Monkey head flower bed

Okay, creating a flower bed that's shaped like a monkey head wasn't planned.  It just happened that way.  We had hundreds of granite cobblestones that needed to be put to use, so we decided to create a round flowerbed in the middle of the front yard.  Why not?  There's less grass to cut in the front yard now, too.

See?  A large, round head with ears- monkey head flower bed!  Even our neighbors have commented that the beds resemble a monkey head.

In the center of the main, round bed is a pagoda tree (I believe that's what it is), and around the perimeter of the tree are six different red iris'.  Of all the iris' planted in the yard, there are no red-colored iris.  The beauties planted here will right this wrong beautifully.  The collection of reds include Ruby Morn, Play with Fire, RIP City, Fortunate Son, War Chief, and Sultan's Palace.

Two layers of cobbles border the round bed while a single layer form the half-circles.  A thick layer of mulch tops the soil to help insulate it from moisture loss and weed growth.  The addition of this bed reduced the amount of grass in the front yard by half.  Yay!

Planted in the "ears" is 'dusty miller' and red snapdragons.  They're annuals but we're going to enjoy changing the look with new annuals each year.  We don't have many annuals growing in the yard and there are plenty of wonderful options, including herbs and other edibles, to choose from.

The same cobbles now border all of the flower beds in the yard, and they look fantastic.  These are the same cobbles used to make our fire pit as well.

Our first substantial harvest included cucumbers, tomatoes, and hot peppers.  We've also enjoyed a couple succulent, sweet cantaloupe.  Goodness is being harvested daily.  Mmm-mm!

Garden planning info

This year's growing season may be over but now is the time to begin planning next season's garden. Compiled below is a list of gardening catalogs and web sites that I favor.

For the past three years only heirloom seeds and plants have been grown in Wright Gardens.  No hybrid seeds or plants.  The references below reflect the same standard.  Less grass, more food!


Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds - They sell only open-pollinated, non-GMO/GE seeds.  Included on the Safe Seed Resource List.

Botanical Interests - High quality seeds, many heirloom varieties, and a large variety of organic seeds.  No GMO/GEs.  Botanical Interests have signed the Safe Seed Pledge and are included on the Safe Seed Resource List.

Edible Landscaping - No herbicides are used on their plants, and none of their products are derived from or contain any GMO/GEs.

Filaree Garlic Farm - Certified annually by the Washington State Department of Agriculture, all of their garlic is certified organic.  Filagree Garlic Farm grows most of the garlic they sell and purchases the rest from other small, certified organic farmers in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.

Hood River Garlic - Hood River Garlic is a small, certified organic garlic farm located in Oregon's Hood River Valley.  They have been certified organic by the Oregon Tilth since May 2002.

Native Seeds/SEARCH - Offers seeds best suited for the Greater Southwest region (U.S.).  Included on the Safe Seed Resource List.

Nourse Farms - Berry plants.  No GMO/GEs.

Richters Herbs - They pledge not to knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants by signing the Safe Seed Pledge.  Richters Herbs is included on the Safe Seed Resource List as well.

Seed Savers Exchange - Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds.  Included on the Safe Seed Resource List.  

Select Seeds - Rare and heirloom variety of flower seeds and plants.  Included on the Safe Seed Resource List.

Victory Seeds - Rare, open-pollinated, and heirloom seeds.  Included on the Safe Seed Resource List.

Hollingsworth Nursery - Peonies are all they do.

Moss Acres -  A beautiful lush green and the perfect solution for a shady area in your garden.  Moss is perfect for terrariums of all sizes, too.

Peony's Envy - More peonies.

Schreiner's Iris Gardens - High quality rhizomes that produce spectacular flowers.

Simply Succulents

Weeks Roses

Area calculator

Mother Earth News - Vegetable Garden Planner

NCDC: Freeze/Frost Maps

Uncle Jim's Worm Farm  - Indoor and outdoor composting supplies.  And, of course, worms!

Don't forget garden tools!

The Cool Down

The growing season is beginning to wind down and although this makes me a little sad, I've learned plenty that will make next year's garden even more successful.

Tomato plants need loads of room to grow.  Each year I've allowed more space between the plants than the year prior, but it never seems to be enough.  When the wee seedlings are transferred to the garden bed, the space between each plant seems so vast.  Yet, inevitably, a tomato jungle forms and surrounding plants are swallowed by the jungle or shaded to the point that their growth is stunted.

The plan for next year is to give the tomatoes their own beds.  This strategy worked out very well for the two melon and two squash varieties grown in Wright Gardens, so why not for the tomatoes?  Having their own bed will guarantee that the plants will get proper air circulation and sunlight.  It will be much easier to pick the tomatoes as well when there is one plant per bed.

Watermelon and butternut squash have been coming off the vine left and right.  Both will continue to be grown in Wright Gardens each year.

Our first pie pumpkin was picked on Monday.  It will soon be transformed into pie.  Pumpkin ice cream is a distinct possibility as well.

After picking the ripe pumpkin in the above photo, I checked on the other two pumpkins to see how they were doing.  When I neared the smallest pumpkin, this is what I found.  Imagine a wild creatures face all sticky with pumpkin.  I did and it makes losing this pumpkin less painful.

