Borage Flowers Flash Pink, Purple & Periwinkle
Are you a Natural Photographer or Do You Like Using Flash?
Digital photos with flash often change the color from the way that I see the flower. These Borage flowers are photographed on a bed of lettuce, without flash. Usually I prefer this setting as the colors and shadings tend to seem more realistic. Yet the color of the Borage is not true, though I like the realism of the color of the lettuce. Yes, that is oregano on the left.
Ah, this is closer to the color of the borage. In close up mode, there is so much more detail in the delicate colors than I can usually see directly through the eyes. This photo was taken WITH the flash and is much more true to life than the photo above. However the bright shine in the lettuce disturbs my eye.
Periwinkle - a wonderful color!
Why would I provide photos of an herb flower on Bloggers' Bloom day*, on a bed of lettuce?
These Borage flowers are the first this year from the greenhouse plants. I picked them to join the lettuce for dinner before I remembered that this was the night to prepare a blossom post. Yes, there are a couple of late tulips and almost open lilacs in the yard. A few of the violets still have imperfect flowers, but no other radiant bloom beauties were available. So I offer you these herbal delights!
Please enjoy the flowers, add some salad dressing and join me in a fresh picked salad, won't you?
Well, I did intend to post on 4/15/09 - a Bloggers Bloom day. However, I had upgraded my blogging software, RapidWeaver, to the new version which is supposed to keep many of the little (and big) glitches in the blog, such as disappearing comments, crazed Blotanical pick behavior etc.. (Too bad I can't add bad spelling and grammar to RapidWeaver's faults.)
Little did I realize that this upgrade was far from simple and meant that I'd have to almost rework the whole blog, adding back categories on posts, and sometimes finding posts from the past, redoing many of the settings and generally have to work at it.
As you might imagine at this time of planting, there are much more seemingly important things to do. But where am I now, out in the garden preparing the much needed beds before the next rain? No, I'm fixing my blog as I really enjoy sharing with you. Many thanks for reading, commenting and offering suggestions, dear readers.
And I did have a chance to add photos of borage flowers still on the greenhouse plant which opened later yesterday than I had intended to publish.
Today's bonus photo: First strawberry blossoms on last year's plants which overwintered in the garden bed.
May all your upgrades be within your garden when the weather is fair.
Choose the Tool to Dig a Flowerbed
The mission is to transform the weedy patch next to the front stairs into a flower bed and to move the long entrenched hostas from their path to the new bed and beyond. Tools of potential value are brought to the site and are displayed below. The bucket is for the weeds to be transported to the compost. The pointed hoe is excellent for digging out a specific plant. Hori Hori knife, constant garden companion (note the belt) does everything, in a one-pointed way. It leans against the shovel, as everyone knows, the usual digging tool. Next comes the strawberry hoe which sports two widths of hoe blade and is wielded like an axe. I love working with this tool. Last is the conventional hoe, good for moving plants which are not deeply rooted in fairly loose soil.
What else is on hand? The best fitting gloves for these hands, a small size coated palm and finger cotton glove (Boss's Flexi grip, in both summer and winter weights). There's a good grip without blistering the flesh and a solid barrier between my skin and the bugs I squish. Squeamish are you, upset at reading about squashed bugs? Do you garden?
Which tool will prove to be the one for the job? Or will several be needed? They are all at the job site now, so lets see how it goes.
The job site is between the stairs and the down spout. When we first moved here, almost two years ago I dug this area free of weeds. It was surrounded by a rough rock edging and had decent soil in it. I was about to plant herbs there, but the renovation team needed to reside the house, porch, well, everything you see in the photo. (Plus there hadn't been any gutters or down spouts then.) At last the final touch has been laid around the house in the mulch you see beside the house foundation. Beneath that mulch is a weed barrier cloth. Beneath the cloth is hardware cloth, anchored to the foundation to deter animals from seeking shelter. Yes, we really live out in the country, the back woods.
If you look closely, you can see the hostas coming up in the foreground, just in front of and to the right side of the steps.
