KinderGARDENS - Giving the kids the camera

Welcome back to KinderGARDENS, a weekly post hosted by The Inadvertent Gardener.  This weeks assignment was to give the kids the camera. Telling my two about this they wondered why.  I just told them that we want to see the garden through their eyes.  So here are just a few of the pictures that Shannon and Aiden took....with an explanation as best I can get.

To start us off we will go with Shannon's pictures.

Silly face but taken by herself.  Shannon is holding a Rhubarb leaf.

 Another silly face with the Hyacinth Bean plant

 A very cool picture she took of a Pumpkin flower.

Shannon picked some blackberries and took a quite clear picture of them.

So now that we have seen the talents of my 8 year old lets see what Aiden guy my 4 year old did.

Aiden although only 4 did quite well at getting clear pictures.

 Lemon balm taken quickly yet clearly.

 He made me do it.  I didn't want to pose or get a picture taken but he asked so nicely.

 Running all over the yard Aiden was very selective as to what he chose to take a picture of.  He insisted on this one much like the picture of me.

Yesterday he asked Shannon and I to pose with buddy.  Shannon suggested to do so in front of one of the gardens to keep with the post theme.  Buddy didn't want to look at the camera but thats ok.  Still a good picture.

So thats my contribution to KinderGARDENS for this week.  Stop on over to The Inadvertent Farmer and see what others posted.  Kids are talented.

Thriving Thursday - End of June

The end of June here at IrishGardens means the plants are getting big.  How about your gardens?  Are they Thriving at the end of June?
Here is what is Thriving this week.

 The Butterfly/Hummingbird flower garden are opening up and showing off some very pretty wild flowers.

 More Day Lilies are opening every day.

 This pretty pansy is a greenhouse rescue.  $1 for 2 4 cell packs

 The Morning Glory bush Convolvulus finally began to open..granted it doesn't look like a bush but they do look like really small Morning Glories just not on a vine.

 Echinacea in the Greenhouse is beginning to bloom.

My Gardinia that I have inside as a Bonsai, is blooming.

And my pride and joy of the garden is the Strawberry Spinach plant is growing something other than leaves.  It looks like soon I will get to see the Strawberries that grow.  I can't wait.  Supposed to be interesting looking.

Show off whats Thriving in your Garden today.  Leave a link so others can see.  Have a great weekend.

The Fruits of Mother Natures Labor

Although I would love to take credit for the health of my plants I can't.  Mother Nature is truly the worlds best gardener.  She provides the rain, and the sun.  The 2 essentials for growing plants like this Blackberry vine.

The vine is along the back fence of our yard.  Most of it is actually on our neighbors side but as it is a big bush/vine they can't reach it all...so by default I say that means it is part ours.  I love looking at the vine (from a distance) and seeing all the different colors of the berries.  Some are green, some are white.  Red today black tomorrow.  The more rip they get the easier it is to pick.  Giving us a cup full of blackberries

for the kids to eat.  Even the berries that fall off easily are different shades.  Some are more red than black. Some leave juice on your fingers while others don't.

Each day the Grapes seem to get bigger and bigger.  Soon they too will begin their change of color.  After all the trauma from last year the vine is back and healthy as ever.  See we had some major wind storms last year that knocked the arbor the vine grows on over.  They grew grapes last year but they never ripened or got as big as they are now.  But it seems Mother Nature understood that the vine just needed to stop working so hard to produce grapes last year and work on healing it's self.

After many attempts last year at trying to grow strawberries I finally have a small garden with some plants.  And they are slowly producing berries this year.  I chatted up a lot of folks over at myfolia to find out what in the world I was doing wrong.  Seems the advice worked cause they are thriving this year.

I will never (try my best not to) talk bad about Mother Nature again.  She knows what she is doing and has for some time now.

KinderGARDENS (week 8)

This week here at IrishGardens was a week for exploring for the kiddos.

 Shannon stopped to smell the herbs....mint her favorite one to smell.

 She did a little weeding around her Zinnia's

 Finding Cherry's on the ground Shannon explained to Aiden where they came from and tried to point them out on the tree.

 They both felt very small next to the Yucca plant...I feel small next to the Yucca plant.

And my redhead saw a butterfly and got her digital camera out and took pictures.  They may not be the clearest of pictures but they are there.

