2016 Gardens

[eisman]

Blackberry is natures terrorist. If it cant propagate by seed (and it can) it strikes from above. This shoot went 15 feet up the neighbors pine and then dropped to my yard. Grew better than a foot a day.

 

[taldesta]

Blackberries ... well yes opportunists and persistent ones at that. Here there was a stand right beside a pile of overgrown topsoil right at the entry to the property. The blackberry canes are kind of an anchor for this garden now ... but I do stake it, prune it and try to keep it a little under control because it is spikey and draws blood when it grabs, especially if I am moving fast past it on the mower.




Hope the following is a pic of the green tomato/blackberry cobbler from last year.

This year I haven't had time to pick berries, but the pups have. Tal and Daisy




Dez takes Daisy's place in the shadows under canes ... that's where the low hanging fruit is








eisman, the blue fescue grass started this past spring is ready to plant out and I am wondering what kind of exposure seems to work for your plants - they seem to thrive there.




BTW the lilies are beauties!

 

[taldesta]

Now the nasturtiums are getting leggy, but still put out new blooms constantly. The hummingbirds love them and make use of the handy perches on the fence.




Pansies are laying down on their long stems, pretty much done their job for the season ... but the recent rain did refresh a few of them




Holy cow, the vines are just thriving. Scarlet runner pole beans with marigolds shading shop window - not a lot of beans but it is a wonder they even survived here in the brutal heat this year.




Delicate faces on strong climbers






Morning glory






Moonflower, here planted with morning glory ... and also in veg garden beside drip waterers

 

[taldesta]

In the veg garden, portulaca seeded itself from last year ... sort of took over the lettuce patch that's ok with me. Prettiest lettuce around.






Self seeded also is the spotted-touch-me-not (jewelweed) that is thriving this year, mostly because of regular watering. It and ferns line the front of the house but the tallest plant is right beside the birdbath/waterers




Several frogs have been hydrating in the seedling trays on the patio where water is plentiful. I set out a few more trays for them. Today I found Lumpy napping on the deck quite a distance from the patio, but we've had a lot of heavy rain in the last few days and that makes hydrating easier wherever she is.




A surprise grew like a beanstock out of the soil of a hot pepper plant I bought earlier this spring. Looks like I will be having a couple of sunflowers in the veg garden.




Begonias are outdoing themselves. What a joy in colour every day.

 

[taldesta]

Tomatoes are ripening beautifully, no thanks to Daisy. It's taken a lot of watching and several fence repairs to ensure that I will actually have some tomatoes for the table - mostly constant vigilance! She is stealth on paws and loves tomatoes.

No problem with Daisy trying to raid the milkweed patch though ...




Willow fencing is effective for gates even though it is not that strong. It just looks like a barrier to her.




Daisy will avoid anything that may fall ... so just laying a stake across the uprights is most effective in hot spots. I wanted a 'no fence' look and in most areas the plain fencing works.



And, nice ... the birds like it too




Happy harvest all. The geese have been gathering for a couple of weeks now. Early signs.

 

[LEGION 12]

 

[eisman]

My Blue fescue plot is on a SW slope that gets sun most of the day until about 3pm. Then the trees provide shade. It grows like crazy.

 

[taldesta]

Looks like you are winning against the squirrels! Must be the pirate owl

 

[taldesta]

My Blue fescue plot is on a SW slope that gets sun most of the day until about 3pm. Then the trees provide shade. It grows like crazy.

Thanks eisman ... that's what I needed to know.

 

[taldesta]

The early nasturtiums are mostly legs and foliage now but the hummingbirds have found a bunch of secondary nasturtium plantings all around the property that are putting up some beautiful flowers. Overall their favourite food supplies are dwindling but they are all over the wild spotted-touch-me-not flowers that are plentiful, dangling just like orange jewels.


Amaranth, Love Lies Bleeding, is just starting to bloom ... a very late planting because I mistook a different variety that was coming up early on for this one. Yet another miscalculation/experiment The red trailing blooms are quite a flashy presence in the garden when full.




Giant marigolds just starting to pretty up the drilled well head and around the two big rose bushes at the east end of the veg garden. Monarchs love these marigolds with their late summer early autumn blooms - just in time to bulk up for the flight south.






