Busy Bee

Snowy Days

2012-02-13T12:35:00.000+01:00

This is how bird feeders looked in the morning. The snow finally stopped falling and it is a bit warmer.

The garden is all covered in deep snow and it look beautiful and the town as well.

Hungry Birds

2012-02-11T10:21:00.003+01:00

Again my bird feeders hang on the terrace and lots of hungry birds come to snitch some food. I also spread some nuts on the terrace and the window sill. I am sure they have difficulty finding the proper food in nature because everything is covered with deep snow. I noticed some new species of birds visiting the feeders. Besides my old friends sparrows, tits, nuthatches and robins, I noticed two species of finch as well. The photographs are taken from behind the closed window and are not particularly well but, I decided put them on the blog anyway.

This is the Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)

This one is the Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

They may appear rather the same but they are two different species of the same family of the true finches - Fringillidae. The first one has pale colour feather on the head.

Besides the finches, the bird feeders are also regularly visited by woodpecker, blackbird and even jay. All the birds come at the same time and seem not to disturb each other - that tells how harsh this winter is at the moment.

And, the snow is falling down again today...

The Magic of Winter

2012-02-06T17:16:00.001+01:00

Snow doesn't stop falling. Maybe because of the cold, the snowflakes look like true hexagons. And they are pretty big so one can see them with a bare eye. Snow is also dry and easy to clear; snowflakes simply 'fly' around when I sweep them with a broom!
I was in the garden for a while shaking the snow down from the conifers. It was just a precaution measure because conifers tend to hang on branches under the snow.

snowflakes

How much snow we got, you can see on the photograph down there.

Winter

2012-02-03T14:20:00.001+01:00

The real winter finally came to me. The snow has covered the garden, which is good. The cover will keep the plants protected from the cold. And, it is cold indeed. The temperature doesn't rises above - 7°C during the day. The Siberian cold front did not hit Croatia as much as other neighbouring countries heading east. They freeze on - 33°C!

The snow is falling all over the Croatian coast too, which is rarity. Even the sea has frozen on some places.

I am glad I did not clear the flowers bed clean last Autumn. The snow look nice on tall Sedums, sedges, and ornamental grasses.

Sedum

Miscanthus panicles

Liriope's evergreen leaves under the snow.

According to the long term weather forecast, I'll have to wait for at least one month to work in the garden. Meantime, I make new layouts and plans and write 'to do list' for the next gardening season.

My town, part II

2012-01-29T18:47:00.001+01:00

I did not take new photographs of my town because the days were cloudy and pretty dark. But, I continuously make pictures of every thing that happens and changes in my town and made a pretty large file of them so far. So, take a walk with me and see what is renovated after the 1991. war destruction.

This old villa hosts the spa management today.

The train station

The town municipal building.

One of the spa buildings, so called Marble Baths.

Hot water spring pavilion in the town park.

to be continued...

PS. The town horticulture is at it's lowest ever!

Waiting for the Spring to Come

2012-01-25T14:18:00.000+01:00

Yesterday afternoon the plumber came to fix the broken pipes under the kitchen sink. As he entered he asked me all amazed if these were artificial snowdrops in my entrance garden. I laughed and he could not believe it how early they came to flower. I have them on this particular spot every year at this time and think, it must be some warm water stream passing somewhere in the ground. The whole town lies on the hot water streams.
Once upon a time my town was a well known spa, good enough for 'keiser' Franz Ferdinand (no, not the pop group!) to come for a visit. Today, most of the beautiful spa and hotel buildings wait the renovation and dream about the glorious past. The whole building complex was set into the large park, partly designed in baroque style and partly as English woodland.
Down there is one of the oldest photographs, probably taken a hundred years ago. These people sit before so called 'Kursalon' (spa) building. We still use the German words for the buildings as we were part of Austrian monarchy at the time.

image credit: skyscrapercity

Kursalon on the old postcard.

(image credit: skyscrapercity)

Kursalon as well as Wandelbahn (Promenade) were built in neo-baroque style as well as the gardens around them.

This is what have left of them after the 1991 war. Unfortunately, nothing has changed until today!

image credit: skyscrapercity

Let's make a tour now and see how it all looked like before...

image credit: skyscrapercity

Can you imagine a street with no asphalt on? This is the street where I live. It was filled with such a large villas with rooms for the guests.

Another parterre garden...

Pavilion, 1912. - it is the hot water spring there.

Wandelbahn, the covered promenade.

Well, I am going to take the pictures of these sites tomorrow so you can see how they look like today.

The story continues...

Crazy Nature

2012-01-18T12:56:00.000+01:00

I made these photographs last Sunday morning when all of the sudden the snow started to fall carried by the strong wind. It was a proper blizzard with snowflakes stick together so they looked like a pieces of cloth! This winter magic lasted only for a few hours. By noon, the sky was already clear, the sun pretty warm and snow remained only on my photographs.

'Corpus delicti' - the neighbouring cats just love my garden!

Carex sp.

kale

Sedum

Pennisetum

snow melting on red dogwood branches

Cinnamon Rolls

2012-01-16T19:20:00.001+01:00

Today was the fist really cold winter day. As I had some leftovers for lunch I made these cinnamon rolls for dinner. They taste the best with a cup of hot milk and keep warm in this cold winter evenings...

You will need:

700 g plain flour

3 egg yolks

4 dl milk

1 soup spoon of sugar

1 cube of fresh yeast

some salt

1 soup spoon of oil

lemon zest

cinnamon

raisins

For syrup: 4 dl milk + 2 sachets of vanilla sugar

some margarine

Make the milk warm, add sugar and yeast. Leave it to rise. Put the flour in the bowl, add milk with yeast, some salt, oil, egg yolks, and lemon zest and make the dough. Roll it thinly. Spread the margarine all over the surface and sprinkle over cinnamon and raisins. Roll it and cut 3 cm thick slices. Put them onto greased baking tray. Leave it to raise in the warm place for an hour.

Preheat the oven on 200°C. Bake the rolls for about 15 minutes until they start to brown.

Heat 4 dl of milk with two sachets of vanilla sugar. Take the rolls out of the oven, pour some vanilla milk over each and bake again for the short time until golden.

Playing With the Photo Editor

2012-01-11T15:47:00.003+01:00

normal

colour shift

drawing

neon

contrast

New Year is Ahead

2012-01-02T19:58:00.001+01:00

One of the presents I got - a candle holder.

Yet another year is ahead us; another set of 366 days (this is the leap year!) to do wonderful things and try not to think about bad ones. I hope you have spent this holidays with friends and family, got the presents you want, danced a bit, smiled a lot and slept well when the curtains have closed.

Our homes are still in the festive mood and it will be so until Epiphany when, traditionally, the Christmas tree finishes it's performance and all the decorations go back into the boxes until next Christmas time.

This Christmas my tree was all in red and gold.

There was just only one thing that I missed this Christmas - snow. I had fun chatting with a friend of mine who lives in Australia. She spent Christmas on the beach in the wave of heat that struck them down under. They never see snow for Christmas anyway. Isn't it funny this world of ours?

It's been year and a half since I wrote my first blog post. Thank you all who visited my blog and left the comments. I really appreciate it. I am looking forward to reading your new posts too. All the best wishes in the following year and - see you or, better be said, read you soon!

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T10:58:00.002+01:00

Lemon 'Gugelhupf'

2011-12-29T19:07:00.000+01:00

Wishing you a very happy New year with this light lemon 'gugelhupf', or as we wrongly call it in Croatia 'kuglof'! No fancy ingredients but lots of lemon flavour.

Ingredients:

2 lemons (zest and juice)

2 eggs

150 g sugar

70 ml oil

120 ml yogurt

60 ml milk

360 g flour

100 g coconut chips (tiny)

1 sachet baking powder

1 sachet vanilla sugar

some raisins

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, coconut chips, raisins, lemon zest and vanilla sugar in one bowl. Use another bowl to mix eggs, sugar, milk, yogurt, lemon juice and oil. Add liquid mixture to the dry one and mix it all well.

