• Flowers - Fruits & Veggies - Great plants - Our Garden - Plant problems - Trees

    A sad day for our elm tree

    August 17, 2009 - By 

    Early Saturday morning, before dawn, our Lacebark Elm (Ulmus parvifolia) suffered a major break from some heavy wind. We’ve had wind like this many times, but there was a weak crotch where two major scaffold branches were growing in too deep of a V-shape. When branches grow with narrow crotch angles, they end up with “included bark” which means a line of bark is sandwiched betwen the branches as they grow thicker and thicker. This line prevents the two branches from being knitted together, and it creates a major weakness that someday can turn into this kind of break. It’s…

  • Flowers - Fruits & Veggies - Great plants - Our Garden

    It’s Hibiscus time! And other photos from this evening

    August 6, 2009 - By 

      All the Hibiscus shrubs have burst into bloom this week. I love the one above — I think it’s Hibiscus syriacus ‘Aphrodite.’ I also have some double-flowered ones — they’re quite frilly and don’t really look like Hibscuses at all. Oh, and one more of the Aphrodite shrub, too: And I finally got my ‘Pink Simplicity’ rose hedge blooming well this week. I’ve written before about how some rose experts advised me to give them much more water and fertilize often with a high-nitrogen fertilizer. Well, I neglected to give them the extra care this spring, and so the…

  • Flowers - Fruits & Veggies - Garden maintenance - Great plants - Our Garden

    A little bit of paradise and a lot of photos

    July 13, 2009 - By 

    This is the upper part of my backyard today, experimenting with a stitched-together panoramic shot. I also took some other photos of things blooming or looking good in my garden. Too many pictures to comment on right now (it’s late at night!), so I’ll just add them all as a gallery below. What do you think? Do you have a favorite photo in this batch? Post a comment below; if you have questions about any particular photo, I’ll answer them in the comments.  

  • Flowers - Fruits & Veggies - Garden maintenance - Our Garden - Pests

    Big gardening maintenance day

    July 12, 2009 - By 

    I had a lot of catching up to do on weeding and stuff today: Weeded the veggie garden (I still need to create some kind of trellis for the green beans, which are only about 3″ tall so far) Weeded some flowerbeds Mowed the lawn Picked a bunch of cherries from our second tree which is much later than the first tree Picked a big bowl of raspberries Froze some of the berries and cherries for friends who are visiting next month Fertilized the flowerbeds and veggie areas with a 16-16-16 granular fertilizer Applied some Bayer Advanced 2-in-1 Systemic Rose…

  • Fruits & Veggies - Our Garden

    Hey! The raspberries are starting to get ripe!

    July 1, 2009 - By 

    Little McKay finally decided to try raspberries (we’d been trying for a few days), and he LOVES them! Now, he says “I want some of that candy!” While we were out in the garden picking them, he said to my wife, “Will we have them with some ‘licious ‘nilla?” That’s delicious vanilla ice cream, if you didn’t get it. :) He’s so funny with what he remembers sometimes. We had talked about how good they are with ice cream on Sunday with some friends. So, yes, we did have them with some ‘licious ‘nilla, and they were awesome! I still…

  • Fruits & Veggies - Great plants

    The cherries are ripe! About 10 days early — why?

    June 22, 2009 - By 

    First, meet my little garden buddy, McKay. He’s our cute, smart, hilarious two-year old. He’s fun to have along in the garden, although I often need to clean up the messes he makes, like today, when I swept the sidewalk off after he shoveled dirt all over it from a nearby flowerbed. But no problem, really. I mean, who could get mad at a face like this??? All right, on to the cherries. I don’t know why, but one of my cherry trees is ripe before the other this year, and it’s about 10 days early. We usually see these…

  • Flowers - Fruits & Veggies - Our Garden

    Cherries, grapes, lavender, poppies, and more

    June 14, 2009 - By 

    I just had to share that wonderful ‘Yellow Simplicity’ rose. I like how this one came out with a more golden color than they usually do. My ‘Lapins’ cherries are ripening early this year. Not really sure why, because it’s been cool and wet lately. But it was very warm about three weeks ago, and maybe the heat back then boosted their maturing process. The birds are starting to eat them, but they’re not quite ready to pick yet. I suspect we’ll be picking later this week. I have sprayed them with malathion this weekend and two weeks before. Hope…

  • Flowers - Fruits & Veggies - Our Garden

    A little Sunday harvest

    June 7, 2009 - By 

    I went out this morning and harvested this nice little batch of strawberries. There are plenty more ripening for harvest in a few days and next week. Mmmmmm….. Yesterday, I got a little garden work done, in between a bunch of other things. I finished spading and tilling up a former flowerbed on the south side of my house that is now a vegetable garden. It’s the spot where I planted the tomatoes and corn a few weeks ago. I planted the rest of my white Mirai corn seeds as well as some zucchini and pumpkins. I made mounds in…