Monday, 18 May 2015
Sunday, 10 May 2015
Tomatoes, peppers, basil, and eggplant
I finally managed to snag warm-season transplants last week, and they're now in the ground (with the usual dance around spinach, lettuce, garlic, and the peas that are finally growing rapidly -- probably just to be zapped by hot dry weather).
Soon to follow are the direct-seeded warm season veggies, although not that many.
I sorted through my seeds today, matching up space to seed and will need to be careful. I'm mindful of climbing squash in the front garden looking AWFUL in mid-season, because of powderly mildew!
I think I'll sow pole beans of various sorts tomorrow, set up additional trellises, and do a woodchuck barrier in the lower bed, so it might actually be productive, too.
My gardening companion disturbed the woodchuck burrow this afternoon, but I know that s/he will have multiple tunnels. S/he ate our neighbor's tomato plants a couple of days ago. I wouldn't have thought that tomato foliage would be high on a woodchuck food preference list, but perhaps they're hungry...
Soon to follow are the direct-seeded warm season veggies, although not that many.
I sorted through my seeds today, matching up space to seed and will need to be careful. I'm mindful of climbing squash in the front garden looking AWFUL in mid-season, because of powderly mildew!
I think I'll sow pole beans of various sorts tomorrow, set up additional trellises, and do a woodchuck barrier in the lower bed, so it might actually be productive, too.
My gardening companion disturbed the woodchuck burrow this afternoon, but I know that s/he will have multiple tunnels. S/he ate our neighbor's tomato plants a couple of days ago. I wouldn't have thought that tomato foliage would be high on a woodchuck food preference list, but perhaps they're hungry...
Monday, 4 May 2015
Chives and vegetables
The chives that I brought last year (from dividing long-established plants) are huge, witness to the power of organic fertilizer, I suppose.
They were never this big in my Piedmont beds, which were amended, but obviously not as well as I thought!
I've already planted the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant (as well as herbs) that I snagged at the Mountain Herb Festival this last weekend at the WNC Farmer's Market.
I tried to be moderate and select an appropriate variety for the space that I have, and what we really like to eat- cherry (Sweet Million and Black Cherry), slicing tomatoes (a variety) as well as paste tomatoes (an improved San Marzano) for roasting and freezing. The peppers included an ancho and a Romano pepper which sounded like my favorite pizza peppers (which I would have grown from seed if I'd time). I may still do some peppers from seed (there's usually plenty of warm season growing time, even here in the mountains).
They were never this big in my Piedmont beds, which were amended, but obviously not as well as I thought!
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| chives in flower |
I tried to be moderate and select an appropriate variety for the space that I have, and what we really like to eat- cherry (Sweet Million and Black Cherry), slicing tomatoes (a variety) as well as paste tomatoes (an improved San Marzano) for roasting and freezing. The peppers included an ancho and a Romano pepper which sounded like my favorite pizza peppers (which I would have grown from seed if I'd time). I may still do some peppers from seed (there's usually plenty of warm season growing time, even here in the mountains).
Monday, 27 April 2015
Home in the mountains
It was a whirlwind weekend of moving up furniture and boxes last Friday, shedding furniture at local consignment shops, sorting boxes to the right spaces, unloading and distributing them, shedding even more, etc.
But it was good work. It didn't take as long to get things back into a semblance of home as it did to shed things.
And it wasn't so difficult to honor the old house that we were leaving, after all.
It's a good house, with great bones, and it looked nice even though empty, waiting for the next owners, whose truck was in the driveway.
I'm grateful for the encouragement (and discipline that was imposed by a smaller house) around shedding.
We've done well. We have space for everything, although I'm still in reorganization and shedding mode (and will be for a while!)
Our favorite pieces of furniture from our old house came with us.
Our old sofa has replaced the main sofa (an overstuffed, tufted sofa filled with feathers, which I hated for reasons from tufts to allergies). The sleeper sofa has given way to the matching loveseat to the upstairs sofa.
And starting to rearranging things and get everything settled (all the boxes are gone, now, hooray) will be an ongoing process, but it's finished enough, now, to feel even more at home.
Our more rustic antique pieces have simply made us feel more at home; I still have too many "decorative" items, but as I pare them down, we'll still be at home.
