Thoughts in Winter

It's so dreary in my garden that I don't feel like posting any pictures. I should document winter though so maybe one of these days I'll get to it. Well, it is hard because it's dark most of the day.


I did get all the bulbs dug in before Thanksgiving. So glad I did because we had a very long cold snap of below freezing temperatures, and the ground is much easier to dig in when it's not frozen. It's good to know that the work is done, but I am worried that some of them are in too deep. I bought a mixed bag that is supposed to give you a varied garden, and it said to put them in 6 inches. But some of the flowers in there were crocuses and I realized a bit too late that crocuses really shouldn't be in deeper than 2 inches. So I'm a little worried but I'll try not to let it bother me. If they don't come up, there's always next year for another try. And if you're wondering, no, I am not about to dig in the ground searching for crocus bulbs. I am not the kind of gardener who digs up tulip bulbs to store in the garage for the next year, so you can be sure I won't rummage the ground for crocuses either. Not at this point in my life anyway. I am looking so much forward to spring when I know that some of those bulbs I planted will pop up and flower!


I have been pondering my vegetable garden and would like to share what I would not grow again, what I would grow again, and what I'd like to try.


Would not grow again (not guarantees though, I am free to change my mind):


Broccoli. I tried to grow broccoli this year and it just didn't work out. The plants look amazingly healthy and are still out there, green in the garden with pretty yellow flowers atop. But I got nothing I considered to be usable heads of broccoli. What I did find was covered in tiny gray aphid like creatures, and they could hide so well I'd never be sure I cleaned them all away. I didn't use any pesticides in my vegetable garden this year and would like to keep it that way. Anyway, broccoli not worth my while this year and I plan to save it's space for something else next.


Cucumber SMR 58. What a strangely shaped cucumber. The package said good for pickling and slicing. To me, the flavor was bitter as if for pickling, but the strange shape was good for nothing. Toddler did eat them up, but I'll try a less-bitter slicing cucumber next year. "Fountain", "Babylon" and "Green Slam" from the Territorial catalog sound promising, and I can't help but consider growing "Rocky," listed as growing miniature, bit-size 2-3" long cucumbers. Oh, the choices and yet the lack of land to grow them all.


Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes. They did give me lots of tomatoes, but they are such big monstrous plants that they needed constant attention to keep them staked up.


What I would grow again: (in the order of which they come to mind)


Chives More!
Parsley More!
Strawberries
Spaghetti Squash
Zucchini. I'd like to try growing "Eight Ball" and a yellow just for fun.
Carrots. Maybe I'll try a full size this year and see how they do.
Green Pole Beans So tasty. I grew Kentucky Blue Pole beans and will again.
Dill. More, and planted closer together, and successive plantings.
Cilantro. Much more this time, and remember successive plantings so I don't run out when they bolt.
Lettuce. Never expected it to do so well and feed us for so long as we waited for other veggies to catch up. I loved having the mixed pack of seeds.
Radishes. Not too many, but fun to have around. Maybe grow in containers.
Roma VF Tomato. Compact, healthy plants throughout the season with lots of fruit.
Miniature Bell Peppers. The pride of my garden, but I might try growing "Yum Yum Gold" next time around. The description says they have few seeds, which would be nice. The mini bells I grew this year from Territorial were just full of seeds. It's OK, just a bit of a pain to prep. They grew so well that I still have a few bags of them in the freezer.
Basil. My plants (grown from seed by me) never look as good as the ones they sell outside of Trader Joe's, but I'll work on improving them. We had a few pesto dishes and that was fun.
Sugar Snap Peas. I've always grown peas, even once in a pot on an apartment balcony.



Alright, that's all I can think of for now. And that's just the edibles. Not including the blueberries, which are technically husband's.


What I want to grow:


Leeks I've never even bought them at the store or cooked with them, but they sound neat on all those cooking shows on TV.
Yellow Doll Watermelon. OK just kidding, but I should give my dad some seeds and see how he does. It says they mature in 76 days and are 5-8 pounds. I think it's possible!
Spinach. I read somewhere that Western Washington is the spinach capital of the US. So why haven't I grown any yet?
Determinate Cherry Tomato. Looking for a small plant with tasty fruit.
Snow Peas. For stir-frying.
Shelling Peas. To shell and save in the freezer. I'll plan to have one cage dedicated to each type of pea.


