A is for Asparagus

In my pursuits to start asparagus last year I searched online(of course) for pictures of what it looks like growing. I was very disappointed to find very few NW gardeners with asparagus exploits. I found 1 long since updated Seattle blogger, and mostly asparagus farms from warmer regions.

I couldn't understand why--I thought maybe it does not grow well here, but all I read said it should do just fine!

Obviously in the later years I will be eating the asparagus instead of having photo shoots with it.

As it turns out, it is very hard to get closeup shots.

Here is the majority of my asparagus:  

Not much to look at really.

We have a neighborhood dog who is blind and to keep her from playing Godzilla-we added twine and stakes was an afterthought.

I had 30 octopii roots to plant and could only fit 22 in this bed.

 Either they were going to die or I could put them in some other place with unprepared soil--so I planted some under a tree in the south garden(to be).

 Surprisingly enough, 4 of them grew, a bit later than the others, but this guy below is almost 3ft tall!

I look forward to being able to eat some next year!!

This is the best I could do upclose--

This year we are eating a ton of salads.

 I harvested this on a Friday night and it completely filled a sink!

Lasted us and a friend a full week of salads every night! 

I filled another grocery sack a few days later for another friend and the lettuce was unfazed!

Unfazed!

 Here is my first broccoli. His name is tasty. Not a pretty plant to grow, as we have the bed covered with  row cover. White sheet stuffs that lets in rain and light, but keeps out cabbage moths.
So far so good, but maybe I should check it again today?

 The plants takes up a lot of space for a few bites really.

Maybe I am destined to buy broccoli at the grocery store.

This is a small plate.

I  have my first cherry tomatoes starting! I planned on planting less plants this year, but it may have become just 2 less plants than before... last year we had 17 or something crazy like that(my crazy gardener brings them and I have a hard time saying no) and I didn't have a single one die on me which I was fully planning on!
So this year, instead of 3 rows for spiders to make homes, I only have 2! 6 plants per + 3 cherrys loving it up in a big pot... Oopsie!

First pepper! I planted jalapenos, cayenne, habanero, this one I forget, and some new ones I have never tried. I really wanted Ancho but couldn't find any starts anywhere.

 I have NOT been minding my Peas... I forgot to tuck them into the twine early on and they have become a monster! So it is definitely not pretty, and I have lost a few while trying to wrestle these to keep out of the paths, but maybe a few less peas won't hurt us.

I have really been slacking on my garden photos. Why? It is too big to photograph! I cannot get a shot of the full thing from any direction I have tried. Even from upstairs!

So either we will just have photos of specifics, or the left and the right sides.

Here you cannot see the tomatoes on the right, but you get everything else.

I have 14 new types of flowers tucked into the edges of each bed. Each has a tag and I have yet to learn them all. daisies, zinnia, iris, stock, yellow ones, smelly ones, begonias, white ones, black eyed susans, hollyhock. I may have to photograph each one and make one post just to learn them.

So far these are the only 3 photos I have taken.

The Iris is gorgeous, so that is no wonder.


These daisies, I trampled and broke some stems, so now I have a little vase of them at work.

And this is just glorious. It is growing up the poles now quite rapidly. How did I not know about Black Eyed Susans before now? Orange has always been my favorite. You will surely see more pics of this

I am almost afraid of the garden it has grown so large!

So if you don't hear from me in a while--you know where I will be!

Edit:

Last night I found tons of aphids all over my kale and collards! Eeeek. I started cutting off the offending parts, but taking a look around they have got to almost 1 full bed! What do I do?
I stopped my cutting(clear cutting!) and decided to give it a day to research. Will just spraying them with water make them go away? or would they just land in the soil and climb(hop?) back up?

Little gray/lavender buggers are creeping me out!

Post-Crastination

A year ago today I planted my first ever vegetables!

And believe it or not the sun was shining. I was even in shorts and thongs!

(I wrote this on the 16th)

These have been in the ground for a month now and If I thought last years garden was lush--this is really gonna be something! With the exception of tomatoes--which we will not talk about! (High of 55 today!)

