9 August: Edible Tour—Millner Garden

Sunday, 9 August 2015

Long Beach Peninsula Edible Garden Tour

The annual edible garden tour, presented by the Long Beach Grange, is a benefit for local foodbanks.

 

 

Millner Garden (The Planter Box)

“A constantly changing garden that has fed a large family for over 40 years.“

The garden is behind Ray and Barbara Millner’s house, next door to the Planter Box.  Ray and Barbara are the mom and pop of the garden center, who have now mostly retired and passed the business on to their daughter, son, and daughter in law.

Some of the photos are from a pre-tour taken by me and Garden Tour Nancy on July 24th.

Next to the kitchen garden: Hardy fuchsias and hydrangeas waiting to be planted in a new park-like area.

bees

The main part of the kitchen garden

Actually, the kitchen garden has gotten so big that I don’t even know if it is fair to call this the main part.  I’m sure it is the original area of kitchen garden.

beans, pre-tour, 7-24

a classically tidy kitchen garden

Vaccinium ‘Pink Lemonade’ blueberry

strawberry cage

netted strawberries, 7-24

the chooks

The flock has a large field and a spacious chicken coop.

enjoying a fruit snack

pecking order

friends

Allan’s photo: The north side of the chicken run and the first part of the eastward garden extension.

trellised vine

an edible tropaeolum vine

I wish I had taken notes as good as Garden Tour Nancy’s on the day of our pre-tour; I was more thinking of taking photos.

Allan’s photo

The garden continues east along the pond.

berries by the pond; the water level is startlingly low this year

looking south across the pond

I’ve never seen this pond with so much mud exposed in August.

looking back (west) toward the main kitchen garden

pondside garden

Flowers to attract pollinators are interspersed with fruit and vegetables.

looking east toward a grape arbour

The cover protects the grapes from dew.

Ray on our pre-tour, 7-24

Ray says next time he would make the cover a dome, as the vines need more room.

And they say you can’t grow grapes at the beach!

A long awaited bridge was built by Ray’s son, Raymond, right before the tour.

bridge of recycled lumber and pallets

This open up the area to the east of the pond, which Ray intends to turn into a parklike setting with hydrangeas and hardy fuchsias.

looking west from across the bridge

Ray leading a guided tour of the garden (Allan’s photo)

looking west over the pond

Allan saw several dragonflies by the shoreline:

looking north across the pond

Ray describing his parkland vision. (Allan’s photo)

Several hundred feet east on that green road is Ray’s potato patch.  He put it far enough out that it encourages him to take a good long walk to check on it.

We caught up to Ray’s guided tour as they left the third part of the kitchen garden, behind the greenhouses of the Planter Box garden center.

Ray and tour guests

east of The Planter Box itself, another garden area…

built on aged compost and garden debris from the nursery….

lush thriving plants

garlic harvest drying in a shed

It’s a spectacular kitchen garden that feeds an extended family with produce left over for friends and Grange members.  While I took lousy notes (ie. none), I share with you here some plant names that Nancy noted on our pre-tour day:

Caroline raspberry best for fall

Territorial fall and winter blend

Valley girl tomatoes

White runner beans

Gray grillers zucchini for grilling.

Julia tomatoes good for canning and dry

Wild treasure BlackBerries

Eating on the Wild Side book

As we were about to depart, I picked up a few plants for the Long Beach planters, and we also added Planter Box Teresa to our touring party for the remainder of the day.

front display at Planter Box; still lots of good plants for sale.

Cosmos

Celosias

We were glad Teresa was able to get away from the nursery and come with us to see the rest of the gardens.

Next: three of the smaller gardens.

 

 

 

 

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12 July: Astoria Garden Tour, Thomas Garden

Saturday, 12 July 2014

Astoria Garden Tour

presented by the Lower Columbia Preservation Society

photos and captions by guest blogger Nancy Allan (“Garden Tour Nancy”) who filled in while I was at the Garden Bloggers Fling in Portland.

Thomas Garden: Sustainable Urban Farm

walking up a gravel road to garden 3

The garden was created by a the owner of Edgewater Landscape, who says this is his first urban farm.

Happy greenhouse with tomatoes inside and citrus in containers outside . I have heat unit envy (says Nancy).

