Tootfinder

Since it seems frost may finally be on the cards this week, we picked all the tomatoes this afternoon. With a little luck, we'll make and can green tomato jam tomorrow.
#gardening

OK, this is more what I was expecting from my Sweet Peas; I think there's a couple of different varieties in this really high grade LIdl pack of sweet peas. Next year I should get some from better #gardening supplier.

TIL our garden soil is pH neutral (to my surprise). Beautiful royal blue!
#SoilSamples #Chemistry #Gardening

Let me convince you to grow anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum). The flowers, which looked nicer last week (and on the plants I just harvested), are bright purple and are favorite of bees. But, IMHO, the leaves are the best part of the plant. Used fresh or dried they add a sweet anise flavor to black tea and they make really great ice cream too (akin to mint).
#gardening

The garden festival / Landesgartenschau was not just about #gardening. There were also events etc. (Which we didn't attend)
One place was about #floristry with really beautifully decorated arrangements. I'm always a bit jealous of such things. They look really beautiful, and requir…

Okra flower
#flowers #Bloomscrolling #gardening

Bahçe işiyle uğraşmanın en önemli özelliklerinden biri paylaşmaktır. İsteyen olursa mektup zarfıyla yollarım.
#garden #gardening #garten

Who needs to carve pumpkins when you grow zucchini that look like this?
#gardening

I have 800 g of frozen #chokeberry, and I won't hesitate to use it through the next months.
#gardening

My daughter's cats are really into shrubbery. Big Monty Python fans...
#CatsOfMastodon #Gardening

My first attempt at growing sweet peas has yielded some flowers - a few, tiny, microscopic flowers; but still.
My spice bushes are getting there - one much faster than the other - the slower one was initially planted somewhere without enough light, and then I think got hastled by a dog a few times; they were both just sticks when they arrived (in April??)
#gardening

Making purple salsa with garden purple tomatillos!
Get roasted!
#salsa #cooking #gardening

It finally bloomed🥳 This is the most beautiful flower I have ever seen.
#Bloomscrolling #flowers #gardening

İlk domates kızardı. Ben bunu kakao domates sanıyordum. Sanırım komşum yanlış fide verdi.
#garden #gardening #garten

A crown on the garden.
#BloomScrolling #gardening

Got my water/utility bill for the spring/summer yesterday. (we get billed 3 times a year as part of our general city utilities bill including water, sewer and garbage/recycling fees).
Figured it would be a big water year this year so I've been wanting to see this. And of course, I have data going back to 2019ish.
Today's bill only goes to August 1st, so it doesn't include when we started to fill the #pondpool!
This was already a dry year in the spring and we were doing lots of watering in the front yard for the new ground cover in the modified driveway and the 3 new fruit trees.
Verdict:
2024: Apr 12 - Aug 7: 122, 200L
2025 Apr 14 - Aug 1 (7 less days!): 136,600L
It will be interesting to see if the August pond filling will add a big chunk onto our summer/fall consumption or if that is offset by both the brief August water restrictions, and the departure of both kids this fall to consume other people's water. ;=)
If you want an indication of how much water people use vs. yards: look at our August 2022 bill, which captures when we were on our cross-Canada roadtrip for 30 days in July/August of the 100 day period.
#water #consumption #gardening #utility #PortAlberni

Die Ringelblumen und Kornraden vom nächsten Jahr. 🌸 #Gardening #Flowers

A small part of this year's bean harvest.
#gardening

Pesto-making day. The basil and garlic are ours, the sunflower and pumpkin seeds and the olive oil (duh) are from the store.
#cooking #gardening

My first Dragon fruit flower 🥳 It should bloom tonight
#dragonfruit #Bloomscrolling #flowers

The front-yard garden. You don't need much space to grow an awful lot.
#gardening #BloomScrolling

Not only do we grow things we've planted, but we also let some of the "weeds" go, harvesting them when ready. Tonight, we put lamb's quarters (Chenopodium album) in the pasta. Not bad, if not a particularly strong flavour.
#gardening #foraging

The garden has started producing more than herbs this week. Here is the last couple of days' harvest (along with some cherry tomatoes the kids got to first). Not bad for maybe 4m².
#gardening #harvest

#gardening #flowers #photography #bloomscrolling

got home in the dark last night and left in the dark this morning but there has been #poolpond progress in my absence!
The fence builders started!
They augered post holes. They managed to not cut any pipes or wires in the frontyard pond... the holes are BIG.
Glad the fence is happening though. The rains have come with a vengeance and the ponds are filling fast! I wil feel much better knowing no one can get into the yard and be in danger of falling in.
#building #portalberni #diy #gardening

And a quick update on the big project.
The main pond is drying out! I'll let it dry today and then put the liner over tomorrow morning and start working on the plumbing asap so I can get the pebble in there to weigh it all down!
Note little dig marks in the filter pebble where I stole some for the pandemic pond.
#pandemicpond #poolpond #backyardproject #diy #ponds #gardening #watergarden #bloomscrolling #goldfish

Aren't Mimosas cool!
#plants #Mimosa #nature #gardening

It has been a super busy and tiring week… I took a moment to go outside and admire my driveway. Which is a weird thing to say!! 😂
I can’t believe how many different kinds of bees are buzzing in the flowers! And there are 30 Apples on EACH tree.
The clover is so nice to walk barefoot in, but I do keep an eye out for those bees!
I have reduced the watering now that it all seems established. Only 15min every 4 days. We are also on alternating-day water restrictions.
I am hoping that next summer it will be ok to either not water it at all, or only weekly at most as long as the pollinators are happy!
Reminder that life is good.
#gardening #portalberni #lawnalternative #bees #apples #bloomscrolling

I think I moved about a yard of drain rock into the filter this morning, but I have stopped now due to the smoke rolling in. :(
Probably need 4-5 more cart loads before I switch to the top layer of pebble.
#pondlife #backyardpond #poolpond #bcwildfire #airquality #gardening #portalberni

A #pandemicpond post.
The bog-barrels that I added last summer have done an absolutely incredible job at keeping the water crystal clear and almost completely algae free this summer.
Only the much warmer stream between the ponds has more algae than I really like.
I also added the bigger pump at the same time which likely helped a little but the added flow also raised the level of the top pond just above the liner in some spots. So yesterday when I topped it up, I took away the flat border stones to inspect where it was leaking. It turns out, almost everywhere!
So I added some handfuls of pebble taken from the #poolpond filter since I know there is extra there..: and stuck it under the liner to raise it an inch or two all the way around.
Here is a before and after. The first pic with the purple lilly
pads is last year with the algae that was common in the summer before the big filters. The second pic is a few weeks ago when the pond was full, clear, but overflowing, notice the water overtop the flat stones. The last two pics are today after raising the liner a little under the stones.
And a pic of the happy dual-barrel bogs (which are just small versions of the giant filter I just finished in the backyard). The marsh marigolds have not bloomed in the bog barrels. Not sure if they will this year. It is quite shady for them.
Oh and a lilly is about to bloom!The fish are also very active and happy.
#backyardproject #diy #ponds #gardening #watergarden #bloomscrolling #goldfish