Tilly's Little Acre

I have so many plants that I started from cuttings and seeds that I have no idea what they are now. I am hoping to get some of them ID'd at the RU from you experts! Some are probably weeds that I am lovingly taking care of. When you are here, if you see a pampered weed, please just pull it out!!! I now use PNWmountain girl's suggestion and carry a roll of masking tape with me when I am taking cuttings.

Tills your dahlia bed looks great - so lush. Mine look like drowned rats. And Pooh is beautiful - but how did she get that name???

I do not know how he got his name, But a very dear friend knew I collected Tiggers ( Love Tigger have all kinds ). She went to a Dahlia show many years ago, and was sad that she could not find one called Tigger but she found A Pooh. I love him. Was the best present I ever got. And it is a living thing.
`````` Cat is helping me typ now.
LOL

Well she won, LOLfcddddd (her words)

To funny, I think I made her mad.

I wanted to show some new ones that have opened. This is not fully opened

Painted Lady

'Edinburgh'

Pretty!

Beautiful Tills....that look is the one I get when I have my computer on my lap instead of a cat. LOL

By who ???

My cat Poo (short for Pookie)

Ooooo What a cutie

She was a rescue from the field behind my house, one of my other cats brought her home one day! Took me two months to get hold of her (she was really scared) and she's attached to the hip ever since. LOL

LOL love that.
Mine have been all born here raise them, had the moms. But they are gone now.

Did not know where to go with this, found the pest that has been munching on my Dals.

How do you get rid of Earwigs ???????????

I do not want a spray, as I have all these spidys living there too. And I am never home to catch them. O'H what to do!!!!!!!

You can see the eggs or poop, what ever it is and they are inside the pedals.

I've read that you can make earwig traps with tunafish cans. (or any other shallow straight-sided container) You fill the cans about 1/2 inch with vegetable oil and place them around the flowerbed. The earwigs are attracted to the oil, crawl in and drown in it.

I've never tried it, so I can't promise it works.

Thats worth a try, now to find a can like that as we don't eat tuna. Nor do my cats get canned food. LOL

Hey got something you might like, but I won't have any tubers till spring.
Let me know, if you like it First.

Its call 'Summer Night'
Not fully open but its going to be stunning.

Ooooh. I love that color. You know what I like, huh! :D Yeah, if you wind up with any to share in the spring, I'd love to have one, please!

I am good LOL
You like bold, and it bears you name.

I will save you one when its time. Have some others that I am waiting for them to open.

Thanks, Tills. You're awesome. :)

LOL

The biggest problem using oil is that some animal will get into it. The old standard for catching earwigs is to take some newspaper, get it fairly wet, roll it up into a tube using a rubberband to hold it, then put it on the ground over night. In the morning, you will usually find a lot of earwigs inside. You don't even have to unroll it, just dump them into a bucket or bowl of soapy water. When I tried it, there seemed to be a never-ending supply of the darn bugs. I have lots of dahlias too and they sure love them.

Got to do something.

Got to teach DH on the paper trick, As I have no time in the mornings.
What if I can but cages around the oil? I really dought my aminals whoul mess with it and I have no wildlife that comes in my yard, a mole can have it might make them sick I hope. LOL

Recently, I tried that "Safer" brand garden spray on JUST the flower heads that showed the tell tale signs of earwigs on them. I swear...it worked. I lightly sprayed the FOLIAGE (with the same product) of my artichokes a few weeks ago and when I cut 'chokes for dinner two nights ago (and floated them in water to flush out any hitch hiking earwigs or invaders not ONE bug came up. I was still suspicious but we never found anything hiding in the leaves as we peeled them off either.

I'm no where near totally organic, but I reaaaaaaaally try to go easy on my beloved garden guests. I've even used a tea kettle full of boiling water to pour on weeds. It works great too albeit a bit time consuming running in and out...lol

We got it all together this morning in my garage.

I love those wagon wheel chairs!

Great job, did you both do it, or did you do it by yourself????? Ha Ha. Told her it was easy. Now to get it to her place.

Highmtn -- You're eating artichokes out of your garden now?????? Mine were done months ago.

Catma

Amazingly...it stays quite chilly here so things mature later! Having said that these are very young plants (first year) and I would guess they will produce earlier next year.

No joke...it was 48° here the other morning! I had built a small fire the night before to stop the furnace from running and it's set on 58°! Yet...good friends of mine up the mountain about 3 miles away have completely different blooming and harvest times then I do. On the water side of my house it can be very chilly every night due to the gentle ocean breeze....on the So. side it's always 10° warmer. It's kind of crazy to be honest...lol

I do have a few more 'chokes coming, but I don't think they'll make it unless we have a REALLY WARM fall which is uncommon. Right were I live we have an amazing micro-climate due to the water's influence. It's amazing how DIFFERENT the growing season is just a few miles away.

I have had 3 ripe tomatoes and lots just hanging around GREEN. My friends I mentioned above have had tomatoes coming out their ears for weeks!
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This message was edited Aug 27, 2009 9:41 AM

Wow Highmtn - where exactly do you live? It sounds fascinating!