I was almost a full season behind last year and still made something of it!
So whether you are early or late--it will still turn out okay.


With the exception of flowers pictures!
This mysterious Magnolia made me wait 5 years for 1 bloom. ONE!

I find without a bloom it is nearly impossible to find out the type it is...

By the time I noticed it bloom last year a wind storm had knocked it off the retaining wall and all I got was this lousy tshirt picture with a broken petal.

So I waited a full year... and waited... another month and FINALLY. I got one, ONE! bloom again.

I did not put off taking its picture and watching each day for it to open!

I think I have deduced it is of the "little girl" hybrid of Magnolia.

Well, Ann, Betty, Susan, Jane, Randy, Judy or who ever the hell you think you are! I don't think I will be saving many more mystery plants at the local shops. You are all ungrateful not to be more patient with me.

I saw it open Friday night and it was glorious (if only because I waited 5+ years to see the inside!) and by the time I got around to it with my camera Saturday we had a record breaking rain storm and this is what you give me

If you don't like the rain--what are you doing here?

You were so pretty 2 days ago! Well, this is kinda pretty, but I take credit for that!

One bloom, One rainstorm!

Maybe I should send her to an orphanage in Florida? 

So you CAN put of your veggie planting, but you really shouldn't.

Unless they are tomatoes!

Then you SHOULD put it off as long as its under 55 every. single. day

But you CAN'T put off the flower photos or you may as well just take pictures of the branches!

Random update: Garden Edition

(This is going to be a really long post. Feel free to skip the words and browse the pictures or maybe just read half and come back and read the rest another day)

April was a plant filled month. I was off work for a week for my birthday and what better excuse to buy all the plants you desire?

So this random update will include tons of PLANTS. Along with some yard updates.

This has nothing to do with plants--but my Littler and I shared this flaming volcano of booze at my birthday dinner at Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse. Fantastic food, drinks & friends all for me!

Travis and I also went to Bellevue Botanical Gardens and maybe that is why it was a plant craze of a month?

That will have to be a post of its own. Lots of wonderful plants.

 My crazy gardener delivered these during my vacation.

Snap peas, kale, collard, chard, broccoli, cabbage, lettuces oh my!

This was a gift from the lovely Emily.
I'm not usually one for names, but I had to know and with my trusty google skills (purple succulents) I got this:
Echeveria 'Perle von Nurnberg'.

This little succulent tree I fell in love with at Molbaks and went back and bought it days later. I looked up the name for this one too, but have forgotten it

Here are some African daisies from Jen.  Not a very good picture, but love them anyway!

 And a Early Sensation Clematis from Sabina. Actually it was a gift card so I got to pick it out. This one is in the pruning group that makes me happy. AND! I know what type it is! My rescue Clematis of Unknown names/pruning groups have just about outlived there welcome. So many little white flowers on these at once, they have outbloomed the refugees total blooms in 5 years!

Here is my  new Fuchsia  'Gartenmeister Bonstedt....TAKE 3. Will I never learn?
 I suppose I should treat it as an annual and just plan on buying one each year. The hummingbirds love it.
(This too is from Jen, but since I will end up killing it, I didn't want to say)

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Perfect timing for you to take a break

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(Technically post 2)

Oh and here is what I did with all those veggies! Plenty(I just typo'd planty, which still works) of space left for tomatoes squash and peppers! Oh and flowers!

Twine has so many uses! Plotting the garden was super easy.

(Technically post 3)
Creating work where there was none before? Yes, that is us!
What should have been a 2 hour project took 3 weeks. These brackets were out of stock and the other brand had the wrong measurements... but eventually I got smart and went to a different Home Depot and scored.

This whole project was Travis' idea.  He even picked the color to paint them to blend in--and they sure do!

This year we will have straight twine for the peas. Forever more!

