Some Flowers, mostly Green

In the background are sunflower seedlings that I transplanted a week or so ago.  They sprouted from last year though the birds ate most of the seeds.  I just moved them to where they wouldn't be in the way.  Sunflower seedlings are pretty delicate but if you move them when they are young and it is pretty cool and moist, most will survive.

I just like these violas.

Here we have more sunflower seedlings, with one that did not need to be transplanted.  Transplanting does set them back a bit.  They are surrounded by red mustard that still needs to be thinned.  I am tempted not to let any of it mature as I have had too much of it this year and last 2 years.

Early Spring Random Photos

Abe in back looking handsome

Tulip bud

Lettuce, wild arugula and giant red mustard sprouts in the cracks of the sidewalk

Last year's onions will bloom shortly, with chaos in the background

Backyard Chaos

I am a little embarrassed by my backyard because I haven't given it as much TLC as the front and it shows. It has however been productive in some ways.

The best thing I've got going here is my cilantro bed. Everything in here is self-sown and though I should probably weed it, it is mostly cilantro. In addition to cilantro are chives and numerous mitsuba, a japanese herb that I am not fond of but I haven't had the heart to eradicate. I did however pull up the original generation of mitsuba and replant it in a dark corner. That is why there is some bare soil here. I also poked in a couple tall growing snapdragons just for fun.

This white queen tomato is my centerpiece. In front of it is some giant red mustard, all self-sown. To the right behind it is some birdfeeder sunflowers that I transplanted here. There's more stuff in the background. I'll try to get to that later on.

Here's the Dr Wyche straw planting. I have tided up this area a little bit. The bark mulch helped a lot but I think Iwant to lay down some sort of stepping stones as well. I might want more bark mulch too in other bare spots.

Here's a spot that was planted with a thyme groundcover that has turned into weeds and parsley. The jug has some weed tea. I am trying to really go all organic and LOCAL, as far as fertilizer is concerned. So far I think it is working out pretty well. I feel I'll feel certain as to whether this really works for me when this growing season ends.

I need to document my backyard

This morning I took 80some pictures. We had a good week of rain and warmth and it shows. I have fallen into choosing about 8 pictures a day to post and discuss. Today the choosing was pretty tough.

Here is a slice of the saladbowl, which probably should be harvested soon. The lettuce is starting to get bitter. I will replace it with something more suitable for summer weather. The pansies will probably die out as they get too hot, the chervil is bolting so something should replace those 2 as well.

Also shown is red giant mustard which I will probably all but eliminate. I'll leave one or two to go to seed.

In the background are the birdseed sunflowers which please me more and more each day. They have buds now. I imagine they won't get much taller than they are now but I could be wrong.

This tomato is a clear indicator that I do not grow my veggies for maximum productivity. A few years ago I grew a cherry tomato on a stoop that faced an alleyway that I encouraged passers-by to sample. I guess I like to share. As long as they don't end up throw tomatoes around. This will takes some engineering of this habitat.

I could call this photo 'gratuitous cat picture.' Sally tolerates the Cheddarhead, especially since he doesn't really take any guff. She used to run at him full speed but he always held his ground. Lucky for her, he didn't retaliate. Now she leaves him alone but she still is annoyed by him, as all cats annoy her

Finally my self-sown calendula is beginning to flower. Calendula has a very interesting story. It has excellent medicinal properties that have been known at least since Roman times.

I think my garden is giving me ADHD

There's so much going on with it now that I want to document but I can't blog while I am gardening, unless I do a vlog, then I'd want a robot camera to do my bidding. But that's a whole new bin of worms.

This onion is blooming. I cannot recall what kind of onion it is but I think it's pretty. I have harvested a few onion blooms for garnishes. The little single flowers are great in soup but I have to be careful about bugs. There's some kind of beetle that just loves these blooms. I think it's into its pollen and nectar, it doesn't seem to have eaten the actual flower.

For a long time, one of the only things alive in my garden was the giant red mustard. Now as you see here, it is living up to its name. I've been harvesting 3 a day just to thin it.