Tils, We both worked on it. She did one side while I did the other. She put it back in her truck and took it home. She loved it.

I like happy endings. Hugs

Yes Highmtn, I like to know that too. I'm zone 8b too, everyone gets flowers way before me. I did not do veggies this year.

Most artichockes that are grown commercially come from the California coastal town of Castroville. They thrive in cool, foggy weather. Heat is the enemy. On the other hand, a hard freeze is somewhat rare in that part of the world so they don't loose their foliage during the winter which means they are 4 or 5 tall and producing full tilt in May. Here, we have to start over from the ground up in the spring. Mine always start to open too soon, which is not good. I have about 5 different varieties, one did quite well this year, but I don't remember the name -- I guess I will have to take divisions of that one and slowly replace the others because they did lousy. The artichokes in the stores are so tough and old -- and horribly expensive, they can't compare to the smaller ones you pick when the head is closed tight, they are soooo tender.

I'm in 8b too, but I have full sun -- the reason I'm planting so many baby trees. I drive down the road on the island and a mile away I'll see a tree or plant that is blooming before mine. There must be hundreds of micro climates around Puget Sound.

The only thing in my garden that is happy with all the heat this year are the tomatoes. I've been experimenting with different tomatoes. Siltez is doing well. I have Early Girl for the first time this year and the tomatoes are red ripe but hard and are not good -- is that normal? I also have an experimental tomato that has a number, not a name. It is only days away from being ripe so I don't know about it yet. What is the best variety for slicing as in a BLT sandwich -- that can handle the short season? My favorite hot season is Ace tomato, but I've ended up with a 100 green ones by October two years in a row, so I've reluctantly given up on that one.

Artichokes have always been my favorite food. Thanks for the info, Catma. I always thought they were Mediterranean and I assumed that meant heat. I guess I should do some reading up.

I can't even begin to imagine what a fresh artichoke tastes like.

Usually cherry tomatoes do better here - I don't know much about the big guys, except that I'll eat one if it's put in front of me. LOL

Ooh. I'm very intrigued by the info on artichokes too. I may just have to give them a try. They're one of my favorite treats- imagining having them fresh from my own garden has me drooling! :)

Check this out. I might have to order some just to splurge!! http://www.pelicannetwork.net/castroville.htm

I'm a little SLOW getting back in here, but with Till's having a BLAST with the Round-Up I don't think she was holding her breath to see my response...lol

Catma..
Your post was a WEALTH of info! I'm an ol' CA kid (raised in SF) and my dad raised artichokes like weeds. We were raised on seafood and artichokes....lol I still love both! Anyhow... Till's and I are both in zone 8b...and I am also in a major micro-climate. Two winters in a row my little area (about 2 SQ miles) was snowed in! Everyone who made it into work was calling me a "wimp" so I marched down my road ..and took several digitals. Then I emailed them into work...lol People were shocked. Where most folks got about 4" I had a measurable FOOT in in my front yard. My driveway is sloped INTO my garage...and backing out in a 2 wheel drive was impossible...lol Having said that...I also lived in ID for 25 years... I know how to drive in snow...but my vehicle was a 4x4 back then. Right here - ..when the winds howl like mad at most people's places my trees are barely moving. Just the very tippy tops of my giant Cedars might sway a little, but I get very little sustained winter wind right here. It has to be a NASTY winter storm to get the winds blowing hard at my house. I live just yards back from a 200' cliff and the locals think the ocean winds HIT the cliff face and shoot upward before coming forward. So...it arcs over the homes here. Also...we get to watch the bald eagles teach their babies how to fly annually right here. Sooooooooo many birds play in the wind currents here. But but... tomatoes NEVER ripen right here unless you have a green house and grow them right in the green house. It's crazy.. my chokes should have been in the perfect place this year, and I hope I don't lose them. We do get pretty cold... and they are in big tubs. Guess I'll find out.

Off to work...ugh. My Friday desk was a disaster...so I KNOW this is going to be one miserable Monday..

Tills...come back and show us what's going IN from the round-up at your secret hideway!

((((((((Hugs))))))))

PS
The store purchased artichokes don't hold a CANDLE to home grown cokes. The outer leaves on my chokes were a bit tough, but the center leaves and heart were HEAVEN! Kinda like comparing store bought "hot house" tomatoes to garden ripened tomatoes.

If you purchase store bought chokes pick them up and feel for WEIGHT. If they look like baseballs, but are light...they are OLD!

Please DO share the artichoke variety that you had such good luck with Catma (if you can remember it).

Katie
Thanks for the link too! I put my plants in my garage tubs this year instead of flowers....they ain't pretty plants, but they were worth it. I have fall sweet peas about to start blooming in the back of the tub...lol What the heck...hehe



This message was edited Aug 31, 2009 8:04 AM

I've been succesful growing them in my Z7 area. Mulch the crowns over winter - they will repay you kindly.
If you can't do chokes, consider Cardoon - stalks are edible, similar flavour.

Had a great time HighMtn. Just got home and have been unloading my new babies.
Down loading now.