Hmm, coming home to the Piedmont, I just want to run directly into the house. The garden, front and back, is overgrown.The front meadow is overridden with common milkweed and river oats (and needs a good bushwacking), there are weedy edges everywhere, and my "main" vegetable garden is full of weedy summer annuals, happy for a respite from the gardener, I guess.I hardly want to venture forth. ...
Monday, 18 August 2014
Saturday, 16 August 2014
Pollinators
pocket meadow -mid-August 2014The pocket meadow in front is being visited by all sorts of bees and butterflies. What fun! The Joe-Pye, Boneset, Phlox, and Ironweed are all in play, not to mention the South American Salvia guaranitica, which our native ruby-throated hummingbirds love.Bumblebee...
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Fall in mid-August
It was an amazing day -- cool dry air blowing through. Highs in the 70's. This is September weather, even in the mountains of Western North Carolina.We had delicious costata zucchini squash from the garden as part of dinner tonight -- the first squash of the summer. Totally curious, but I'm grateful. They were delicious.It's really time for fall veggie change outs, but what am I...
Sunday, 10 August 2014
Community gardening
I loved being able to help out with a median planting this morning.It's nearby, and one of my fellow garden club members had established it, when she was the director (for many years) of Asheville Greenworks (a wonderful local non-profit that plants trees and small-scale green spaces throughout the...
Saturday, 9 August 2014
Composting, Conservation, Ecosystem gardening, Ginny Stibolt, Growing edibles, Invasive plants, Wildlife
Spaghetti squash recipes & planting
A store-bought spaghetti squash contained a bunch of sprouted seeds.How long had it been sitting there in the store?I was craving a spaghetti squash, so we bought one. The rind seemed unusually hard and quite a number of the seeds had sprouted. I try not to waste squash seeds of any kind, so if I'm...
Friday, 8 August 2014
Finally, some green beans
I never thought it would be mid-August when I'd harvest my first beans of the season. They're lovely French filet pole beans (I think). I poked in seeds very late, not expecting very much, but finally, I had 5 lovely beans to harvest. They'll be great with the (first) Cozelle zucchini that will be ready tomorrow! Curious.I'm already thinking about fall vegetables, seeds, sharing thoughts...
Monday, 4 August 2014
A curious summer in the (vegetable) garden
I just now have a squash developing in my vegetable garden. The pole beans are finally flowering. But wait, it's early August?Thankfully, I've been harvesting and putting up tomatoes since mid-July (also late!)I'm also harvesting some chard and beet greens, and making pesto with both parsley and basil, hooray, and have some summer-sown cilantro, too.A strange summer for veggies, to be...