Sweet summer time

Sweet summer time. Spring and summer are my favourite
times of the year.

I just love being out and around in my garden as soon as I
get a chance.
Between working at the Motel and occasional guiding tours I
try to keep up with the weeds.

Garden in early June

And now in July!

My vegetable garden is producing good and I even have enough 

to share lettuce and peas with friends. This year I tried something new. 

Squash and peppers, and now: the first squash is ripening! 

So exciting.

The bell peppers are a disappointment though. I was so proud to
see at least one fruit the other day.

But next time I checked, it was gone! Some critter must have
a taste for bell pepper. Too bad.

My flower bed along the front porch is now 4 years old and
really filling out.

Four years ago

And now in July 2014! Yeah!

Sometimes I think I should have become a gardener or landscape architect. I find it always so rewarding to see the changes one can make around a house.

Today I went with friends to an "all-song" evening at

Jocies Porch. 

Summer guests who know to play an instrument came up and performed while others enjoyed and sung along.

The place was packed and we all had a good time!

Tomorrow it is back to work again.
And the coming weekend will be very busy too. We will have our 2nd annual "Fog Fest" coming up.
Many local artists will be performing at various places for the
whole weekend.
Hopefully I get time off to be able to attend some of their shows.

And with this view, that I had the other day when a huge freighter came in and a small boat went by, I'll say good bye for today.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

About the "magic squares" and other gardening stuff.

How did my garden patch evolve?

I have always had a soft spot for gardening. Digging in the soil, and seeing seeds grow up into delicious foods or flowers. 

When we moved in here I just knew that I couldn't get stopped from working on that garden. 

The vegetable garden idea originated from a book I found in the library. 

It was called "A magic square", (Lolo Houbein).

My first attempt of "squares", seen in June 2012

The author suggests that instead of having a labour intensive, conventional garden, to try and play with a 9x9 ft square. Big gardens seem too intimidating, and who needs long rows of carrots, cabbage, lettuce and tomatoes when you have only two people to feed?

If you liked it, you could always add another square and so on. 

So, the magic square it was. 

Hubby was so kind to produce the wooden frames; I had decided for two. 

The idea is to divide each square in several, smaller squares, 

then plant a few different plants in each section. 

That way you get a lot of variation and it isn't overwhelming. 

These two squares gave me 2 x 9 smaller squares to fill.

I planted:

3 broccoli, 3 cauliflower, carrots, beans, sweet corn, 4 tomato plants, lettuce, parsley, chives and some flower seeds (cosmos, sun flowers).

 Same squares seen in August 2012

Weeding was not a problem at all, and it was amazing how much we got out 

of such a small area. It provided plenty of fresh vegetables all summer long! 

This was so encouraging that I decided last year to add two more squares. 

But I had to dig up soil the old fashioned way, there was just not enough time for hubby to get two more squares ready in time. 

Second attempt with added area for more vegetables

(early July 2013)

I drew a sketch of the garden to remember what I planted where. 

Now I am able to just move the combination of crops over to a different square with each new season. 

That way I don't use the same vegetable in the same spot more than once in the time of a four years rotation.

It is good for the soil and prevents diseases.

My dear husband finally had time to construct the additional two squares I had requested and I am glad for that. 

Weeding and watering is so much easier in raised beds. 

 (April 2014)

Now I am eagerly waiting for the weather to turn warmer in order to get a new round of crops into the ground. But it doesn't look good at all! :((

On my list are: 

3 Broccoli, 2 white cabbage, red beet, radish, 6 peas, carrots, 6 bush beans, 9 sweet corn, 1 tomato, basil, parsley, cilantro, lettuce, collard green, and of course potatoes. 

That sounds maybe much, but remember, there are just a few plants of each. Enough to provide a wide variety of organic greens all summer long.

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Otherwise there is not much of a "flower garden".

Most of the houses here are surrounded by coarse grass. That's the easiest way to keep a tidy look all year round. 

"Mow it and be done with it."

Nondescript, boring front in 2010

In my dreams I would like to have "botanical garden", but that unrealistic. Therefor I dug up just a very few, small flower beds. One front of the house, one around the apple tree,  an other around a big rock, and a "proving ground" where new plants are placed to see if they can survive. 

Add to that a vegetable plot and you get the idea.  

Working on a flower-bed along the front of the house.
(July/August 2013)

And should the occasion arise the whole area can easily be transformed back into "grassland". 

The front in last year (July/August 2013)

July/August 2013

So much more pleasing to look at.

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Apropos to:

Barbara: It was really easy. Just set your camera on auto and "multiple shots", keep the focus on one bird and start shooting as soon as it makes a move. I took 46 shots all in all. It could have been worse. Laugh.

Project: Square or Linear?

If you wonder what I have been up to lately - here is the my newest project: nothing more than the re-arrangement of my vegetable garden. 

We had some grey and cool days last week and they seemed perfect for heavy garden work. This is a view of my veggie garden taken in early July 2013.

Now the fence was been taken down and the wooden poles came out. 

While my dear hubby was busy making two new frames, I pondered if my square-formed garden was the thing to continue with. 

I moved the new frames around and looked at it from different angles.

Finally the decision was to arrange the new frames in one line with the old ones. 

If seen from the house, the street and from upstairs, it looks way nicer that way than having the garden plot "slap dap" sitting in the middle of the lawn.

The following photos show what I have in my mind. 

Right: the lay of the square garden, left: the lay with the future linear garden. Viewed from upstairs and from the road. 

No blockage, just open lines and views. That's my thought anyway. 

J.P. wondered who would ever look out of the window upstairs? 

Well, I do for example! 

To me it always looked odd and now I had the chance to do something about it and the new arrangement will look way more balanced. 

There.

Next came several days with pushing the wheel barrel to and fro between a heap of soil and the new frames until both were filled up.

No, this is not an alien, it is I, in my garden attire. :))

A peek into my tomato patch. There are still many green tomatoes coming up the next couple of weeks. The potato harvest was good. Enough for two month or until we go south again. Spring was too cold and the corn got a late start.
Well, worst case they will make a nice decoration for Thanksgiving Day.

I like to mix flowers and vegetables. As the harvesting goes on and the spaces open up there are still pretty flowers to look at until the frost takes them down.

If I am not here - I am in the garden!
Thanks for visiting!

Progress in the garden department

Can you emagine? About this time last year we had a new project on the go. I wanted a vegetable garden patch. Hubby did me a favour and constructed two raised beds on a former raspberry patch, that had gone totally wild.

About to pull out tree roots with the Jeep.
The first raised bed is filled in. (April 2012)

May 19, 2012 , all is planted and fenced in against
hungry rabbits

This year I decided to fence in twice the size of the original patch and add two more beds. With four garden-beds I am able to do a proper annual crop rotation. Hubby hasn't had time enough to make new frames around the beds. But my makeshift framing keeps the soil from

moving downhill with the rain. Seeds of peas, radish, spinach, lettuce and parsley are already in the ground.

The rest of the area will be used for a new project.

Container gardening. Wait a couple of weeks and you will see. 

The new patch, fenced in and waiting for the plants.

At the birdfeeder was an intruder. A squirrel had jumped the distance from the tree trunk to the saucer. I will have to double the distance.

Uh-Oh! I am on camera!

A new chapter in our former travels i up. We have reached April 2006 and are on our way North towards home ( that was Alberta at that time). We drive towards Wichita KS and further on to Denver CO and Montana, visiting friends along the road.