8/28/08

Thursday morning garden

It feels like Friday, doesn't it?

We're having a little heatwave. It was 85 deg F at 8:30 a.m. this morning. I got hot and sweaty just walking around taking pictures.

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It was warm all night too. Hopefully that means some tomato flowers got pollinated, although I don't think we have very many flowers. (For tomato flowers to pollinate successfully, it needs to stay above 60 deg F all night.)

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The cuke crop was much larger last summer when it was warmer. These plants appear stunted. (Potatoes coming up on the left.)

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A cucumber to pick.

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Not overwhelmed by the beans this year either, but the handfull I just picked & ate were sweet and crunchy.

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When it became clear we were having a cold summer, I yanked the tomatoes I had in this half-barrel and sowed some super-short season squash seed instead. The tomatoes wouldn't have ripened before November cold, but maybe some squash will.

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No grapes yet. Maybe next year? I hope so. The leaves are turning.

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I really like the raspberry foliage too.

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Fuchsia boliviana 'Alba' makes plump and tasty fruit, but I usually eat them before they reach maximum ripeness.

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Nothing else in edible garden news worth discussing right now, and I only have a few new flowery things.

This arctotis is new. I don't remember the cultivar name.

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The weedy Amaryllis belladonna is in full bloom, heralding the fall.

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Likewise, this crazy zinnia.

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And the Epilobium canum my friend Emma gave me.

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Behind the scarlet and white fuchsia, this Ceanothus is finishing a summer bloom. For a little while there I had a red, white, and blue thing going on.

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Annual tarweed, Madia elegans, is gorgeous in the sun and the fragrance of the foliage is amazing.

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Even more amazingly fragrant is the Salvia clevelandii foliage. You should come over and smell it some time.

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Yellow things:

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Up on the deck, this Senecio Calandrinia is blooming.

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I'm going to put it in the garden next year.

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8 comments:

Ewa said...

Is this senecio bloom? unusual...
ewa

cdillon said...

Thank you for sharing the wonderful morning greeting of your garden.

Anonymous said...

I wish I could share my tomato bonanza with you! Plenty here to eat and share, even though the neighborhood rodent population was snacking on them, too...
To be honest, Chuck, I think I'd trade the tomato harvest for a cool summer.
But damn, those were good tomatoes!
Yours look pretty yummy... enjoy!

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking your Senecio is really Calandrinia spectabilis?? Look on Annies Annuals site.
Though mine don't look as perky as yours right now, in 106 degree weather.
Loved all your photos! I want want want that Fuchsia boliviana - but worried about cold hardiness.
I always enjoy the difference in bloom times from SF to Cloverdale. Blooming ceanothus??!! wow. Seems like a year since I've seen them. But, boy, do I have grapes this year! My "Roger's Red' wild grape is crazy packed with them - like I've never seen. But of course: I chose that variety for their fall color and promise of "little or no grapes" on my pool arbor. Where are those starlings when you need them? And, no, not much fall red color last year...sigh.

Frances, said...

Hi Chuck, That epilobium is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I say a plant with that name in the Piet Oudolf book, I will have to see if it is the same species. I am trying to use his principles as I retune my garden to look more like the vision and not such a jumble. Being a plant collector does not help the design element to a garden, but the new plants are so fun to try. When you get tired or are dissatisfied with something you can look to the new ones for a better mix.

Jon said...

Chuck, always a treat and eye feast to drop by your blog for a visit. Thanks for the link to Thomas Jefferson's garden book...very interesting and gave me a flashback to my visit to Monticello years ago.

Hope y'all have a happy Labor Day weekend.

Jon at Mississippi Garden on 8-29-08

Crochet Goddess said...

You have a beautiful garden.

lisa said...

Looks like an early Bloom Day to me....love the yellows! That calandrinia looks like a big flower, and what a bold shade of hot pink!