From commentor Pukebot (last Friday):
I’ve been meaning to you send some shots of my western mass garden and so when I saw your post that you were fresh out of shots I decided that it was about time. Everything you see was forest 15 years ago. I’ve been picking away at it ever since making new beds and filling in with easy things like day lillies. My garlic is drying in the basement, artichokes are growing and it’s the time of year when you can’t eat enough to keep up with the garden. I have a quick job to do today and then I get to spend the rest of the weekend in the garden, weeding, supporting phlox, and picking veggies. Tell me if the world blows up.
Of course this weekend all the Northeastern gardeners are gonna be frantically tying up what can’t be taken down, as our Southeastern neighbors hunker down and wait to see how bad the damage from Hurricane Irene will be. The latest local predictions are that Pukebot’s garden will get the flooding rains, while my area north of Boston gets “tropical storm strength” winds. So if there’s no Sunday Garden Chat, it may be that we’ve lost power due to a fallen branch. Here’s hoping nobody has anything worse to report than some tomato trellises turned into tomato tunnels…
__
How are things looking in your gardens, whether or not you’re in the storm track?
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
Spectacular!
Big Baby DougJ
Chicken make a lousy house pet.
bookcat
Good lord but that is a gorgeous garden! Your hard work and artistry is amazing!
TaMara (BHF)
Beautiful garden and pictures. I harvested a 5 gallon bucket of crab apples today and am in the process of making apple butter. I’ll put pictures and results up on the blog when it is all done. But so far, between my pressure cooker, my vitamix blender and my crockpot, this is pretty easy. Don’t think I would try it without those tools. I’m nothing if not lazy.
Ira-NY
Wow!
MikeJ
HDR?
Anne Laurie
@Big Baby DougJ:
But they’re pretty good organic insect controls, I’m told!
WaterGirl
@TaMara (BHF): My mom used to make plum-apple butter, which was amazing. Lots of spices. I miss that. If you have some plums, you should try it. (sorry, no recipe)
jeffreyw
Aah! Most excellent gardens.
Ripley
With a handle like ‘Pukebot,’ of course I would have expected such beauty. Really something, lovely.
Does the chicken have a nasty name too?
Linda Featheringill
But chickens make a really nice garden ornament!
D. Cloyce Smith
Envy doesn’t begin to describe what I’m feeling right now. Is there room for a tent?
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Bravo! Were the pictures taken recently? My southern brain is having difficulty with the concept of hostas & lilies at this time of year.
@Anne Laurie: And they taste just like rattlesnake!
Dee Loralei
Absolutely gorgeous garden. Just wow.
General Stuck
Looks like paradise. Get any hummingbirds pukebot?
TheWorstPersonInTheWorld
Just freaking gorgeous, Pukebot! Wow, stunning and magnificent only begin to tell the story…congratulations on a living work of art, which is what I consider my garden to be also.
And thank you for sharing the pics. You’ve inspired me to love gardening even more than I already do.
I’m in Eastern Mass, Jamaica Plain inner suburb to be precise. We’re bracing for Irene too. :P
Linda Featheringill
My spring garden is winding down and I’m still trying to get the fall garden up and running.
Maybe I’ll get lucky and winter won’t really come to stay until well into November. That would be nice.
And yes, you East Coast folks: Take care of yourselves and be safe. It looks to me like flooding could be a real problem.
And do you really want to stay in NYC this weekend?
Calming Influence
If you don’t want them to end up on Prince Edward Island, you’ll get those chickens in the storm cellar, pronto!
Comrade Kevin
I’ve had some nice Iceberg roses this summer.
waratah
Lovely garden. I have not ever lived in a climate that I could have a garden like that.
wes
jesus christ, that is one of the most beautiful things i’ve seen.
beltane
There is some type of creature going into my greenhouse and eating the bottoms of the ripe plum tomatoes. I found a white hair on one of them so I’m thinking skunk.
Violet
Absolutely gorgeous! A real work of art. I love the chickens.
@General Stuck:
Speaking of hummingbirds, I’m absolutely sure I saw one today. I was on my front porch in the early evening talking on the phone and one flew from the tree across the street to somewhere on my property. It’s the right time of year for us to be getting them. I’ve got to get the hummingbirds feeders up and running. With the drought we’ve had, all my hummingbird-attracting plants have done really poorly, so I’m depending on the feeders to bring ’em in.
General Stuck
@Violet:
This year was n near complete bust here for hummingbirds. This time right now, at the end of August, normal there would be dozens if not hundreds buzzing around the feeders. Since I was only getting a handful showing up each day, I took the feeders down. It has been a very weird year, both with extreme drought, after extreme cold last winter.