Peeking over the hill we are going to climb down. Can’t wait!

chicken coop

Larry, the owner (above), greeted all with “This is our first year “. First year at vegetables, not successful gardening as he is a landscaper.

deluxe rabbit hutch

rabbit with babies

composter

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weekend off…

Saturday, August 31

The idea of regularly taking weekends off is a new development, and perhaps one that we will regret come the winter if the money gets low.  It’s part of my “life is too short” philosophy and the desire to spend more time in my own home and garden.

I had Saturday to myself because Allan had gone to Olympia for the day for a family obligation.

I’m still working on getting a good photo of the “Butterfly Gladiolus”.

gladiolus papilio

called “Butterfly Glad” because of the markings inside the flower

On the way to Olde Towne for coffee, I stopped at Larry’s Antique Gallery Too! shop just for fun and to catch up on town gossip  news.

Antique Gallery

There is always a shop dog to pet.  Of three of the Larry and Robert dogs, this is usually the one:

Sophie

The shop is lush with beautiful objects…

After my midmorning coffee and a treat at Olde Towne Café, I headed for the Saturday Market via the Antique Gallery, Robert’s branch of the family business.

cute kitchen towels at Robert’s antique shop

The two Antique Galleries and Olde Towne Trading Post are a big draw for antiquers and I always think of my grandma going “antiquing” on Greenwood Avenue in Seattle when I see the happy browsers in the shops.

I walked past the Ilwaco boatyard….

Picotee cosmos at the boatyard

My friend and basketmaker from Seattle, Pat Reese, gave me this grass long ago.  It has beautiful soft plumes and is a runner but not too annoyingly so.  Can anyone ID it for me?  It is a nice alternative for pampas grass because it stays much smaller and its blades are not as sharp and harsh…if it is not considered noxious because of its spreading habit.

a lovely grass at the south end of the boatyard garden

I did my usual stint photographing the Saturday Market for Discover Ilwaco.  For the blog, some garden related photos:

succulents

salsa in a bag from De Asis Farm

flowers and herbs from Pink Poppy Farm (at the Pink Poppy Bakery booth)

I saw, taking photos (of dogs, she said) my good new friend Donna, someone I am fortunate to have met through Facebook.

Donna sighting on a booth dog

The local Facebook connections have been an amazing boon to my sense of being connected to other like minded folks on the Peninsula.

Donna’s dog Chloe: 15 years old

good advice

Another friend connection:  Our friend Kelly’s booth of screen printed apparel:

Blue Crab Graphics; her sign is made from an old screen printing frame

As I walked the two blocks home, for once not going in through the field and my back gate, I saw that water was rising at the meander line that divides the parking lots from our residences.

The grove of trees marks the Bogsy Wood.

Other than social and photographic wanderings, I did my first mowing with our new gas mower.  It definitely goes faster than the rechargeable electric one.  I would have stuck with the electric for ecological reasons but for its battery getting old and a replacement would have been ridiculously expensive…and its mowing path was quite narrow.

My big new idea is to mow this fall and leave unmowed all the edge areas that do not flow easily into the mowing pattern and then cut those bits of sod out with a half moon edger.  Mowing without having to back up and fiddle around with awkward areas is my goal.

Sunday, September 1

Here’s another grass in my garden for which I crave an identification.  Pam and Cathie from Back Alley Gardens had an idea when they visited, but I forgot the name Pam suggested.

It is delicate and reddish and I got it at a Hardy Plant weekend or maybe Cistus nursery.

I need to divide a bit off of this and put some down at the boatyard!

New idea:  Plant peas and beans in containers like this along the fence; they won’t have to fight with tree and shrub roots of the mixed border hedges I am trying to grow.

not elegant but works well

Looking back on my attempt to grow “edibles” for the edible tour, I think it worked out pretty well.  I still have lots of tomatoes…more than I can use so I share with Judy and Devery.

greenhouse tomatoes

I had more cucumbers than I could eat and shared with Devery, Judy and Mary N!

