Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Green Bush Beans in a Half Barrel Container. 12 Sept 2023.

 After the ducks ate all of the bean plants in their yard, I planted some in an extra container.    I'm guessing there will be a pound of beans when I pick them soon.



There will be more in a few weeks, from the last, much bigger, planting.

Honeybees on Hypericum and Sedum. 12 Sept 2023.

 The sedums are covered with bees.  Both honeybees and the tiny pollinator bees.  The sedum is always popular with bees.



The tiny bees don't show in the photo, but there are lots of them.  

I haven't planted these hypericums yet.  The front border still needs some cleaning up first.  Meanwile they are still growing and blooming in their containers.




Repotting More Bearded Irises and Some Carnations. 12 Sept 23.

 I'm continuing to dig out bearded iris clumps, cleaning them up, and planting the best rhizomes in containers.



There are also some carnations that I grew last year.  They bloomed but never thrived.  I think it was bad potting soil.  Still, they survived the winter, spring, and summer again.  I decided to clean them up and repot.


As they were.


I dug out the four plants.


Cut off dead stems and scraggly stems, and hosed off as much soil as I could.


Planted three into one large container, and one in a smaller container.




I don't know if they will grow and thrive next year.  That's part of the fun.

Tomato Pie. Apple Pie. 9 Sept 2023.

 These are some of the last crop of dwarf tomatoes, "heirloom type" although not all are actually heirloom.  



I also still have a lot of the Gravenstein apples, although they go bad rather quickly.  

So I made pies with both.



I substituted cake flour for about 1/3 of the all purpose flour in the crusts.  It did make them more flaky (mission accomplished!) and they tasted so good!  But for the blind baked cruse (tomato pie), the bottom cracked and the sides flopped in a bit.  The flavor was still wonderful.

This time, I used a Mexican style shredded cheese mis for the tomato pie.  That was excellent.   I also used home made mayonnaise in the cheese mixture.  The topping includes some chopped JalapeƱos. 

Friday, September 08, 2023

Some Hybrid Echinacea Bloomed the First year From Seeds. 8 Sept 2023

 These were the Cheyenne Spirit Echinacea that I grew from seeds this Spring.  It doesn't seem to matter much whether or not I stratified the seeds.



So far they all seem to be this red or reddish pink color.  Maybe the later bloomers will be the other colors, yellow or white?

I didn't expect any to bloom the first year, so this is a treat.