Friday, July 23, 2010

Black Eyed Susans

This is my favorite area in the garden right now, where the Black Eyed Susans, Echinacea and Zinnas sway in the breeze beneath the Sunflowers.

I love Black Eyed Susans. They remind me of back home in Missouri where I grew up. These Black Eyed Susans are from seeds that I planted last year. Which reminds me.... I had wanted to plant Forget-Me-Nots which bloom in January, so maybe I should broadcast seed for those someday soon.....

Here are the Cucumbers, Squash and Melon spilling over the walkway. I have harvested 2 Scallop Ssquash and 2 Green Machine Melon off of the plants in the corner. The Pickling Cucumber in the foreground has Cucumbers forming so I will let you know how they are doing in upcoming posts.

The more recent garden design changes include removing some rock and creating more pathways. This area leads to the water hose, greenhouse and side gate. Someday there might not be any 3/4" granite back here, but it's 112 degrees out lately so it's small moves in the earthwork department.
Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

All the Best

I am calling this post all of the best and here is the reason why. I have been gone for an extremely long time, and I want to share the most awesome photos that I have collected as I still do take about a handful of photos a day, but I have been busy reading recipes for preserving the garden harvest, and obviously a myriad of other things, but apparently they didn't amount to much because I can't remember their significance in the whole scheme of things.
So perhaps busy isn't always best..... But I do really enjoy this photo of the Copper Dragon Fly solaring up in the warmth of the morning sun and wanted to share this with everyone.
Here is the perfect effect of the Morning Glories and they are all that I imagined that they would be.

The Red Canna from the Master Gardener's giveaway is more than expected! Perhaps the person who brought them in needs to drink more coffee so that they are more excitable and explenitive in their decriptions...... Just Red Canna had me thinking, well.....you know.

The Tomatoes have been a delight to pick everyday. They are starting to fade off and I am okay with it. I froze some in a gallon bag and made salsa and pasta sauce, and we have been eating them everyday, so all is fine by me.

The Armenian Cucumbers are in the midst of things. This is the fifth one harvested so far, and it will go into the pickle jar. The other half went into the salad last night. They are spectacular and recommended to me by Leslie Doyle last year. They will become a Black Mountain Garden standard.

So this is how the Armenian Cucumbers are presented in the garden. If you double click the photo, you will be able to pick out a few handing on the vine.

The Green Room is alot of fun to walk through and you can see the corn on the left which has grown tall and has produced ears. The white flowers in the center on the right are Lime Basil and they are quite lovely and I totally love the effect. I want to grown Lime Basil as a ground cover next year.
Here is a closeup of the corn before I picked them. I didn't know when to pick the corn, but if you wait too long the sugars change and they are no longer at their tasty best.

And I had no idea when that was...but either way they are sure beautiful. These are the prettiest corn in my little world, and I am going to let them dry. I remember all of the colored corn hanging from the lattias in one of the adobes at the Pueblos de Taos Indian Reservation in Taos, New Mexico. It made falling over the furniture really quite enjoyable and a remarkably, memorable experience. This one is for "Up the Hill" Susan. I miss you girl. Are you still just as wild as I remember? (Nobody could grow colored corn like Susan!)

Thanks for visiting! To all of my colored corn loving gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Friday, July 2, 2010

OM

Hands in mudra, hands in prayer, the Sunflower's perfect Sun Salutation.
Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, happy 4th of July!