(Technically post 4)

In the fall I planted 12 horse chestnuts I found around town, so Chester could have a mate (needed for pollination some day) and I thought it was a bust, nothing came up. As I was dumping the pots to throw them out, I found 3 that HAD germinated, and 1 was actually out of the soil. So I kept it, and was surprised to see it was standing up the next day! Ya for  baby trees! This guy is 2 inches tall.

 For comparison, this is Chester today. He is around 7ft now, but began life in a Starbucks cup in 2005ish. The baby is at his base for comparison. Last year he was only as tall as the bamboo polls next to him.


Also see the really straight twine in the background? Now you get it.



(Technically post 5)

 Here is the garden this morning. Noticeable growth in just 2 weeks.

See the pretty twine? Most of the peas seedlings planted are almost up to the first row. And the peas planted as seeds(pea seeds are just that.. peas) have popped out of the soil! Grow baby grow!


We have peas against the fence, then the entine 3 rows on the left are kale, collard and chard. Yes, we really really like our greens!
Empty space at the top is for the hot weather stuff. In the center is Broccoli and now carrots are planted.
And bottom right is spinach and 6 kinds of lettuce.
My paths are quite wide but that just means I can tuck in random plants I come across :)

Lets not talk about those puddles, shall we?




 (Technically post 6)

I adore these tulips. There insides glow like sunshine!  They open as soon as you aren't looking....

And close again with out notice! The name escapes me and I don't feel like looking it up atm. I am pretty sure we will have more pictures of these.. Ok ok. Clusiana something or other is the type.

We all know daffodils can do no wrong right?

(I have spared you at least 100 photos of these)

(Technically post 7)

 Found a great deal on the ground cover we needed! Little star creeper. I have already bought and spread last year but since the snails ate it all in February, I couldn't fathom paying $3.99 on each little pot. Fred Meyers had 2/$5 so I bought a flat. I will need more too...

Here we go again!

(Technically post 8)

Love this tree in bloom, love this man, and he loves his new lawn mower.

Here is the maiden voyage. 20 minutes start to finish and cleaned!

And last, my bribe for the lawn mower purchase! I finally got a bird feeder! Now come home all you birdies! Come eat at my house! It has been a week and I see little evidence of visitation...

If you made it here--I congratulate you! Hooray!

So much happens in 3 weeks around here--I really need to update more often.

I promise I won't do this again!

(fingers are crossed a bit though)



Thought we would never finish.

A whole lot of progress happened Saturday in the garden:



These boots are made for gardening



We finished filling in the hole!!! 12 yards of fresh new dirt.

Cedar Grove Veggie Mix & Booster Blend is amazing stuff.

If you live locally and need good soil this is the place to go.



I also found a new favorite view from upstairs!



10 yards on the new side filled in the hole and we amended the original garden side with another 2 yards to improve drainage and raise the level. With a punch card we got 1 yard free with purchase of 5 yards. Cedar Grove also has a happy hour(!) during late afternoon on Saturdays where you save 15%.

 

We had help from some (awesome) friends Saturday, so the last 4 yards went much quicker.
I mentioned how much faster it went with 2 people shovelling in the wheel barrow,

 as I was on the rake duty spreading it out and could barely keep up--

and the wise ass in the picture below(right) chimed in with 

"What like 2x faster?"

 I promised to put this pic on the Internet for it.

I was down to primitive brain with all the labor

What a dirty job we had! I am so grateful for the help to get it finished.

I wanted to rake it all out nice and pretty but I was out of energy

Here we were a month ago... a big muddy hole that I could hardly imagine the finished project.

Now we can get on to the planting!!  I have peas, lettuce and spinach waiting. Along with kale, collards and chard coming on Wednesday!! Luckily I have a seed starting fiend of a friend that will be supplying all these babies. I'm not ready to be starting seeds with my current set up. Now I just have to plan the layout and pick out a few new things. We are on for broccoli, carrots, potatos, zucchini, cucumber, yellow squash, tomatoes, & peppers. Also outside the fence we have asparagus and pumpkins. I just may run out of room!
Any suggestions? Requests? Horror stories?