I found this box with 2 others in someone's trash. I think that they were used to store some sort of glass but they got damaged by some wood eating insect. This one just screamed PLANT TOMATOES IN ME which I have done since this photo was taken. Being a rather deep box I am trying another experiment which I will explain later if I have success. The other 2 boxes are open sided and I have used them to make raised beds. This is in my neglected backyard. I promise I will blog about this later.

These seedlings are sunflowers that sprouted below my birdfeeder. I transplanted them here next to my porch where their height will not shade any other plants. Also pictured are Acapulco anise hyssop and red raspberry.

That's it for now will check back shortly.

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.

End of April

This cat is feral. I have taken to calling her/him Orangy or Cheddarhead. Cheddarhead's left ear seems to be clipped. This might be an indicator that at one point thhis cat was caught, neutered, then released. She, I think she's a she, was around the day we moved in. She is actually more likely to be a boy because 75% of orange cats are male but I think she's a she. I am now feeding her almost everyday. She still hasn't let me touch her. Behind this feral cat is some feral chamomile. I also have feral red mustard, fennel and even a viola.

The salad bowl is filling in quite nicely, with Orangy behind.

This fennel survived the winter and has a lot of tender bulbs coming up. I am thinking of making something special with these.

I planted this strawberry last year. I just love the anticipation of the fruit to come. Next to it are 2 flowers I always have, pansies and allysum.

One thing I haven't mentioned is tha a year ago I had a major problem with slugs. I decimated them with sluggo, a bait whose active ingredient is iron phosphate which is safe for pets. There are other baits out there that are really toxic. Don't use them. Only use bait that is pet safe whose active ingredient is iron phosphate. If you do, your slugs will disappear.

Monetize

Each week I will post images of stuff as they grow. Red Mustard is just lovely. You may see its progress, including last year's predecessor by clicking on the red mustard link below.

This salad bowl planter will also be highly documented. I want it to be just covered with growth so that you cannot even see the container

One of my favorite permanently potted edible plants is this bay laurel. It is in its 2nd year and since I have put it outside a few weeks ago these leaf buds are opening. Though I wintered it indoors, it is hardy to about 25 degrees Fahrenheit so light frost is OK. In a year maybe I'll use some of its leaves. It grew slower than expected last year.

I hope I am not violating any terms of my agreement by acknowledging that I have decided to use adsense. Anyway these are sponsored links, not favorite sites but hopefully some inadvertently will be selling things that I would personally endorse. They are chosen, not by me, to correspond with the content of my posts. They seem to be pretty low-key so I don't think they'll hinder the 'Gabrielle's Landscaping' experience.

Anyway, outside of this post I will not really mention them. If I endorse something in a post, or anywhere in this blog it is because I personally like it. From what I see it's pretty obvious which is an ad, usually there is an "Ads by Google" somewhere, and what isn't, like my 'supplies' box. That's my uncompensated opinion, not an ad.

Progress

For lack of a better idea, I titled this 'progress' really because I wanna see some. Spring is here but the my garden has yet to explode in growth like it will.

The romaine lettuce isn't large yet but it is adapting to its habitat. Hopefully something will sprout on the surface above within a week.


This bay laurel is in it's 2nd year. I will try not to neglect it as much as I did last year and maybe it will grow 6 inches like my plant guides tell me it will. Those red pebbly things are hydroton, expanded clay that I've experimented with in making selfwatering containers last year. I topped this bay laurel with it to possibly discourage fungus gnats from getting to it.


Finally, my mint is showing some life!


A friend told me of some hops growing where he works. I asked if he'd share a rhizome with me and he brought me a pot full of these! These are hops seedlings! I decided to save a few and try to figure out their genders later on. Allegedly, these have some sort of Belgian beginnings. All I know is that there were 2 varieties of hops where these came from that have been there for about 10 years. If I am lucky, I might end up with something unique and good.


My red mustard seedling after many months, are growing true leaves. Again, I'll have to thin these when they finally start to grow.


This is cascade hops I transplanted from a pot I grew them in last year. Last year they weren't very productive, this year I believe will be very different.