Frank and Zappa's Garden

The last weekend in August 2010 is over and it’s almost September. We had a beautiful, hot & sunny weekend – perfect August weather.

Friday night and Saturday were full of busy, at home chores. Getting some more of that wood stacked, that hasn’t been touched since the first weekend in August – think we’re almost done. Doing some cleaning and some baking, getting ready for company.

Lynne & Jim (Cory’s parents) arrived on Saturday evening and stayed until this morning. We had a good visit, including some Doctor Who, a trip to Costco and a BBQ.

We’ve had a stretch of hot weather with not too much rain, so I’ve had to keep my garden planters watered. But hot, sunny weather is just what the tomatoes ordered.

Yellow Cherry Tomatoes

We’re not exactly drowning in tomatoes yet, but since Saturday I’ve been bringing in a few every day. Mostly cherry and grape tomatoes which are oh so sweet tasting.

Saturday's basket

My two little bean plants are still producing away, and soon I will have miniature cucumbers.

Miniature Cucumber

I would have picked this one on Saturday, but I need something to cut it off the vine and I didn’t have anything with me. Soon though!

Striped Cavern Tomatoes

I am keeping an anxious eye on these Striped Cavern tomatoes. I tried growing them for the first time last year, and I did get a few but they were pretty disappointing. Last year’s garden – especially the tomatoes – was an all around disaster though, and so far things are looking promising this year.

Frank

Zappa

Saturday night Cory & I barbecued, we were able to include a little bit of fresh from the garden produce.

Garden fresh green beans with potatoes & onions

Garden ripened tomatoes with cucumber

The tomatoes & cucumber got a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The potatoes weren’t from our garden, but I’m pretty sure there are some out there ready to be eaten!

Today was another scorcher – hotter than the weekend actually. I went out to water my containers again. This time the cats were in their harnesses, which actually made it a bit easier because I could leave the gate open. Have to keep an eye on that Frank though!

My potato plants are not looking too good, I think they are pretty much done.

But I can see a potato.

So I know there are some in there! Time to get out and get digging!

Sunflowers are also heading into full swing. I’ve got two different types (I actually had 3 different types of seed, but can’t remember if I planted all three – guess we’ll have to wait and see).

Tonight I was walking around the yard smelling dill! It smelled so good.

Tonight’s handful of tomatoes.

They’re not huge, but they pack a lot of flavor.

Among other things, this week was the time to watch the Perseid Meteor Showers. Since they tend to happen late at night, we normally would miss them because we are asleep. However, Cory was up late for work two nights this week so Thursday night he woke me up around 12:30 am and we went out to watch for meteors. It was still early to be watching, but we stayed out for 45 minutes or so and we did get to see some. It was pretty neat. And the cats seemed to think it was great that we were outside with them in the middle of the night. I won’t lie; I was pretty tired on Friday but it was still pretty cool.

Another cool event – I have been waiting for my Green Thai Eggplant to bloom, curious to see what the blossoms would look like. We got to see this week.

And, I’ve been watching the wrong tomato plants! The grape tomatoes are going to win the race.

This weekend also saw the return of high temperatures. For a while there it had cooled off a bit. Still warm and sunny, but comfortable temperatures.  This weekend it has been really hot, so I spent last evening hanging out in the yard after it had cooled off a bit. It stays really warm in the house, but outside it was quite nice.

I was trying to relax in a chair and read, but I got kicked out.

So I puttered a bit, pulled some weeds, watered some plants, then settled in the other chair with my book. Before long, I had company again.

Zappa appears to be quite territorial about these chairs.

Then I noticed Frank standing at attention.

So I got up to have a look around and see what was so interesting. We had visitors outside the fence.

I watched for a while, and when I turned back, I’d lost my chair again.

Looks pretty comfy, doesn’t he?

Here are a few more photos from this weekend.

Sweet Banana Peppers

Jalapenos

String beans

Miniature Cucumber Plants

Complete with miniature cucumbers!

Lemon Mint

Sweet Cluster Tomatoes

Zappa

Frank

It was another beautiful, summer weekend, and it just flew by. Somehow I didn’t get around to a lot of the things that were on my mental to-do list, but it was still a busy weekend.

I thought I had missed strawberry season; I remember seeing local strawberries at the grocery store and thinking I must pick some up, but I was always in a rush. Next thing I knew, the strawberries were gone – it seemed like they weren’t around for long this year.

Saturday morning Cory and I drove out to the Pumpkin Patch, I think for only the second time this summer. I was thinking we might find some local raspberries, but then what did we see but some beautiful looking local strawberries. There were a few raspberries, but the strawberries were more abundant and looking really nice, so we immediately snatched them up, along with a basket of field tomatoes, some carrots and a few other things.

So, Saturday afternoon was spent making strawberry freezer jam.

With a second batch made on Sunday.

We are now feeling quite pleased, our freezer all restocked. This will easily last us until next summer.

The peas were also in need of being picked again.

And of course I had to check on the progress of my tomatoes.

Still looking good! My plants are loaded with green tomatoes, so I’m hoping for a good crop.

More pictures from Sunday afternoon in the garden…

Green tomatoes and Lemon Mint starting to bloom

Garlic flowers - they've puffed up and are so pretty

The first Lemon Mint to start blooming is going strong

Frank checking out my basket again

Zappa still loves his chairs

Last but not least…I’m almost afraid to say it, for fear I will be proved wrong, but I think the bounce sheets on the baby trees are working. There are little leaves growing, and not being eaten. So far, so good.

