Dill

I just liked the looks of this dill growing at the community garden.  It's green, but such a different green from everything around it.

F Number	5.6
Lens ID	LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length	45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time	1/125
Exposure Program	Manual
ISO	160
Exposure Compensation	0
Flash	Off, Did not fire

Double rainbow

OK, so I cheated on this one.  We have not had rain for weeks, and the sun has been beating down, so the garden needs to be watered every day.  I was there late in the afternoon, and the sun angle was just right to catch this double rainbow in the spray from the hose.

F Number	5.6
Lens ID	-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length	14.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 28.0 mm)
Exposure Time	1/320
Exposure Program	Program AE
ISO	100
Exposure Compensation	0
Flash	Off, Did not fire

Sunflower

This beauty is at our community garden plot.  It's not ours, but it's beautiful, isn't it?  The bees think so too.

F Number	5.6
Lens ID	LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length	45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time	1/30
Exposure Program	Manual
ISO	200
Exposure Compensation	0
Flash	Off, Did not fire

Time to mow

This is what a week of rain does for grass.  This isn't my lawn; this is the community garden.  I try to mow every week, but it was impossible last week due to the rain.  Just behind the mower is a field of dandelions.  I hated to mow them over, but having them go to seed would be disastrous for the gardeners!

F Number	5.6
Lens ID	LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length	14.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 28.0 mm)
Exposure Time	1/250
Exposure Program	Program AE
ISO	100
Exposure Compensation	0
Flash	Off, Did not fire

Last of the Brussels sprouts

We waited until it snowed to pick these Brussels sprouts. We planted them very late in the season, so it was a bonus to get anything at all. The biggest is about the size of my thumbnail, which I neglected to put in the frame for a sense of scale...

Very tender and tasty.

Turnip in the sun

Some years we've already had snow, but not this year. This year, the garden is still producing all the way into November, which seems incredible to me, but my wife planned it, not me. I'm more of a tomato and basil sort of guy; they don't like the cold at all. She planted a second crop of cold hardy veggies like this delightfully coloured turnip.

It's incredible to think that we've had a bunch of nights below freezing and these just keep growing!

Late flower

So we're cleaning up the garden plot at the community garden and among the leaves and weeds (oops!) we find the flowers we planted in the spring in order to attract the pollinators to the garden.

I have no idea what this is, but being low to the ground and sheltered by weeds, it has survived the frosts so far.

It's glorious to see a flower blooming so nicely outside in November!

Hoping for good weather

We planted a final crop in the raised no-dig beds, so we're hoping that September will stay warm. Lettuce, peas, onion in this one, spinach and kale in the other.

This is a no-dig bed, which is a cool way of saying 'we're making new soil here.' The medium is made by layering compost, manure and newspaper. At the end of the season, it will be rototilled into the ground and firmly mixed up, acting as a base for next year's additions. After a few years, it'll be very rich soil.

Corn

This is what it looks like if you're a squirrel walking through the rows of corn. Big stalks, wide leaves and tasty ears of corn, just waiting to be nibbled on. The gardeners will lose maybe a dozen ears to the squirrels before harvesting the corn. It's really hard to keep the squirrels off the corn because the stalks will easily support a squirrel's weight.

These ears are all intact.

Corn tassels

In the US, we call this corn; my British relatives call it maize (which is what the Native Americans in the SW US call it).

This is in the community garden; several people planted corn. It's customarily planted in rows so it can self-pollinate. The part pictured here are the male 'flowers.' When the wind blows through them on a dry day, it disperses the pollen to the next row (and this one too, for that matter) landing on the silk. One grain of pollen will make one grain of corn.

Tomorrow: the ears of corn.

Skywatch Friday

Another Skywatch Friday post. Visit all the other great photographers who share their skies every Friday!

This is our community garden at sunset. It's a pretty place with all those plants everywhere although the biting bugs seem to like it too. The street light has just come on - I'm pleasantly surprised at the low light capability of this old Nikon CoolPix 950.

City Daily Photo theme day - Big

It's the first of the month, the day when many City Daily Photo bloggers participate in a common theme. This month, it's BIG. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

My photo was taken in the community garden. These monster sunflowers are at least 8 feet tall. I'm over 6 feet tall and these towered above me. I couldn't work out a way to see them all in a row - I can't back up far enough to get the row in the frame!

The speck on the flower is a bumblebee; my son pointed it out. It's big for a bee. Maybe I got the daily double...

Do visit the other participants; some of their interpretations are fantastic!

Harvesting

The youngest helping gather in the fruits of his labour, in this case a yellow squash. We have a plot at the local community garden and it's been glorious to see all the plants maturing in everyone's place. There's something magical about eating food grown with your own hands.

Harvesting

Taken at the community garden plot, our youngest thins out the radishes. The plot is a thicket given all the rain we've had.

Baby tomato

This year, we took (rented?) a plot at the Community Garden near our house. Community gardens are a project to put unused lots to work. Each gardener pays a small fee for a plot, and gets to cultivate it as they see fit.

We've already been harvesting lettuce - a nice treat. This is a future harvest - a baby tomato. We have quite a variety there: leeks, chives, squash, zucchini, lettuce, celery, kale, beans and flowers to attract pollinators.