Crimson Flowered Broad Beans

It doesn't take long to realize vegetables aren't just good to eat; they are also quite lovely. These are the crimson flowered broad beans Matron (from the UK) brought to our SAGBUTT swap (in Seattle). Here the group at the swap, also. She says she doesn't do flowers, but now we know why she doesn't need to!

And this is the other lovely broad bean that sprouted from the crimson flowered bean seeds! I like these flowers a lot, too, but wasn't expecting variety.

I also didn't realize these beads aren't climbers. They have a robust stalk that looks like it will support itself. I planted them with my climbing beans, though, and have to keep them from seeing the broad beans as a climbing stalk.

Matron, thanks for the seeds, flowers and future produce! How tall will they grow?

Expanding Peas

The peas had outgrown the gate "trellis." We expanded it by attaching the tops of three bamboo poles our neighbor gave us. The peas were very pleased and grabbed on to the bamboo before we could complete the installation.

The pea trellis expansion is still a little lower than the A-frame bean structure. As of tonight, the lead bean has entered the top quarter of the structure. Other beans are working to catch up. The leaves are filling out, also.

Still, at this point, it is difficult to envision the structure fully covered with the beans waving up on the top. Good thing I have former blog posts to remind me!

Garden Sun

In spite of the overcast days this week, the first sunflower has blossomed. He has quite a lead on the other sunflowers in the garden. I did plan seeds from a new mixture so I'm looking forward to the sunflower surprises.

Link to his young sprout days.

Clean and Cool

How's this for a cool way to spend a hot Friday afternoon! A shed clean out uncovered many pots needing a wash. These old washtubs were needing a bath before their next assignment. We found a shady spot and got busy (& cool).

Next step: Getting the keepers back in the shed.

Nope, the computer isn't really sorted out yet, so I uploaded the photo directly from the camera this time.

Hope everyone had a great 4th!

Uncovered

The tomatoes have still been under the "covered wagon" cloche. It's coming off tonight! That will give them a chance to work on their tan before the holiday. And a little more room for those green tomatoes to fill out.

(this would be the picture of the crowded cloche, if I wasn't computer deficient at the moment)

Hope to be back, with photos, soon.

Low Tech Time

I''ll be getting in some good ol' weed pulling / garden time tonight. We think the motherboard on the computer has died. I may not have photos to post until we sort out the situation. At least the hard drive seems to still be kicking. And who needs a computer on such a beautiful night!

Petunia's Condo

Matron asked where Petunia (aka the garter snake) lives in the garden. She has taken up residence under this board at the end of one of the garden rows. I suspect is it warmed by the afternoon sun and nicely compensates for the cool evenings. She'll let me look in on her maybe once an evening, but otherwise likes her beauty sleep after a busy day of slug eating. I even delayed planting squash one evening, because I didn't want to disturb her after she was all tucked in.

During the garden's first year, Petunia & Herbert moved in under a large piece of board (aka The Grand Estate) which we were using as a weed blocker. Later, we used the large wood for something, and hoped they would accept the practicalities of a nice condo. Why do I have wooden circle? Not really sure. It was in the wood pile when we moved here. They do make nice, movable stepping places in the garden beds.

I'll try to get Petunia to pose for a photo during one of our evening visits. She is in such a sleek outfit this year and I swear her stripes are pale blue and yellow.

The mason bee house has been put in place. And now another housing project has presented itself. Libby raised up a nice Wildlife Stack / Bug Hotel. I can see this being just the use for an assortment of tidbits I have around the barn. I've squashed my share of cabbage worms in the past two weeks, so maybe a Stack for better bugs will make up for all my squishing (satisfaction).

June Garden Photo

The garden on Tuesday night. Tomatoes & peppers are under the white cloche. Originally, we kept it closed, but for some time now we just leave both ends open. (see 2005 here!)

In this bed: broccoli (thanks-Karen!), Brussels sprouts (thanks-Molly!), lettuce and volunteer borage, calendula and dill. Once we slowed down the cabbage worm crop, the broccoli & BS plants are more content. The harvesting has started.

We've had to use the soaker hose during this dry spell. The wool mulch keeps stray water sprays off the plants and on the ground. While sheep straw has been my mulch of choice, I'm trying out the scrap wool we still had around (sheep moved away in 2006). It seems effective so far.

