Strawberry Fields Forever

By Aggie, on November 13th, 2012

When I first turned the front lawn into garden beds, I had images of a pocket orchard, a veggie garden and flowers all co-existing in a happy, organic permaculture. One of the things I did not take into account while planning during those long winter months was how little full sun real estate I had. [...]

Early November — what’s in bloom?

By Aggie, on November 3rd, 2012

 

Purple Hyacinth bean, climbing up the front of the house:

Japanese Anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ — such an allstar:

Fuchsia still going strong:

Pineapple Sage, specifically ‘Golden Delicious’ — apparently a hummingbird favorite, but I saw only a handful of hummers this summer and they were all up in my white zinnias.

[...]

Pumpkin update

By Aggie, on August 17th, 2012

It’s been about 10 days since I discovered the Squash Vine Borers had been lunching on my pumpkin vines. I worried whether my little babies would make it, now that their main food supply was cut off. They developed new roots, which I nurtured half-heartedly, I mean there are a lot of mosquitoes out there, [...]

Squash Vine Borer disaster — averted?

By Aggie, on August 7th, 2012

Oh this most evil of garden pests! The Squashe Vine Borer (SVB) burrows into your cucurbit vines at the base, destroying the plant’s life force, and before you know it, your healthy vine is limp, leaves are desiccated, yellow, your plant is dying. Unless! Unless your plant finds another mechanism by which to survive. Plants [...]

Pretty in pink

By Aggie, on June 5th, 2012

Dusty miller, baby’s breath and hardy geranium:

Patchwork

By Aggie, on June 4th, 2012

I really like to cram them in, plants that is. I love a cozy knit together look, but I am also forgetful and bad at placing markers. So I plant things where other things are about to pop up. And I love things. A lot. Here’s one of my little patchwork quilts, all by accident. [...]

My back patio

By Aggie, on March 21st, 2012

This is what the table on my back patio looks like:

 

I’m sure it seems like a mess to my neighbors, but there is purpose in the chaos. Those are some of my tomatoes, taking in the sun. I have salvias and agastache coming along in the milk jugs. Flats of old-fashioned sweet-peas [...]

Crocus on a warm day

By Aggie, on March 8th, 2012

Early March and the bulbs are confused. All over town, daffodils are doing their thing. My hyacinths are popping up and plenty of tulip foliage can be seen. Last fall I helped my daughter’s classmates plant loads of bulbs in the small garden outside the front door, hoping for a nice show before school ended. [...]

Movin’ on up — aka repotting tomatoes

By Aggie, on February 22nd, 2012

I started my tomatoes in late January. Pretty early, but I am determined to have a longer tomato season than I did last year. This is batch no.1, and I plan to start another batch in late March.

So I sowed three different types, Black Cherry, Stupice and Sungold. The first two of the three [...]

What’s in bloom now

By Aggie, on February 15th, 2012

Hellebores everywhere. This is the first year my hellebores have bloomed. Many came from another gardener in Takoma Park who had many volunteers to spare in her own yard. Others I dug out of a fellow gardeners yard in the late summer. He and his wife had bought a condo and were moving out of [...]

 
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