Hummingbirds and Moonflowers

Hummingbirds and moonflowers:  How could it get any better?  Both are pretty special and we’ve had plenty of both in these last weeks of summer.  The record for the number of moonflower blossoms in one night so far is eleven.  The hummingbirds are too numerous to count.  And hard to catch in a photo.

Our moonflower vine is planted at the bottom of our back porch steps, growing up the bell pole there.  Moonflowers are relatives of morning glories, but are night bloomers with large white blossoms.  The white blossoms attract moths at night, which help in pollination.  This is the most successful moonflower vine we’ve had here in Sparta so far.  When I look at the blossoms opening, I hark back to the days when our children were young and we would all go out as the day began to fade and watch the buds start to quiver and shake and slowly open.  It seemed like magic then and still does.  And the big white blossoms are so appropriately named.  

We had been noticing hummingbirds darting around colorful blossoms in the garden earlier in the summer, but when we finally got around to making the half sugar, half water concoction for our hummingbird feeders we realized that what we have here is more than just a few of the hummers.  They are very territorial and fight over who gets to sup from the feeders.  So it is great fun to be on the back porch and watch the hummers dart around competing for their turn at the feeders. 

We have the best of both worlds, as one of the feeders hangs from the post with the moonflower vine while another one is very close by on the porch banister.  There is just a bit of overlap at the last of day when the hummers are still coming to the feeders and the moonflowers are just opening.  Makes for a perfect evening spectacle.  And great summer memories.

Suzy

This is a moonflower blossom in the process of opening.

A good evening for moonflower blossoms!  There
were eleven blossoms all around the bell pole.

Well, I said hummingbirds were hard for me to capture in a photo,
didn't I?  The dark spot below the feeder is a hummingbird.  Honest!

August Beauties

It’s too soon to call summer over, but there has been a shift in the garden lately.  You can see the end to the vigorous production of new fruit on the tomato vines.  Old spent cucumber vines have been taken down and we are picking now from the latest succession of cucumber vines and the same is true of our delicate French Filet bush beans.

Of course, summer is far from over and we will still enjoy many of the summer favorites for a while to come, especially as we have succession plantings of tomatoes as well as those mentioned above, but our thoughts and actions are already turning to the leafy greens of fall.  The first of the broccoli and kale transplants are in the ground and sowing of leaf lettuce is in the process.

The Currey family celebrated the first birthday of grandson Will last weekend with a small family celebration on the back porch and the celebrant gloriously smeared with self-applied chocolate crumbs and frosting.   Just as it should be. 

The family birthday celebration meant that Uncle Brownlee came and photographed not only the birthday festivities, but also ranged the garden with his new camera.  So here is our ode to August captured in Brownlee’s pictures of the last of summer’s glories.   

The muscadine arbor is a mound of green, but there are ripening muscadines now too.  The old vine was flat on the ground when we first got to Sparta but we cleared the underbrush and raised the vine which we know to be at least fifty years old and raised it to its current trellis.  Now we have a cool shady spot to sit on a hot summer's day.

This Yellow Explosion Day Lily is still blooming in August.

We have plenty of sunflowers this summer.  Somehow they
make me happy just looking at them.

Here is a fresh new row of haricot verts beginning to
bloom and make delightful  green beans.

Fairy Tale Eggplant look as if they are regal jewels.  They will get just a bit
bigger and then they are ready to pick,  cook and eat.  

"Harris" kitty knows a good resting place when he
finds it.  Here he is in the bonsai garden adorning a plant.

Sweet basil.  It is really plentiful in August and now is the time to
make pesto for the freezer to get us through the winter.

This is not exactly a garden picture, but a nice shot of our tomboys on
one of their favorite vantage points for overseeing what is happening in the garden.

So thank you, Brownlee, for sharing your pictures!

Suzy

Whoppers

It’s been tomato time here at Elm Street Gardens since mid-June, but there is nothing to compare to the great big varieties that are responding to the heat of mid summer and showing off in all their glory now.  I don’t think we’ve ever grown ones this big or at least not as many of these wonderful giants as we have this year. 

Some of the size, of this year’s tomatoes, of course, is due to the varieties we have chosen, including Cherokee Purples, Brandywines, Mortgage Lifters and Dr. Wyche’s, all heirloom varieties. But we are also attributing some of their exceptional growth to our rich soil, which only gets better every year with the constant addition of our compost and other natural mulching materials.  There are a number of other factors such as proper nurturing and control, the practice of picking off unwanted suckers, regular use of our drip irrigation system and the warmth of the Georgia sun. One thing is for sure; It certainly is not due to the favorite of a local gardener who attributes the unusual size of his tomatoes to the chemical wonders of “Miracle Gro.” 

