GARDEN IN THE FALL.....

Here is our friend the praying mantis with
his fall wardrobe! I never noticed that they
changed their colors with the seasons. Which
is probably why I never noticed them!
Here is the vegetable garden without the
tomato or zuchinni plants. It wasn't a good
year for squash, but we got plenty of "back
up squash" from One Straw Farm!
I grew 5 kinds of zinnias which "filled in the
garden" nicely. Mixed in with the flowers in
the front row is a sweet potato vine.
It was really fun digging for the potatoes!
I'm sure I will find a few this Spring that I
missed. They really lived up to their name
SWEEEEET!

MORE SUMMER FLOWERS.....

Here is the corner of my side yard where
the pine trees give plenty of shade, but
prevent anything but perennials from
growing in the ground, including grass!
I tried sod and seed, but no luck. At least
the mulch means less to mow!
Here is the rest of the "Dad Garden". I put
in quite a few perennials. I lost a couple, but
most of them did well. I will need to remove
some of the "stumps" this year to give them
some growing room.

MY GARDENING "HELPERS"......

This is my favorite "bug" photo. I think he was
saying, "NO PICTURES PLEASE!"......
PRAYING MANTIS are bugs you want to have in
your garden! They will take care of many of the
"bad bugs" and they are really fun to watch. They
are very animated and will turn their head when
you tell them "SAY CHEESE!".
I saw more mantis than usual last year, a good thing!
Here is one on a scarvola plant. I think he likes blue too!
Now here is a mystery. What kind of bug is this? I had
never seen these before, but last year they were in my
gardens by the hundreds! They seem to be a cross
between a moth and a bee. VERY INTERESTING!
Check out the two sets of wings!

MORE FLOWER POWER!.....

Here is a better shot of the clemantis and more of
the potted plants on the "stumps". My sister Kathy
contributed many of the cute frogs etc. as well as
some of the plants. She is an AWESOME floral
designer and shares my love of plants. When she
stops by we always take the "garden tour" together!
Here is one of my favorite plants, scarvola. You don't
see too many of them at the garden centers so I snap
them up when I see them! They branch out and cascade
with the most brilliant blue flowers.
Here is one of Dad's signs above his work boots which
I planted with succulants. Next to the boots is a Maxwell
House can with some of his paint brushes and a small
can of "One Shot", the paint he used for signs. Dad was
a self taught artist who raised us to LEARN BY DOING
and LOVE WHAT WE DO.........and he did!

FLOWER POWER!.....

Since I spend WAY more time in my flower gardens
than with the vegetables, it's time to include them!
This is part of my new "Dad Garden". His favorite
color was blue so I added as many blue plants as I
could find. You can just see the blue clemantis which
I planted to grow on one of Dad's old wooden ladders.

My brother Ole gave me a clump of blackeyed susans
a few years ago and they have multiplied BIG TIME!
Just keep dividing them each year and they will keep
producing. I feed the flowers as the vegetables, every
two weeks until late summer. I use a lot of fish
emulsion! When I dig a hole for each plant, I put in a
good "glug" of emulsion, let it sink in, put in the plant,
then water with more emulsion. This really prevents
wilting and gives the plant a good head start!
These are petunias and a daisy that I planted in one
of Dad's old rusty tool boxes. The frog is in one of his
old paint pots. The tree "stump" is part of a branch
from an 90ft. oak tree that had to be removed. It was
hard to see it go, LOT OF MEMORIES IN THAT OLD
TREE!, but it was in bad shape and would have fallen
on our neighbors house----not a good thing!

OUR "GREEN" LAWNMOWER!.....

Here is my husband Bob with our Neuton
lawnmower. We had checked them out for
a while, and when our old mower "bit the
dust", we decided to get one. It cost much
more than other mowers we've had, but
it doesn't pollute, it's light weight and much
quieter! It won't cut tall grass so you may
have to mow more often.The battery
charge lasts for quite a while (we bought a
spare just in case!).
Who knew getting a "cool" lawnmower would
get Bob to WANT to cut the grass!!

PICKIN' TIME!.....

Heirloom tomatoes may look "weird", but they sure taste
good! I switched from cherry tomatoes to the grape variety
because the cherries were just TOO productive! I think the
grape tomatoes have more flavor. The eggplant produced
right up until November last year.
The peppers were BIG producers too! It is difficult to wait
for them to get red, but the reward is great flavor! I added
a good bit of sand into the area where I planted them and
I think it really helped to produce bigger and healthier
plants.

