The Country Garden Showcase #36

Hip. Hip, Hooray!  

My account is fixed.  It's time to link up my weekly garden pictures... 

 Another batch of golden concord grapes.  This time I made grape jam.

 What's missing in the picture above???  Corn stalks.  Our 40+ degree nights lately have killed them off so I removed them

 They're now looking pretty on the posts along my house.

 My hubby told me we needed some harvest themed decor outside so I surprised him.

 We usually put a hay bale on end and add our harvest and halloween decorations to it right beside the front door.

 

 This was my view last evening as I could hear thunder off in the distance, but no rain for us...

Bottle gourd vines climb everything.  They seem to prefer to grow off the ground.  Here theyr'e growing in a lilac bush.

 My everbearing raspberries are blooming again,  and a few of my hens have made roosts under them to snack all afternoon.

 Nicotiana makes a great insecticide, but it is poisonous to most insects so though I took this pretty picture to share, I pick the blossoms daily so my bees don't get poisoned.  You can mix the blossoms and leaves in a blender with water and a bit of olive oil and spray it from a bottle directly on the plant being attacked by chewing or sucking insects.  It is lethal.

 This is a volunteer from last season...

 San Marzano paste tomatoes.  Amazing flavor, especially when roasted, but they ripen much slower than beefsteaks and regular romas.  Be prepared for that.

 A beefstseak tomato blossom catches some shade.

 Texas Terragon blossoms.

 German Chamomile

 This is my hen Java.  She's a new layer.  She lays large green eggs.   I am finding that my Easter Eggers are fantastic foragers.  Java is the best forager.  She's always lurking among tomato vines, cucumbers, pumpkins or grapes searching for tasty bugs to snatch.

 This is a maniac zucchini plant.  it took over the whole box.  The box is 4 foot square.  There are a few other smaller cramped plants in there too though I should just pull them.  This beast isn't going to allow them much food or water...

 This blossom comes from an heirloom cucumber vine crawling across the hoops.

 Cinnamon basil.  Pretty.

 Hollyhocks.  I have so many of them.  My bees love them though they'e just about all spent now.

 I am letting a few carrots go to seed. This is a nantes scarlet.

 This lovely can be found in my honeybee garden.

 This is a shockwave rose...

 Sweet peas are my favorite.  I did not plant any this year because of my bees and honey production.  This is a volunteer.  They're poisonous to humans... I did not want to chance any getting into my honey

 small potted pink Dahlias

I picked up a few new dahlias to add to my pots to freshen them one more time...

 I love pansies too

 These are my giant mammoth sunflowers.  Planted late June.  They're in full bloom right now for the bees...

 The bees seem to favor sunflowers and hollyhocks in my yard, even more than all the herbs I got for the bee garden.

 Here's a tiny fairytale pumpkin. One of the few to escape my hens notice.  They pick off all the buds, but if one makes it to a few inches in girth they leave them alone.

 Sunflowers sure are pretty and they seem to bloom longer than most showy flowers.  I'll plant more next year.

 The sky was so blue beyond those clouds yesterday.

 My tiny mini chickens...

 The Salmon Faverolles.  They're the funniest hens to watch.

The girls say Hello and thanks for stopping by.  Please don't forget to link up and share what you've been up to this week too. Thanks!

Heidi & the Farm