28 July 2007 Growing Potatoes

http://moomi.notlong.com/ 28 July 2007 Potato Plant.

There is a lot of babble on the internet about growing potatoes with stalks supported by tires and using straw for covering. To my way of thinking this is only complicating matters. One hilling of plants after the main stalks emerge is probably more than sufficient. The view seems to be that potato tubulars are produced along the stalks, which is simply not the case.

New potatoes grow from shoots emanating from the very bottom of the stalks in a circle, almost from the seed potato itself. No new potatoes grow below the seed potato. The new potatoes must be protected from light, otherwise they turn green and are somewhat poisonous.

Hilling is done to protect the new potatoes from light, and the earth tends to support the weak stalks, since they tend to fall and spread out.

Study the attached pictures, which supports my view.

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27 July 2007 Mirabilis jalapa--Four O'Clock

http://fahgo.notlong.com/ 27 July 2007 Mirabilis jalapa--Four O'Clock

The seeds are planted in various locations about the end of May in Zone 5. The plant gets quite large and is a great filler. The flowers open in the late afternoon, hence the name Four O'Clock, and remain open until the sun gets high about 10 A.M. the following say. I always grow a few each year, since they grow easily, but they cannot tolerate any frost.

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26 July 2007 Papaver Somniferum Flowers

http://chaeh.notlong.com/ 26 July 2007 Papaver Somniferum Flower pictures with Description.

These poppies were first grown in 2005 and I only had four types. This year several more types were planted and pictures were taken and the plants marked for seed collection. It appears naming conventions are most obscure, so I decided on a simple descriptive method, which is indicated on the photographs. Flowers last only one day, but one stalk has many flowers so new ones appear daily, and their beauty is unsurpassed.

Apparently bulk food poppy seeds are of the Papaver Somniferum variety. I will plant some next year for variations. Since I have become familiar with these poppies, I have seen them growing in many different locations. The vegetation is a ideal identifier, since all the Papaver Somniferum have identical vegetation. After the flower head disappears it is impossible to determine the flower type.

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26 July 2007 Capsicum annuum 'Explosive Ember' Hot Pepper

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?UOHKY 26 July 2007 Capsicum annuum 'Explosive Ember' Hot Pepper

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?FSOYM 31 August 2007 Harvest of the produce from five plants.


26 July 2007 This small edible ornamental pepper was grown from seed and was put in the garden on 1 June 2007 in Zone 5. There are five plants, and they all thrived and are laden with fruiting bodies. I tasted one and indeed it is very "hot".

Where this pepper rates on the Scoville Scale is not known to me.

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26 July 2007 Crocosmia Lucifer

http://xaegh.notlong.com/ 26 July 2007 Crocosmia Lucifer

This plant is the center piece for the ornamental grass bed. This is the second year for this perennial, and it is expected to get much larger each year. The flowers are most attractive and rather unique.

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18 July 2007 Rudbeckia laciniata 'Hortensia' (Golden Glow)

http://eivic.notlong.com 18 July 2007 Rudbeckia laciniata 'Hortensia' (Golden Glow)

Common name : Outhouse Plant or Golden Glow. This plant was taken from another yard as a small clump. I have two clumps growing to fill empty spaces in the yard. The clumps are kept contained by digging trenches around the clumps. It can be a voracious spreader. Usually it blooms later in the season, but our warm dry summer appears to bring on blooms early. I tie a string around the upper area to prevent flopping after a heavy rain. I have seen the plant in many gardens, and nobody ever knew the name.

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17 July 2007 Raspberry

http://ibozo.notlong.com/ 17 July 2007 Raspberry.

These four plants were purchased from Home Depot in 2005. The plants grow to about two meters plus. The fruit is on last years stems, which will be cut to ground level after fruiting. The picture depicts the second picking and there will be a third picking. The first picking produced the same amount of berries. The berries are quite large and have an excellent flavour. The name of this cultivar has been lost.

I have anothe group which fruits later in the season. They are in their second year and they produce on new season's growth, and are cut to ground level for over-wintering. This is my first real experience with raspberry growing.

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17 July 2007 American Gooseberry (Ribes hirtellum)

http://ohyah.notlong.com/ 17 July 2007 American Gooseberry (Ribes hirtellum)

http://ohqui.notlong.com 25 July 2007 Picking the last of the Gooseberries.