I might add to the list later, but that is all for now. What is it about seed catalogs?

Another View

I took this photo about 30 minutes ago from the veranda. We hadn't seen Mt. Rainier in several days due to poor weather, but got lucky with a view today. OK this is not really IN my garden, but let's say it inspires the gardener.

I haven't been doing much outside lately. I've moved on to my indoor hobbies for the most part. A few weeks ago I dug in a lot of bulbs around the back yard. I still have a lot more to put in the front flower bed, but I am putting it off because I would have to dig into the alyssum. The alyssum is still flowering a little so I hate to get rid of them. Maybe I should just get it over with but it's so hard to toss out a plant if it still has even one flower left. I also like to leave them to set seed. Better an alyssum than a weed, and better a plant than me out there weeding. I think the crocuses are starting to sprout while they wait in the garage to be put in the ground. I should get to it soon. I did clean out the petunias and prune back some scraggly plants. It is very fun to think of the surprises that will pop up out of the ground in spring. I hope I planted the bulbs in right.

View from My Window

I wanted to share with you the view from my kitchen window. This is where I'm looking most of the day it seems. Three meals a day and two snacks in between for the kids, and we are often in the kitchen. When we open the window we can enjoy the scent of alyssum. I let the alyssum take over the front bed. Better that than the red clover that's trying to conquer my entire garden.

We acquired three California Wax Myrtles. They are evergreen and native to the area so they should do well. It was either them or arbor vitaes, but I do like the color and look of their leaves better. We hope that they grow quickly to create a nice screen. We were told they should grow at least 8 inches a year. I think I'll make a little bulb garden in front of them.

A report on fall vegetable gardening:

The radishes have done well and have not been eaten up as badly as the spring batch was. We (toddler and I) pulled a few more carrots yesterday. What's not growing well is the lettuce. The lettuce is just sitting there a few inches tall and doesn't seem to be growing at all. Must be too cold. The cilantro and dill are gone. Parsley has not sprouted, but there are two volunteer pea plants. I think I picked the last 3 green beans yesterday.

A Day's Harvest

Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, miniature bell peppers, the last few tiny zucchini, one small, oddly-shaped cucumber, a handful of green beans and a bunch of "Easter Egg" radishes. Not a bad harvest from my little garden as summer creeps away and fall sneaks in.

Harvesting While Planning for Next Spring

Just into fall and we are still harvesting. Today we had spaghetti squash, miniature red bell peppers, and a cucumber with dinner.


I have three bowls of Roma tomatoes on the counter along with one of cherry tomatoes. I need to chop, seed and freeze the tomatoes.


I'm still harvesting handfuls of green beans. Every few days I'll have enough beans for two dinner servings. There are still a few green onions growing, but their tips are starting to yellow so I'm trying to use those up. There are two or three zucchini out on almost dead plants, so I think I'll pick them tomorrow. The alpine strawberries are producing several red berries daily, which toddler enjoys to forage.


Let's not forget the carrots, though it's easy to do since they are mostly underground. There are still several carrots growing. I've been harvesting them as needed or when toddler thinks it would be fun to dig in the garden.



The broccoli is producing, but the heads are so tiny that they just flower before they seem big enough to pick. I haven't had any, but it's another thing that I let toddler pick and eat as desired.



As far as herbs, there is still basil and oregano growing which I should probably harvest and dry before the cold gets to them. The chives and parsley should be fine left to grow through the winter.


In hopes of a later fall harvest, I have a set of radishes started. Some are ready to be picked and served to toddler, who loves them. Also started are three lettuce plants, more green onions, cilantro, dill and parsley. I'm not sure how much these late plantings will produce, but I had the seeds and the ground so it's worth a try.


Today we had a field trip to Furney's Nursery to find bulbs to plant for flowers next spring. Here is what I have to put in the ground:

1. Narcissus "Tete-a-Tete"
2. Blue Hyacinth orientalis
3. Anemone Blanda Mix
4. Crocus chrysantus
5. Bearded Iris Raspberry Blush
6. Dutch Iris Blue Ribbon
7. Iris danfordiae
8. Chionodoxa luciliae
9. Puschkinia libanotica

Quite a list. I'm sure I'll get tired of digging! But the hardest part is planning, deciding where to put them.