Click on the Monthly Photos label, below, to see other months.

Fence Row Surprises

A previous neighbor had quite the plant collection, I understand, especially in the earlier years at the property. Two roses continue on quite happily in the fence line. This year, they are making a strong showing. Check out the extra prickly flower buds and stems.

Do you know what type they might be?
Do you think they will grow from cuttings?

This second rose is very bright and dainty in person. I love their little surprise touch in their setting.

Above, is the wild rose that grows on our hillside. I'm happy it has also set up home on the other side of the path now also.

It has cascading branches and makes a nice hillside bush. It has nice year around attributes - see two seasons here, and winter season here.

White campion that grows in the edge of the main garden (a former pasture). I first noticed it in 2006. I don't recall seeing it since then.

Bloom Day June

Here are some of the bloomers in progress today in my garden. Find out what's blooming around the world by visiting the Gardeners' Bloom Day post at Carol's May Dreams Gardens.

(Please stop by here on Tuesday, though, for some special roses I found blooming this evening and still need to photograph. They are self-caring roses beautifully growing in a fence line!)

Where is the scratch & sniff button when you need it? This is an amazing year for the honeysuckle growing along our driveway fence. The fragrance really takes off in the evenings.

It was just a few thin plants when we moved in 5 years ago. The bees and hummingbirds seem happy with the progress.

Self-planted foxgloves. That might be some white splashes of dogwood in the background.

Above, the catmint attracts so many bees, the plant is just a buzz. Funny, today I noticed how yellow these bees are now (vs weeks ago). Perhaps in honor of Carol's Yellow Dedication!

The first of the lavender. These came inside to dry, hung high to keep Maria (aka indoor garden pest) from eating them. It looks to be quite the lavender year, although I lost my Spanish lavender to the winter.

Mountain laurel. It is a wonder, small shrub (at least where it sits on the north side of my house). I love the blossoms before and after opening.

The peas, tomatoes, one cucumber, thyme, sage and the borage, of course, are also blooming.

Thanks for visiting us at Petunia's Garden. And, thanks for hosting, Carol!

~ Paula

Success!

While trimming a tree and pulling weeds around our little garden pond, I noticed movement every time I reached over the pond.

Sure enough - tadpoles! And many of them! The pacific tree frogs started singing in the pond early this spring. They must be so proud (and they are still singing).

See Frog here. He is sitting on a floating ornamental frog in this photo. In addition to this brown version, they can be green. A little frog with a big voice.

Garden Aliens

The peas have reached the top of their gate and the blossoms are just starting. I think a gate extension will be in order.


On other critter fronts, Petunia helped me with a little garden weeding tonight! DH has had lots of help from Petunias, but not me (& he doesn't want this help). After a quick appearance, she headed into a patch of lamb's ear at the end of a row. I hope she makes herself comfortable & has many a nice snack of slug.

This is a photo from a few years ago. Today, she was wearing a particularly dark & sleek outfit with yellow stripes.

Blooming Borage

Self-seeded borage plants are now blooming. They are some of the happiest plants. And they make the bees very happy. Slugs don't seem interested in the prickly leaves. They have a cucumber flavor, but I don't care for the prickly leaves in my salad, either.

The Sweet Million tomato I purchased is also blooming. Can you see the similarities to the borage flowers? This tomato is under a window frame cloche. The Sungolds, started by seed, are under the covered wagon cloche. They look quite happy but no blossoms yet.

Borage does reseed itself in the garden, especially from any plants that end up standing until winter. Often, I cut them out after they get too large or stop blooming. The seedlings don't take much to remove where they are too thick or in the way. And they made great green additions to the composter.

I love having borage in the garden and even more so because it plants itself in the spring when there are so many other things to do!

Finally, some gardening

Memorial weekend garden photo. The nice weekend did give us a chance to catch up on some spring projects and gardening. Plus lots of nice time outside. The "covered wagon" cloche has been moved to a different bed this year. It has recovered from the December snow & ice. Tomatoes and sweet peppers are planted inside.

Planted assorted pole beans and one row of bush beans (more to plant later). Those are peas starting to climb the gate at the other end of this bed. In the past, the bean structure went across two beds with the pathway underneath. This year, it is all in one bed. Hopefully, I'll still be able to reach the top with a ladder. See what the bean structure looked like in summer 2007 here.

