Photos

Here are a few garden photos. I plan to add more as I have time. These are the horses who reside in the barn next to the garden plots.





Basil:


Dill:


Nasturtium:






One of my sunflowers, held still for the camera by my friend Mary:

Flowers For Your Birthday!

How often I have heard the phrase "hardy mums." November is almost here, with my birthday, and I just learned that mums are the flower corresponding to November birthdays. Apparently its full name (chrysanthemum) translates as "golden flower".

I never knew of birth-month flowers until today, only of birthstones. With this new knowledge, the next time I see yet another pot of mums displayed outside a store, maybe I won't mind so much. This is especially so since I've learned there are quite a few varieties beyond the ones I usually see.

A few quick facts:

-- A natural insecticide is extracted from the seeds as pyrethrins.
-- The Chinese cultivated the plants in the 15th century BC.
-- It provides food for some butterfly larva.



Too bad my mom doesn't have these photos. She loves butterflies.

What would be my family's birthday bouquet for a year? Mum's the word in my family -- couldn't resist a pun.

Mom: gladiolus.
Dad, and my brother: also mums
Nina: rose
Nancy: gladiolus or calendula?
Steph: aster
Me: mum









Want to find out your flower or the flower of someone you care about?
There's a list on flowerwower.com



Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysanthemum


butterflies in bloom







October is nearly over and mums are everywhere.

Have A Good Weekend!

In the mid-Atlantic the leaf color seems to be reaching its climax of beauty. When it's not raining and overcast, the colors are quite gorgeous.

A widespread frost is possible Sunday overnight from Maine through the mid-Atlantic, northern North Carolina, and over to southeastern Kansas. Still, my garden plot is mostly done. I planted several types and colors of tulip bulbs, so I hope they spring from the ground next year.

My containers on my porch are still quite productive with herbs. I've been putting the containers indoors at night. I look forward to their aroma and maybe to cooking with them over the winter (dried herbs mostly).

Garden Clean-Up

This weekend is the Tudek Community Garden's cleaning. Since it's part of a public park, we want to leave a good impression, not an eyesore. It has been a good season for vegetables and flowers that like heat and can withstand dryness.

P Allen Smith has introduced his own page on youtube. Check it out for some interesting videos. The History of Halloween is interesting. Check out the black cat exploring behind Allen as he sits on his porch steps. Intentional, you think?

Some friends and I plan to visit Mt. Nittany Winery this weekend. They are having their annual Fall Harvest Wine Festival. It's free of charge. The hours are (I think):

Saturday: 10am-5pm
Sunday: noon-4pm

You may call them at 466-6373. Features of the festival are: tour of the winery/grounds, snacks, wine-tasting. I prefer sweet red wines, although slightly dry wines can be good, too. Their Raspberry and Montmorency Cherry wines sound good.

Salut!!

P Allen Smith on Youtube

Mt. Nittany Winery

Is This Really October?

Our recent chill after a warm spell with some days over 80 degrees was pleasant. Who knew I'd be picking a peck of plump peppers from prolific plants over a weekend in October? Or teasing tomatoes off the tethering vines?

(Well, I misused tethering; it exists as a verb, but not an adjective. I think that's called poetic or literary license.)

A few days ago I picked 4 cups of basil. So, I made a lot of pesto, put it in small containers, labeled it and put it in the freezer. If you'd like to make pesto, or just want to know what it is, here's a link to the recipe I use:

Basil pesto

Although I wasn't sure I would do it again, I did grow black bean plants this year, and I plan to continue. The pods are stringy and slightly tough, so they are best dried and emptied of the seeds we know of as black beans. My scarlet runner beans did well, too. They're one of the most attractive beans I've ever seen, with their red and white flowers that produce long light green pods. Inside are white beans speckled with black and a few reddish-orange dots.

One of my mustard green plants have turned into a small bush about a foot and a half high and 12 inches wide. The peppery dark green leaves make a good addition to a salad. The plant's very attractive in the front of my plot.

A few more lisianthus buds have opened. I've really fallen for these lovely plants that are so easy to grow.

Flowers remind me that delicacy and gentleness can succeed in the natural world, just as the more aggressive vines do. On that note, I wish you a happy weekend! If I exercise my poetic license anymore today, I may get cited by the grammar police.

Wildlife Gardening

Much cuter but not a lot smaller than a black cat, a chipmunk crossed my path a few mornings ago as I was about to descend my back stairs. I was impressed with its size, as it appeared to be about 8 inches long. It scampered away and hid from me. That little rodent is probably getting ready for winter.

An article from the Humane Society of the United States relates gardening and yard work to the winter welfare of local wildlife. The suggestions include keeping dead flowers on the plants, and letting leaves on the ground among others.

Here's one excerpt from the article:

Put yourself in an animal's position: Just when the going gets tough, potential winter food and cover sources are removed, leaving a bleak and uninviting landscape in which to survive the cold months.

Experience and some thought-through modifications of these suggestions are possible if you find dead plant matter intolerably unsightly or a nuisance. Here are a couple of my ideas:

*Make sure your compost materials are available to wildlife, not in a closed-in bin.
*Dead flower heads, petals, vines, dry corn husks, and so on have been made into attractive rustic-looking "sculptures" such as wreaths, swags, and other fall decorations. If placed outside, preferably where there is not frequent human activity to scare them away, wildlife can get to it. This means it won't disintegrate indoors leaving a mess and irritating allergies.

