Dandelions
5/07/2008
I was driving home from work the other day and had to stop the car to take of picture of this guy's lawn. He must be the most hated person in the neighborhood but to you Mr. Dandelion Farmer, I say, you're awesome!
Now here's a guy who probably hasn't used a lawn chemical in years and that's a good thing in my book. Most of my neighbors are retirees with lawns so green that it looks like someone painted them. If a stray leaf should blow into their yard, they're outside within minutes to pick it up.
Crews come every week to cut, spray, feed and blow all the debris off their outdoor green carpets. Having a "perfect" lawn was something that's important to that generation but thankfully the tradition is fading away.
And because I don't want to be considered the lazy Joe on the block, I'm out there working hard to get my organic lawn to look pretty good. That's my goal, just pretty good. As long as it's green and cut nicely, I'm happy. Thankfully, I have tons of clover mixed in my lawn that covers the looking green criteria. And it holds up better to my kids food traffic too.
But this Dandelion Farmer guy doesn't mind being the lazy Joe on his block. And in fact, in my imagination, I see him as being proud of it. Maybe his entire basement is filled with wine making equipment and he's producing homemade dandelion wine by the barrel. And that's a lot more exciting that having a boring lawn.
Posted by Anthony 6:57 AM 6 comments
Labels: garden pictures
Chives
4/16/2008
And the winner of the first garden fresh food ready to get eaten in 2008 goes to chives. Tell him what he's won, Johnny.
As the grand prize winner, Chives, you'll receive a wonderful spa day which includes resting on a luxurious bed made of baked potato.
Oooooooohhhhh.
But that's not all. We're also going to slather you with the finest sour cream.
Aaaaahhhhhh.
Posted by Anthony 7:38 AM 4 comments
Labels: garden pictures, vegetable garden
Feels Like Spring
4/10/2008
Posted by Anthony 8:35 PM 3 comments
Labels: garden pictures
Signs of Spring
3/18/2008
Posted by Anthony 4:16 AM 0 comments
Labels: garden pictures
Rhododendrons
2/12/2008
This past weekend I was excited to see that the buds on my rhododendrons are starting to swell up. That usually means that spring is on it's way but as I'm typing this post, we're in the middle of a winter weather advisory in New York/New Jersey. It seems that after getting an inch or two of snow today, it has decided that ice should fall from the sky for the rest of the night.
Checking back on some old posts, my Rhododendrons don't usually open until April or May. So seeing that bud was really just wishful thinking on my part.
My rhodos will have to wait a few months before they can start blooming and I'm going to have to get the shovel out of the garage tomorrow morning and chip away that ice.
Posted by Anthony 7:15 PM 0 comments
Labels: flower, garden pictures, plants, weather
iPhone Fun In The Garden
2/09/2008
Posted by Anthony 9:36 PM 7 comments
Labels: garden pictures
Name That Fungus
1/16/2008
Does anyone know what this stuff is? It's some sort of fungus that's growing in my mulch.
It doesn't really bother me because my yard is always full of mushrooms and weird growths because I use so much mulch and almost finished compost everywhere. I even get a nice bunch of morels that sprout up every once in a while.
My guess is that it's something that grows where ever there's decaying wood (like my shredded wood mulch).
Most likely, I'll just cover it up with more mulch this spring when I top off all of my border beds.
Posted by Anthony 6:42 AM 6 comments
Labels: garden pictures
Raking Leaves Is No Fun
12/12/2007
Before ... (well actually half-way done at this point)
... and after.
If you love going outside, getting fresh air and some exercise, then you should probably like spending a nice autumn day raking the leaves in your yard, right? Wrong! There's nothing fun about this wretched chore. And if someone tries to tell you different, then they're just trying to sucker you into raking their leaves for them.
The only good thing about raking leaves is that when I'm done, my compost bins are full. All of those leaves are going to break down and help next year's garden grow.
Oh wait, I also enjoy when my kids come and jump into a big leaf pile. You'd think that would be annoying because I have to rake the leaves back into a pile but it always brings a smile to my face. I usually jump into the pile with my kids and we lie on our backs and make leaf angels. So I guess that's two things I like about raking leaves.
You know what I like too? It's fun to walk around on my pool cover. It's sort of like a trampoline. I use the leaf blower to get all these leaves off the cover so that the pump doesn't get jammed up. They have an elephant standing on it in the pool cover brochure, so it's no big deal for me to take an occasional stroll.
And oh yeah, I like taking a break to have some hot cocoa too. Nothing beats having a hot cocoa out in the crisp autumn air.
Well fine, I guess I do like raking leaves after all.
Posted by Anthony 3:00 PM 3 comments
Labels: garden pictures
The Big 'Shroom
8/01/2007
Posted by Anthony 11:31 PM 3 comments
Labels: garden pictures
The Good Stuff
7/19/2007
Posted by Anthony 7:46 PM 10 comments
Labels: garden pictures
Daylily In The Rain
6/18/2007
We had an unexpected rain storm this weekend. It was unexpected but very much welcomed.
Any day that I don't have to drag the hoses all over the yard to water everything is a good day.
I think this daylily agreed with me because it opened up the very next day after the storm.
Posted by Anthony 8:32 AM 7 comments
Labels: garden pictures, weather
Garden Picture
6/09/2007
This is the neatest my vegetable garden has been in a few years. Usually the weeds between the raised beds are just as tall as the vegetables. But after putting down a fresh layer of mulch, everything looks good.
I also took down the wire fencing that I've been using to keep the woodchucks and rabbits out and replaced it with black deer fencing. You can get a 100 foot roll of deer fencing for like $12 and I only needed a few 2x2s for posts. The best part is that you can hardly see it. The wire fencing was an eye sore.
Now the sad part about this neat garden is that I'm way behind with my planting. I've got my tomatoes and peppers in but not much else. This weekend I'm going to try and get my cucumbers, squash and pumpkin in the ground. Let's hope for a warm September.
Posted by Anthony 1:46 PM 2 comments
Labels: garden pictures, raised beds, vegetable garden
Blackberries
6/05/2007
Does anyone have a good recipe for blackberry jam? I think I'll have a few extra blackberries this year and I might have to make some jam. 
Posted by Anthony 6:58 AM 6 comments
Labels: berries, garden pictures, vegetable garden
What Can You Do With 35 Yards Of Mulch?
5/31/2007
Posted by Anthony 6:36 AM 12 comments
Labels: garden pictures, mulch
Hosta Pictures
5/19/2007
Posted by Anthony 10:07 AM 6 comments
Labels: garden pictures, plants
Random Blooms
5/14/2007
Posted by Anthony 11:31 PM 4 comments
Labels: flower, garden pictures, macro
Asparagus
4/05/2007
For a vegetable that's so delicious, it sure starts out ugly.
Posted by Anthony 12:11 AM 7 comments
Labels: garden pictures, macro
Crocus
4/03/2007
I just heard the weather report and now they say there's a chance of snow here in New Jersey this weekend. My bulbs are starting to open despite a major beating from old man winter after they had already sprouted.
And now they might get covered up by the white stuff yet again.
Even if it doesn't snow, I doubt this crocus will make it past the weekend. My daughter is a notorious flower picker.
Posted by Anthony 10:27 PM 5 comments
Labels: flower, garden pictures, macro, weather
Random Garden Picture
1/09/2007
Posted by Anthony 11:32 PM 0 comments
Labels: garden pictures
Pine Cone Picture
12/17/2006
Posted by Anthony 10:44 AM 0 comments
Labels: garden pictures, macro
