Inna Garden

 LORI:  Laz and I went WAY back into the garden!

There was neat stuff ta crawl around in...

I thought that was WAY cool.

And there were insects ta chase.

I liked walkin around in the tomato traps!

Laz was there too, so I felt safe.

He liked walkin around there too.

I'm learning more about our territory every day.

In The Nip Patch

IZA:  Apparently, NIP plants are tough.  We have had a couple hard freezes here and they arent dead yet.  For which I am very thankful.  NIP is very impawtant to me!

TBT has collected whole plants and hung them upside down in the basement ta dry.  So I (we) are good for the Winter.

Marley surprized me while I was sitting among the NIP, and I got all pouncey and protective.

 Its HIS NIP too of course, but I donnt allus remember that.  He backed off.  But TBT was there and reminded him that there was plenty in the house so it was OK.

Garden

We had The First Freeze a few nights ago.  Some things are pretty...

Nice colors...

But our Nip is dying...

The deck pots are going...

The pretty plants are all worn out.

The Fly Traps are dying back...

The hostas are hiding again for the Winter...

The Sedums are their deepest red...

The last meadow flowers are shutting down...

A neighbor's tree is gorgeous!

So we are saying goodbye to the plants and trees until next Spring!

Thursday Gardening

IZA:  Well flowering season is improving.  TBT took out a bunch of seeds he got and I went right into the box.

It's a little tight for me...  Not enough curl-up space.

 But I AM surrounded by seed packets, and that promises a lot for the growing season.

Meanwhile, the yellow crocuses are blooming.  The purple ones will follow soon.

 Oh wait, here a are a few early ones.  Does lavender ones count?

The seriously purple ones WILL come later...  I like those.  They show off my furs best.

Garden Thursday

IZA:  Garden Season is coming.  Our azalea cuttings from 2 years ago bloomed.

I hope that means they are gonna start ta grow bigger now.  

They are barely anny bigger than they were when first cut.  Mebbe they need ta be in real dirt, but then they would just get lost in the undergowth.  We will hope...

Garden Thursday

IZA:  Well, here it is Groundcat Day, and as you can see, I saw my shadow!  But I think we will have an early Spring annyway.

Why?  Because I think the plants know more about that than my shadow does.  Look!  We have crocuses blooming in the back yard...

 And in the front yard.

And, there are daffodils coming up all over the place.  This is just one spot.  They are near the house, out in the woods, unner the birdfeeder and around some trees...

Would they be up now if Winter was gonna last 6 more weeks?  I dont think so...

Garden Thursday

The 2017 garden catalogs are arriving!  But before we turn our attention to next year, we thought we would show some of our favrit flower pictures from this year...

And, of course, US, the best flowers of all!

Garden Tour Thursday

IZA:  Welcome to my Garden Tour this week!  But I find it difficult ta discuss vegetables, so while Im still leading the tour, TBT will come along ta esplain everything!

TBT:  Well, OK, the garden is just starting to produce stuff, so here is a day's harvest.  I pick zucchini small so there aren't many seeds, the carrots are naturally small (and sweet), and there aren't many beans yet, but you have to pick the mature ones or the plant stops producing more. 

The tomatoes are both new hybrids developed by the University of Florida.  They are a cross between a great old heirloom called "Brandywine" and "something else".  The goal was to breed them for taste and disease resistance, not shipping durability.  They aren't as flavorful as Brandywine, but they are the best-tasting hybrid tomato I've grown!  The large one is Garden Treasure and the small one is Garden Gem.

Now let's all follow Iza outside...

This is one of 3 beds of tomatoes.  Most are heirlooms.  I grow them in heavy wire cages, staked so they won't blow over.

Here we have a bed with 4 bell peppers, 2 zucchini, and 2 honeydew melons.  The honeydews are finally starting to grow, and I see there are several blossoms.

The bi-color corn isn't growing very tall.  They should all be taller like the one on the right.  There are cucumbers starting up the trellis at the back.  Everything seems to be slow to grow this year!

The flat italian pole beans finally took off.  There are at least a dozen beans maturing now and they should start to produce more heavily soon.  I need the ladder to reach the top ones!

This is the Garden Gem tomato plant.  It produces a lot!

This is a block of carrots.  I grow the small crops in square foot blocks and keep each type separated.  That makes it harder for the insect pests to find their favorite kind.   And when I harvest a whole block at once, I can immediately plant a different crop there.

I grow celery.  It doesn't make stalks here, but I like the leaves better anyway.  They are like spicy leaf lettuce.  Great to add to salads.  Don't cringe, kitties, us Beings LIKE that stuff, LOL!

Here is the whole garden enclosure.  It is completely covered with chicken wire.  No, sorry, there aren't any chickens to chase.  But it keeps out the Evil Squirrels and Grungy Groundhogs.

The compost tumbler finally decided to fall apart this year.  It used to be that I could turn the handle and keep the contents mixed.  All our kitchen waste goes in there to become "good stuff" for the garden plants.  But it looks like I will have to build a real compost bin now...

This is the 3rd tomato bed.  It is the sunniest part of the back yard.  I think I will grow the corn there next year.   If it won't grow THERE well, I guess I'll have to give up on growing corn.

These are 2 Garden Treasure tomatoes.   I'm leaving them on the plant to see how ripe they will get before they start to go bad.  I may have picked the 1st few too early before they developed their full flavor.  Since growing them is an experiment this year (the seeds were available only for "home gardener testing") I might as well experiment!

I now turn things back over to Iza...

IZA:  Thank you, TBT for explainin all that stuff about the vegetables.  I couldnt have done it.  We will get back to pretty flowers (which I unnerstand better) next time.  NOW, since it is a relatively nice day, lets go sit in the shade while TBT brings out the snacks that Ayla and Marley chose today.

Hmm...  We have minceded bacon, some diced roast beast, and chicken/nip smoothies.  After all those vegetables, it looks good and meaty!  Lets enjoy...

And thank you for coming along on my our Garden Tour!