Daniel's Pacific NW Garden

Sunday, July 06, 2014

1st Tomatoes. Brugmansia. Gladiolas. 7.6.14

The First Sungolds. 7.6.14

Brugmansia. First Flowers after Dormant Overwintering. 7.6.14

Today there were three firsts.

We had the first tomatoes of the season. That's very good. Usually I don't get any until later. they were just cherry tomatoes, but worth the effort.

The Brugmansia had its first flowers. It is very fragrant. It overwinters easily, no effort. Same as geraniums. Just let it dry out in the fall, move it into the garage for the winter, bring it back out in Spring and start watering again.

The first of the heritage gladiolas bloomed. I didn't know what to do with them, so planted all into one container.

Heritage Gladiolas. 7.6.14

Saturday, July 05, 2014

New flowers in bloom. 7.5.14

Daylily I moved to the Battleground place, 2 months ago. 7.5.14

Crocosmia in bloom. 7.5.14

Four O'clock "Marvel of Peru". 7.5.14

Some flowers in bloom around the Battleground 2 acres. These are the first flowers here for the daylilies, Buddliea "Honeycomb", and the Four O'clocks. The latter have barely begun. The container plants are ahead of the in-ground plants.

Buddleia X weyeriana "Honeycomb"

Hummingbird on crocosmia "Lucifer". 7.5.14. Photo by Ning Wang.

Friday, July 04, 2014

Potato and Garlic Harvest. 7.4.14

Potato Harvest. 7.4.14

Garlic bed, ready to harvest. 7.4.14

A couple of the potato plants browned, so I dug them out. This harvest is from 2 plants. Not bad. These are in the potato "wells". Very easy to remove the sides and harvest.

The garlic is brown as well. I dug out half of the garlic- this half was Inchelium Red. The husks may have suffered a bit from recent rains but look very good overall. Plump, firm cloves.

The raised bed method works well for both.

First Inchelium Red garlic. 7.4.14

borage. chinese chives. Bee forage. Borage. 7.4.14Chine.4.14

Bumblebee on borage. 7.5.14

Bees are actively foraging borage and Chinese chives. The yard is bee paradise now. The borage is massive. I did fertilize with organic nitrogen earlier this year.

Next plan for Chinese chives is to have most in one raised bed, permanent. A few will be planted around in the flower beds as ornamentals.

Honeybee on borage. 7.5.14

Chinese Chives. 7.4.14

Bees forage the clover lawn. Hummingbirds in the Crocosmia. 7.4.14

I've been planting clover seeds in the lawn, for the past 2 years. This is a chemical-free, fertilizer-free lawn. Now, as the hot days of sumer are here, the grass stops growing. The clover is in full bloom. When white clover is intermixed with grasses, the clover supports nitrogen-fixing bacteria, pulling nitrogen out of the air and into the soil in forms plants can use. The grass grows better, and so does the clover. White clover is also one of the best bee forages. They are actively foraging the clover lawn now. Walking through the lawn, I can hear them hum. It looks prettier in person than in the photo. The clover lawn benefits the grass, the soil, the bees, and the environment.