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Posts Tagged ‘Garden’

One Seed Chicago 2011

Posted in Garden, tagged , , on January 10, 2011 | 1 Comment »

One Seed ChicagoVoting for One Seed Chicago is now underway. The event, now in it’s fourth year, is designed to unite Chicago area gardeners through planting a common seed. The three candidates this year are radish, eggplant and swiss chard.

All Chicago area gardeners are eligible to vote for one of the seeds. And there are prizes! Everyone who votes receives a free packet of seeds in the mail and one gardener will be randomly selected to win a TB57 Lithium Ion Battery Cordless String Trimmer / Weed Trimmer provided by the very generous folks at Troy-Bilt.

I’m voting for the eggplant. This is probably the most challenging of the three seeds. The growing season in Chicago is not long enough to sow eggplant seeds directly into the ground so they must be started indoors and moved to the garden after the danger of frost has passed. They can also be grown in a container on a patio or balcony. Radishes are too easy and I’ve successfully grown swiss chard many times, so eggplant is my choice for 2011.

Voting for One Seed Chicago runs through April 1st, 2011.

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Wordless Wednesday: Begonia

Posted in Garden, Wordless Wednesday, tagged , , on September 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Photo taken in LadyMin’s Garden.

More Wordless Wednesday.

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Tall Coneflower

Posted in flowers, Garden, tagged , , on August 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Tall Cone Flower

The Tall Coneflower is a new addition to the perennial garden this year.

The bees seem happy with it and so am I. Yesterday one of the Mourning Doves was sitting on the deck railing pecking at the flower seeds.

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Tomato Thief

Posted in Bunny, tagged , , on August 25, 2010 | 5 Comments »

I was blaming Mr. Squirrel for this thievery.

And it was baby bunny!

Lucky for you that you’re a cute little bunny.

More Wordless Wednesday.

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Swallowtail Caterpillar

Posted in Bugs, Garden, tagged , on August 22, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Yesterday I noticed this little guy crawling around on my parsley. This is the caterpillar of the Black Swallowtail butterfly. Apparently they eat food in the Apiaceae family, of which parsley is a member and upon which the female lays her eggs. He was chowing down on that plant, but I have enough to spare.

I’ve been growing parsley for years and never noticed them before. Soon the caterpillar will form a chrysalis from which a Swallowtail butterfly will emerge in the spring.

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Wilted Cucumber Plants

Posted in Garden, veggies, tagged , , , on August 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Wilted Cucumber Plants For the past week, one by one, all of my cucumber plants have succumbed to bacteria wilt. There is no cure except to remove the plants and try again next year.

The disease is caused when a bacteria-infested striped cucumber beetle makes a cut on the plant. The bacteria then enters the plant through the wound and causes a slimy ooze to clog the plant making it unable to transport water through it’s system. No matter how much you water it, the plant can’t drink.

Bacteria wilt is always fatal and there is no cure. It’s best to remove the plant immediately and send it away with the landscaping waste. Never add diseased plants to your compost pile.

Cucumber Beetle (Image: Public Domain)

Cucumber Beetle

The most common way to control this pest is to dust the plants with a light coating of insecticide in the early spring to destroy the beetle. I prefer to grow my food organically and rarely use any chemicals. Non-chemical options are to screen the young plants with cheesecloth or row covers, plant later in the spring after the beetle has moved out of the area or try to find a more resistant cultivar.

In past years I have waited until the second week of June to plant my cucumbers and have usually evaded this bug. This year I planted earlier to take advantage of the very warm spring here in Chicago. Next year I will once again plant later in the spring and try to track down a more resistant strain of cucumber.

The idea of a greenhouse to start my plants is sounding better and better.

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Zucchini Flowers!

Posted in Garden, veggies, tagged , on June 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Male zucchini flowerA summer treat for me is fried zucchini flowers.

My plants finally started making flowers last week and yesterday I ate my first plate of yummy fried flowers. Unfortunately I noticed that two of the plants are beginning to wilt. Since I don’t use chemicals on my vegetables I can only assume this means the plant is infected with the squash vine borer.

Fried Zucchini FlowersThe infection is caused by the squash vine borer moth, a creepy red bug which lays it’s eggs on the plant and is extremely difficult to eliminate or control. My method is to pull the plant a few weeks after it wilts but before the borer’s eggs hatch and replace it with a second crop which I seed in pots around mid June, after the moth has died out.

I got to eat my flowers last night, so for now I’m happy.

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Rain + More Rain = Mushrooms

Posted in Garden, tagged , on June 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

It seems like it’s been raining forever. It’s only mid-June and already we have accumulated more than the monthly average rainfall. My rain barrels are full and overflowing. My flowers are lush, the grass is green. There are mushrooms popping up everywhere. I found these in my yard yesterday.

They are probably not the eating kind of mushrooms but I’m not going to try and find out since the consequences of eating the wrong mushroom is, ummm, death.

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Perennials At The Farmer’s Market

Posted in flowers, Garden, tagged , , on May 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Farmer’s Markets sell more than just fresh fruits and vegetables. Downtown Chicago has a market every Thursday at the Daley Center. They also have flowers, herbs, baked goods, cheeses, jellies and jams. The quality of the offerings are top-notch and the vendors are friendly and helpful. Sometimes there is some type of event or cultural festival on the plaza with food and entertainment.

Garden Perennials

Today I bought four more perennials for my new garden beds. Here they are sitting in my office window waiting to take the train to their new suburban home. They are Gaillardia Arizona Sun, Heliopsis Lorraine Sunshine, Eupatorium Phantom and Diascia Coral Canyon.

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Inspiration At The Garden Show

Posted in Garden, tagged , , , on March 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Although it was gloomy and rainy outside it was bright, cheerful and even inspirational inside at the 2010 Chicago Flower and Garden Show. I attended on a weekday morning avoiding the crowds and allowing me to take photos and linger at the displays.

2010 Garden Show = Azalea

Azalea - 2010 Garden Show


The floor plan was a little different this year. It had the feel of walking down paths in a park rather than looking at different exhibits. The only problem I had, and it really wasn’t much of a problem, was that I wandered off and missed few exhibits and needed to double back to see everything.

There were 27 exhibits, definitely something for everyone. The designers used a lot of greenery this year: trees, shrubs, bushes and grasses; one even used wheat grass. Another had a border done with spider plants, something I have been doing for a few years now. Herbs were used in several gardens mixed with flowers. I also noticed a  lot of ponds and waterfalls and few small, bubbly self-contained water fountains that I would like to use for my own garden.

Some photos from a few of the exhibits I liked:
(more…)

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