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Thursday, October 7, 2010

photos of my garden plot

photos of my garden plot
photos of my garden plot photos of my garden plot
photos of my garden plot photos of my garden plot

Here are a few pictures of what's growing now in my community garden plot. My lettuce is finally looking good. I have lots of oak leaf coming along. I can start tinning this soon. At home, I have smaller lettuce seedlings that are looking good too: mostly Prizehead, escarole and red romaine.

Other greens growing include: red bok choy (I think), mizuna, escarole frisee, spinach and arugula. The broccoli is forming its second set of heads now that the weather has cooled off. Some of these are quite nice. And the beets (sowed the first week of August) are harvest size now - its been a great year for beets.

photos of my garden plot

The purple flowers are some morning glories growing up my old popcorn stalks. They stay open all day now with the declining sunlight. I'm sad how dim the light looks in my photos taken at about 4 pm on Sunday.

photos of my garden plot

I also have a couple rows of snap peas in bloom. I planted these late August, but they grew very slowly during the hot September weather. I think they'll need a week or two more to produce, but frost could come anytime now. A gamble. A lot of fresh new dill plants coming up all over the garden. I wanted to use up some old seeds. It smells great.

I've also found stray garlic sprouts popping up where I grew garlic this year. I always have this happen. When garlic is left in the ground too long, heads fall apart and I don't harvest it all. Any left behind sprout in the fall. I'll need to designate a new garlic bed soon. I'll move the volunteers and plants saved cloves from my summer harvest. I have enough this year to go without purchasing more.
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Saturday, July 24, 2010

photos of my vegetable plot

photos of my vegetable plot
photos of my vegetable plot photos of my vegetable plot
photos of my vegetable plot photos of my vegetable plot
photos of my vegetable plot
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Swiss community gardens

Swiss community gardens

While I was in Switzerland last week on vacation, I took a bunch of photos of vegetable gardens. We traveled by train, so I had to pull up the camera quick and hope to get a shot before we went into a tunnel or behind a tree. It was a challenge!

The gardens are full to the top at this time of year with all sorts of crops. They look beautiful!

The community gardens look a lot like ours here in the US, but I was surprised at all the little huts in the plots. I wonder why this is? Are there that many tools to store that its worth using garden space for a shed? Or are they used for growing something? There are also many high hoop houses and shelters over plants.

Swiss community gardens Swiss community gardens
Swiss community gardens Swiss community gardens
Swiss community gardens Swiss community gardens
Swiss community gardens

And here are a couple links to photos by eamesd on Flickr of an enormous community garden area in Basel, Switzerland. I missed seeing this and would have loved to have walked through here! Next time...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eamesd/1804275000/sizes/o/in/set-72157602797493837/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eamesd/1803441757/sizes/o/in/set-72157602797493837/
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Sunday, July 18, 2010

wild garlic

wild garlic
wild garlic wild garlic

This year, the fields near our community garden are filled with wild garlic. Much more than previous years. There seem to be two different varieties, one with a larger flower (photos above) and the other smaller (photo below).

I am assuming its wild garlic. It has small heads with 3 or 4 cloves, like garden garlic. Much of the wild garlic photos I see on line are a pretty white flowered variety with wide flat leaves. This is quite different.

wild garlic
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tomatoes

tomatoes tomatoes

Here are some other photos of tomatoes plants that I took at our community garden. With this hot dry weather, mulch helps. I like the paper shreds someone is using. In the second photo, strings are tied to the base of the plant.
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Thursday, October 7, 2010

wet aerial view

wet aerial view

Seems like its been raining all month! Plus temps are falling. Summer's gone. Cukes and tomatoes are looking ragged. With the dampness, I haven't done much work outside and chores are waiting.

This weekend is forecast to be dry. I want to clear out the cold frame, replace the plastic and fill it with baby seedlings that are growing inside. I'll also plant clover and winter rye under the tomatoes and in the empty beds.

At my community plot, I'll plant garlic. Maybe also consolidate the fall greens and put up hoops and row cover. Same at my parents garden - hoops and row cover over a long row of fall greens.

... click on the label below to see previous aerial photos of my garden ....
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Saturday, July 24, 2010

my garden after vacation

I love exploring my garden after being away. Every bed has surprises.

