In the past year, we’ve managed to get rid of some of the annoying grass that doesn’t want to stay alive. we had our friend Anya come in and rip up a section of the grass. Last fall, we added a few plants put not to much. For whatever reason, I’ve been bored the last couple of months and decided to add a few things to make it more lively and interesting. Overall, I think it has turned out fairly nice. Some, rocks, some bark, and various annuals and perennials. The final stroke of boredom struck on Memorial Day. I was gazing at the last main empty spot and was trying to figure out what to do with it. I had a stroke of inspiration and decided I needed to put a pond in. A couple hours of digging, a few missteps, and a few days later - we now have a pond. It will be interesting to see how things grow in. Most likely, I’ve over planted and will have to figure out what to do with things come the fall or next spring. And always, I have to throw in the token shot of the rhodies and lilac. Granted they are on the down swing but they are still a reminder of what sold us on the house 6 years ago.
so does this officially mean i’m a man? i bottled my first homebrew today. ancient norwegian recipe. however, there is a ton of sugar in the recipe. tried a little sample, obviously sweet and flat, but overall it didn’t make me want to throw up when i drank it. so far so good. i also used some hops we grew in the backyard. good times.
Our garden supplies many moments of entertainment for me. This installment takes a look at vegetable that everyone can grow and a quite beautiful flower.
I asked Megan to let this zuchinni grow so I could see how big it could get. This picture does it some justice but it is still hard to really appreciate its size. I measured it and it is currently about 2 1/2 feet long and about the same in circumfrence. I’m sure it would be absolutely awful if eaten. The other two pictures are of an artichoke that has flowered. Quite excellent and quite similar to the chardoon but they aren’t the same. If you go back aways in their evolution, I think they come from the same plant originally.
I am all alone with the pugs this week. Megan and a few friends have taken a drive to California. With them went my digital camera. Alas I can’t take any random pictures and put them up to entertain myself, so I will have to describe and link to a few pictures of what you would see if I did have my camera.
I walked out into the garden last night and too my suprise the cardoon had sprouted little purple like flower things. I’d never seen it bloom before, so it was quite nice. The cardoon is some ancient ancestor of the artichoke and the leafy material on the side is supposedly edible. Most green leafy things that are usually described with the word bitter are generally not to my liking. I’ll have to pass on eating the leaves.
The sunflowers are doing quite well. The biggest one has a face about 12″ in diameter (not including the petals). Soon the seeds will be ready and the minions of birds and squirrels will attack and leave a bed of cracked shells all over the garden.
Megan’s tomatoes by the deck are started to turn red. She’ll be pleased by this development. The great gorging shall begin shortly.
Last but not least, the corn is progressing quite nicely. There looks to be about 15 or so ears of corn out there. Hopefully the sun will continue to shine and we will have a couple of bbqs with corn from the garden.
By popular request, the garden (and various other plants that interest me in the backyard.) Three weeks have passed since my previous post from the backyard.
Things have begun to take off a bit. Megan’s got a tomato plant right next to the back door for when emergencies hit and she’s not able to make it all the way back to the garden in time for that fix. Raspberries are always an excellent June/July treat. Go out in the backyard and eat berries for 5 minutes or so. The pugs enjoy eating the low berries and anything that falls on the ground. The garden now and the garden before.
We’ll now move onto the garden. Little zuchinnis, the spinach and the chard consuming the middle of the garden, and the potato plant in the back corner.
As always, I’m useless when it comes to the names of flowers that Megan gets but I enjoy the vibrant red and furriness in this flower - one pic w/o flash, the other with….
One more pretty pink flower and then the herb garden on the deck.
As always, I can take no credit for these wonderful plants and the things they make me do. They are in the sure hands of Megan. If you want to look at my handiwork in the backyard, just look at the grass. Enough said.
during the spring, we managed to double the size of our garden. past summers have shown good results and our grass wasn’t in the best of shape - so attack it we did. It involved a little grass killing. I took my handy shovel, cut the sod into squares and then flipped it over. Not the most pleasant task but with about 250 sq ft, it took about 6 hours. we let the grass sit this way for a few weeks hoping to snuff out its life but the grass grew better when it was covered in four inches of soil than when it was exposed to light.
Continue reading ‘welcome to the jungle’
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