily of the season

Daylily,
originally uploaded by pollyalida.

This is the first daylily that I noticed in the garden. Turns out there were some small ones hidden among the masses of coreopsis out front. But this one was the first I saw and it was prettier as well. Can't wait to see what colors all the other plants are. I planted about 30 daylilies last summer - all from a White Flower Farm bargain bag. Which means I won't have names for any of them. Names would be nice, but I'll enjoy them just as much without the names.

Lovely Blue Columbine

Columbine,
originally uploaded by pollyalida.

What a wonderful color. I planted these 2 years ago. I bough them with a gift card that my cousin gave me as a wedding gift. So they're in the "Nancie Sue" corner of the garden. They didn't do well last summer. Thought they'd fried in the heat. But here they are back in force. Though I love the blue, you can't see it from across the garden. White or yellow might be better, but this is a nice surprise when you get close to the garden.