weekend update

Backyard: Cleaned up the raised bed. Pulled all the tomatoes, except one Sungold for now. Also left the yard volunteer arugula — they're still (!!!!) full of bees, and I hate to cut them back while it's still warm enough for the bees to be stocking up for winter.

(UPDATE: The bees were probably our backyard neighbor's — didn't know they'd gotten a hive!)

Before-and-afters:











Late Sungolds:



Arugula and bees!







Fennel seeds:



Front yard: Front door pot:



Blackbird euphorbia and hens-and-chicks out by the mailbox:





Final diagram for the front door bed. Names in white are new plants, names in yellow are survivors from last year! [click for larger]

weekend update

I ordered 2 leadwort plants and 3 blackbird euphorbia from Bluestone Perennials, and planted them on Saturday. Leadwort in the front door bed, euphorbia out by the mailbox/sidewalk.

what’s blooming

October 2105 Bloom Day
Still bees in the arugula:



Arugula has taken over the yard. Note the primrose desperately trying to escape across the rock wall:

weekend update

“The late, great horticulturist, J.C. Raulston once said, ‘You’re not stretching yourself as a gardener if you’re not killing plants.’ See what good gardeners we are?”
— Ketzel Levine, Plant Talk, NPR, 2003

Saturday I put new geraniums and columbines in the front bed, to replace the ones that croaked this year. Ripped out the gray sagewort to make room.

From Geraniaceae Nursery:
- 2 @ Geranium procurrens × Geranium psilostemon ‘Ann Folkard’
- 2 @ Geranium richardsonii

From Digging Dog Nursery:
- 1 @ Geranium ‘Dilys’
- 2 @ Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Leprechaun Gold’
- 2 @ Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Ruby Port’

After ripping out the sage:



After amending the soil with mushroom compost and YumYum Mix and planting:



After re-mulching with leaf litter:

roasted tomatoes

Picked enough tomatoes to fill a half-sheet pan for roasting. Here they are before going into the oven. Yum!

what’s blooming

July 2015 Bloom Day
Sunflower:



Hollyhocks, hollyhocks, hollyhocks:







Fennel:



Mojave sage (Salvia pachyphylla):



Penstemon:



Cholla:

weekend update

Planted the tomatoes today (Memorial Day). Put one of the Sungolds in the raised bed, the other in the side bed with the Robesons and the basil.






[click for larger]

Lots of bees in the arugula volunteers:

weekend update

Saturday: Snoes!



Sunday: Planted the front door pot. Still too cold for tomatoes, hopefully the long Memorial Day weekend next week will be better.







I swapped out the leaky raised bed rain barrel for this one that was in the south side yard. It has all sorts of Greek writing on it — I think they used to be olive/olive oil barrels? I've decided his name is Stelio Kontos.



Went ahead and prepped spots for the tomatoes though. Pulled/harvested the kale in the raised bed. Dug in mushroom compost, set up and tested the drip hoses, put out the cages.




[click for larger]

what’s blooming

May 2015 Bloom Day
Catmint:



Claret cup hedgehog cactus:



Columbine:



Arugula:



Chives:

arugula volunteers

... in the yard! I dug up a few to give away last fall, but we've been eating them since early April. Thanks again to the ever-fabulous Bev for hooking me up with a lifetime supply of perennial arugula!