Sunday, August 26, 2007

OttawaPlantCycle's Plot

Hi again,

I am going to submit some photos to OttawaPlantCycle's blog. I havent updated for a while and plants have grown some.
This is a pic of the Orleans Community Gardens that we helped open up with help from Founder Tom Brerer (An Orleans resident whowanted to open a garden for his community). Along with The Cumberland Resourse Centre and The Community Gardens Network. We were all on the Steering Committee for a year until the Grand opening.
Here are some pictures of the gardens now and some of the pickings...
First there is a natural hedgerow around the forest/woods area so lots of berries

We are located at Tenth line and St.Joseph in Orleans...right in front of the police station.

And..

We had some lovely plots and everyone worked hard for a good plot.


It wasthe first year and late in staring for some. With no water available yet and members lugging their own water in barrels and pails we did get some good crops.!
Lots of Tomatoes.Mostly cherry (probably that Belcourt mans toms),and some plum.

Peppers..

Squashes,


Pumpkins.?


Cabbages ..and onions..


Some planted ramdomly in empty patches,

Lots of Zucchinni..

Some plots kept an eye out for the local rodenst in the garden that have been snacking on veggies for free..huh!

...And some just didnt make it. The groundhogs were laughing that day,..

not for long my friends..we shall unite here at the gardens hehe..We have real experts on hand that have LOTS of gardening tips.Its always a pleassant time.
We also have a herb patch.

Or Two

Even a hot pepper plant or two.

Of course,more tomatoes.Our food bank plot had lots

Enough that we were able to donate many....

That was our first batch.We were able to place a sign with our name on it at the food bank so people would know where the veggies came from.That was cool.
For the first year and rough grounds to start ,(we plowed and will plow again this fall and spring),we all did really well.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Butterfly Bush or NOT butterfly bush..THAT is the question..

Where do i join..?..Right here..
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ottawa_plantcycle/

The bad news is....
Im confused now lol.
I DID run out and take a picture of the nieghbours garden,.... well, actually its the nieghbour of the nieghbours garden,...i woulda been trespassing if i took the actual nieghbours garden picture as she has a privacy fence in front and i couldnt get to it.(do i have to ask permission to photograph my nieghbours garden anyone know.?..if im putting it in a blog?). Its all the same thing tho as i got all the nieghbours in on the butterfly bush "rave" lol.We are all growing the same seeds.
Heres the bush...

Heres another of mine..

I think i will wait until it grows more.I am leaning towards amaranth tho..
Notice beside her 'butterfly bush" is some sunflowers.?They are mine.lol.or "were".
they are from last years seeds i gave her.Hers reseeded. Mine did not.Maybe the jerusalem artichokes "choked' them all off.?

O.k. so i'm a little envious lol.
Remember i said a while back her hollyhocks had towered like a fountain while mine didnt come up.?

That was hers,..this is mine...DOH!!..Dont mind the weeds.LOL

I find some pleasure from looking at the Datura blooming for me. (these are the white and black? ones i purchased in Navan at the nurserie there).

The Castor Bean is growing as well and i seem to have to pods i hope are seeds i can share.


I have to point out this nifty little device i picked up from Walmmart yesterday for just around seven bucksi purchased the last one here in Orleans so maybe try another Walmart if you are looking to buy one). It has eight settings for the water to spray. Quite handy .

The good news is...
The white Datura bloomed,

Man,..those Zinnia sure grow and bloom. I was quite happy with that Canadian Tire investment this year.
The Sweet Potato plant bloomed a lovely pale lilacy coloured flower,

...AND..Last but not least,...The Tomatoes that "did" make it..are ready to pick.Ta da..(I just happen to have some bacon cooked and toast ready hehe).

Think i will go nourish this gardeners "engine" with a tasty sandwich.Then i'll go weed....NOT!!!