I have some peppers coming along in the greenhouse as well.

banana peppers

The crop of cilantro is substantial although I and Mary N’s husband seem to be the only ones who like it.

slow bolting cilantro

The hops are ornamental as far as I am concerned because I don’t make beer.  However, Madeline of Pink Poppy Bakery told me that dried hops are good in sleepytime tea so I am going to give that a try for my chronic insomnia.  (I can sleep, but not till two AM!)

hops on the old clotheline

Red Runner beans look gorgeous against the back wall of Allan’s shed…but don’t seem to be all that tasty so I just grow them to look good.

red runner beans

and a showy dark purple bean

Before the edible tour, in order to keep the lettuce from bolting, I was dedicated to harvesting the young leaves and making salads.  I must admit I have not done so since tour day.  Now it has gone old and bitter and I should compost it and plant a fall crop (if it is not too late….maybe in the greenhouse)…

lettuce bowl, given to me by Nancy Allen

My favourites are the ornamental flowers and if I were still making salads, I’d be putting begonia flowers in them.

The yellows taste like citrus and the reds taste like berries!

The long stretch of lawn going back to the bogsy wood culminates in something new now:

looking south

a new debris pile built on newspaper

I am hoping to take the old debris pile on the other side of the garden, clean it up, get all the spuds out and make it into a garden bed.

How can I have run out of space for new beds in such a large yard?

I continue to debate about whether or not to have the Danger Tree…quite dead…cut down or wait and see if it falls.  It shouldn’t hit the house unless it really flew, but might take out some fence.

The bark is cracking in an ominous way.

I hope I can have it cut just above the branches where the blue bottles hang and if a tree cutter could make it look kind of rough like it broke naturally, it would make a most convincing snag.

It’s too dangerous to leave even though the birds love it.

An arbourist assured me it had just died of old age, not because I built a carefully shallow bed on one side of it.

shade bed

an orchid? or lily? growing in the shade

(In my old garden and in my clients’ gardens, I know every plant but in my own I have lost track…from planting it up so quickly over just two years.)

As the day progressed, I had company expected and unexpected.

Garden Blogger Alison of Bonney Lassie arrived at three and we had a splendid talk and walk throughout the garden.

Alison taking photos…

She is also someone I met through Facebook’s network of gardeners.

Gene Miles came by with a friend and I had another pleasant walk seeing it through others’ eyes.  His friend from Oregon proved to be knowledgeable about plants but was camera shy.

Gene is not the shy type.

Pretty soon Judy came by with Beep, both on the way home from a walk.

The well trained Beep!

Judy and I had been neighbours for over a year when we became Facebook friends and found out much more quickly than in the old fashioned way just how much we had in common.

Judy and The Beep

We sat in the shade back by the fire circle because neither of us is fond of hot sun.

The gregarious cats Smokey, Mary and Frosty were thrilled to meet new people but as usual, Calvin made himself scarce and hid out indoors.

Smokey, people lover (in his BirdsBeSafe collar)

Calvin the shy

Meanwhile, Allan was up to something…

a project

But I wasn’t sure what.

It turned out to be this:

a shelf for the van…

that hold tools underneath

If we have to eat rice and beans, forgo restaurants and have tea instead of fancy coffees at Olde Towne this coming January due to not having worked hard enough this summer, it will have been worth it for days like these.

evening peace in the garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Aug 10: Edible Gardens pre-tour: Biocharm Farm

August 10, 2013

After touring “Lavender And”, Allan and I were might hungry so we stopped at the delicious Bailey’s Café in Nahcotta.

Chef Jayne Bailey at work

We used to take more time to stop for lunches but for the past few years have worked pretty much non stop from February through early December.  My mission this year is to have more time enjoying pleasures like a lunch stop.  We still have not taken many, so I don’t yet have to worry that it is going to result in poverty.  Taking time off to go garden touring…and blog…is more likely to get me in financial trouble!

inside Bailey’s

After our excellent lunch we drove back to Ilwaco and a bit to the east to Jim and Vera Karnofski’s Biocharm Farm.   We wanted to get photos for the edible tour Facebook page and had also been charged with the delivery of the signs and tickets for the tour.  The name of the farm refers to Biochar.  To say Jim is a big believer in the stuff would be an understatement.  Here is the Biocharm description of the farm:  “Biocharm Farms is a demonstration mineral augmented organic garden with the goal of maximizing the nutrient density of the vegetables as shown by the Brix Refractometer. The soil is mineral balanced annually and biochar has been added for several years with promising results. There will be handouts and an explanation of these amazing gardening breakthroughs that seem to be converging to make a ‘good food revolution’ possible. Presently, besides feeding our family, we market our produce primarily to [a local] restaurant, Klean rehab facility and Coastal Corner Market. There are 3 gardens about 100 yards apart against a backdrop of forest on which there is a ½ mile trail if you feel like having a really nice nature walk.  “

Jim Karnofski

a charming dog indeed, a rescue from our local shelter

I thought for sure I’d remember the name of the cute Karnofski dog, but writing this two weeks later, I’ve forgotten.

