Gardening

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Ferny You Should Ask…

Flowers and fruits are the focus of many a blog, but in the cool, quiet corners of the garden, ferns flourish.  Fronds unfurl curling upward as they unwrap from their coil.  Sword ferns, native to North America, favor shade as they fearlessly stand guard beneath the orange tree.  Asparagus ferns are fond of climbing and twining, sending out long straight shoots.  Within a fortnight, feathery emerald leaves should follow.

Southern Sword Fern ‘Nephrolepis Cordifola’

Gian Chain Fern ‘Woodwardia fimbriata’

Asparagus Fern reaching for the fruit tree

Fern about to unfurl

Other Worldly

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Fruit for the Picking

You may remember that while attempting to cover the four-in-one fruit cocktail tree with bird netting earlier this year, I fell.  Yep, just call me Grace.  One leg of the ladder sank into the dirt and down I went.  I wasn’t seriously hurt, but bruised and scratched enough to abandon the job at hand.  Did I mention that I broke the ladder, too?

The tree was partially covered before the fall.  I left the excess netting in a pile at the base of the tree.  From time to time I tucked in bits of netting around the expanding branches, hoping to confuse the foragers. Would the coverage be enough to save some fruit for my family?  Last year the birds and squirrels picked the tree clean.  If I hadn’t taken a photo of two beautiful plums the day before, I would have assumed I imagined the whole thing.

It worked!  I’ve seen a few nibbles, but most of the fruit is still on the tree, soon to be ripe for the picking.

Netted Fruit Cocktail Tree

Plums and Nectarines

I haven’t baked in pie in a zillion years, but I think it’s time to brush up on my baking skills. The next fruit to set: peaches. Oh my, oh my, oh my!

Please let me know if you have a favorite pie recipe to share.

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Blooming Thursday: Dwarfed by the Cosmos

I’d like to give a shout-out to the bird, or perhaps it was the wind, for planting the cosmos.  These pink and yellow beauties are my new garden darling, the flower I didn’t know I loved.  They were part of a mixed flower seed packet from last season.  We had several flowers bloom over many months, but nothing as spectacular as this.  Around the corner from their original home, a leafy green plant emerged.  I let it grow along with the pumpkins and now this flowering lovely is taller than I am.  I’m 5’10” so that is saying a lot.

Here’s a little photo journal of life among the cosmos:

Dwarfed by the Cosmos

Sisters

Ruffles

Seeds!

The flower cycle

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Tweet-tweet: Self Watering Gadgets

Watering Hole

Unless you live in Kauai, Hamburg or Seattle, you probably have to water your outdoor potted plants.  This holds true for indoor plants that don’t get the benefit of seasonal rain.  It’s a fine line between over-watering which can drown the roots, or under-watering which can quickly kill a summer annual.  The mix of shallow roots and rising temperatures dry out plants.  Mulching helps, but plants still need a regular drink of water.  Further, seeing water pour out of the bottom of the pot on to the deck or walkway is a water-conservation no-no.  What to do?

We’ve been experimenting with various self-watering devices, a misnomer since you still have to fill the reservoir with water.  Our first self watering gadget was a glass globe about the size of a baseball.  It came with a porous clay reservoir that you staked into the soil.  After filling the glass globe with water, you quickly upended it and inserted it into the reservoir. They looked pretty, but presented two problems.  The opening was narrow and hard to fill from a watering can.  When I carried them to and from the sink, I worried I would drop them.  Once full, you couldn’t set them down.

Next, my husband came up with the idea of using plastic apple juice containers, the ones that are about the size of a large apple.  The opening was larger and they had a flat bottom.  They worked, but they didn’t look nice after several weeks in the sun.  When empty, they were light enough to be knocked out of the container by a squirrel…or a gardener… and often ended up under the shrubs.

Pictured below are our current watering stakes.  The ceramic bird has a built-in reservoir in the back made of clay but molded into one piece.  The stake remains in the soil and you add water from the top.  Isn’t it cute?  The verdict is out at this point.  I like the ease of use and the little pop of color but I’m not convinced that one per pot is enough.

The baby bird or BORDY, is also molded in one piece but you add water through the mouth.  For some reason it reminds me of a dolphin more than a bird.  What do you think?

Do you have a favorite self-watering gadget?  Please share in  the comments, below.

Tweet-tweet

Scheurich BÖRDY

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Pumpkin Vine Sprawl

Well will you look at that?!  Our granddaddy of all pumpkin vines has meandered across the planting box, over the trellis, through the tomato cage and around the berries.  Yesterday Big Max grew at least a foot!

I have two smaller vines growing as well, transplants from indoors.  One of them set fruit last week, but they can’t keep up with the big guy.  We’ve counted at least a dozen pumpkins so far, currently a pale yellow.  Two of them are the size of basketballs and so far unharmed.  The rats, squirrels and other mysterious visitors are helping themselves to the smaller fruit, but fortunately we have enough to go around.  Fingers crossed.

