Vegetables In the Garden

 Finally it became warm and even hot and my vegetables started to grow and bloom. First I will show you the dill. It grew so quickly that it has already started to bloom and give seeds. The seeds are not ripe yet. For pickling cucumbers you need ripe dill seeds. I hope that by the time the cucumbers grow up the dill will be ready.

 

Now cucumbers. I always buy cucumber seeds that do not require pollination, I don't expect there to be many bees. Therefore, the cucumbers grow and reach a size of 9-10 cm, it's fine to use in a salad, pickle and just put in your mouth:)

I also grow some sweet pepper plants. These are early ripening varieties, I collect them in August. Sometimes, if the weather is already cold, I collect the peppers green and they ripen in the house. But of course, the peppers are tastier and juicier if they ripen on the plant. This summer, I think the harvest will be good.

 

In early spring, I planted lettuce and parsley seeds. They sprouted quickly and were eaten just as quickly. Here you can see the second harvest of parsley and lettuce, which is very juicy this year despite the weather in June.

I give you a rose, it is so beautiful that I couldn’t help but take a photo of it after the vegetables.

I give you a rose, it is so beautiful that I could not help but take a photo of it after the vegetables. 

I wish you all a delicious and joyful summer.     

Peonies

The peonies started blooming after the rhododendrons faded. Now the peonies are the kings of the garden. 

Several years ago I was constantly transplanting them from one place to another. They still didn’t want to bloom. Finally, when I left them alone, the peonies showed their beauty. They have been blooming for the second year and delight the garden with their aroma. I have rather modest peony bushes, I don’t know their variety, I just enjoy their flowers. 

The first white buds on the peony bushes appeared when I needed to go to the city. When I returned 2 days later, I was surprised by the beauty of the blooming peonies. 

 

It is interesting that peonies are used for medicinal purposes. Peony roots are commonly used to block chemicals that can cause pain and swelling. It can also prevent blood clotting, kill cancer cells, and act as an antioxidant.

Peony has been used well by physical therapists for nervous disorders, seizures, and epilepsy. 

 

 

The peony is full of meaning. Typically symbolizing love, honor, happiness, wealth, romance, and beauty, the peony is traditionally given on special occasions as an expression of goodwill, best wishes, and joy. 

What else blooms in the garden?

The ornamental shrub Physocarpus viburnifolia, variety Diabolo, blooms now. It is a spreading shrub up to 3 m high with dark, uniformly colored purple leaves.

 Flowers up to 1.2 cm, white with red-yellow stamens.

 

Leucanthemum vulgare, or Meadow Chamomile, is a well-known white garden chamomile. In England it is called 'Whiteweed'. In German, chamomile is 'Frohling smargerite'. It grows in Western Europe, the south of Siberia, in Russia, where it is a plant of meadows and forest glades. 

In my garden, it "travels" to different places by itself, without my participation:) In the spring it sprouts and blooms with cute white flowers until autumn.

All the best to you, take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Garden Bloom in June

Despite the fact that summer warms us up just a little, the garden grows and blooms. Rhododendrons were among the first to bloom. I have several varieties bred in Finland, they are quite cold-resistant. And yet this summer they were late in blooming. 

 

Several years ago I planted garden lilies of the valley. Now they have grown in shady places.I am happy with roses that grow and bloom despite the vagaries of the weather. They are so simple and sweet, pleasing to the eye, you want to touch them.

 

The fruit trees have already bloomed, and now I am fighting aphids that fill the leaves. The day when I can taste the fruit is still a long way off, but I don’t want to give them to aphids.

Vegetables grow well. On cold nights I have to use covering material, as +6 degrees at night is not suitable for vegetables at all.

I'll tell you about my progress. I can already go down the stairs well, although I have to use help to go up. I move slowly, but I try to do what needs to be done, so I plan what and when to do. I'm waiting for warm weather, like all the plants in the garden. 

These are the daily joys in the garden. Looking at nature, you understand that you need to appreciate every moment of this summer.

 

Tulips In My Garden

 I love tulips and always pay attention to their height and flowering time indicated on the packaging and try to select varieties that will delight from mid-April to early June based on flowering time. 

