Urban Gardening Festival May 17, 2014

this year's festival was our biggest ever; we more than tripled our attendance from last year!  there were also more than 50 vendors, exhibitors and artisans on the grounds sharing information and selling products to those that came to the festival.  we even had a visit from lelan statom, the meteorologist and co-host of talk of the town which airs locally on channel 5 at 11am, weekdays.  

now that the dust has settled, we will get back to the business of maintaining the garden.  look for new exhibits through out the summer.  we will have beds featuring sunflowers, potatoes, pumpkins and more.  until then, enjoy a few photos of what the garden looks like when it is not full of festival participants!

 there are mini pumpkin seeds waiting to sprout in this bed and we are planning to grow them vertically.

 our lady of the garden has a name!  allow me to introduce pansy winette

 the wind organ is a fun craft to make with kids.  save those plastic water bottles and get to work with this tutorial.

 one man's trash is another's treasure; a discarded wooden ladder is a plant stand in the garden.

 the shade garden is looking better than after having the soil amended with compost, leaf mold and pine fines.  it was a process that was long over due and the plants are now enjoying the improvement.

 a view across the rain garden at a few of the tents set up for the festival

 did you know that we also have a name for our rock star in the herb garden?  put your hands together for the one and only, jimi tindrix and the garden experience!!!

 pallet gardens are a bit of a fad, it is true.  many of them are tough to maintain because it is hard to keep them watered when vertical.  however, this configuration, which mimics horizontal flower boxes, is the solution.

 our old pallet garden has found a new life lying down and functioning more like a raised bed.

 we weren't the only ones getting ready for the festival-the ants were busy too!

 a year of hard work has paid off.  ty ann has put a tremendous amount of time and effort into restoring the perennial garden.  she recently added bird houses and some sculptures and what a difference it all has made!

 there have also been many new additions to the plants selection in the garden and as the seasons progress, there should be many new flowers to admire.

next time you see her, thank her; we almost tore down the garden and sold the existing plants at last year's festival.  it was ty ann that offered to try to save the garden and save it she did!

 the keyhole garden was a popular exhibit at the festival.  many people stopped by to learn the history and purpose behind this relatively new concept in gardening.  we are thrilled with how it is looking this year!

having planted it with a combination of leaves and roots, the plants are all doing nicely.  we are excited to see how it does for the summer, in the mean time, we will be harvesting lots of greens for salads and for cooking!

in the garden with cake; april 26

as we prepare for the urban gardening festival, lots of new exhibits are taking shape.  due to the continuing issues with root knot nematodes, we are experimenting with methods of vertical gardening.  even better is that this method repurposes milk jugs that would otherwise have gone into the trash.

 the rain garden has gotten a lot of attention this spring.  the basin has been weeded and aerated.  the grasses and sedums on the berm have been thinned and we are preparing to dig out some of the excess plants for sale at the festival.

 the square foot garden is shaping up nicely.  if you would like to garden and have little space, you should consider this method because it really works.

 the herb garden has gotten a new fence and it looks like a whole different place!  we are experimenting with hugelkultur in the herb garden so keep visiting the blog to see the progress of the plants.

 this little block garden is already producing large amounts of herbs!

 the seeds i planted in the keyhole garden are sprouting-i cannot wait to start picking lettuce and greens.

 want to learn about composting?  let us help you, we have several methods in use at the garden.

 tiarella, the current rock star in the shade garden

 i love this combination; golden creeping jenny, blue spruce sedum and dragon's blood stonecrop.

 beans are ready to grow up!  climb the vertical garden, climb!!!

 before you know it, the false blue indigo in the rain garden will be the star of the show

and of course, the nematode remediation plot.  the mustard and rape seed have sprouted, just waiting for the marigolds to get going.  we hope this works!!!

april in the garden

 hard to believe but spring is here!  the herb garden was given a new fence this spring thanks to kent.  the split rail fence comes to us from the hermitage property and we couldn't be happier with it!  a big round of applause to kent for coming out and installing it for us!!!

 and boy has kent been busy-he even replaced all of the rotted wood on our work table, we are so lucky to have him out in the garden!

 one of my favorite flowers of spring, epimidium, also called bishop's hat.

 another lovely shade plant, lamium in bloom

 the cold winter was good for something-daffodils!  they were spectacular this season.

 love these tiny blooms around the gazebo

 and of course, spring means new plants sprouting.  we have seeded the keyhole garden with all of the appropriate leaves and roots.  looking forward to munching on this arugula!

 yarrow setting blooms

 isn't the bloody dock beautiful when the sun shines through the leaves?

and of course, spring means columbines

come on out and join us in the garden as we get ready for the big urban gardening festival on may 17th.

Sunday in the garden, 3/30/14

It was a lovely morning in the garden today and for a change, it was warm and sunny.  Although we had more than an inch of rain on Saturday, we were able to work in the beds.  

The rain caused a little compaction in the keyhole garden but we can easily add more to top it off again before planting.

 During last weekends Earn as You Learn work session, we constructed a new bed in the herb garden using a permaculture technique called hugelkulur.

 Over in the gazebo, the daffodils are in full bloom.

 The perennial garden, spring has definitely sprung!  However, I am not sure when that yucca was planted in the bed.

 The dead nettle is in full bloom too.  We obviously will need to do a bit of weeding.

 Things got a little out of control in the rain garden too.  We were battling violets all last year and today was the day to get in there and dig them out.

After about two hours on hands and knees digging away, we claimed victory.  We will have to stay on them to prevent them from colonizing again.  But you have to admit, the rain garden looks amazing!  

catching up with the garden; july 2013

 summer is flying by!  we have been working as much as we can and so has this spider in the satellite dish.

 butterflies are so much fun to watch.  more than once i chased these two to get a nice photo

 this one was kind enough to strike a pose.

 and so was this one.  

 however, over in the rain garden, we would prefer that these just left and never came back.  genista broom moth caterpillars are destructive and can defoliate plants and shrubs.

 in the keyhole garden, we are seeing very mixed results.  the okra is flourishing.

 the yellow squash did not make it-squash borers destroyed the stem.

 we will be picking lemon cukes soon.

 texas star hibiscus in the rain garden

 thai basil in bloom in the herb garden.

 rosemary in bloom attracts a lot of bees

 chive blossoms are removed before they even open to prevent seeding

 caraway seeds are starting to form

 tabasco peppers are getting ready to turn red

 red noodle beans in the square foot garden have pretty lavender blooms

 stink bugs like them too

 this little leaf hopper looks so pretty on the texas star hibiscus

 pickling cukes in the vertical garden

 sedum autumn joy getting ready to put on a show

 thai chilis ready for cooking-proceed carefully with them

 if memory serves, tansy is planted in gardens to help keep the ants at bay.  don't tell these ants that, the don't seem to care.

 chive blossoms waiting to be arranged in a vase

 and as always, we have cake.  each week i make something different.  this one is a vegan carrot and zucchini cake.

 blueberry muffin cake made with berries picked in the demo garden.

and sometimes, you just have to mix it up.  with 6 pounds of blackberries from the garden, i made some jam and then baked biscuits to serve with it.