Fort Bragg

In My Garden – August 2023
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In My Garden – August 2023

I don’t seem to be able to spend much time at my desk these days. Lots of my time is spent in the garden, some in the kitchen, although that also seems to be limited in the summer. It’s too easy to plop something on the grill and make a salad. The first tomatoes are at the market and we will make a meal out of toasted sourdough bread, sliced summer tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, grilled zucchini from the garden, and whatever protein seems available at the moment. Fresh mozzarella comes to mind, beer can chicken, or a piece of fish.

Beer Can Chicken

Beer Can Chicken

There are a couple of recipes for beer can chicken on my blog. You will find one for a Middle Eastern inspired one here and an Italian-inspired one here. 

I don’t actually use a beer can anymore, but you could. I found that they tip over too easily and now use this handy grill plate with containers that lock. I originally purchased it from Williams Sonoma, I am not sure if they still carry them.

Anyway, this is supposed to be a blog post about the garden so let’s get on with it.

We replanted the front garden bed after the deck was completed. It will be a couple of years before the small  ceanothus and  rock rose shrubs hit their stride. Along with them are some Dutch irises and variegated lavender.

2023 front garden

2023 front garden

By the front steps I planted fuschias (mite resistant) and purple clematis.

fuschias (mite resistant) and purple clematis

fuschias (mite resistant) and purple clematis

The fuschia on the right is Old Berkeley, an heirloom variety and it has really taken off.

The three raised beds that were replaced in the vegetable garden area are doing well now they are out of reach of the redwood roots. The asparagus crowns are showing their ferny beauty. It will be a couple of years before I can harvest the stalks.

Asparagus

Asparagus

We have harvested a few meals of zucchini for grilling.

Zucchini

Zucchini

And the bush beans that were planted three weeks ago are showing signs of flowering in another week or so. I seeded three different varieties.

Bush beans

Bush beans

We hope to finish one more raised (really raised) bed this week. Digging out all the redwood roots, repairing them, raising them a foot above the ground, and refilling them with new soil takes some time. Look at the roots invading this one. They had filled the entire box, breaking through the heavy weed cloth and wire mesh.

My back appreciates them being above the ground.

The flower beds at the back of the house are beautiful, here’s a quick glimpse.

I’ve had lots of cut flowers for the house.

Speaking of cut flowers, the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens recently held a cut flower arranging workshop. I hosted and got to attend. The arrangements were beautiful and it was a lot of fun, true artistry was expressed. It was very inspiring. Here are some pictures of the arrangements…

The dahlias are in full bloom at the Gardens and they were front and center in most of the arrangements. My own dahlias are a few weeks behind. Look for pictures next month.

The native bumble bees are everywhere in my garden, they especially love the lavender. The Spanish lavender along the driveway is the first to bloom, followed by the French lavender about a month later. They both teem with bees when in bloom.

You may remember my poor lemon tree that was on the back deck in a half wine barrel. When work started on the deck it was relegated to a spot under the bottle brush tree in the back. The barrel was falling apart and I am afraid I forgot to water it most days. When the deck was completed we planted it in the ground, giving it lots of new soil, water, fertilizer and finally some love. Well, much to my surprise, it is rebounding and shows new growth. I am hopeful it will bloom and produce some Meyer lemons next year. Meanwhile I will continue to give it love.

The pollinator garden also has a lot of bumblebees as well as birds and butterflies. It’s a wild place with grasses blackeyed Susans, Shasta daisies, yarrow of various colors, and assorted natives.

It’s a challenge to keep up with the deadheading, watering and weeding, a busy time in the garden. But I love it.

Lastly, this cloud formation was seen in the sky above the garden. I’m not sure I’ve seen a similar one before.

Clouds

Clouds

Happy gardening everyone.

In My Garden – June 2023
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In My Garden – June 2023

The big news in the garden is that the deck is finished. We moved the furniture and a few select plants back this past weekend and had our first dinner party on Sunday evening. It was the first time for guests in over three months, they started construction immediately after we returned from New Zealand.

Deck to the front door

Deck to the front door

The new deck wraps around three sides of the house.

Deck facing the meadow

Deck facing the meadow

There is a connecting walkway to the large deck in the back, off the kitchen.

Connecting walkway to the back deck

Connecting the walkway to the back deck with Quinn

There is a gap next to the house where I have planted a hydrangea and a couple of ferns. They should quickly fill in and discourage anyone from falling in.

New plantings - hydrangea and ferns

New plantings – hydrangea and ferns

The new deck in the back is both wider and longer than the old one. We eventually plan to put a hot tub in the back.

Back deck off the kitchen

Back deck off the kitchen

The contractor thoughtfully built a small table next to the grill, and a power plug under the deck for the Traeger grill when we use it for smoking.

