New Views

Sunflower

I decided to take some photos from odd angles in an attempt to find some really unique perspectives. I started with this sunflower, positioning myself so that the sun would be directly behind the flower. While to photo has some nice qualities, the seeds are washed out. I do like the colors produced as the solar rays passed through the petals, and It’s really cool to see a bug flying toward the flower in the top left hand corner.

Swiss Chard - Bright Lights - Yellow

I then decided to try a similar shot with some of my Swiss chard leaves, and I got a similar shot of tones produced as the suns rays ran through the leaf. The yellow in the photo is just how the plant looks in real life, and I have not altered the colors in any way.

Swiss Chard - Bright Lights - Magenta

When I decided to try some other angles, and avoid the sun, I pointed my lens at these festive chard leaves basking in the sun. In the background, peas grow to about 7 feet tall, and here they look enormous. The blue sky in the background gives the photo a quality of paradise, and this is often how I remember the valley when I’m away.

Purple Vienna Kohlrabi

Since I had already gotten dirty, I figured I’d take a ground level shot of the Kohlrabi I direct seeded. Here the base of the plant is about the thickness of a pencil, and it has a lot of growing to do before becoming the shape and size of a baseball if all goes well. I had wanted to plant kohlrabi after realizing I had missed it, and when I got to the seed section, they were our of most seeds, but they did have this purple colored variety.  I figure it can’t taste too much different from the light green toned plants that sprung forth in last years garden.

Hammock

At the end of the day I decided to try my luck waiting for the ground hog to appear while my scope and generous supply of lead were nearby. Soon I found myself creating a hammock, and not long after that, I found my self waking up in it. So much for keeping an eye peeled. I guess it’s that time of year where I can relax a bit, so long as I can keep up with the weeds that constantly grow.

Photos by Nate: 3

Sunflower

My nephew has an amazing ability to take photos, and after a short illness, he’s back on track, and out snapping pictures. Above he captured a Sunflower in mid bloom. The flowers have just started emerging in the last few days, and the colors are amazing.

Multiple Flowers Forming

These sunflowers are somewhat unique in that they set multiple flowers that are smaller then most plants. Last year the flowers grew out to about five inches across, and there were about 3 per plant. This plant has eight flowers forming.

Very Tall Plants

 The plants have skyrocketed in growth to about ten foot tall, I guess this garden’s soil is much better then that of my walkway, which only provided the plants an oppurtunity for six feet of growth. Gotta love my styling cut off garden jeans….

 

Pumpkins

The pumpkins are just about ready, and I’m wondering if they will last until Halloween. One of the still green pumpkins is about a foot and a half in diameter.

Better Late then Never

SunFlowers

I planted sunflowers in both my garden and the late garden, but my plants are no where to be found. Since I used the same package of seeds that I saved from last year, I can rule out lack of germination as the cause. This leaves few possibilities, one of which could be the seeds being eaten, or another, the small plants became rodent salad. There are a great deal more animals that pilfer my garden then the late one, and I tend to think it’s the horse pasture which borders the late garden which protects it. The pasture is ringed with electric fence, which pulses every few seconds. Deer rarely trespass into the pasture, and the horses chase many other animals out as well. So, I’m quite happy Becky and I planted the sunflowers shown. Soon they will set large flowers containing dozens of seeds.

Pumpkin

I find it odd how pumpkins grow. The edible portion starts out as a green ball, as shown, and when they are ripe, then turn the distinctive orange we all associate with Halloween. The bottom portion is where a flower once grew, you may notice it withered into mush at this point. I planted a few white pumpkins at the very end of my garden, but they did not receive the vast amount of nutrients needed for pumpkin production, I’ll try them again next year.

To sum it all up, if we didn’t plant the late garden, their would be no sunflower seeds this fall, and we would have to purchase pumpkins for Halloween.

Okra In Bloom

Okra In Bloom

While picking myself a salad last night, I observed my first Okra Bloom. The flowers are quite festive. As I’ve mentioned before, Okra is new to me, and I get pretty excited each and every time it grows. The watermelon vines are beginning to threaten these odd plants thought, after nearly burying the Endive to the right. I’m trying to train the vines to grow back from were they came. It’s a daily battle with one of my favorite salad greens at stake, and soon, my Okra could be in danger as well. I may just start snipping the vines off !

Sun Flowers

The sun flowers in the late garden are just now beginning to grow taller then my shoulders. I can’t wait to upload the picture of these plants, each with multiple flowers. Unlike traditional sunflowers, this type forms many smaller heads of seeds, rather then the style of other sunflowers.  In the background is a tiny little car, playfully nicknamed “Grandma’s Go-Cart”. It gets amazing gas mileage, and is surely better for the enviroment than most cars.