Photos & Text © 2001 by Len Schwer
The pictures on this page document my backyard garden for the Summer of 2001. The pictures are arranged from the most recent near the top of the web page to the beginning of this year's garden at the bottom of the page. To view a larger version of any image, select the image and the larger version will be displayed in a viewing window. Please let me know of any broken links or typos. Thanks --len
| October 6, 2001 | ||
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The garden is showing signs of the changing seasons. With the arrival of fall
most of the plants are either dead (pole beans and crookneck squash) or ripening
their final fruit. I used this fall morning to test my new Nikon Coolpix 775 digital camera. I think all the pictures turned out quite well. I even included a snap I made by accident while moving the ladder; I inadvertently pressed the shutter and took the crooked house picture. At last a camera for the careless! | ||
) The garden is winding down |
) Roman Pole Beans are finsihed |
) Climbing White Hyacinth Bean |
) Tomatoes from July until November |
) Habanero peppers are turning orange |
) Just testing the Nikon |
) Water Hycithan |
) One of my three Fuscia |
) Zinnas from a distance |
) Even accidental pictures turn out well! |
) Zinna Close-up (see the dew drops) |
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| August 12 2001 | ||
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I did eat my first tomato on the 4th of July. I found a ripe tomato
buried deep inside one of the plants. The taste of that first tomato
alone almost makes all the gardening effort worthwhile. Now a full
month later there are many ripe tomatoes and I have been sharing them with
friends, and Ms Becky takes bags of all sorts of veggies to work. The
Romano Pole beans have done better than ever, and they are usually quite
prolific. I have been harvesting vine ripened (red) Gypsy Peppers and the
crookneck squash refuse to quit. About the only plants ready to quit are
the pickles, mostly because I didn't keep up with harvesting them while
they were small. The tomato plants probably have another month before they
will be finish, although in years past I have picked tomatoes in November.
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) July 3rd and the first ripe tomato! |
) Overview of garden (northwest view) |
) Overview of garden (west view) |
) Overview of garden (northeast view) |
) Overview of garden (southeast view) |
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| July 1 2001 | ||
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Harvesting has begun! I have been picking crook-neck squash and Romano
Pole beans for two weeks. The Gypsy Peppers are ready to start
harvesting. But it looks like no tomato salad for the 4th of July. | ||
) Overview of garden (northwest view) |
) Overview of garden (west view) |
) Overview of garden (southeast view) |
) Overview of garden (northeast view) |
) Peppers are ready for harvest. |
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| June 1 & 10 2001 | |||
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The vegetables begin to appear. The hot weather is helping the
garden a lot this year. The ornamental corn is over waist high.
There are small tomatoes and the peppers
are loving the warm overnight temperatures. The crook-neck squash
will be ready to eat in a day or two. | |||
) First tomatoes appear 1 Jun01! |
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) Overview of garden (northwest view) |
) Overview of garden (west view) |
) Overview of garden (southeast view) |
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) Gypsy Peppers are off to a good start. |
) More tomatoes |
) Crook-neck squash will be ready in days. |
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| May 1, 6 & 19 2001 | |||
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The garden changes rapidly at this stage. In the 18 days between
1 and 19 May a lot of growth is evident. The hot weather has helped
get the garden off to a fast start. My Chicago friend Larry is on
the other side of the coin this year. Chicago has had a lot of
rain which has delayed his garden and given me a head start in
our annual informal competition to get the first ripe tomato. | |||
) Overview of garden 1 May (northwest view) |
) Overview of garden (west view) |
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) Checking if the tomatoes 'measure up' (6 May) |
) This is to chide my Chicago buddy Larry |
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) Overview of garden 19 May (northwest view) |
) Larry is planning to rototill soon! |
) Knee high well before the 4th of July! |
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| March 14, 19 & 25 2001 | |||
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Having a nice garden requires only a few things and among the
most important is good soil. Every year I add about 6 yards of
mushroom compost (a.k.a. horse manure) to provide additional
organic matter in the otherwise abode clay soil. The over
winter volunteer crop of grass made for a nice 'green manure'
to also help the soil. | |||
) St Partick's Day - garden starts |
) Plenty of 'green' for St Paddy (northwest view) |
) Over the winter a lot of grass grew (southeast view) |
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) Time to till (19 March) |
) Tomatoes go into the graden (25 March) |
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) Overview of garden 25 March (northwest view) |
) Another row of tomatoes |
) A tidy garden is a happy garden! |
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