Nope, we are steadfast in growing naturally and get these spectacular tomatoes by doing it the old fashioned way with good soil, good care and the help of Mother Nature.  Big does not always equal better, but these large-fruited varieties we are growing have superb flavor too. Biggest problem:  Making sure before you cut into one that you’ve got enough people around to share one of these giant size fruits.  You certainly don’t want a bite to go to waste! 

A colorful selection of Elm Street Garden tomatoes at
the FallLine Farmers Market.

A nice big slice of a Brandwine Tomato on Robert's plate at dinnertime.

Megan shows off one of the giants.

A Mortgage Lifer Tomato is some heavy lifting.

New Arrival on Elm Street

All of us at Elm Street Gardens are pleased to have a new arrival in Sparta, Jonathan Tescher, join us in our gardening and community efforts. We met Jonathan during his time as Farmer Services Coordinator for Georgia Organics where he has worked for the last three years serving organic farmers across Georgia. 

Jonathan moved to Sparta to partner with us in starting Sparta Imperial Mushrooms, a gourmet mushroom farm that will be developed in the old Sparta Furniture Factory, and to be involved with our community activities and Elm Street Gardens.

The old furniture factory was originally built in the 1880’s as a cotton warehouse shortly after rail lines came into Sparta. In later days, it became the Sparta Furniture Factory, but it has sat vacant for the past fifteen years or so. It is a great old building and we are in the process of cleaning it up and making the necessary repairs.

Elm Street Gardens has already benefitted from Jonathan’s experience and willingness to work. He also is volunteering as the Acting Director of the new Fall Line Farmers Market in Milledgeville and working to increase market opportunities for farmers.  The Fall Line Farmers Market is where you can find Elm Street Gardens every Saturday morning along with Hancock's Three Centuries Farm and Fort Creek Farm.

Suzy

Exterior view of the old
cotton warehouse/furniture factory

Jonathan in the building

New Residents at 15 Elm Street

Along with the official arrival of summer in June, Elm Street Gardens had two new animals arrive.  Orange kittens, adopted from the Atlanta Humane Society (where we had a thoroughly pleasant experience), arrived and were greeted warmly by our standard poodle, Rives. 

Rives greets a new kitty.

 The “tomboys” are brothers and so identical that we have put a blue collar on one and a red collar on the other.  As it turns out, however, they are so different in temperament that we can tell Harris from Harley Jr. without the collars.  Harris loves and demands to be picked up and petted while Junior is skittish and not so sure about contact with humans. Junior is just starting now to show signs of more sociability and accepts petting and sitting in a lap occasionally. 

The kittens watch Rives play in the yard from the safety of the back porch.

 So now we have three animals named after our house on Elm Street.  Our 1843 Greek Revival house is locally referred to as the Harley-Harris-Rives house after three of the main owners prior to us.  We had another orange cat named Harley who died a couple of years ago, hence the “junior” after the current Harley’s name.  And, in deference to a current Rives family member who clearly prefers dogs to cats, we had named our dog after her family.  Both kittens love Rives the dog and, in turn, he adores them.  Matter of fact, he is the main object of Junior’s affection. 

The boys take it easy.

 As the days go by, the tomboys are growing and becoming more and more adventurous in their exploration of the grounds.  We have high hopes of them becoming adept hunters of various and sundry rodents in the garden, but in the meantime we are content with enjoying their kittenish antics as they play together or with Rives.  There is no doubt about it:  kittens are awfully cute. 

Suzy 

Baby Sitting

Baby Sitting

All of us at Elm Street Gardens are participating in the activity of baby-sitting to some extent (of course parents, Brad and Megan are doing most of it), but I am talking here about baby sitting with another meaning. Yes, Elm Street Gardens littlest flower, Emolyn Fowler, is a baby sitting now. Well almost. At six months she can get herself into an almost independent sitting position from what was until recently a reclining position only. She is not exactly starting from a prone position, but I am sure that will come very soon.

It has been a while since we have had an Emolyn update here so let us share some recent pictures from proud parents, Brad and Megan Fowler, managers of Elm Street Gardens growing operations.

Emolyn sits up!

Smiley girl

Megan and Emolyn

Relaxing down in the barn

Emolyn is growing by leaps and bounds.  She will be starting to eat her first solid foods soon – of course, they will be Elm Street Gardens veggies processed for six month old taste buds and preferences.

Suzy