HEY!.....TURN OUT THE LIGHTS!!.....

Here is Penny reminding us that "EARTH HOUR"
is 8:30 to 9:30 EST tonight and we need to:
TURN OUT THE LIGHTS!!
If we all just try to do some simple things each day
like use our cars less, not turn on as many lights,
unplug appliances, try to use less water, we can
really impact our environment!

REMEMBER, THE PURSUIT OF THE PERFECT
LAWN POLLUTES THE BAY!!

Don't be so prejudiced against weeds.....
They are "green" and some taste good too!!

"ALMOST" READY TO PICK!.......

Here is the garden with plants almost fully grown
and the vegetables getting ripe. I usually put in
three tomato plants, an heirloom, grape, and roma
variety. You can see the basil, eggplants and peppers
with a row of zinnias. I like to put in as many flowers
as possible so when the vegetable plants are "done"
the garden still has plenty going on until frost. We
"share" a share in CSA from One Straw Farm. My
husband Bob and I really enjoyed all the greens from
arugula to swiss chard and the strawberries were
deep red and packed with flavor unlike what passes
for strawberries in the grocery store!

DROP A SEED AND RUN!.......

Zucchini squash grows very quickly! When I first read up on planting squash, the first line was, "drop a seed and run!" You will need to leave a 6' wide area for each planting
of squash and they have a big appetite for organic fertilizer!. Once the plant starts producing, it is VERY IMPORTANT to check frequently or you may end up with baseball bat size zucchini! If one does grow too large, you can always use it to make zucchini bread!

Here is the garden with the tomatoes,peppers,eggplants,and squash just planted. The "frost free date" for Maryland is May 15, but I usually plant a couple weeks prior, depending on the weather. I have downsized my vegetable garden from past years. If you provide
enough spacing, especially for tomato plants, they will be larger and produce more. The plants will be healthier if you rotate where you
plant them from year to year. I usually leave the metal posts that hold the tomato cages in place until Spring so I don't forget where they were the year before! Providing enough water as the plants become established is crucial. I like to feed each plant a "handful" of
good organic fetilizer every two weeks. Also I will add a "mulch" of peat moss which helps to keep the soil moist.

SPRING HARVEST.......

Here is the swiss chard ready to pick and enjoy!
Our cat Penny mistook it for a nice "bed of lettuce"!
Today it is much easier to get organic products for
the garden, and most garden centers carry a wide
variety of them. I am very happy to see that most
grocery stores are carrying a variety of organic
foods. Some may be a little pricey, but I think the
more natural our foods are, the better they are for
us. "You are what you eat" isn't just an old wive's
tale! Everything we eat is the fuel which helps to
create each cell inside us. My "fuel of choice" is
dark chocolate..........mmmm.......chocolate!
Where was I?.......oh yeah, the merits of organics.
I have experimented with different methods of
organic gardening, electroculture, French intensive,
and I will tell more about them as do more postings. Now it is time to go down and feed the cat and
maybe look for some chocolate!

EARLY SPRING.....

Here is the vegetable garden. The daffodils are in full swing. OK, they are not
vegetables! Festus, my scarecrow
enjoys them! The swiss chard and
spinach are sprouting nicely.
I have prepared the spots for my
tomato plants. I only dig the area
to be planted. I dig in a generous
amount of peat moss along with
a good organic fertilizer. When I
put in the tomato plants (and all
other plants) I use a gallon of water
mixed with a tablespoon of fish
emulsion. I dig the hole,put in some
of the mixture, put in the plant and
water with the rest. This keeps the
plants from wilting which can weaken
them. Especially if planted in the sun!

HOW I GOT STARTED......

In 1972 I bought a paperback book of organic gardening
in a health food store. All I knew was that I wanted to
grow my own vegetables and flowers. I was "inspired"
by the movie "Silent Running". I saw it 9 times in 2 days.
Back then you could sit in the theater all day. Not as sad
as it sounds! I was blown away by the movies message!!
I wanted to do something in my own small way for our
environment. 37 years later, the wonders and joys of seeing
things sprout and grow in my garden are still growing!!
There is always something to "do". One more weed to
pull,a plant to prune,leaves to rake,flowers to deadhead,
vegetables to pick.......what can I say.......I am hooked!!