Photos
Ready for the Spring Garden
This is my weekend. Transplanting tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers and onions from the greenhouse out into the vegetable garden. My goal this year, first fresh tomatoes on the block!
Bee’s Bliss Sage in Bloom
Late last spring I got a Salvia Bee's Bliss from my friend @linsaycrazyplantlady's nursery. I planted it near the rocks by the fish pond and left it do its thing. Turns out there were a couple of giant white squill bulbs lurking below the surface in that location that I had forgotten. In November the squill erupted from the ground, leafed out, and completely covered the Bee's Bliss. And so I forgot about the little sage. Yesterday while doing some badly needed weeding I noticed these little lilac flowers poking out from under the squill leaves. A closer look showed [keep reading...]
Fresh Cilantro Hung to Dry
We have so much cilantro in the Keyhole garden that we're having trouble eating and/or giving it away (and I live in an area of the U.S. where Cilantro is used in everything). The end of winter is fast approaching and some of it is start to bolt. Rather that let it all go to seed, I cut the plants back to the first set of leaves, bundled up the cut plants and hung them to dry. If you're not familiar, fresh cilantro is quite strongly scented. The entire front half of the house currently smells like the world's largest [keep reading...]
Cyclamen in Bloom, no Photo Filter Required
The cyclamens outside the family room bay window have begun to bloom. The plants are on a well-shaded slope and it's gray and raining, but the flowers are literally glowing in the low light. Amazing. Bonus: I bought them off the clearance rack at Lowe's last fall for $1 each. Booyah. Bargain! Anyone have any guesses as to the variety? The pot labels were struck out so I couldn't tell.
A Brassica Bouquet for My Bride
Yesterday was my 31st wedding anniversary. I told my wife the traditional gift was "A Brassica" and gave her this beautiful brassica bouquet fresh from the keyhole garden. Then, she ate it.
Time to Tally the Bananas
Nights below freezing has fried my tropical plants, including the Ice Cream (aka Blue Java) banana, so I cut the bunch and brought them indoors to ripen.
Getting Ready for Spring
It's five weeks until spring and a mere days until our last overnight frost. Unlike many a previous year, the greenhouse seedlings are off to a great start. Today we'll be dividing and re-potting into larger containers so everybody will have strong roots when we finally transplant into the vegetable garden in a few weeks.
Peeping Pride of Madeira
About a month ago, my wife said she felt like this Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans) was looking at her so I gave it bottle-cap eyes. I went outside yesterday morning and noticed that our peeping friend had his hair color changed courtesy of the recent freeze. Very stylish.
Keyhole Garden Progress – February 8, 2020
Temperatures have been well below freezing at night for the past week, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the keyhole garden. It continues to produce like there's no tomorrow. We've been harvesting lettuce and cilantro all week and it just seems to grow right back. Garlic, broccoli and cabbage are thriving as well.
Sunset on February 4, 2020
Really cold Alaskan air is parked over us dropping temperatures into the 20's overnight again. But the cold skies make for some really spectacular sunsets. Here is last night's sunset from the upper garden looking west out over the greenhouse.