Took pictures because they never last as long as I would like. Pink roses and lavender lilacs, both of which smelled lovely. I was considering pressing some of them, but they were starting to go limp already so didn't make the best specimens for preservation. Maybe I'll start with leaves… #gallery-1 { margin: [...] 
And here's the other half of my summer garden pictures, dealing with various flowers encountered during our first summer in the new house. The previous owner was an avid gardener, so there were plenty of flower beds already established and filled with random little surprises. Also, a few wildflowers that I'm hoping my ever-knowledgeable [...] 
One of the things I love most about spring in the north is the bonanza of flowering bulbs that burst out nonstop the minute the snows recede. I spent several years back in Cali trying to coax reluctant daffodils and hyacinths into bloom through rigorous refrigerator chilling regimens before finally giving in to the fact [...] I’ve been mentioning the food items coming out the garden recently, but haven’t really done any posts on the general state of things. So this is a post to remedy that. Finnish summers are all about a surplus of daylight and moisture, so things get ridiculously lush in short order. Our current look is somewhere [...] #gallery-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } Bought another aloe at Plantagen last weekend. Can’t have enough of these guys, I think. I will definitely have to invest in more fall bulbs if they all do so well here. Did I mention some tulips made a guest appearance? I suppose we do have the sort of weather they enjoy. View of my cleaned-up greenhouse interior. Still looks pretty tame. White dicentra, which will go where there pink one goes. Pink dicentra I got on sale last week. Don’t know where it’s going yet. Repotted peony. Still don’t know where it’s going yet. My 2 year old calamondin has once again been repotted and is enjoying its new greenhouse home. The clivia T’s granny gave us has been repotted and is now also in the greenhouse. The droopy lavender I seeded last spring is now looking much happier in the greenhouse. I put in 9 rows of “cold weather crops” the first weekend of May. We’ll see when they sprout. Parsley, purple carrots and cilantro. Leaf lettuce, spring onion and salad dandelion. Leaf lettuce, mixed carrots and spinach. I also plan to plant my cucumbers directly into these bags once the weather warms a bit more. My first (and probably temporary) raised garden bed. Made from… bed frames :-) There’s a few different types now, but I totally will continue adding varieties starting this fall. I love narcissi. Can’t get enough of them. Always wanted a giant bed of them in my garden and now I have some! The evenings are still just a couple degrees above 0C, but daytime temps are now between 10-20C and very sunny, so it’s definitely spring. Everything is budding, flowers are starting to appear and butterflies are everywhere. I’ve started cleaning up the garden and grounds best as I can, though I’m sure it will take at [...] #gallery-7 { margin: auto; } #gallery-7 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-7 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-7 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } My miniature phalaenopsis is having babies! Here, it sprouted both a baby and another flower from the same node. Another shot of the bonus flower. I’ve never had this happen with my orchids before, so hopefully it means I’m doing something right! Another baby growing on the other flower stalk. This one has much bigger leaves, probably because it doesn’t have a flower as well. And the beginnings of a third one :-) I’ll let them all grow until they have about 2 inches of root before separating them. My rapidly growing seed germination tray. I had a wildly successful run with these last year, so am planting them again. I’m faithful to those who treat me well :-) These produced bountiful, tasty cukes and were very happy doing it within the confines of the bag of potting soil allotted to them. 4 planted. I admit to being attracted to weird cultivars. Plus, it would look so cool to have slices of various colored cucumbers on a salad, don’t you think? We’ll see what happens with these. 5 planted. I hear melons can be tricky. Both the boy and I adore them, though, so I’m going to give it a try this year. They can get expensive at the store and we could probably eat one apiece if it weren’t so spendy. These might actually end up going in the greenhouse, since I’m not entirely sure they’ll crop fast enough otherwise. 4 planted. I know I already planted the golden version of these, but you know how I get about have rainbow colors. And cucurbits really are some of my favorite plants. They make you feel really accomplished, with such large fruits. Anyway. 9 planted. Classic summer veggie that I know I should be eating more of. I do like these roasted, so no hurt in planting some. This type in particular looks like it doesn’t even need to live in the greenhouse, which is a plus. 5 planted. Just more chronicling of my gardening ventures, both indoors and out. The kitchen window has plants in it all year round, though they start looking a little peaky in deep winter. The sun’s back now, though, and I can’t wait to pop some fragrant narcissi and primroses into those hanging pots. Maybe as soon as [...] Just an excuse to share pictures of flowers, really. You must understand, though, that I’d never received a real gift bouquet (because do graduation carnations count? I think not) until I met T five-ish years ago. Goes with the not-dating-much territory, I suppose. And I was far too cautious a child to ever end up [...] #gallery-10 { margin: auto; } #gallery-10 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-10 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-10 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } Tumbling Tom cherry tomatoes. An autumn batch that had to ripen inside. Another of my balcony flower bouquets. I was never lacking in flowers from those nasturtiums. In fact, it’s the middle of November and the nasturtiums I planted in May are STILL blooming outside. Whirlybird Cream nasturtiums and purple Sugar n’ Spice sweet peas make a cute spring bouquet from the balcony garden. A wider view of my background garden at the height of summer. A batch of Fanfare hybrid cucumbers from the backyard garden. Another cucumber batch. Corn pollen. Baby corn forming! This was my first time ever growing corn. Another keeper for next year. Baby bell peppers. These got eaten by the snails really fast. The cherry tomato plants. They did moderately well but probably should have started earlier. The cucumber patch. There were only three plants or four plants, I think? Steady supply all summer. Definitely will plant again. Bush beans getting overrun by cucumber leaves. They also got eaten up pretty bad by the snails. Three basil varieties, red, lemon and Thai. The pests got to them a bit. An earlier view of my corn. Will grow more and earlier next year, definitely. A full garden shot of later in the season. Batch of vine-ripened cherry tomatoes. Cutaway view of one of the cucumbers. We were picking them pretty young because they were better for sandwich slices that way. Northern Extra Sweet corn. Was awesome. Want tons more. |
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