End of June Roses & Poppies, but wait! Asparagus & Brussels Sprouts too!

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Mominthegarden

Rosa Jacques Cartier (1868).

Now that is a picture to get me started! I love roses. Especially pink ones, but really any color makes me smile. These just fill the little rose garden with color!

The rose garden.

This has been a very good season for black spot, unfortunately. I was away this spring, when I think I should have been tending the roses to prevent black spot. I still have not found an organic method, which annoys me. This is my garden story as I grow and learn, black spots and all. I think it would be quite misleading to leave out the rough patches that might be involved in gardening. While I’m at my confession, I’ll add that I didn’t prune my roses this year (yikes!). I just was completely unsure of how to go about it and procrastinated too long. Then it was too late!

Burgundy Ice Floribunda Rose.

Burgundy Ice Floribunda rose.

I think pruning them is helpful to prevent black spot (gives better air circulation). I have been cutting away as much of the black spot as I can manage. I was really surprised this week when a bunch of roses bloomed – I thought they were too far gone! The worst affected were the Rosa Jacques Cartier (1868), but they weren’t the only ones.

Rosa Jacques Cartier (1868).

Rosa Jacques Cartier (1868). This rose is incredibly fragrant. The walkway to the front door smells beautiful! How lucky to be able to plant them there!

Zephirine Drouhin (1868). In this picture you can see the black spots on some of the leaves. (I must get out there and cut those off!) These roses are at my front gate.

Zephirine Drouhin (1868).

I need some more color in my rose garden. 🙂 There must be some more varied shades of pink out there!

Silver Anniversary Hybrid Tea rose.

Iceberg Floribunda rose.

I do like the white roses, too, though. I would really like to get a better handle on this black spot situation…

Poppies on the other hand, have no problems like black spot. My only problem with them is their falling over!

Poppies.

The center of that big mess of greens holds a very large bunch of fallen-over poppies! I’ve tried to pull them up. I’m not sure yet if it is going to work. I will (humbly?) point out that the fence has been painted again this year. My daughter was a big help with this job. I have to say that I enjoyed doing it. I really like how it brightens things up!

A “relaxed look” garden.

I like seeing the bright red flowers when I’m in the yard. The red really jumps out, even from a distance. It is a very relaxed looking garden, nothing formal here! The daisies are just about ready to bloom next to the never ending poppies.

Poppies.

A very wrinkled looking poppy!

As for some of the vegetables in the garden, things are growing! We started planting asparagus two years ago. That means that next year we’ll be able to actually eat some! There really weren’t too many stalks, so this year we planted a full bed of different varieties. Through some research we learned that asparagus like mushroom compost. If our experience is anything to go by, this is certainly the case! What an amazing amount of growth we’ve seen this year.

A look at the growing asparagus.

Just about every crown we planted has grown. These are one year old crowns. This is much, much nicer looking than the few crowns that had been limping along the past two seasons. I’m giving full credit to the mushroom compost we used this year. We are really hopeful for a good crop next year!

Asparagus (the first year planting 1 year old crowns).

Asparagus planted 2 years ago, peeking through.

That purple guy was planted two years ago. I cut the stalk down last week because it was too tall and was falling over. I think this would actually be ready for eating – if it was a one year old crown when planted. It’s a bit funny just having one spear though!

Baby asparagus!

You can really see the difference in thickness of these and the purple guy. My soil looks really dry. It isn’t actually, but we get a lot of wind which dries the top layer (quickly!).

Brussels Sprouts.

This year we are trying Brussels Sprouts! My blogging friend Claire over at Promenade Plantings http://promenadeplantings.com/2013/04/03/all-about-brussels/ gave some really helpful hints on getting started with sprouts. I’m not sure if we started early enough, but my fingers are crossed! The main thing was to really pack down the earth before planting. I wish I had a photograph, because my husband and daughter really had fun dancing on the bed to prepare it! It was well packed down to say the least! 🙂

Brussels Sprouts.

The next big job we had was to take off any critters (worms). We, actually my girls did this job, took off a bunch of worms this week. So now I’m keeping a close eye on the plants. Funny enough, the pigeons haven’t eaten the leaves, which they apparently like to do. I’m counting my lucky stars, because there are so many pigeons around here!