Here are two pics that show the wall of plantings that keep the pups on the straight and narrow (off the grass) when they leave the house. It directs them right onto the laneway aggregate where nothing green of importance to me will die when they pee.



Eyes straight ahead ladies




From overwintered corms, the begonias just give and give ... white, red, coral, yellow, pink ... huge blooms, beautiful foliage .... and great dog stoppers at that




Last ... the hot pepper plant that these two sunflowers stowed away with is doing ok, but certainly not producing like the other peppers. That's some tall competition for food and water.

 

[taldesta]

Sorry to say ... but just minutes ago I witnessed the dreaded ... two hummingbirds sharing the feeder. (yes, at the same time - yikes what is the world coming to?) That takes 'stogging up for the long flight before winter' right into the final stages. Less sex and more travel in the bird thoughts.

Such desperation amongst combatants can only mean the end of summer EEK again but don't want to wear out the icons OK ... I warned you that the geese were collecting weeks ago, now the hummingbirds ... also saw flocks of blackbirds yesterday. Be prepared, it is coming.

 

[22-rimfire]

I read an article today that said that hummingbirds migrate alone versus in flocks or groups. That kind of surprised me. A couple years ago, we had bunches of hummingbirds that hit my feeders the same day in early to mid-September. The norm was 6-10. They emptied the feeders in about two hours. I refilled. It would appear that I caught a group which is contrary to the article I read, heading south.... to Mexico and Central America. They even fly across the Gulf of Mexico which surprised me too. The article also said that the males migrate first.

Anyway, my tomatoes are just about history. The second staggered planting did okay, but the third planting didn't so so well. My guess is night time temps were too hot for much fruit set. I planted a couple patio type tomatoes later in large pots and they really haven't done well either (new soil and large pots--like two feet tall). I am convinced that I have to have the tomato plants well growing before the warmer night time temps hit. This year was particularly hot and dry. Dry is no problem as I water the garden; hot, well, no cure for that.

Today I planted some broccoli. They are small plants and I'm going to toss some lettuce seed out and see how it does. If the first frost is similar to other years, I should have some lettuce for salads and sandwiches in a month+. I removed all but two of my tomato plants. They had the most green foliage left and perhaps they'll set some fruit, who knows?

Taldesta, what is the typical first frost date in your area?

 

[taldesta]

I read an article today that said that hummingbirds migrate alone versus in flocks or groups. That kind of surprised me. A couple years ago, we had bunches of hummingbirds that hit my feeders the same day in early to mid-September. The norm was 6-10. They emptied the feeders in about two hours. I refilled. It would appear that I caught a group which is contrary to the article I read, heading south.... to Mexico and Central America. They even fly across the Gulf of Mexico which surprised me too. The article also said that the males migrate first.

Anyway, my tomatoes are just about history. The second staggered planting did okay, but the third planting didn't so so well. My guess is night time temps were too hot for much fruit set. I planted a couple patio type tomatoes later in large pots and they really haven't done well either (new soil and large pots--like two feet tall). I am convinced that I have to have the tomato plants well growing before the warmer night time temps hit. This year was particularly hot and dry. Dry is no problem as I water the garden; hot, well, no cure for that.

Today I planted some broccoli. They are small plants and I'm going to toss some lettuce seed out and see how it does. If the first frost is similar to other years, I should have some lettuce for salads and sandwiches in a month+. I removed all but two of my tomato plants. They had the most green foliage left and perhaps they'll set some fruit, who knows?

Taldesta, what is the typical first frost date in your area?

Last year the first killing frost hit on Oct 18 - I just checked my pics. Will check into what's typical. Sorry late with reply ... also helluba time posting but that's my dialup issue and getting painful.

No, I've never seen hummingbirds flock together. A fall pre-flight cessation of hostilities is the best social behaviour they have demonstrated for me here. Once, I believe I saw a couple of juveniles flying with an adult early in the season. Combative describes them well, even in the face of much larger birds. If they choose not to share space with another of similar nature like the kingbird, no one seems to actually get hurt ... but the acrobatics are super entertaining.


