Fall in the Garden

You can use your garden as inspiration for your artwork. Here is a t-shirt I am embellishing with ribbon flowers, lemons, vines and leaves. Don't spend all your gardening time pruning, picking and planting. Make time for sketching, photographing, and otherwise enjoying your garden. Today I need to refresh the hummingbird feeder. I can't remember the ratio of sugar to water so I need to look that up again.
Leaves are starting to turn colors and fall onto the patio. I enjoy the sound of it from my bedroom window. I have a lot of birds in my garden this year. They seem to be eating the seeds of the grass that is taking over my garden.

Tomatoes

Like I suspected nearly all the tomatoes got ripe at once.

Last Days of August

It looks like I have a whole bunch of tomatoes that are going to ripen all at once.

I had three promising brown eyed susan plants sprout up. Then one vanished. A day or two later the best one vanished and now there is just one left. By vanished I mean you can't even tell it was ever there. So I put a cut out styrofoam cup over the last one to keep it from snails, slugs, and birds. Sigh. I just need one to grow up the trellis.

Lots of other things are blooming: the moss rose, the striped roses, the lantana, sea lavender, and some of the succulents.

I'm turning this gourd I grew in the garden into a rain stick too.

Grasshopper

I have a feeling that this is what's been eating my peppers. Look at the size of this guy. Click on the photo to see all the details.

My Backyard and I

I'm glad it's cooling off as we head toward autumn. Soon all the leaves on the tree above me will be falling into my yard.

The house behind me is where the family from India lives. They are the noisiest people ever and seem to live in their backyard where their kids scream all the day long. I try to sit out there and read or write in my journal but usually I just get frustrated and go back inside. They are also up all night pounding on the walls, hanging out on their patio and talking loudly or smoking. If I had the money I'd move tomorrow. People are so unaware of how much their noise impacts others or they just don't care.

Mostly Roses

It was such a perfect weather day I couldn't resist taking some photos of my roses and tomatoes to share.
My brown eyed susans have also sprouted so I'm crossing my fingers that they will survive their infancy.

Hummingbird

I was sitting outside reading when I heard my hummingbird come back. And this time I had the camera. So now I can show you instead of nattering on about it.

Hummingbird Siting

After waiting months for a hummingbird to use the feeder I inherited, I changed back to the sugar/water mixture instead of the store bought powder, painted the metal flowers red, and hung a red flower on the feeder. Then yesterday I saw my first hummingbird taking a big long drink. Success finally! It was a tan color, not like the shiny ones I usually see. I hope it makes my feeder a regular stop.

Sadly though the arrowhead plant I put in the aquarium has gone to pieces. My terrarium is doing okay though. At first it was too wet, then too dry. Now the sides are fogged up so at least the plants are hurting for water.

Portulaca

I got up early this morning to plant the moss rose before it got hot. Funny plant, it's neither a moss nor a rose. It's a succulent called Portulaca. I planted it around the Anaheim peppers to help keep them moist in their pot.

I'm also fixing the hummingbird feeder. The packaged mix didn't attract any birds, so I'm just dissolving sugar in water. We'll see how that goes instead. All the red had faded from the feeder lid, so I tied a fake red rose to the pole instead, since I don't want to use any food coloring or additives in the mixture itself. I love hummingbirds. I'm sad that I don't have any hummingbird nests this year.

Here are some directions on how to grow it. http://www.ehow.com/how_6766_grow-moss-rose.html

Moss Rose

My mother loved moss roses and I haven't had any in quite a while. I couldn't resist getting some yesterday at the nursery. I'm going to plant them in with my Anaheim Chilis to help keep the soil moist. They seem to love that spot.

I also got my terrarium finished. I added a prayer plant and a pink polka dot plant. I'm still trying to get the moisture just right. When I opened it to plant the new plants, there was some mold, so I let some of the moisture out today. Only then it looked too dry so I put the plastic back over the top. I'll get it balanced right sooner or later.

I also picked a big tomato and had it in the salad tonight.

Terrarium

I had a nice spot along the brick wall where we removed some pink jasmine that had planted itself, so I put the trellis there and planted black eyed susans in front of it. I've always wanted to grow those so I hope they sprout. I should have planted them earlier in the year but I didn't have the opportunity.

Then tonight I bought 2 more Anaheim pepper plants to replace the ones the snails ate. I'm going to plant them in a container this time instead. Both have fruit and blooms on them already.

