The Pie Patch October 13, 2009

 

Quite some time ago, I put up a little post about getting a new community garden and my own plot in it started this past spring.  I dubbed it The Pie Patch because I planted mostly things that would go well  in a pie: currents, loingonberries, rhubarb, and gooseberries.  I realized the other day that I hadn’t taken a picture of the plot in awhile and wanted some to document growth after the first season.  You’ll notice the rhubarb is on a rampage!  I’m going to give the young shrubs some extra TLC later this fall to get them through their first winter by putting a burlap windbreak around them and mulching with a thick layer of leaves.    Can’t wait to start baking those pies next year!

 

Going, Going…Gone? October 13, 2009

 

The last few days of the 2009 growing season are really eeking away. The weather has been chilly and generally damp since September and I was certain we’d get an early frost.  Our expected frost date in this area is October 15th.  We’re just about there, and truth be told, I’m ready for it.  My garden was just plain disappointing this season.  I’m not beating myself up about it.  I’m just ready to put it to bed and forget all the heartbreak.   Usually I scurry around putting blankets on things I want to protect from the first frost and squeeze out a week or two more of growing, but this year I’m unexpectedly anxious to get to ripping out the annuals and cutting back the perennials so I can focus on planning for next year. 

Click “more” to see a series of photos that show the progression of my garden’s growth this season. 

 

Foray into Fall September 24, 2009

Plant List: Solidago rugosa, Brassica oleracea, Chrysanthemum ‘Bold Gretchen’, Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’

 

By far, autumn holds my favorite color combinations of all the seasons. And Cucurbits, be it jack-o-lanterns, birdhouse gourds, or some tasty sweet winter squash, are dear old friends that bring me new surprises each year with their textures, shapes and hues. As someone who loves textural and earthy designs, fall was made to be my playground. Putting together a container planting for this season is always a treat. This year I have the most amazing pumpkin-hued mums to use, grown by my friend, Emma. They are the come-hither of the container at the moment, but once that Solidago (golden rod) opens up its arching yellow blossoms, there’s no way passersby can resist stopping to take it all in. The smoky purples of the ornamental cabbage adds a nice heft to the design, both in tone and texture. That Lysimachia  (creeping jenny) that’s trailing from the pot has been an all-purpose all-season “spiller”, having started in my spring design as a relatively small bunch of transplants. What a great versatile plant, though best contained as it is here since it’s a noxious weed if left loose!

 

 

When I was shopping for my two ornamental cabbage plants, I found these two designs at the garden center to be inspirational. As another harbinger of fall, the Cucurbit display is once again out at Longwood Gardens. I need to trek back over to get more photos, but this one particular decorative gourd really got my attention so I took a quick snapshot. Isn’t it awesome? I love warty and green (or blue) Cucurbits!

 

Plug and Play September 17, 2009

 

Working in my ornamental beds lately has been an interesting learning experience.  Having pretty much given up hope on having a “good” display this year with all the weather assaults and pests taking their toll, I decided to just play around and take what learning I could from it. 

 

 

Conveniently the Caryopteris and the Calendula have decided to embrace in a show of vibrant orange and blue.  Meanwhile, the succulents in my garden have been amazing.  I never thought they would do this well, especially in such a rainy year.  I intend to add many many more containers of them in my garden(s) in the future.

 

 

I ripped out a dying Salvia and wacked back some other plants that were brown and ugly, creating a huge hole in the middle of my bed.  Being September and all, I decided two mums would be appropriate temporary fillers as well as a few Coleus that I think can take the site now that there are plenty of other plants to offer some respite from the sun.  I like the way the burgundy of the coleus plays off the purple of the mums (even though they are blooming very strangely only on one side) and accents the straw tones of the fall color of the bunny tail grass border.  It somehow feels nostalgic to me to look at this combination, though I can’t articulate why.   And in the front of the garden, to fill a hole left by Zinnia flop, I added a Solidago just about to burst into bloom.

 

Autumn Veggies September 17, 2009

 

The vegetable garden is certainly winding down, but it’s not to be dismissed just yet as several fall crops are making good progress towards delicious autumn harvests.   Actually, fall produce is among my favorite.  Beets, butternut squash and rutabaga really revv up my internal engine when it’s getting chilly outside.  Soups, warm salads, and roasted everything…. I don’t know if I have the patience to wait for all these crops to mature! 

 

 

At the moment, I have young cauliflower seedlings struggling to get going.  I’ve never had any real success with growing cauliflower and I’ve read and heard from others that it’s a tough crop, but I thought I’d give it a go since I had so much empty space in  my plot this year.  Nearby are the very large and very ugly stems of the rutabaga that have been in the ground for almost two months now.  They seem to always be stressed but the plants have made it much farther along this year than they did last so I have some small hope of getting those delicious swollen orange roots to eat.    Also coming along is a mixed planting of several carrot varieties.  Fall carrots are perfection for me – a sweet and healthy treat!   The butternut squash vines were taking a big hit from cucumber beetles and squash bugs but with a little layering early on, they seemed to have outgrown the damage and are bearing nearly 15 squash between the two plants.   Hopefully they’ll all make it to maturity without mishap.  The radishes are nearly ready while the beets are just beginning to make their stand in the four short rows I sowed two weeks ago. 

 

 

Sweet Love & Summer Sizzle September 9, 2009

 

 

Two additions to the floral design portfolio, though these are mostly meant to serve as a reminder of color combos rather than any real design.  The first is a sweet medley of buttery yellow zinnas, soft pink dahlias and the clean green and funky texture of the love in a puff vine twirled around the outside.   Quite the bohemian romantic, don’t you think?