Brussels Sprouts.

We’ll see how it goes. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Have you tried anything new in the garden this year?

Dana

Too pretty to leave behind!

Winter harvest of Organic Parsnips (And New Neighbors … of the mooing variety!)

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Mominthegarden

Freshly dug Halblange White organic Parsnips.

Winter harvest: One box of parsnips. Woo hoo! O.K., it is a full box, and I didn’t have any last year, so I call that progress. Eventually, I’d like to have different vegetables and fruit growing in the garden throughout the year. But I’m going to give myself a little more time on that one! I planted lots of carrots to have with the parsnips, but only a few of the seeds germinated this year. Last year we had a bumper crop of carrots, this year not so much. That’s how it goes in the garden!

Yellowstone organic carrots (and some garlic).

That is me holding the carrots with my pink gloves. I was a bit camera shy after working in the garden. 😉 The carrots were delicious and sweet and I was happy with their size. Want to see where I hung my garlic to dry?

Garlic being left out to dry.

Another one of those not so pretty pictures, if you ask me! These are hanging at my back door. Well, they were hanging there while it was dry. I moved them inside to my utility room (laundry room) after a while. They are still braided and hanging in there – minus the clumps of dirt hanging from them. I cut those clumps off as soon as I could manage it! I just pull off a head as I need it. 🙂 The parsnips have now joined the garlic in our back room as it is rather like a cold storage room. I suppose it is a good thing that I don’t have a dryer, so there’s no variation in room temperature. It’s just plain cold, all of the time!

A little less muddy after a good rinsing, the parsnips were a nice size.

We’ve used the parsnips a few times already. I find them to be a sweet vegetable. We like to pair them with carrots. This year we also tried making parsnip chips (like potato chips/crisps). When I say “we”, I mean my husband! They were quite tasty. One thing we learned was to not overlap them on the tray when baking as that prevents them from getting crispy. Here is the link he used: http://www.inspirededibles.ca/2012/02/oven-baked-sweet-potato-parsnip-chips.html

Parsnip chips made by my husband.

We harvested the parsnips, although we could have kept them in the ground. My son and husband were tidying up our raised beds and decided it was best to move them. I’m now in the planning stage for deciding what we want to plant this growing season! The time goes so fast! It’s already time to plan out the beds, and order seeds.

My teenage son helping out with the beds.

Neat and tidy! Ready for the next planting season!

They worked some of the more aged compost into the soil. That will give it plenty of time to break down before the growing season starts. (You can see some parsnips in the bottom right corner of the picture above.)

Now, about those new neighbors! The field behind us was harvested of it’s sugar beet a while ago. The cows were brought in to finish off the plants. And they are doing quite a job of that! The kids and I enjoy watching them, especially the two calves. Really, we do! The farmer surely thinks we’re a bit nuts…

Hi there.

The black calf was born in the field.

How many pictures of cows did I take???

Yeah, I know, they are just cows. But I like them, and they seem to be posing for me!

These two are eating my thorny weed pile!

This one came right up to my fence.

I like that I have some items from the garden that I’m still using. The garlic should last me through the spring. The parsnips are also going to keep us busy for quite a while. Want to hear a confession? My pumpkins are hiding in my utility room too…

Pumpkins. And they’re even orange!

Yep. Pumpkins. In perfect condition. They aren’t the baking variety though, so I’m at a loss for what to do with them. I think that eventually I’ll get the seeds from them, and try to grow some more! 🙂

A frosty Iceberg Floribunda Rose.

There’s the “end of post” flower! So much going on, even in the winter! I love having something so enjoyable to keep me busy. Have you picked out what you are planting this year?

Dana

Taking time to smell the roses.

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Mominthegarden

Hybrid Tea Rose “Pink Peace”.

That post heading is really for me. Boy have we been a busy family the past month! Between school, Irish dancing, swimming, and my coaching we have been on the go non-stop! It’s a good thing we all love what we’re doing. Five o’clock wake up calls to swim before school do not come easy if your heart isn’t in it. It’s been an adjustment for my daughter, but she loves it. My son has been working really hard on his Irish dancing. It’s fantastic to watch him dance and see how far he’s come. As for my swim coaching, I have a super group of kids that really want to work hard and improve. It doesn’t get any better than that! In between all of those activities though, I think it’s important to have some down time. For me, that is time in the garden, especially taking pictures.

