New additions

It is a rainy day, and I just planted a few more things in my new beds in the front yard. These pictures are not from the actual plants purchased, but pictures I found on the interwebs. It being the off season my plants would not look so hot. But come spring and summer....

Here we have a less common Daphne. This is Daphne 'Carol Mackie'
Here is an example of it's full size. Mine is still a baby

As you can see here the leaves are more narrow than the odora you can see a couple of plants down on today's blog. The Carol Mackie will get 3 - 5 feet tall and about the same wide.

Beautiful, small shrub displays wonderful flowers in mid-spring and sporadically through summer. Fragrant clusters of small, tubular white flowers that emerge in mid spring and continue sporadically through summer. Attractive, narrow gray-green leaves to 2 inches long carry a striking golden margin. Useful in shrub borders along wood's edge or as a foundation planting. -----------------------------------------------------------------

I wanted to get a native Rhodie because they are decidous, fragrant, beautiful, and less common than the ones you usually find at nurseries.

Meet Rhododendron occidentale, AKA Western Azalea.

This deciduous Rhododendron is native to Ogegon.

When full grown it can be 4 - 6 feet tall and the same wide.

The color can varry a lot with the plant, white, pink, yellow.

I do not know what the flowers will look on my plant until it flowers in May or June.

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Here is the more familiar Daphne. This is Daphne odora 'Marginata'
AKA Variegated Winter Daphne

It will grow to be 2-3 feet tall and wide. Fragrant blooms in late winter.

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This is a Coral bark Maple.
In the fall the leaves are bright read, gold, and apricot. It can eventually grow to be 20 - 25 feet tall with a spread of 15 -20 feet.

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Sambucus nigra AKA Black Lace Elderberry

As you can see if has purple-black foliage that is finely cut. In the spring, around June, large 10" contrasting creamy-pink flowers will arrive. The flowers can have a light lemon sent. It can grow to be 6 feet tall by 6 wide. Mine is about 1 foot tall. I wont want it to get 6 feet wide. I might prune it into a more tree shape.

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Here is the Northern Lights grass.

I put in 2 of these. They have very interesting variegation, with pink, grey and gold tones.

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I put in 6 little Hostas. This variety is called 'Stained Glass'

Got a great deal since they are about to go dormant. Only 1/2 price.

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Since the front yard is mostly shade I got several varieties of fern.

This is Autumn Fern

Will grow to be 15 inches tall by 2 feet wide.

This is Branford Beauty

It has nice silvery-purple fronts. Will be 1 - 2 feet tall.

Here is Lady fern

Nice lacy bright green fronds. It will grow 2-3 feet tall.

The Korean Rock Fern - is an evergreen variety
Can grow up to 16 inches.

And the last fern is the Tassel fern
It too is evergreen. It will grow larger than the Korean Rock fern. It will be 2-3 feet tall.

cover crops

Yesterday I went to Portland Nursery www.portlandnursery.com to attend a seminar on cover crops.

Cover crops are the unsung heroes of the garden – supplying multiple benefits for a minimum of labor! Eric will highlight the different types of cover crops and their benefits. You will also learn how to plant and dig in cover crops.

Cover crops are annual crops that are planted in bare areas of the garden (annual flower bed; newly-tilled bed that won’t be planted until spring; vegetable bed that is empty over the winter), and tilled into the soil in early spring, before planting time, while the cover crop plants are still small, long before they can flower and go to seed.

There is a cover crop for every situation, and can give a vital boost to the overall health and vitality to the garden!

This is buckwheat

I always thought it would look like a regular grain - some sort of grass. It is kind of pretty.

Fava Bean

It is not really a bean, but a member of the pea family. It is an excellent nitrogen fixer with a deep taproot to loosen hard soils.

Crimson Clover

It will form a dense carpet by winter. It also fixes nitrogen. I planted crimson clover last year.

Rye grass

This will just provide organic matter to till into the soil

Austrian peas

This is a legume and will provide lots of organic matter to till into the soil. It likes something to grow/climb up on. In my case it will climb up the rye grass.

Common vetch

Vetch is also a legumes and great for providing nitrogen.