A few of the fruits have rotted on the vine but the plant itself looks okay.  I hope this is just part of the natural selection process and that the others continue to grow.  I wish you could all stop by for an in-person tour.  I guess photos will have to do.

Upward Mobility

My Pride and Joy

Leafy Green

Pumpkin Vines: The Long View

Up and Comers

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Three Out of Four Cats Agree: Nepeta Cataria Rocks!

The verdict is in, at least as far as our cats are concerned. It’s a resounding “yes” to fresh-picked catnip. I performed this highly scientific test in random order. In other words, whatever feline showed interest first. Since Lindy, 10, had her eye on the plant, I started with her. She immediately dove into the lawn where I placed the catnip, rubbing her chin against the leaves.  I pulled my hand away to take the picture, and she continued to nuzzle the leaves. Next up, Beijing, 15,who came by to see what all the fuss was about. She leaned down to smell it, rubbed it a bit, then picked it up and took a nibble. Tasty!  Slinky, 2, is a wild one, frightened of just about everything. She took some coaxing, but once she got a whiff of the catnip she immediately took to the scent as well.

Neighbor kitty hung out on the fence, observing the tests and making sure I didn’t falsify the results and jeopardize my catnip seed funding.

Lindy-Lu gives it a Paws-Up

Beijing Finds it Tasty

Slinky Says Yes to Catnip

Neighbor Kitty: I’ve got my eye on you!

You can read more about the properties of Nepeta cataria, also known as catnip or cat mint here.

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City Picker Update: Tiny Green Tomatoes

Early Green Tomatoes

As the pumpkin vines continue to populate the vegetable patch, I was once again grateful for the City Picker boxes.  I simply rolled the entire planter box of tomatoes to another sunny spot, and let the pumpkin vines continue to grow.  (As if I would stop them!!!)

Unfortunately, one of the two boxes leaks when I fill the watering tube.  I can’t do anything about it now, but I’ll investigate at the end of the planting season to see what’s up.  I planted three starter tomato plants on one side and a variety of seeds on the other.   Eventually, I thinned the plants to an even six to the box.

Here’s how they’re growing:

City Picker Tomatoes: June 23, 2012

City Picker Tomatoes: May 23, 2012

City Picker Tomatoes: May 1, 2012

Help! There’s a pumpkin vine chasing me!!!

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Rearranging the Plants: A Welcome Home Surprise

Rearranging the furniture was a favorite pastime when I was a girl.  My sister and I would move things around while Mom was at work, then yell surprise when she walked through the door.  This week, I decided to rearrange some plants.

In March we planted five glorious pink Azaleas beneath the living room window.  Sadly,  once the temperatures rose, one of them rapidly dried out.  Hoping for the best we held on for another several weeks.  I hate giving up on plants. We finally laid it to rest in the compost heap last week.

My husband has been wanting to buy more Azaleas for the back corner, to intersperse with the hydrangea. I suggested we move the surviving plants, then buy pink hydrangeas to go under the window.  Azaleas make me happy, but blooming hydrangea make my heart skip a few beats.

While I was away, Mike made the switch.  He tucked the Azaleas around the sword fern near the blue hydrangea, then planted pinkish purple hydrangea under the window.  The plants will grow taller, doing a better job hiding the house’s foundation, and as they grow they’ll pop their pretty pink heads above the window.  Can you feel me smiling from ear to ear?

New Hydrangea

Azaleas (Back in March)

Relocated Azaleas

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Miniland Wonders: Bonsai meets Legos

Can’t you just see the job description:  ‘Lego builders wanted, must play well with others.  Patience and math skills a plus.’

Without further ado, today’s blog is brought to you in pictures. All of the models are built from Legos.   The trees and flowers are real but pruned to scale:

San Francisco, California

New England

New England meets Bonsai

Star Wars Episode IV: Tatooine

Las Vegas, Nevada

Historic Ferndale, California
(This one’s for you, Bonnie)

Not pictured: Washington, DC, New Orleans, New York and Southern California. There is also a Star Wars Miniland, featuring scenes from all six episodes.

Blending The Two
A. Bison
B. Golden Goose
C. Elephant near succulents
D. Bison close-up
E. Dragon tail

What’s Growing at LEGOLAND

Native Wildlife
(That lizard tried to impress me with push ups)

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LEGOLAND: Our Miniland Sendoff

We’re happy to be home with stories to share and a plethora of photos for the scrapbooks and Facebook.  I love traveling but I’m happy to come home, too.  I miss the garden and our cats and this time my husband and older son who stayed home.  It was a great trip.  We laughed a lot, shared some nice meals and enjoyed the novelty of a theme park based on Legos.

Our day drew to a close in the midst of the amazing miniature village known as Miniland, filled with incredible scale models of the real and the imagined.  Here is a quick peak at Miniland from the top of the hill.  More pictures to follow tomorrow.

Miniland: The Long View