An Unexpected Oasis...

 

One morning, along my route to one of our garages (notice the red and white sculpture that is in front of it) during my workday, i ran across a fairly large vegetable garden. .....Wait.....VEGETABLE GARDEN?! What's THAT doing in the middle of Downtown Toledo?

Walking through the mulched walkways across the garden, i saw cabbage, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, even Sunflowers and Marigolds around the border.  

 

 Located in completely direct sun (which is what veggies love) in one of our hottest summers we've had in a while, everything still looked healthy, clean and well watered.

 Rounding a corner, I ran across a sign - oh-oh, probably says, "NO TRESPASSING - OR WE LET THE HOUNDS LOOSE!"

  

 ...But that was NOT what the sign said. It was cute and friendly and even informed me I could TAKE something if i wanted to! What an awesome surprise on a mundane work day!

So thank you to the United Way and Toledo GROWS, and if no one else appreciates your efforts, i really do! i already have harvested a couple of tomatoes from it (i may have to prune a few of those large squash leaves to cast, too), and plan to use part of my lunch hour one day to pull a few weeds in appreciation =-)



How's Things With YOU? ~ Midsummer Status Update 2011

The last 2-3 years, my beloved vegetable garden has really not produced anything. Why? Well, i have a large perennial garden, i have my Creative Castings nature art business that i can only work on in the warm season and have to keep up inventory for the summer art/craft shows, plus i worked full time with only 2 weeks of vacation. It was fine without the art stuff, but that takes up a lot of hours, about as much as a part time job! Yes, i do love it, it just takes up time, time that i could be using to plant, weed, and water. 

This year is a little different; i decided to cut the art shows to one per month, plus i have one more week of vacation. So the garden looks a LITTLE better.



Cherokee Purple Tomato Plant

Things ARE behind, such as the tomato plants that are just starting to look like anything, plus a couple of things didn't germinate, my cucumbers and zucchini were planted late and were slow to come up, so they're both about 6 in. tall



Squash on the left; cukes on the right



 (i have faith in them, though, especially the zucchini - i expect to have many to give away, if it goes as zucchini usually goes!). Just planted bush beans VERY late (where the other seeds did not come up), but there should be plenty of time for them to mature. PLUS, after a horribly wet May, downpours every day or two.....My spousal unit and i agreed back then that we would probably in a drought situation come August. Well, by June it stopped raining, and as of this writing we have been completely without rain for 3 weeks, and the few showers before that did not amount to more that a tenth of an inch - so we're DRY! It's a pain to have to water daily, but i try to look at the bright side - few weeds and few mosquitoes! If you garden or farm, one thing is certain - you can water constantly, but it never has the same effect as one good rain! Plants will look 3 times larger the day after a rain, but so will the weeds! After a couple of good mid summer rains is usually when the weeds overtake the garden so much that i can't keep up, and if i DO have time to weed in the evenings, the 'skeeters won't allow me to! So, yes, i have to water, but i control it, so it's not all bad!

i have also rediscovered old fashioned gardening ~ that is, I have a tiller, and sprinklers to hook up to the garden hose, and all kinds of garden gadgets (remember THIS thing?)

but this season i've just been tending the garden quietly, watering with a watering can, hand picking the weeds or hoeing them, and mulching, reconnecting intimately with the garden soil. So, a slightly more relaxed season so far...

*****Late news flash ~ we DID just manage to get about an inch of rain two days ago, so that helped a bit!******

Bean There, Done That...

i collect things. i collect all KINDS of things! Salt dips, coins, Hostas, stamps ~ anything that comes in different colors or patterns. When i first discovered beans (OK~ i knew about beans long before that, but not THESE beans!), opened a catalog consisting of heirloom plants and saw names like, "Jacob's Cattle", "Snowcap", "Orca", and "Molasses Face"....well, i was hooked!

So for a few years i grew as many kinds of beans as i could find, dried them and saved them in jars. Did i EAT them? Oh, no! i don't really LIKE beans!!! i love snap beans, but i don't really even like dried beans in chili!

