While visiting family in Fort Collins, Colorado I watch Grandpa Roy plant some Potatoes. It was interesting and educational.
He roto-tilled the ground and then added some fertilizer called Bradfield Lawn and Garden.
Then he added some Alfalfa pellets. Alfalfa is about 3-0-3 so provides some Nitrogen and Potassium. It’s also a soil conditioner because it has lots of organic matter in it and expands once it gets wet. Roses love it too and you can even put it in the compost pile to speed things up. Sweet!
There were already some Onions in the ground and they had been planted through black fleece to keep the weeds at bay since Onions resent having their roots disturbed by weeding.
It’s so interesting watching someone else work in their garden. Everyone does it differently. And everyone figures out how to grow successfully in their little pocket of the world. There is no right and wrong way. There is only a good harvest.
Bought these gorgeous Ranunculus for my sister in law. They are a lovely unusual peach colour and look amazing in this Fiesta water jug.
While visiting Papa and Grandma Diane I learned a nice little trick for preparing salads ahead of time using a Mason jar and an air extractor.
Simply, prepare your salad and build it up layer by layer in the jar. Put the dressing at the bottom so that when you tip it out the dressing pours itself over the leaves. Next put in the meat, cheese, fish or whatever you like. Then the Salad leaves and if you like Tomatoes on top.
Then seal the jar and make a small hole in the lid using a pin tack or drawing pin.
Now the science. You’ll need a vacuum pump. Ziploc does one that looks like a big syringe.
Pump the air out of the jar and seal the hole with tape. These prepared Salads will store in the fridge for four or five days. You could prepare one for each day and store in the office fridge making it easy to eat healthily. Or just store them in the fridge at home to be prepared for the week. Inspired!
Helped assemble orders for the Incredible Edibles vegetable plant sale tomorrow here in Portland. I also got to do a little ‘early’ shopping and bought some Leeks, Chives, Parsley, Rouge d’Hiver Lettuce and Kale. Very lovely to see all these nice leafy green vegetables at this time of year.
Here in Portland there is a group called Friends of Trees. If you want to plant some trees in your garden or on the parking strip outside your garden they will help you choose the right tree, help you get a great deal and send a crew of lovely people to help you plant the tree in the correct way.
Today our new Gingko trees (male so they are not stinky when in fruit) arrived in style and were planted on the parking strip outside our house. They arrived by bike and trailer (of course!)…
… they were unloaded and planted by a great bunch of happy diggers. We are delighted with our new trees and hope they will live a long and prosperous life and give joy to everyone as they turn a beautiful golden yellow in the Autumn.
Because, I have inherited my garden I have little idea what’s planted in it – the ornamental part of it anyway. At the moment I am being constantly surprised by what’s popping up in both the front and the side garden. The side of the house is a bit unruly and so lots of the plants there go unnoticed by me until they do something spectacular. The latest gem to arrive is this gorgeous, tiny carpet of Crocuses. They are everywhere.
They’re all the same colour and when the sunlight comes in horizontally at the end of the day it illuminates the swathes of them along the driveway. If you sit right next to them, like I did for this photo, you can see the veins in the petals. So small, so delicate but yet Winter hardy. It almost seems impossible.
But for now they are cheering me on my way and letting me know that Spring is just around the corner.
There aren’t many vegetables in my garden right now but there are some beautiful things to see, even at this time of year.
Camellias about to open.
Secret pathways that lead to, who knows where?
Shade loving plants.
Lichen-covered Crab Apple branches. It’s all lovely and changing every day.
One of our neighbours left this basket of fruit and vegetables on our front porch today. She had been to the farmer’s market bought some things that she likes, put them in a basket, wrapped it and tied it with string. It was a lovely home-made gift and it totally blew me away. The fact that she gave up so much time and spent her Saturday afternoon doing this meant so much to me I can hardly put it into words. Maybe I’m emotional because I’m in a different country and starting to realise that. But this was huge for me today. A little home-made goes a long, long way.
I found these hiding in the garden behind some overgrown bushes that we’re in the process of chainsawing!
Gorgeous colours. I’ve never grown Hydrangeas before but as I understand it they bloom either pink or blue depending on your soil type but then mellow to a gorgeous dusty green colour.
I love them so much I might try to get some paint in these colours for some of the rooms in the house. Nothing like using nature as inspiration.
These are the local school’s vegetable gardens. Pretty impressive really. Each class has a patch to tend and it’s lovely to see how different they all are.
