New Community Garden Page

This is a giant pumpkin growing at the community garden. Unfortunately, I didn't plant pumpkins in my plot, thinking I didn't have enough room. Chris pointed out that I could have planted some in the middle and let them grow. This idea was repeated by another gardener. 

Oh well, I'm there to learn. I will have to admire the pumpkins in other plots, and there are quite a few varieties. I did plant some mini pumpkin seed at my parent's house and hope to get a couple by Halloween. One perk of the community garden is that it provides full sun, something that doesn't exist in their yard anymore with mature trees.

I've been making some edits to the blog. I've added a page called "Community Garden" so I can keep some info and photos there. There is a tab at the top of the page (just under the daisy photo) that will take you to it. Right now I've got the results of my veggie crop, so feel free to take a look. Please leave a comment if you'd like. I'd love to hear feedback on some of my successes and failures.

Take a Drive to Vancouver Lake

South end of the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge, great place to visit anytime

Every once in awhile we take a break and drive out past Vancouver Lake (WA) and do a little bird watching. Now, we have family members that are true bird watchers, members of Audubon Society. What we do is drive around sight seeing and look for birds, usually from the car. Vancouver Lake is just west of downtown Vancouver and lies south of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.

I don't remember why we drove out there the first time, maybe because it made for a quick lunch spot when our office was downtown. But I do remember spotting Bald Eagles, which look cool even from a distance, without binoculars.

About a month ago we drove out there, again without binoculars, we saw dozens of white egrets. But on our last drive there, we brought the binoculars and saw 1 egret and 1 turkey vulture. 

Not a lot of birds, but the weather was perfect, sunny and cool. There are a couple of recreation areas and a dead end full of paint balls. There is Vancouver Lake Regional Park  & Frenchman's Bar Park which sits on the Columbia River west of the lake. Both now have parking  fees year round, a $3.00 honor system. But it's a beautiful place, and a free parking area is located between the two if you want to get some walking in. Here's a link to a pdf of the trail : http://www.cityofvancouver.us/parks-recreation/parks_trails/trails/pdfs/Frenchmans_VanLake.pdf

For some reason there are endless fields of corn, felt like driving in the mid-west.

The Columbia River, access to the Port of Vancouver

Vancouver (WA) Made It Into Sunset Magazine

Sunset magazine is one of my favorites, my parents subscribed to it and I started reading it as a teen. In college, I told a professor that my dream job would be working for Sunset, I just didn't want to move to California. 

I subscribe to it now and the October issue just got here. There on page 20 is a photo of the new downtown library next to a list of places to explore in Vancouver (aka The Couv).

On July 26th I wrote about my first visit to the new library in downtown Vancouver, WA. It had opened a year earlier, but I didn't visit it until we attended a film series hosted by the Vancouver Watersheds Alliance.  The building is really nice, with lots of wood, glass and stone. The layout is open and bright, and it is very clean and modern. It even has a cafe and computer class rooms, not to mention the outdoor terrace.

Library terrace shown in my July 26th post

Gardening Links

Sunflowers on my plot at the community garden

I found two great resources on a Facebook post the other day and wanted to share them. I follow Gardening (in real life), who shared a link from the Gardening Jones blog- "Extending the Garden Season".

First, was a link on Motherearthnews.com, that site alone could provide online reading for days. The link was to a What to Plant Now map, a regional planting map, you pick your area (Pacific Northwest) and the month (September) and it provides a list of plants and other resources specifically for that region. 

When I first looked at it I decided to pin it to my Veggie board on Pinterest. It was repinned about 6 times within the hour. That was specifically the Pacific Northwest page for September. Here's a link to the What to Plant Now page: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/What-To-Plant-Now.aspx. You can choose your region and month and go from there.

The second was an article called "7 Tips on Succession Planting". I like brief informative articles like this one. I'm just beginning to understand that planting can be done year round and I like it when people keep their advice simple.

Beach Photos and Fun for the Elk Family

While at the beach last weekend I took some photos of the plants around our inn. All are perennials, I liked the informal planting, letting them drape over walls. The fact that a nursery is just down the road is pretty evident. 

Black-Eyed Susan and asters

Agapanthus

Japanese anemone

Possibly a huechera, I liked the water drops on the leaves.

Of course I brought my camera to the beach, but found myself taking photos of elk instead of seagulls. On our last trip to the beach we saw elk in the sand dunes between the houses and the shore. They even yodelled, this freaked me out a little as I could clearly see the bucks with huge antlers a couple hundred feet from us.