My New Favorite: Cosmos

I love Cosmos. As promised in an earlier post, I am sharing photos of them now that they are in full bloom. They pair so nicely, I think, with sunflowers in the garden. Here they are growing in a clump near a wood fence with sunflowers behind. Why do I love these? They are tall with beautiful, feathery foliage. They fill in previously empty spots in our back yard and front garden with bright green and shades of pink and white. I love how they grew so easily. I threw down some seeds, scratched them in, and watered once in a while. They are so pretty when they move with the wind. Oh do I have plans to put these in more places next spring! I can see them just lining the wood fence, mixed in with sunflowers for some bright color in the fall out the back window.

Sunflower from "Evening Sun Mix." I'm so glad that I did get around to planting some sunflowers, though a bit late. It's been a real joy to see them start to bloom. I had only one complaint. I told husband, "They are facing the wrong way!." "Which way do you want them to face?" "At the house. " They are looking away from the house, but that is the way with sunflowers. They know where the sun is but they don't care one bit where the gardener's window looks. It is nice to know they will help feed some birds this winter, as I don't plan to harvest any seeds.

Now you can see just how tiny the miniature bell peppers can be. I have been finding uses for these nearly every evening. It's fun to grab a bunch of them to slice up for dinner. One good use is with "gallo pinto", a dish I learned to make in Costa Rica. Here is a recipe for my version:

Gallo Pinto Costa Rican Breakfast
(A good way to use leftover rice)

1-2 cups cooked leftover rice, one day old taken from the fridge. It is very important that it is day old rice.
1 regular ~15 oz. can black beans, drained (or the equivalent of home cooked beans)
About ½ cup chopped onion or more
1-3 cloves garlic, chopped
About 2-4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, more or less for taste
1 chopped regular-sized red pepper, bell or other kind ok depending on how spicy you like. Green or other bell peppers work too. (Several miniature peppers)
1-3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
3 tablespoons olive or peanut oil
Salt to taste (¼ tsp)
Pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large cast iron skillet.
2. Add the rice, onion, pepper and garlic to the skillet and fry until the rice begins to turn a little brown. Stir regularly to keep rice from burning.
3. Add the beans, including some of the liquid but not all.
4. Add the Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes.
5. Add the chopped cilantro or parsley.
6. Cook until most of the liquid is evaporated.
7. Serve for any meal of the day.


When I made this last week, I didn't have any fresh cilantro in the garden. Luckily, I had saved some chopped cilantro in ice cube trays earlier this summer. In the last few minutes of cooking, I added a few to the pan and let them melt in.

Tip of the day: Save that cilantro for later! I put 1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro in each cube of an ice cube tray and added water to fill, then froze. Then I popped them out into freezer bags.

I have since planted more cilantro for, hopefully, a fall harvest.

A Miracle in My Garden

I am almost in disbelief. Can it be? How could this have actually happened in my garden? Here, in northern Washington state. I spent all spring and summer planning, preparing, waiting for this very moment. And then one day, just like that, it happened.

One of my miniature bell peppers turned red. Out of quite possibly hundreds of tiny green peppers growing on my five pepper plants, one of them is red.

All of the time and care has paid off. Those days of dragging the plants outside in the morning, and back in at nightfall. Careful watering always at the base. Picking aphids off one by one. Moving them into the shade on our hottest days. Daily inspections for the tiniest sign of growth.

One of my miniature bell peppers has turned red.

I'm not sure now what to do with it. Should I just eat the tiny thing plain and raw? Should I stuff it? Roast it? Slice it to add to a dish? Shall I share it or keep it for myself? I'll have to share it. Spread the joy around. But it's so small. There must be others on the way.

The excitement of gardening. I've actually grown a miniature bell pepper that turned red. Here in the northern parts of Washington. It can be done.

Late Summer Flowers and Food

My yellow Dwarf Dahlias are enjoying the summer heat. With any luck, they will still be around late into the fall.

These roses in the back just keep going. I haven't watered them once this summer. I'm saving the water for the veggies and more tender flowers. The roses are doing fine on their own.

