August 2008
August 16/2008: After the Egyptian walking onions put out their aerial bulbs, we took them off and planted them here. On the right is anise hyssop - Agastache foeniculum - licorice flavour, good in tea.
August 16/2008: Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) close up.
August 16/2008: Next to the hyssop we planted some epazote (Chenopodium ambrosoides).
August 16/2008: A cucumber! (Cucumis sativus)
August 16/2008: Another cucumber (Cucumis sativus). Yes it was tasty.
August 16/2008: Another volunteer poppy (Papaver sp.?) but this one is slightly different than the others we grew - frillier petals, and more of them. In the background you'll notice lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) and a lovely purple cabbage (Brassica oleracea, Capitata Group).
August 16/2008: The same poppy, close up.
August 16/2008: A larger view of the bed. The bushier plants in the foreground are two varieties of thyme (Thymus spp.).
August 16/2008: A view of the whole bed - you can see that one red poppy in the back there, upper left area of the photo.
August 16/2008: Turning to the left a little, giving you a view of the whole garden. In the foreground, I've used cinderblocks for stairs and to keep the hill and bark mulch in place. The plants with the blue flowers that are falling over into the path are more borage (Borago officinalis).
August 16/2008: This is horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) and do I ever love its huge spiral leaves. It's really happy here... we're going to wait until next year to try harvesting its roots.
August 16/2008: Down the path from the horseradish, growing in another cinder block, is a lavender mint (Mentha sp?). Not tasty, but pretty. And as long as it doesn't try to crawl out of its cinder block, it's allowed to stay.
August 16/2008: Bachelor's buttons, or cornflower (Centaurea cyanus). Another mystery plant we grew from seed.
August 16/2008: We were lucky enough to get more than one colour of cornflower! (Centaurea cyanus)
August 16/2008: And pink ones too. (Centaurea cyanus)
August 16/2008: One of the mysteries turned out to be a lettuce (Lactuca sp.). I've got about a dozen lettuces around the garden, and every so often I go out there and take a leaf or two off each... As I'm out there I pull weeds... it's like I'm their bodyguard? And they pay me with bits of themselves...
August 16/2008: Two more Indian Stripe tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum). These... aren't the same as the one in the July photos. We ate that one before we could take a photo of it. Oh was it tasty.
August 16/2008: Back in the main bed, this is some mystery mint (Mentha sp.). I borrowed a cutting from an overgrown boulevard garden... late at night... when no one was looking. It's a lovely mint, I'm sure nobody noticed.
August 16/2008: It's the craziest thing - there are bees that SLEEP in our garden. I go out in the morning when it's still cold, and they are out there clinging to plants in the garden - this one is hanging onto a borage. They are totally still - frozen almost. Then it gets warmer, the sun hits them, they start moving their little legs around, and they fly away!
August 16/2008: This is our valarian (Valerian officinalis). It was nice and tame last year, but this year it grew into a monster and put out these seven-foot flower stalks. We kept talking about taking it down, but it really was exciting to watch. It made nice fluffy dandelion-like seeds.