according.to.kim

2009 garden

I'm enjoying this perennial coneflower (echinacea) which is blooming right now. The rest of the perennial/wild flower bed is an overgrown mess -- full of borage, poppies, and bachelor buttons (all prolific self-seeders). I need to do a major clean-up in this quadrant, and soon! (Our garden is a circle with four beds/quadrants.)

I have been meaning to post what we planted this year...

Annual flowers (in one quadrant along with a patch of perennial Shasta daisy):

• 1 petunia (purple)
• 1 torenia (Yellow Moon)
• 2 pansy (Atlas Sky Blue & yellow)
• 12 ageratum (Blue Blazer)
• 12 marigold (Boy O Boy Mix)
• 12 aster (Dwarf Queen Mix)
• 6 snapdragon (Liberty Classic Mix)

My favourite of these is the asters; they're full of large blooms in white, pink, raspberry, and purple. The torenia is disappointing; perhaps it doesn't like the cool weather we've had this summer. All the other annuals are blooming well, but the plants are small. I'm not crazy about the annual bed. I want to put more perennials in next year.

Herbs (1 of each) and potatoes (in one quadrant along with two asparagus plants):

• sage
• thyme
• basil
• tarragon
• rosemary
• curly leaf parsley
• flatleaf parsley
• mint - in a pot
• dill - bedding plant died; we'll get seeds next year
  
• cilantro (from seed) - flowered before we used any
• Russian Blue (purple) potatoes - we should get lots; the plants look good
  
• All-red potatoes - looking forward to trying these

Vegetables (in one quadrant):

• 4 tomato plants, Subarctic Maxi, Lemon Boy, Bush Beefsteak, and Sweet 100 cherry - plants aren't huge, but are producing; we've enjoyed some Subarctic Maxi and cherry tomatoes so far
• 1 tomatillo - huge plant, lots of fruit
• 6 jalepeno - not doing much
• 2 spaghetti squash - lots of fruit; the vines are overtaking the surrounding path
• peas (from seed) - didn't come up
• purple beans (from seed) - very small plants; produced a few beans

Sweet Williams

Check out the delicate details on this Sweet William in our garden (click photo to enlarge). Aren't they pretty? Also, I was playing with a grunge edge on the photo and wanted to share!

Name that flower

These are the pretty pink flowers growing in our garden that just came up this year, likely from the Hummingbird Garden seed mix, and I have no idea what they are. Anyone? I took these photos today, so we know they bloom late and can withstand a bit of frost.

2008 garden

After taking and posting yesterday's photo, now seems like a good time to record what we grew in our garden this year -- better late than never! (I had written notes.)

Herb/veg bed (north west):

• Celery 'Utah'
• Rosemary (from seed; did not germinate)
• Italian flat-leaf parsley
• Thyme
• Fern leaf dill
• Tarragon (from seed)
• Sweet basil
• Oregano (perennial from before)
• Pineapple sage (smells very much like pineapple, but does not taste like it)
• Eating asparagus
• Spaghetti squash (failed)
• Cool Breeze cucumber (failed)
• Borage (self seeded)

• Eau de Cologne mint (in a pot on our back step; Neil made tasty Mojitos for me throughout the summer)

Flower bed (north east):

• Marigolds (girls brought home from K4J)
• Dahlia Figaro Mix (blooming like crazy!)
• Mimulus Magic Mix (okay, but didn't thrive)
• Tall Balsum Mix (unusual)
• Fantasy Crystal Red petunia
• Bachelor Button (self seeded)
• California Poppy (self seeded)
• Shasta Daisy (perennial from before)
• Sweet Pea (volunteer from who knows where; purple flowers)
• Purple beans

Salsa/potato bed (south west):

• Mucho Nacho jalepeno peppers
• Cilantro/coriander (from seed; did not germinate; bizarre!)
• Lunch Box tomato
• Early Girl tomato
• Bush Beefsteak tomato
• Peas Little Marvel (from seed)
• Russian Blue potatoes

(note: our peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes were very successful this year)

Flower bed (south east):

• Butterfly Garden mix (from seed a few years ago; many returns)...
• Hummingbird Garden mix (from seed this year)...

• Lupine
• Cosmos
• Poppy
• Black-eyed Susan
• Echinacea (Purple Coneflower)
• Sweet William
• Dames' Rocket
• pretty pink flowers; no idea
• yellow flowers; can't remember the name
  [Oct 3: it just came to me: Coreopsis]

I love close-ups

And I miss my other camera (gone for 10.5 weeks now; ETA: another couple weeks). These photos were taken in July 2007. I've reached the end of July in my selection process (1st pass)!

Daily pic: 08 Nov 07

First (or second?) snowfall of the season. It's the first one I saw anyway. The weather has been quite nice this fall; we often have more snowfall before this date. All of this snow has melted already. I only had the opportunity to take this photo because I stayed home sick today with an endless, seemingly drug-resistant sinus headache. I'm tired too. I slept in until 8:00, then went back to bed at 9:30 and slept until 1:00 p.m. In addition to cold and sinus medication, I'm trying Cold FX for the first time. It may be working, but it's hard to tell, isn't it?

Daily pic: 19 Sep 07

Our California poppies are still going strong. I love how that colour pops -- especially this time of year.

Daily pic: 16 Sep 07

Sophia found an interesting caterpillar in our back yard today. And what a gorgeous day it was! The temp reached 31 C.

