August 25, 2012 by Born To Organize

Gifts from the Garden: Late Season Surprises

I love receiving gifts from the garden, little treasures and discoveries I didn’t expect. Here is what she offered up this week.

Turning Orange After All

This acorn-shaped pumpkin was doing well, when a scar on the skin opened into a small wound. With the fruit exposed to air, I assumed that was the end of it. How disappointing.

To my delight, it continued to turn orange.You can see right through to the inside of the pumpkin, so I’m surprised at this development. It’s a gift!

Raspberry Redux

We devoured raspberries for several weeks this summer, eating them straight off the vine. Eventually they stopped blooming and I cut back the vine. This week, they are at it again. Fresh berries in August. Yum, yum, yum. Thank you berry vine for your generous gift. How sweet of you!

It’s a Whopper!

One of our pumpkin vines produced three large gourds in late July. They’ve put on weight daily, though the pumpkins to follow mostly shriveled and died on the vine. In what seemed like an overnight sensation, we now have a fourth still-yellow but equally large pumpkin on the vine. I hope it stays warm enough for the fruit to turn orange. Occasionally the size of the gift is important.

Unexpected Sunflower

I planted Evening Sun and Mammoth Russian Botanical Interests® sunflowers, so imagine my surprise when a third variety appeared this week. I love the shiny yellow flowers and their perfect little centers. Who doesn’t love a gift out of the blue?

What’s up in your garden this week?

August 19, 2012 by Born To Organize

A Taste of Fall: Flower Season Winding Down

The air feels like early fall today. It really cooled down in the past 24 hours. The crisp breeze foreshadows the season to come.

We’ve enjoyed a week of warm weather, lasting well into the evening, enjoying several meals on the patio. Today it’s 15 degrees cooler than predicted. As our days are shorten the pumpkin leaves are turning a tell-tale brown. Even my beloved cosmos are showing signs of decay. In California, warm weather continues well into October, but the growing season is definitely winding down.

It dawned on me today that the bounty of flowers we’ve enjoyed all summer will soon be a sweet memory. I decided to take pictures of each lusty bloom. Mother Nature is about to pull a blanket over the garden. Summer annuals will finish their cycle as they set seed and wither. Perennials go dormant. The Chinese Pistache treats us to an autumn show, with golden, red and amber leaves drifting to the ground below. The maple out back does a strip tease as well, but often in slow motion. Depending on the wind and the rain, our maple may hang on to the changing leaves for some time.

So to my lovely garden belles, arranged below in rainbow order, won’t you please take a bow?

Blooming Since July, Part of the 4th of July Trio

Carpet Roses at the bottom of the ramp

Garnet Penstemon rustling under the Magnolia

Dusty Pink Hydrangea, spectacular under the living room

Pink Vinca lives in a pot on the back steps

Sunflower: The first of the Season

Yellow Daylily fans out under the Magnolia tree

Yellow Four o’clock Flower re-seeded from last summer adds cheer to a shady side yard

Yellow Snapdragons, a hardy little annual

Male pumpkin flower, hopeful, even at this late date

Purple Bellflowers surround our patio

Dwarf Plumbago sits below the tall grass in a corner of the front yard

This bluish status was part of my red, white and blue display for July 4th.

English Lavender lines the bottom of the front deck and attracts lots of beneficial bees.

Sweet Alyssum completes the trio of red, white and blue 4th of July plants.

White Magnolia cradles a bee

Anemone run along the back rock wall. They’ve taken over that corner of the garden.

Wild Onion
A garden surprise this summer

Begonia always remind me of my mother

Are you curious what these blooms look like before they flower? Find out on Flower Buds: The Shape of Things to Come.
If you linked back for answers to the quiz: Who’s who or what’s what? the answers are:
a. 4 Hydrangea
b. 1 Allium Stellatum
c. 2 anemone
d. 3 Four o’clock
e. 5 Snapdragon

June 8, 2012 by Born To Organize

Staking Tomatoes

Not “steak and tomatoes” but tomato stakes, those wonderful supports you place around your cute little tomato plants. It takes planning and a healthy dose of optimism to set them up early. While you’re waiting around for the perfect day to do that chore, your tiny plants morph into shrubs.