You can watch a video of Jim explaining all about biochar.  I believe that I’ve had good results using what I call “pseudobiochar”, the chinky black bits left behind in the burn piles of clients who live in areas where burning is allowed, mixed with dairy manure into garden beds.  I did a test, as Jim advised, of growing carrots (or any crop) in a barrel amended with biochar and one without, the the carrots in the biochar planter got much bigger.

At the entrance to the Biocharm vegetable garden, bins hold piles of soil amending ingredients.

pallet bins

We first walked through the vegetable garden that be seen from the highway between Ilwaco and Chinook; the farm is on the left as you drive east out of Ilwaco, east of the Painted Lady Lavender Farm.

looking east

yellow sticky trap to catch insect pests

Vera Karnofski

lettuce

a stand of grain

To the right you can see Highway 101 running next to the farm.

looking west

As we walked along, Jim and Vera harvested vegetables for their dinner.

harvesting

gathering dinner

looking west

looking south

After we had thoroughly explored the garden beside the highway, Jim and Vera guided us along a grassy path to a surprise: another garden area almost equally large in a clearing to the north.

grassy path

playtime

another garden!

Vera and the beanstalks

Allan’s photo

enormous bean pole structure

Vera Karnofski harvesting dinner

I should have taken notes on what grains were being grown in the garden.

looking north, two large garden beds

the garden was hacked out of wilderness.

northernmost bed

Jim waters down a compost bin.

In the background, the dog and cat still play.

playtime continues

back toward the farmhouse

more harvesting

Soon after this, Jim realized he had the carrot destined for dinner way back by that compost pile he was watering down.

The spuds were so good that they even tasted good raw.

back to the start

At the house, there were ducklings on the loose….

ducklings on the run

They were under the protection of a large rooster.

He was monitoring the ducklings.

Vera said they had not had time to clean up the area around the house.  I said I thought there was plenty of impressive garden to show without that area.  Jim invited us in for a beer, but we had to get home to finish the last weeding of our garden. He gave us a couple of freshly dug spuds for our dinner.

Indeed, when I started to go over all the garden beds at home, I desperately wished I had more time to make them perfect, and that we had run the strimmer around all the edges of the beds.  Oh dear.  At least the tour on the very next day did not start until noon so I might have time for some last minute weeding.

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Aug 10: Edible Gardens pre-tour: Lavender And

Leaving Deanette at her garden to do more pre-tour preparations, Allan and I went north on the Willapa bay side of the Peninsula to “Lavender And”, described as “Commercial-scale lavender production, and abundant personal garden and animals”.

We had been hoping to have a guided tour by owner Patti, but she had not yet returned from giving Lisa a ride home from the last of our other pre-tour gardens, so we wandered freely seeking edible garden beds and animals.

Visible from the road is the lavender field.

lavender field

The field reflects beautifully in the big new lavender processing building.

lavender reflection

At the top of the field is a little building selling some lavender products.

north side of lavender shop

baskets for picking

Garden tours are available at a set time.

tour information

When we had been there on an earlier day to get some preview photos for the edible tour Facebook page, we had not been sure whether the house behind the field and shop even belonged to the property.  This time, we felt free to nose around.  We walked past a field that seemed like it would hold animals but could not see any.

Where are the birds and animals?

Just a few chickens appeared.

Past the house, we found a large fenced vegetable area.

Patty’s veg patch

rosemary and veg

fenced

I like the homebuilt greenhouse.

inside the greenhouse

nice big windows

Allan’s greenhouse view

Allan’s photo

Allan’s squash photo

 

squash flowers, Allan’s photo

Walking east, I realized that the beautiful big property went all the way to the bay.

more veg by a huge bay view outbuilding

A road went around the big green pole building and next to it lavender grew above the bay’s grassy verge.

lavender with a view

lavender bed curving along the bayfront

It occurs to me as I look at these photos that if Patty had been guiding us, I might have asked why the house was low down, without a view, instead of being up on this ridge to watch the sun rise over the bay.

lavender and caged tree

looking back (southeast) at the lavender curve

Coming around the big pole building, I got a good overview of the house, greenhouse, and vegetable area.

looking west

This time I walked behind and below the vegetable field and found a slope planted with squash.

south slope

looking east

This looks to me like bundled compost ingredients.