There's another article on the site on building and maintaining brush piles.

Wandering Through Ideas

Working with meteorologists means I have a pretty good idea of local gardening conditions anytime. I also see conditions that I envy while others I'm glad I don't deal with at all.

I see worldwide forecasts and learn where terrible weather has occurred. When I first started this job, I was amazed at how often it happens. Looking at radar and satellite of tropical storms churning in the Pacific, I remind myself that the swirling white blur covering a few inches on the computer screen covers hundreds to thousands of miles in reality. The power in these systems is from hot water. Those beautiful tropical nights and warm sunny beaches in the Caribbean lead to this. Even paradise is raided by the most violent parts of nature.

With such massive power on the opposite end of the spectrum from the gentle breeze that moves through the delicate dill leaves in my quiet garden, a person might be excused for hyperbole and anthropomorphization, even a little excessively. I must say though that I don't understand how hurricanes were ever accepted with strictly feminine names. Maybe that's the result of growing up in a fairly free and, in most respects liberated, society. I have hit my head on a glass ceiling or two in my life though, and not because I own or worked in a greenhouse.

In pursuits that are traditionally feminine, (music, gardening, art), it is surprising that men are at the top of the field in notability and respect. The reverse, women in traditionally masculine pursuits (leadership, law enforcement, etc) , doesn't seem to be true so much.

Thankfully, that is changing. Please don't think that I lack appreciation for men at the top of traditionally feminine pursuits; I think it's great. I love P Allen Smith. I also love "Celtic Woman's" popularity. One day gender, like race and ethnicity, may not be an issue. Unfortunately, now sometimes it still is.

Considering the violence of nature and the violence men are capable of, the addition of masculine names for hurricanes was overdue.

Now for a total change, some humor:

Garden Work

Fall Is Here

It's the time of year to plant bulbs that will produce flowers, garlic, shallots, and other plants in spring of next year. Burpee has a selection of these on their site. I haven't grown garlic for use in cooking. I don't have the patience to deal with tiny cloves and the papery sleeves. I buy diced garlic in a jar. It's good to grow throughout the garden for pest deterrence. I may try elephant garlic, which would be easier to prepare in cooking.

The Bellefonte Garden Club does a lot to beautify its hometown. Do I have time to join them? Hmm. This time of year they are planting daffodil bulbs. I wonder if my landlord/rental manager would allow me to plant them around my apartment building. Daffodil Project

P Allen Smith has a page on his site titled "10 Spring Bulb Questions"

Frost Alert!

The chilly weather and frost that has already reached the Midwest will probably give the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast a chill with frost overnight tonight (Saturday). So, it starts again!

Clear skies make frost more likely. The reason is that clouds act as barriers to the loss of heat. Clear skies let heat go.

My containers are on my second-floor porch, so that will help protect my herbs and flowers there. Heat rises, and frost usually forms closer to the ground. I may still cover them.

My garden plot doesn't have the same protection. The wind or breeze can carry heat away horizontally with little interuption. Clear skies also allow heat to escape vertically.

Numerous types of frost can form: Heavy, light, scattered, killing, and so on. Even hoar frost that Robert Frost wrote of in verse. It's still early, so in most of the mid-Atlantic the frost will probably not be severe.

The susceptibility of plants should also be taken into consideration. This year was dry, making the plants more fragile. Some types of plants cannot handle a chill, let alone a mild frost.

I just reviewed a forecast for Sebring, Florida (at my job). Sebring's high Sunday will be 91, then a low of 71. Bellefonte's will be 67 for the high Sunday (not too bad). What follows is the undesirable part: a cold low of 41.

Frost Protection Advice:
P Allen Smith
HGTV
Organic Gardening.com

Colors Always Change

Thursday early evening.

Mid-September usually isn't in the 70s here, but the sun is out and it's not bad unless the wind blows. Overnight the temperature has dropped to the 50s. I prefer summer, although the beauty of fall generates warmth of its own. I think of it as a time of orange, yellow and red; cinnamon, brown sugar, apples and allspice; hot cereal, steaming soup, corn bread, muffins and tea; brittle brown corn fields and grass after killing frost; glorious gold warmth and boldness becomes dark evergreens, gray days here and there, and eventually glassy silver and white of winter.

Bulbs snuggled in the ground will bear winter and spite it in the spring. Gourds, squash and tomatoes come from the harvest. Broccoli, spinach, peas and greens get a second chance. Mason and Ball jars are filled with preserved summer. The air is fresh and clean. The beach is cold and the surf is finally warm. Mountain hikes follow trails buried in colorful leaves, sometimes wet and slippery, other times dry and crunchy.

The simple freedom of shorts, sandals and sunshine cannot be overcome by bulky sweatshirts, closed-in shoes, thick socks, and perpetually cold hands stuffed in warm pockets. Without its beauty, autumn would be only a temporary end that must be endured.

Sun arrives later, leaves sooner, and gives up without attaining the glorious zenith it reached in June. It is as though it wants us to hibernate like a lot of nature does. How tempting!



Photo of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon from city data