Mastering Macro

Well, I am playing with the macro feature on my new Kodak Easyshare Max z990, and find I still have a long way to go.

I have always found yellow to be a difficult color to capture. The color is OK but the photo is not as sharp as I would have liked.

This photo of summer squash is somewhat OK.

This one is pleasing.

This photo of ripening blueberries is fairly good.

I thought this photo turned out nice.

Burgundy bush bean flowers.

This one looks good to me.

I like this one too.

As with the first photo, the yellow begonias are not as sharp as I would like.
This is my first attempt using the super macro feature, and I am sure the quality of my photos will improve as I get to know the camera.

Chuckle for the day

Two little old ladies, Dorace & Jackie were sitting on a park bench outside the local town hall where a flower show was in progress.

The short one, Jackie leaned over and said,

'Life is so boring. We never have any fun any more. For $10.00 I'd take my clothes off and streak through that stupid, boring flower show!'

'You're on!' said Dorace, holding up a $10.00 note.

So Jackie slowly fumbled her way out of her clothes and,completely naked, streaked (as fast as an old lady can) through the front door of the flower show.

Waiting outside, her friend soon heard a huge commotion inside the hall, followed by loud applause and shrill whistling.

Finally, the smiling Jackie came through the exit door surrounded by a cheering, clapping crowd.

'What happened?' asked her waiting friend.

'I won $1,000 as 1st prize for 'Best Dried Arrangement... !'

At last I have something to show you

My new camera arrived on Tuesday, so am now able to take photos. Granted, I am having to learn all the new features, but so far I am well pleased with my Kodak Easyshare Z990.

The vegetable garden is flourishing. Here beets and leaf lettuce cozy up side by side.

There are so many English peas, that I will be able to share with my friends. The pods are getting fatter by the day and soon I will be able to start harvesting them.

Growing up the garden fence, are these brightly colored Nasturtiums. I do so like a splash of color in the veggie garden.

The tomatoes inside their three sided enclosure are loving the warmth, and are producing flowers already. I have two plants per tire. Early girl and Sun Sugar share a place in each tire.

Blue Lake pole beans are up and reaching for the support of the trellis. Behind are a few Violas and Gladioli for cutting.

Swiss chard, Kale, Burgundy bush beans, peas, parsnips, gourds, and some flowers share this raised bed.

Peas (two kinds) kale, lettuce, beets, and scarlet runner beans share this bed.

The burgundy bush beans are beginning to flower.

If the summer squash keep performing as they are doing now, then I should have plenty of squash to keep us going throughout the summer into fall, and some to share with friends.

Last but not least, the strawberries are the best they have ever been. I am picking loads of berries every couple of days. Some to dip in sour cream then brown sugar, some for shortcake, and some to eat right out of the garden. I nearly forgot to mention the freezer jam I will make. Yummy!

2lb of sweet strawberries picked today.

Oh my goodness,you can almost see them grow!

I really am not complaining too much about the long cool, damp Spring we are having here in the Pacific Northwest, as all my cool weather vegetables are thriving.

Sugar snap peas on the left, loose leaf lettuce in the center, shelling peas on the right, kale, far right. This picture taken mid March.

The peas have gone nuts. They have outgrown the supports I had for them, so I have had to improvise using bamboo, the trellis in back which is for the scarlet runner beans, a tomato cage and plant stakes. I hope this will do until the peas finish producing.
One thing I did learn, do not plant lettuce in between two rows of peas, as it is very difficult to harvest without breaking the pea plants.

The strawberries are fabulous this year. This is just one small planter box of strawberries, plus there is a 9 x 2 foot bed, two recycled tires, and a large pot, all full of plants loaded with berries. I am covering them with bird netting as I won't share *grin*

I am surprised the tomatoes are doing so well due to the cooler temperatures. I started them out inside their Walls 'O' Water but as they grew larger I had to remove their nice warm protection.

The tomatoes are now cozy inside their three sided plastic surround. Once again I improvised using metal plant stakes, bamboo, plastic sheeting and wooden clothes pins to construct the surround.

The summer squash is looking healthy and growing as it should.

I am well pleased with my garden this year and feel I have learned a lot about growing veggies these past few years.

