Category Archives: Just Photos
Beans & Sunflowers
If you remember way back in the early part of this summer, I told you about interplanting my bean with my corn. Well, it was a terrible year for corn, so I’ve really got nothing exciting to tell you about that. However, what I didn’t mention before was that I also interplanted some scarlet runner beans with my sunflowers. And while neither grew to their full potential due to the poor growing season, I really enjoyed the way they looked together.
(Psssst. Don’t mind my weeds! Also, click these pictures for a clearer picture.)
I had to add some support for the bean vines, since the sunflowers fell way short of the size they should have grown to. Next year I plan to try this again – and perhaps even add some of these beans to my grapevine trellis by the garage.
Summer 2010 Recap
I must say, this has been probably the worst gardening year I’ve ever experienced. The weather has been very unfriendly to gardeners in Alberta. And yet, there is always a silver lining. All is not lost. Gardening in Alberta means making the best of your situation – whatever that may be. So here’s how I made the best of my garden this year.
One major project was to bring in a whole pile of mulch. (And I do mean that very literally.)
My father-in-law brought out a whole grain truck full of mulch that we applied liberally to our planting beds, in our greenhouse, and around our trees. It was a lot of shoveling, but I’m convinced that all that mulch will be worth it.
I also added a few plants to my landscape – plum trees, chum trees, cherry trees, kiwis, and grapes. Here’s some of the grapes.
Although many things in my garden didn’t do so well, the tomatoes prospered (even though they were a bit late.)
So that’s a quick update on my garden this summer. I’ve got a couple of other things brewing, but I’ll tell you about those later!
Sunflowers & Honey Bees
Hi folks! I just wanted to share this picture with you. I snapped it this morning. The bees & wasps have been terrible this year. (“Terrible” as in bothersome when you’re eating lunch outside, but also “terrible” as in lots and lots of bees that are cool to look at as they go about their business.) Anyway, I think it’s a cool picture. What’s your thoughts?
Better Late Then Never
After getting started tremendously late (due to landscaping issues), my garden isn’t looking too bad – all things considered. My corn and beans are growing nice. Peas… not so much. After the birds pecked them to nothing they’ve been slow to recover. I might get a taste, but certainly not anything for the freezer. Carrots…well, let’s just say that their current average height is about one inch. Radishes grew tall, flowered, and had nothing to show for it at the bottom.
But potatoes…. Now they might do something. I’ll at least have a good stock of baby potatoes if nothing else.
Now that my greenhouse is up, my tomatoes are coming along too. I’ve got some good golfball+ tomatoes right now and lots of flowers.
And of course, old reliable. The one that never fails. Rain or shine, sheet or hail. Nothing can stop… the weeds! But at least something is growing. And they’re kinda pretty too.
Hoop Frame Greenhouse in New Zealand
It seems everyone is in the greenhouse building mode! Ok, well, maybe not EVERYONE, but many are. I’m still working on plans for my next greenhouse, but until then I wanted to show you another greenhouse that was built from my plans in my article “How to Build an Inexpensive Hoop-Style Greenhouse“. This one is from Farshid out of New Zealand. It took him three afternoons to build (after work that is), and cost about $200 NZ – that’s about $137 Canadian.
Thanks Farshid! Looks great!
What Kind of Flower Is This?
This is just a quick and simple post asking just one question: What kind of flower is this?
I’ve tried to figure it out by looking at other pictures on the internet. It seems very much like a brown-eyed susan, but it’s missing the dark, dome-shaped center. Is it a daisy of some sort? I couldn’t find any pictures of flowers with exactly the same characteristics.
They were growing in a cluster down by the creek/wetlands just a short distance from our house.
So I’m turning to you for help. If you can identify this flower, please leave your comments. (Or even if you have a wild guess, I’ll take that too!)
Baby Potatoes Have Arrived
I’ve been wrong before – and I’ll be wrong again. Just last week I wrote a post regarding baby potatoes. I had dug around gently in my straw looking for some potatoes, but only found a little pea-sized spud. I then declared at the end of my post that I would not be eating baby potatoes for at least a couple of weeks.
I was wrong.
I enjoyed my first meal of baby potatoes this afternoon. I even had a fresh carrot to go with them. I’m not sure if those potatoes grew that much in a week or if I just didn’t look hard enough the first time. But there they were. So if you’ve planted some potatoes this year, go ahead. Gently dig around in the dirt (or straw) and see if you can snag one or two. Because, by George, they sure are tasty.
Greenhouse Update
Remember the article I wrote back in May about How To Build An Inexpensive Hoop-frame Greenhouse? Well, my mother-in-law (who is greatly enjoying her Mother’s Day present), took some pictures of the things she has growing in there. So I thought I’d share them here to further inspire you to build your own greenhouse next year.
Tomatoes down the length of the greenhouse
Roma Tomatoes
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Zucchini
Beans
Watermelon
Peppers
Inspired yet?
Oh, and incidentally… I just visited my brother’s A-frame greenhouse, built in the same style as my plasticless A-frame greenhouse, and it’s doing beautifully. He used the woven poly from Northern Greenhouse Sales and it’s showing no signs of wear. I am absolutely going with their plastic next year.
A Photo Stroll Around The Yard
This evening I took a walk around my yard with my little girl and my camera. We planted a few potatoes in an old dirt pile (for lack of garden space and having extra seed potatoes), planted a couple of cucumbers and transplanted a few tomatoes (left over from Grandma’s greenhouse), caught a frog and watched a giant beetle, and through it all – took lots of pictures. So here are a few highlights – at least the ones that were in focus…
The Garden
Our journey started in the garden where the peas are starting to pop up. This is the spot that was lawn last year, so I’m thinking it may be a bit grassy/weedy this year.
Our raspberries that we transplanted last year are coming along.
The sunflowers have made their appearance.
The squash is a little nervous about showing it’s face.
My pumpkin, hit by frost on May 26th, may actually recover.
The Yard
The mosquitoes are out enjoying the blossoms of my Ethel Pink Mayday.
This ladybug posed for us on the tip of a Tiger Lily.
We quickly snapped this picture of this bumble bee before it buzzed off.
The Pasture
These buffalo beans grow all around this area.
These shooting stars are scattered around the wetlands.
None of my close-up shots worked very well, but these little purple wildflowers sure looked pretty – even the dandelions seemed to fit in.
Well, I hope you enjoyed seeing these pictures almost as much as I did taking them. Oh wait, let me show you one more. It’s my favorite, but I’m biased…