The butternut squash and pumpkin vines were infected with what appeared to be white mildew on the leaves.  In an attempt to prevent whatever it was from spreading, I cut off the affected leaves and discarded them.  This didn't work, however, as each leaf soon became infected.  Whatever the substance is, thankfully, it did not seem to affect the plants ability to produce fruit.

The watermelon vine, although a vigorous grower, struggled, too.  Perhaps the soil lacked, or contained too much of something, as the vine nearer to the main stem yellowed rather than remaining green.  This happened when the plant was still young, too, and only one tiny green egg-sized watermelon was present on the vine.

Research over the winter months will be to learn what caused these vines to react this way and, hopefully, prevent the same thing from happening during future growing seasons.

"To be a successful farmer one must first know the nature of the soil."  

-- Xenophon, Oeconomicus, (400 B.C.)

When I was deciding whether or not to grow okra, the selling point was the plants flowers.  They're gorgeous! As you can see, they resemble hibiscus flowers.  The Burgundy okra is delicious, too.

Two new flower beds have been added to the yard.  The first, technically, isn't new, but the bed is now more substantial.  Four tall bearded iris rhizomes have been planted in the bed.  Two named Tour de France, one Blueberry Bliss, and one named Hello Darkness.

With our order we received a free tall bearded bonus iris named All Night Long, which we planted in one of the flower beds in the front yard.

While clearing out the hostas originally growing where the iris' above are now planted, I discovered a praying mantis!  Seeing her head turn to look up at me as I took her picture made me grin.  Still does.

The second flower bed was added along the south side of the garage.  Planted there is a common purple variety of the tall bearded iris.  The contrast of the flowers soft organic shape against the brick wall should be striking.  The colors should be complimentary, too.

"Plowed ground smells of earthworms and empires."  --Justin Isherwood

 Chet relaxing.

Chet chomping on grass.  This picture cracks me up.

"Dirt is a lot more fun when you add water!"  -- Dennis the Menace

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Late Spring brings the next wave of color

The tulips have faded and now it's time for the iris' to take center stage.  The plants are well established now and each of the stems have several sockets blooming at once.  The colors are dazzling!  We're excited to head outside each day to see what else is blooming.

A couple poppies have already bloomed but it's just the beginning; there are many more pods forming and getting ready to burst open.  Yarrow and peonies aren't far behind.

Safari Sunset

Sadly, I cannot recall the name of this lovely iris.

Papaver Somniferum

Praying mantis egg nestled in poppy leaves.

Spent poppy

Tour de France

Boo!  Can't tell you the name of this beauty either.

Gingersnap  (She smells like root beer!)

Rave On (orange iris)
Sadly, I cannot remember the name of the iris in the foreground.

Today I pulled the first four radishes from the garden!  The act of harvesting food from the garden, especially when started from seed, is one of life's simplest pleasures.  The entire process of gardening makes me so happy.  These radishes are about four inches in length, they're crisp and have a pleasant bite to them.

Long Scarlet Radish

Everything is coming up irises!

Last year our irises were busy establishing themselves so only a couple of the plants actually produced a flower or two.  The plants weren't very big or strong but this year is a different story.  The plants are large and producing several flowers per stalk. We're pretty pleased with how our flower beds are transforming and how lush everything is looking.

This is our Root Beer Iris.  It smells like root beer!  No joke.

The garden is under going an upgrade this year.   8 yards of soil was delivered Friday afternoon and a frame for a raised bed was built today (Memorial Day).  I wish that more could have been accomplished but Mother Nature put the kibosh on using power tools Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday was spent shopping for the lumber to build the raised bed frame as well as to purchase a new circular saw.  Yes!  The saw is my first power tool purchase.  It's completely geeky but I was giddy driving home in Hank (my F150 pick-up truck) with the bed full of lumber, a new wheelbarrow and a circular saw.

Originally, the plan was to rent a mini bobcat to move the mound of soil from the driveway to the garden bed, but with the rainy weather it was uncertain whether the soil was going to be delivered on Friday.  With the materials being wet, less than 8 yards would have been delivered.  We'd have been paying for water weight.  In any event, with the soil delivery up in the air I didn't want to rent the mini bobcat, and once I knew the delivery was a go, I learned that the rental store didn't have a mini-cat to rent.  It was being used by some other lucky person.  I've been moving soil with the wheelbarrow and have scarcely made a dent in the pile.  Depending on the price, this weekend there may be a mini bobcat helping me to move the soil to the garden.  The soil can be moved in a fraction of the time and save my lower back from strain.  Plus, the mini-cat would be so cool to operate!

Here's the progress thus far...



Chet really wants to join me outside.
Both cats peek out the back door regularly when I'm outside.

Mama Robin.
She was very patient with all of the noise and activity today.

Mr. Spencer.  He enjoys supervised time outside in his collar and leash.

It was a beautiful day today and as much as I worked my butt off, I enjoyed the day and the work that got done.  Hopefully your weekend was relaxing and a safe one.

L&J