13/52 Fuzzy Buds

13/52 Fuzzy Buds
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

Taken April 3, 2011, at the Smith Botanical Garden in Northampton, MA.

342/365 The Last of the Geraniums

342/365 The Last of the Geraniums
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

still going, but we had to dump it before the pot froze and cracked. Kind of sad, really.

And, just for the record, I was having a heck of a time trying to decided on which picture to use for the day, because I thought this one captured part of the whole post-snowfall garden cleanup in the cold, but how can you resist ... KITTEH!

322/365 To Seed

322/365 To Seed
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

Garlic Chive

307/365 Garden's Last Remnants

307/365 Garden's Last Remnants
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

273/365 Freeloaders

273/365 Freeloaders
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

We often make the mistake of letting "volunteers" thrive in our garden. Granted, it's not always a mistake, noting Exhibit A. But we did allow what appeared to be an interesting flowering plant grow, and this is what we have to show for it -- beggar-ticks stuck all over the place.

257/365 Compost Treasure

257/365 Compost Treasure
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

We were entertained to discover volunteer tomato (yellow pear) and potato plants in our compost pile. Both were robust plants that seemed to avoid the blight that we've seen affecting some of our other plants this season.

237/365 Tomato diversity

237/365 Tomato diversity
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

Yay, tomatoes! (Take that tomato blight. No wait, don't take it. Please, please don't take it.)

233/365 Grapes of all sizes

233/365 Grapes of all sizes
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

[UPDATE: 26Aug2009] Unfortunately, it looks like most of these have been eaten by the stupid opossum.

223/365 Garlic Chive

223/365 Garlic Chive
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

222/365 A Good Start

222/365 A Good Start
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

We've started getting a few tomatoes from the garden this year, which is a little encouraging after hearing about the late blight outbreak that's been spreading throughout the northeast. I panicked when I read the news and tried to prune any sketchy looking leaves while saving as much fruit as possible Saturday morning.

Since then, I've poked around the internets to get a better idea of what I should be looking for and it seems like I may have overreacted, or at least, it seems like the fruit isn't showing visible signs of infection. Still, I'm going to try to keep an eye on things. Unfortunately, blight or no, the plants are definitely not looking particularly healthy this year -- fruit set seems low and a few of the plants were definitely getting attacked by something, although not late blight as far as I could tell. (seemed bug-based to me, but then again, what do I know?)

217/365 Fruit Stripe

217/365 Fruit Stripe
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

Like the gum, only tomatoier.

I guess that's why they call them Mr. Stripey tomatoes.

215/365 Sending Out Scouts

215/365 Sending Out Scouts
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

The strawberry plants are sending out runners in search of new territories to settle, but they're not going to find much luck in the driveway.

211/365 The Problem with Metaphors

211/365 The Problem with Metaphors
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

@TallMatt tweeted about this article which leads with the following quote from Energy Secretary Steven Chu:

"Energy efficiency--it's not just the low-hanging fruit, it's the fruit that's lying on the ground."

And while I don't disagree with his points, I do sometimes have a tendency to get caught up in where metaphors break down. In this case, the part where the fruit on the ground is covered with slugs and has been picked over by squirrels. Of course, I must admit that the squirrel bites and slugs haven't necessarily stopped us from eating the delicious pears when it's late in the season and it's a choice between squirrel/slug leftover pears or no pears...

...which may also be a reasonable extension of the previously mentioned metaphor.

209/365 Flaccid Phallus

209/365 Flaccid Phallus
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

Ironically, the fruit grows from the female blossom... what's up with that?

208/365 Pickle Prickles

208/365 Pickle Prickles
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

Actually cukes, but how can you resist the alliteration?

201/365 Liatris Be the Place to Be

201/365 Liatris Be the Place to Be
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

197/365 uh, delect?

197/365 uh, delect?
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

So, I started with "select" and "collect," and then couldn't come up with anything appropriate (devour? consume? chowdown? ...) that would rhyme.

The crazy part is, having now googled this, "delect" is actually in use by people these days, apparently a common malapropism (or typo) for "delete."

If you follow the links, you can see that the raspberries are producing fabulously this year. I've always found the cores within the fruit of the berries to have a fascinating texture, but it never seems to render well in photographs. That's how it goes sometimes, but I keep trying.

191/365 shelled peas

191/365 shelled peas
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

I only wish I hadn't set the camera to capture small images (for some stuff I'm going to try and sell on craigslist). The eventual print version of this is going to be tiny.

187/365 Budding Hosta

187/365 Budding Hosta
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

184/365 Reaching Out for Support

184/365 Reaching Out for Support
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

OMG! Grapes and peas, living together!