Grease a 'gugelhupf' mold and dust it thoroughly with flour. Pour in the mixture and even the top. bake on 200°C about 40 minutes.

Thaks DannyDado for the recipe.

Frosty Morning

2011-12-29T10:36:00.000+01:00

Where is the Real Winter?

2011-12-26T16:29:00.001+01:00

Some of my home Christmas decor.

Well, there was no white Christmas this year. At least not in my part of Croatia. Where are those winters when we had to dig a tunnel through the snow to get out of the house? It was more like the end of the winter days; sunny, 6°C and the first snowdrops coming out of the ground.
We, who live in the world temperate zone are accustomed to seasonal changes. But, somehow, there is no 'real' winter anymore. I miss snow. Not only because that wonderful winter atmosphere but because it is an important natural protection from frost and cold in the garden. In Spring, melting snow brings moisture to the ground and now we have to pray for some rain.

I made a round in my garden. I fought my neighbor's chickens again! They ate all of my winter lettuce! Thanks god they cannot reach these beautiful curled kale 'heads'. I hate to fight with people, but these chickens are really too much! And, my neighbor doesn't seem to do anything about my complains.
Kale keeps very well. I really admire the lovely bluish-black colour of kale 'Black Tuscany'. Both, the blue and the curly one are beautiful decoration in the vegetable garden.

'Black Tuscany'

'Dwarf Curled'

***

I have a new book to read: Permaculture - A beginner's Guide by Graham Burnett. I am really interested in it cause I like working with nature.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T11:49:00.001+01:00

To all my e-friends and followers, to Blotanical gardeners, to all who have been visiting my blogs and leaving kind comments, wishing you a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
May your gardens bloom!

Love, Vesna

Baking the Cookies

2011-12-22T13:38:00.000+01:00

Baking biscuits is in order.

For the past few days I have been baking Christmas biscuits. Usually, I make up to 15 different kinds of biscuits for Christmas. About half of them are truffles and rolls made of fine ingredients that need no baking. And, of course, there are all that cookies traditionally made in Croatia in this particular time of year.
I know that many people living in the big cities simply buy all the biscuits they need. It is certainly practical but nothing tastes so good as home made food. And, nothing beats that flavors and smells of cinnamon, rum, almonds, coconut and roasted hazelnuts spreading round the kitchen.
Why am I making such a lot of biscuits? Firstly, I enjoy baking them. Traditionally, my brother's family is at my home for Christmas and I just love to serve a wide range of biscuits. Secondly, I need them as a gift. After all, when we step into New year and are all fed up with all that food we make, I put them into deep freezer. They may be kept so for several months.
One of the traditional Croatian Christmas biscuits are:
Pepper biscuits

A wooden mold with carved motives is used to make prints on the rolled dough. If you don't have one, simply cut the biscuits with biscuits tin cutters. As for the ingredients, you will need: 500 g flour, 250 g ground walnuts, 200 g sugar, 2 eggs, 2 - 3 tablespoons of honey, 15 dag lard, 1 1/2 teaspoons of black pepper and 1 teaspoon of mixed spices (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg etc.). Make a dough using all the ingredients. Let it cool into fridge for half an hour. Roll the dough thinly and press the mold to make the 'prints'. Cut the biscuits and bake on 200°C until golden. If you wish, coat the biscuits in powdered sugar.

If you need something easy and quick to make, you can make these
Fig balls.

You will need: 250 g dried figs, 1 orange - juice and zest, 120 g ground walnuts or hazelnuts, 100 g sugar. I pass the figs through meat grinder, but you can use any kitchen machine to chop them up. Add orange zest, walnuts and sugar and mix it all well adding the orange juice until you get an even, pretty thick mixture. Remember, you need to be able to make a firm balls out of it. Roll every ball into sugar and let them dry for a day or two. Keep them into a tin box. I usually serve them into paper cups.

Christmas Table Decor

2011-12-21T10:55:00.000+01:00

The Christmas tree made of natural materials decorated the room.

As I have promised, the report from the sixth exhibition of Christmas tables is here! This year golden and copper colors prevailed. All the tables are set in an elegant fashion. Only my friend Marina and I have set this red and white children table.

The picture is worth a thousand words so, enjoy the gallery of the best tables.

Children's Christmas Table

2011-12-19T12:50:00.001+01:00

Want some ideas for the children's table? My friend Marina and I have just finished the table for this year's 'Christmas Table' exhibition. The opening is today in the evening. As always, there will be up to 15 festive tables set for the Christmas dinner. This table of ours represents The Home for the Children and Youths - Lipik . Here, there are some photographs of it. More about the whole event - tomorrow.

Forcing the Bulbs

2011-12-18T09:23:00.000+01:00

Forcing the bulbs is not a novelty. And also, it is not a hard thing to do. This Hyacinths and Cyclamen flowers of mine bring me joy and light these dark winter days.

Usually, the forced bulbs are discarded after flowering but, if you take a good care of them they can survive several seasons. The thing is bulbs get pretty exhausted by forcing and need lots of nutrients to regain strength.

If you like to have bulbs flowering in winter you have to start early in October. Use first class bulbs for forcing. Early cultivars are better choice. You can force almost everything - daffodils, hyacinths, scilla, muscari, tulips, crocuses...

There is a general rule for all of them - moist soil and good drainage. Use the mixture of potting soil, vermiculite and peat moss to plant them. Hyacinth may be grown only in water in the special forcing vases.

You can plant several bulbs into one pot without letting them touch. Fill in the potting mixture leaving the 'noses' exposed and water well.

Now we need to simulate normal growing conditions for bulb so, the pot should be placed in a dark, cold place. It may be placed into refrigerator too.

Forcing usually takes twelve weeks by which the roots and shoots form. When you notice them, transfer the pot into bright, cold room. You can make paper cones to cover the shoots to elongate them. Feed the bulbs regularly until they form flower buds.

Cyclamen flower stems just started to form.

Once they start to open place in the room or on the windowsill but not in direct sunlight. Small bulbs are too exhausted to keep them after flowering but you can keep the larger ones e.g. daffodils or hyacinths. Don't cut the leaves and stems when they start yellowing. Let them die naturally. Keep the pots in a cold place until late summer or early autumn when you can plant them into garden. They will regain strength and flower again next year.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow,Let it Snow...

2011-12-17T11:23:00.001+01:00

Red twigs of Cornus alba 'Sibirica' are covered with snow.

Whoa! It 's been snowing! The garden is cowered with snow, but it won't last, I am afraid. The ground is not cold enough to hold it and the snow is very wet. No wonder, days before today we had Spring temperatures. This cold front came over night and turned the rain into snow. Anyway, I am overwhelmed with joy - white winters became rarity and I really miss it. Would it be the white Christmas? I hope so.

The park early in the morning; yes it was sunny for a while!

In the garden...

Bird feeders are covered with snow too.

Adorable Blog Reward

2011-12-15T13:27:00.000+01:00

It has been some time since the blogger Nelly got me this award and asked to answer a few questions. Thank you, Nelly. She takes beautiful photographs and writes about her life style.

And, here there are the answers to the questions:

1. Where do you get inspiration from when naming the posts on your blog?

I must admit, I find it sometimes rather difficult to give a title to my post. Usually, it holds to the theme of the post.

2. Describe yourself in four words.

Stubborn, full of energy, creative and outgoing.

3. Your famous saying?

It's not over until it's over.

There is lots of adorable blogs but, am I forwarding this award to Mark and Alistair. Fellows, if you like, you can do the same as I did, answer the questions and forward them to your favorite blog. Thanks.