All this has dramatically increased our living space.

Ready for entertaining

Ready for entertaining – Shanna and Quinn

Both dogs love company, especially when they bring along their own dog.

So, what else is new in the garden? My handy husband has been raising the vegetable beds off the ground. If you are a regular reader you know about my battles with the roots of our surrounding redwood trees. They are very invasive and come in through the bottom of the beds, through two layers of extra strong weed cloth. I have had to dig out the beds a couple of times a year to remove the roots. Plus the roots acidify the soil. Most vegetables prefer soil that is a bit more alkaline or neutral.

It takes a couple of days to dig out the beds and raise them off the soil. So far we have three completed ones.

New raised-raised beds

New raised-raised beds

I have long wanted to put in asparagus, but that wouldn’t work if the bed had to be dug out. I had this problem with artichokes and it didn’t work very well. The closest bed now has asparagus. I checked this morning and it is starting to come up. Unfortunately, I will have to wait a year or so before we can harvest any for eating.

First asparagus

First asparagus

The next bed has zucchini, a summer favorite. I planted several colors and types.

Zucchini

Zucchini

The last bed, closest to the house, has mixed lettuces, arugula, and some bronze kale.

Lettuce and arugula

Kale, lettuce, and arugula

There are still six beds to complete. The next one built will get more lettuce or green beans.

What about the rest of the garden? Well, it’s spring and the flowers are blooming like crazy.

There is still a lot of work to do over the next few months. A Meyer lemon tree lived in a half-wine barrel for several years on the back deck. It’s time to plant it in the ground and it is looking very sad right now. I dug part of the hole last weekend and hope to get it into the ground this one. Fingers crossed that some good dirt, fertilizer, and room to spread its roots will save it. I miss fresh lemons from the garden.

Meyer lemon

Meyer lemon

The strawberries at its base are thriving although the dogs and birds get most of them.

Thank you so much for visiting and taking a walk around the garden.

 

In My Garden – Mid May 2023
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In My Garden – Mid May 2023

Our 14-year-old Australian Shepherd, Casey, is not doing well. We suspect she has cancer, and it has settled in her lungs. She wakes at dawn, coughing. We think there must be fluid accumulation overnight. Once she moves around a little and empties her bladder she quietens and can go back to sleep. I get up and stroke her, sit with her outside a bit while she wanders around, and have my first cup of tea.

Once I am up, however, I can’t go back to sleep. I like the early morning. Mornings are quiet as far as people noise. But very noisy in other ways. The ocean is roaring this morning. The tide must be high with larger than usual waves. We are at least half a mile away but can hear the surf most days.

I also hear the morning chorus of the birds. Do you know the Merlin App? It can identify birds by their song. I let it run this morning while I sipped my tea, and it identified the following birds:

  • Swainson’s Thrush
  • Chestnut-backed Chickadee
  • Violet-green Swallow – they are also called tree swallows and have nested in at least one of our birdhouses
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Wilson’s Warbler
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Common Raven
  • Stellar’s Jay
  • Black-headed Grosbeak
  • Pacific-slope Flycatcher
  • and a Great Blue Heron (it must have been flying overhead)

That is quite a list and they make quite the orchestral sound.

The platform of the back deck (the one off the kitchen) is completed. We were able to set up two chairs and enjoy a glass of wine on Friday night. It’s also where I sat with my tea this morning to record the birds.

Back Deck Platform

Back Deck Platform

Yesterday I dug out two large plants (one was a huge grass) from one of the flower beds. They weren’t that attractive and were shading other plants. I’ve put in a few dahlias and other plants that weren’t doing well in their current locations. This is a sunny bed. My early morning excursion brought attention to a lone banana slug making its way towards the dahlias (they love dahlias) and I was able to intercede before any damage was done. 

I haven’t quite decided what I will put in the middle. I have a few more dahlias in pots that are just starting to emerge, I think they are fairly large and could go in the middle. Sunflowers??? I want a focal plant, something red or yellow or blue. Suggestions of things that work well with dahlias? Something tolerant of low water, redwood roots, acidic soil, and sandy loam soil.

The same bed, just around the corner, is rampant with Geum Tangerine Dream and Columbines. The Geums do very well and can tolerate crowding by other plants.

 

More pictures of that same garden island bed…

A lot is going on in this section of the bed…ravens wing, cuphea, geum, grasses, lavender, Verbascum, and more.

The one completed raised – raised-bed has lettuce and radishes. With our recent sun and warmer weather, they are doing well. We hope to complete one more today, I have asparagus starts I want to put in.

Spring is finally here.

The sweet peas are going to be in bloom any day.

That’s my mid-month report.

I will keep you all informed about Casey.