CANADIAN WILD

JACOBS CATTLE

MOLASSES FACE

ORCA

RED VALENTINE

SNOWCAP

i just harvest the beans, collect them (there's that "collect" word again!) in clear jars, and look at them, and i'm happy with that!

Do any of you grow beans for this reason? What are your favorites?

Can Or Can Not?

When i was young , i was spoiled when it came to veggies. Not spoiled by the usual definition, such as i got whatever i wanted and had access to all the types and varieties. No, i mean "spoiled" meaning my love for decent vegetables was spoiled forever because of the processed, canned junk my mother always served. Now, she seasoned everything well, i could never complain, i pretty much liked her cooking (except for those hideous potato pancakes! Blech!), but it was only after i left that house that i realized that all fruits and vegetables could be grown and eaten FRESH. Except for tomatoes, sweet corn, and watermelon, which are plentiful in our area in their just picked form at all the little roadside stands every summer, i pretty much had canned veggies all the time.

 Generally, even to this day, i prefer canned over fresh. i have taught myself to like fresh snap beans (fried in bacon grease, leeks and/or onions! mmmm), and i'm just beginning to appreciate fresh asparagus, but really not much else.

i was not even aware of home canning till my MIL showed me how. Still, freshly canned beets or pickles?

 Naw. i would rather eat out of those ubiquitous cans and jars at the grocery store. i don't really like peas, but if i do eat them, they're canned. i have even grown my own and could not get used to the taste (too much trouble shucking them, too!).

Don't worry ~ i've adapted, but if you see my garden and wonder why it's not more diverse, well...

Pain In The Grass

First, i really apologise ~ the last few entries in this blog seem to have been complaints and/or rants, and oops, here's another one! Don't get me wrong...this is Spring, and for the most part, it is definitely the happiest time of the year for me! We've even had cold temps and way too much rain, but the flowers are coming up, the trees are blossoming, and the grass is that "brand new" shade of green, so it's still awesome.

BUT, let me say right now, i will NEVER plant another large ornamental grass on my property FOREVER!

They are pretty from midsummer to late Fall, but then they're nothing but problems. i see a lot of landscapes incorporating grasses, and even though they are not tended to, they grow tall and straight through rain, sun or wind, but mine always have to be tied or staked or trimmed or SOMETHING. i do know that if they are fertilized they can become soft and floppy ~ they like "poor" soil ~ so i never fertilize them, and they still flop all over.

 

THEN it is always mentioned to leave them as is over the cold season for "Winter Interest". AND for awhile they do add to the landscape ~ that is, until the first ice or freezing rainstorm that we get! Of course, i live in a smaller lot in Middle Suburbia ~ if the grasses were out in the back 40 it wouldn't be so bad. But here i am outside in the cold beating the poor things with a shovel to break the ice off them so they don't fall into the driveway. They can only take so many ice or snow storms, then they're down for the count and look sloppy till the weather gets nice enough to cut them back.
 

                                                  But wait, there's more!

We don't get "nice enough" weather until at least April, so the dead straw colored grass is breaking apart in our very windy Spring weather and is scattered all over the yard, in the pond, and in all the flower beds. i have dug out a few of my grasses, but after just a few years, they develop a rock hard root mass the size of Maine! Then after all that work cutting them down, there's a problem with what to do with all the huge piles of dead grass! Hey, i'm all for the ecology ~ the perfect answer would be to chop it up and compost it, and i would tell you to do that, but it's a huge mess, and most grasses have tiny hairs that act like cactus thorns ~ you know, the ones that are too tiny to find in your finger (or hand, or back, or feet!) but are large enough to drive you crazy until they work their way out (and/or become infected)!

So, basically, for smaller yards, i recommend you save the stress and do without unless you have lots of time on your hands!