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Summer Update

My Butterfly Bush is budding,..flowering for me. That neat little bush growing from seeds given to me by a nieghbour is florishing .I have more seedlings to give away if somone would like to come pick up some soon,..along with more tall yellow flowers or jerusalem artichokes of course.I am really happy with the way these seeds came up this year. I started some indoors in a planter and some later when it got warmer in the ground.
I got called away this year on some important matters near Toronto and had to leave my garden on its own.Here is what happened while i was gone.My first suprise greeted me in the laneway right beside where i park my car."Welcome back " they chimed lol.


The bad news is..I came home to a dilema.LOTS of my plants were unattendended when i left.My tomato plants burned to heck...
LOL..Very leggy Lettuce.I couldnt even offer these up on foodshare..lol


Imagine comming home to this!!!!
I moved them to the side of the house where its less sunny.BURNT!!..Boo hoo!


My Butterfly Bush Seedlings
The ones in the ground are fine...i can share some of these smaller ones i am pulling out.


Weep!..the ones in the planter..after!.gasp..remember how well those were doing Penny.?( I wish i had offered them up BEFORE I left.


The good news is...some plants are ok and doing well..




The Nastartiums and older hibiscus are doing ok tho...


Telsing's sage is growing REALLY well in the herb box beside the front door with the pinapple sage.(will be giving out some soon). I pulled out the jerusalem artichoke that planted itself in there and just grew. It was taking up ALL the room.Along with another mystery plant that has appeared there.(pictured in my blog earlier).


Whoever said this was a hibiscus was probably right.here is the pic...i will take more once it blooms.


Anita's Hydrangrea (sp) is growing very well after being moved from a spot with not enough light. I didnt realize it was purple one..how lucky i was to be gifted such a treat.


The fruiting Mulberry tree got split in half when the boys moved my carport.The wind took the carport and flung it on top of the bush/tree and split the tree basically in half. I thought it was a gonna but tearfully bound it with duct tape..yep,.you heard me right ,good ol' standby duck tape..it"stuck".As you can see there are two more stems comming out of the ground. If i knew how to split them i would offer them up.Because i almost lost my Mulberry i am relunctant to part with them.Lol. I may just let it grow.


This is a plant that got to much sun when i put it out to suddenly in the spring . Its comming back now and is ready for adoption..or possibly kept until a plant event to give away.


I found one burgundy royal purple bean giving up the hiding spots. I lifted up the leaves and well to my amazement there were LOTS of beans hiding there. I picked most of the large ones ...


...And they ended up here in my salad bowl..ate some of this with oil and garlic and black pepper and a sprinkle of cider vinegar..yumm..gave a BIG bowl to Mom.


This is one of my very fave plants..Starts with a "L" (I always forget the name but my memory can be blamed for that). Jocelyne's friend Maria gave it too me on a pick up of free recycling items at her house one day. she is not a member of any groups.What a sweetheart.


Catts lovely grapevine is comming back and growing well.


I thought these were Echinacea (cone flowers),but now i know they arent..they are browneyed susans ...right?


Black and white Datura's(angels trumpets) are "trying" their best to bloom after being surrounded and towered over by the false sunflowers and jerusalem artichokes.


My white roses keep blooming and i keep pruning them back. They survived from last year and gave me some lovely pickings this year.


Eric Snyder of Full Circles recommended the climbing bean plant for climbing bean vines. So i threw an experimental handfull next to the garden shed and propped up some wood and lattice for it to climb and hang onto and lo and behold if it didnt start to grow and climb...


And climbimbing it is...all over the place..


Of course there is still lots of comfrey...i mean its sprouting up in the lawn...ah,..i warned ya it was invasive. Terribly valuable plant tho,..i read in a book over last week it helps to repair broken tissue.


Thank God there is a remaining chocolate mint plant that made it.Plus un abundance of the everpopular Jerusalem Artichokes to give still.Even tho members keep asking for them and even tho i keep giving them out and plucking, pulling them out from unwanted spots..i.e..around the pond..towering over other plants and blocking the light so growth is stunted or stopped .They keep sprouting up, and up...


There is lots more of those to come....
Val