I hope your schedule isn’t too crazy! and that you have some beautiful roses to smell along the way.

Dana

Floribunda Rose “Iceberg”. These have given a beautiful show all summer! They are white in bloom, but they have a very light pink appearance in the bud stage.

Floribunda Rose “Iceberg”.

Floribunda Rose “Burgundy Ice”.

Rosa Jacques Cartier (1868). These are incredibly fragrant! You don’t even have to get up close to smell them, and it’s a beautiful smell!

Rosa Jacques Cartier (1868). I’ve put the fallen roses in a bowl and enjoyed their ever lasting scent in the house. 🙂

Roses, Hydrangeas and Poppies for some summertime beauty.

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Mominthegarden

Mom in the garden. That’s me. Except I haven’t been able to get into my garden very much the past few weeks. This, unfortunately, is making me quite grumpy! So I’m simply going to post a bunch of pictures that make me feel like I’m in my garden. 🙂

I hope you like them. And that they make you feel happy too!

Dana

A cluster of my climbing roses (Zephirine Drouhin). I’m so happy with their brightness factor on our fence!

I really liked the lighting on this Zephirine Drouhin Climbing rose.

This is my sister-in-law’s Tiger Rose. I think it is amazing! (and I really *need* to get one!)

What a splash of color this beautiful Tiger Rose adds to a garden!

Evening sunlight softens the color tone of my Burgundy Ice Floribunda Rose.

Evening sunlight on my Iceberg Floribunda Rose. I can’t resist taking pictures in the evening!

Fuchsia is a very popular plant in Ireland. It’s not uncommon to find it growing in hedges in the West. It was introduced to Ireland in the mid-19th century from Chile & Argentina. (This picture was taken in County Mayo).

Is it any surprise that I have a picture of a Hydrangea? I love their high cheerfulness factor!

Yep, another Hydrangea picture…

My Clematis ‘Bagatelle’ (Dorothy Walton). This picture is for my husband 🙂

My poppies on a glorious morning!

A different view of the poppies.

Marigolds to finish the post with.

Weeding … and new blooms in the garden!

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Mominthegarden

Weeding, it’s like housework, it just has to be done! I confess to much preferring being outdoors and weeding to being inside doing housework, though. Today I had the privilege of listening to my kids play on the trampoline with their friends while I was pulling weeds. Lots and lots of weeds. Funny how the kids never want to pull weeds with me. We could make a game of it; something like “let’s see who can pull the most weeds!”. I’ll have to give that one a try tomorrow…

I’ve mentioned that our garden is in a constant state of change as we grow it, learn, and figure out how we want it to look eventually. The area of our “fruit orchard”, I just have to put that in quotes since the area is so small we call it that affectionately, is not the shape we want it just yet. We discovered this year that we’ve planted too close to the fence, so we’ll have to bring that area back a tiny bit. That lovely black carpeting (read: ugly) is where we’ll have stone paths eventually. We planted more asparagus this year, so that space was expanded. We’re planning on two rows of peas for next year, too, since they are growing so nicely. When we get the shape and size finally right, we’re planning on enclosing the area. I really want a small white picket fence. Can you just see the pretty pink climbing roses along the fence with white hydrangea? I’m sure I’ve pinned something like that from pinterest!

Back to reality, and our current garden! The first of my Dutch Iris is blooming, and I think it is so pretty. The first of my roses has also finally bloomed. The sunlight this evening captured it so brilliantly. The mess in the middle of my front yard is my next garden project. I have to kill the grass (with newspapers & cardboard). I’ve also put the sod which was dug up from other places in the yard there, to incorporate it into the new garden. There’s no point in wasting perfectly good sod! I’m glad my husband is a patient man, and doesn’t mind the mess involved with killing the grass the slow way. Good things come to those who wait 🙂

I hope you don’t have too long to wait for blooms in your garden!
Dana