I still wanted to find the animals and so I went to the south side of the animal enclosure fence.

At first, the animal yard still looked empty.

Finally I saw a couple of goats, rather far across the field, and Allan on the north side.  I called to him to get some photos as the two goats were closer to him.  While I walked around to the north side, a whole herd of little goats and some ducks emerged from a lean to.

saying hello! to Allan

goats galore

more chickens appeared

a tribe of goats

cute kid

The goats were difficult to leave, but we had one more garden to see, Biocharm Farm east of Ilwaco, and I still needed to do the last minute pre-tour touches on my own garden.  It was a good thing we had started at ten A.M.!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Aug 10: Edible gardens pre-tour: Deanette’s garden

August 10, 2013

Allan and I continued our pre-tour of the Edible Garden tour with Deanette’s garden.   I like the description that Deanette wrote of her garden for the Edible Garden tour Facebook page:

“Our garden is small and in its second year. Our first year was hard and not successful. We thought of giving up… but fellow gardeners came along side to encourage and help. This second year is a great improvement. We are thrilled to be eating out of our garden daily. We want to encourage others who may be just starting or discouraged. We have a variety of gardens and edibles: cold frame style green house, container garden, raised beds, herbs, chickens, composting. We hope to help present part of the wide range of gardens here on the peninsula: from the large, experienced, impressive to the small, just learning. Please stop by to look and chat.”

I find edible gardening much more difficult than ornamental, so I appreciate her candour.

I hope I would have recognized the house immediately as having belonged to our friend Jill Grey, sister of J9.  Jill had sold to move to the Arizona mountains sunshine two years ago, and Deanette and her spouse had been the buyers!  Allan had told me ahead of time, though, because in conversation with Deanette he had figured out that we were going to Jill’s old house.

my friend’s former house!

Behind the house is the Dunes Bible Camp woods.  During really big windstorms, Jill used to get scared enough to go to a motel,  but I think any danger trees came down during the big blow of 2007.

Visiting family members were camping in the back driveway.

The front driveway forms an arc, convenient for entrance and exit; the driveway garden along the street was much bigger when Jill lived there, as I recall.  Deanette told us the problem that had caused her to change it, but I can’t recall what it was!  I would require more height and privacy there to be happy… Not everyone feels that way.

driveway garden

from near the street, looking south

veg protected from deer on east side of driveway

On the west side of the front yard, they have built an attractive greenhouse.

greenhouse

inside

The big pot to the left (above) was outside with some cucumbers in it, and the deer ate the tops!

in the greenhouse

So far squash growing on the west wall of the house have not been fallen victim to the deer.  Perhaps deer do not like squash leaves, as they also do not bother a few that I am growing in a bed that is outside my deer fence.

Where Jill had a flower garden, Deanette now has a fenced vegetable patch against the west fence, in front of the garage.

veg garden

The soil in the veg garden has been amended with soil testing help from Jim Karnofski of Biocharm Farm (where we will end our day of pre-touring).

looking south, with garage behind

veg garden looking north

My photo did not pick up the detail of sand dollars set into the base blocks of the fence.

The back yard has the most exciting addition….Well, the greenhouse is exciting, too, but I have a soft spot for chickens!

chickens behind the garage!

Google tells me these are Barred Rock hens…I think.

southwest corner back yard

Allan and Deanette observe the L shaped chicken run.

chicken run using a bit of the woods

cat door in back yard

decorative garden bed along south wall of house

on the east side of the property, compost

Since acquiring the house, Deanette and her spouse have covered the deck on the east side with clear material.

deck, enormously improved for bad weather days.

Some herbs in pots are readily available to the kitchen.

I emailed the photos of the garden to Jill, who replied, “WOW.  I am impressed.  They did a nice job and the back yard looks great.”

Next, we head back up the Peninsula almost to Oysterville to tour Mary’s “Lavender And”.