Christmas Fair

2011-12-07T19:47:00.001+01:00

some of my items

My dear friends, if I had only known how good it would be taking part in the Christmas fair, I would have done it before! The sale goes beyond all my expectations and I have already sold one third of my items! Really, there was a crowd around my place all the time.

This year we have 26 different stands, which is more then the last year, and that is really wonderful for our small town. We have a wonderful location - our new modern market place which is, obviously, too small for such an event!

Because of the so many exhibitors and sellers, we were given only one square meter of place, so we could not make a better display of our stands. Never mind.

my stand

My friend Marina, who stands next to me and has also beautiful things. We have really good time chatting, selling things and enjoying hot apple cider with cinnamon!

Marina's stand

Well, the picture is worth a thousand words so, enjoy the pictures...

The Children's Home

Elementary School - Poljana

No one will be hungry...

Biscuits and cookies

Things made of bee wax.

PS. I am certainly going to take part in this event next year too. I have sold all my items, earned about half of Croatian average wage and had still five orders after the fair! I am already thinking about Easter fair...

Hello Again!

2011-12-07T07:03:00.001+01:00

Elf's boot

Hello again! It's been some time since I have posted my last post. My computer needed some serious service. I missed your blogs and Blotanical crew. But, I got it back now and will be active again - I hope. Namely, the Christmas fair starts tomorrow so, the next four days there will be little time to write. Anyway, I will be rather busy selling things I made and photographing this Advent time in my town. You will see it all too, I promise. I see I got some more followers while I have been away. Thanks!

Twig Stars 2

2011-11-24T14:45:00.001+01:00

I finally have finished decorating my twig stars. I thought, this primitive hearts, bows and stars in county style will suit the best to this twig stars.

Popcorn balls

2011-11-22T17:20:00.001+01:00

As I love vintage Christmas, I made these Christmas tree ornaments with a vintage look. It is really cheap and (also important to me) Earth friendly ornament made of popcorns. I used old plastic ball ornaments and decorated them with a round picture and popcorns. I also added some shiny pearls for a festive look. The pictures can be find on Internet under the search 'Victorian Christmas' or 'vintage Christmas' or you can use the motives from the paper napkins. When you collect all of these, the only thing you need is patience!

Ice Lace

2011-11-19T19:38:00.001+01:00

Water crystallize in several forms and one of them is needle like crystal. For days, the air temperature has been below zero and these beautiful ice crystals have coated the garden in white lace...

Asparagus

Potentila

This Berberis shrub has lacy gown as well.

Frost

2011-11-14T15:12:00.001+01:00

Busy Afternoons

2011-11-04T17:29:00.000+01:00

lavender sachets

As I have already said to you, my intention is to take part in the following Christmas fair in my town. The time is passing by quickly when you do something and I am rather pleased with the job I did so far. There are other things I have to do but to make these things. For almost a month now, my afternoons, or better be said evenings, are very busy. It might look easy and simple to make these things but, actually, it requires some skill and it is really time consuming. Here I want to share some of my ideas.
I enjoy every thing I do. It is real fun to me but, I am also pretty serious about it. I want to have a really special stand that will pay attention of the visitors. The things will be for sale of course, and I want to offer potential buyers something unique, hand made and of good quality. I am still thinking about what price I will put on my ware. As always, when you buy things it seems expensive. But, anyone who makes these things knows how much materials, time and skill is needed to finish the product. And, it all starts with an idea - it should be taken into consideration too. I browsed the web in search of similar products and was amazed when I saw the prices. No way I could earn so much money here. I will keep the prices moderate, I know it is crisis, but I will certainly not undersell my work.

I have collected lots of natural materials to make the things I want: pine cones, plantain bark, twigs, different seed pods and follicles, walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, vines... I need them to make the wreaths and small table decorations. I recycle tin cans and use them as pots for flower decorations. Glueing some plantain bark, coconut fibres or twigs all around them will give them a natural look.

another pine cone wreath

Advent table decorations are usually made in a form of wreath but I tried something different and made this rectangle piece.

I made this boot is of chicken wire and filled it up with pine cones and walnuts. Then, I attached white painted twig wreath on the top and tackled in dried roses, hydrangea, pine cones, and other natural materials. The bow of raffia with a wooden star add some more interest to it.

Gypsum is a very cheap natural material to make casts. Different moulds can be bought in all hobby-art shops. I decorated this one with motifs from paper towels.

There is a great variety of cheap wooden boxes to be bought in big shopping centres. I painted them cram using acrylic paint and decorated them with decoupage technique.

wooden boxes and chests

Pieces of fabric and tapes can be used to make tree decorations. I filled them with some cotton wool and added two spoons of dried lavender flowers.

another lavender sachets

decoupage technique: small gift boxes

I covered the tin cans with plantain bark, added some raffia and a small pine cone wreath on top. There is a white candle in the middle, small wooden tree ornament and a bit of so called 'angel's hair' around the candle for the festive look.

I wanted this one in white, blue and silver to correspond with the white birch piece of wood I used instead of a pot. I added the white painted twig wreath, pine cones and blue candle. One blue bow holds the shiny blue tree ornament.

An ordinary flower pot covered in coconut fibres holds the candle, small apples (I made them of salt dough), pine cones, some raffia bows, dried lemon slices, a wooden star and plantain bark.

Web of Pearls

2011-11-01T18:57:00.000+01:00

Fruits of Nature

2011-10-29T18:24:00.002+02:00

There are a few mushroom this Autumn because of the lack of rain and moisture. Most fungi need hot, steamy days to appear. But, there are some mushrooms that love colder mornings and warm days, like this one - Shaggy Incap (Coprinus comatus). You can see more pictures of it on my other blog - Mushrooms and Toadstools.

The day was beautiful and I went for a stroll in park and along the river bank. This mushroom loves lawns and grassland, especially on newly prepared ground. I found some enormous specimens today, more than 30 cm high. It must be the day temperature that made them grow so fast. It is again pleasantly 15 -17 °C during the day. I took the photo above of only a cap of this big mushroom and one regular specimen that usually reach the hight of 15 - 20 cm to compare them.

The mushroom is edible while young, that is until the spores are white. As they become ripe, they turn black and remind on ink - hence the name.

You can prepare this mushroom in many ways e.g. with some onions and eggs. But, my favourite way is to fry them. Clean them, roll them in flour, dip in bitten eggs and then roll them in bread crumbs until completely coated. Fry until golden. I always put them on some paper towels before eating to remove extra grease. No need to add salt, just put some into the bitten eggs.

Bon appetit!

Planting New Roses

2011-10-26T15:23:00.000+02:00

English rose 'William Shakespeare'

image : Crocus.co.uk

Monday was not the perfect day for garden work but, I had to plant roses and some trees that arrived on Friday. The rain was drizzling and by the time I finished my work, I was quite wet. Besides my five new rose bushes I planted the Japanese Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) and Japanese ornamental cherry 'Royal Burgundy'. 'Kaki apples' as we call Japanese Persimmon here are one of my favourite fruits. The cherry 'Royal Burgundy' is a cultivar with double pink flowers and red foliage.

Prunus 'Royal Burgundy'

Image credit: Havlis.cz

As for the roses, there is a nice story about them this year. For almost ten years I buy my roses at 'Virag' rose nursery. They have a nice choice of roses and excellent plants with three strong branches and well developed roots. Autumn is the best time to plant the roses and delivery always come about this time of the year. Roses are delivered bare roots and need to be put in a bucket of water for a day prior planting. I did it this time too and finished planting my new roses on Monday.

English rose 'Jude the Obscure'

Image credit: Camissonia's Corner

On Tuesday, I was really puzzled about the parcel I had to take up on the post office coming from the rose nursery. The roses I ordered are already planted, what could it be? I picked up my parcel; did not have to pay anything for it. And, at home, a big surprise! I was one of the three winners this year on the contest that Mr. Virag, the owner of the rose nursery, organizes for the second year in the row! It is called 'Our roses in your gardens' and all I had to do is to send the photographs of the roses I bought in his nursery. So I did but, could not even dream to win. Mr. Virag generously sent eleven roses that are yet to be in a new catalogue.