Casey

I hate to think about having to put her down. She’s been ‘the one’ for me. You know what I mean if you are a dog owner. There will be one special one. Casey came to us as a puppy just a week after Chris left for college on the East Coast. They have teasingly called her my ‘child-replacement-dog’. I’m her person and she is my dog.

 

In My Garden – Early May 2023
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In My Garden – Early May 2023

There has been great progress on our new decks over the past three weeks. They are starting to lay the boards on the one off the kitchen French doors. They plan to complete this deck before they tear down the deck by the front door, ensuring we have access in and out of the house without going through the master bedroom.

We plan to eventually put a hot tub in the back portion under the redwoods. With that thought in mind, they are installing both power and water.

A walkway will connect the deck off the kitchen to the front deck. When completed, the decks will go around three sides of the house. It will dramatically increase our outdoor living space.

The deck facing the big meadow has been framed.

 

Meanwhile, the vegetable garden is starting to show some growth. Remember the mixed seeds I planted last month? I posted a picture on Instagram. The mix is inspired by one that Cecilia from the blog The Kitchen’s Garden wrote about. If you are not familiar with her blog, I highly recommend her as it is entertaining and very informative about sustainable living. She hails from New Zealand and has what she calls a farmy in the midwestern part of the U.S.

Cecilia’s Mixed Salad

It’s a mix of different greens for salad.

They are starting to come up. I was surprised to see the peas as one of the first types. I also see some lettuce and what might be beets or chard (a seed packet was added after the picture above). I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the seedlings are also arugula, but I can’t identify it yet. These were seeded about 2 weeks ago.

Cecilia’s mix

The mix planted last weekend (5 days ago) is also showing some tiny growth.

Cecilia’s Mix

Some of the dahlias are pushing through the dirt. Time to bait for slugs, they love dahlias.

Due to the colder winter and spring, everything is a bit late this year. We’ve also had quite a lot of (very welcome) rain.

 

 

 

In My Garden – April 2023
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In My Garden – April 2023

Spring is finally here, weather-wise. It has been (and continues to be) an unusually cold winter and spring. Temperatures still drop into the high 30s to low 40s F at night, we’ve even had frost warnings. But, during the day the sun is shining and we are up into the low 60s F. This morning I walked around the garden, examining dead stalks of plants to see what has survived.

Last fall I planted three Cuphea micorpetalas (candy corn plants also sometimes called cigar plants) in the pollinator garden. Only dry branches have been showing for months. I feared that they were victims of the wet and cold as they are not particularly hardy. But small shoots are starting to burst from the root area. Joy! Signs of life and spring. On researching their hardiness I read that they are evergreen to 25 or 30 degrees F, but root hardy to 0 degrees.

Take a look at this plant…

Centaurea Montana

Centaurea Montana

Aren’t the flowers striking? Centaurea Montana is a species of cornflower. They are also in the pollinator garden.

Poppies

Poppies

Also poppies in the pollinator garden, and…

Geranium purenaicum Bill Wallis

Geranium purenaicum Bill Wallis

Geranium Bill Wallis, which self-sows itself all over the garden.

There are lovely pops of color within all that green.

The first rhododendron has a few blooms.

Everything is late this year.

Polemonium carneum - also called Royal Jacob's Ladder

Polemonium corneum – also called Royal Jacob’s Ladder

I planted several Jacob’s ladders last spring and this is the first time they have bloomed. They are doing well both in a half barrel and in the ground. The foliage is very ferny-like and I didn’t think they would be very hardy. But they have thrived. The flowers are sweet, pink with yellow centers. They look fabulous mixed with hellebores.

These trout lilies are blooming in partial shade under the tan oaks and Ceanothus ‘Julia Phelps’.

Yellow Trout Lily

Yellow Trout Lily

 

Ceanothus 'Julia Phelps',

Ceanothus ‘Julia Phelps’

The bumblebees are happy with the flowers.

Last year’s (at least I think) tree swallows have claimed their same birdhouse, and chickadees are hovering around another. I saw the first Rufous hummingbird at the feeder this morning. Signs of an actual spring!

Here is an update on our decks. The supports for the back deck are going in after 6 days of work and the pilings for the side have been placed.

Supports for deck off the kitchen
Pilings for the connector, back to front deck

I have a question for the gardeners who are reading this. There was a lemon tree in a half wine barrel on the old deck off the kitchen. It has been in that barrel for around 10 years and has been unhappy for the last year (at least). When we moved it off the deck the barrel partially disintegrated. You can see the tree under the bottle brush in the picture on the right, and below.

 

There is a spot for it at the corner of the new deck (near where it is right now) for it to be planted in the ground. Should I try and save it? Or should I bite the bullet and purchase a new one? It’s a Meyer Lemon and strawberry plants have seeded (seemingly out of thin air) themselves under it.

What do you think? I would appreciate your thoughts.