Saturday 24 July 2010

The Constant Gardener 2

You may remember how, just a few months ago, I told you all about my gardening exploits. Well, now that the Italian summer is in full swing, I thought I’d take this opportunity to update you on developments.

First of all, let show you some ‘before and after’ photos…

This picture was taken in mid-April and shows my gladiolas starting to sprout...


…Look at how much they’ve grown!


Here I am tending to my young freesias...


…They’re not so ‘young’ now.


My begonias hadn’t even appeared above the soil when this picture was taken…


…After a while, they emerged. They looked like lettuces to begin with…


…But now they’ve blossomed into lovely flowers.


My little sunflower seedlings…


…This is how they looked a month ago…


…and TA DA!


Not forgetting the tomatoes planted in early April…


…They’re coming along great!


Finally, this was my mixed ‘herb garden’ shortly after I’d planted some parsley, tomatoes, basil, chili, lavender and sunflower seedlings.


Voila! It’s now more like a ‘herb jungle’.


Enough of the ‘before and after’ pictures, here’s some lovely photos of my garden in all of its glory…

Begonias


More begonias


Booti-ful! (The sunflowers aren’t bad either. He-he!).


Lavender


Chilies


Basil and parsley


Some yummy apricots! (Although I didn’t plant the tree, I’m claiming credit for these as they’re in ‘my’ garden!).


Me and my tomatoes.


Although I’m happy with the results overall, unfortunately not all of my plants have thrived as I would have liked…

…For instance, my peonies didn’t quite bloom…


…and the irises and lilies were a bit disappointing’. Oh well, better luck next year!


Of course, there’s no point in growing such wonderful plants if you’re not going to make use of them. So, I decided to ‘harvest’ some of the produce…

Here’s some of my booti-ful gladiolas.


I got Dad to help with the apricot collecting…


My stash of apricots. Yum…Can you see my drool?


Last of all, here I am with some of my juicy tomatoes.


I hope you’re impressed with my efforts? After all, how often do you come across a ‘Gardening Golden’?

11 comments:

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Certainly not often enough!

What pawesome skills woo have!

Thanks fur sharing your beaWOOtiful bounty with us!

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra

D.K. Wall said...

Wow, what a superb gardener you are. We do a good job with weeds, but that is it.

The Life of Riley said...

That's a great garden you have Homer. I wish I had green paws like you!

Lorenza said...

Homer!
You have green paws!
All the plants and flowers are beautiful!
You have done a great job!
After all that hard work now you can enjoy it!
Happy weekend
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Jolanda said...

HI Homer
What beautiful plants and fruits do you have in your garden! I think also that you must have green paws..."ha,ha"...

hugs from Kayla

Duke said...

Your flowers are picture perfect, Homer! You are a wonderful gardener!
We sure wish we had an apricot tree in our yard!

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

How Sam Sees It said...

We are very jealous! Everything is dead in our garden!

Sam

Elizabeth Bergesen said...

Good jog Homer!! What wonderful photos you have there!

Elizabeth & Luna

Anonymous said...

NIIICE! I always wanted a garden, but i'm so NOT a gardener. leave it to a golden to show me up. darn goldens. ;)

YUP! you betchya. A blogging Golden living in Milan is on the top of our visiting list! for reals. besides, i want to learn all your mom's secrets for visiting tourism sites with a dog and the logistics of it all. I was told Milan is 2 hour train trip from us. sigh. never been to that part of Italy. it's time i go, since i'm, um, Italian and all and my brother is getting his Italian citizenship. ya think?
cheers,
wild dingo

Golden Samantha said...

Hi Homer!
Wow - you have talents I can't believe with soils and growing!!! 10 golden woofs for a superb job - my fave all-time flowers are tuberous begonias - they are gorgeous (as are you sitting by them! The glads are amazing too!
Huge Hugs xoxoxo
Sammie

Anonymous said...

i'm envious of your green PAW! I always want to do a garden or plant somehting and never know where to begin. maybe i'll do it now that i have the space and it is part of our lease to take care of the garden (water and cut the lawn). if i have to water the lawn, i may as well grow some stuff in pots or something. Maybe woo could teach me or start me off with some easy flowers, herbs and tomatos (i love tomatos).