Liberal Sandlapper
We just bought a new house and I have been pondering the possibilities for the garden. After seeing these pictures, I give up. I’ll never measure up!
And Another Thing...
If I promise to be very quiet, can I come sit in your spectacular garden?
How about posting bigger files so we can really enjoy Eden.
I see lots and lots of hard work,skill, patience & faith.
Well done…
jeffreyw
@General Stuck: We’ve had a very good year, they are just now starting to wind down from a peak this last week. We still are filling 5 feeders twice a day.
General Stuck
@jeffreyw:
I haz hummingbird envy
Mark D
If I am ever in western Mass., I am sssooooo dropping in for a visit — whether you want me to or not — and am just going to spend a day in your garden.
It’ll start before sunrise as I listen to the nocturnal animals wrap up for the night. Then I’ll sit there as the sun comes up, watching the light change as the morning goes on. Then a wonderful lunch of organic greens and veggies, followed by a peaceful nap. Afterward, the early evening critters, light fading, and then sunset.
And all the while, I’ll enjoy those nice cocks.
Wait. What?
Mark D
Oh, and I can’t believe no one had made a “nice cock” joke yet.
Slackers …
Anne Laurie
@beltane:
Chipmunks will do that, around here, unless I remember to keep the ‘varmint bath’ topped up. Big plastic pot saucer, which I can refill when I’m watering the tomatoes.
Of course, if a skunk wanted to ‘reap’ my tomatoes, I wouldn’t argue with him/her either. But chippies climb a lot better than you’d think, and they can fit through much smaller gaps than your average woods-puddycat.
TaMara (BHF)
@WaterGirl: No plums handy, but if this experiment turns out, maybe next time.
I just finished the first round of ‘applesauce’ about 6 quarts of sauce which I’ll reduce this weekend to butter. Need to pick up more sugar and some spices. I have no idea how much this first batch will make, but I must say, it barely made a dent in the bucket of apples, even after I culled what seemed like 1/4 of bad apples during the washing phase.
And Pukebot, again I say, stunning garden. I keep coming back just to look at the pictures.
jeffreyw
FTFY
gravie
Spectacular! The colors are gorgeous.
moonbat
WOW, just WOW! Absolutely beautiful. Well done, Pukebot.
Cat Lady
I love this state. Massachusetts is teh awesome. I grew up here, and it’s a little state, but there are just still wonderful little pockets of awesomeness I still get to discover, like the Buzzards Bay communities, the deep clear kettle ponds on the Cape and in the western suburbs, pristine ocean beaches on the north side of Ptown, the west side of the Connecticut river north into the hill towns, and then the Berkshires and the culture there – dance, music, art and spiritual centers. And everywhere there are the gardens and the history, the colleges and the artist colonies and the enlightenment principles that have permeated the place. Thanks revolutionaries and transcendentalists!
opie_jeanne
@Comrade Kevin: I love Icerberg roses. In Anaheim, CA, they are used as landscaping because they just bloom and bloom and bloom. They should be the official city flower, just like the jacaranda should be the official city tree.
pukebot
i thought this would go up in the middle of the night so i’m sorry i wasn’t around to immediatly answer comments but thank you all so much for your kind comments. it is a labor of love.
opie_jeanne
Truly beautiful, Pukebot, and you’ve given me some ideas for a couple of empty garden beds in my yard.
I love the chickens, but don’t they eat every green sprout in sight?
pukebot
@Big Baby DougJ: i kiss chicken in face
pukebot
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): thank you very much
pukebot
@Ripley: thank you. is spanky a nasty name?
pukebot
@opie_jeanne: they make a god damned mess but they make up for it with their beauty. although any time i weed a spot it turns into their dirt bath.
pukebot
@D. Cloyce Smith: there is room for a tent, and if you ever make it to ashfield, ma look me up.
pukebot
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen: peak daylillie time around here is july 20 to aug 7. pics are from july 27 ish
pukebot
@General Stuck: i get a shit load of the little beauties but they seem to be off a bit this year.
pukebot
@TheWorstPersonInTheWorld: kinder words you could not have written. go get em’
pukebot
@wes: a million thanks. that is what we gardeners live for.
pukebot
@Liberal Sandlapper: don’t make me drive there and slap you around. get out in your yard and make me look like a slouch. I COMMAND YOU!
pukebot
@Mark D: if i hear that you made it to western mass and did’nt stop by i’ll punch you in the throat as hard as i can.
pukebot
@Calming Influence: hilarious, my babies will be taken care of, don’t worry.
pukebot
@TaMara (BHF): thank you so much. can i have some applesauce?