English rose: 'Benjamin Britten'

Image credit: The Redneck Rosarian

I was delighted to get many of my favourite type of roses - English roses: 'Eglantyne', 'Jude the Obscure', 'Benjamin Britten', 'William Shakespeare' and 'Alnwick Castle'. I love English roses because of their usually strong scent, beautiful full flowers and resistance to diseases.
I got also 'Sally Holmes' (good for fences), 'Desire', ' Grand Gala', 'Paul Bocuse', 'Rock and Roll' and 'Caribia'. Well, I have some more planting to do these days but it will be a great pleasure to see them all in full bloom. I cannot wait!

Preparing Garden for Winter

2011-10-20T11:22:00.000+02:00

The last week was ideal for gardening. We had some rain, just enough to water the plants after the summer drought and make the soil ideally wet for digging and hoeing. Even though many of ornamental plants were still flowering, I have decided to prepare my garden for winter. Days are still warm but mornings started to be cold and frosty and many plants got frost bites.
So, what were/are my winter preparation tasks?
1. Regular removal of leaves from the lawn. There are tons of it!
2. Cutting off the frost damaged plant leaves.
3. Hoeing and digging accompanied with weeding.
4. Dividing overgrown perennials - Hosta, Geranium, Carex, Miscanthus, some Hemerocalises.
5. Planting newly purchased plants and trees.
6. Mowing the lawn for the last time this year.
7. Finishing filling in the compost heaps and covering them with old newspaper.
8. Weeding the vegetable garden, picking up the last of the crop, sowing corn salad and planting onion bulbs for early spring crop.
9. Planting new rose bushes. They are: 'Elfe', 'Gold Monica', 'Melody Perfume', Schneewaltzer', and 'James Galway'.

The frost finally damaged all the plants in the vase at the house entrance. Among other plants, there were two Ipomoeas planted in the vase. It is a plant from the Convolvulaceae family, a relative to Morning glory. These had no flowers this year but I love their green an purple foliage. As I removed the dead foliage and stems, and started to dig in the earth I pull out several tubers that Ipomoes produce! I had some the last year too but they did not keep up until Spring. Funny thing is that these purple tubers came from the plant with green foliage.

Ipomoea batata (sweet potatoe) produces orange tubers that are edible. I wonder if these are edible as well? Mark, what do you think?

A Pine Cone Wrath

2011-10-18T11:26:00.002+02:00

a basket full of pine cones

Rainy Autumn days are perfect for various DIY projects. As I have collected a lot of cones of various coniferous trees in park, I decided to make a pine cone wrath. It will certainly be a nice Christmas decoration to hang on the house entrance door. Besides of the cones, I needed a silicon hot glue to stick the cones together. I love it because hot silicon glue is pretty strong and dries quick and also, easy to apply with a gun.
Firstly, decide how big the wrath should be. I usually put six cones in a circle and add some more until it is big enough. Then I add the second row of pine cones.

Now, simply glue the cones together, firstly the first circle, then add the second. To finish, I put some small cones all over it to fill the gaps.

This wrath is actually so nice as it is that one big decorative ribbon is quite enough to decorate it. But if you wish, you can add small apples (artificial), ribbons and bows, dried Chinese lantern fruit, dried lemon and orange slices, cinnamon sticks, a bit of gold spray...

The Swan Lake

2011-10-15T16:08:00.003+02:00

I went to the lake side this afternoon and find out the swans are back again. Well, it was only one there at the time and not so eager to get photographed. He stayed at safe distance of me!

My Funny Aubergine

2011-10-11T13:16:00.001+02:00

I picked the last of my vegetables yesterday and hey, take a look at this funny aubergine with a small 'nose'!

I also had to pull out this enormous tomato plan't of mine because the tomatoes started to fall off. They would not become ripe on this weather anyway... Actually, the stem down to the ground was so thick and strong that I couldn't pull it out at all but had to cut it with a hoe! Now I have a bucket full of green tomatoes. Any idea what to do with them?

Rain At Last!

2011-10-08T15:51:00.002+02:00

The rain came silently to my town. But, in most parts of Croatia, this weather change made lots of troubles. The storms struck coastal parts of Croatia as well as some inland regions. Unfortunately, four people died when a thunderbolt stroke a house. In some regions heavy rain flooded the streets. The rain came accompanied by the strong wind that broke trees and posts. In Dubrovnik region, several wind whirls formed over the see but did not struck the land. And, in mountain regions the snow covered the ground.

I know it is a bad thing bud tornado simply impresses me!

As I said, the weather change in my town was not so dramatic. The rain came down slowly and fell silently for several hours. The wind was no so strong. The ground is now wet, and I am going prepare the garden for winter starting on Monday. It means, I will do some digging and remove all weeds and dead and dried plants.

I covered one of my compost heaps with thick layer of old newspaper.

The wind shook down lots of walnuts yesterday and I collected one full sack of them this afternoon! This is the third sack this season, quite a good crop! Now they need to be placed in airy space to dry. But, not at all on the attic where they were last year. I could not sleep of the squirrel (or dormouse, I don't know really) making noise by rolling the walnuts over the wooden floor boards on the attic in the night!

Today is sunny again though, noticeably colder that it was two days ago. For most of us, it was a certain temperature shock, especially for mountain regions where the air temperature dropped down to zero. The woods were immersed in fog this morning, still more green than red and yellow. But, I think, the Autumn is finally showing it's real face and soon I expect the riot of colours.

The Hobbit House

2011-10-05T14:17:00.000+02:00

I don't know about you but, when I saw this house designed by Simon Dale, I said: ' I want it too!!!!' I just have to share it with you.

The other houses are not less beautiful, see here.

Bugs feeding on my cabbage!

2011-10-02T18:29:00.000+02:00

This terribly looking cabbage is all eaten up by a bug! Usually, white cabbage butterfly caterpillars or slugs and snails are the guilty one for the crime. But, to my great surprise, I noticed the Firebugs!

The Firebug, Pyrrhocoris apterus, is a common insect of the family Pyrrhocoridae. I remember them as a child forming dense aggregations in the spring, prior to mating. They usually aggregated under the lime trees in my street. But, I never saw them eating the cabbage!

Pickles

2011-09-30T10:58:00.000+02:00

I picked the last vegetables from my veg garden yesterday and decided to make some pickles. I made three large 5l jars of mixed vegetables pickles. I used peppers, cabbage, cucumbers, cauliflower, green tomatoes and carrots. The recipe is quite simple. You have to clean and wash all the vegetables, and cut cauliflower and carrots into pieces. I filled peppers with grated cabbage. Put the vegetables into a jar and pour in the vinegar mixture. Vinegar mixture recipe for 5 l of water: 5 l water, 200 g salt, 1 dl vinegar, 1.5. sachets of pickles preservative (about 15 g), 250 g sugar. Warm up one litre of water and add salt and vinegar. Let it boil. Move from the herd. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the rest of water and dissolved preservative. Stir it all well. Leave it to cool.

I usually wait one day before covering the jars because the vegetables sometimes sucks in the liquid and it is needed to pour some more the next day. Store it on dark cool place.

I also have some golden cayenne peppers. I simply thread them on a string and let them dry. Sadly, they will loose this beautiful yellow colour.

Autumn Days

2011-09-28T19:33:00.000+02:00

Sunny and rather warm days continue into Autumn. I have just read the most peculiar news in our local newspapers: the source of our river dried this summer for the first time in history! The water is so low that you can cross it wherever you want. This small amount of water comes from the two streams that miraculously still have some water. There is no rain on a horizon at least for another week and the temperatures remain the same - about 26°C (79 F). At least, it is not so hot and steamy as it was in summer.

