Garden at Noelle's

July 13, 2003

	I rototilled the garden around February of 2003.  Noelle and I planted some sunflowers, spinach, broccoli, and peas that I had grown from seed in our laundry room, but only the peas survived.  I tilled again and planted seedlings from the store.  Here we see the garden after it has been growing for a few months.  In the foreground are types of salad plants called mesclin, and behind them are marigolds, snapdragons, and poppies near the fence. On the right, some old roses have been growing for years.  The corn is visible on the far corner of the garden.
	The zucchini grew well.  I made batter-fried zucchini flowers, which were pretty good.
	These rock terraces were put in years ago by the previous occupants of the property (and current owners, since they lease it to Noelle).  The rocks are a royal pain to rototill around.  In the foreground center are some (volunteer) flower bulbs.  To their right are leeks.  To the right are Swiss chard and onions.  In the upper terrace are some lettuce, tomatos and pepper plants.
	Here we see carots (which were far too densely seeded) and onions in front of the Swiss Chard.  The chard looked vibrant, but wasn't eaten so much.  The watering system that I put in was successful.  Noelle turned it on for an hour every few days, and didn't need to fuss with moving the hose.
	String beans, cabbage and eggplants.  Only the snails ate the cabbage.
	Broccoli -- more than we could eat.  We should have stagered it over time, not that it tasted that good.
	Corn, pumpkins, and zucchini.nbsp; In between are sunflowers and a mixture of other things that my mom tossed in.
	Poppies!  Poppies will make you sleeeepy...
	The corner of the garden and the house that overlooks it.
	Grape vines, which were planted many years ago.
	Here lies the sprawling pumkin patch.
	Lavander along a gravel path near the garden.
	These are also along the gravel path, but I don't know their name.
	Red huckleberries along the path.

August 1, 2003

	The marigolds and snapdragons are in blume here, along with a few weeds.
	In front is the cucumber patch.
	The peas are spent by now, and weeds have overrun their spot.
	The sunflowers are blossoming.
	A fresh bunch of sugar snap peas have grown near the sunflowers, and are ready for harvest.
	Noelle examining

September 7, 2003

	Sunflowers about ready for harvest, but we didn't bother.nbsp; The birds, loved them.
	The two foot tall fence worked well; we didn't have any pests.
	The salad mesclin is gone.
	There are starburst squash in the fore and pupkins in the yon.
	I sampled some of the rose hips, and they were interesting.

Stone path near herb and flower garden at my parents' house

	After shopping at five different stores, for the right color, shape, and price, I bought stepping stones from Rock Mountain, which is a rockery that is on highway 202, towards Fall City.  They were nice, even providing me with a complimentary band-aid.  The rock I settled on, called "Iron Mountain" is a shale with iron oxide.
	The steps lead under the arbor, which has a patina of rust. I thought the rust in the stone would perhaps go with the arbor.
	This stone is directly under the arbor. It has an unusual rough texture, unlike the others. I planted some Corsican mint around it. It has a great fragrance and keeps to under an inch in height. I hope it will fill in around the stones.
	The stones look washed out in the bright sun here, but on a wet day, they look quite dark.
	It took some effort to move the stones. There are about 24, and they weighed over 1160 pounds, which averages about 48 pounds per rock.
	I placed some stones in the herb garden to make the herbs more accessible when it is wet or when they have become more overgrown.
	Inserting the stones into the cedar bark to make them reasonbly level took some time.  The bark is somewhat springy, which results in some movement when stepped on, so the stones should ideally rest on the dirt substrate.  Since the bark is several inches deep in places, it is fortunate that I was able to find stones that are 3 inches thick or so.
	Here is a view looking towards the back of our house.  The path heads over toward the next-door neighboor's lawn and stops.  We are gradually planting more shrubs and flowers on the burm, but some die. The Sargents Cherry tree needs to be replaced, as it seems to be suffering from a pathogen that causes its limbs to fall off (rather like lepracy).