Remember composting in place last fall? Above is one of the beds now with the compost half dug in.

Above, another bed with the compost not yet dug in.

And here it is after digging, and planting carrots, beets and chard. Last year, Emily ran through the carrot bed and stirred it all up. The screen may give them a chance to sprout first.

NEXT: Refreshed pathways... I'm picking up a load of coffee bags tomorrow (finally)! We're taking the truck rather than the car so I should have some to share.

Mason Bees - Class of 2010

Thanks to my neighbor, I have a starter block with nested mason bees! She saw my post about the Garden Tour and the bee attraction. They have been housing bees for years and placed out some starter blocks for the nesting bees. A good way to share them with others.

I realized it was just the right size to fit in a bird box we had that was really the wrong size for any birds we're likely to get. DH took the front off of the box, and it will be a perfect fit.

Plus, DH cut and drilled more blocks to fill up the house (along with the nest-filled block) and extras. Think we'll add the shingles to the top of the little house and then use others to make a little roof for a condo of the extra blocks. We'll hang them in two different areas to see if we might still attract a few more nesters this year.

The drilled hole are 5/16 inch diameter and about 3 inches deep. We used untreated 2x4 boards we had in our misc. wood collection. We'll hang them where they are a little protected from the weather and have a morning sun exposure, but not the strong afternoon sun.

Thanks for sharing, Neighbor!

Busy Like Bees

With nice weekend weather, we've been busy bees, indeed. Really shouldn't try to catch up the whole spring in a weekend or two, though! Some fun, some progress and any reason to be outside is a good one. Above, the bees must be able to get what they want from the outside of the columbine also. Some went inside, others went for the outside crown.

The columbine shapes are amazing as they go from new blossoms to full flowers. I'll have to collect seeds from the plants with the rose colored flowers. There are only a few of them this year.

The flowers are actually more of a purple. The photos always have more of a blue color and I've never tried tweaking the settings to see if I can capture their real color.

More weekend projects to post about soon.

Greenhouse!

Look closely and you can see some little bits of green on the newly installed shelves! It's from a few types of basil and sweet peppers from a growers sale yesterday. The other pots contain some seeds I came across while sorting out a box stashed in the shed. Does that make it a greenhouse now? The other purchases from the sale are planted or are okay waiting outside until planted.

The shelving came from the same sale where I found the stained glass. We used the shelves as they came to us (other than a quick coat of spray paint to delay rusting). The larger piece fit perfectly across the back. The other two pieces brought the shelving around to half of each wall. That gives me half without fixed shelving for flexibility.

Hopefully, the shelves are high enough that I can do an inground bed on one side, and pots and movable lower shelving on the other side as needed. The shelving also keeps me from hitting my head on the lower parts of the ceiling!

It's Time!

My neighbor spotted this volunteer sunflower in my garden last night. To me, this signals the time for planting more sunflower seeds as needed. Last year, we found the first ones in late April.

I think this will be a red & yellow petaled flower, like this one.
It could be all red, like this one. I can tell because the stalk and leaves have darker shades than all yellow sunflowers.

Garden Tour

Thanks to the three Tukwila gardeners who invited visitors during the Backyard Wildlife Festival. A park with a nice winter garden was also on the tour. Hopefully, my wildlife won't see this and decide to move! This garden had varied and interesting views and habitats in every direction. This photo captures a pond area to the left, sunny gardens and the blue fence in the background that made the plants really stand out. I bet it looks sunny even on our grayest days.
Who needs the garden show when you can see real gardens that have withstood the test of time. Along with the blue fence, this gardener uses windows, mirrors and found materials to create her garden rooms.

The gate into the shade garden (yes a former bed headboard).

At another garden, I enjoyed watching the mason bees select their choice nesting tube. I have just the orchard spot to add a bee home in my garden.

Unfortunately, I didn't take photos at the third garden. It had an amazing variety of clematis plants, other flower gardens and a cozy clearing amongst the trees. No doubt a happy find for city wildlife.

Thanks to these gardeners who were willing to show how a wildlife friendly garden can also be beautiful and welcoming to the people visitors as well.

Colorhouse

...just think how much fun we'll have once we actually have plants in it! The last panel went in just as the raindrops started.