Pumpkin Time!

Looking forward to pumpkin patches, pumpkin pies. It's that time of year. We just need the rain to stop so the fall colors can start to shine.

Fall Dahlias

Our dahlia plant gets so big each year that it ends up collapsing under all its weight even after we added supports. So I gathered some of the still good blooms from their broken stems for some indoor vases.

A New Start at Creating

I'm giving this a renewed start. As you may have noticed I haven't posted in quite a while.

I visited the local nursery the other day and was reminded of how much I love to look at all of the various plants and to dream of various composed combinations of color and texture.

I also want to document things, be it through scrapbooking or online social media. But I always seem to come upon road blocks, mainly with social media. The main problem is that I think I have a real hard time sharing ideas and parts of myself in a social setting.

So today I am going to give it another try but with something very simple - a photo I took last summer on the California coast while we were headed home from vacation. I don't remember the name of this location but it sure is beautiful.

Have a good rest of your weekend!

Soil Matters

If you have ever skimped a little on your soil preparation you may think things are going fine, but here is something that may change your mind.

Around three weeks ago we planted cauliflower in our garden. We had added some compost from our compost bin, but not alot. We also planted one cauliflower in our sons' small children's garden at this same time. Their garden is filled with all brand new compost, recently purchased.

The difference is amazing.

The boys' cauliflower is twice the size of ours. So when we started to add some more plant starts to our garden this weekend, we made sure to work a little harder on our soil prep.

Patience Needed

It took 2 and a half years but our little new peony plant has finally come into its blooms. We now have four dark-red blooms on our Buckeye Belle peony which we bought at Adelman Peony Gardens. I knew we were going to be in luck this year when the ants started showing up on the buds.

There are even more fun things going on this weekend in case you are looking for something to do. Here are links I have found to information on these events:

The fairly new Willamette Community Garden in Albany is holding its second annual plant sale on Saturday:
http://democratherald.com/news/local/community-garden-to-hold-plant-sale-tour/article_5aae7312-9f85-11e1-823c-001a4bcf887a.html

Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany is holding its Plant Day on Saturday:
https://www.nicholsgardennursery.com/store/cmspage.php?page_id=visit_us

Hidden Treasures, The Backyards of Corvallis and More, a garden tour on Saturday:
http://www.ci.corvallis.or.us/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=114&Itemid=74

I have heard that there is a Craft and Garden Fair going on in Burnt Woods on Saturday, but I don't have a link to that information.

and Leach Botanical Gardens near Portland is having a Children's Nature Fair on Saturday:
http://www.leachgarden.org/classes-and-events/

and one more,
on Sunday the Corvallis Environmental Center is holding Cooped-Up in Corvallis, a self-guided chicken and duck coop tour:
http://www.corvallisenvironmentalcenter.org/cooped-up-in-corvallis-2/