A near perfect gardening month

I never saw a tree frog in a lily before a recent NCPR photo of the day…but here’s is one I found at my house last night. Who knew? — Martha Foley. Correction: a commenter below noted that this is a spring peeper, not a tree frog. Our apologies to misidentified amphibians everywhere.

Seems to me the weather has been cooperating nicely with gardening goals: a fairly balanced mix of sun and rain. And, it shows in your photographs of gardens from across the region. The collection today takes us from a school garden in Long Lake to a master gardener in Potsdam, from a scenic location along the shores of Cranberry Lake to Martha Foley’s perennial flower patch outside Canton.

We begin in Rose Rivezza’s charming garden patches.

One of the new hugels (see text) built recently in the Rivezza’s Potsdam yard. Photo: Rose Rivezza

Here’s what Rose wrote about the hugel (in photos above and at right below):

Another view of the hugel. Photo: Rose Rivezza

“…something new we did this year (at our son’s urging) that we are so excited about.  It’s a hugel ….a mound planting done by inverting sod, manure, and dirt over buried/mounded wood.  This one is covering a willow tree we took down after we let the logs and bigger branches dry out.  The idea is that the decaying wood will hold more water and begin to add nutrients to the soil.  I just think it looks cool.  This one is planted with zucchini (kind of densely planted at the end so I can harvest the blossoms rather than the fruit), eggplant, peppers, parsley, sorrel, nasturtiums, and some perennials.”

Two more photos from Rose’s gardens. The one on the left below shows herb boxes with petunia accents built into a ramp for Rose’s dad. The photo on the right highlights raised bed planting of chard.

Photo: Rose Rivezza

Photo: Rose Rivezza

Becky Pelton has helped make gardeners out of some of the children at Long Lake Central School.

Here are two recent photos.

Youngster weeding school garden. Photo: Becky Pelton

Trimming rhubarb. Photo: Becky Pelton

Down the road in Blue Mountain Lake, Mary Leach’s garden looks great. Fabulous pepper!

A tidy and nicely fenced patch. Photo: Mary Leach

Tomatoes coming along nicely. Photo: Mary Leach

Photo: Mary Leach

Photo: Mary Leach

More from the region’s gardens:

Cukes running amok. Photo: Jane Sandberg, Jericho, VT

A Schroon Lake garden in July. Photo: Helene Vanderburgh

Ken and Barb Adams sent in this photo of their gorgeous, whimsical garden.

Photo: Ken and Barb Adams, Plattsburgh

A different notion of a garden, from Mary Jo Lampart in Cranberry Lake.

Photo: Mary Jo Lampart

We end with lilies…one from Martha Foley’s garden, one from mine.

Lilies and bee balm. Photo: Martha Foley

Lilies in front of my DeKalb house. Photo: Ellen Rocco

Okay, keep those photos coming. We’re trying to post once a week with a scan of gardens across the region. Send photos to [email protected] and remember to include your name and where you live and garden. Happy weeding.

Tags: agriculture, flowers, gardening, vegetables