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)



The dark side of gardening

You think Im talking about spiders and slugs and aphids and ugly little bugs that eat roots...

Nope.

Im talking about MOLD on my zuchinni leaves.

I have sprayed them with Zeem oil, once, half assed Im sure. You have to wait 24hrs to harvest after using it, so I never know when that will be, so I havent resprayed yet.

And how about how my tomatoes are all green and September is almost here?

Also, my sunflowers are still sun leaves and the rain is coming.

How will I ever revel in my 7yr old dream house? Im gonna have to plant them again next year.

And what about my nasturtium with no flowers?

Its AUGUST 26TH!!!

I read recently how this is a year for the lesson of HOW tomatoes grow. Not how they ripen. Or what they taste like. Grow. I may not get to taste any this year.

And neither will you. After all the anticipation.

Its been great watching it all grow, but it breaks my heart. Takes some ooomph out of my excitement to do it all again next year. Twice as big.

The one shining light? Greens. Collards, chard and kale. Best thing yet.

Never enough time

The peppers are finally growing. I had a collective count of 31 last week. Ill post on those later this week.
Sundays harvest brought us 1 zuchinni and 2 squash. Being as how my zuchinni got hijacked last night, I will have to learn how to cook squash tonight! (Also 4 cherry tomatoes, not pictured because we ate them.)

We had plans of painting window sills upstairs and painting around the windows in the vault on Saturday morning... but then decided its best not to paint the hottest place in our house on the hottest day of the year.. It reached 89 degrees upstairs. Instead we bought blinds to keep the late afternoon sun out of the down stairs, and hung the blinds upstairs temporarily. Still reached 87 degrees on Sunday :(

I was out in the garden taking pictures(unusual, I know) Found this glorious flower below.. A poppy maybe? The petals remind me of silk.

And then the frog found me! What a lovely spot for him to hide.. in a garden that is watered often, in the shade under the trellis.
While Travis laid MORE stones(100lbs each) I filled in between with nice dirt and planted things. We have Little Star creeper over here... its supposed to grow fast so I cut each plant in to 8, and planted in the corners. It is even steppable.

This is Elfin Thyme, also steppable, but gives off a scent!

And after all the hard work and heat of the weekend... it was time to sleep.

(Travis does not approve this picture. Also he doesnt even know it existed, until now! xoxoxo)

More garden hijack

Noticeable changes this week include more beans and bigger flowers. Also almost all the tomatoes have 7+ green tomatos. Early girls are turning RED! We may have some tomatoes soon and I can stop being ashamed ending up in the produce department.

Cleome and Cosmo
Beans beans the magical fruit...
If we are what we eat, we are becoming our garden... and Im ok with that.
Too bad salmon and chicken doesn't grow in the garden also. That would be convenient

Dinner tonight!


We have a nightly migration of a 1000 crows and I've been trying to get this shot of the birds in the sunset every night. When there is a sunset they fly over head.. and when it's cloudy they go for the perfect shot. What ever.

Another 10 down. 12 more today!

Travis taking a little laydown after laying stones and levelling sand.

Not a whole lot of action in the house, and even so, those pics are boring.
Tonight we start adding ground cover between the stones and I'm super excited. Pics on next update. I will take requests.