Some Fall Blooms

I took a walk around the house today to get some pictures of what's blooming here in early November. The knock out roses, both the pink and the yellow, are still blooming. This is not unusual as I typically have blooms on them until early December and our first hard frost.

This Beauty Berry (callicarpa japonica) spilling through the split rail fence is at it's peak.

And while the Coral Bark Japanese maple isn't in 'bloom' it is quite beautiful this time of year!

What follows is a sampling of my sasanqua camellia collection. Not a collection so much as an assortment.  These shrubs do really well for use here and are very adaptable to our climate. They grow well in both full sun and part shade. No real pest problems to speak of. One year I had an outbreak of leaf gall (swelling and toughening of the leaves). I spent some time picking the affected leaves off, being careful not to touch the unaffected leaves. That seemed to have solved the problem.

 Snuck  in an Encore azelea bloom here in this picture.

This is an Oakleaf hydrangea. The leaves are a brilliant burgundy. 

Here we venture out into the veggie garden where we have some carrots and beets growing in the foreground. You may be able to make out the golden leaves of Simpson's black seeded lettuce in the background.

Here's a row of radishes. 

And here I've planted a much more reasonable amount of garlic this year. Last year I went way overboard and had far more than I needed and the bed got overrun with weeds. This year,  I might have around 50 plants.

Here you can see some of the strawberries I transplanted last weekend.

I am trying to let these broccoli plants go to seed this fall. I am hoping to be able to harvest my own seed to plant again in the spring. It may prove to be a waste of time, or free seeds, we shall see.

I am experimenting with growing some hard winter wheat this year. It looks pretty much like grass you find growing in your yard right now.

And the dogs enjoy eating the tender young shoots.

The bees get active on the warm days like this weekend. We are supposed to be up around 70 degrees for our high all weekend. 

You may be able to make out my blackberry plants in the picture below. I planted these 2 winters ago, the deer like to graze on them so I haven't had any berries yet. 

Here are some crimson clover seedlings coming up in one of the garden beds. I plant it as a cover crop to nurish the soil. I'll turn it under on the first dry day after mid-March. I want to give it 5 weeks or more to break down before I plant the summer crops in this bed. 

Here you can see I've cut down the asparagus stalks and top dressed the bed with a couple inches of compost. This one bed with 24 crowns is plenty to feed DW and I for about 6 weeks in spring. 

In the gardens 6/7/12

It's been awhile since I've posted, so let me get right to what's going on in the gardens. The Chaste tree (Vitex) by the pond is in full bloom.

I trimmed this tree back to five or six main branches this spring and removed all the side branches. It blooms on new wood just like Crape Myrtles do. It will stay in bloom for about a month and it attracts lots of bees, so if you are allergic or frightened by them, it should be planted in an out of the way spot. I am not frightened by bee (obviously because I am a beekeeper) and I have managed to convince my DW that there is nothing to fear of them if you just leave them bee :).

I got some pictures of the raccoon whom I believe killed my chickens. He must have been pretty hungry to be out at this time of day. If my memory serves me correct, it was around 3:00 when I took these. We haven't seen him/her since these pictures were taken a week ago.

This is one of my favorite flowers in the garden. It is a Japanese Iris. I believe it's called Cascade Crest.

I've started a new bed out in the garden. I'm planning on moving some strawberry starts out here in the fall. I planted it with some buckwheat this spring. The buckwheat has deep roots that pull up nutrients closer to the top. And it grows fast to crowd out any weeds and provides a good amount of organic matter to be tilled back into the soil. And lastly, it is good for the bees and adds a distinct flavor to the honey.  After mowing and plowing under the buckwheat I planted some black eyed peas to provide more organic matter and the peas add nitrogen to the soil. I will mow and plow them under in August and transplant the strawberry starts in September. I am going to have to put up hoops with deer netting to keep Bambi and friends from feasting on them. 

Here are some pictures of my tomatoes. They are coming along fine. I had one German Johnson ripen this week. It had been flowering before I even transplanted the starts back in April.

The bush beans are starting to ripen. I planted both Blue Lake and Provider this year. To be honest, I can't tell much difference between the two.  I sure to like the taste of fresh beans, they are far superior to canned.

The  basil is really starting to take off. I have removed the blooms once already, but I think I'll let it go to flower now and give the bees a treat. They really love the basil blooms. 

Dill.

Here we see two pictures of female cucumber flowers. The female flowers have a mini cuc at the base of the flower as you can see in these two photos.

The male cuc flower, pictured here, does not have the small cuc at the base.

My Honey Rock and Ambrosia cantaloupes are growing well.

As are the SnowMass honeydews. 

This is a acorn squash. 

And this is a buttercup squash.

And this is an acorn squash.

Here we have a Soyo cucumber. They make for good slicing cucs because they don't get bitter. I grow several plants of them to make relish and bread and butter pickles from. If you were to grow them just for slicing, one plant would provide more than enough cucs for two families. I usually do three plants, and that will provide me with enough cucs to make batches of relish and B&Bs.  This one looks to be about a week from being ready to pick.                                     

Here you can see the start of a watermelon.

And here you can see my sweet potato plants. I've had to cover them with hoops and deer netting. The deer really love the leaves of sweet potato plants. I started the slips from an organic tater I bought at the store. This is my first year growing them to eat. In previous years I used them strictly as ornamentals.

This bed was where I had my spring plants. I am planting pumpkins and cantaloupes and honey dews. I  am trying to stagger my melon plantings this year so I will have a steady supply through the summer. I also want to see if they will be sweeter late in the year when our night temps cool down. Most of the melons grown here in the states come from Colorado and the surrounding areas where they have nice cool night temps.

This is where my peas were this spring. I planted a couple rows of bush beans for canning here.