This American Gooseberry bush was planted in the Spring of 2005. It produced a few berries in 2006. I pruned to five stems and they are full of fruit this year. The dish contains about one-quarter of the berries on the bush. In 2006 after fruiting the foliage was attacked by a fungus (Downey Mildew?) which devastated the leaves, but apparently had no lasting harmful effects. The fruiting stems are supported otherwise, the fruit laden branches fall to the ground. They are just another fruit for the home garden. They take up little room and require minimal care.

The berries are sweet with a bit of a tart tang, which is not unpleasant. I mix them with my raspberries and eat as a fruit dish with cream or milk or, sometimes simply put in the blender and make juice with other fruits. The berries are more pleasant and sweeter than my black current berries, but the gooseberries are a bit more fibrous.

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17 July 2007 Garden Flowers with Common Names

http://azuor.notlong.com/
17 July 2007 Garden Flowers with Common Names.
The lighting was perfect, a bright overcast morning, so pictures were taken of most of the garden flower heads. The pictures are annotated with the common names. Enjoy.

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16 July 2007 Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus L.)

http://ishoh.notlong.com/ 16 July 2007 Rose of Sharon
(Hibiscus syriacus L.)

There are eight Rose of Sharon in the garden. Blooming has started. The plants were obtained from a friend's garden, and were small twigs when dug up and planted in my garden in the spring of 2004. There are only two colours. All eight plants are thriving and are a substantial size in 2007. The plant requires little care. I do water it deeply when in drought conditions like this summer.


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15 July 2007 Bee Balm (Monarda didyma)

http://ujeir.notlong.com 15 July 2007 Bee Balm (Monarda didyma)

There are two large clumps of Bee Balm in the garden. This perennial spreads and grow with little care. Hunning Birds are attracted by this flower. My preference is for the taller flowering plants, this one fits in well.

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14 July 2007 Cleome or Spider Flower (Cleome hasslerana)

http://quiph.notlong.com/ 14 July 2007 Cleome or Spider Flower (Cleome hasslerana)


Cleome or Spider Flower is an annual and is put in empty spaces direct seeded. It doesn't interfere with other bloomers, and usually towers above most. Apparently hummingbirds enjoy this flower. There are several hunningbirds around my garden this year. I am itching to get a picture of one.


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14 July 2007 Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

http://aenai.notlong.com/ 14 July 2007 Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

This hardy perennial comes up every year and spreads a reasonable amount. The flower lasts almost all summer after blooming. I use to have only one stem, but now it is a clump, and I added another type last year so there are two clumps of slightly different flowers. It is always a welcome addition in the home garden.

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12 July 2007 Sunflower (Helianthus annus)

http://jomee.notlong.com

A few pictures of several of five sunflower plants. There is an attempt to grow one very tall. One is Titan about nine feet tall. It is in a good location and I water it carefully trying for maximium height, but it is in flower now and probably won't get much taller. Interesrting experiment anyway. All are very heaalthy with little bug damage, except for some holes in some leaves.

12 July 2007 Morning Glory Trellis.

http://oohah.notlong.com 12 July 2007 Morning Glory Trellis.

The morning glory trellis is 4 by 8 foot concrete reinforcing mesh supported by fence railings, held in place by plastic ties, all available in building supply stores. The mesh is painted with Tremclad rust proofing paint. Simple and easy to build.

The morning glory vines supply shade from the East sun the deck area. One one side of the trellis a sweet million tomatoe plant grows, sort of a renewable snack bar. The morning flowers are always a pleasure to view.

12 July 2007 Describing Papaver Somniferum Poppies.

Papaver somniferum (Opium Poppies)

http://yegho.notlong.com 12 July 2007. Simple method for the description of Papaver Somniferum (P.S.) Poppies.

The Papaver Somniferm poppies were first grown two years ago. The number of different flowers has become over-whelming. The information on the Internet for naming of the various flowers is more confusing than helpful.The simple system presented here is certainly not complete or adequate, but it will give the layperson a simple method of describing a P. S. flower. Many P.S poppies have different common names that are not readily comprehensible.

Anyway I hope this simple system is helpful, until something better is presented.

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10 July 2007 Effective watering of plant roots.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?LCFEO !0 July 2007 Effective watering of plant roots.

Watering using the city supply can be a hassle. Normal spraying methods usually only wets the surface plus the evaporation wastes water.

