We were at my father and stepmother's house in CT for the last two weeks of July. This is the house in which I spent my weekends growing up "helping" my father in the garden. I didn't have a good camera with me, so I can't really do it justice, but here is a snippet of my father's garden as it was in late July.
I was having serious misty lense issues with the camera, but it came out kind of cool, I think. This is my father's main vegetable garden which he has attempted to make wild animal proof. He used to have a woodpost fence, but Chuckles, the woodchuck would sit on the posts and well...chuckle.
Just inside the gate.
Dad's kohlrabi is gorgeous. We've tried it here in Japan a few times, but no luck.
Beautiful and delicious fortex beans. M, especially, loved these. My father gave me three packets of seeds, but they mysteriously vanished from our luggage on the way home.
Look what we are missing out on!
Grape vines on the fence, with gladiolus beneath and baby carrots plants in the foreground.
The grape vines are new and have baby grapes! Please tell us how these turn out, Dad!
This year was a bumper year for blueberries. These blueberry bushes were quite big when they moved to this house 33 years ago (though I was much smaller, so maybe they just
seemed enormous) so they are very well established. M picked buckets of blueberries and L ate buckets of blueberries. Coming from Japan where we harvested a total of 4 tiny sized blueberries, we were in blueberry heaven. I think part of the secret is the huge mounds of leaves from the property that they haul to the blueberry patch each year.
Raspberries, too. I remember when my dad brought home several sticks and claimed that someday they would be a raspberry patch. We were skeptical, but here it is!
This is the shed that my grandfather built when he was...in his 70s I believe. Isn't it just perfect?
These are gratuitous yard photos so that my readers in Japan can be green as with envy over the acreage and large trees as I am.
This was my favorite tree, we used to climb it as kids.
And there is a park across the street with farm animals, a small playground and lovely scenery.
Thank you so much for a lovely visit D&D!!!
We bought a pumpkin stand yesterday (I think it is actually marketed for flowers) because the only relatively cool dry place we have to store pumpkins is in our front entrance which was getting a bit crowded. It is a great stand because it folds up for easy storage during non-pumpkin season. So these are the pumpkins my husband harvested while we were in the US, two Cinderellas and 6 kabochas.
Three Howden (Jack o' Lantern pumpkins) are coming along well on the south embankment. Hopefully will be right on time for Halloween, maybe a bit early.
One more Cinderella on the way.
We have terrible udonkobyo (powdery mildew?) and the evil orange bugs have multiplied exponentially.
Pumkin vines on the north emankment (by the river)
And south embankment (just before a major pruning)
Baby kabocha
Baby Howden