Go find your dinner elsewhere

As I sat at my computer, I could hear the alarm call of a bird outside. I looked out the window scanning all the trees and ground searching for the predator, and soon saw a hawk perched on a limb of the old willow tree. As I looked through the branches at the bird, I could see it was eating something and soon noticed the dangling legs of a poor wee bird. Yes I know hawks have to eat too, but I would rather they go some place else to catch their dinner, and leave all my birds and critters alone.

Dodging the showers to install irrigation.

Friday, when the weather was nice, I started removing the irrigation lines in my vegetable garden. You see, I had 1/4" soaker hose installed, but was not too happy with the way it delivered water to my raised beds, so when I was in the hardware store looking to see what else may work, I noticed 1/4" flexible polyethylene tubing with 1/2 GPH self cleaning drippers built in every 6". I had an 'aha' moment and thought to myself, "why not give this a try"

Drip line installed on the first raised bed.

Of course the weather turned crummy on Saturday and Sunday, but there were short periods between showers when I went out and started installing the new tubing.

I already had the 1/4"main line from the 1/2 tubing which runs around the perimeter of the garden installed, so all I had to do was run a new 1/4" line along the top of the side of the raised bed and insert T fittings every 1' then cut eight lines which run across the bed, and install them. I have an old thermos which I fill with very hot water, take it out to the garden so I can dip the ends of the tubing in the hot water to soften them, making it an easy job to push in any of the fittings.

T fitting secured with a Support clamp.

The other end is closed off using a hole plug.

I ran the system for about 3/4 hour tonight and it seemed to be working as I wish it to. I still have to set up the timer so the watering will be done in the wee small hours of the morning. I like to get the watering done around 5am before the heat of the day. It remains to be seen if we are going to have much of a summer this year.

I had to be careful in laying out the lines between the beans and other crops. I only broke off the top of one bean.

So if I can install my own irrigation system, anyone can.

Scrumptious color everywhere

Since we have had some warmer weather, the flowers are showing off their beauty.

First harvest of the season

The lettuce needed thinning.

Nothing goes to waste around here. The good lettuce leaves will make a very nice salad, the not so nice ones I tossed to the rabbit sitting outside the garden gate, and the kale will be for our pet rabbit, Bun.

My little bit of whimsy

I am a sucker for yard art which I usually find at yard sales. This wee spot of garden is filled with all manner of "yard art"

There is a goose, and half a broken clay pot adding a little interest.

The lovely glass bird bath Mr C gave me for Christmas, takes pride of place.

Found three flower shaped stepping stones at a yard sale, but thought them too unstable to use as such, so they are for decoration only.

And this cute hedgehog was a bargain I found at a end of year sale at one of the large chain stores.
So there you have it, a little bit of my um! yard art, and there is plenty more of it scattered throughout the other garden areas.

Mini hoop houses over my raised beds

Early February I sowed lettuce, kale, pea and beet seeds in the first of my raised beds, and made a mini hoop house to protect them and provide them a cozy environment to get an early start. I am most pleased with the result, as you can see everything is growing extremely well.

Tomorrow I plan on thinning the lettuce. At the far end is a trellis, which will support the scarlet runner beans I planted today. I grow scarlet runner beans first for their wonderful flavor, and second, because they have the most beautiful scarlet flowers.

The mini hoop houses are very easy to construct using this tubing I bought from Ace hardware, some brackets and floating row cover to cover them once constructed.

Here is a bracket held in place with deck screws, and the tubing which has been cut to length, pushed down through the bracket. The same was done on the opposite side of the raised bed. It is very secure and does not flop over.

The whole structure is then covered using the floating row cover material which comes as a 5x50' piece and can be cut to fit. I use bricks to hold down the sides and wooden clothes pins to hold the two pieces together where needed.

This hoop house took only about 15 minutes to construct today. Growing here are bush beans, Swiss chard, which I over wintered, kale, peas at this end of the garden, and at the far end I will plant cucumbers when the weather is warmer, these will also have a trellis to climb.

I still have more cleanup to do, and hopefully tomorrow the weather will be as beautiful as it was today.

The two tires towards the rear, house strawberry plants the other three will be for tomatoes. I think the raised bed, bottom left, will be where I grow summer squash.