Green onions, lettuce and carrots. This row of lettuce is still around because of the zucchini leaves overhead providing protection from the sun. I have since cut off a few large zucchini leaves to let the carrots get some sun. I enjoy having lots of green onions ready to harvest at any time. It seems like I green onions almost every day when I am putting together lunch or dinner.

The first red Roma tomato! The plants are weighted down heavily with fruit. So much so that I have lost a branch off of one. The fruit on the lost branch will have to ripen up inside on the kitchen counter.

I planted sunflowers and cosmos seeds a little late this year, so I'm still waiting on them. I know to plant them sooner next year, but hopefully we'll get some color out of them soon.

Oh look! There is one cosmos out front flowering! Can't wait for more.

One of our blueberry bushes. It's nice to have the garden rounding out to incude some more berries.

Proudly Grown

Kentucky Blue Pole green beans. I have these growing on a 6 foot high section of fence, and they are now trying to grow over a foot past that up into the sky. We had record-breaking temperatures last week up to 102 degrees, so I'm a little worried that the blossoms might fall off. But it looks like we have a few beans to start with. Just keeping them well-watered.

Miniature bell peppers. I'm very happy so far with the amount of peppers that the plants are producing. They should get up to about 2 1/2 inches wide and 1 inch tall, then start to ripen to red. The plants look really great with green leaves all around.

Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes are beginning to ripen. I've eaten a few, and toddler loves to eat them off the plant. Something about fresh produce that even gets a toddler to try some veggies. I am a little worried about my cherry tomatoes though. To my untrained eye, it looks like they all have some sort of blight. Early or late I don't know, but the leaves are turning yellow with brown spots. Hopefully I'll get a good harvest before the plants succumb to the illness. The Roma VF tomatoes seem absolutely untouched by the infection, even though they are right next door. I'm working hard to keep them from touching. Why my tomatoes would have blight, I can't figure. I used store-bought potting soil, brand new buckets, and always water at the base making sure the leaves don't get wet. We've only had one or two rain showers since I put them outside.

Another problem with my cherry tomatoes is they are falling apart! Several times a week I have found a branch snapped off and this week the whole growing top of one plant fell over and snapped. I salvaged whatever tomatoes were growing and brought them inside to ripen. Right now I am thinking that next year I will only grow determinate varieties of tomatoes. The Romas are determinate and it's not such a pain trying to keep them under control. The indeterminate cherries are just growing like crazy and I am having a hard time keeping them properly staked. I've been reading my Territorial catalog and thinking about which determinate cherry I will try next year.

SMR 58 Cucumber

Cucumbers on the trellis fence next to the green beans. Dill is growing right in front of them, just in case I decide to can dill pickles. In the meantime, we've enjoyed the fresh dill over salmon and it is so delicious! My plan is to plant more dill just in case it has time to grow. I'd love to dry it to have for the winter and not buy any at the store.

The Alpine Strawberries I started from seed this spring are blossoming and growing some berries. How exciting to be growing my own strawberries FROM SEED.

Flowers

Johnny Jump-Ups, violas and alyssum in the flower bed in front of the kitchen window. They are reliable self-seeders, which is great for this year when I haven't had much extra time or energy to put into the flower gardens. Just when I was worried there wouldn't be much out there, they volunteered to put on a show.

Sunny flowers out front.

Johnny Jump-Up, up close.

An English lavender. I have since trimmed it down quite a bit on the sides since it started to grow over the dwarf dahlias. My bumblebees really hang out on this bush a lot. I like growing lavender because it likes our hot, dry summers. If I don't harvest the flowers, they actually still look and smell nice into the fall. I just let them dry on the bush.

Getting to Know the Bees

I am surprised to say that I am fond of my bumblebees. I say they are mine because they live in my flower garden out front. They even sleep there. They like to curl up inside the daphnias at sundown, and when they wake, they spend their entire day buzzing around my garden.

I say I am surprised because I am just slowly getting over an intense fear of bees. Just a few years ago, I could hardly stand to be outside if I heard anything remotely similar to the buzz of a bee. I would just run inside and not go out again that day. I remember on more than one occasion when I bravely went out to quickly put a flower in the ground, but then heard a bee. I ran to the front door to go inside but husband had LOCKED the door out of pure habit. I pounded on the door, heart pounding and furious. I was sure the neighbors thought I was insane.

