My Mom’s Garden

August 7th, 2009

This year we planted some popcorn at my mom’s house in her garden. She gets a lot more sun than we do, so she offered to expand her garden so we could have some space over there. We planted popcorn quite a while ago. While over for a visit on Wednesday, I took a photo of our lovely corn.
corn_in_the_garden
We’re keeping our eye on it, as soon as ears start to form we’re going to put an electric fence around it. My parents have always had trouble with coons in the corn. If you notice the pumpkin vines growing through the corn, this is a ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ Cinderella pumpkin from my saved seeds. There are a few pumpkins set on the vines, I can’t wait to see them this fall (unless the deer get them like they did last year).
Mom's_veggie_garden
My mom’s garden is looking quite nice this time of year. This is what it looked like 2 months ago? As you can tell by the brownish color of everything, it’s been a little dry for the past couple weeks.
mom's_garden
It’s always nice to have photos so you can see how well the garden is doing.

How do you monitor your gardens growth?

A Trip to Stan Hywet in Akron, OH

June 8th, 2009

Last Tuesday my mom and I went to Stan Hywet to see their peonies in bloom. If you were reading my blog last fall you’ll remember that I got my mom a membership to Stan Hywet for a gift. So far this spring we’ve gone twice, this past week was really nice. They have tons of peonies of all shapes colors and sizes. Unfortunately we had a big thunderstorm the night before so they were a little wet & droopy, but they still looked Fabulous! It happened to be super cold that day (in the 50’s), and kind of dark & dreary, but it was still beautiful!
stan-hywet-gardens
So for those of you who love peonies and lovely gardens, here’s some eye candy for you. It was very difficult narrowing down the photos, I took so many while there. But here are the best 32 photos for you to enjoy. (the little icon in the top left-hand corner will allow you to see the photos in full screen if you’d like to see them bigger)

What do you think of Stan Hywet?

Expanding the Garden

June 5th, 2009

On Wednesday we ran over to my mom’s house because she’s letting us expand her garden. Since we have limited full-sun areas in our gardens, she offered to let us plant our popcorn at her house.
brian-tilling
My mom and I covered the new garden area with a tarp back in March so that the grass would be smothered. When we uncovered it, it was ready to till up.
tiller1
We pulled out the old tiller and finally got it started. I had a good laugh, it was a lot like Good Neighbors.
tilling-the-garden
When it was finished my mom’s garden is now 1/3 larger than it was. I’ll be heading over some time next week to plant my popcorn, beans and squash for a proper 3 sisters garden.

Anyone else growing popcorn?

Visiting the Working Gardens in Massillon, OH

May 16th, 2009

Yesterday I visited Scott and Andee at the Working Gardens in Massillon, OH. Working Gardens is a small greenhouse that specialized in native, woodland and shade loving plants. They also offer herbs and veggies, and this year they’re running a CSA. (If you live in the Massillon area, check their website for dates & hours of the plant sale).
plant-sale-sign
I managed to score a few plants that I’ve been looking for. Scott also gave me a few interesting things to try; among them an heirloom Italian Cayenne pepper. He got the seeds from a friends grandfather. I’m really excited to see how it tastes, I’m a big fan of Cayenne pepper.
touring-the-working-garden
Scott gave me the tour of all of the gardens including the veggie beds that are part of his CSA program.
diva-the-dog
Diva the dog helped with the tour.
veggie-bed-1
The veggie beds are filled with lettuce and garlic along with peas and potatoes. There are also a lot of peppers and tomatoes under row covers since we’re supposed to get a cold night tonight (forecasted in the 30’s BRRR that’s cold).
veggie-bed-2
They have a lovely shaded property of 3 acres with a wonderful spring which feeds this great stream bed. They also use the spring to irrigate the crops, how great is that!
shaded-spring-border
Speaking of tree peonies, I spotted this one in his garden as we were leaving, what a beauty!
pink-tree-peony1
pink-tree-peony-blossom1
It’s always nice to meet people that have similar interests. Brian and I had a great time visiting and getting to know Andee and Scott. I met Scott on Freedom Gardens, if you aren’t a member you should check it out, it’s a great place to meet like-minded folks.

What are some ways you’ve met other gardeners?

Garden Dreams: Tree Peonies

May 15th, 2009

I would love to get a tree peony. I’ve always thought they’re so pretty and so interesting, but oh so very expensive. My mom’s neighbor has one that blooming right now, and I went to a farm yesterday and the owner had this beauty in his flowerbed. I think this is a ‘Palace of the Purple Clouds’.
pink-tree-peony-blossom
The bees loved it! He actually has sister bees to our bees, he happened to be picking up his bees at the same time we were getting ours.
pink-tree-peony
I don’t know if I’ll ever get a tree peony, I think I’d have a hard time spending so much on one plant. But who knows, perhaps I’ll get one someday.

Anyone have a tree peony or want one?

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This is a journal of my small organic gardens in north eastern Ohio, zone 5(a). Our gardens are named after our dog Lucy, a big brown/black lab mix from the local pound. We started calling her “Chiots” when she was a puppy and the name stuck. She thinks the yard and gardens belong to her, she chases away all squirrels & rabbits and the UPS man.

Our yard is very small and fairly shady, we are surrounded by woods all 3 sides. The soil is made up of rocks and clay, not the best, but I’ve spent 7 years adding chicken manure & compost. When we first moved in 8 years ago, the gardens were in terrible shape from years of neglect and too many chemical pesticides and fertilizers. It has taken years to reset the balance of nature and we're finally starting to see the fruit of our efforts. We unearth worms when we dig and we are seeing more and more birds and beneficial insects in the gardens. The soil is also starting to improve after years and years of hard work amending it with all kinds of organic compost.

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