summer garden

Gee can we have more than one garden thread?

Now that its even Summer here in Central Oregon, the wild flowers are really showing off. We have beautiful red "paint-brush", small blue and white penstamons, many small daisy type things, yarrow and the fescue grasses are covered with seed - they're our natives so we don't mow them, mowing only only blue grass lawns and hay fields. Most people do not have flowers here or any gardens at all because fences capable of keeping deer out seem to be beyond the ability of the natives. This is horse country and you can get just any animal for free on craigslist because someone has one and afford to feed it and the kids.

We bought a place with incredible ornamental gardens surrounding the house. Things live and bloom here that are not suppose to be able live this far north, or in adesert, or on a mountain, or in this cold. We're so fortunate to have gardens built by a master as her personal expression. My wife has 57 species entered in her Excel file, but thats maybe 1/3 of whats growing here excluding the natives.

OTOH we have utterly failed at getting ANY edible plants yet. Maybe next year I'll have time to put in food plants, green house and a chicken coup.

So anyway summer is the time we gardeners await. Beside food plants, what is really showing off were ya'll live? Sorry but around here almost everything is everygreen - manzanita or pine - its always the same boring green here all year around unless there's snow.
Jim

Just the opposite here for me Jim. Not much in the flower garden (because I am lazy), just some lily. However the vegetables are doing very well this year. Already have a decent amount of lettuce, green beans and pea pods. The peppers and tomatoes seem to be coming in nicely as are the brocolli and beets. I planted a few garlic last fall to try my hand at it and I have two giant bulbs now drying in the garage.

Jim, it's pretty here on the Plumas NF, a mixed coniferous forest, not just pines which to me make things look dry with all the dead needles on the ground. I'm harvesting lettuce and other mixed greens now, corn is knee high and all else is doing good. The electric fence with the added yellow rope you suggested is working. No gopher issues either the last few weeks. Spelt is headed out with a few winter rye heads mixed in. Looks great here in the N CA mtns.
Duane

Last night around 9:30 I was wandering back towards my deck up in the lava flow when a 300 - 400 pound doe mule deer runs flat out, on the other side of my 8 foot fence and I froze at first seeing a big brown thing coming at me, then I froze waiting to see what was chasing it. I have a big gate through the fence I call the Jurrasic Park Gates. I decided to stay inside the "compound" last night - the area within my 8 foot fence. This morning I photgraphed a big kitty track about 10 feet out side my gate. 20 feet from my garden.
Jim

So you have the carnivorous forest?:)

Hey Jim, nice post. I never saw the home gardening thread stuck at the bottom of the forums list. Glad I found it.

I know what you mean as evergreen. My area of Maine is mostly spruce/fir/pine, with beautiful yellow birch and red maples spread out sporadically - mostly areas that had been logged and are still going through succession. Maine summers truly start around June 1. Lupines sprouting around mid June showing off their beautiful purple, pink and white spikes. Lots of Yarrow, Pearly Everlasting's, Goldenrod's, New England Asters. Finally found some Lady Slipper's in a wetlands area, never saw them before up until about 3 weeks ago. I started a plant press to document whatever I come across.

As for edible plants, its funny, I planted strawberries two years ago. Along with many other vegetables. The strawberries are doing excellent, and started producing fruit about two weeks ago. Delicious small ones that will provide for the rest of the summer right through the first frost. I was going to do a full garden, but just don't have enough time to properly tend to it this year, but the strawberries bounced back and are producing like mad.

So this year, instead, I got in to harvesting local plants that grow wild. For instance, cat tail's, the young shoots are edible, and the adult roots are like spaghetti. Wintergreen grows everywhere on the forest floor of Spruce forests, which makes great refreshing mint tea. Field Pennycress seeds can be harvested to make pepper, tons of blueberries. This county is the lead supplier of blueberries, in the world, and they grow wild everywhere, along with raspberries and blackberries. Delicious treat when on the trail! All ya gotta do is bring some pancake mix and add some water and freshly picked blueberries for a tasty morning trail breakfast. There is pineapple weed and chamomile that makes delicious tea once dried. Its neat when you get in to identifying local plants and realizing that a lot of things that grow naturally in the area are edible. I have fun