Mantis religiosa

I found this praying mantis into my vegetable garden, climbing the kohlrabi leaf. In the garden, most blooms turn into fruits.

Lunaria annua (Honesty)

Chaenomeles japonica (Japanese Quince)

Pyracantha coccinea (Firethorn)

Anemone japonica

Pindjur

2011-09-25T18:25:00.000+02:00

For Mark, and all of my readers, here, there is a recipe for Pindjur.

Pindjur is a relish of red peppers, tomatoes, aubergines and different spices. Vegetable chunks combined with spices give this product an appetising flavour, appealing colour and pleasant aroma. It is a dish from Macedonian cuisine.

There are several varieties of the recipe and this is the one I used.

Pindjur

Ingredients:

4 kg ripe tomatoes

10 dag hot peppers

5 kg roasted red peppers

1.5. kg roasted aubergines

20 garlic cloves

bunch of fresh parsley leaves

25 dag cloves

4 tablespoon of salt

8 dl vinegar

1 dl oil

Mixture 1:

Peel off tomatoes, slice them and add chopped hot peppers. Add sugar, salt, vinegar and oil. Cook it for 1.5 hours on low fire to reduce the liquid.

Mixture 2:

Roast peppers and aubergines - in oven or even better grill them. Peel them off. Slice them into chunks. Add chopped parsley leaves and garlic.

When the first mixture is done, add the second one and cook it all for another 20 minutes. Pour the mixture into glass jars and cover with the cellophane. Make sure the jars are warmed up in the oven before being filled up with Pinjur.

Bon appetite!

Fig

2011-09-23T17:22:00.001+02:00

Growing the Common fig (Ficus carica) in the continental climate conditions is quite a challenge. Figs in the mediterranean areas of Croatia are quite common. They grow there in almost every garden, very often together with it's family relative Mulberry. Fig prefers warm climate but can also be found in continental climate with hot summers just as it is here where I live. Though, it needs a well drained soil and somewhat protected position.

A fig tree in the garden of my friend.

In my garden, the growing conditions are not good for it. The one I had used to get frozen every Winter and I had to cut it down to the ground every Spring. It was really annoying and I finally eradicated it. But, my aunt, who has a small walled garden enjoys fresh fruit every summer. Her fig is planted in the corner of the garden near the house. Protected from the coldness and harsh winds, it reached the balcony on the first floor from where we picked up some fruits. Visiting her the other day resulted with these figs on my photo.

This white sap may be an irritant to the human skin.

I simply love fresh fig fruits. Traditionally, figs are being dried because the fresh fruit doesn't keep well. The Common fig belongs to the Moraceae family. This family includes some of the well known plants such as the Mulberry, Breadfruit, Fig, Banyan. One of the characteristics of this family is the presence of laticifers, elongated excretory cells that produce milky sap - latex or rubber.
Some plants of the genus Ficus we keep as house plants. Commonly they are Ficus benjamina and Ficus elastica.

Try this recipe for Fig Balls. I always make them for Christmas.

Ingredients:

25 dag dried figs (1 dekagram = 0.352 ounces)
10 dag sugar
12 dag grounded walnuts
1 orange, zest + juice
a bit of rum, lemon zest
Get the figs through the meat grinder, add walnuts, sugar, rum, orange and lemon zest and as much orange and lemon juice as to get the compact workable mixture. Make the small balls out of it and coat them with sugar.

Tomato Crop

2011-09-18T15:58:00.000+02:00

These egg shaped tomatoes are the fruits of my enormous tomato I wrote about in one of my previous posts.

I think there is still more than a hundred fruits on it! Really, I haven't seen anything like it before. It is still growing bigger, that is - longer, because the stems are crawling on the ground. Thinking about it, isn't it the natural growth of the tomato? It is us who stake it and train the stems around the support. That is our way to spare the space needed for its growth.

My cherry tomatoes are also planted a bit later than the other ones. This no rain weather does not bother them at all. Every now and then I pick up plenty of ripe fruits.

This is what I picked up today...

Good news: The rain is coming! It is supposed to rain for a couple of days. My fingers are crossed.

Bay Laurel Troubles

2011-09-17T13:25:00.000+02:00

Scale insects along the main leaf vein of the Bay laurel.

I have a small bay laurel bush planted in a pot. It simply cannot survive the harsh winter weather in the region I live and I have to keep it in house over winter. Bay laurel grown in pot often suffer from an irregular water supply or may be affected by frost and cold if not moved into a house on time. But, none of these is my trouble. For years I have been trying to fight the scale insects on my bay. They are probably the species Coccus hesperidum, Brown Soft Scale insect. They occupied not only the lower parts of the leaves placing themselves along the leaf veins but also the stems. Of course, they suck the sap and so weaken the plant. They are very hard to treat because of their protective shields. I used to remove them manually with a sharp brush, but now the plant is grown bigger and has too many leaves to do it. But, sucking the sap is not the only problem they cause. They excrete 'honeydew' which is full of sugars. It attracts ants and some other insects to feed on it. The drops of this sweet 'honeydew' fall onto the lower leaves coating the leaf surface and causing the secondary infestation - Sooty Mould.

Sooty Mould

The leaves become blackened and are sticky to touch. This type of fungi are saprophytic so, they do not cause any tissue invasion to the plant itself but may restrict the light and slow the photosynthesis. Besides, they are really not a pretty sight.

The scale insect

I am afraid, both mould and scale insects are very hard to remove and I have to treat them chemically with fungicides and oil/soap based insecticide. I will try to wash the plant with soapy water and a week later wipe the leaves with methylated spirit. If it doesn't help I would have to reach for chemicals.

To end this posts, something much nicer - my favourite late summer performers: Verbena bonariensis and Pennisetum alopecuroides.

Late Performers

2011-09-13T15:33:00.000+02:00

By this time, many plants have already set the seeds and spread them away by wind, by ants, by touch (just think of the Impatients - Touch-me-not Balsam!) or some other way... I am afraid, those who need water to be let out into the world will have to be patient and wait for the rain to come. I have collected some seeds as ever and packed them into paper bags. I leave the seeds of biennials to spread naturally because they need to germinate this year and produce young plants by winter. I only transplant them in early Spring on the spots I want, as I do with my Clary sage, for example.

Hollyhock seeds... and the latest of it's flowers...

In spite of frying sun, there are some wonderful performers in my garden. Besides Asters and tall Sedums that I mentioned in one of my previous posts, ornamental grasses develop their panicles and spikes. One of my favourite ornamental grass is Pennisetum alopecuroides, Fountain Grass. The clumps are rather big now and I think, I will divide them in Autumn.

Pennisetum alopecuroides

Verbena bonariensis among fading flowers of Echinacea.

Amaranthus adds interesting colour to the flower beds.

Kale

2011-09-09T14:51:00.002+02:00

The municipal water supplies are so low that using it for garden watering and car washing is strictly forbidden! Well, the drought took it's toll anyway. But, my kales seem to do rather well. The plants are really beautiful, one can mix it with flowers too. I especially love the cultivar 'Black Toscany'.

'Black Toscany'

'Dwarf Curled'

Decorative squashes are so small, but I think, there will be a few to pick up.

'Turk's Turban' squash (Cucurbita maxima)

'Swan Neck' gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)

This one is planted on the compost heap...

No rain on a horizon for at least a week...

DIY

2011-09-06T18:04:00.001+02:00

I've been busy lately with various 'projects', such as these cardboard gift boxes on the picture above. My friend Marina and I are going to have our stand at the following Christmas Fair. I know, I know, there are at least three months until the event but, hey, I have to prepare myself in time. I am going to sell various things. Advent flower arrangements, door wreathes, gift boxes, flower pots, baskets, Christmas cards and tree decorations ... all decorated by hand or by using the decoupage technique.

This picture frame is a birthday gift for my friend.

A wooden basket.

A flower pot with a saucer.

