jeliza

I'm watching a Monty Don series on French gardens and he's at the famous massive potager at Villandry and apparently the vast majority of the vegetables end up in the compost instead of eaten, because they must maintain the proper decorative look.

Harvesting for eating as in the actual purpose of a damn kitchen garden would leave unsightly holes.

I could scream.

Crossposts: https://jeliza.livejournal.com/1080791.html

Soon these fence seeds will sprout curiously uniform branches and shelter our yard. I hope the fence-trees will like living with climbing roses.
http://ift.tt/2imum3b

And I have become so lazy that I posted this instagram so it would post to dw/twitter with no effort, and then I deleted it from instagram because it isn't pretty enough of a picture to be part of my business presence. lol.

Crossposts: https://jeliza.livejournal.com/1054635.html

A fair haul for five minutes picking. Now what an I going to do with them? (and the gazillion still on the tree)

I started a pinterest board of cherry recipes. The non-booze recipe for maraschino cherries is tempting, even though I don't think bings are really the right kind of cherry.

Just a few more days and the whole cherry tree will be ripe for harvest! Doesn't get more local & organic than my front yard.
Luckily the kids are back from school camp and haven't figured out that picking cherries is work 😉

Some are already quite nice; I don't know if ours just don't get as dark as a true Bing or if we/the birds are too used to eating them all before that happens

This adorable bumblebee kept me company during today's epoxy session, which was cheering and nervous-making all at once.

Our cherry tree is blooming and the bees have come out!

Pushkin has also gone back to trying to make mad dashes for the outside more often, presumably because things smell interesting out there again to sensitive cat noses.

Inspired by

ursulav's species goal posts I am starting to track different species I find in the garden. Probably mostly butterflies and moths because this site makes it so easy to do so (and the results contribute to citizen science as well!) Hopefully this will make me more observant in the garden and go outside more.

I'm going to attempt to keep the list on this entry

July 2014
1. Western Tent Caterpillar Moth (Malacosoma californicum) (okay, kinda not excited about this one, given it's pest nature. I suspect it was just stopping on the way to the neighbor's, since we have no host plants for it.)
2. Caramel Looper (Autographa corusca) -- I'm only the third sighting for this one in the BAMONA database! It has cool name and is pretty.
3. White Underwing (Catocala relicta)

I spent a solid chunk of time weeding; enough to make my back ache, certainly. But given the hell into which the front yard had descended (sick all spring = no garden maintenance), that only results in things looking slightly less crappy; if you didn't know the "before" state, you'd just think "damn, they need to weed that thing."

*sigh*

The strawberries flourish despite our neglect; if I let them they would take over. Heck, maybe I should start strawberries at the top of the hill the blackberries keep infesting, and let them fight it out. The blueberries are not dead, but they are not any bigger than they were in the fall of 2012, either, which is strange for blueberries, so that bed is going to end up torn out entirely and starting over.

easter egg radish, destined for seed pods, in own pot
LEFT BED:
SEED boothby's blond, 3, toward front of left bed next to trellis
SEED mexican sour gherkin, 2, towardd back of left bed next ot trillis
SEED ruby red cabbage, next to current seedlings
melon seedlings from little peat pot next to iron crook in back right corner
adjusted sprinkler hose

RIGHT BED:
SEED dwarf pac choi between strawberries and carrots
SEED lettuce behind strawberries and in front of sugar snap peas (with room left for succession planting)

Need to get: more sugar snap starts, sunflowers

I am really kicking myself for going this long without visiting the Kruckeberg Botanical Garden, which is about 15 minutes from house. It is absolutely marvelous, an amazing array of plants and lots of useful signs about what you are looking at, and a lovely, quiet green oasis. (Okay, it wasn't quiet with all the 8 year olds, but it is unlikely that there will be 2nd grade field trips going on during normal visit hours.)

Admission is free.
And they are having a sale of native and rare plants this weekend.

And I'm going back soon with a good camera.

I just placed my Territorial Seeds rder, and am definitely going to have more than I will be able to use of certain seeds; if you are Seattle area and want some, let me know. Some of these are trivial to find locally, others are a bit weirder

cherry buzz tomato (very early cherry tomato)

mexican sour gherkin cucumber (from the drunken botanist collection)

minnesota midget melon (fastest melon I've ever seen, mini-canteloupes.)
boothby's blonde cucumber

royal burgundy bean

ruby ball cabbage

veronica broccoli

yum yum gold peppers

I also have a pot of spearmint that threatens to take over the world.

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Entries tagged with gardening

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makes stabby motions with carrot

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June 19, 2016 at 01:55PM

cherry tree

buzzy co-worker

spring is here

Garden species list

gardening is so sisyphean

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I just spent two hours with 30 eight year olds, and yet I am refreshed

too many seeds

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