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Aug 10: Edible Gardens pre-tour, Patten garden

August 10, 2013

From Pink Poppy Farm on the west (ocean) side of the Long Beach Peninsula, we drove up, across 227th, and down again to a house almost directly across on the Willapa Bay side.  Here on a large property, Kim Patten, Extension Professor at Washington State University Cranberry Research Station, and Andrea Patten, Artisan Baker at her Wholesome Hearth Bakeries, have an extensive vegetable and fruit garden which they describe as “A functional garden designed to eat from year around”.

One enters on a long road with apple trees on both sides.

looking back (east) down the entry road

laden apple trees behind deer fence

Kim was there when we came for our pre-tour and told us that most of the apples are used for juicing, that he has done a lot of grafting, and that Liberty apple seems to be the most successful.  He agreed there were a lot of apples to pick and said they have a large family harvesting gathering in the fall from which they make quantities of juice.

I did not think to ask if they also harvest grapes.

The grapes grow over an old greenhouse.

another greenhouse to the north, built like half of a quonset hut

the half greenhouse with a solid wall on the north side

Across the driveway to the south of the apple orchard, grapes, and greenhouse is the fenced vegetable and fruit garden.

the garden

Kim by the deer fence

Lisa and Kim (Allan’s photo)

I did not learn until revisiting this garden the Monday after the tour that the windowed area in the center of the house, seen above, is Andrea’s Wholesome Hearth Bakery.  Photos will be posted in the entry for Monday, August 12th.

Kim showed us all around the garden.

Kim giving a guided tour

Kim, photo by Allan

(One of Robert’s and my first gardening jobs on the peninsula was weeding, mowing and pruning at the Cranberry Research Station in 1994.  Robert even built them a set of steps, and I cleaned the office.  I don’t think I was a good employee; I worked hard but wanted to be independent (partly because we could make more money out on our own, and I was used to be self employed….so before long we moved on to our own business.  I still remember interesting things about it, like how they planted heather by the bogs to attract early pollinators and the use of evergreen huckleberry for a beautiful clipped hedge.)

Kim describes his raised bed methods and crop rotation to Lisa.

raised bed and poly tunnel

a beautiful glaucous blue row of leeks

Kim said the strawberry rows in the background, below, would be ripped out this fall and new ones planted.  I asked if he would use runners from the existed strawberries and he said he intends to buy new ones as they will produce better.

squash and strawberries

doomed strawberry patch!

Out with the old! gestures Kim.

The goal of the garden is to have something to eat from it year round.

It contains a wide assortment of veg; the crops are rotated to different beds.

Allan’s photo squash

thumbs up from Lisa! (Allan’s photo)

Kim and a German potato, Allan’s photo

arugula flowers

Cardoon

I was surprised to learn that cardoon, which in my own front garden is mistaken for artichoke by passerby, actually does have an edible portion under the flower.

Patty (“Lavender And”), Deanette, Kim, Lisa (garden tour organizer)

I cannot remember what Kim was demonstrating, below; possibly he was telling us how he mulches with grass from the bay.

I should have been paying attention.

Deanette focused on learning.

inside the veg garden, looking north across the entry drive toward the apple orchard

On the south side of the big fenced garden is a berry patch protected with bird netting.

assorted berries

berries

He had tried a honeysuckle with an edible berry but said it was not very tasty; however, it was a beautiful plant.

the honeysuckle in question

By the garage grew an enormous fig tree.  I realized how very large the fig tree at Marilyn’s might get, and that if it were eventually limbed up it would not block the view from her living room.    I also had second thoughts about where I had planted the fig tree given to me by Nancy Allen!

fig tree being admired by Lisa and Patty.

The Pattens keep chickens, and just one was out to entertain us and be photogenic.

on the mulch pile

On the east side of the house, a few flower beds have been planted.

east side of house

Note the shallots hanging from the porch; Nancy Allen especially likes these, so I will reprise my photo of them taken on my first visit there on August 6th.

drying shallots

As we walked around the house to the bay, Kim showed us the remnants of an Japanese style ornamental garden.

a formerly landscaped area with pond

a lost bridge

Allan found a Buddha….

and a toppled lantern

Kim said to us, “If it’s not edible, I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to it.  If it’s edible, at least I get something out of it.  Otherwise, it’s just a lot of work.”  He said Andrea had spoken of getting someone like us to bring the Japanese garden back.  My first reaction was the usual “don’t have time” but now, looking at the photos, I think it would be enormous fun!