Tomatoes are done with plenty to share and sauce and enjoy in sandwiches still. Flower seeds planted late, roses and giant marigolds are filling in the harvested spaces in the veg garden. Sweet and hot peppers produced enough for the table - all except the one that brought in the two sunflower hitchhikers! Honestly, I would happily sacrifice the pepper space for the sunny face.






The vines that climb or trail depending upon where they find themselves






Moonflower just closing (I think) as the morning glory opens in the morning. Great complimentary plantings that climb and green up the porch.



She's back! Lumpy just couldn't resist the nice watered cool of the patio during another hot and dry spell.





The first V of geese flew over on Sep 1. The grass was treated to its last cut (I think). Hummingbirds are few now. Surprisingly hot here last few days.

 

[22-rimfire]

The internet world changed when I switched from a dialup connection.

Yesterday, I counted 6+ hummingbirds buzzing the two feeders at the same time. Several even feeding on the same feeder at the same time, surprise. They put on quite a show and are very territorial. They say that if you see six, there are probably twice that many? I was getting quite a kick out of them.

I put out a second humming bird feeder about two weeks ago in anticipation of a higher hummer activity level prior to their migration.

Today, I made a run up to Smoky Mt NP (Cades Cove) to see what I would see. Saw one small black bear digging around in a creek bed for food. Some other folks told me that there were two and one headed up the hillside leaving the one (probably a sibling) searching for food. Wish I'd seen both of them. Not many whitetail deer out; saw an 8 pt buck (I was told it was an 8 pt) as it was pretty much heading for the woods when I saw it. I saw deer and horns. Pretty low key trip there and I only spent about 4 hours there after which I made the decision to visit the large knife store ("largest in the world").... mistake probably. Even after Labor Day, traffic was terrible and I was really shocked at all the stop and go stuff like happens during the summer in Pigeon Forge TN. Oh well, it was educational.

 

[eisman]

Well we had our first frost this weekend. Summer's pretty much done. The past couple months have seen me working to get a major project done. When I bought this place, four years ago, I decided I would get rid of the large gravel spot the previous owners used to park their RV. I really hate gravel and would love to pave the access driveway but 100 yards of concrete isn't in the budget. Still I did get working on removing the pad and using the gravel to level out the driveway and then set a bunch aside for a planned firepit area.

Here's a photo with most of the gravel up.

Part of the reason I needed to get this done was the fence which was leaning badly and had blown over in a couple sections last winter. Best guess is it was close on 20+ years old. Once the gravel was out i got to digging post holes. The new fence isn't the straightest I've ever done, but there were a lot of rock and roots from the cypress to get thru and around. At the same time I was working to level out the area which drops approximately 3' from one side to the other. It's a big improvement and takes a major worry off my plate.

Along with that I had to move my garden shed 20' up the drive and level that out (something that had not been done before. It took about 30 wheelbarrows of rock to get that done, but now the floor is tamped down it's nice and flat and solid. another improvement I've been wanting to get done.

Last I had six yards of top soil delivered and used that to fill in the major low spots. I could use more, and will probably work on that but not for a while. I got some of the planned boarder plants in this weekend, and now it's going to be working on mulching and trimming for winter and working on the fire pit. with any luck I'll be able to sit outside this winter and watch the fog lift while having a blaze going.

Here's where we're at today.

 

[LEGION 12]

Still getting tomatoes a few green peppers and my eggplants are growing like crazy.

 

[22-rimfire]

Nice looking bell pepper. I often use tomato cages for them as my garden is kind of small and they tend to get tall seeking light. I have been picking them as well for the last couple of months. They seem to prefer the slightly cooler weather.

Even picked some ripe tomatoes from my two remaining tomato plants today. No frost yet here. The cooler nights are allowing for blossom set.

 

[Stumps]

My fall Everglades tomatoes are just starting to ripen on the vine.

This is December 8th and the ol' garden is growing fine here in Florida.

 

[taldesta]

Yesterday I had to set my propane tent heater under a tarp to warm my snowblower so it would start and clear the snow for me to access the main road. Hats off to harvesting tomatoes!! Love it.

 

[craytab]

My fall Everglades tomatoes are just starting to ripen on the vine.

This is December 8th and the ol' garden is growing fine here in Florida.

OMG! We aren't getting out of the 20s tomorrow......