Daily pic: 28 Aug 07

At ten to seven, it was a little too dark for a good photo of the sunflower (especially since it's facing down and away from the setting sun), but I like the silhouette (almost) of the flower and trees against the sky.

Daily pic: 27 Aug 07

Georgia enjoys pulling the flowers off the California Poppies and I don't mind a bit. We're in no danger of running out!

P.S. As you may know, I started my new job today. It was a bit overwhelming. There's a lot to learn and do. I think I'm going to be very very busy, but that's fine; I like being busy.

Daily pic: 14 Aug 07

We have some giant sunflowers this year. This one is a little over seven feet tall. The others are growing next to the garage and one of them is about eight feet tall! In the spring, we bought three packages of Sesame Street (as in the childrens' program) seeds: Marigold (Little Hero), Nasturtium (Cherry Rose), and Sunflower. Unfortunately, some of the seeds were lost before they even made it to the garden. We now have eight sunflowers, two marigolds, and one nasturtium growing (after weeding on Sunday, I can now see what we have!). All but this lone sunflower are near the garage.

Daily pic: 12 Aug 07

Madeline found a very fuzzy caterpillar today. Pretty cute!

I'm pleased with the progress I made in our back yard today. In three to four hours, I filled three large yard bags with weeds from the garden beds and paths. Yes, it was that bad, but it looks great now! It's so satisfying to get that done. Neil will tackle the back weed patch (where the chamomile was growing) and prune several overgrown bushes this week.

We enjoyed the company of Neil's two sisters and their children this afternoon and at supper time. Neil made some delicious barbecued/smoked pork ribs, cooked low and slow over charcoal. They were on for five and a half hours. Very good for his first crack at it!

What's on the agenda?

I'm very lucky to have today off work so I have a three-day weekend. And the calendar squares are empty. Totally free of commitment -- it's a beautiful thing! I cherish these days because I know that once school starts again, free days will be rare. So, what should we do with three free days?

For one thing, I'm determined to create an online album of photos from our trip to South Dakota. I may even get photos printed. I know that if I don't get it done now, it may never happen. Case in point: our trip to Texas in December '06 -- I have yet to go through the photos.

I need to do some paint touch-ups. Last weekend, I painted the trim and casing around the window, closet door, and door in our bedroom. (What a pain in the arse that was!) Now I need to touch up a bunch of places where the tape (blue painters' tape) took the wall paint off. I'm SO annoyed by that because every place that happened is where there was primer over drywall compound (where I patched holes or cracks). The primer simply did not stick to the drywall compound, so what's the point? I will never prime repaired spots again.

How about yard work? Our back yard needs a LOT of work. We've neglected it all summer. It would be so good to get that done and it looks like we may actually have some time to work on it this weekend.

Finally, we should try to do something fun! Perhaps we'll venture down to Folk Fest one afternoon. Or maybe the farmer's market on Saturday morning. I was also thinking about the IPSCO pool. We've never been there. Is it good?

Daily pic: 07 Aug 07

This is a Stargazer Lily. Isn't it gorgeous?! It's growing in Joanne's beautiful garden where she held a bridal shower for Beryl this evening. Both are friends and coworkers of mine. The weather was perfect for a garden party!

More garden close-ups

Neil took this photo on the weekend. These butterflies were "stuck together" and were even flying around like this. Nature!

Bachelor's Button. I love this periwinkle blue.

At first glance, I didn't know what this flower was. Upon closer inspection, it appears to be some type of poppy, but I think its petals have been washed out in the sun.

One of the few red poppies still intact in our garden.

Borage. We have quite a bit of this now; self-seeded I think. I like its unique texture.

Another daddy longlegs. Or quite possibly the same one in yesterday's daily pic. The white flower is chamomile (and I'm not sure if it's scented or unscented).

Daily pic: 17 Jul 07

This shot was a fluke! I was taking a picture of the borage. Can you see the daddy longlegs (opilione/harvestman) too?

Daily pic: 10 Jul 07

Shasta daisy.

Daily pic: 09 Jul 07

The great thing about summer, with its long daylight hours and blooming flowers, is that there's usually something to photograph in the garden when nothing else presents itself. This is just a fraction of a much larger patch of what I had hoped would be cosmos, but instead turned out to be camomile, a weed. As far as weeds go, this one doesn't look too bad, but you should see the rest of our garden! Actually, no, you shouldn't! It's in a very sad state after six weeks of neglect. About the only thing that will help now is a machete. Last year, I thought that perhaps this would be the year I'd be able to stay on top of the weeds. Apparently not.

Daily pic: 13 Jun 07

Our lovely lupine.

I just finished cutting in the first coat in Sophia and Madeline's room. I think they'll be excited to see it in the morning.

I've never felt so busy in my life, and I think I'm coming down with a cold. Just what I need, heh.

Daily pic: 04 Jun 07

Um, I think I like the baby versions better. We seem to be having a plague of tent caterpillars this year. They're everywhere. In the hedges, hanging from the trees, crawling all over the front of our house... and Sophia and Madeline are loving it! Me? Not so much.

The girls and I have been out canvassing for The Lung Association the past two evenings (lovely weather for it!) and we've encountered a lot of these caterpillars. Tonight, there was one dangling right at my eye level as I walked down the sidewalk. It surprised me!

P.S. Georgia is feeling a little better today. The fever continues but isn't as high anymore (even with no Advil today). Neil took her to the doctor and she does have an ear infection but it may be going away on its own so we won't get the antibiotic just yet.