One step forward was when I would run inside after hearing a bee, but would only stay in for a few minutes until I calmed down. I might go in and out of the house several times, but at least I was returning to the great outdoors.

Last summer was a huge turning point for me. I got most of the flowers started before it really warmed up, so there weren't many bees around. When I went out to enjoy and water the flowers in the summer, I saw how many bumblebees were around. Husband was really great and told me that the bumblebees are very gentle and slow and aren't going to harm me. I started to watch them buzz around the lavender. I got to where they could fly over my head and I would stay outside with them. I started to like them. I felt like I was giving them a place to stay and food to eat, and they were helping my garden.

I still don't like to pick flowers if they are out there. I wanted to harvest some lavender but there are so many bumblebees out there and I'm just not to the point where I can harvest in the midst of bees yet. I was able to get close enough to a few to get their pictures taken. I still don't like the regular honeybee very much, and I sure don't like anything with dangly legs. (Mud dabbers, wasps, yellow jackets, etc.) However, I might just go outside and watch my bumblebees this evening.

What in the World?

What do you think this is? Have you ever seen anything like this before? This is its first appearance in my flower bed.

I believe it is the flower for the hen and chicks. I thinned out the ever growing hen and chicks patch to make room for more pansies and violas this spring. By thinning out, I mean I just pulled out and off all the extra plants until I got down to the lower layer. All the activity must have spurned the plant into action to go to seed. We transplanted the ones I pulled out to a rock wall in the back, and two of those are also now showing this strange growth. I thought it was worthy of being shared.

Taking Care of Itself!

Well, of course the garden can't totally take care of itself, but it sure feels like the hard part is over. Most everything is seeded and growing. The fertilizer has been added. All I have to do now is keep things watered and picked. Then there are all those weeds that are enjoying the water as well. I will admit I'm not keeping them under control as well as I'd like. But with a needy baby and busy toddler, I have to let some things go. I pull a few weeds when I can. This is such a nice time. We have been enjoying some harvest for over a month now and things just keep growing.


The only vegetable produce we are buying are onions. The rest of our vegetables with dinner are from the garden. That has meant a lot of salads, but the salads have chopped green onions and fresh peas on top. And since I'm growing four kinds of lettuce, we always have a variety on the plate. I was under the impression that the lettuce would bolt by now, but the first set is still growing. I did some succession planting and now we have 16 heads of lettuce! All still going strong. So, anyway, we may have salad every night, but at least we didn't get it at the grocery store. Soon we will have so much more to add to the salads. See below!




Cherry tomatoes "Sweet 100." I have four of these plants and they all are full of little green tomatoes. What I love about these are that they are so small that they ripen really quickly. It can't be too long and we'll be tossing these into just about every dish!


Green beans starting to tie themselves on the trellis and climb up. I think it's so cute how they are leaning toward the fence. They really seem to know what they are doing. What a money saver these will be. I saw green beans at the farmer's market for $1.99 a pound. Whatever happened to the saying, "Ain't worth beans?"

Cucumbers. This year I'm growing them on the trellis to save room. They need a little help finding the fence though.

OK this doesn't go on a salad but the hydrangea is blooming! Must have done and OK job with the pruning this spring.

Miniature bell peppers in pots. We have lots of little blossoms. I will be so happy and surprised when we get a pepper to grow up here, especially if I can get some to turn red!

Yes, these are Roma tomatoes! The plants look very healthy.

The whole vegetable garden plot. Still waiting on the broccoli but the peas are feeding us well for the time. The zucchini is really starting to take off. Just heard from my folks 6 hours south of here that they are eating zucchini already. Oh well. We're just a few weeks behind up here in the north parts.

Carnations and Salad

I wish you could smell these! I enjoy these perennial carnations. Why? They come back every year and thrive in the hottest, driest spot in my garden. I just cut them back in the fall when they are all done blooming. Well, once in a while during the summer I do pluck the spent blooms and pick some for a vase. I do wish I'd planned the spot better. There is a big Rosemary bush in front of them! I didn't know the Rosemary would get that big. It was so tiny when I put it in.