The device depicted is a normal hand held spray nozzle available in all hardware stores. The spray device is removed and the pipe is reversed and attached to the hose. This makes holding the device relatively comfortable.

The pipe is the inserted along a row of plants at probably one foot intervals and the water actually gets to the roots without waste of water. Using this method the time taken is less than spraying and more effective, since the water actually gets to the root area, and the foliage doesn't get wet.

The hydraulic effect of the stream makes inserting the pipe into the ground effortless.

8 July 2008 Tiger Lily

http://unahd.notlong.com/ 8 July 2007 Tiger Lily ( Lilium lancifolium, Hemerocallis Fulva)

This is NOT a native Norther American plant. Two small clumps were taken from another garden three years ago. In some areas it is considered an invasive plant. It is kept contained by digging a small trench around the bed. The plant requires almost no care. I do water it sometimes during dry spells. The plant makes a good filler for an empty space. The vegetation stays green all summer, and it is cut to the ground in the fall.

8 July 2007 Tobacco Plants

http://gahpi.notlong.com/ 8 July 2007. Tobacco Plants.

The seeds were started indoors about the first of March. I had six healthy plant and put two in the outdoor garden about the 28 of May. The seeds are very small and thinning was done by cutting the excess plants. The small plants need humidity so I grew in plastic bags slightly open. Aphids seem to love the broad leaves. The plants were grown for the novelty, since curing is a bit of a hassle.

My area in Southern Ontario is tobacco country, and the Governments are forcing the growers out of business by using quotas and cash incentives. There are still some major fields this year, but many farms have closed down. Some of the growing areas are being replaced with ginseng.

7 July 2007 Cuccumbers Producing

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?QXZZJ 7 July 2007 Cuccumbers Producing.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?LJYFH 9 July 2007 These few vines produce many cuccumbers, about 15 per day. There are six hills total about 15 plant in both beds. National Pickling and Country Cross are the types. They are good eating and pickling cuccumbers.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?ZKDKT 11 July 2007 Prolific producers. The Country Cross is producing slightly more than the National Picking at this time.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?PZYLW 26 July 2007 Cucumbers
Cucumbers are still producing.

The cuccumbers are on a trellis to contain spreading. There are two types being grown National Pickling and Cross Country.

Last year Downy Mildew destroyed my cuccumbers just as they started to produce in quantity.

There is no sign of the mildew this year to date. I notice one more corncumber was produced. It is always an interessting conversation subject.

6 July 2007 Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum)

http://sheph.notlong.com/ 6 July 2007 Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum)

http://oyeiy.notlong.com/ 12 July 2007 Pictures indicating Stem growth. The darker, larger stems are last year's stems. These larger stems will bear next years fruit, as will some of the new stems. Some of the new stems will be pruned out. I have removes the supporting stakes to allow the bush to open up, but will re-stake for over-wintering.

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/currants.html URL to a description of the plant and pruning methods.

6 July 2007 The first picture is the bush planted in May 2005. The Blackcurrent bush grows vigoursly. The remainder of the pictures indicate fruit production after one years growth. Some berries were blended with other fruits for a juice, and some will be eaten as a fruit desert. They are just another fruit for the home gardener, easy to grow.

5 July 2007 Portulaca Bed

http://oohae.notlong.com 5 July 2007 Portulaca Bed.
The portulaca in the center area were purchased as small plants. The plants on the outside periphery are from seed that over-wintered. New flowers form daily only if the sun is bright. This cultivar cannot withstand much water.The flowers fail to bloom if they are wet for three or four days.

Durgan.

1 July 2007 Pulling Garlic and re-planting.

http://aipoh.notlong.com/ 1 July 2007 Pulling Garlic and re-planting the area. Pictures.

http://meiso.notlong.com/ 8 July 2007. Processing Garlic for further drying. The garlic will be dried thoroughly then stored in paper bags.

http://uuwae.notlong.com 13 July Garlic stored.


1 July 2007. Garlic was pulled today and the area planted with two rows of lettuce and one row of Joi Choi for later season use. "Durgan's Method" of planting small seeds is explained with pictures.

Two garlic plants did not have the snake seed head (scapes) removed, and these were noticably smaller than the other bulbs. All the other bulbs were about the same size. These are slightly smaller than the crop of last year. This is attributed to insufficient watering. The quality is superb generally, and all would be marketable in the commercial world.