Autumn Is in the Air

2011-09-01T13:47:00.002+02:00

Have you a feeling the summer days are coming to an end and Autumn is in the air? I do. Everything around me tells me Autumn is knocking on the doors. The days are shorter. Mornings are fresh.
The bright shiny apples fill up the bowl on the table. We make our winter preserves; cook the tomato ketchup, make jams, put vegetables in the deep freezer. I always make so called "soup vegetable mix" for deep freezer. I mix carrots, parsley, kohlrabi and celery, put it in the bags and freeze. I have already frozen dill leaves as well as parsley. Parsley may be also preserved in salt. Just chop it, mix with salt and put in a glass jar. Keep it in the refrigerator.

Aster novi-belgii 'Marie Ballard'

As for the garden, Asters and tall Sedums are taking over. I have several species and cultivars of Asters. There are dwarf Aster dumosus 'Kristina' with white flowers and some unknown cultivar blue-violet in colour. The tall ones are Aster novi-belgii 'Sarah ballard' and Aster novae-anglie 'Alma Poetschke' with beautiful pink-crimson flowers. They are not all in bloom now but soon they will be.

Aster 'Kristina'

Sedum spectabile

Tall Sedums are one of my favourite autumn bloomers. The most attractive among them is Sedum telephium 'Autumn Joy' (or German 'Herbstfreude'). Another species I have is Sedum 'Matrona' with reddish stems and Sedum 'Purple Emperor' with purplish leaves, stems and purple-red flowers. Though it has not got the neatest habits, it looks great in mixed border. Sedums grow rather well in my garden and I divide them every second or third year.

Sedum 'Purple Emperor'

My Huge Tomato Plant

2011-08-28T13:26:00.000+02:00

This is just one tomato plant...

Some months ago I have noticed a tomato plant in my flower bed. It probably germinated from a seed which somehow survived in the compost that I added to the beds. I decided the tomato can stay as it is but, I could never thought how huge plant it will turn into! It almost suffocated my Tiareallas! In spite of drought, the plant is fully green with lots of flowers and the first fruits turning red... The stems are over 1.2 m long crawling over the brick paving and forming the root system at the places where they touch the earth.

the roots on the stem

tomato fruits

The weathermen say it will be a long warm autumn and I think, it will be enough time for all the fruit to ripen. I picked up the most of other tomatoes and they slowly decline, except from the cherry tomatoes that tirelessly produce new fruits.

Check This Out

2011-08-25T11:54:00.004+02:00

I have been following Zondra Art for some time now and believe me, it is a very interesting site. She writes about various life style themes and that's makes her site very popular. You can check it out if you like. She writes in both Croatian and English so, most of you will be able to read the posts.

Her latest post is about making a lavender extract in olive oil for cosmetics use. I have already made mine - the jar with lavender flowers and olive oil is just bathing in the sun!

image credit: Zondra Art

Thank you, Zondra!

Thank you Hanni too for my blog promotion

http://sweetbeangardening.blogspot.com/2011/08/before-after-kalipsos-lost-found-garden.html

http://sweetbeangardening.blogspot.com/

My New Gardening Book

2011-08-19T14:13:00.000+02:00

Horticulture is my vocation and I could never have enough of gardening books. This one is my birthday treat! I do that now and then, buy myself something I like, mostly books.

I ordered it seven days ago form Book Depository. I like this on-line book store, easy to browse, easy to add book to wish list, easy to place an order, good service and free delivery worldwide on all the books. I think is cheaper than most similar on-line book stores. I already have some more books on my wish list waiting...

Well, I cannot wait to start reading this one.

As for my garden, we again have a longer period with no proper rain. So, watering is in order. I had to pull out all the broad beans, no use to wait if they will bring some pods. What a pity!

Sedums and Semprevivums survive the drought easily. I planted some in this old roof tile.

Interesting flowers of Veronicastrum virginicum.

The First Potatoes

2011-08-16T19:03:00.000+02:00

One potato, two potatoes...

I was working in the veg garden this afternoon and could not resist to check out one of my potato bags. I actually find it odd not to see potatoes blooming until now. Maybe it is an late cultivar, I don't know, a friend of mine gave me two kilos of them in late spring.

I cannot say that I am disappointed with the crop. All in all, there were four kilos (about nine pounds) of potatoes in the 50 l volume bag. I guess, the drought took its toll too. I did water them but, nothing is so good as the proper rain shower. I will leave another two bags be until the leaves start yellowing.

Some potatoes are really big, but there is lots of medium and small ones. I definitely picked them up too early.

The tomatoes still provide lots of fruits. They came alive after the rainy days. I have lots of cherry tomatoes too. Love them in the mixed salads, e.g. Greek, with feta cheese and other vegetables. One of my favourite salad is the one with mozzarella cheese and tomatoes, which I prepared myself for a dinner today. Easy to make, healthy and light, it is a perfect hot summer day dish.

Simply slice tomato and one mozzarella cheese and arrange it on the plate. The dressing is made of olive oil, apple vinegar, a pinch of salt and pepper and oregano. Stir it well and pour it over the tomatoes and cheese. I eat it with a slice of bread.

Pergola

2011-08-14T15:31:00.000+02:00

Small pergola attached to the garden shed is finally done. I am quite pleased with it. Now I need to plant the area around it and finish the paving underneath. Being placed in the western corner of my garden, this will be my private, secluded sitting place.

The rose 'Bleu Mangeta' is planted by one of the poles. As the matter of fact, it is planted in Autumn but, at the time I already knew where the poles will stand. It is a vigorous rambler rose, that will overgrow pergola eventually. This rose tolerates many unfavourable growing conditions, such as shade, poor soil or cold so, I expect it to grow well. The flowers are fragrant and have a great clusters of pink-violet flowers.

image credit: rosesloubert

Summer heaths seized and the garden came alive again after the rain. The mornings are quite fresh, between 10 and 15 °C, and the days are not so hot any more. Many roses provide the second bloom. Asters open the very first flowers.

And here, there are some of the present garden bloomers on the photo above: Solanum, Russelia, Verbena, some Hostas, Agapanthus, Lonicera...

Just a Few Pictures...

2011-08-09T18:58:00.000+02:00

Anemone japonica

Beautiful colours of Coleus sp.

Kale 'Black Tuscany'

Macleya cordata

Penny Bun

2011-08-05T17:58:00.000+02:00

Unfortunately, these mushrooms don't grow in my garden but they do in the woods! Today is a day off, a national holiday in Croatia and I have spent it walking in the woods.

The weather lately has been really ideal for mushrooms and I made quite a lot of photographs of mushroom species for my other BLOG. I also picked up about five kilos of Penny Buns (Boletus sp.). I could have picked up a lots more but, according to the new regulations for picking up fruits, plants and mushrooms in the wild, it is allowed to pick up 2 kg of mushrooms per person. People who pick up the mushrooms for commercial purposes have to have a licence and are allowed to pick up a maximum of 10 kg per person. I am all up to that law 'cause I would like to see these mushrooms in the years that come. I mean, people became so greedy picking up enormous quantities of mushrooms and we have every year more and more protected species that face extinction. Penny Buns are especially loveable in Croatia and in years with favourable weather conditions one can pick up sacks of it!

If you like mushrooms like I do, try to make this mushroom strudel.

Ingredients:

6 sheets of strudel pastry

450 g mushrooms (Penny Buns or cultivated mushrooms)

150 g smoked ham

2 bread slices

1 big red onion

1 egg

1 dl milk

salt, pepper, some thyme

oil and a bit of margarine

Dice the onion and fry it for a while on some oil. Dice the mushrooms and add to onion and simmer until mushrooms are soft, add diced smoked ham and simmer about five minutes. Dip the bread slices into milk, squeeze the excess liquid and put into a bowl. Add onion, mushroom and ham mixture, salt, pepper, thyme, and egg. Stir it well.