It has been a fantastic weekend here in Saint John – perfect weather. We’ve spent some time visiting with friends and relaxing at home. Sad to see it end!

There were also some chores…

Our firewood arrived Wednesday evening. I was hoping to get it all stacked in the garage this weekend, but we didn’t quite make it. We had company coming for dinner on Saturday evening, so we had other things to worry about in the house. Yesterday Cory and I went out and moved the last bit of old wood we had, and then started bringing in the new wood. Cory lasted about an hour, I kept at it for an hour longer and this is how much we got done.

I went out and spent about 90 minutes at it today, but there’s probably still a half cord or so to go in. That probably won’t happen until next weekend now.

As for the garden, let’s have another look at those tomatoes.

They look like they are coming right along, don’t they?

Lemon Mint is starting to bloom too. See the first bloom, back there behind the giant catnip plant?

I planted Lemon Mint for the first time last year. I hadn’t expected it to be so pretty, but it turned out to be one of the few successes of a dismal gardening season. This year I planted  a bunch more, just because it is so pretty to look at.

Sunflowers are coming up…

Lavender is in bloom…

Out front, the Baby’s Breath is also in bloom.

All in all, the garden is a nice place to be right now.

Saturday I woke up around 8 am to sunshine. I moseyed my way out to the kitchen (from the spare room where we’ve been sleeping since Wednesday night, due to the dead crow our cats left for us to find in the master bedroom closet; long story), and then on to the living room to enjoy my coffee and breakfast with a little Doctor Who on the telly (ok, on PVR, but it just feels like you should say telly when you are talking about Doctor Who).

After breakfast though, I decided I’d head out to the garden before it got too hot and before I got sidetracked by other tasks. It was a beautiful morning for it!

I want to start with some pictures of my containers on the deck though. I always take pictures, intending to post them, but by the time I get finished with the main garden stuff I feel like I’ve posted enough for one go.

My little veggie garden is just that…Little! Adding some containers into the mix gives me a bit more space to work with. Our deck is not large either though. This is pretty much it. The width of the barbecue.

I managed to cram quite a bit on there though.  🙂

Self watering tomato container

Tiny green tomatoes!

Green Thai Eggplant (fingers crossed!)

Pepper plants

So far I’ve had less than stellar luck with the Green Thai Eggplants. I tried to grow them last year, but the weather was so dismal they didn’t grow at all. Then this year I dropped a couple of my seedlings and killed them. The ones that made it this far are looking good though.

And I seem to have established that peppers do better for me in containers. I’ve tried planting them in the garden for the past three years and they don’t seem to do well at all. The ones I have in containers look really healthy.

Oh, and just for fun…

I planted basil and green onions in some peach baskets I had left from last year. Lined them with a little bit of landscaping fabric. The green onions were planted with seed tape. I’d never tried it before, but it seems to have worked pretty well.

Now for a quick trip inside the fence…

Relaxed Felines

Both cats are there – Zappa is in the chair on the right.

I finally got around to picking my peas…

Sugar Snaps Peas and Strawberries

And cut back the cilantro plant that was going wild.

Oh, look! I have pepper plants!

And let’s see how those tomatoes from last weekend’s post are coming along.

I get a little obsessed with watching the progress of my tomatoes. Expect to see a lot of these photos.

And finally, an update on our tree situation. The Bag Lady suggested dryer sheets. As soon as I saw that suggestion Friday night, I ran upstairs to tell Cory, then took myself outside with a pair of scissors and a box of Bounce.

On Saturday my Dad called (Hi Dad!) and suggested I could try steeping some dill and then spraying the solution on the trees, as they’ve notice the deer won’t eat pea plants that grow with the dill plants in their garden. So I have a backup plan, but for now we’ll see how the dryer sheets work.

Frank and I were out for a quick walk around the yard tonight and stopped to check things out. Too soon to tell if it’s helping I think, but at least things are not looking any worse.

Are you singing Tom Jones yet? You’re welcome.  🙂

On to the garden stuff – because there is something new!

A week ago Thursday, July 8, I had to go to Fredericton for a company meeting. Long and super hot, sunny day. I arrived home to find Grass Catchers (our landscapers) hard at work on expanding the garden bed on the hill.

It’s quite a bit bigger, as you can see by the tiny little spot at the top right corner that is the original bed and actually has stuff planted in it.

On the following Monday, July 12, we came home to trees in our back yard.

Which were planted this past Thursday, July 15, which I think was the hottest day of the summer so far, here in Saint John anyway. My jar of coconut oil, normally solid at room temperature, was liquid.

The end result:

Looks nice, don’t you think? As a matter of fact, the deer thought it looked good enough to eat…

The evergreens seem to be doing okay, but we’re not sure how many of the maples and oaks are going to survive. I took these pictures on Friday. I watered all of the new trees last night and they were looking about the same. Today they were nibbled back even more. Not a whole lot we can do though.

In other news…

We have potato blossoms!

We also have baby tomatoes, garlic flowers (pretty) and peas.

Right now you can almost see things growing. For a while there I thought my tomatoes were looking pretty spindly, but they’ve taken right off – some are still a bit on the small side, but that may have to do with them being later varieties. In any case, things are certainly looking much better than they were last year!

Some just for fun photos…