So thats what we did this week in the gardens.  The Inadvertent Farmer hosts this cool meme every Thursday.  I am a day late but others were on time so stop on over and see what others are doing in the gardens with their kids.

Thriving Thursday - Tree's

Welcome one and all to another issue of Thriving Thursday.  The weekly meme where we get to show off what is thriving in our gardens.  This weeks topic for my garden is Tree's.  As I have some growing inside started from seed I want to show off the progress they are making.  But that doesn't mean you have to post about trees....

So as I posted a while back about the Tree's my Mom gave me I wanted to post about them as they are growing quite well.

 Looking very healthy with a new branch on it.

Remember that little seedling in the picture before...the Mimosa I was starting from seed?  Well here she is....looking wonderful.

Remember those Rose of Sharon Tree's I started from seed?  Well take a look at them now

They still have their seedling leaves but they are getting taller every day.

These guys too.  Looking good and getting strong.

So what in your garden is Thriving this Thursday?  Got any trees your growing and want to show off?  Write a post and add your link below.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Container plants in the rain

A rainy day at Irishgardens today.  Lots of much needed rain.  But what are you supposed to do with the container plants.  Not all containers have drain holes.  I mean sure in a perfect garden all the plants would have the right amount of space, and those in containers would have adequate drainage.

In that perfect garden this would never happen.  Enough rain to fully soak the soil to the point that it collects and makes a pool of sorts.

The lawn would never ever have puddles that form.

 And well established tree's wouldn't nearly drown because the rain is coming down so fast that it can't soak in.

In that same perfect garden the rain barrels would always be full but never over flowing.

So since I don't have that perfect garden I have... a water line that connects to the over flow connection to the greenhouse irrigation system.

And ...

....an umbrella to cover the containers that don't have drainage.  It may not look all that cool and smart but hey it works.  Those 3 containers are no longer swimming in the rain.

So is your garden perfect or like mine and far from it?  What do you do to keep the rain from drowning your plants?  How about your rain barrel if you have one?  Does it over flow on heavy rainy days?

Harvesting Edible Garden Tour - June 21, 2011

Another month has passed by and brings us right back to the 21st.  A day in which I like to show off what I have harvested this past month.  Today is also the beginning of Summer.  Given the fact that it has been increasingly warm the past few weeks my harvest tally is up.  So on to a few pictures of what I have been harvesting...take a walk through the gardens with me.

We will start our tour at the Garage Garden area.  Where pea's, beans, and corn are growing.

 The peas are climbing and happy.  Buds are making way to fat yummy pods full of peas

 Not much I know but hey it's the first harvest of the pea season.





Next we will travel West to the Strawberry bed.

 The white strawberry plants I started from seed are very happy in their new home.  The strawberry bed has blooms popping up all over.  These pretty guys are just about ready.

The will never turn red.  White strawberry plants lack a chemical that allows them to ripen to red.  They grow green like all strawberries do but then slowly turn white.  Only 3 so far but hey it's just the first year.



Continuing our Westward travel we will head into the Greenhouse to see what's harvesting in there.

Along the south wall we see Rhubarb happily growing and soaking up the sun.

Big leaves that were able to grow basically bug free.  Healthy red stalks ready for freezing.

In the center isle we see the Mint.  Famous for growing fast.  It seems every other week it looks like it needs trimming.

This harvest went to the gardens.  Because it grows so fast and I only need just so much of this I like to spread it around sometimes.  I like to take the cuttings and just kinda toss them into some of the garden beds to help with bug control.


Outside the greenhouse the extension garden and Vine bed are growing well but nothing to harvest yet. So we will head South for a little bit and check out the Arbor.

The water fountain that sits under the Grape arbor has now become a home for Alpine Strawberries.  I thought it would look cool to see the runners falling over the fountain as water does.  Of course this variety doesn't seem to produce runners but thats ok.

Because it did produce 1 very nice looking juicy strawberry.



Heading North-West now we go around the corner of the house and see the Kitchen Garden.  Where more corn is growing along with Broccoli and Cauliflower.

After last years failed attempt at growing broccoli I finally got one growing.

It may have been small and only one but who cares.  I got one to grow.  I may have waited a little too long to harvest this one as it seems that it was almost to the flowering stage.

So I hope you enjoyed the quick tour of IrishGardens and come back soon.  What is Harvesting in your neck of the world?    I would love to read about it.  Make a post and add your link.  Come back later and take a tour of another garden.