This Week in the Garden

The hollyhocks are just starting to bloom.

We have two cucumbers so far, and lots more blossoms getting ready to fruit.

This zucchini is just starting to produce.

The sugar pie pumpkins are growing like crazy.

This is a long view of about half the pumpkin and sunflower patch.

The first sugar pie pumpkin

Four delicata squash plants plus another zucchini plant in the middle

Calendula flowers are decorating many parts of the backyard gardens.

Pie Cherries

I picked a bunch of pie cherries yesterday at a friend's place. I was able to pick just the right amount for a pie. Are you wondering where the picture of the pie is? Too late. It's already half eaten. It's the first cherry pie I've made from fresh cherries, and everyone here seems to like it. Yum!

Veggie Gardens: May and June 2009

I took some photos of the backyard veggie gardens last month, and then again this month. We've had so much sun this month. You can really see how much everything has grown from May to June.

MAY 20, 2009

Snap and snow peas are sprouting up, along with onions, radishes, and broccoli

There's a lot of rhubarb just beyond the soon-to-be-planted bean trellises.

The marigolds on the left are happy, but you can barely see the carrots, beets, and turnips sprouting up. Broccoli, onions, and radishes are in the middle; peas are on the right.


JUNE 16, 2009

Peas in the front and beans on trellises in the background, with other veggies in between


Everything's getting taller!
The shelling peas, just beyond the bean trellises and to the left, will get to be about seven feet tall.

Marigolds, carrots, chard, beets, more carrots, and turnips


Onions and broccoli


Trellises for pole beans and scarlet runner beans

Flowers and Pumpkins

The beautiful foxglove are in full bloom right now. You can see a purple lupine on the left as well. I love this garden bed because I planted it entirely from seed last year, and it adds a lot of color along the walkway on the side of the house .

We have lots of sun here now after taking down three cypress trees this spring. Along with the sun-loving flowers, we thought it would be a good space for growing pumpkins and other squashes this year. From front to back, we've got zucchini, small sugar pumpkins, dwarf sunflowers, Jack Be Little pumpkins, and Howden Jack O' Lantern pumpkins.

More Bees

The lupines are in bloom, and the bees love 'em!

Mason Bees

I saw two mason bees nesting in the new bee boxes today. It was so fun to watch them work!

Happy Mother's Day

It was a beautiful day for a bike ride, so we rode our Xtracycles to the farmers market for a nice lunch with the family. We found some apples, pears, radishes, and asparagus at the market, as well as a ginger mint plant that I'll find room for in the garden soon. Of course, Don and Ben found a lovely bouquet of flowers for me as well. They're good to me.

Yesterday I took a few more garden photos while thinking about my own mom and grandma. These are for us. Happy day.

Red rhododendrons for my mom...
These are blooming so beautifully right now by the front door in the front yard. As a girl, I used to watch bees buzz in and out of them. I still do now. Thanks for planting them, Mom. And yes, I promise to deadhead them later this spring.

Forget-me-nots for my Grandma Lena...
She had lots of perennials in her back yard gardens in Quincy, so these remind me of her. I loved playing in her yard and picking flowers when I stayed with her during the summers.

Apple blossoms for me...

These are from the Queen Cox semi-dwarf apple tree that we planted in our front yard seven years ago. The blossoms are so big and beautiful this year. Let's hope they bring us lots of delicious fruit this fall.

Bees and Blossoms

I built three bee boxes today with a little help from Don and Ben. The mason bees have been pretty active lately, and we hope they've been pollinating our fruit trees! When they're ready to nest, they can enjoy these new boxes near our apple trees.

Aren't they cute?

Golden Sentinel Apple Blossoms

Golden Sentinel Columnar Apple Tree

Back Yard Blooms

The back yard fruit trees, berries, and flowers are lovely this spring.

Italian plum tree blossoms

A few flowers on the new Royal Ann cherry tree

The camillia bush my friend Susan gave me in honor of my mom

The first fruit starting to form on the Alpine strawberry plant Don grew from seed last year

Blueberry bushes in our new garden by the deck

White blooming oxalis ground cover near tiny unfurling fern tendrils

Front Yard Foliage

It's been a beautiful spring with lots of new growth in the gardens. The front yard is bursting forth with colorful flowers, and the perennials are leafing out once again.

A single red tulip in the midst of blooming blue forget-me-nots

The Japanese maple in all its glory

One of our first rhododendrons to bloom this year

Lupine leaves before the flowers emerge

Foxglove, sage, and violas

The strawberry patch

Fun with Words

We've been playing lots of games of Bananagrams lately. Ben has loved the challenge of creating long words to include in his word lists.

Gardening Season

We've uprooted a lot more back yard lawn this spring to increase the size of our vegetable gardens. So far we've planted peas, broccoli, lettuce, onions, and radishes. You can also see the happy marigolds and calendula from last week's bike trip to the nursery. Soon we'll plant some carrots, beets, and swiss chard. Then as it warms up a little later, we'll plant beans, squashes, and sunflowers.

Bicycling for Flowers

I enjoyed a bike ride to the nursery last weekend, in search of flowers and a few other plants for the new back yard gardens. I found some marigolds and calendula, a blueberry bush, a few Tall Telephone shelling peas, and some parsley. It's fun riding home with pretty flowers in the basket for onlookers to enjoy.

Happy Spring!

A sure sign of spring is the lovely red flowering currant. We have this one in a corner of our back yard. It's so graceful with its delicate flowers.

Climbing Fun