And the winner of this job is the shovel. A whole section was loosened at one time and fingers riffled through to get the grass and other undesired plants out. Here's a bit of the soil showing. Yes, there are white pines above us, giving the pine straw you see. I use it as mulch on the blueberries.
After the beds were cleared of weeds and the amendments sprinkled on top of the soil I decided to walk back to the tool shed to get another helper to mix the amendments in. As it is a relatively small space I didn't need a full size rake, so this little tined cultivator was perfect for the job. The little hostas you see are left from previous landscaping. They will be dug up and redistributed. Stay tuned for that exciting story.
The shovel also proved to be the best help in digging up this hosta clump. Hori Hori knife comes in handy to thwack the lump to remove dirt from the roots. Some dirt has been removed here, but the rest of the job will come the next day. The clump spent the night wrapped in wet newspaper in the greenhouse. Unravelling roots to separate the plants will be a puzzle to work on while its raining later, hopefully today.
On with the job... In the yard, planted probably 30 years ago are overcrowded areas of summer blooming tiger lilly, spring blooming irises and daffodils. The orange lilies are one of my favorites. There's a wonderful picture of them on the top of Heather's blog, Idaho Small Goat Garden. Both the flowers and roots are edible to humans. We know for sure that they are tasty to deer as the whole flower head gets chomped away and no more flower forming parts are left by the deer to continue brightening up the summer.
Hoping to save some blooms for us, some of each of these bulb-based plants are transplanted into this little bed.
Another tool was used in anticipation of rain storms which have not yet come. As the crew isn't finished with this water diversion project, I need to protect the flower bed from the downspout outflow. The rocks were set in to slant the flow away from the bed and the mini-trench was dug using the smaller blade of the strawberry hoe, followed by smoothing with the larger blade. In the past I have found that water can be trained using a shallow trench like this. The flow may follow the trench out past the flower bed and stairs and then it will resume its normal course downhill which in this case is to the left, down toward the greenhouse and garden.
You may note that there are different plants now, not weeds in the bed. In a rather unimaginative arrangements, minus the hostas which will fill the spaces between the other bulb plants, from the rear, are tiger lilies, iris, tulip, hyacinth (the pink), lilies of the valley (my favorite) and varieties of daffodil. Other flowers will be added when the weather warms.
All the tools, including the ones that didn't get to be used on this job, were returned to the shed. The weeds were taken to the compost (first to dry out, then to be mixed in). The soil in the bed will be smoothed out and finished nicely (I hope) and mulched after the hosta addition. Then I can return to planting the onion, strawberries and cabbages that are waiting in the greenhouse.
Just for fun, here's a pretty picture for you, of lettuce in the greenhouse, with late afternoon sun backlight.
Thank you for visiting. May you and your plants all Grow Joyfully!
Digital Garden Record-Keeping Tools
- when was that seed planted,
- when did the sprout come up,
- when did it start to wilt, brown, or
- when fortune smiles upon us, when did it flower?
All these questions can be answered with Garden Record Keeping. Certainly this is not an easy or simple task. There is so much data to track.
I remember trying to keep track of life when we used those little sticks of wood and graphite and dried sheets of wood pulp to make records. Then we’d have to leaf through all these pages to find what we wanted to know and correlate data both manually and use up valuable brain cells to think it through.
Now I rejoice in all the digital record keeping tools at my fingertips. Here’s an example:
One of my gardening friends, upon visiting my greenhouse wanted to know when the growth of the lettuce (at this point, I’m forgetting a word she used to describe the growth pattern. Let me digress to investigate. We corresponded by email, so I go to my email program to do a search on mail with her name in it. I didn’t have to go far, only to the next item on my dock - yes, I’m on an Apple, but don’t worry -even Windows users have these cool tools.) accelerated.
Hmm, I said. I don’t know. Let me consult, not the oracle - but the visual record. Moving over to my Photo database, I created a folder and labeled it “lettuce growth”. Then scanning through the photos from the time the lettuce seeds were planted. Oh, how did I know the date?