Especially the squash beds! I will have to get my squash bread recipe out to use the big ones I discovered. (Or sneak them over to the compost bin...)

my garden after vacation my garden after vacation

I have an enormous Long Island Cheese pumpkin already. Must be about 1 foot diameter. Also a couple other types of pumpkins.

my garden after vacation my garden after vacation
my garden after vacation my garden after vacation

My popcorn needs fertilizer. I meant to do this before vacation, but ran out of time. It is 5 feet tall now, and tasseling. The ears will form soon. I want to figure out how to prevent the corn ear worms this year and will have to start on this soon.

my garden after vacation

The cabbages look nice. Always a very pretty crop. My Savoy and Radicchio have done well this year. The radicchio is bolting some. Some compact heads, but others are popping out of the top. They still have nice red leaves inside.

my garden after vacation my garden after vacation

The basil needs to be harvested soon. I've waited too long already and the leaves have gotten small. The bees like the little flowers that I should have picked off long before this.

my garden after vacation

My onions are better this year than last since I planted further apart and they aren't shaded by nearby plants. Again though, I have no idea what variety is where - except the purple ones. I didn't label well, but they all look good. And lots of nice carrots too.

my garden after vacation my garden after vacation

So many beans. I only planted a couple short rows. Thanks goodness. These may need to go to the food bank. Not sure there's any way I can eat all of them.

my garden after vacation my garden after vacation
my garden after vacation

The peas and fava beans have totally burnt up. Lots of space now for more planting. Also the empty garlic beds are waiting for plants. I have little broccoli and greens sprouting in my hot frame at home.

my garden after vacation my garden after vacation

My tomatoes are growing finally, but still small and only few fruits ripening. I noticed the gardeners who planted tomatoes in the community plots have lots beautiful ripe fruit already. Almost no fungal issues on them. Its a good year for warm weather crops but I rotated then out of my sunny community plot this year. Same with the eggplants and peppers.

In my frame at home I have cucumber and melons. I have a bumper crop of cukes! Time to make some pickles. The melon plants look very good too. Small fruits are trying to set.

my garden after vacation my garden after vacation

I forgot to bring my wide angle lens, so I only got close up photos today. Tomorrow I'd like to get some of the whole garden.
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Sunday, July 18, 2010

The Rabbit's Eye View

The Rabbit
                                                                                                    

The Rabbit  Doing a lot of teaching this spring. Groups of keen gardeners, garden design students or practising designers. English Gardening School, Society of Garden Designers regional groups, that sort of thing. Great fun, and terrific response from students. I love it. As for “teaching”, anyone who has to face a class of 30 inner-city kids five days a week is entitled to turn around and ask me to use a different verb – everyone is so keen and so appreciative. And always learn stuff from my groups as well.
    I’m currently pushing what I call the “rabbit’s eye view”, getting people down on their hands and knees looking at plants, really closely, trying to observe things they might not have seen before. It’s my belief that it is possible to predict how a plant will perform (spread, longevity, drought tolerance etc) from looking at key features of its shape, form, etc, and especially the bit where the stems join the roots. I try to pass this ‘reading the plant’ onto my students. Its about relating
    But they’ve got to get onto their hands and knees. You can’t observe plants from standing up. At the Hillier Arboretum, I have divided a group of 30+ up into groups of 4/5 to select plants to describe in their immensely long Centennial Border, “get on your hands and knees” I have to shout at some of them – this is where the sensible types get sorted out from those who brought unsuitable shoes or are afraid of tearing their tights. At least British students will work in groups. Did that with a group of mostly Chinese at Sheffield University once; as soon as you go to talk to one group they all sneak up behind you, and you turn around to see the entire class – ‘the teacher as the fount of all knowledge’ is so fundamental to them, which it isn’t to us.
    I studied adult education when I was teaching English as a Second Language back in the 1980s. The current dogma then was that a much as possible should come from the students, which is actually good, as it empowers classes and makes for a good interactive atmosphere. You don’t get a chance to nod off in my classes, there’s too much expected of you.

Photos Annie Guilfoyle, at West Dean, July 2009
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The Wild Garden - June 2010

Here are some pics of our wild garden, early June. Click below:


photos
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