Showing posts with label mizuna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mizuna. Show all posts
Friday, May 22, 2009
Hops, Tulip Bulb and a Cute Kitty
It's getting hard for me to come up with titles. Given that these posts are photo driven rather actually about any specific gardening issues.
The cascade hops are growing fast. I might expand the area I have for them to climb on. The salad ball is still filling out but some stuff is getting past its prime like the mizuna. I have nibbled on a couple flower stalks so far. I'm not sure if I want to let it go to seed or harvest the whole thing. It would leave a large bald spot right now. When the nasturtiums fill in I might pull it. The lettuce hasn't bolted yet.
Should I be explaining stuff here? See, I can say a bunch of random things about whatever, but it's sorta easy for me. Once I talk to people, especially new gardeners I'm struck by how little they know.
I'm not a tidy gardener. I groom this ball and my saladbowl, and my beds actually by kinda grazing. If I see a leaf overshadowing something else, I'll pull it and eat it on the spot. If it's a whole plant I generally save it for later. I pull a few plants up by the roots and put them in a glass of water on my chocking board. Basically, for the past few weeks I have made a series of 'salad bouquets' Really, they are quite pretty.
The bouquet on the right is from a month ago. That's mizuna and fennel. They must be 500% bigger now, especially the mizuna.
I am pretty happy with how my tulips turned out but now I am a bit confused by this recent development. What you see here is a tulip bulb forming just bove the surface of the soil. There seem to be 6 of these growing.
Does this mean my tulips are really happy, or are they very unhappy? It does look like the healthiest tulips are the ones doing this but what do I do with these bulbs?
I tend to treat tulips like annuals, something I pull up and compost when they are done, but these were so pretty and so many passers by commented on how lovely they were. Should I dig them up in a few weeks and store them till September? I will decide soon, won't I?Sally is a ham for the camera. This is her response to "Sally, do something cute." Need I say more?
The cascade hops are growing fast. I might expand the area I have for them to climb on. The salad ball is still filling out but some stuff is getting past its prime like the mizuna. I have nibbled on a couple flower stalks so far. I'm not sure if I want to let it go to seed or harvest the whole thing. It would leave a large bald spot right now. When the nasturtiums fill in I might pull it. The lettuce hasn't bolted yet.
Should I be explaining stuff here? See, I can say a bunch of random things about whatever, but it's sorta easy for me. Once I talk to people, especially new gardeners I'm struck by how little they know.
I'm not a tidy gardener. I groom this ball and my saladbowl, and my beds actually by kinda grazing. If I see a leaf overshadowing something else, I'll pull it and eat it on the spot. If it's a whole plant I generally save it for later. I pull a few plants up by the roots and put them in a glass of water on my chocking board. Basically, for the past few weeks I have made a series of 'salad bouquets' Really, they are quite pretty.
The bouquet on the right is from a month ago. That's mizuna and fennel. They must be 500% bigger now, especially the mizuna.
I am pretty happy with how my tulips turned out but now I am a bit confused by this recent development. What you see here is a tulip bulb forming just bove the surface of the soil. There seem to be 6 of these growing.
Does this mean my tulips are really happy, or are they very unhappy? It does look like the healthiest tulips are the ones doing this but what do I do with these bulbs?
I tend to treat tulips like annuals, something I pull up and compost when they are done, but these were so pretty and so many passers by commented on how lovely they were. Should I dig them up in a few weeks and store them till September? I will decide soon, won't I?Sally is a ham for the camera. This is her response to "Sally, do something cute." Need I say more?
Friday, May 15, 2009
Dew!
This morning was foggy and I realized as I drank my coffee this morning, dewy. I yelled for Todd to grab my camera to document this and here it is.
I planted this lacinato kale last week I think. It's looking lovely already. I haven't harvested any yet but it is good eating. That and red russian are my favorite kales right now.Here's a closer view of a leaf. It was just beautiful.Next we have an artichoke leaf.And finally a cabbage leaf over some mizuna which I still need to harvest. No hurry though.I think I am going to try to do a post a day, if only because I now have super duper fast uploading. My garden is growing at warp speed. I think I might do another post when I finish this. I think it's just easier to upload only 4 photos at a time but I take so many beautiful pictures so I must post more.
I planted this lacinato kale last week I think. It's looking lovely already. I haven't harvested any yet but it is good eating. That and red russian are my favorite kales right now.Here's a closer view of a leaf. It was just beautiful.Next we have an artichoke leaf.And finally a cabbage leaf over some mizuna which I still need to harvest. No hurry though.I think I am going to try to do a post a day, if only because I now have super duper fast uploading. My garden is growing at warp speed. I think I might do another post when I finish this. I think it's just easier to upload only 4 photos at a time but I take so many beautiful pictures so I must post more.
Labels:
artichoke,
dew,
lacinato,
mizuna,
red cabbage
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Garden Eyecandy
This might be obnoxious but I haven't been updating fast enought to catch up with my garden. Everything is just exploding!
This tomato is not in an ideal habitat but this isn't about perfect tomatoes, it's about fun and maybe sharing with the neighbors. It's a cherry, either juliet or super sweet 100. Don't be fooled by it's shady spot. I have plans to somehow train this against the railroad tie wall where there is plenty of sun. I just think I will have to tweak the balance of nutrients in its soil more carefully than a standard planting.
These feral chamomile have miraculously not been tread upon. Either my neighbors understand that this isn't a weed or they just think I am crazy and are afraid to damage this flower. I think that they somehow understand that I am up to something special.
The saladball is slowly filling out. I plant something else as if this were a sketch I sit with every few days. Always a work in progress. It already looks different than it did from this photo which is maybe a week old.
For some reason this little bay laurel makes me happy. It suffered so much this winter and now it looks alive.
