Flowers and fruit trees

My rose columbine is probably my favorite flower.  It is compact for a columbine.  And there are plenty of flowers in this beautiful mauve color. Mauve. Do people even use that word anymore?  I just remember towels and wallpaper with mauve on it in the 80's.

My chives handled the transplant okay and the blooms are so pretty.  I might have to grow more of it and add it to other parts of my garden.  There is plenty of room!

Yellow columbine

A few tulips and purple alliums are hanging on.  

And I have one last daffodil. Must be the coldest part of the yard.

Globe Master allium - smaller than last year. hmmm 

The purple columbine is taking off.  I love it. 

And my little helped in the garden.  He is watering the Braeburn Apple tree.

And then the Gala Apple Tree.

Yesterday I shared a photo from the South East corner of my lot where my 16x40 foot garden is.  This photo is from the South West corner of the lot. 

And the peach tree is looking good.  I'm going to have to cut a bunch of branches off the top and the left side next spring.  I just didn't want to kill it. And as you can see, I must have done just the right amount of pruning. I am going to add some bushes, perennials, and the river rock around this tree. 

You know one of the things that has impressed me with this valley coming from the view that I grew up in a military home, is that most people here have fruit trees, grape vines, and vegetable gardens.  Those who don't grow a few veggies mixed in with their flower beds.  But for the most part people here grow and store a lot of their own food.  It's been a great lesson on PROVIDENT LIVING.

Spring Color

My alliums are just starting to bloom on the west side of the house.  I can't wait to see them in full bloom.  The colors are just gorgeous and if I leave them to dry it will seed and there will be plenty more alliums in the future.  You can get the bulbs and plant them in the spring.

And last fall I planted daffodils for the first time.  I am glad I did.  The deer don't like alliums or daffodils so they are a safe choice in my yard.

I think I will plant more this fall, maybe some that come up earlier.

Harvest Monday - August 15th

Head on over to Daphne's Dandelions and scroll on down to see what everyone else is harvesting.

On the 10th I canned 10 Quarts of green beans.  I'm loving the wide mouth jars for this.  I used my 23 quart Presto Pressure Canner.

On the 12th I harvested the first of my tomatoes and 1 squash.  I have 2 squash plants and they are producing just the right amount for what my husband and I can eat.

Here is today's harvest, August 15th.  There is an infestation of caterpillars.  They have orange red heads and black and grey stripe the long way.  They are all over the house and it was amazing to me that they were on everything and didn't care that it was a jalapeno, pumpkin, or onion.  I'll post a photo when I can calm down enough to get one.  They've just about destroyed my green onions.

If you've never tried a lemon cucumber you need to.  It's delicious! This one was a little bigger than the size of a baseball.

I accidentally got my first heirloom tomato.  Oops.  I love the character. This is a pink brandywine that's still green of course. I'm going to let it sit in the window sill and see if it'll ripen.

 I also did my 3rd green bean picking.  It's slowing down.  They cut the alfalfa in the field next to the garden and the grasshoppers have moved in.  Wish they'd eat the caterpillars instead of the green bean blossoms.  

And this had me super happy.  The jalapenos are starting to look good.  I didn't really need this many but I did chop up 4 and needed 3 for my pico de gallo.  It's heavenly to eat fresh pico from fresh produce.  I'll post photos soon.

I haven't done a total before so I thought I'd start today.  I think it's such a great idea and something I want to include in my garden journal from now on.

Today's Total

Alliums: 5.15 lb

Cabbage: .88 lb

Cucumber: 1.1 lb

Green Beans: 4.41 lbs

Jalapenos: .25 lb

Kohlrabi: .10 lb

Squash: .44 lb

Tomato: 3.7 lbs

Bright Day Light flower photos

As you can tell I am fascinated with my Nikon D7000 because it handles the highlights better than anything I've ever used.  Digital has been challenged by highlights.  So here it is in bright sun at 1pm.  Can you believe it?

Well and this thing is amazing.  My neighbor dug it out of her yard 2 springs ago and begged me to take it. Its very prolific. We got a few flowers last year.  But this is insane.  I can't wait to see them all in full bloom.  It's going to be spectacular.  Of course because they are so white, I will photograph them at dusk or on a cloudy day to capture more detail.

And here is a peek inside of some of my tulips out back.  Yes, it's June and I have tulips.  It snowed Monday.  What can I say? The thing that makes these tulips really look good is the f2.8.  It's fun to see them and see the background but be able to focus on the tulips.

And the alliums are starting to appear.  This is one from the small grouping.

And this is one of the larger alliums.  His Majesty is its name, I believe. I can't wait to see these in full bloom and I promise to share as long as the wind doesn't tear them off their stems tomorrow.

Again, straight out of the camera only because I forgot to pump up the vibrance with the jpeg raw slider. 

Transplanting cold weather veggies

As you can see I finally got my transplants into the ground. The kohlrabi can actually be planted closer than I thought.  And so it shares the row with the lettuce.  We found out recently what a terrible deer problem we have.  Every night 13 of them hang out in our yard. Our neighbor across the street said his dog barks every night around 10:30 or 11 p.m.  He took out his spotlight and saw 13 pairs of their alien eyes looking back at him.  ugh.  I'm trying organic garlic clips to see if they help keep them away from my apple tree.

 Columbia Cabbage

 Purple Kohlrabi - it's really kind of pretty!

 And these are not transplants but I had to share how big my alliums are now and the deer don't like um.

Alliums

I am super excited about these plants.  It's the first time I've added them into the garden and I've admired them for years all over town.  The deer don't like them because of their onion/garlic taste. Being deer resistant is a major plus here! And the bulbs not only divide but they produce seeds that also produce more plants.  Makes me wonder if it's going to be a jungle next year.  Regardless I planted two varieties. These little ones were 65 cents a piece.  The larger 3 are just starting to poke through the ground and they were $5/each.  Depending on which I like best I'll be heading to the garden store in the fall for more giant purple puff ball blooms.

I'd like to mulch this year but I think that at $54/yd for river rock (I need something that will not blow away) I'm going to have to wait a while - or just buy one cubic yard of river rock and add it to the west side of the house. We'll see what the budget can handle.