Further remnants of ornamentals remain on the bay side of the house.

on the Willapa bay side of the house

by the bay (Allan, Patty, Kim, Lisa)

low tide on the bay

more edibles: clam beds!

Willapa Bay, looking north

old wood and native blackberry vine

Kim pointed out the beauty of a dead tree on the bay side, safely far enough from the house to let stand in its gnarly glory.

Below: Allan winds his way through the lost Japanese garden beside an adorable little rental house.

a cute rental…

I was in awe of Kim’s vegetables and fruits and did not feel this garden needed to be ornamental in order to be impressive.  But I would kind of like to get into that pond area with a pruning saw and some loppers….

From here, Patty and Lisa left the pre-tour.  Patty would give Lisa a ride home and, we hoped, meet us a bit later at her lavender farm to show us around.

Next, Allan and I visit Deanette’s tiny new garden which, it turns out, is at a house that we know very well!

 

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Aug 10: Edible Gardens pre-tour, Pink Poppy Farm

August 10, 2013

I am certainly not tired of seeing photos of Pink Poppy Farm, even though this was the fourth time I had been there in a little over a month.

From the Edible Tour program:  Allow yourself time to explore this expansive, one acre country garden where edibles and flowers grow in harmony. Hens live happily in “The Imperial Chicken Palace.” Meandering through the property you will find two “and a quarter” poly tunnels that grow food for the family, the Pink Poppy Bakery market booth, and a few CSA boxes.  Masters of edible landscapes, the owners have lived and worked on the grounds for 19 years.  The garden is full of clever ideas for watering, fencing, and decor.

As usual, folks gathered by the gorgeous Imperial Chicken Palace.

Garden owner Mike Dickerson conferring with tour organizer Lisa Mattfield

looking east

Japanese anemone; this garden has room for thugs.

One thug Lynn says she deeply regrets introducing is Aegopodium (bishops weed, ground elder) which came in with a plant and has run rampant.

squash

entering the medium poly tunnel (Patty, Lynn Dickerson, Deanette, Lisa, Mike Dickerson

Lynn Dickerson and Deanette

lettuce

Even with all their space, I find it interesting that they grow lettuce in containers.  I find it much easier to do as one is somewhat less likely to find a slug on it.

colourful kale

looking toward the big poly tunnel

I love the arbour with nasturtiums on top.

the big poly tunnel

inside

looking out the west door

tomatoes, etc, growing tall

The Dickersons pick a lot of leaves off their tomatoes.  I started doing this in my little greenhouse, as well.

Lynn shows Deanette the tiniest poly tunnel

sunflowers

shed on north side of garden

o so clever swing set bean support

back to the house

steps to the house level

There were several guests there, family members as I recall, to help with prep for the garden tour.

prepping on the patio; pretty sure this is Lynn’s mum come to help

ingredients for garden art

a gathering of gardeners

garden discussion

more discussion and garden admiration (Allan, Patty, Deanette, Lynn)

How I love this garden!  But we had to move on with two more garden for the group to see and then two more for Allan and I to visit for photos (while I mildly wondered if I really felt our own garden was perfectly ready for tour day tomorrow).

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Aug 10: Edible Gardens Pre-tour, Millner garden

August 10, 2013

I needed photos for the edible garden tour Facebook page and would not be able to get them on the August 11th tour day because of hosting our garden as part of the event.  So even though I normally would have spent the day before a garden open obsessively tweaking the garden to complete perfection, Allan and I took the morning off to go to the other gardens with two of the other garden hosts.   (I do not understand why people whose gardens are on a tour are not ALL obsessed with seeing the other gardens…but not everyone loves garden touring the way I do.)

Lisa Mattfield, tour organizer (whose garden, Homewood, was my favourite on last year’s edible tour), and Patty from “Lavender And” and Deanette, another tour garden owner, and Allan and I met at the Planter Box at the very early (for us) hour of ten AM.  Ray Millner took us on a tour of his garden, the second favourite of mine on last year’s tour.  We began by the enviably big pond just north of the Millners’ Planter Box garden center.

The Millner pond

Ray is in the process, since retiring from teaching and from running the garden center, of turning the back side of this small lake into a park.

First we all trooped to the beds behind the garden center where Ray uses old potting soil and compost to grow lettuces and Jerusalem artichokes.