Wheat

This year i purchased a mix instead of using just the clover. The mix contains
45% Rye
25% Austrian Peas
20% Yamhill Wheat
5% Common Vetch
5% Crimson Clover

I think i will add some fava beans to the mix because they look so pretty and some additional clover. As soon as beds become available i will start putting down the seed.

Busy in the kitchen

The produce is starting to come in.
I picked a bunch of tomatoes and tomatillos to make some sauces.
This will be my second batch of tomatillo enchilada sauce and my first batch of spaghetti sauce.
The tomatoes on the top right are Cherokee purples. they are so ugly and crinkly looking. but so very tasty.

Here is the

Tomatillo Sauce
· 1 1/4 pounds small tomatillos (about 30)
· 1 medium onion, chopped
· 1 tablespoon olive oil
· 4 teaspoons minced garlic
· 1 cup chicken stock
· 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
· 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
· 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
· 1 teaspoon salt
·
Preparation
1. Remove husks from tomatillos; wash thoroughly.
2. Saute onion in hot olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic, and saute 1 minute. Stir in tomatillos, 1 cup broth, and jalapeno; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 to 12 minutes or until tomatillos are softened. Remove from heat; cool slightly.
3. Process tomatillo mixture, cilantro, lime juice, and salt in a food processor.


I just freeze it until i am ready to use it. Scott loves it poured onto burritos. but it could be used instead of salsa.

Cool blog

I was looking for a parsley pesto recipe when i came across this blog
http://sidewalkshoes.blogspot.com/

sidewalk shoes
A blog about food, and a little about reading,

she has cool recipes, book reviews, and other interesting stuff. I am jealous, she has lots of followers. My blog looks sad in comparison.

I did make her recipe, but i used 1 cup pine nuts and 1/2 cup walnuts, and only about 1/2 cup of olive oil. One batch of this recipe fills one ice cube tray.

I did sample it, and it was soooooooo nummy.

here is her recipe for parsley pesto

Parsley Pesto

1 1/2 cups toasted walnuts

4 cups packed, fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

2 garlic cloves, peeled

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

coarse sea salt

Using your metal blade of your food processor, grind the walnuts to a fine meal.Add the parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Slowly pour int oil and process until the mixture is smooth. Mix in about 1 teaspoon of salt and taste, adjust if necessary.You can freeze it like I did, or store it in your refrigerator for up to 2 weeks after covering it with olive oil and sealing it tightly.

What is happening in the garden today

Pretty purple petunias

Crocosmia masonorum 'Lucifer'

I love the look of Crocosmia. Especially this vibrant red.


Rudbeckia hirta 'Autumn Colors'
AKA black eye Susan. I like this one because it is not
your typical yellow and black.



I am not sure what this one is. It looks a bit like
a coneflower but it is yellow and orange and has
those weird little trumpet flower parts coming
out where you would normally see petals.




My red petunia planter. It has some white posies and
a sweet potato vine in there.



I like the look of this delicate pink annual.

Here we have Chasmanthium latifolium

Norther Sea Oats

I like it because it looks a bit like bamboo and will have

really interesting seed heads.

Echinacea 'Big Sky Sundown"

a non purple coneflower.

The bees are totally loving this flower right now

Check out this mutant one. I think it is Siamese twins.

the stem is twice as thick as normal too.

Off to the left you can see a bee coming in for a landing.

A seashell cosmos

I grew these from seeds this year. I think i might

grow them next year as well.

This is a Cleom - also called a spider flower

for obvious reasons. they are kind of groovy.

Not much happening in the veggie garden. things are growing and

many have flowers.

Here is the bean trellis that Scott whipped together for me.

My tomato bed. Perhaps they are planted too close together.

Most if not all have green fruit right now.

so soon i can be eating tomatoes and tomatillos.

That's it for now.

Happy Valley Garden Tour

The first garden was a very nice and organized garden

Beautiful rose

nice neat beds

the second garden was not photographed. it was just a regular garden. the third garden is here.

Cool black elderberry (i think)

The flowers of an "Indian bean tree"

now to the 4th and last garden This garden was full of nick knacks and do dads. looked like some spent a lot of time at the flea market

Do the gnomes pay homage to the bonsai?