Toad Day 2011

About a year after we installed our watergarden, on an early warm day around mid April, i heard an odd sound that i had never heard before in my suburban garden. Was it a bird? It was a pretty trilling sound, but it seemed to be coming FROM the pond! i soon discovered little frogs or toads creating the sounds. Well, they must be frogs, i thought. Spring Peepers. maybe? Sounded too pretty for toads. A little reseach online and i was very surprised to find out that they were indeed plain old American Toads, and even though i grew up in this area, this was something i had never experienced before! More and more toads began their calling, and i was thrilled! Toads migrated into my yard from the road, up our driveway, right to the water, some already er, "paired up" while hopping to their destination!

A little taste of what we hear in our backyard....

We really had to watch our step for awhile, 'cause they were approaching from every direction!

Oh, no! A two headed toad! i KNEW i shouldn't have dumped that toxic waste into...    - oh, wait, that's not it....

Hmmm..Will this be considered a porn site now? ;-)

That year, the toads appeared in full force all from morning till evening, and the next day it was like they were never there! Except for the many strings of tiny eggs attached to every plant in the pond! Only a few days later, the water was full of THOUSANDS of tadpoles, and a few weeks later, they left the pond. i believe frogs are a little larger before they are done with water, but not toads! i love to see the tiny, tiny, fully formed babies around the yard!

 This has happened every year since, on the first warm day around April 15th (i call them my "Tax Day" toads!) Sometimes they only last one day, sometimes several weeks, depending on the weather. A LOTof it depends on the weather. We often have one or two warm days this time of year, with the next few near freezing! I have already checked the watergarden on days like that, and had to net out the toads that didn't make it to land because they got too cold!

Super Plants

Had a (non gardening) co worker a few years ago who just moved into a different home. It was a primarily shady yard, and they could tell it had been fashioned into a garden, even though it was winter when they moved in, they could see there were lots of little plant markers in the yard with names on them. It was soon discovered that the previous owners were of my ilk, i.e., "plant maniacs"! When Jim wrote down some of the names and showed me, i immediately recognized most of the variety names ~ they were all Hostas!

Spring arrived, as She always does, and the Hosta, along with many other perennials, awakened from their Winter sleep. It was not long before Jim came in to work and asked me if i wanted some (or all!) of these Hostas, because they wanted a low maintenance yard. Now, much as my heart leapt when i heard "Do you want these plants?", i did the right thing and told Jim that if he wanted a "low maintenance" yard, NOTHING would be LOWER maintenance than those Hostas! Especially established, well taken care of Hostas! i told him not to mess with them. Alas, (she says, grinning evilly) they still did not want the plants, so i borrowed my husband's truck (WITH the husband) and made a couple of trips there to load up said truck! Jim and his wife did decide they liked several of the plants, and wanted to keep them, but still let me cut divisions from those, also. It was a situation ALL plant maniacs hope to run into at least once in their lifetime! AND it just so happened that we had cleared out a space that Spring under the flowering Crabapple, and it was a perfect spot for Hostas! i believe i came home with at least 25 plants that year.

But I digress ~ my description of my SuperPlants list *** 1) Comes back reliably every year 2) Does not need pruning or shaping 3) If they DO flower, it does not take a lot of time to deadhead them 4) Looks good throughout the season 5) Needs little or no cutting down before winter and 6) Is NOT invasive!

A small disclaimer ~ there are no plants that are NO maintenance! Once in a while your Hostas may be eaten by slugs, moles dig up your Poppies, the deer wipe you out, and the most well behaved plant may absolutely LOVE the spot you have it in, and takes over your yard! But ~ dem's da rules, folks!

1) So Hosta are the first on this list. Very cast iron plants! i even have shoved a division of Hosta through a piece of Styrofoam and floated it in my pond with the roots floating free, and they thrived, even after i left them frozen in the water thru the Winter!

2) Next are the Sedums ~ they can grow in sandy or poor soil, can take hot sun, some are tiny and creeping, some are upright and can be 3 ft tall,

and it's very difficult to PREVENT from thriving!

