The free Mark Schultz concert in a city park last Sunday evening. The photo's a little fuzzy because of how far I had to zoom in - we sat a ways back so we could have some shade. Kaylen complained of being too hot even on the car-ride there, and thus requested a shady spot and we were happy to oblige.My garden, as it looks tonight:
(We're still getting good cuttings off my lettuce - an ice cream bucket nearly full (not smooshed though) in less than a week. We've been getting lots of rain and it hasn't been too warm (until yesterday), so I think that's helped. Everything else is looking good except the beets are a little sparse - I just thinned them, so hopefully that helps - hopefully I didn't wait too long. I also just thinned the radishes the other day - think I did wait too long on those, because a few I pulled out had baby radishes on them already. Jock said they were good - as he wiped the sweat off his brow. (Dad - there should be some really good ones for you when you're here this weekend!) The green beans are looking good, along with the squash, zucchini and cucumbers. One tomato plant (a big-boy on the far left) is looking a little squeamish, but the other two - another big boy and a roma - are going strong. I just put out the cages this week. The green peppers are looking good too - they're getting blossoms on them now. Can't wait to make stuffed peppers!
And, my hydrangea is FINALLY blooming this year - I think this is its third summer, so it is nice to finally see the color of the flowers. We weren't sure if they were going to be blue or pink. It's hard to see from the photo, but they're a real pale purple - almost pink. (You can see better if you click on the photo to enlarge it.)
4 comments:
Lots of great pictures! And I am jealous of your garden! I think you can change the color of your hydrangea by putting a rusty nail in the ground near the roots (to turn it blue) -- I'm sure there are things you can add to the soil, too.
Really?!? Never would have thought of trying to mess with the soil or put in nails to make it change to blue. I kind of like the pink/pale purple color, so I think I'll leave it.
I learned the nail thing in Sue Grafton's S is for Silence. They knew a rusty car was buried in a field because of the change in flower color!
Yes, hydrangeas' colors are determined by the ph of the soil. Also, it looks like you have a hydrangea that blooms on old growth. That means if it gets too cold in the early spring when its buds are forming, the buds will freeze and you won't have any flowers. By covering your shrub during the winter, you will end up with more flowers. Hydrangeas as a shrub are cold hardy but their flowers aren't always that way. If it's small you can use a tomato cage and stuff it full of fall leaves. Mine are really big so I wait until the leaves are off of it, flatten the branches out to the ground, lay cardboard over the branches, and secure the cardboard with some bricks. Then once you think it's going to be frost free in the spring you take the cardboard off. It will look a little flat for a while but will bounce back after a couple of weeks.
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