 

Bright colors, graceful form and ease of cultivation have made tulips one of the most beloved garden flowers. I don’t remember, but one spring, fringed and double tulips appeared in my garden, planted so that each flower could be examined separately. My main goal in growing tulips is to decorate the garden. 

Tulips are fairly unpretentious plants and can tolerate any garden soil and location. I always follow the feeding and select a place for the plants. After flowering, the dying foliage of tulips is covered by hostas, dicentra, phlox and conifers growing nearby, which grow back just in time for the yellowing of the tulip foliage. 

I do not dig up tulip bulbs every year. You can leave them in one place for 2-3 years. If you do not plan to dig up tulips for several years, do not forget to mark their planting sites so as not to damage them later. 

If you have tulips growing in your garden, tell me about your experience growing them.

My Little Willow Was Broken

 In winter, under a cap of snow, the willow was beautiful. The sun's rays broke through its branches. But the snow and strong gusty wind turned out to be too strong for such a small willow. 

 

In the spring, when the snow melted, the willow presented a sad sight. Its not thick trunk turned out to be broken. Parts of the bark and wood stuck out in all directions. I was so sorry for my beauty. 

What could I do? I I could not go to the garden and asked my neighbor to cut down its wounded trunk and coat the cut with garden pitch. It turned out that new branches had already begun to grow from the remaining part of the trunk.

 

I hope that at the end of the warm season the willow will transform and will look fluffy and green. Of course, it will not immediately become a beauty, but over time I hope my willow will be like this.

Ants

 Finally I arrived in the garden. The weather was great, warm. I decided to check the greenhouse. Unfortunately, ants settled there last year. Last autumn I poured a lot of pieces of marigolds and dug up the ground so that the pieces of the plant were deeper. They say that ants do not like the smell of marigolds and go to another place.

 

I don’t know what will happen this year, but I want the ants not to crawl on the plants, although they do not spoil them.

So I decided to read about ants, their habits and habitats.
The life of ants is interesting and unusual. Intelligent ants know exactly where everything is, remember landmarks and beacons. In complex labyrinths, they easily find a treat and deliver it to the nest along the shortest paths. The scout ants, having found prey, return to the nest, tell the worker ants where to look and rush off for new trophies. The workers go after what they have found and easily find it without a guide. These workers, harmless in themselves, become the main culprits of the spread of aphids on plants.

 

I want to try sprinkling cinnamon in the greenhouse so that the ants move to another place. I am NOT sure that this is a good solution.

 

And how do you keep ants away from your plants or your house?

P.S. these photos are from the internet

What is interesting about crocus?

 Crocus is one of the very first flowers that bloom in our garden in the spring. These flowers are the first harbingers that it is time to wake up from hibernation and work on the garden. 

The great German philosopher, poet and naturalist Goethe called crocuses spring flowers of joy. Probably because after a harsh winter they are the first harbingers of the awakening of nature. 

 

 

Since ancient times, crocuses have been grown in Assyria, India and Egypt. The ancient Greeks considered crocus a symbol of happiness, the flower of the goddess of the morning dawn Aurora. 

Now crocuses are cultivated as a spicy, dye, medicinal and ornamental plant. Crocus is most widely used because of its valuable product (stigma), which is used in cooking as a seasoning for dishes. The stigma contains the coloring agents croquin and saffron, as well as essential oil with a pleasant smell and taste. 

 

Saffron was known not only as a fragrant agent, as a dye for fabric, as an exquisite seasoning used in royal kitchens, but also as a precious medicine. Descriptions of the medicinal properties of saffron are in Chinese medical books dating back to 2600 BC and in Egyptian texts dating back to 1500 BC. 

 

There are many types of crocuses in nature, among which are yellow, bright blue with purple stripes, and pinkish. The British believe that admiring crocuses sets a romantic mood, instills a desire for travel and noble deeds. 

 

It is recommended to admire the spring purple crocuses more often. This species is especially popular in Great Britain - the Royal Horticultural Society respects it very much not only for the beauty of its forms, but also for its enviable vitality.