jamesggilmore.com » Garden

First Garden Porn of 2011!

James G. Gilmore — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:23:27 +0000

Things are growing. Things are being planted. I’m starting more from seed this year than I have in previous years. We’ll see how that goes. As always, click any picture to embiggen.

What will soon be strawberries! I love perennials.

The strawberry patch, along with a couple of tomato seedlings that got transplanted today.

The peas and radishes… soon I’m going to have to put up a taller trellis for the peas.

The radishes are even starting to climb out of the ground… are they supposed to do that? But it looks really pretty…

The Virgin Mary and a little wire sculpture of a garden gnome made for me by one of my priests (tough to see in this photo) are keeping a close eye on the arugula, which will need to be thinned out soon.

Garden Porn: Unpredictability

James G. Gilmore — Wed, 12 May 2010 17:31:16 +0000

This is the fourth day in the last two weeks where the weather report has called for rain but we’ve had nothing but humidity. It’s felt like it was fixin’ to rain all day, but it hasn’t actually come… which might be because I brought my umbrella to the office. I’m starting to lose faith in meteorology as a science.

Anyway, the first beans are starting to grow on the vine, and the strawberries are flowering! The tomatoes are flowering too, but I feel like they’ve got a bit of growing up to do (once the weather gets a little hotter) before we’ll get anything good out of them. Here are the goods:

My first pole bean!

The basil is getting tall.

The strawberries are flowering.

The tomato is flowering too.

Garden Porn: Survival

James G. Gilmore — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:34:03 +0000

The area had a frost advisory last night–or, at least, all the counties northwest of here, stopping at Washington DC. I covered up as many plants as I could just in case, but from the look of the ones I had to leave exposed, we don’t appear to have gotten any frost. I suppose that’s a positive part of the urban heat island effect?

Anyway, I took these pictures on Sunday, shortly after buying and planting some new seedlings… enjoy!

The whole garden... still a lot of planting yet to be done, but we're getting closer!

Pole beans... this is the first year I'm growing them.

Yet more peppers... now in addition to bells, I've got Anaheims, jalapeños, and sweet peppers.

I'm also trying melons this year... but I need them to climb up the fence instead of spreading out, because I need the real estate.

The Glorious Return of Garden Porn

James G. Gilmore — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:31:24 +0000

Welcome to the first edition of what I’m hoping will be a weekly-ish feature again this year… garden porn. I’m growing veggies in my backyard here in Columbia Heights, DC, and I’m always happy to share pictures of my green and growing plants with random people on the internet.

I know it’s a little early to plant things like tomatoes, peppers, and basil, but it’s been a pretty warm spring, and I’m betting against another frost. According to weather forecasts, that was a pretty good bet (knock on wood)… and I’ll have fresh veggies a couple of weeks earlier!

This year I added another bed – 48 square feet – which gives me a lot more room to play around in! So I’m going to be growing more of everything – as well as adding a few new plants to my repertoire. (I’m hoping I can find some young melon plants at one of my local nurseries…) Since last year’s herb garden was pretty much a weed-infested bust, I’ve added the herbs to the raised beds too… hopefully that’ll keep the weeds away.

Enjoy!

Both garden beds, in all their glory.

I'm growing herbs this year too. Basil, cilantro, rosemary, and parsley.

The strawberries (and some infant peppers in the background).

Tomatoes... this year, four Romas and a Big Boy. And maybe more, if I decide to plant some more.

Monday Garden Porn – “Sorry About That” Edition

James G. Gilmore — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:50:04 +0000

Yeah, it’s been a while. I’m taking my giant comprehensive exams in 32 days and have been working a lot, so not so much with the time to blog.

Anyway, here’s some garden porn! Things are growing! Vegetables are being produced! Life is wonderful!

Another eggplant! I've already picked two this season. (Click to embiggen.)

The first tomatoes of the harvest! Soon I'll have enough to make fresh salsa! (Click to embiggen.)

The peppers are changing color... soon they'll be ready to pick too. (Click to embiggen.)

I planted these jalapenos almost as an afterthought... and now I'm really glad I did. They look wonderful. (Click to embiggen.)

Monday Garden Porn – Unexpected Edition

James G. Gilmore — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:55:30 +0000

I was going to have some guest garden porn today, as I thought I was flying home to my parents’ house in Michigan this morning to spend a week visiting up there, but when I got to the ticket counter at BWI it turned out that my ticket was in fact for tomorrow. That’s something that would have been good for me to notice before I woke up at 5:45 to go to the airport, but things being what they are, I’m going to make the most of it. Expect some garden porn from my parents’ garden later this week.

The first Anaheim pepper. Thanks to Evelyn for giving me this seedling! (Click to embiggen.)

One of my eggplants is starting to come in. Soon I'm going to have to find a good recipe that uses eggplant. Incidentally, baby eggplants look like they come from another planet. (Click to embiggen.)

The bell peppers are coming in too! I wish I could remember what specific kind they are, but I really can't. (Click to embiggen.)

The plum tomatoes are growing. Fresh, garden-picked salsa is only a few weeks away. (Click to embiggen.)

Belated Monday Garden Porn – First Fruits Edition

James G. Gilmore — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:34:53 +0000

This week: my first cucumber! The garden is making the transition from a pretty garden to a fruitful one… little cukes coming in all over the place, tomatoes and peppers getting started, and even the beginning of an eggplant! I picked this cucumber today… but I haven’t cut into it yet to see how it tastes.

The first cucumber of the season! (Click to embiggen.)

The first tomatoes are started! Fresh salsa coming soon...

A little pepper... (Click to embiggen.)

Monday Garden Porn

James G. Gilmore — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:50:02 +0000

Sorry I missed a week in there… the cucumbers are coming in! Last week I had about a hundred male flowers and one female one (the females are the ones that actually have the cucumber behind them). Now I’ve got more female flowers growing in and getting fertilized – in a few weeks, I’ll have full-grown cukes!

Tomato flowers. (Click to embiggen.)

My first cucumber! (Click to embiggen.)

Belated Monday Garden Porn

James G. Gilmore — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:14:13 +0000

Sorry about the delayed garden porn… my friend Nirvana is in town from LA and we’ve been seeing the sights. This week’s garden porn: the cucumbers are blossoming all over the place! Also, the sweet peppers seem to have re-blossomed… which maybe means they’ll do a little growing for once?

Cucumber blossoms! (click to embiggen to wallpaper-size image)

Pepper Blossom (click to embiggen to wallpaper-size image)

Monday Garden Porn: Blossoming Cucumbers

James G. Gilmore — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:35:48 +0000

Today’s garden porn: A beautiful, breezy, sunny early-summer day, and my cucumbers are in bloom! The yellow flowers are stunning – and they also mean that fruit’s just around the corner.

Cucumber Blossom - click to embiggen

I also cut some romaine and arugula the other day… they’re delicious. Nothing quite like home-grown veggies…