I have a few choice words for the lazy gardener who puts off this task.

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Okay, now that I’m done telling myself off, I’m happy to report that I did manage to wrangle a couple of folding plant stakes around the prolific tomatoes. I’m glad that’s done!

Staked Tomatoes

While I was at it, I tied a couple of old wooden trellises together into an A-frame for the pumpkin vines. Hopefully, [insert optimism here] the elevated fruit deters the midnight foragers. Time will tell.

Pumpkin Trellis

Happy Friday!

The Science Of Tasty Tomatoes (gizmodo.com.au)
10 Tomatoes to Grow in Your Container Garden (treehugger.com)
City Pickers Update: Week Three (gardeningnirvana.wordpress.com)
Tomato – Fruit or Vegetable? The US Supreme Court rules it to be a … (librarianbrain.wordpress.com)

June 7, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Kinder + Garden

According to Merriam-Webster, bloom can mean “to produce or yield flowers.” It also means “to mature into achievement of one’s potential.”

Last night my soon-to-be 12 year-old asked if I liked HTML. I said that I did. He wanted to create this beautiful lettering for my blog using one of his favorite sites. He was also careful to point out that it wasn’t completely original, giving credit where credit was due. I love it!

• • • • • Gardening Nirvana • • • • •

His integrity, thoughtfulness, creativity and wonderful imagination bring me such joy. It occurred to me today as I was photographing the blooms in my garden, that my children are blooming as well, blossoming really into two terrific young men.

That’s a lot of blooming on Thursday!

Oh yeah…the garden blooms:

I can’t get enough of the view: Blue Hydrangea

Close-up

I think the cosmos grew another foot!

Happy pollinator wearing a purple party hat

Pumpkin flower hiding in the cosmos

May 23, 2012 by Born To Organize

Pumpkin Nirvana: The Crop Runs Away!

Yahoo! We have a small but viable pumpkin crop. Last year’s one volunteer re-seeded in the upper box. I had to amend the soil and top off the box before replanting it in the lower box. Not only did it survive, it thrived. Look at that baby grow! Our ‘Big Max‘ has a companion as well, cosmos from another season. For whatever reason, that tiny four by four-inch spot in the lower box has the perfect combination of soil, shelter, sun and moisture to make things grow.

A few of this seasons indoor seedling transplants survived so we have two or three varieties at different states of growth.

I spotted a few male flowers last week and the requisite bees in the vicinity. Yesterday the first female bud emerged, a tiny, yellow orb with magnificent potential.

Here is our pumpkin crop so far:

The Vine’s Curling Tendrils

Morning Sun Streams Through

Budding Female Flower

Pumpkin Plant Close-up

Planter Pumpkins: The Long View

May 21, 2012 by Born To Organize

Garden Guests and Pests and…Anarchists?

I respect all creatures, even the garden pests so I’ve learned to garden around them. Our garden is free of pesticides, baits and traps. That doesn’t mean I’m not annoyed when I round the corner as I did last week and find the squirrel feasting on our pumpkin plant. Grumble, grumble, grumble. As a society, we’ve encroached so much on nature. Who am I to refuse a bit of my garden bounty in return?

Garden pest…

Slippery Snail

Garden guest…

Relocating to denser shrubs for safe keeping

Garden guest and occasional pest…

Neighbor Kitty, Everybody’s Best Friend

Garden guest, pest and anarchist…

Please, help yourself

Who drops by your garden uninvited? Have you discovered humane solutions to keep them at bay?

April 29, 2012 by Born To Organize

True Leaves: Seedlings Ready to Go

Pushing Up Seed Casings

I learned the expression “true leaves” on a gardening forum called I Dig My Garden. True leaves are the second pair of leaves on an emerging plant indicating all systems are go for transplanting outdoors. I like that expression, and find it far more interesting than my heretofore “second set of leaves” terminology.

Our Burpee Growing System delivered in spades. We have over 72 pumpkin seedlings ready to go. I prepped the garden beds a few weeks ago anticipating this day. The stars have aligned, which is to say dry, warm inviting conditions to launch our pumpkin crop. Here we go!