Put two strudel dough sheets together, fill with 1/3 of mixture and roll on. Make another two strudel the same way. Put them into backing tray, brush them with melted margarine and bake on 180 - 200 °C until golden.

I believe, the strudel would be even better if made of puff pastry.

Organic Fertilizers DIY

2011-08-03T14:44:00.000+02:00

I stopped using mineral fertilizers many years ago. Instead, I use pelleted organic fertilizers and make my own too.
1. Sheep organic fertilizer is one of the best fertilizer of the type. Maybe it sound silly, but you can collect sheep droplets on the fields ( ask for the permission the field owner)! To make liquid fertilizer from sheep droplets you will need one textile sack, some sheep droplets and a bucket full of water. Simply put the sack filled with droplets into water and wait for a while (1 kg manure to 5 l water). The same can be done with chicken manure. Before use, add some more water to the bucket to dilute the liquid (1:10 ratio), especially if you have chicken manure - high in nitrogen!

2. A few days ago I filled another one bucket with sting nettles and added water. I know, most of you use this wonderful fertilizer. It just begun to foam and smells terribly! But it is away from the garden area used to enjoy, near the compost piles. The smell may be minimized by adding some bone meal.
This is a fertilizer with high concentration of N and K, and has to be diluted in water before the use. I usually make 1:10 dilution. The nettle manure is not good for peas, broad bean and garlic.
The second bucket contains a mix of sting nettles and comfrey. All these plants may be used as mulch as well. You can add some other plants to nettles e.g. fern, chamomile, and horsetail.

3. Compost soup is very mild and can be used all the time. Easy to make: just put one bucket of compost into 15 l of water and wait for a day until it settles. Water plants with it.

4. Check this out Banana Peel Fertilizer by Fer. Very good for house plants and any other plant as well. (Banana peel N= 0 P= 3.25 K= 41.76)

5. Biodegradable mulches, such as grass clippings, tree bark, straw, spent mushroom compost serve as fertilizers as well by slowly realising the nutrients into the soil.

Croatian Vacation

2011-08-02T14:08:00.001+02:00

Browsing web the other day, I came up to this funny comics. It is about my land, Croatia and our neighbouring country Slovenia. I had much fun reading it and I want to share it with you. Thank you, DUSTINLAND. Please, click this link to be able to read it in original size.

Monkey Puzzle Tree

2011-07-28T18:03:00.001+02:00

Some months ago, my friend Nena and I paid the visit to one of her friends (who's name is also Vesna, like mine, and who's garden will be presented in one of my future posts). On our way back home, to my great surprise, I noticed this Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana) in front of one house. I saw it once before, in Kew gardens, but never in Croatia, especially not grown this way - as an ornamental tree in a private garden.

It is an evergreen tree, native to Chile and Argentina. It grows above 1000 m, in regions with heavy snowfall. It may be 40 m tall. This is actually a coniferous tree, but the foliage is not needle-like as in most of conifers. It is broad, triangular, with sharp edges and a pointed tip.

Young trees have this typical conical shape, whereas the older trees loose lover branches and form an umbrella.

left side images credit: conifers

Araucaria araucana is a national tree of Chile.

This species is fully protected under Appendix I of CITES. Despite of harvest prohibition in Chile, this tree is at some risk of extinction.

http://www.plantchaser.com/main/2011/7/22/celebrations.html

Garden Report

2011-07-26T17:59:00.001+02:00

Firstly, it was 40°C, now we have the coldest July in the past eighty years! The lowest temperature is measured in the town Gospić, 9.5°C. My town had fresh 12 °C. Day temperatures were not upper than 22°C. The rain was falling down almost every day. Momentarily, we have some sun but it wont be lasting for a long time. Tomorrow comes the rain again. Suits me.
I have just come in the house from my garden. The ground is perfectly wet for an easy weeding and I have done lots of it. I also cut down some roses and dead flowers.
I picked up 3 kg of tomatoes. The kale and celery are looking wonderful. Broad beans and mangel suffered the drought but who knows, they might come alive again.

As for flowers, hemerocalises, rudbeckia and echinacea are still flowering. Japanese anemones have the very first blooms. The tiger lilies look good too.

This wild onion made himself home in my garden. For years I tried to eradicate it, obviously with no success. It produced this tiny flowers this year and I must admit, they look so cute. So, wild onion stays.

It will be lots of walnuts this year. Again.

How Do You Like Your Melon?

2011-07-22T15:30:00.000+02:00

Besides ice cream, cantaloupe melons are my favourite dessert for hot summer days. This is how I prefer it. Very simple.

Cut the melon in halves and scoop out the seeds.

Scoop out the flesh and put it in a dish. If you have that special tool for scooping out little balls, use it! If not, cut the flesh into small pieces.

You can use the melon halves as bowls. If you like, cut the brim in a zigzag line to decorate it.

Add four spoons of sugar and two spoons of rum to the melon balls, stir and fill in the 'bowls'.

I put the bowls into a deep freezer for an hour because I like them cold.

Rain at Last!

2011-07-20T13:25:00.001+02:00

The clouds are still coming.

Dear friends, after having read your comments on my 'Drought' post, I have to thank you for suggestions and concern. I am happily announcing that the rain started at 4 o'clock this morning; I almost could not believe it! We had a very good shower that lasted fifteen minutes. Then, another one came, and another one... Thanks God.

Removing my lawn and replacing it with a gravel as you suggested, is a wonderful idea but, it functions in small gardens and surfaces. My lawn is too big. Anyway, this drought is really something extreme this year. Usually, it is not so. Momentarily, the sun appeared but, new clouds are coming. Tomorrow should be changeable and new rain is announced for Friday. How good.

Unfortunately, some parts of Croatia suffered the storm with hail and strong wind that pulled down the trees and took off the house roofs. All the crop is ruined and the material damage is big too.

Nerium oleander, tolerates dry conditions and blooms well.

Personally, besides the rain, the best thing that happens is temperature drop. I hardly stand the heat and love cooler weather conditions. My town was for weeks at the top of the list of the warmest towns in Croatia, many times taking the first position. From 38 - 40°C (104 F!) to today's pleasantly 25°C (77 F) - what a relief ! It surely does good to plants too.

***

PS. Pop up to this page and, please, sign the petition. Maybe we can do something this way.

PETITION

Drought

2011-07-17T12:41:00.001+02:00

Sometimes I wander, is the big garden a blessing or the curse? At present, this is how most of the grass looks like - scorched and dry. Only shady areas are partly spared of this terrible look. Please, take a notice of green spots in the grass - this tough little fellows we consider weeds keep up in this horrible growing conditions.

Well, you might ask why I don't water the lawn. We are already following the first degree of water spare, and I only water flowers and vegetable garden just about so much to keep it alive. No need to tell you that such measures have great impact on plants look, but forget the aesthetic. At this point, I just want plants to stay alive.

Helianthus helianthoides 'Lorraine Sunshine'

This Helianthus, a cousin of sunflower, loves sun and dry conditions as it's name suggested; Greek helios means sun.

I need about two hours to water the garden properly so, from this point of view, a big garden might be a curse. Anyway, on my scale 'the blessing' side prevails.

Hosta plantaginea suffers the most of all Hostas I got. It's tender leaves simply have sun burns! I use to water in the evening ( finished watering at 23 h yesterday!) to diminish evaporation; nights are not so hot as the days. Besides, if you water during the day and drops of water remain on foliage, each of them will act as tiny lens and cause additional burn up.

Hemerocalis 'Bonanza'

As I pulled down the walnut tree, they remained exposed to the sun. I think I will transfer most of my Hostas to shady areas in October and replaced them with some sun loving plants. That's what I love about gardening, nothing is defined and there is always a room for changes.

Catch a Thief!