Elk in the dunes on a Saturday

Down at the beach, actual elk hoof prints coming from the ocean

Taken from the road, over 40 elk
and some dummy trying to be one with the herd
(click on photos to enlarge)

After coming back up another trail, we looped back to the car and got our binoculars. I counted 37 elk: about 5 males,  a lot of females, and young ones. After counting, I then saw a group of six or more 'fawns' stand up then disappear in the grass again. All the while people came and  went on the trail, it was amazing to see. I don't know if this is common there or not. It was a great way to end our trip.

Fall Show at Monticello Antique Marketplace

Items in the Salvage Garden, really wanted that trellis.

This morning we drove across the river to Portland to see the Monticello Antique Marketplace Fall Show. The Salvage Garden looked better than ever and was packed full of vintage items. The Salvage Garden has all types of yard and patio furniture and decor and is my first stop when I go there. The rest of the store is just as interesting, Monticello has over 100 dealers and there were quite a few of them restocking their booths.

Lots of windows, gates, and picket fencing

Of course we stopped for lunch at Monti's Cafe, then did more looking around. I bought some "kits" with miscellaneous scrapbooking materials and a set of gift tags - thinking about the holidays. I actually spent under $20. I saw a lot of cool antiques, and when in doubt about the item, they are usually marked on the price tag. Today I saw old potato mashers, graters and egg baskets

If I had a yard, it would be covered with old watering cans. Bird houses too.

After shopping we went back to Monti's Cafe for coffees, they have an awesome pastry selection, but no gluten free items. The Fall Show lasts until September 30th. If you're in the Portland metro area I recommend going.

Beach Cottage Gardens

Natural Nook Florists and Gifts

While on vacation at the Oregon coast, I got to visit a small nursery that I love in Gearhart, Oregon. It's changed hands each time I've been there, and looks better than ever. Now called Back Alley Gardens, it is the outdoor nursery next to the Natural Nook Florists and Gifts at Fitzgeralds (previously Fitzgerald's Home and Garden). 

Back Alley Gardens

This little nursery is adjacent to a shop that now has a gift shop and florist. Next door is a small antique shop called Pacific Crest Cottage with tons of statuary and some really great vintage garden items (their signs are framed with vintage head boards). 

Pacific Crest Cottage

This nursery has character, and although it is tiny, it carries a range of plants that grow well here. You walk in and find an amazing assortment of plants, not endless flats of petunias or geraniums. I like it on it's own, but like even better that it is linked to two other shops that compliment it. 

Once you are done shopping, you can walk a block down the street and go to the french bakery for a snack or the cafe for lunch. Then take a walk on the beach. Am I gushing? Yes, it is all so perfect. This would be my 'dream job' to work and live in such a place.

Fall Planting

This morning I took my flat of vegetables and loaded them into the garden wagon. I felt a little odd bringing a flat of plants to the garden in mid September. This is the first time I've tried planting anything other than mums in the fall. Goal is to plant by September and harvest before the first  frost, which here ranges from Nov. 1-7.

I was told there's early planting (Sept.1-15) and late planting (Sept. 16-30) here in the northwest. I'd obviously missed the deadline for the early planting, and couldn't remember which plants to plant when, so I decided to just plant the ones I'd like to eat and see how that works. Technically, you can start planting in July, which my garden partner did, planting seeds for beans and a few other plants.

I'd also been told that it would most definitely rain on the 15th, but we are now having another wave of heat with a forecast in the 80s all week.  I hope those plants like the extra shot of sun.

Above are rows with two types of lettuce and spinach and some scallions in one corner of my plot. We had pulled the potato plants and some old nasturtiums out, added compost, then added some lime before replanting.

I planted some chard and pak choi in another spot that had carrots and nasturtiums earlier in the year. I've never grown either of the these and only have an idea of how to cook them, but it's time to expand my veggie horizons.

Technicolor Flowers

Sometimes my phone camera likes to do it's own special effects, and I'm not complaining, because I like the way these turned out. Also, pretty sure I couldn't have done this if I'd tried. This is a sunflower in my garden plot that has the brightest russet color. It looked so intense against the blue sky, it didn't matter that petals are missing and the background is a little too realistic.

Intense pale yellow sunflowers in a neighbor's plot 

Oh so bright zinnias in another garden

I took these after watering my plot Tuesday and couldn't help noticing all the gorgeous flowers as I walked back to the car. One perk of going to the community garden is seeing what others have tried and seeing great combinations of flowers mixed with vegetables. 

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
I'll be out of town for the next few days. If you're bored take a look at some of my favorite blogs and websites. There are links located at the bottom of the webpage. If you're still bored just click on the Pinterest button and check out my boards, maybe even start your own.

Buzzing Into Fall

(Click on the image to enlarge)

The other day I realized that the community garden had suddenly changed from a summer garden into a fall garden full of corn, squash and sunflowers.  I didn't have a camera with me then. Today I had my phone, but once again I was there late in the day in the bright light. I was wandering around aiming my phone at plants not really sure of what I pictures I was taking with the glare on my screen. 

