(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to Flowers, Sasha, Winter, animals, blue, brown, leaves, rocks, roses, seeds, spring, summer, veggies on 2008-03-08, 11:20:00

25*, feels like 15*, 45% humidity, NW 10 mph wind, partly cloudy, FLOOD WARNING Spring is close. I know it now. This morning I woke to that change in the air, that indescribable smell that wakes me every year when the spring switch is thrown. And though the day is most certainly NOT spring like, there was that smell. It's close. It's coming! Speaking of smells, I also got a whiff of summer as

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to Dirt, Waldeath, Winter, animals, books, chores, food, girlgonegardening, houseplants, roses, seeds, spring, summer, tools on 2008-03-06, 08:29:00

28*, feels like 19*, 73% humidity, WNW 10 mph wind, cloudy, FLOOD WARNING It was a difficult morning to wake up today. I slept a sound 8 hours, which is more then the norm for me. 6 hours in the winter, and 4-5 hours in the summer is my sleeping schedule. I was tempted to just stay in bed instead of getting myself motivated for the day. After all, I had things to do like feed the animals, water

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to Winter, food, girlgonegardening, hiking, leaves, project, seeds, summer, veggies, weather on 2008-02-24, 05:55:00

20*, feels like 16*, 86% humidity, SSW 6 mph wind, fog, FLOOD WARNING If it seems like I'm posting a lot today, it has to do with the fact that I'm antsy. I'm waiting for the weather to warm up and then I will be going hiking, checking out some fens I have heard of by word of mouth up in the dunes. It's supposed to be above freezing today. I'd like to enjoy that so I'm willing to wait a while.

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to Flowers, LOVE, cheapskate finds, leaves, photos, seeds, shrubs, snow, summer, weather, wildflowers on 2007-12-13, 16:58:00

31*, feels like 20*, 78% humidity, WSW 16 mph wind, cloudy I have a new lover. His name is Penstemon smallii. I bumped into him at the clearance table at the nursery in late summer. At first I wasn't too impressed with him. He seemed....cheep. So I did a background check on him and found out that they tend to like a more dry climate so I thought he and I wouldn't stand a chance together. Still,

(Via A Larrapin Garden)

Posted by admin to Flowers, butterflies, summer on 2007-09-03, 14:10:00

Maybe the milkweed has made me crazy, but the experience of watching the dozens of butterflies zoom around it and the dozens of monarch caterpillars happily munching away, has me committing more area to butterfly habitat next year. Here's another visiting lovely -- a swallowtail? -- pictured above. I'm searching through the catalogs looking for the magic words in the description: Attracts Butterflies. In particular, I hope to add a Paw Paw tree to draw Zebra Swallowtails.

I haven't had the chance to post due to dealing with a family illness. After being out of state for nearly a week, it was such a healing experience to drive back home and see the garden. Even though it's starting to fade as the heat is releasing it's grip a bit and the light begins to look like Fall, it looked like paradise after a week in hospital waiting rooms.

I'll start watching for the Monarch butterflies to be traveling by soon. One of my clearest memories from when we lived in North Carolina (and along a major Monarch flyway) was looking up into a stunningly blue September sky and seeing butterflies high above, so high they looked like pieces of distant confetti, tumbling southward. It's amazing they travel so far with that up and down rolling flight. This time, I'll be hoping that some of the butterflies traveling will be the offspring of some of the fat caterpillars that munched on this milkweed at Larrapin Garden.

(Via A Larrapin Garden)

Posted by admin to Other Gardens, summer, vegetables on 2007-08-18, 14:35:00

Hershel is my wonderful gardening neighbor. (I misspelled his name in my sign above. Note the Sharpie pen for size comparison....) He's been gardening in our neighborhood for about twenty years and his garden is fabulous. We often benefit from his ability to produce enormous quantities of the best green beans ever -- Kentucky Wonders. The tomato pictured is Hershel's own development and the one I photographed is not the prettiest or the largest he's ever shown me. I believe the parent tomato is a German Pink type. Hershel's tomato produces a slice for a sandwich that will overhang the bread! Really great flavor, nice firmness. To the left is one of the Cherokee Purple heirloom I grew from a transplant I bought at Old Soul Organics in Fayetteville. It is, hands down, the healthiest, lushest plant I've ever grown, incredibly productive and with a *perfect* tomato flavor in my opinion. Needless to say I'm saving the seeds on that one. It has a near potato type leaf. Here's a sliced one:


The other tomato tip I'll do again next year involves composted cotton burr compost. The bed where I was planting the tomato was too clayey so I added a half bag of the compost right in the end of the bed where the tomato was to go. I guess they LOVE this compost! I'll do this again for each tomato plant next year.

Here's a parting pic of Hershel's wonderfully huge tomato -- this one not completely ripe. I knew I'd lucked out when I moved to the neighborhood and after meeting Hershel he pulled a giant whole tomato out of the freezer to show me! This is my kind of neighbor! The tomato had been so huge and perfect -- indeed, it seemed half as big as my head -- that he'd frozen it so that folks would believe him when he told the story! Because we know that gardening stories and fishing stories can be similar in some ways...

Finally today some RAIN!! It smelled exquisite.

(Via A Larrapin Garden)

Posted by admin to butterflies, edibles, summer on 2007-08-18, 14:16:00

This is how gardening with the wild creatures in mind (in addition to the gardeners) can be a little tricky. I planted a whole row of parsley so that there would be plenty for us and for butterflies. But the stand was covered with SO MANY black swallowtail caterpillars that I couldn't bring myself to cut any -- even when I needed a bunch for a special recipe. To Mendy's dismay, I brought storebought parsley home to spare ours for the butterflies. Next year I may have a row of parsley and a dill plant in every raised bed in hopes of having enough for us all.

I heard a country story I like:
A visitor to an old farmer's garden noted that a groundhog was living nearby.
"You gonna shoot that groundhog?"
"Nah," the farmer replied.
"Well maybe you ought too. He'll eat your garden up," the visitor warned.
"Mister," the farmer explained, "If I can't grow enough to feed myself and one little groundhog, I wouldn't be much of a farmer."

Mostly I feel the same. But if you change the critter to a raccoon....hmmmm, all bets are off!

(Via A Larrapin Garden)

Posted by admin to Flowers, butterflies, summer on 2007-08-17, 09:48:00

This is one of the Milkweed seedheads as it opens and releases the seeds with their little flyaway equipment. The fluff feels like silk -- no wonder it's called Silky Butterfly weed!

(Via A Larrapin Garden)

Posted by admin to butterflies, summer on 2007-08-17, 09:46:00

I'm not sure which kind of butterfly this is, but what great colors! Another milkweed fan..

(Via A Larrapin Garden)

Posted by admin to Flowers, butterflies, summer on 2007-08-17, 09:42:00

This is the tropical milkweed I've mentioned in several posts. Milkweed is the preferred caterpillar food for Monarch butterflies as well as a great nectar source for everything that flies. It was recommended by our wonderful local Monarch garden supporter, Cindi C.

I got the seed from Swallowtail Garden Seeds online. It's called Silky Butterfly Weed (Asclepias curassavica) and comes in red and gold (yellow). The Red has produced more seeds but the yellow was the initial preference of the Monarchs in my yard. Since then, both kinds are popular, with a handful of Monarch caterpillars on every plant.