2011-07-14T12:58:00.000+02:00

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to conclude - my little thief is back! I found yesterday these hollow nuts on the ground and I knew immediately - squirrels from the nearby park started to harvest my hazelnuts. I am not mad at all; I just enjoy the variety of wild life in my garden. The most amusing thing with squirrels is their need to dig up acorns into my vegetable garden!

Well, I am just wandering when will I catch these little thieves, with my camera, of course!

Summer Container

2011-07-11T05:34:00.001+02:00

A big vase I have at the entrance of my house is a place for seasonal changes. This summer I planted contrasting colours - purple and gold with some pink.

I placed Coleus in the middle; it has purple and green leaves. It is surrounded by violet coloured flowers of Verbena, two varieties of Ipomena - one with pale green and the other with purple leaves - and, Helychrisum with golden foliage and one trailing Perlagonium with pink flowers.

Perlagonium peltatum

Velvety flowers of Verbena.

Drought

2011-07-08T16:40:00.000+02:00

No matter how much I water the garden, some plants have enormous needs for moisture and have that wilting look. Hydrangeas are especially affected. As their name suggests (Greek hydros means water), they need lots of water and feel the best in moist, shady spot. Unfortunately, not all my Hydrangeas have the prefect growing conditions and sometimes they look like that one one the picture. They recover after a good portion of water.

The vegetable garden is also affected by the drought. Anyway, I have picked the first tomatoes, courgettes, and kohlrabi. Kale is growing on well but needs to be watered every day.

I lost the count of the days without rain. Though, some plants are thriving; sage, for example. Echinacea, Monarda and Achillea are beautiful and in full bloom. Butterflies and other insects are their regular visitors.
Lawn started yellowing on some parts but I don't water it very much. Water needs to be used sparely.

Monarda

Hard to catch, but I did it!

Jostaberry

2011-07-07T12:52:00.001+02:00

image credit: growyourown

Yesterday evening I picked up jostaberries. The jostaberry is a hybrid fruit, a cross between the black currant and the gooseberry. Like black currant, it has a specific taste, not loveable by all people. It is really easy to grow and can be propagated from wood cuttings, which I did some years ago. With a proper pruning, jostaberry gives lots of fruit. Usually, I remove diseased or weak branches before winter and in June, prune the young shoots to keep the bush in shape. The shrub may grow up to 2 m high.

It is to be planted in autumn or spring, 80 - 100 cm apart. Flowers form in April and berries are ripe by the end of June to beginning of July. It will appreciate watering when the conditions are dry.

The fruit contains lots of vitamin C, which is an important antioxidant.

The berries are almost black and shiny, somewhat smaller than gooseberry. It is edible cooked or row and excellent for making jelly or jam. I made two jars of jam using the recipe I found on Coolinarika, greatest gastronomy site in Croatia, where I too have my pages.

Jostaberries Jam

1.5 kg jostaberries

700g sugar

lemon zest (2 lemons)

25 g pectin powder

Cook shortly crushed jostaberries and mash it though the sieve to remove skin and little pips. Put it back into a cooking pot, add sugar, pectin and lemon zest and cook until thick. It usually takes 10 minutes. The original recipe includes some Limoncino, the lemon liqueur, but the lemon zest alone adds pretty good flavour.

PS. Yesterday was cloudy the whole day but, not a single drop of rain fell down! Next rainy day is announced for Monday. Well, we'll see...

Gaura lindheimeri

2011-07-05T18:49:00.000+02:00

Gaura lindheimeri, the beeblossom

I have three young Gaura plants planted this Spring and they produced their very first flowers. This is a perennial native to North America where it grows wild from Louisiana and Texas to south to Mexico. Flowers are pink or white and remind of butterfly.

They develop a very long tap root and need deep, well drained soil in full sun and are perfect for dry corners in the garden.

Flower stalk are tall and should be cut back once the flowers fade away. It may take the second flowering later on in season.

Gaura can be grown from seed but if you want the plants true to the mother plant divide the clump in Spring. Gaura forms large lumps of branches that need to be pruned in order to keep neat appearance. Looks best mixed with ornamental grasses and Asters.

pink flowers; image credit: vanbloem.com

Abundancy Continues

2011-07-03T12:08:00.000+02:00

In spite of drought these past weeks, the garden is pretty abundant and in a good condition. The show must go on and now, hollyhocks, day lilies and red hot pokers are on the stage. Some roses already developed the second bloom.

We had a little rain yesterday afternoon but it only washed the dust away. I still have to water the plants every evening.

Ever water thirsty Hydrangeas keep up in a good condition.

Hemerocallis 'Kwanzo'

Hollyhock just started to open the flowers.

Hemerocallis 'Ed Murray'

Lysimachia clethroides

Cherry Jam

2011-07-01T14:07:00.002+02:00

I don't have a cherry tree in my garden but my aunt does. She called me yesterday afternoon to pay her a visit and pick up as much cherries as I want. Who can say no to an invitation like that?

So, off I went. It was a real 'cherry day' yesterday. I ate nice fresh picked up cherries and, back home, made a cherry strudel and three jars of jam too. Three jars doesn't seems much but, I usually make jams and jellies of one or two kilogram of fruit as it comes - strawberries, red currant, cherries, raspberries, apricots etc. by winter the pantry is full of yummy marmalades. It is more than I actually need so, my friend get some too.
The recipe is simple. Wash cherries and remove the stone. Cook the fruit with 1 dl of water until soft. Add 600 to 700 g sugar on each 1 kg of cherries. You can add some special gelatine powder mixture for jams and marmalades. Cook the jam until it becomes thick.

In the evening, a friend of mine brought me one kilo of raspberries and I made another two jars of jam! I used to have raspberries in my garden but I eradicate them because they were too old and messy. I am planing to plant new raspberries this autumn.

1 kg = 2.20 pounds

100 g = 0.22 pounds

1 dl = 0.42 cup

Bugs

2011-06-29T14:43:00.000+02:00

Many people get creeps just on a very thought of insects but, I simply love them! They have been fascinating me the whole of my life. OK, I admit, not all of them are pretty sight but, there is many beautiful creatures among them. Just think of butterflies and many colourful beetles.
Many of them dwell in our gardens...

The dragon fly feeding itself.

This green one likes mint leaves.

A kind of wasp.

Mating is in order.

New DIY Projects

2011-06-26T13:47:00.002+02:00

What I have been doing these days...

Honeysuckle

2011-06-24T18:16:00.001+02:00

I think, most of you would agree with me when I say that honeysuckle has one of the most intoxicating of all garden scents. It is especially intensive in the evening and all through the night when it spreads over the garden and comes into a house through the open windows.

I planted one of my honeysuckle some four years ago after having rescued it from a certain death! My aunt, namely, all of the sudden decided that the honeysuckle became too big for the spot and wanted to eradicate it! Luckily, I was there that day visiting her and took the root ball to my garden. Ever since, it has been growing happily up and along the fence and on the rose arch as well. It twines alone on the support and doesn't need tying up. It is my scented sitting place right in the middle of the vegetable garden; the rose 'Felicite Perpetue' on one side of the arch, honeysuckle on the other...

honeysucle and rose 'Felicite Perpetue'

Honeysuckle loves moist, rich and light soil. They are adopted to shade but love to have some sun during the day. They can be easily propagated by semi-ripe cuttings taken in July or August.

Scented friends, honeysuckle and 'Felicite Perpetue'

***

Yesterday evening I sow a multitude of fireflies in the garden! They always appear around June 24th, when Christians celebrate St. John the Baptist Day. It was a beautiful sight and I thought how little it takes to bring smile on our face, don't you agree?

Garden Detailes

2011-06-22T13:36:00.000+02:00

Garden is not all plants and layout. Adding some interesting details gives it a personal touch. I love the items I find in nature...

Wooden plates and snail shells.

A hollow stump used as a planter.

An old basket filled up with seasonal flowers.

Old brick fit nicely into a natural looking garden.

Old mugs used as planters. Make sure to drill the hole for drainage!