When I sat down to look at the photos I was so pleased by this one. There are some giant sunflowers in the garden all of the heads hanging down. While I took this picture I was being buzzed by all of the bees - honey bees and bumble bees trying to get to this flower. If you look closely on the right you'll see one hard at work.

Surprise Appearance

A few days ago I went out onto the deck and found a single Morning Glory blossom growing in the planter with the Red Pear tomato plant. I had planted Morning Glory and Black Eyed Susan seeds along the wire mesh back of the planter. They started to grow but only made it a few inches. To be honest I'd forgoton about them. 

When I saw this flower (which was gone the next day) I realized how much I missed them (and their color). I will try to get seeds started earlier next year. I think it looks great with the red tomatoes.

Zucchini Casserole

Today I tried one of the recipes from the Your Backyard Farmer website. You'll find them on the lower left of their home page. I picked Zucchini Casserole because it listed all the the excess veggies from my garden: zucchini, tomatoes, and onions. I used a larger casserole dish and made one layer but it was very easy (a requirement) and tasted great. I grilled some polenta and had the zucchini casserole with it, making a nice gluten free lunch.

Here's a link to the recipes on their website: http://www.yourbackyardfarmer.com/recipies.pdf

Looking at their website made me wish I had a yard for them to help me create my own organic farm. Donna and Robyn led the Fall and Winter Vegetable class that we attended last weekend. They are both very down to earth and very knowlegeable, I learned a lot in that short class.

Guest Garden Photographer

These are photos taken by Chris recently at the community garden. While my camera is always aimed straight ahead or down at the ground, his camera is usually looking up.

I'm sure that by early December I will be looking at these wistfully. This first year at the Heritage Farm community garden has been great, we've grown summer veggies, flowers, and battled insects. But the best part has been watering, even weeding at the garden and enjoying a quiet almost rural setting just minutes from home.

Using Old Windows Wisely

Something that I learned Saturday at the Fall & Winter Vegetable Gardening class is pretty important. Since I was clueless about this, I thought I'd share. On Pinterest I have a board for images about Salvage Garden Art. All the images on that board have to do with recycling old items and creating something new, including old windows. I had several images of greenhouses made using old windows. 

At the class Saturday they pointed out that tender greens (lettuce, spinach, etc.) can absorb lead. Yikes! They said to never use old windows for green houses or cold frames because they may have lead paint.

Children and seniors are also more susceptible to lead poisoning. There are a lot of sites on lead paint poisoning online where you can learn more. I'm not claiming to know anything about it, other than the fact that I wouldn't want to introduce it to my garden (or food) unknowingly.

Here are instructions on making a mini greenhouse from Habitat For Humanity Restore. These instructions note that old windows may have lead paint and advise priming and repainting them, so that's an option. There may be others, but knowing about the possible contamination will have me looking at other alternatives for using old windows and doors in edible gardens.

*These are all images I'd been collecting on Pinterest for garden ideas. They have all been deleted now that I understand how harmful using old windows could be if used without  treating or testing first. To see all my boards, click on the red Pinterest button at the upper right of the page.

Your Backyard Farmer

Fall Flowers at Portland Nursery

We attended a class today called Fall & Winter Vegetable Gardening at Portland Nursery. It was an hour and a half course presented by Your Backyard Farmer. I am a first time community gardener and the plot I got back in March is mine for a full year. I'm learning how to grow vegetables in the 'normal' growing season from spring to fall. But right now is also the time to start some fall veggies before the first frost and time to get some root veggies planted that will stay put over winter.

Your Backyard Farmer is a business in Portland, OR run by two women, Donna and Robyn. They gave an excellent presentation today and answered lots of questions afterward. I just visited their website: http://www.yourbackyardfarmer.com/. They come to your house and help you with your garden, their goal is to create an organic farm at each place. They said that their service is great for busy people, but that they also help physically challenged people set up a garden. This would be a great option for seniors too. 

They gave specific advice on about 15 different plants. On which were better to start as seed or transplants. (I took 3 pages of notes.) I learned that the carrots I'd planted as starts last spring rarely do well when transplanted. I also learned that the plants that come in pony packs need to be separated and planted individually. Hana, my garden partner, will be happy to know I now understand that the onions should be planted individually.

It was a great class, the attendees looking like we were on the set of Portlandia. One guy had to interject that praying mantis eat hummingbirds (!?!).

Your Backyard Farmers will be teaching a class later in October on cover crops and I would like to attend that one too. Check out their website, on it they've got a link to a quarterly magazine called Edible Portland that looks interesting and some recipes as well.

I loved this echinacea plant and the trellis, but got lettuce instead