By consulting the calendar program. I have a calendar which shows up in a different color for each of my life paths (all integrated on one monthly page). Recently I’ve added several to accommodate all the gardening areas. My favorite one is for yearly activities. I set each item to be repeated once a year, so as I learn what needs to be done, when, in this Ozark environment, my trusty computer can let me know when its time for what.
Yes, I’m giving a computer a lot of responsibility, which means I have to BACK UP frequently. I’m sure that my rusting brain cells can remember to do that. Much better than they can remember all the details of everything I’m planting and growing and having to do to keep the garden growing.
Back to the Calendar program, input in search field “lettuce” and I can see when I planted them, 12/31/08. Back to the photographs at the beginning of the year to see more details and place representative pictures of the lettuce growth in the folder marked “Lettuce Growth.”
I love photography. But in the old days, though I had a good camera, I didn’t feel that good about the cost of film and development. And I never liked the date burned onto the photograph. However, I love the date that comes with digital photos! And the ability to label each one and sort them into folders.
Frequently I take the camera with me into greenhouse and field just to note what is going on, so when the questions come up later, there’s the answer!
I planted too many different types of seeds into one tray yesterday. I have little mini popsicle type sticks as the labels that fit in the tray. I know that they can easily be dislodged. And I’d really like to know what variety and color of which plant each seedling is. To keep it straight, I photographed the labels in the tray in order so I will be able to put the puzzle back together if it falls apart. Digitally assisted gardening!
Back to the lettuce - Wow, they were transplanted into the greenhouse bed on 1/5/09 (photo below). That’s fast!
Then (below) the lettuce plants started to overlap on 2/6. (That’s probably when I should have started to thin them, but my “right to life for plants” perspective is not today’s focus.)
I find great beauty in the unfolding leaves.
And below, complete overcrowding occurs on 2/20. My friend received a couple of photos and the answer in her email!
Another example of digital recording keeping:
I’m preparing a post on a comparison/review of two brands of watering cans. I couldn’t remember one of the brand names and the photo did not show the logo clearly enough.
Back to my digital records in the Mail department. I did a search for “watering” in the body of the emails and came up with the email receipt for each item, including model number and brand name. Hazaah! No wonder the Baby Boomers and the Digital Age are such good friends! Whatever my little mind forgets, the super-big hard drive kindly remembers.
I just have to recall what word to search for...
However you garden, May you have joy in both the remembrance and the forgetting!
Digital Photos as Gardening Log/Record
- when was that seed planted,
- when did the sprout come up,
- when did it start to wilt, brown, or
- when fortune smiles upon us, when did it flower?
All these questions can be answered with Garden Record Keeping. Certainly this is not an easy or simple task. There is so much data to track.
I remember trying to keep track of life when we used those little sticks of wood and graphite and dried sheets of wood pulp to make records. Then we’d have to leaf through all these pages to find what we wanted to know and correlate data both manually and use up valuable brain cells to think it through.
Now I rejoice in all the digital record keeping tools at my fingertips. Here’s an example:
One of my gardening friends, upon visiting my greenhouse wanted to know when the growth of the lettuce (at this point, I’m forgetting a word she used to describe the growth pattern. Let me digress to investigate. We corresponded by email, so I go to my email program to do a search on mail with her name in it. I didn’t have to go far, only to the next item on my dock - yes, I’m on an Apple, but don’t worry -even Windows users have these cool tools.) accelerated.
Hmm, I said. I don’t know. Let me consult, not the oracle - but the visual record. Moving over to my Photo database, I created a folder and labeled it “lettuce growth”. Then scanning through the photos from the time the lettuce seeds were planted. Oh, how did I know the date?
By consulting the calendar program. I have a calendar which shows up in a different color for each of my life paths (all integrated on one monthly page). Recently I’ve added several to accommodate all the gardening areas. My favorite one is for yearly activities. I set each item to be repeated once a year, so as I learn what needs to be done, when, in this Ozark environment, my trusty computer can let me know when its time for what.