3) Hardy Spring bulbs are very carefree, although some people make more work for themselves by cutting back the leaves sooner than they need to (or braiding them ~ what's with that?) If you wait until the leaves dry out, they will easily come off when tugged.

 

4) Heucheras ~ i love these guys! Compact, a great variety of colors, looks good (a lot of them THROUGH a zone 5 winter). See my "Collectable Plant" post about Heucheras for more photos.

5) Poppies ~ Comes up in early Spring, blooms, fades away. No problem.

There ARE more! Will post soon.

***plAnt dAy!****SILVER LACE VINE Aureum (a running commentary on the most interesting collector's plants I own)

This was my top plant last year. Acquired it in 2009, and a year later it really popped! From the chartreuse leaves all season, to the pink stems, to the foamy white flowers that lasted thru several hard frosts, this vine was totally amazing!

Here is the "official" description~

Polygonum aubertii 'Aureum' Silver Lace Vine Z: 4-8


The gold leaf form. PROFUSE, FRAGRANT white flowers in late summer on a 'Polygonum' that is nothing like it's cousins. It's a VINE, not a ground cover. It is vigorous and excellent for covering fences and buildings. Blooms for a long, long time! Soil: Most any, Well-drained best H: 20-30'

 Midsummer

 Detail of the blossoms ~ actually, I liked it better before it bloomed, but the flowers grew on me (heh)

This was taken on August 30. I'm looking forward to this year!

One Day Closer

...(But not close enough) to Spring, but there ARE signs...

The peppers on my Pumpkin pepper plant are STILL bright! No, didn't want to eat them (guess i should've tried them, at least) Maybe this year, because I intend to plant more of them! The only color in the landscape all winter! I highly recommend them.

Managed a couple of walks in the nearby park, and found a few nice shots...

The deer are thick in that park,as they are in all of the parks around here!

 My "neighbors" are out and keeping me company, as they have all winter!

If you look very closely, you can see the Winter Aconites are nearly in bloom

 And the "Blue Eyed Blonde" looks healthy and ready to go! 

See ~ wasn't kidding~ she IS a Blue Eyed Blonde!

Ooo! One more ~ the Butterbur is beginning to show itself, too!

Mid WInter Musings

Speaking of Tillandsias, I must be doing SOMETHING right - one of them is blooming, which is really unusual for January! Maybe it's an extremely early sign of Spring (yeah...., that must be it!)

i have to turn the small gas heater in the Florida room on for a while every morning and evening in this weather, too, since the only South facing window is in there, and so that is where i keep all my tropical plants that live outside in the Summer.

 This pot of succulents summer over in my front porch box (the one facing West against the brick). In that box i have a mix of tropical and hardy succulents - the hardies are still out there -, since it gets so god awful hot that poor little annuals just won't make it. i have a thermometer out there that regularly reads 120-130 F when the air temperatures are in the 80's! These look so nice that i'm going to hate to break them up - i may have to leave as is and buy new ones for the box!

The pond has been frozen over for well over a month now, which is the longest period of time i can remember since we had the pond. Let's see, for December, there were 24 days in which the high temperatures were freezing or below! For January, there were 19 days so far, and really no change predicted for the rest of the month. And almost all the rest were in the 30's. So it has been at least TWO months that the pond has been frozen over. There were a couple of crises when the brand new (last winter) deicer decided to die just as it got real cold! Tractor Supply will be hearing about that! For a couple of days, all i had was a length of 2" PVC pipe stuck thru the ice for a tiny bit of oxygen! Finally found my back up, and have since seen some fish in there, plus my youngest Koi, so hopefully the older, i.e., hardier ones should be OK. Even saw some fry,(i really think calling baby fish "fry" is pretty funny - usually when i hear "Fish Fry" i'm thinking about making some tartar sauce)!

And the cats appreciate the sunny weekend days when i warm up the room and let them pretend they're actually outside!