An aerial view of the vegetable garden. You can see the lettuce patch has filled in pretty well. We are having salad every night. This week, I was able to add green onions from the garden to our salad. The peas in the cages are blossoming. The first set of carrots are just about ready. The beans and cucumbers are getting closer to grabbing onto their trellis at the far right. The broccoli is at the far left. I'm not sure what will happen with those, but I will keep watering them and see what they do.

In those empty looking patches are small zucchini plants and several rows of carrots and green onions whose seedlings are just starting to emerge.

Who says you have to dig up tubers?

Who says you have to dig up dahlia tubers for the winter?

You know, I think that a lot of these specialty gardening rules keep people from trying to grow new plants. If I have to dig up the bulb or the tuber every single fall, and then put it back in the ground for the next spring, well, it's just not going to happen. Also, who says you can't grow dahlias from seed? I grew dwarf dahlias from seed last spring. They bloomed through the summer and fall. I didn't dig up the tubers. We had a very cold winter for around here, so I didn't know if they would come back. They are all back and thriving. So don't let some of these gardening rules keep you from trying something. Try it your way. If it works, you'll be happy. If it doesn't, oh well. Try something else.

OK so the true dahlia experts might be irritated with my attitude, but I simply don't have time to devote all my energy to my garden. I do, however, like to try growing a variety of things. I don't garden for any sort of competition; just my own happiness when I look at the pretty flowers in the yard.

I'm saying all this because the fear of imperfection can keep me from trying new things, but I'm realizing that I can just garden my way. There is no test at the end of the summer, and I am the boss so the only one I could disappoint would be myself, but I'm not going to let that happen.

Here is a rose growing in the back. It's along the sunny south wall, so it blooms pretty early and keeps blooming straight through to November. I'm torn between putting some insecticide on it or letting things be. I'm hoping to get a population of ladybugs, so I don't want to spray it. But at the same time, it's leaves are being eaten up by some sort of small green worm-like creature, and there are aphids. I'll try to spray it off with water for now. These are some tough rose bushes I have. No matter how little attention or water I give them, they keep putting out lots of roses every year.

Tomato Row

The peas are really getting going now. It sure took a while for the seeds to germinate. Hope it's not getting too hot for them. If I keep some laundry drying out on the line, it could help to shade them a bit.

Lettuce from legging seedlings! They look fine and we've been eating them on sandwiches and burgers. Tonight we'll have a salad of mixed greens and maybe a few shavings of radish if we're lucky. With the hot weather this week, maybe I should throw a salad party before these decide to bolt (which I now know means: "go to seed").

What a shocker yesterday! Could this be a TOMATO BLOSSOM??!! Look for that little yellow spot.

Last weekend, we had some family visit and they helped me to fill my Lowe's 5-gallon buckets with potting soil. Now all the tomatoes are lining the south wall of the house, getting plenty of sun. The house walls should keep them warmer at night too. Husband drilled holes in the bottom of the buckets and lined them with landscape fabric. Then I dumped some rocks in the bottom for better drainage before we put the soil in. I tried to bury the plants with at least 1/3 of their height in the soil.

OK, so tomatoes in 5-gallon paint buckets doesn't really go with the idea of cottage gardening in any sense, but it's a cheap solution. I got them for $2.97 a bucket. The soil near the house is awful so I'd rather them be in store-bought soil anyway.

After the whole radish problem, I'm thinking container gardening with potting soil sounds great. In fact, I think I might just go try to grow some radishes in a pot. Any ideas on how to get rid of the little white wormy thing in my garden soil that was eating into them?

Other big news: We have two blueberry bushes! We sacrificed an old rhododendron for space.

I've put out some cosmos seeds and already see some popping up. They sound like a great flower. Tolerate poor soil and drought conditions! Once they grow I'll post a picture. They get pretty tall so they should help fill in some gaps in late summer and fall.

Things to do:

1. Pot the five miniature sweet red pepper plants and put outside.

2. Plant the basil in with the tomatoes.

3. Plant the alpine strawberry seedlings in the trough outside.

4. Pull out the dried up forget-me-nots and seed with asters and sunflowers.