Apiary garden / Bee garden

Bee garden

Pink sedum

Pink sedum

Today I added a few plants to the bee garden.  I bought some a couple of weeks ago - some coreopsis starts, and a Caryopteris plant.  I think those were from the marked-down table at Home Depot.  I've been watering them so they don't die.  Now they are planted.

I also moved some very large chive bunches.  I think the bees should like the chive flowers.

I moved the first of several catnip plants.  They, and the chive plants, are much too big for the iris beds.  The bees seem lukewarm about the catnip flowers, but they did forage them a little.

Not much foraging going on today, as far as I can see.

The pink sedum was a stray plant in a border at home.  I don't recall buying it.  It's probably a volunteer.  Maybe a seedling from Autumn Joy.  The flowers are white with pink center.  Nice.  The plants were very lanky  and floppy.  I suspect that is due to the shady / north exposure.  Next year, in full sun, maybe it will be more compact.

Thinking about next year.  I'll put down some sort of underlayment to cover the grass.  Newspaper or brown paper.  Cover with straw, or chopped tree trimmings if I can get them.

Also want to move more Hyacinthoides hispanica from the yard at home.  They naturalized there.  Fairly easy to dig up and move, if caught at about 2 to 4 inches tall.  Once in place, they don't appear to miss a beat.

Brugmansia.

Brugmansia and Charlie

Kitchen Garden

Today...

I picked a bowl of ripe figs.  Most were Petite Negri and Hardy Chicago.  Two Lattarula.

I picked a big yellow bell pepper.

And a few Thai peppers.

Minnesota Midget Cantaloupe

 The first cantaloupe.  I've been watching for ripeness.  Today when I picked it up gently, the stem detached itself from the vine.  So it's ripe.

The flavor was good.  Tasted just like a cantaloupe.

This is a convenient size.  Like a grapefruit.  It ripened soon enough for us to get a taste.  There are a few more on the fine.  None went to waste.  The chickens like the seeds.

Minnesota Midget Cantaloupe

Butternut Squash

 One of the watermelons developed a big hole in the size.  Then spoiled.  So the chickens got it.  They liked it

Another watermelon is looking almost ripe.  Maybe tomorrow.

The butternut squash is my first attempt at Winter squash.  Nice size for the two of us.

These were I-phone pics.  I misplaced my camera.  The colors are a little off. My hand is not that pink.  But the melon looks right.

Some of the harvest 9/21/13

Carini Fig

This was the first ripe Carini fig.  A fig forum member in the East Coast sent me cuttings from his family's heirloom variety.  I started the cuttings in Jan or Feb.

This tree is one of only 2 that produced main crop figs in their first year from cuttings.  The other was LSU Tiger.  That one was half eaten by some animal, and spoiled before I could taste it.

This is not a known variety for the Pacific NW.  That it grew in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which become colder than here, gives me some confidence.

I intend to protect the tree from some of the winter weather this year.  The new growth is greener than growth on older fig trees, so might be more frost tender.  Plus, there are animals that eat the bark, during the winter.

Nice, big, juice fig.  Mild sweeet flavor, somewhat like Lattarula.  I like this fig, and have big hopes for it next year.

Planting a Crabapple Tree. "Prairie Fire."

I saw this tree in the sale section at Home Depot.  Not wanting to do the work to plant another tree right now, but it's a good kind of fatigue.  Given that the tree fruited this year, maybe it will have viable spurs to bloom next Spring.   Plus, apples are pretty rugged so it has a good chance to survive.  So I bought this tree.

Crabapple "Prairie Fire" before unpotting.

 I'm not crazy about buying tall trees at the nursery.  I think small trees have a better chance to establish.  However, there's the issue of browsing deer.  So I selected the tallest specimen.  Around 8 feet or 9 feet tall.  A bit lanky.  It will fill in.

Unpotted, hole prepared, added "Plant Success" inoculant.

 I expected this to be a ball-and-burlap tree with compost added to the container, and it was.  Not excessive root growth.

Added some "Plant Success" mycorrhizal inoculant.   This soil has not had chemical treatment for 2 years.  I don't know about prior to that.  Reasonable to try to add back some beneficial microbes. 

The lower branches were sharply bend downwards.  I suspect trauma in shipping and handling.  I removed the worst. left the rest.  Expect to prune branch tips when leaves have fallen.
I researched this variety online.  It is multi - disease resistant.   It has pink flowers in the Spring.  If the flowering time is right, it can serve as a pollen source for other apples.  As a type of apple, it will add to the bee forage.

This variety has small fruits that birds eat during the winter.  Another plus.

Planted, mulched, minor pruning.