Yes, I’m giving a computer a lot of responsibility, which means I have to BACK UP frequently. I’m sure that my rusting brain cells can remember to do that. Much better than they can remember all the details of everything I’m planting and growing and having to do to keep the garden growing.
Back to the Calendar program, input in search field “lettuce” and I can see when I planted them, 12/31/08. Back to the photographs at the beginning of the year to see more details and place representative pictures of the lettuce growth in the folder marked “Lettuce Growth.”
I love photography. But in the old days, though I had a good camera, I didn’t feel that good about the cost of film and development. And I never liked the date burned onto the photograph. However, I love the date that comes with digital photos! And the ability to label each one and sort them into folders.
Frequently I take the camera with me into greenhouse and field just to note what is going on, so when the questions come up later, there’s the answer!
I planted too many different types of seeds into one tray yesterday. I have little mini popsicle type sticks as the labels that fit in the tray. I know that they can easily be dislodged. And I’d really like to know what variety and color of which plant each seedling is. To keep it straight, I photographed the labels in the tray in order so I will be able to put the puzzle back together if it falls apart. Digitally assisted gardening!
Back to the lettuce - Wow, they were transplanted into the greenhouse bed on 1/5/09 (photo below). That’s fast!
Then (below) the lettuce plants started to overlap on 2/6. (That’s probably when I should have started to thin them, but my “right to life for plants” perspective is not today’s focus.)
I find great beauty in the unfolding leaves.
And below, complete overcrowding occurs on 2/20. My friend received a couple of photos and the answer in her email!
Another example of digital recording keeping:
I’m preparing a post on a comparison/review of two brands of watering cans. I couldn’t remember one of the brand names and the photo did not show the logo clearly enough.
Back to my digital records in the Mail department. I did a search for “watering” in the body of the emails and came up with the email receipt for each item, including model number and brand name. Hazaah! No wonder the Baby Boomers and the Digital Age are such good friends! Whatever my little mind forgets, the super-big hard drive kindly remembers.
I just have to recall what word to search for...
However you garden, May you have joy in both the remembrance and the forgetting!
Compare Growing Bibb and Romaine/Cos Lettuce
I have to harvest it frequently just to give enough space. Well, I did plant it all too close, thinking that I’d be able to plant it outside, but it grew up way beyond my expectations. I was planning also to cut off every other one as they grew too big. However, it got so overgrown that I have to do surgery just to find the stem to do the cutting.
Notice the one plant above that stands up straight and slightly darker green. This is a mix of Bibb and Romaine and I really like the upright posture which keeps the leaves out of the dirt, keeps the water running off of it and makes a tighter head. Its a lot easier to deal with.
The photo above is of a group that had the outer leaves thinned a couple of days ago. You can see some of the inner leaves of the Bibb lettuce, they are a bit crisper and crinkly and seem to come together almost like a head. I think that to give them a really fair trial I ought to thin out the plants and leave them room to leaf. I could put some in pots and start hardening them to the outside, maybe bringing them back inside for foul or frosty weather.
The greenhouse will be jam packed soon. Its time here in the Ozarks to start the nightshade seeds and its hard not to go too overboard on them. Hoefully this year if I have too many plants started, there will be neighbors or people at the Farmer’s Market who would like to take them home.
Above are my favorites. Crisp and crunchy, well behaved Romaine or Cos lettuce. They are much easier to care for as the leaves don’t touch the dirt and I can have them closer together. Of course, the question is, for how long will they be able to be so close together. If I can keep on eating salad twice a day, I’ll be able to trim off the outer leaves - but I doubt I can stay ahead of this growth.
Below is today’s favorite tool for harvesting the lettuce, leaf by leaf. If the heads were much bigger, thicker and I were whacking off a whole head, then something bigger would be good. But for the kind of trimming from the outside of the head, these little clippers, shown here in their plastic pouch, are very easy to wield. They have a very precise response. I’ve seen them in craft stores.
The greenhouse beds the lettuce are growing in were given good amendments last year and when the lettuce starts were planted they were planted in some worm castings. Probably could use some more, if I could get through the plants to the soil.