TaMara (BHF)
@Cat Lady: When we lived on the Cape, it was just lush. Grapes, raspberries, blueberries, all wild. Flowers and trees everywhere. Of course it was wasted on me, I was in middle school. I did love canoeing through the salt marshes and walking along the trails leading to the beach. Always see some new wildlife. I did enjoy my ancient cottonwood that held my beloved tree swing. It still stands, surviving nor’easter and hurricanes. Hope that holds true after this next storm.
TaMara (BHF)
@pukebot: You have to wait until it’s apple-butter. ;-) Then we’ll need some of JeffreyW’s great homemade bread to put it on.
pukebot
@moonbat: thank you moonbat. i grew up irish catholic so i live on approval.
pukebot
@TaMara (BHF): deal
Yutsano
@Big Baby DougJ:
LOLwut? How many house pets not only do pest control but produce natural fertilizer AND organic edibles more or less constantly? Durn city folk, can’t find their way to sense even with a GPS.
pukebot
@Cat Lady: oh god i could wax poetic about mass all day long. i grew up in eastern mass and moved west after college. the hilltowns of western mass are as close as you’re gonna get to heaven without shooting yourself in the head. evrything you just described and more.
SiubhanDuinne
@pukebot:
You are hysterical
Your garden is breathtakingly beautiful
Your chickens are adorable
pukebot
@Violet: thank you, the chickens can be a pain in the ass but they really do add another element of beauty. thanks again.
pukebot
@SiubhanDuinne: are you trying to make me cry? if not stop right now.
pukebot
@And Another Thing…: please sit in my garden. you will make an adorable ornament. peak is july 25th. doing anything next summer before the apocalypse?
pukebot
@Anne Laurie: in the words of my mechanic when i remarked at how a mouse got into my heater. “they’re not big like us”.
Comrade Kevin
If you like to see chickens wandering around San Juan Bautista, CA may be the place for you.
pukebot
@bookcat: why thank you my good man. and those pictures sucked. when it comes to photography i’m a black thumb. wait, maybe that’s the problem.
pukebot
@MikeJ: h d what?
pukebot
@Comrade Kevin: that looks like my kind of place. do they elect 98% democrats?
pukebot
@Yutsano: high five, brother.
pukebot
@Ira-NY: thank you, much appreciated.
pukebot
@jeffreyw: way to have my back. i have a hefty bag of lacinto kale for you.
pukebot
@Dee Loralei: thank you sweetie. it means alot to this garden crusader.
pukebot
@gravie: mmmmmmm gravie
pukebot
@And Another Thing…: i don’t know much about them there file sizes and all. they were like 3 megs apiece. maybe it is a balloon juice thing. i’m just good at pullin weeds, not all that high falootin technical stuff, but i’ll try to look into less sucky photos for next time.
pukebot
anne, thanks for letting me share my garden and thank you all for the kind words. if i missed anybody then i suck. goodnight and remember, “in summer the song sings itself”
Mnemosyne
@Comrade Kevin:
Nah. Kauai. That’s seriously chicken central.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: My what a nice bunch of…cocks you have. :)
Calming Influence
@pukebot: [Smile]
In truth, I had no doubt. gorgeous garden, and I’d be happy to send some hummers your way if they would only listen. We have five feeders around the deck that we refill every 3 days, and they buzz-bomb us when we do ’cause we’re cutting into their drinking time…
Ripley
@pukebot:
Spanky! Perfect!
Yutsano
@Ripley: My parents have a black australop rooster. I think you can guess the name.
Munira
Fantastic garden year here in southern Quebec. I’ve been harvesting like crazy. Yesterday I made tomato sauce and baba ghanoush and shelled lima beans, which are drying all over the house. I’d send you pictures if I had your email address. When I click on your name under Contact, I just get a screen asking me to configure web mail and I don’t know how to do it.
Libby
Late to the party but let me add for the record anyway — Just wow. Garden is so gorgeous it leaves me nearly speechless. And as an expat from lovely western Mass, a little verklempt. I do so miss the Happy Valley.
kindness
Beautiful garden there. Like the chickens running free. My pups would be oh so happy if I tried that. The chickens sadly would not.
HyperIon
Looks like a buff orpington and a rhode island red maybe.
My buff orpington went to the stew pot around this time last year. And I doubt my RIR will lay anymore eggs.
pukebot
@HyperIon: ooh, good call. they are actually a cross between a buff and a red.
pukebot
@Libby: thank you libby. the happy valley misses you too.
pukebot
@kindness: thanks. i love to let them run around but they do make a mess. eh whatever.
Anne Laurie
@Munira: My email is AnneLaurie (at) verizon.net