These cascade hops are in their second year. What a difference a year makes! Maybe it will be worth harvesting this year.
This blur of plants are pretty much all greens and all edible. OK, a few aren't but they aren't weeds. I thin them pretty much everyday. It sorta forces me to eat my vegetables. There's mizuna, red cabbage, pansies, florence fennel seedlings, onions and probably something I have forgotten. Damn! I have surpassed the 20 item limit of things I may tag this blog with. Sure, I could have made it 2 posts but whatever.
This lacinato kale should be pretty graceful in this pot. I tucked in some allysum and some chervil thinnings from the salad bowl. There's even a basil plant, just basic basil. Now if I can find some red russian kale, I will be happy. I might have to grow it myself. hmph. One disadvantage of Pittsburgh is a lack of exotic stuff. Now if there were enough of a demand I WOULD put more effort into growing my own to share or perhaps sell with to other gardeners.
These wallflowers are nice, and half haven't started blooming yet. Tansy, monarda and calendula have yet to flower. This wall is built of found things. I am quite fond of thrifting, indeed, my latest project is the result of thrifting, actually a good find. More on that shortly. I don't know if I have said it here, but I sorta feel like recycling in whatever form is a very patriotic thing to do. I don't want to be preachy, but when I think about things coming from far, far away and using fossil fuels to do things when it's all in your backyard it kinda upsets me.
This cat always looks scared. here is a rare view of my backyard. It needs a lot of work. This was taken through my kitchen window. I don't think this cat is feral, she's just a scaredy cat.
These are my tulips at their best this year. Already more than half of them are done blooming. Just this yesterday I heard a very small child say very clearly "TULIPS" when he passed by with his family. This made my day.
These oyster mushrooms show a new direction I am going in garden synergy. If my experiments work out, I'll share them. Honestly for the most part if I show you something here I think you should try it for yourself. The stuff I am trying that I'm not sure about, I don't share.
These ants with amber distended bodies fed from my hummingbird feeder until I filled the ant guard with water. I really do not like ants but these look like jewels. These ants are actually, at least on my browser, a fifth of the size they are here. The black surface they are walking on is a cast iron shepard's hook which looks fairly smooth in normal vision.
I hope that in the future that I will stick to my goal of posting twice a week. I think the poison ivy set me back. Anyway, already I have a lot to document.
This tomato is not in an ideal habitat but this isn't about perfect tomatoes, it's about fun and maybe sharing with the neighbors. It's a cherry, either juliet or super sweet 100. Don't be fooled by it's shady spot. I have plans to somehow train this against the railroad tie wall where there is plenty of sun. I just think I will have to tweak the balance of nutrients in its soil more carefully than a standard planting.
These feral chamomile have miraculously not been tread upon. Either my neighbors understand that this isn't a weed or they just think I am crazy and are afraid to damage this flower. I think that they somehow understand that I am up to something special.
The saladball is slowly filling out. I plant something else as if this were a sketch I sit with every few days. Always a work in progress. It already looks different than it did from this photo which is maybe a week old.
For some reason this little bay laurel makes me happy. It suffered so much this winter and now it looks alive.
These cascade hops are in their second year. What a difference a year makes! Maybe it will be worth harvesting this year.
This blur of plants are pretty much all greens and all edible. OK, a few aren't but they aren't weeds. I thin them pretty much everyday. It sorta forces me to eat my vegetables. There's mizuna, red cabbage, pansies, florence fennel seedlings, onions and probably something I have forgotten. Damn! I have surpassed the 20 item limit of things I may tag this blog with. Sure, I could have made it 2 posts but whatever.
This lacinato kale should be pretty graceful in this pot. I tucked in some allysum and some chervil thinnings from the salad bowl. There's even a basil plant, just basic basil. Now if I can find some red russian kale, I will be happy. I might have to grow it myself. hmph. One disadvantage of Pittsburgh is a lack of exotic stuff. Now if there were enough of a demand I WOULD put more effort into growing my own to share or perhaps sell with to other gardeners.
These wallflowers are nice, and half haven't started blooming yet. Tansy, monarda and calendula have yet to flower. This wall is built of found things. I am quite fond of thrifting, indeed, my latest project is the result of thrifting, actually a good find. More on that shortly. I don't know if I have said it here, but I sorta feel like recycling in whatever form is a very patriotic thing to do. I don't want to be preachy, but when I think about things coming from far, far away and using fossil fuels to do things when it's all in your backyard it kinda upsets me.
This cat always looks scared. here is a rare view of my backyard. It needs a lot of work. This was taken through my kitchen window. I don't think this cat is feral, she's just a scaredy cat.These are my tulips at their best this year. Already more than half of them are done blooming. Just this yesterday I heard a very small child say very clearly "TULIPS" when he passed by with his family. This made my day.
These oyster mushrooms show a new direction I am going in garden synergy. If my experiments work out, I'll share them. Honestly for the most part if I show you something here I think you should try it for yourself. The stuff I am trying that I'm not sure about, I don't share.
These ants with amber distended bodies fed from my hummingbird feeder until I filled the ant guard with water. I really do not like ants but these look like jewels. These ants are actually, at least on my browser, a fifth of the size they are here. The black surface they are walking on is a cast iron shepard's hook which looks fairly smooth in normal vision.
I hope that in the future that I will stick to my goal of posting twice a week. I think the poison ivy set me back. Anyway, already I have a lot to document.
Labels:
ants,
bay laurel,
calendula,
cat,
chervil,
fennel,
greens,
hops,
kale,
lacinato,
mizuna,
monarda,
pansies,
red cabbage,
red mustard,
salad ball,
sidewalk crack plant,
tansy,
tomatoes,
tulips
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