“The love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies.”
– Gertrude Jekyll
☼☼☼

April 11th: Planted seeds indoors in a Burpee Seed Starting System.

April 18th: Will you look at these adorable sprouts? What personality!

April 29th: True Leaves! So excited…

Kitchen Counter Pumpkin Crops

In the Garden: Give your Seedlings Room to Grow (mgnv.org)
Organictivity #4 Transplanting Seedlings (organictivity.com)
Progress and my other ‘kills’ (unpetitjardin.wordpress.com)

November 28, 2011 by Born To Organize

Thanksgiving Centerpiece: Hollowed Pumpkin Bouquet

I’ve always wanted to try this…and finally did this year.

We grew this beautiful white “Cotton Candy” pumpkin last summer. It created the perfect color compliment to the orange flowers and its moderate size didn’t over-power the table.

Pumpkin Centerpiece

Step 1: Remove the top of the pumpkin, the seeds and the pulp.

Step 2: Coat the cut edge of the pumpkin with petroleum jelly to slow the drying process.

Step 3: Insert a plastic jar, cup or other non-porous container into the opening.

Step 4: Cut flowers and dried grasses, reducing the stems to about 6 inches. Arrange to taste.

Thanksgiving Table

September 5, 2011 by Born To Organize

Pumpkin Bounty: Last Call

True to their genetic roots, our pumpkin vines are coming to a natural end. The leaves, once vibrant, can now be crushed into a fine powder, dusting the garden floor. The vines snap like celery, hollow stems that spent the season bringing energy to the fruit. From seed to pumpkin in 90 days. It never gets old!

We harvested 25 pumpkins this season, with just a few young stragglers left on the vines. Nights are cooler; fall beckons. We gardeners, however, never give up hope. We’ll keep on tending the baby fruit until the end. Our crop produced several varieties this year, a few planned and at least one surprise: a blue-green Jarrahdale.

From Seed to Fruit

My son harvested the last great pumpkin, a hearty, healthy orange. We have a table in our entry way, now laden with fruit. As the season draws near, we’ll set them out along the stone wall in the front garden. My husband will then carve the larger ones with pride and they will finish the season as Jack O’ Lanterns, admired by the plethora of families that come calling on Halloween. We’ll collect and dry the seeds to plant the following year and the cycle begins anew.

Good Side/Bad Side: Hard to Decide

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”

-Henry David Thoreau

ΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦ

“There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.”

– Linus by Charles M. Schulz

Orange, White and Blue

August 10, 2011 by Born To Organize

Garden Log: August 9, 2011

The Autumnal Equinox is a mere six weeks away and our vegetables are showing signs of late-summer fatigue. We were excited to harvest our robust stalk of corn but knew it was best to harvest within two hours of eating for maximum sweetness.

Early August Harvest

I put a pot on to boil, but sadly we were about a week too late. The corn had already started to dry and was flavorless and tough. We’re hoping for better luck next year.

We love to plant tomatoes and pumpkins with corn as an afterthought. Next year I think we’ll dedicate one-third of the planting beds to a block of corn to increase the likelihood of success. This is a great primer on planting corn in small spaces: How to Grow Corn

Squirrel Food?

Tomatoes have been slow to ripen this year, due to moderate heat. We had late season rains, and cooler temps, neither of which seem conducive to their ripening. The plants are covered in green fruit, so we’ll hope for some hot days ahead.

Our sunflowers bloomed, but not before one of them reached the rooftop! It’s over nine feet tall. Magic!

Nine-Foot Sunflower

We’ve kept a close eye on our pumpkin crop, fencing off as best we could to discourage squirrels and rats. That said, we’ve noticed a recent onslaught. We harvested a few pumpkins this week after finding several partially eaten fruit. We have two exquisite white pumpkins,our first year planting the (Cotton Candy) variety and several smaller orange ones.

We also planted:

Batman Pumpkins

Dill Atlantic Giant Pumpkins (not!)

Full Moon Giant White Pumpkins

And a few leftover from last year’s carvings.

A handful of pumpkins were left to ripen on the vine. An offering of corn and partially eaten pumpkins rest on the grassy side of the fence to appease the late night snacking crowd.