But it was good work. It didn't take as long to get things back into a semblance of home as it did to shed things.
And it wasn't so difficult to honor the old house that we were leaving, after all.
It's a good house, with great bones, and it looked nice even though empty, waiting for the next owners, whose truck was in the driveway.
I'm grateful for the encouragement (and discipline that was imposed by a smaller house) around shedding.
We've done well. We have space for everything, although I'm still in reorganization and shedding mode (and will be for a while!)
Our favorite pieces of furniture from our old house came with us.
Our old sofa has replaced the main sofa (an overstuffed, tufted sofa filled with feathers, which I hated for reasons from tufts to allergies). The sleeper sofa has given way to the matching loveseat to the upstairs sofa.
And starting to rearranging things and get everything settled (all the boxes are gone, now, hooray) will be an ongoing process, but it's finished enough, now, to feel even more at home.
Our more rustic antique pieces have simply made us feel more at home; I still have too many "decorative" items, but as I pare them down, we'll still be at home.
Monday, 20 April 2015
Moving to a new garden
We've been so fortunate to have a new "piece of earth" to move forward to -- there's so much that we've established of a new garden, over the past 6 years, from my raised beds for vegetables and pocket meadow in front, to the native woodland garden below the house (my gardening companion's work).
We loved this house when we first visited because of the view into the ravine forest (now greatly enhanced), because of invasive eradication and addition of understory natives. These were fall views in previous years.
I was reminded of this as I was looking in my past posts and photos for a new blog header and thinking that I didn't really have the photo that I wanted.
It'll come.
I'm wistful this week as we approach moving day on Friday from our old house and garden, but am totally fortunate to have a wonderful new space to look forward to.
We loved this house when we first visited because of the view into the ravine forest (now greatly enhanced), because of invasive eradication and addition of understory natives. These were fall views in previous years.
I was reminded of this as I was looking in my past posts and photos for a new blog header and thinking that I didn't really have the photo that I wanted.
It'll come.
I'm wistful this week as we approach moving day on Friday from our old house and garden, but am totally fortunate to have a wonderful new space to look forward to.
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| With an exuberant-looking pocket meadow in front! |
Saturday, 18 April 2015
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
creating a new garden, Golden ragwort, native woodland wildflowers, natural gardening, woodland restoration
Creating a new space and garden
Consolidating to a smaller house is an "interesting" process.
We're going to good space.
We've enjoyed it as a weekend and summer home, so we've gradually been changing things to suit it better to be our new space as home. (It was built by an architect as his own eco-friendly house, so it was full of somewhat unusual personal choices).
We've changed some things to suit us better over the years, but the blending with the move will bring a more dramatic change, definitely pushing it even more towards a more rustic feel, adding a few favorite old pieces we've had for many years, switching around artwork around, and deciding what suits us best.
We have a view into a ravine forest (a major selling point), now mostly freed of invasive plants.
I posted about that view 2 years ago. It's a lovely and ongoing project.
My gardening companion has added understory natives and shrubs to the ravine forest, with woodland wildflowers on the list. The plantings under the eaves of the house are flourishing, with Celandine Poppy and Aquilegia canadensis now in flower.
The Golden Ragwort patches are in full flower, in the front of the house (as well as transplanted patches to the sides and below) -- it's beautiful. It's a "thug," spreading happily, and will definitely need more editing this spring.
We're going to good space.
We've enjoyed it as a weekend and summer home, so we've gradually been changing things to suit it better to be our new space as home. (It was built by an architect as his own eco-friendly house, so it was full of somewhat unusual personal choices).
We've changed some things to suit us better over the years, but the blending with the move will bring a more dramatic change, definitely pushing it even more towards a more rustic feel, adding a few favorite old pieces we've had for many years, switching around artwork around, and deciding what suits us best.
We have a view into a ravine forest (a major selling point), now mostly freed of invasive plants.
I posted about that view 2 years ago. It's a lovely and ongoing project.
My gardening companion has added understory natives and shrubs to the ravine forest, with woodland wildflowers on the list. The plantings under the eaves of the house are flourishing, with Celandine Poppy and Aquilegia canadensis now in flower.
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| Golden ragwort: image from Wikipedia |