I always do this, try to plant more than what is recommended for the spacing. Its hard for me to believe what it says in books or on the back of the seed envelop. Must do the mistakes myself, often more than once. I think I can get away with it, but rarely does it turn out to be good. When the lettuce was really little, it seemed like lots of space. Below is how they looked on January 5. Yes, they look too close together then too.
Alright, it must be time to re-supply the neighbors.
So whatever lettuce you choose,
May you be Growing Ever More Joyful!
Do Leggy Spindly Seedlings Have a Future?
This struggling, weightlifting beet seedling from last year didn’t make it to adult beethood. It was never able to cast off its seed hat. I’m sure that I didn’t give it what it the light, soil or understanding it needed. This year, I’m trying to do better.
When the seedlings first appear through the starter mix and have been lovingly welcomed, they are placed in the window light of the sunny upstairs room. Once all or most of a tray are up, they are moved down to the greenhouse. There’s artificial light there on a timer for cloudy days, and a heater for colder nights. Its on now, keeping the air at 50 degrees when its below freezing, with clear sparkling skies.
I delight in checking on the plants. Tonight I noticed that the lettuce is growing into heads, holding the leaves close together. The spinach raises its leaves up into a bouquet. Are they hudling for warmth or seeking upward toward the sun? Or is this a maturing development, like the head-making of the lettuce. I don’t know. There are the first tender greens I’ve raised that humans are getting to harvest before the bugs. All part of the luxurious wonder of growing before the critters wake up.
I’ve learned my lesson about using those peat containers shown below for starting seeds. Now, I’ll never let the edges of the little cup protrude from the soil (after planting) or they’ll leech all the moisture away from the plant and back out to the air. And I’ll always remember to tear apart the bottom of the cup too, to let the roots escape!
Below are some more seedlings that look like bean-poles. These are the red and green cabages that you saw being planted with the Widger tool from the Wonder Tools post on 2/16/09. I’m betting that these will make it. In this photo, just transplanted to the six-pack, they are resting under the soothing lamp which may well help them to grow up to be big and strong. Tonight, they looked very healthy and strong.
Stay tuned and we’ll see what happens to them!
The photo below shows one of the greenhouse beds denuded. The Chard plants (from last Spring) had aphids, so all the leaves were harvested and the remaining plant well watered and then sprayed with a mix of bug stuff I made up, stronger than necessary for aphid, but I believe multi-purpose. It has garlic, onion, red pepper, mineral oil (from some professional anti-bug bottle) and dish soap. Mixed 1 ounce per gallon and sprayed on everything. The rate that I’ve been getting bugs in the greenhouse, I am trying to do it every week. I like grazing while in the greenhouse, but can’t do it when the plants already have the soapy salad dressing on them!
Filled with tenderness and joy in the happy growth of the plants and the lovely atmosphere they create,Wishing for All, to Grow Ever More Joyful!
Snow, Ice & Darkness
Ventured out this morning during a break in the clouds to see how the greenhouse was doing. Surprisingly I had to shovel the snow away to open the door. We never would have designed like that up North, but didn’t even think of it while building here. No problem, a little chopping and shoveling away and I got through the crack in the door.
There was a little one, likely a mouse who scampered down the hill, looking to get into the door and had to run along the wall. I hope he found shelter under the outside steps. Unlike him, I was able to get in.
Inside was darker than I expected, even with inches of snow completely covering the roof. The temp was a “toasty 40 degrees”. (This quote is from an old movie shown on PBS made by a master builder/woodsman of building a cabin and living in the way back wilderness of Alaska. His words described the inside of the cabin when the fire was burning during winter. I like to compare his strength and inner warmth to my own softee nature. He didn’t even have down, gortex or silk longjohns!)
Dark Day in the Greenhouse. And this is with the sun shining a bit!
Lettuce seeks the sun, straight up for just about enough light
However, it is not bright and warm enough to bring the seedlings back into the greenhouse.
I’m glad that I didn’t plant the next round of seeds yet. Think I’ll wait a little while.
