Day 585

I woke up to a frosty morning—don't know if the lettuce (right) will survive it.

 

The broccoli and cauliflower don't mind the frosty weather, but the lettuce (center) does. I hope I can salvage it later today.

 

Frosty oregano.

 

Frosty yard.

 

The hens don't seem to mind the frosty ground, and since they can't scratch-and-peck the frozen ground, we gave them their favorite treat this morning: organic plain yogurt.

 

Two of our hens pecking around the top of a (partially frozen) hay bale.

 

The hens seem particularly interested in the hay bale this morning.

Day 535

Fothergilla before turning colors...10/15/11

 

Fothergilla during color change...11/9/11

Burning bush just starting to turn colors...10/15/11

Burning bush getting even more red...10/27/11

Burning bush starting to burn...11/9/11

JOY!

Autumn veges (and beyond): two kinds of heirloom lettuce, plus broccoli and cauliflower for next summer

Autumn veges: two kinds of lettuce (from seed), carrots, parsnips, two kinds of radishes, and two kind of beets

Autumn bed: ornamental kale and cabbage

Autumn bed: ornamental kale and cabbale

Day 528

Our two buff hens (orpington and ameracauna) working the soil in one of my vegetable beds (with a cover crop of winter rye for the winter).

Day 470

A view of the south side of our yard (facing east).

 

A view of the west side of our yard (facing north).

 

The hydrangea is just getting ready to bloom, in front of the labyrinth.

 

South side of the yard from the upper deck. The heather is growing yet has a ways to go before it fills in the area.

 

Front yard, on the south side of the house.

 

The sweet peas are taking over my lovely trellis. They are the most fragrant flower ever, and have become one of my favorites.

 

We have six blueberry bushes, and are starting to harvest the berries. The nieces picked two cups yesterday and I made a delicious cobbler for dessert.

 

My lavender plants are thriving and I've used the fresh blossoms in several baking recipes this past month.

 

My six tomato plants are heavy with fruit. We've had several tomatoes so far, and they're sweet and juicy.

 

I'm going to have LOTS of blue and russet potatoes over the next several months.

 

Our first blue potatoes! We had them for dinner tonight and they were delicious!

 

Here's the finished chicken coop and enclosed run. I put up a mirror today and have enjoyed watching the hens look at (and peck at) their images.

 

I took these photos at 3:30 this afternoon. We love our sundial!

 

Day 424

Ivy growing around our sundial...and our lavender garden is starting to bloom

Lavender garden...just beginning to bloom.

A young asparagus fern.

My peas and tomatoes...the peas will be ready to eat in the next week, and the tomatoes are teeny, but growing!

One of my pots of herbs (clockwise): fennel, lemon verbena, winter savory, and oregano.

Potatoes just starting to bloom...I'm going to have a BUNCH of them this fall!

I planted the thyme (lemon green colored plants) at the same time and look at the difference between the ones on the left and the ones on the right. I can't figure out why.

 

 

Day 390

My potato plants are looking great! My asparagus roots are just starting to emerge, some of them more slowly than others. I hope I planted them correctly; I’m already eager to cook my own asparagus in May 2013. The peas are growing rapidly, yet most of the leaves have yellow veining in them—I’m wondering if it’s spider mites, or some pest similar to that. So far the slug barrier surrounding the peas has kept them away from the tender plants.

Today I’m planting pole beans—that’s a new one for me. I’m going to see if the bean plants will share the same pole system as the peas since I have nowhere else to put them. I also have some bush beans that I’m going to plant next month.

The crows still continue to be pests, despite the floating row covers and shiny metallic streamers I’ve placed in the beds. It is so darned discouraging to see plants grow from seedlings only to have them molested by insects and animals before they even have a chance to produce fruits and vegetables. It sure has made me appreciate all the beautiful-looking produce in Whole Foods—it represents a great deal of effort on the part of so many. And for that, I am grateful.

Day 373

Today I went to my 2nd Annual Snohomish County Master Gardeners Plant Sale! This year I bought far fewer plants than last year since most of my garden is planted already. I seem to prefer the cold season veges (peas, onions, garlic, shallots, broccoli, radishes, beets, parsnips, carrots, turnips, and potatoes) to the warm season veges. I did buy some lemon cucumber and red cabbage starts today, though. And also a few herbs: lovage, winter savory, lemon balm, garlic chives, and marjoram. Paul bought a raspberry plant to add to our strawberry and blueberry patches.

I’ve really increased my herbs this year. So far I have: two types of regular basil, cinnamon basil (for ice cream), spearmint, lime mint, chocolate mint, Greek oregano, silver-tipped thyme, regular thyme, lemon thyme, chives, garlic chives, curly parsley, tarragon, chervil, lemon balm, lemon verbena, fennel, dill, several types of nasturtium (colorful, edible flowers for salads), scented lemon geranium, and scented ginger geranium.

My two types of potatoes are coming up, and my asparagus roots are starting to poke through! I’ll have three kinds of radishes to eat in the next few weeks, and have about 200 carrots planted and doing well!

Now, my plants just need some consistent sunshine to start taking off!

Day 355

My pea starts are in the ground and the trellis is hung. I sprinkled crushed egg shells all around the perimeter of the pea garden so the slugs won’t eat them before I get a chance to. All those plants (33) are soaking in the sun right now.

The peas are just getting started, and the tomatoes will be planted in the six square bricks (the bricks will be buried half-way, with the tomato roots beneath the bottom of the brick)

Here’s what my future asparagus patch looks like:

As the roots grow Ill fill in the holes with more compost, until the plant reaches ground level.

Future asparagus plants...pounds and pounds of one of my favorite vegetables!

Pruning the viburnum davidii

And we finally finished our landscaping—thanks to Howard’s fabulous vision and careful guidance! 18 months and lots of sore muscles later, we’re DONE! Check out the photos that I added on to the post in February.

Day 347

I planted two types of seed potatoes today: blue and russets. Yesterday I created my asparagus patch—12 roots carefully planted in a garden close to the house. We won’t be eating asparagus until 2013, yet I’m eager to see the plants grow over the next two years…they’re supposed to develop into lovely ferns.

Day 336

12th (and last) Master Gardeners class today! We covered fruit trees, and it wasn’t particularly interesting to me. I’d rather buy local, organic fruit at our farmer’s market in town, than grow it myself.

I officially transitioned from a MG Trainee to a MG Intern. That means I have 120 hours of volunteer hours to complete within two years—too much to think about right now!