I also made a terrarium yesterday. When I dug up some moss for it I accidentally cut an earthworm in half. Then as I was carrying the moss from the front yard to the back I planted it in the terrarium and went back inside the house. The cat was trying to pick up something off of the rug. It was an earthworm. It must have fallen out of the bottom of the moss roots. So I put that in the terrarium too. The one thing I don't have for the terrarium yet is houseplants. I picked up an arrowhead plant for the aquarium, and if the root system can be divided I'll go ahead and put some of that in the terrarium. Usually the dollar store has just the right size of houseplants, but this year they haven't got any decent plants in at all. Maybe prices have gone up so much they can't offer them for .99 anymore.

Weedy Tomatoes

We had company over today to work on some gourd projects. I guess the guy really appreciated what we taught him, because suddenly he jumps up and goes and weeds all my tomatoes. Luckily I had just watered them deeply the night before, otherwise he'd have thrown out his back before he got any weeds pulled. Now there is a stack of weeds as big as a bale of hay. I'll let them dry a day or two and put them in the dumpster. I was embarrassed to even have weeds, but I guess he meant well.

The photo is of a gourd I grew. I cut it in half to clean it out so I can make a rain stick.

Aloe Magic

I do believe we can manifest what we think about to a degree. So when my friend Lynn told me she needed an aloe plant last time I saw her, I shouldn't have been that surprised when today a new person I met at a workshop shop says out of the blue that if anyone wanted an aloe plant or two, he had a whole bunch on his front porch that were free for the taking. So I got one for my friend and one for me.

And in case you didn't know, aloe juice is good for burns. So it's a good thing to have around.

First Tomatoes

I'm happy to say I picked the first two tomatoes out of my garden. They haven't been as abundant this year. We are having some very hot weather right now so I have to water frequently. But we are also in a drought so I have to keep a sharp eye out so no water is wasted and there is no run off.

Tiger Jaw

My tiger jaw cactus just bloomed, and as I suspected the flower was yellow. Funny the things we remember from childhood. The bloom only lasts a few days so I'm glad I got a photo of it straight away.

Most of the cactus and succulent collection I got at the swap has survived. I'm nursing one that was almost destroyed by snails in 2 days flat and I lost one that just started dying the second I got it home. It's still alive but seems to die a bit each day.

So all and all to lose 2 plants out of 24 is pretty darn good.

Rabbits, Snails and Beets Oh My

I took some of the fresh beets from my garden over to my new friend's house. The four of us made dinner all at the same time, something that would have been impossible in my tiny kitchen.

So I brought beans I made in the crock pot overnight. My boyfriend brought all the fixings for chili for the crock pot we gave our friends, and I also brought the beets from the garden.

My friend made corn bread, a giant salad, and a German chocolate cake.

They have a giant yard and put in a garden. Unfortunately the rabbits are eating it bare. So though my city garden may be tiny, at least there are no rabbits. I could live without the snails though. We are hang picking them out and tossing them at the moment. I've never seen so many snails.

It was so hot today. I'm glad it's cooling down a bit right now.

Beets Coming Out of My Ears

How am I going to eat all these beets? My boyfriend decided he doesn't like beets. I'm thinking my neighbor from Romania might like them. But everytime I give her something she feels obligated to give me something back. And I hate to put her on the spot like that. Anyway I took some photos for your beet viewing pleasure. I still have a lot more to harvest. Egads! And I have to say once again you don't need a big yard to grow enough vegetables for a family of four.

Garden Photos

I've been super busy in the garden. Today I planted sunflower seeds.
I repotted a bunch of succulents. Then I bought a bunch more at the swapmeet. I couldn't resist getting 12 plants for $10. Here's some photos of my current gardening experiences. Hope you enjoy them. Comment and link me to your blog if you have one.

My Ten Favorite Annuals For the Flowerbed

As part of a writing challenge I'm doing, I've been writing a bunch of online articles on gardening and sharing my garden photos from over the years. Seeing all those lovely photos and sharing my gardening tips has made me happy in a way I never expected. My newest article is about annuals for your flower bed. Enjoy. And then go plant some seeds if you can.
Annuals

Pink Ice Plant

I've been dying to show you the pink ice plant. I planted it last summer so it was pretty small, but it's fabulous this year. Up till now, the landlord kept turning down the sprinklers and everything I planted in that hot spot died. Then I remembered ice plant from my hot summers in Riverside County and knew it would be the perfect plant. Plus it's a perennial so I don't have to keep buying it again each year.

Of the snapdragons I planted last year, only one made it to this year. And it's white. I'm not sure if it came up from seed or overwintered. But the way the gardeners go nuts with their weed whips, it's amazing any seedling survives long enough to bloom. The landlord wants me to let those vipers into the backyard, but there's no way if I can help it. I don't want everything trimmed to within an inch of it's life. I can't do much about the front yard because it's a common area, but the backyard has a locking gate and I hope he continues to respect that.