Ray and Deanette

Ray used to be a teacher and is good at imparting information.

lettuce and Jerusalem artichokes

lettuces and Jerusalem artichokes

Deanette, Ray, Lisa, Allan, Patty

Back to the pond, Ray describes his park in progress.

We then go to the garden behind the family homes.

plant starts with edible garden in background (looking NW)

the main part of the garden

the chickens come running

Deanette takes notes

chickens with a pond backdrop

corn and beans

big healthy plant

I must confess that while I am pretty good at recognizing perennials and annuals, I am not so good at veg.  Kohlrabi? Brocolli? Kale?

handsome onions

a parade of gardeners

berries

raspberries

The garden continues around the north side of the pond.

around the corner

potato flower

behind the chicken coop

protected strawberries by the pond

a harvested raised box planter

Ray said these tomatoes were much improved by the row cover protection.

raspberries by the pond

squash

Ray and Deanette

Deanette is on her second year of veg gardening and took lots of notes.

Ray in his element

I happen to know from last year’s tour that Ray also has a big potato patch off in the woods down a green road.  He says checking on it makes him take a good long walk every day.  We did not have time to see it on our pre-tour because Patty and Deanette had other places to be, so we departed for a look at Pink Poppy Farm.

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Aug. 7: garden club tour, part one

Aug 7, 2013

Every year, Ann S’s garden club from Vancouver, Washington comes to the Peninsula for a post-Music in the Gardens tour.  Usually Ann picks her favourite gardens on tour day and asks the owners if she can come back in three weeks, on a weekday.  This year, she herself was unable to make the big tour, so I decided to take the day off and go with the group to most of the gardens that were on the tour.  (Last year, Ann’s own bayside garden was on the Music in the Gardens tour.)

Allan dropped me off at Ann’s house, where the group came down the stairs sounding like a flock of exotic birds.  Off we went in three vehicles to Marilyn and Nancy’s “healing garden”.  Nancy was there when we arrived (left in photo below); as owner of the wonderful Depot Restaurant, she knew that the group would be having a delicious meal there at the end of the day.

The garden club at Marilyn’s

at Marilyn’s, noticing the variegated Knautia ‘Thunder and Lightning’

This variegated thyme also caught their eye.

Of course, the painted sage was a hit, as always.

I made sure to take them next door to see the great outdoor fireplace made by the neighbour’s son.    The ladies loved this.

Don’s fireplace, built by his son.  Don is on a ladder at upper left.

We next drove south to Pink Poppy Farm, where we were greeted by garden owner Lynn who had a little time before going to work.  In the circle garden inside the front gate, a flower was admired.  A friend had given Lynn the seeds, and she gave me some.  She said she was told it is a “South African pearl daisy…Arctotis grandis”.

cool plant

As always happens, I saw new details in the garden this time around, like this pile of ingredients as one comes around the side toward the chicken palace.

good stuff

Of course, the garden club was wowed by the Imperial Chicken Palace.

new container holder in front of chicken palace

clever idea for attractive display of big plastic pots

The Imperial Chicken Palace

admiring the Chicken Palace

talking to the happy chickens

Onward across the rolling lawns, we progressed to the poly tunnels.  The ladies were a little worried about their nice shoes.  It was not from watering that the grass was wet; there had been a very heavy dew.  As someone who is always dressed for one occasion, gardening, this is not a problem I had even thought of in advance.

across the dewy lawn

medium poly tunnel

the other side (north door) of the medium tunnel

admiring the nasturtium arbour

the big poly tunnel

The wonders of the produce in the poly tunnels completely chased away thoughts of damp shoes.

in the poly tunnel

lemon cukes

in the big poly tunnel

the littlest poly tunnel

There is a spare house in the back of the property (east end) by which this little tunnel sits.  It lacks electricity, but I have told Lynn that she is lucky I like my own garden so much or they might find me squatting there, I love Pink Poppy Farm so very much!

sunflowers on the empty house

We made our way across to the north side of the property and the garden shed gardens.

admiring the sweet peas

Hm, their sweet peas were not a failure like mine!  These look like mine looked last year, darn it!

something else I had missed till now

shed

swing set bean trellis

more sunflowers

shed detail

above the garage

pumphouse and “pollies”

steps down to patio

leaving in a happy mood

Next: a garden club reprise of more tour gardens.

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