 

 

The second is a festive sizzle of hot summer colors, nearly all zinnias with a few pink gomphrena and green euphorbia mixed in for texture.  What a great hand-tied bouquet this would make for a bold late summer bride!  I plunked it into an equally unconventional red glass vase and was amazed that the colors played off each other with surprising ease.  A definite eye-catcher!

~

Starting September September 4, 2009

 

September hit with a chilly thud.  Last week we were in the upper 90s and the humidity could be wrung from your clothes.  A classic summer storm rolled through on the weekend, dumping more than an inch and a half of ran, and suddenly autumn was here, just as I turned my calendar page to September.   This past week has been a dream – chilly mornings in the 50s and pleasantly warm afternoons in the 70s with the bluest skies and gentlest breezes imaginable.  I’m relishing every single second of it and making up for the neglect my garden suffered in the heat of August with long evening hours spent among my plants. 

 

 

As the picture of the front of my garden shows, it still remains a bit sparse, but a few blushing beauties have really taken center stage in these twilight days of the growing season.  The love in a puff vine (Cardiospermum halicacabum) sulked in the cool damp weather of July, but quickly shot up its post once the heat of August came around.  I love the texture it adds to the garden and, of course, the “balloons” are adorable.  I’ve also found that long snippets of the vine with the balloons on it make for a great whimsical addition to cut flower arrangements.

 

 

Ah, the dahlias.  I wrote about them before and the same sentiments continue to make them a highlight of my garden and my arrangements.  Just look at those intricate blooms and stunning colors.  Particularly, the one pictured on the left above is knocking my socks off.  It has more than a dozen blooms on one plant at the present.  The color is a striking cross between pink and orange.  When back lit by the evening sun, it looks like it is on fire.   As if it wasn’t amazing enough on its own, this dahlia got serendipitously planted with clumps of Artemisia and Iresine (you can just see them in the left corner of the photo), creating one of the most dynamic and powerful color and texture combos I’ve come across to date.   I only wish I knew what cultivar this is; the tuber was one of the unidentified “freebies” I got this past spring.  Any dahlia aficionados reading this know what it is?  I found out that it’s ‘Snoho Dorris’!  I’m now also coveting another variety called ‘Show N Tell’. 

 

 

Adding to the late summer sizzle are the Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Longwood Blue’  and a mix of Zinnia elegans.  I love the fresh blue of the caryopteris when most flowers are starting to look worn out after a long season.   The zinnias are now producing as they should have been two months ago.  Hopefully frost will be late this year so I can get the most out of this lovely mix of colors. 

 

Dahlia Deliverance August 30, 2009

 

My garden has been noticeably waning in the damp humid and hot weather of August.  The lack of sun is certainly taking its toll on the flowers.  The zinnias, my workhorses for color both in and out of the garden, have never taken off this year.  What blooms I’m getting from them are nice, and I like the new seed mix I selected (Cool Crayon Colors from Renee’s), but the plants are short and are producing new blooms very slowly compared to last year when it was hot, sunny and dry all August.    The same can be said for just about every other bloom in my garden, save for the dahlias.

 

August Anguish, But… August 17, 2009

 

It’s not news here on this blog that this summer has been a tough one for my garden.  August continues to hold its moments of anguish, particularly as I watch giant holes emerge in my ornamental beds where plants had to be removed because they fell over or browned out.    Yep, rough season. 

 

 

But, all that aside, there are also moments of beauty as the blooms continue to march along in their summertime progression in the ornamental beds.   The dahlias are putting on a lovely display in the back corner finally.  The balloon flower is unquenchable in its zest for producing new blue bursts.  The zinnas, while still sluggish, are delicious shades of pinks and purples.  The Red Dawn trees in the back are rocketing for the sky, well over seven feet tall now.  The sedums along the hill are blooming, as are a few of the succulents in my little desert container.   The jewels of opar remind me of sparklers on the Fourth of July.   The jupiter’s beard has the wildest seedheads  that add bold texture to the garden.   The iresine has finally developed its mature bright pink veins. 

 

 

French ‘Savor’ Melon August 16, 2009

 

I have a special love for growing and eating melons, thanks to my father, who is nearly obsessed with them.   However, I seem to always be growing in small spaces that don’t really allow for the vigorous vines of the melon family.   When I saw Johnny’s Select Seeds was offering the seeds for the French Charentais melon ‘Savor‘ this year, I immediately ordered a packet.  I had read much about these small single-serving melons with luscious flesh scented with floral notes.    They produce on relatively small vines that can be trained up a trellis and still support the small melons hanging precariously in the air.   

 

 

I planted three vines in my garden and three vines in containers on my hot sunny deck.    Sadly, the three vines in my garden quickly succumbed to disease after a swift and unavoidable attack by squash bugs even though the vines were covered with protective fleece.    My hopes were flagging for the vines on my deck as they really were very scrawny by all accounts – small leaves, short vines, thin stems.  No way could these plants produce a good melon, I thought.   As it turns out, they produce an amazing melon.   The softball sized fruit is intensely fragrant and similar in color and texture to a cantaloupe.  However, the flavor is very different than a cantaloupe and rather difficult to describe beyond “delicious”!    Only one of my vines is actually producing (three fruits thus far), but I attribute this to a lack of pollinators and my inconsistent watering of the pots.   Next year I’ll grow these again in containers with an irrigation system and will make more of an effort to pollinate with a paint brush if the bees don’t wise up to the bounty of blossoms available on my deck in this urban jungle.